So the grueling run of matches continues. No excuses, we knew this was coming and it is up to Arsene and the players to adjust. A primary concern remains rotating the squad enough to sustain a winning run, while still giving key players the opportunity for rest, and others the opportunity for much-needed match action. It was encouraging to see that Arsene named the same eleven that won convincingly at St. Andrews this past Saturday
The game started quite quickly. With just over a minute gone, Samir picked Jack out on the left, who crossed to a sliding Robin – just too far ahead of him to make the necessary contact and put the ball into an open goal. City responded with Milner shooting just wide. Six minutes later, Robin hit the post with Hart well-beaten. Then Jack forced Hart into a low save. Only ten minutes in and we could easily have been 3-0 up. We have seen games like this before, where we pulled other teams apart, but were unable to finish, and were sometimes punished for our inability to score. Our frantic pace was unlikely to last, and we started to slow things down a bit. But then we cranked it up again, we hit the post twice in the same move shortly before the half-hour. First, an on-side Cesc hit the left upright after Samir set him up, with the ball finding Theo, who rattled the right upright from an offside position! City had probably their best chance, when Tevez fired just over. We remained in control, with Robin failing to test Hart with a shot from the edge of the box. Theo had a half-shout for a penalty when the ball hit Kompany on the arm, I had no problem with Jones not awarding it. The half petered out with some poor decision-making by Theo, wasting potentially decent chances. Other the shots by Milner and Tevez – neither of which troubled Fabianski – City offered nothing!
Arsene sent the same eleven out for the start of the second half and we picked up where we left off, with good movement and passing. Robin had a couple of quick chances, both resulting in wild, off-target shots and then Theo went through on Hart, but was unable to get the ball under control, chance lost. We gradually started to over elaborate, Arsenal at our most frustrating with too many passes, and a growing reluctance to shoot. Fortunately or perhaps unfortunately, considering his still-evident rustiness, Robin was willing to shoot and on the hour mark he brought an excellent save from Hart, a powerful, on-target, left footed shot that the City keeper had to tip out for a corner.
Mancini made the first change, with Johnson replacing the anonymous Jo on 65. The former quickly won City a corner, which Arsenal cleared. A few minutes later, Arsene made our first change, with Arshavin replacing Theo. We continued to dominate possession and territory but our moves always seemed to break down right on the verge of becoming quality chances.
Still, we stuck with it and continued to work hard. On 82 minutes, Nik replaced Jack, to give us another option up front. As the minutes ticked by without a breakthrough, the tension in the crowd grew and grew. On 88 minutes, Sagna and Zabaleta clashed and both were sent off, straight red cards. As if to underline his intent, Mancini decided to replace Tevez, his only goal threat, with Boateng even though both sides were down to ten.
Our last roll of the dice came with a direct free kick from Robin in the third minute of stoppage time, while he put the kick on-target, it was an easy save for Hart. The final whistle went shortly after, and we fell further behind United and remain in third place.
Our immediate concern is Sagna’s red card (and I assume this one will be for violent conduct), so probably three matches out. I imagine we will consider an appeal, but we will have to do so with a full awareness of which matches he is likely to miss. At least Eboue is a better deputy at right back then he is at left back. Regardless, this was rank stupidity from our starting right back – he initiated the contact, and effectively gave referee Jones a reason to send him off. Zabaleta, who I thought had a very good match can feel hard done by his sending off. If Sagna was provoked or frustrated, he needs to keep his head about him and rise above it. He definitely did not do that this evening and we will pay the price for this.
After watching the match, I was very frustrated that City offered so little. But City have to decide how they want to play, not myself, Arsene, nor anyone other than Mancini and his staff.
Were they here to play for 0-0? Absolutely, they did the same last season. The onus was on us to score and make sure they didn’t leave with the pointbut we didn’t!
Post-match comments from Mancini and Kolo suggested that a point and clean sheet were the extent of their ambition for tonight. Fair play to Arsene for not making a huge deal out of it – he was clearly frustrated and annoyed with how things panned out, but pragmatic enough to realise that we were able to beat them regardless.
