Crunch talks with Wenger over midfielder, If anyone can we can, says Henry…

I have been watching Barca Rico and believe me we have to be on top of our game they press so hard. Theo hold the key to this much and may be Nasir am telling you Rico we have to learn to play without the ball coz they will dominate

Morning all,
Good Post,makes you realise how desperate National managers are for good players to play in their sides.
I can understand Garry Speeds interests in Aaron’s progress, but surely, on just one game played for the young man,should not make him an obvious pick for Wales, after all he hasn’t played for us yet. if i was an aspiring young footballer with Welsh ancestry i would be quite put out by Speeds need for playing a player that has not even played for his club, after a long injury lay off.
Makes you wonder if that is the reason, Wenger has not included him in any games as of yet

Steve I reckon Rambo could have played better than some of the player who played in the two cup competition

Wenger should allow Rambo to travel and play as long as it is one half only. It will be good training for him.

I agree, we shouldd change our name to Arsenal who have won nothing for 5 years. It is like another stick the media can beat us with.

I am really hoping Henry is teaching our strikers something but I bet Nik B is thinking he is better than Henry.

I may be a little picky here, but when you think that half a season has gone by and Wenger is realy bothered by the resting of players, because of exhaustion of too many games, fore thought makes me see a lot of comps coming up and a full programe for the rest of the season why allow a player to play for Wales, after one game, when he may be needed later on

Morning KT and Will Bale is just a hyped player Theo is ahead of him in every single way

Describing Shawcross’s assault as a tackle is probably a bit on the benevolent side.

Here is another stat for you;rvp was 4th at the world cup in the number of chances he created behind xavi/özil/p.boateng.despite only scoring 1 goal he created a chance every 37.4 minutes despite him being starved of the ball by the likes of sneijder/robben who were selfish for most periods.this stat coupled with theo’s show how they are complementary of each other to an extent they were both involved in all 3 goals at W.ham.

Rvp has hit the woodwork every 452 minutes since August 2007 more than any other player in the PL.

I must admit i am not that bothered about West Ham or any other teams unless they want to give us Scott Parker

KT, were on a run, and in a great position,there are defenders for sale all over the place, lets grab a couple and win trophys

What i don’t understand about this resting of players, the ones who are supposedly Knackered, is why are they still included as subs and played when their tired, its not as if we have a small squad

RVP lifts up the squad and is realy respected by the players he is one part of our Heart Cesc, Nasir et al are the other

Erick, i would love both in the same squad, never going to happen, but i like to watch good players whoever they play for, should see some soon Barcelona

I see games that get you to the final crucial games, thats where Wenger and me see things differently, once in the final its who’s best on the day,mess with a squad at this stage of any comp, is pushing your luck

You only get what you pay for rico, his worth it, i know Wenger wont pay but Parkers quality and just what we need

Erick, when Bendy came i thought he could be good for us, he has some good qualities but since he was injured and we have included others as well, he has shown that he is not the quickest, and the way we play heading is not that important, but to get behind a defence is, and i am afraid that Bendy doesn’t fit into our system.maybe Wenger See’s him differently.

I think Bendys times up

Howdy RA not yet put am pressing on will write you an email soon

Ra how is work hope your taking it easy Scholar

Erick,

Been working hard since early December to hit deadlines, but been sick again just lately. 🙁

I think Bendy has just not been up to scratch. Too slow, cumbersome and seems to play with lead in his boots. AW should take the money and let him go .. but he won’t.

Nik B needs to leave and if he was a decent man ,he would quit.

afternoon rico…still holding our collective breath…

Afternoon HHers 😀 what u think about the Dunne rumors and Henry joining Sven Goran?

rico – you know what i think about rumors…stuff and garbage…nothing to them.

Hi Oliver, Steff. 🙂

What a couple of doom merchants! But I think you have cause.

I do not know why we do not recall Bartley from Shef Utd. He has been getting good reports and is very fit after playing in the Championship.

could you imagine someone like rex ryan at the ems? or if we brought someone like antonio cromartie – who could then unload a profanity-laced tirade against rooney? wouldn’t be boring, that is for sure…

hiya erick…

hi Erick just read the rumor about u trying to make a million please shred some light 😆

Oliver,

I have been watching the NFL semi’s and enjoying them, despite still being despondent that we were so poor this season. 🙁

this was funny remark on BBC
Gulf in class

• Arsenal are 22 places higher than Leeds on the league ladder.

oh an a bad new for us
Match officials

Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral)

hopefully we sign some1 good, cause we need good news.

ra, i am also depressed…thinking about what might have been. it does not help, of course, that philadelphia did not win a single game after our home collapse against them – and they lost at home to green bay in the wildcard round.