I thought Arsene managed the game well from the sidelines – I would also have subbed Theo, who was wasting the ball and had wayward finishing. Jack had a very good game, but I also understand why Arsene wanted to bring another forward on – and none of Song, Cesc, or Samir were going to make way. Could he have made some changes earlier than he did, and/or used the third substitute? Perhaps, but I won’t find fault with any of his moves tonight. Many of us were screaming for the same starting eleven from St. Andrews and Arsene obliged. Our players were the ones who did not get the job done.
We should have taken our chances and routed them – but for the second consecutive match we just weren’t sharp enough with our finishing. Robin again was the worst culprit in my opinion. We truly have a catch-22 with him; he needs quality match time to get his cutting edge back, but it is taking forever and tonight it cost us. Short term, I am frustrated we did not win this, but long-term I think we have to keep going with him. If we drop him now or relegate him to sub appearances, what are the chances that he will regain his finishing touch soon? We just have to keep going with him and hope that it comes sooner rather than later. As disappointing as the result is, I think Arsene is absolutely right to stick with Robin. If nothing else, a distinctly jaded-looking Marouane Chamakh is getting a nice spell of rest, something I felt he needed at the start of November.
The problem with Robin’s finishing was exacerbated by the reluctance of anyone else to take responsibility for shooting on goal, or getting into positions where someone could perhaps clean a rebound up (as Song did against West Ham).
We were great at the start of the match, as Theo, Cesc, and Samir all tried their luck. But the longer it went on goalless, the less inclined our players seemed to have a go. By the 65th minute (when Arsene made the first sub), nobody else was shooting on goal, and we had slipped back into some of our bad habits – namely endless buildup and extra passing. Even Arshavin – who is never shy to take a pop – did not seem to want to have a go. City were quite happy to let us over-pass the ball, and just waited for us to give it away. By around the 75 minute mark, I thought some of our players seemed resigned to a goalless finish – we continued to work, but created little, and never really seemed as though we would make the breakthrough.
Nevertheless, it is not the end of the world. We still added a point to our total – while simultaneously dropping two more to United – and that may prove important come May. We kept another clean sheet – even though Fabianski had literally nothing to do all match, and our starting eleven finished without major injuries. We are stuck in a win-draw-win-draw pattern, but it can be argued that some of these draws may have been losses just a couple of months ago. We don’t have a divine right to win every single match, and there will be occasions where we don’t take early chances and don’t score at all – nobody is immune from this.
So let’s put this behind us and move on to the next match. Attitude and plan seemed fine, particularly at the start – we just couldn’t put our chances away. Add an opponent intent on nothing more than denying us a goal, and we just were not good enough to overcome these combined factors. That doesn’t mean we are not getting better and better, or not a legitimate title threat – it simply means that it didn’t happen for us last night.
Man United are starting to get a little bit of separation from us but we are still in touch and I don’t think we are going to simply disappear this time.
Smile….Spuddies, Liverpool and Chelsea all lost!!
Written by Oliver
morning…
Hi all, Hi Oliver, i have to find a space in my schedule to read your post .
But man man man we played yesterday and Man shitty should be ashamed and Macini should not count himself as a top PL coach.
Right now , Blackpool’s coach is more of a bigger man than macini.
Man Shitty didn’t come to win they wanted a draw and they got a draw.
We where unlucky and i must say i could tell yah what those guys should have done.
Maybe they could have increased the tempo more and earlier or maybe they should have being calmer in front of goal i can’t tell yah.
But a good point earned, now we regret not beating Wigan.
I wasn’t surprised Macini stormed on to the pitch to avoid shaking Wenger , he must have been ashamed of himself.
RVP looks very very dangerous and i hope he doesn’t get an injury.
Morning all.you can see we are the best team at the moment and losses to spuds/brum/barcodes and sunderland draw are looking costly.the mancs need to lose and i can’t believe am about to say this but i hope the spuds win…our attacking football in the first half could have resulted in a 3/4 nil lead against any side in Europe with luck on our side.its good to see our first 11 gel well.we now need to give them 10 days of rest before we visit the hammers.let our B team handle ipswich and leeds.
Hi SD
That’s my fault 😉
Morning KT
If that is what money does for a club then stick it – how much have they spent and still all over the pitch they lack excitement and flair…
They have 2/3 quality defensive players, the rest probably wouldn’t get into our team. Johnson is one of the best young English players around right now and he is being ruined… If he had any sense he’d quit them and play for a club who will play him…
Rvp10 must be the most unlucky player i’ve known.apart from injuries he seems to be on a crossbar challenge in every game.in 08/09 he had 20 goals,16 assists and 15 efforts hitting the woodwork!
Staggering, he was so unlucky last night, thought Hart was a cocky little so and so in his i/v after the game, ‘the size of the goal doesn’t change’ – smug twit!
K7 – Maybe RVP is not that marks man we all think he is.
It can’t be a coincidence that he hits the bar so many times, he rattles it as well for good measures.
Yesterday also showed where ramsey is better than jack.ramsey is very decisive in the box compared to jack.he is also a superb finisher with both feet.if jack can improve on those 2 aspects we’ll have a midfield that will dominate for over a decade.
SD, good point, maybe he isn’t as ruthless, he should certainly be converting more…
I hope we don’t appeal the Sagna Red Card – he’ll miss this weekends FA Cup match, next Wednesdays CC 1st round and then the league game against West Ham, the FA will add another game if we appeal, he got what he deserved….
Read the post now;
Well i must say that the way Man shitty played he showed that we would be the ones to challenge Manure utd for the title even though we are 3rd at the moment.
If Mancini thinks the PL is a league where he can be clever , then he is kidding himself.
PL is where you have to be good and win more games than others because when you pile up draws , there are many teams in the top winning their games.
Manures are happy now (just check the blogg world right now)but i think we are the only team improving every game. This first 11 is shaping up and i like Jack’s improvement and Walcott’s improvement (but was below par yesterday)
Manure utd were the only winners, Mancinni was gutless the way he lined his side up to play – that won’t win him the league….
Hi rico, if we did score in first minutes then city boss would of been sorry for his selection.
The second half we looked tired, AW put Arshavin on but he didn’t had much influence either.
Theo looked disappointed to be subbed once more I have to agree it seems when Theo starts it’s a good bet that he will be first to go out.
Hi Stef, had we scored in the first minutes, i think we would have torn them apart, its good to theo get upset but i wish wenger would somtimes look elsewhere with his subs…
Zabeletta has appealed his red card….
off for a bit, later all….
We should not be biased towards Theo, he was wasting quite a few chances yesterday.
And with Arshavin in, it wasn’t like for like. Tactics was changed as well but the Man shittys had their game well planned.
Walcott needs to know how big Arsenal FC is , he should count himself lucky to be playing for a great manager that many Arsenal greats have being privileged to play for.
Walcott should gladly jog out of the pitch when he his substituted and not piss Wenger off, he should ask Bendtner and Adebayor.
Those old coaches are not patient nowadays example Wenger and Fergie
SD, I think its good to see a player not wanting to come off, it shows passion – agree with the ‘he should just jog’ off though and to be fair he did…
def off for a bit now
Arsenal skipper Cesc Fabregas has hailed defender Johan Djourou after the 23-year-old made a successful comeback to competitive football following his fitness woes last term.
The Switzerland international was injuried before the start of last season, and has made seven starts and two substitute appearances in the league this term in the absence of Thomas Vermaelen.
“I’ve talked about Johan before, but I really admire how he’s handled his comeback,” Fabregas said in the club’s official matchday programme, before the recent game against Manchester City.
“I don’t know how I would react to a season without playing but he was always strong, smiling and working hard. The boss has treated him really well, with caution, and he’s now playing fantastically for us.
“Hopefully he can keep it up because I think that, with the way we play, we need a centre-back like him – strong, good on the ball, quick, making his presence felt on the opposition striker.”
i know goal.com aren’t everyone’s cup of tea but i hope this is true:
Thomas Vermaelen emerged unscathed from his first day back in training and Arsenal are increasingly hopeful he can return at the end of January, Goal.com UK can reveal.
The 25-year-old defender has been out since August with an Achilles injury picked up on international duty and Arsene Wenger has aired the possibility of dipping in to the transfer market for a new centre-half if Vermaelen’s comeback is delayed once again.