rex and the jets are sure providing entertainment. and they deserve tons of credit for backing up their talk. some of the comments coming out of florham park this past weekend were quite inflammatory – cromartie on brady, in particular. they’ve won in indianapolis, now in new england, and i think they can win in pittsburgh on sunday. jets in the super bowl in the first year of the new giants stadium? i don’t think that is how the mara/tisch families envisioned this one going…

ra, not sure if you heard this, but last week the yanks signed tampa bay closer rafael soriano to a 3 year/105 million deal. we knew soriano was on the market – he was lights out last year, and could name his price. he is going to the yanks to set mo up for the next year or two, and will take over as closer once the former finally retires. i think mo signed a two-year extension after the season ended. with the yanks signing soriano now, i expect that will be mo’s last deal with them, and if he wants to pitch past age 43, he will have to do it elsewhere.

soriano also gives them insurance in case mo suddenly loses it. the setup spot has been an issue for the yanks over the past several years. they had no reliable eighth inning guy: joba, hughes, wood, farnsworth and several others could not do it well enough. their “first of several” world series wins (1996) was underpinned by the bullpen. they effectively made it a six-inning game, with ramiro mendoza working the seventh, mo taking the eighth inning setup duties, and john wetteland finishing things off in the ninth. perhaps they are looking at this as a future model, as the starting rotation won’t be quite as strong next season…

ra, we plan on visiting mom in ny when the school year lets out – late june/early july perhaps. if we are in the city at the same time, perhaps we can catch a game. my mom still lives in the same bronx neighborhood i grew up in. a 15 minute train ride from 161st street/river ave…

hi erick. i heard that jet announced his loan spell at cardiff himself. he has to play, i guess, but i wish he was loaned out earlier – he got virtually no chance in our squad this season.

re: pienaar, i heard that everton has accepted bids from both spuddies and chelsea, and that it is now up to the player/his reps to agree terms with one of those sides.

while we waffle and faff about signing urgently needed cover at cb, spuddies continue their aggressive push to bring in experience and address squad needs…

hiya k…

Oliver both player announced it via twitter

k, perhaps to replace someone (kranjcar?) else…and add some depth…as much as i dislike them, they have a pretty good squad now. they have closed much of the gap between us and them in a relatively short period of time. i don’t think they have caught us yet, but our squad remains unbalanced and short on quality depth…

I agree Oliver but I was told off for mentioning Tottenham 😉

regardless, it looks as though he is headed to the spuddies now. perhaps he is viewed as an upgrade to to one of the midfield positions – he’ll certainly add depth and some quality.

the irony is that we have the greater, more immediate need (cb depth) and we are unable to pull the trigger…again. i know the window is not yet closed, but i am pessimistic we will bring anyone in.

will, i think some already feel he has lost it. i do not subscribe to that point of view, but it sometimes appears as though he willfully refuses to invest in experience and quality. perhaps that is extreme as well. and i understand that our business model is to grow players together, promote from within, and sell on those that will not make it here. that is the essence of self-sustaining.

i think, however, we (arsene) are (or give the impression of being) too rigid in certain instances. if we don’t bring anyone in and jd breaks down – and is that idea so far-fetched, given his recent history (and decidedly shaky first half performance at wham) – we will be in big, big trouble. buying “cover” does not necessarily mean the recruit must be an improvement on what we currently have – although that would be nice. to me cover implies having someone that is ready to step in and do a job in case our squad is whittled down to bare bones in certain areas. remember mart poom? did we not buy him as cover when were lacked depth at the goalkeeper position? nobody would argue he was an upgrade over what we had (jens in particular), but he provided an experienced back up, someone that could play in a pinch. that is the kind of signing i would like to see. core players should be recruited in the off-season. the in-season windows are opportunities to add players to address depth and provide cover. that is how i see it.

we’ll see, rico…i am skeptical that anything short of corleone’s “gun to the temple, signature or brains on the contract” will compel arsene to buy…i think i am being partially influenced by the revised, optimistic estimates on tommy – particularly the timing of these “it’s not so bad now, is it?” estimates…we’ll see.

but i am jaded to an extent as well.. would you argue that we have not been down this road before wrt to squad additions? would you argue that this is not starting to smell like previous instances where we did not add to the squad?

at the end of the day, it is not my decision, so…i think not adding an experienced, fit, ready-to-step in central defender would be a mistake, i at this point, i feel we won’t. there are some other positions where our squad can use upgrades. in these cases, i would be happy to see one or two promotions. i had hoped that jet would supplant bendtner, who has given us nothing in his recent starts and has a body language that suggests a corrosive attitude, as spot-started and called-upon sub…i do think we need to shuffle our squad pack. great starting eleven, but problems with some of our second choice players.

For me, when fit the two starters are JD and Tv but we need two more at that level when needed, can come in. Do we rate Kos and Squil that highly?

will, i do not rate squillaci in any way shape of form. he ticks arsene’s francophone block. and is supposedly experienced – although i have sometimes wondered that, seeing him. i don’t think he is that much better than silvestre to be honest. i do think kos has potential – he would really benefit from an experienced quality defender alongside him – i.e. tommy. kos and jd have played well together for the most part – ipswich is an obvious argument against, but i think the entire team stank on that night. jd was shaky at upton park, but i thought kos was solid.

rico, i hope you are right…i cannot shake the feeling that arsene is perfectly willing to take the risk that he will have at least two fit centre-backs the rest of the way – even if he needs to count song and/or sagna as cover for that position.