But Goal.com UK understands that Vermaelen came through well in his first full training session on Wednesday and the medical staff are confident that he can finally return to the first team later this month.
The Belgium international made a huge impact during his first season at Emirates Stadium and has been sorely missed during a campaign in which Arsenal have frequently looked frail at the back.
Summer signings Laurent Koscielny and Sebastien Squillaci have both struggled for consistency, to the point that it is understood that Wenger’s first choice if he has a full hand of centre-halves is now to pair Vermaelen with Djourou, who the manager believes has “improved greatly” this season after a few years in the wilderness.
Speaking to the Arsenal programme on Tuesday ahead of Wednesday’s goal-less Premier League draw against Manchester City, Wenger did not reveal any specifics about Vermaelen’s return but admitted it was close.
“Thomas Vermaelen has a big test this week when he starts to run again,” said the Arsenal manager. “The first signs of how he feels will be very important. Should he not be able to come back quickly, central defence is an area in which we would be short, but rather than talk about transfers I would like to focus on the squad we have, and ensure everyone makes his contribution to the team’s success.”
I would like to see Wenger go out and buy a quality replacement for AA onme that doe’s also defend. AA is brilliant for 5 min every game pop’s up with goals and assists but is a total liability for the other 85 min and practically creates a huge hole in our defensive play which the other players seem well aware of and to me do not play with the same freedom as when AA is not on the pitch. They seem to try to lie further back to pick up the slack that AA leaves and that often makes us look like we are playing with 10 men not 11. Don’t get me wrong his magic moments are exsactly that magic but that simply is not enough.
for AA onme that doe’s “to me”
Havard Nordtveit has signed for Bundesliga side Borussia Monchengladbach.
The versatile defender, 20, had been a regular for Arsenal’s Reserves this term with seven appearances and a goal to his name.
Pre-season, Havard was involved with the first team, joining them on their Austrian tour and playing in a number of friendlies.
Nordtveit spent the 2009/10 season on loan with German side Nurnberg, where he played 19 times and returns to Germany’s top flight to play for Michael Frontzeck’s side.
The Norwegian youth international joined Arsenal from FK Haugesund in 2007.
Everyone at Arsenal would like to thank Havard for his contributions to the Club and we wish him well for the future.
morning all…good first half performance, flatter in the second half, and a rather disinterested morning after. not too much to say about last night – we should have scored early and often…
hi oliver
hi k…disappointing, but the goals just wouldn’t come. i wish we were able to sustain our early performance into the latter stages of the second half – i think we would have eventually scored – but i struggle to find anything wrong other than the result.
oliver if we play like that for the rest of the season we’ll be tearing apart teams in 20 minutes.i want that fear factor back!!!it was good to see us tearing them apart despite them parking the bus with 11 men.
Andrey Arshavin has joined the chorus of Arsenal fans who jeered at ‘boring’ Manchester City.
City may have spent millions on attacking talent, but a safety-first performance at the Emirates Stadium earned them a valuable point – if no friends – with a goalless draw.
Gunners boss Arsene Wenger sniped that while his side try to win every game, City went away from north London with exactly the result they set out for.
I don’t know what their objective was,’ he said. ‘It’s hard for me to say what their coach tells them.
‘In my opinion, Man City always play defensively and, up front, they usually rely on Carlos Tevez.’
Our defence didn’t allow Tevez or any one else to create something dangerous around our goal,’ said the Russia forward.
‘This is the second consecutive match in which we haven’t conceded. The performance of our defence gives the team more confidence. We dominated and played well (against City). I think their goalkeeper took away two points. He saved his team many times. And when he was powerless, the ball hit the woodwork.
‘Unfortunately we couldn’t take our chance to break away from our rivals and, more importantly, close the gap to Manchester United.
‘That’s life and we carry on. There are still a lot of games. We need to continue to play our football and, if we do it, everything will be fine.’
city are appealing zabaleta’s red. arsene has just said we won’t appeal sagna’s. so that means he misses the two cup ties and west ham away a week from saturday. he’s due a rest and i imagine eboue would have deputized in at least one of the cup games. if gibbs is available for selection, eboue can start both on the right, and gibbs can come in for clichy.
Oliver am glad we won’t.sagna looked like the aggressor and any appeal would’ve been deemed frivolous resulting in the extension of his ban.
agree. it wouldn’t have been worth it. i am disappointed in what he did – i cannot see any justification, and i have some sympathy for zabaleta, who i felt was wrongly dismissed.
just as importantly, these are three upcoming matches which we should be able to get by without him.
the cup ties give us the opportunity to give our fringe players some back-to-back action. i would, however, be careful about weakening the squad too much for the trip to portman road. on paper, our second eleven should win fairly comfortably, and we have the benefit of the second leg at home – but we are so close to the final, and winning the league cup, that i would hate to see us do anything to undermine our chances.
that said, we have to give some fringe players match action, so it is equally unrealistic to expect a full strength starting eleven at ipswich.
if we are going to crash out of the fa cup – and i think we should try and win this one as well, even though it is currently our fourth priority – then lets do it on saturday and not have to worry about the subsequent round fixtures…
Yesterday’s game was the first time we dropped points with djourou in the starting 11 this season in the PL.(P9 W8 D1).In fact we have not lost a game with him since 22 Nov 08 when we lost 3 nil.(P21 W18 D3)
Oliver i hope we use these 2 cup games to bring back players like AA back to fitness.we really need him back as there are occasions when we’ll need his sheer genius to win games.rosicky is another who needs a goal (especially long range) to improve his confidence.last night we may have needed one.gibbs is another and many more.our first teamers especially nasri will need this break so as to ensure that in 9 days time when we visit Upton park we’ll play with the same intensity to improve our GD.
preston named phil brown as their new manager. was wondering when he would resurface…
we have to find a way to strike a balance regarding the three cup games this month. we have starting eleven players who will need a break – not so much from current exertions, but in view of upcoming fixtures. but the ultimate goal should be to try and win all of them. chamakh is getting a nice break, and i see saturday as a good starting opportunity for nik and arshavin…
I wonder if vela will feature…
Boo! Your match reports are always ace, oliver. 🙂 We expected them to park the bus, and they did. What a high cost and poor quality team, Man City are. Tut tut. I cannot find it in me to begrudge them their anti-football tactics though; without their more creative players, they would’ve been ripped to shreds if they had tried to match our infinitely more expansive football.
KT, great stats on Djourou. I wasn’t aware that his effect on our defense was that steadying. Can’t wait to see him partner TV5. 🙂
if vela is still here, he should feature…arsene should make a decision on him soon – both the player and clubs’ sakes…at the moment, he is getting no action and takes up a spot on our bench. i would like to see the guy get a run of games in the side, but i am not sure where the opportunity for this will be – we certainly need to keep the starting eleven together. i guess i am hoping that he can impress in the upcoming cup games – if he gets an opportunity – and then become a “first off the bench” sub in the key matches…
hi agag…painful to watch, but i will give city their due. we should have buried them in the first 25 minutes, but we didn’t and they adjusted better than we did. i was very disappointed as we seemed to revert to the endless passing and over-elaboration that crop up when we run out of ideas. city’s ambition was limited to a solitary point and clean sheet – they got what they came for. i disliked it as much as everyone else, but mancini was quite frank about his goal being not to lose. again, if we had taken even one of those early chances, city’s overly defensive play would not have been an issue. we could – should – have beaten them handily last night.
Boo, afternoon all
Great write up again oliver, as agag says, they always are, thank you….
City started in a 4-2-3-1.in the first half we tore between barry and de jong and thats why we were so dominant in the first 15-20 minutes.mancini realised this and pulled back toure which led to toure and barry either side of de jong to keep it tight with milner and jo flanking them.this move closed down the gaps and restricted our attacking play.
Oliver i apologise for not giving you the due credit for your efforts.we are used to your high standards that it goes without saying.
Id like to see vela start both ipswich and leeds games but it probably won’t happen.i wish landsbury was around as he would’ve started.
I think Lansbury is back KT, but injured?
I hope Vela plays before he is loaned out. He needs a run of games to toughen up and get sharper. The Vela situ is tricky; he hasn’t been woeful (still some lovely chipped goals for games already won 😉 ) but he hasn’t exactly been in scintillating form either.
oliver, the promising thing am about our team last night was at least they were shooting. This is in stark relief to some games where the game plan is literally just to pass pass pass ad infinitum.