I don’t think Aw will sign a new defender.

If we could splice DNA, I would give Theo some of Henry’s and some of Wrighty’s and bang, there is our 30 goal a season striker.

‘There are only 10 players we can’t afford’…i wonder if any is a CB.

Aw can really drive you mad with some of his comments.last week he said we were ‘looking everywhere and nowhere for a CB’-WTF?…

will, i think he believes in the model – his model by the way – more than most of the actual players. he has been extremely loyal to some players, has discarded others casually. it is the foundation, the structure, the model, that he has stuck by – not adjusting tactics, looking for specific, apparently narrow range of qualities in players he recruits, and the perpetual “we are improving”, “we learned a good lesson from that” culture.

in theory, it is laudable. build from within, become self-sustaining, make this a club renown for giving your players a chance, where all young players would want to play. a very good model for a club that built its own stadium and cannot/refuses to compete with the mega-rich (owners) clubs on their terms.

but i think the application has been flawed – the accountability, drive to win, and knowing what to do when things start falling apart are all missing. are player – as a collective group – appear to have little ability to adapt to changing situation. many of our players have very similar weaknesses: injury-prone, lightweight, unable to cross, not hungry enough to score “ugly” goals. these are things i attribute to how our template is applied, not the template itself.

as best as i can recall, a little pragmatism never hurt anyone…at least, not so badly…

Rico i said recently that defenders/gks will never get recognised.vidic has barely had a bad game in almost 3 years but rarely gets recognised.klose and gyan even made the Ballon d’Or shortlist ahead of cashley.casillas was the only gk remotely with a chance.think about it:maldini/buffon/zanetti/scholes(not a defender but still)…

Add milner to that list…

No i didn’t rico.i would put him in top 5.he is that good.

steve, i would argue that some changes are necessary. but it depends on who, and where. what is completely unnecessary is change for the sake of change. i think jd needs a breather – but no idea who deputizes for him…miguel? song? sagna? we are playing with fire in all three of these cases – the first is a youth player who has never appeared at this level, the other two weaken us in other positions if we play either at cb.

the other change i would argue for is to give cesc a breather. put samir in for him, like for like. otherwise, keep the team intact. i would like to see chamakh figure instead of bedntner, and no denilson – although, if arsene picks song at cb, guess who will start at dm?

i think the wigan game is more important that some realize – esp. considering how poorly we did at their patch only a couple of weeks ago. and the league cup semi-final second leg is huge…we may not rate this cup as so important, but we have to start somewhere in winning something – if we blow this opportunity, we will regret it for a very, very long time…everything has been set up for us to finally win the only domestic trophy not on his resume…but we are possibly 90 minutes from squandering the sort of opportunity that rarely – if ever – comes along…

steve, i think we are only in conditionally…on the condition that the ideal situation falls into our lap – age, native language, price, skill set (can play the ball on the ground), etc. then arsene would probably make a move. otherwise, i don’t expect anyone to come in. as usual, he leaves his comments open-ended: one day we are in the market, the next day he lauds our “internal solutions”…this gives him breathing space and culpable deniability (“i never said i would buy anyone for certain”). truth be told, i don’t arsene wants to invest now…

i better stop – i may be depressing rico here…

OLY, you are probably right, but his changing of the team has proved that it unbalances the team, we know that by the results, the rested players will be on the bench he always does that, and normally waits till the seventy mins before he subs, why have these rested players on the bench, that’s not rest.

steve, i think he needs to rest only a couple of players this time out – cesc and jd. if the side he put out at the emirates leg two saturdays ago did the job, everyone would have a rest this week. they didn’t, so now we have to make the trip up to leeds. it is what it is, so we just have to try and make the best of it.

other than cesc and jd – and something tells me both will start btw – i don’t think any changes to the starting lineup should be made. arsene, however, should be prepared to make first half changes if someone is not putting in a shift, or looking off pace – as you just mentioned in your most recent comment. chamakh, first off the bench, then perhaps rosicky (of whom i have heard (speculation) is in line to start tomorrow night), and maybe vela. we’ll see…

the other side of this – and one that is rarely mentioned – is that our squad players need first-team action if they are going to be ready when we really need the depth – at the business end of the season. it is always a tough balance – do i keep a winning side together? or do i try and give players a breather here and there while giving squad members some much-needed first-team action? while i appreciate this is a difficult call for arsene, i think the best 80 per cent solution is to not make mass changes to the side (which keeps at least the core of the team together for continutiy’s sake), while evenly distributing starting slots among the squad (2 or 3 at the most per not-as-critical-match) and proactiveness in substitutions. a squad player does not necessarily have to start to get some first team action. but we limit ourselves to the bendtner, arshavin, and fill-in-the-blank last 30 minutes or less substitutions…i think we can do better managing these things.

we’ll know what he does tomorrow. i do not expect any new faces – certainly not in time for the k/o at elland road – so we’ll see who gets rested and who comes in. but i agree, he has to play a strong team this time. and in all honesty, the team he played in the first leg was pretty strong…if he does his part (picks a strong team), the players need to do theirs.

I agree Will 😉