Hart made some good saves, but my, how that post favored him!! While waching the replay, i realized that while I’d like an in-form Essien from the chavs, an in-form Torres from Liverpool… There is no one from Citeh that I’d want wearing our kit.
And how Milner pipped Cesc to the young player award last year quite boggles the mind now. Don’t even get me started on Barry…
Song has been very disciplined in his play of late.he conceded no foul that i can remember of,made 72/80 successful passes,4 interceptions and won 6/9 tackles.
Hi Armoury, sorry for the delay in letting you on, all first comments go into moderation…
If we play like this we won’t lose a game till the end of the season.even barca isn’t looking so scary.
agag, i’d take Johnson if i’m honest, he’s on the long road to ruin staying at Citeh – but, if they are to keep spending he’ll leave in any case…
KT, Song has indeed been awesome, as has JD – and what is great is they are both still very young…
Boo, rico. 🙂 I think he is back. Did his hammy in, and got a few tattoos. I check our boys out on twitter, but I don’t have an account.
Chesney says things that may be perceived as controversial but he makes me laugh.
I’m not getting carried away, we need to be more ruthless in front of goal if we are to stand a chance, i keep saying that this is the time in the season that Man U hit their form, we need to turn draws into wins otherwise they will get too far away from us….
Ah, i thought so agag, hopefully he won’t be out for too long, we need him in the cups…
Chesney seems a lot happier now which is good – Seaman reckons he’s a great keeper but thinks Fabianski deserves to be number one… for now
Robin’s getting fired up though; his movement on and off the ball look steadily sharper, and if his performance last season is anything to go by (where it took him a while to start scoring), then we’re in for some really fantastic feeds and/or goals.
I like this Song much better than Songinho. And I feel it imperative to point out that our oft-lambasted first choice LB has had a great run of four games now. :ooops:
I don’t know what that emoticon is all about, it was supposed to be a flushed one. 🙂
Rico mancini also told us by his team selection that jo is a better defender than Adam johnson…
Afternoon all,
I must admit i was unhappy with the performance last night, yes City made it difficult but that does not explain our finishing, How much longer are we going to put up with V Persie, is he incapable of kicking a ball with his right foot, a more one sided player ever, how long have we got to put up with him till he scores in open play, even his free kick the other night came off a defender, we are packing off JET to God knows where, a youngster who deserves a full game not five minutes, if not Chamakh, the man has one bad game and we have to have all these other dummies, who when they shoot, thats when, there’s more chance of hitting the corner flag, surely Chamakh cant be that tired, ask yourself one question if Utd had played them last night would they have scored, i did and i know they would have, we have one way of playing and never change,if we cant figure out how to penetrate these defences we will always be second best, we played the same way against Utd they found a way to score, if we don’t we’ve had it
Rico the mancs have in the past done well in the 2nd half of the season due to how they underperform in the first.this season so far its only rooney who hasn’t peaked and may prove vital.with that being said rvp/cesc/theo/AA/diaby are yet to get anywhere close to peak form.Tv has barely played.we have several gears to reach and right now we are only in 2nd gear.
No wonder Tevez is so depressed there.such dire football and he got no support at all.you’ve got to respect him as you wonder how Tevez has 12 goals and a couple of assists this season…
agag, he can be songinho in the right games when we are winning 5-0, until then, he’s best doing what he does best 😉
😳 is what you were after 😉
Hi Steve, RvP will always play if fit because he’s RvP, i’m all for giving him just a couple more starts and if he doesn’t do what a striker should do then bench him – he or theo could have made way last night and as someone said on another review today, had RvP been truly fit, he would/could and should have got to jacks cross/shot….
KT, thats all well and good IF they hit peak, Diaby will prob be out for another month and we disagree on on view re him in any case, RvP, well like Steve says, he needs to find his shooting boots and stay uninjured and AA, well i’m not holding my breath on him being with us in Feb let alone reaching his peak….
All i am saying is we need to start finishing sides off, Wigana nd last night were 4 dropped points, both because we can’t score…
Yes we say swoon and say how wonderful we are on the eye, if only this had gone in, if only that hadn’t hit the post but sorry, sometimes i’d rather be a bit boring if it gets us goals and maximum points….
😳 yes. 🙂
steve, Chamakaka will feature in the next few ones, to be sure. RvP will find those shooting boots again, I am optimistic about it.
how long do we give robin though?
Hi Rico and AgirlG, I sure hope your right we can’t afford to keep dropping points, last night and lots of other nights teams have lost, and we should be above them all, if only we had a plan B
Chamakh is our plan B steve but he needed a break, hopefully he’ll sit the two cup matches out and be back on fire for the league…
Roy Hodgson, last seen carrying big bags and dumping them in the boot of his car, he’s in for the sack me thinks 😉
He’s a favorite and we have persisted with worse so… all the time, in the world, rico. 😛
I think most would agree with that agag 😉 but like i said earlier, i think wenger needs to sometimes look a little further than just Theo to take off, he’s as likely to perform a bit of magic as robin is… 🙂
Who else would want it though rico
Good question Steve, i know i wouldn’t if i were a manager, mind you, just for six few months would do then retire 😉
You’re right, Steve, we cannot afford to drop more points. Our squad is almost at full strength, and our strikers really should be scoring more. I just have a good feeling about our season.
But rico, at this point, RvP on history, does have more in his arsenal than Theo. Still rusty, there is no denying, of course, but he’ll be banging in those goals, it’s looking more like.
Sami and Cesc could not have been taken off, they were among the best of the lot last night; and the defenders had to stay put because we are vulnerable on the counter… I’d have subbed Theo too, I think. 😉 But between Theo and AA, these days, I’m more inclined to play Theo.
Preston beat Liverpoo to Tango Boy… Shame. 😀
I scratched my head last night, no one can score and he brings on the carthorse and he wants to be a Song
agag, i would last night, i think, or move him into the middle and try something different – wenger seldoms tries something different and thats whats frustrating…
Nikki just isn’t doing it for me, maybe too many disturbed nights now he’s a dad 😉
Just seen the tango man is employed again, poor old preston fans 😉
Steve, nikki should have played as CF and we should have hoofed a few crosses towards his big head 😉
agag, sorry, you are def right about cesc and nasri, right now they could change a game in seconds, its good to see the old cesc coming back…
What does it tell you when your center forward wants to take all the free kicks and corners
Thats right
Dosn’t want to mess his hair up
😆 Steve.
rico, I agree about hoofing it to Nikki last night, though. Seeing as Citeh at their most imaginative couldn’t even be bothered to vacate their half of the pitch, we should’ve played some long punts to him. Might have worked.
Cesc looks to be enjoying his football more now… For a time, he seemed joyless.
Ouch, that’s harsh on RvP Steve….
Looks like Sunu could be off on loan, St Etienne are in talks to sign him…
Nasri and Robin out of Saturdays game, both suffered injury last night…..
Don’t worry, only bruising and I doubt they would have played anyway 🙂
I am off, rico, steve. Nighty! 🙂
Wonder if we will see our new signing on saturday, would be pretty good if he played….
Night agag…
I’d luv to see Rambo back. 😀
Stopped reading after what you said about RVP. Totally disagree. He was one of our better performers. City were lucky; we were unlucky. In no way can we suggest that RVP or any1 else for that matter was wasteful. We hit posts and forced a couple good saves. I thought this was one of our best performances all season…..shame the scoreline didn’t reflect this
Go to bed agag 😉
Night AGG, sorry rico i know you have a lot of faith in him, but when you need goals you need an in form striker, i can see this spell lasting, and points going
Steve, don’t be sorry, it’s your view – i like RvP but my patience is wearing thin with him but thats more to do with his injuries, i’d stick with him right now as if he suddenly hits top form, he’ll destroy teams….
evening guys
balanced post..enjoyed it
im not disaapointed…many positives from last night
1.if thats the best citeh have got to offer after all the money theyve spent they wont be in the race come march nevermind may
2.we fucking hammered em they were lucky…we were brilliant once again with our best team..hit the post twice made hart pull off a worldy from robin..they were lucky..
3..lil jack was the man last night i was so impressed he just made barry and de jong look silly..
4..we continue this form for a few months and we’ll go top before april..manu cant win away they keep drawing theyll be dropping 2 points every fortnight until may
5..chelsea are done anchovis gone and spurs are shite
only negative was sagna..i like abit of crazyness in a defender..see that fire and toughness makes him the best rb in the league..we will miss him..just hope eboue can now show us his 06 form for a few games..
Hope your right, Chamakh will have to move on then, i cant see him suffer this.
by the way..
yes i now listen to those who said they wanted a yaya in our midfield…
fucking hell could u imagine if we had him with song as the base of our midfield..
it would be a partnership of all partnerships
both were immence last night it was a right ding dong between those two..
song came out on top i reckon of an even matched battle but yayas not shit and im disaopointed hes wasting his talents at shitty..
hi jj, the performance was superp bar the finishing, man city were boring but all they wanted was a point, i bet dzeko cant wait to join such an exciting team…. not!
we won’t miss sagna jj, he wouldn’t have been playing the next two any way and eboue should be good enough to face the hammers in the PL
steve, no way will chamakh need to leave, wenegr wants the two of them to be the perfect partnership…
jj, we realised how poor yaya was in the away game…
robins class
dont even talk of selling the guy..remember the 09 season rvp stayed fit for a long time..and he blasted 20 goals and umpteen assissts to go with it..
if wenger rotates chamakh and bendy for the cups and saves rvp for the pl theres a chance he’ll play a few games…he’ll start destroying defences..
thats what he does..hes been showing glimpses already, especially last night he was unlucky he hit the post and he made hart make a fine save..both shots involved superb solo skill before shooting..
he also got his head on a a corner when we were defending..he did the same v chelsea too..he beat terry to a corner and got it away..
hes got fire and he defends from the front..let him get fit first..if he gets injured chamkh can cover..
rico 😉
6.53
he is class jj but only when he’s fit…
and he isn’t fit too often, if he can stay fit until the end of the season then we’ll be lucky, very lucky but i sure hope he is….
i wouldn’t sell him though……
i know rico but i dont think hes been fit..1st season in pl as well..didnt play much at barca in the end..
yaya that is
poor start to season but last 4 matches city have been winning and ive been watching them to see what theyve got on footy first and yayas full of them barnstorming runs and pure strength in midfield..
ppl bang on about tevez but yayas quality
i don’t want us to sign him anymore jj, there has to be better out there, he moved to city for two reasons, one to be with his bro and two, money…
yaya that is 😉
our best team is fit..why we talking ifs and buts..fact is..apart from tv..the 1st team is fit and all in form
let em have a few games first let em play we’ll talk about injuries when and if they happen..
until then think title
we wouldnt get him now rico..
but thing is i wish we’d of got him when there was a chance..
i keep banging on about another midfielder and hes perfect..
ppl forget song can play cb too just as good…
we could have put song at cb with jd and play the ‘yaya’ in midfield or we could play them both together in the middle and our cbs wouldnt need to do a thing..
if we sign another midfield monster like song..we wont need a new cb
I know the real reason we didn’t sign Yaya, you want to know?
good point jj, apart from TV that is, once he’s back we have our best eleven, with Gibbs and Ramsey in there too – then look what we have behind, Lansbury, JET, Chesney, Frimpong and a few more too….
This season we have the best chance to win more than just the CC….
he won’t sign another DM jj, Frimpong will be that man to give Song support next season….
what about support this season??
songs position is a vitol one nobody else can do it id rather see a new guy in there with frimpong back up next season
when tv comes back we play jd tv song and ‘yaya’ as the defensive base and tell aa hes done and put jack in the trio with cesc and nasri behind rvp and rotate him with theo and vela
whooooooo defensive and attacking prowess with flying wing men.. 😉 bring em on
clean sheets and plenty of goals all rolled into one team..
I’m off for dinner, we didn’t sign Yaya as we only have one XXXXL pair of shorts and Sami Nasri has them 🙂 🙂
I once would have been yes to yaya, now i’m a big no no… city are welcome to him imho 😉
proppamedz, welcome, sorry for the delay, all first comments go into moderation….
all quiet so i’m off for the day, til tommorrow…
nighty night
night rico
New one up