Yesterday I wrote about fickle fans and supporting through the thick and thin times, only to be guilty of slagging my own team off by the end of last night.
For that mad hour or so I apologise, as I must admit after watching the game against Benfica I was more than upset.
I’m going to tell the game as I saw it through my own eyes and if I upset one or two of you I will apologise now.
I watched this game on a dodgy stream, I waited for a while on a bet fred or something like that until after kick off until I realised I was not going to get to watch the game without having a bet first, so I started looking for another stream.
Eventually I found one and the score was still at 0-0. I don’t know whether we had some close ones or how we’d been playing but as I started to view we were playing reasonably well. The team were passing the ball about and they looked tidy, chasing the loose ball and were trying to press until finally and I believe it was Gibbs, broke down the left and squared a ball to Van the man, he smashed it in the net and I was over joyed, it wasn’t long after that that the whistle went for half time.
The second half started and I missed the commentator’s announcement about the subs, so I was looking around the field to see who had gone and who was still there. I know that JD had gone and Squilli had come on, Robin was off and Chamakh was on, Gibbs was off and Traore was his replacement.
There could have been more I’m not sure but the mood seemed as if it had changed and our possession was not quite as strong as it had been in the first half.
We still made a few forward runs but when we got near to goal, we only had one player there, where the first half we had more, so in truth our attack just fizzled out each time.
Benfica picked up on that and started to play better, they began to win the ball and chased and harried us until we gave them the ball back. We had switched roles you might say and it wasn’t comfortable viewing.
Visions of some of our final games of last season started to flood back and then the inevitable happened – our defence were away with the fairies and Benfica scored.
My heart sank, there had been one or two warning signals before their goal came which Fabianski had parried away but the one he missed put them level!
As it happens he came on at half time too replacing Szczesny.
We slowly got worse and the players heads went down and then they hit us again a telling pass which split our defence wide open! Our defenders were all marking spaces and left their players to help themselves!
Frustrating is the word I will use, they had all but given up.
Ryo and Gervinho and Lansbury were still trying to move forwards but they kept losing the ball, giving Benfica the initiative to pile forwards.
Then, another Squilli mistake gifted them a second goal and in no uncertain words, it spelt goodnight to us.
2-1 on the night but it could so easily have been more!
I don’t like to single any one player out as they were all bad but until this defence is sorted out we can only expect more of the same in our next few games.
Arsene has a week to try and pull a Paul Daniels rabbit out of the hat and I don’t envy his job either but If Newcastle had been watching that match last night, they must be rubbing their hands together.
We have major problems in all the aspects of defending just as we had last season and while Wenger spends most of his time sorting out Fabregas and Nasri, he has doing nothing nothing to rectify our frailties.
We must have defensive coaches but they are not instilling anything worth knowing to the players and we look a team ready for the taking.
I must admit I am not looking forward to the coming weekend, and I don’t expect anybody else is either, other than Newcastle.
It’s time for Wenger to forget about those who want to leave, that will happen regardless if the right money is offered, now is the time to get our defence sorted out!! Maybe start by bring back Martin Keown to knock a bit of sense in to them all…..
Written by Steve Palmer
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Morning all
Thank you for the post Steve, a mighty fine one it is too 🙂
I didn’t see the game but from what you have said it seems it’s just same old same old problems…
Totally agree that Wenger needs to stop faffing around with Fabregas and Nasri, if Citheh want Nasri then they should put their money where their mouth is…
Same with Fabregas, if Barca want him, cough up 40Million.
Leave all that to Gazidis, that is what he gets paid for, and Wenger, well go get Keown, tell Gazids to get two big strong defenders and sell Squilli….
It bloody simple, why he hasn’t done it yet stuns me… It’s not as if all this defence problem has suddnely appeared is it??
rant over….
Mertesacker rumour is all over the paps again, as is Scott Dann…
Would fans be happy if we got both??
I agree, leave Cesc and Nasri to Gazidis and Wenger should sort out the team. We need organisation at the back and a commander to follow the orders given by the defensive coach. I have been thinking about us this morning and we really need to let a few go.
Also, these players need to go. Almunia, Diaby (injured before the damn season starts), Eboue (even though I like him) Song (just not good enough). Chamakh has this season but he is looking shot. Squil ( I am not sure there is another Prem team who would play him).
We need a proper centre defender and a proper def mid, someone Frimpong can learn from because all he can learn from Song is how to roam out of position and jog back.
Wenger has one week to resolve this.
we appeal to Arsenal FC to sign samba & cahill and find replacement for NASRI & FAB and try to sign DM like one of there is parker,Biligia,Barton and not to forget backup for vanparsie.
The problem is Wenger doesn’t believe in defence. Remember Clich said Arsenal did not practise defnce drills. If it’s true it is soccer negligence of the highest order. It’s no wonder the gunners can’t cling on to leads.
Instead of getting the quality defenders,Wenger has gone on getting wc kids. Please. We have had enough of these wonder boys. Senderos,Pennant,Aladieres,
I can only see the problem being we are skint and we need the cash from Fabregas sale???
If that is not the case then there are NO excuses!!
Sign Cahill, Sign Mata, Sign a Striker.
Sell Fabregas, Sell Nasri, Sell the dead wood!
Then get ya heads down and concentrate on the season!!
Does it seem too easy???
this season i wnt bet a single cent on arsenal. v quickly well be out of the champions league n then ousted from the big four !!!!
Question:
We win nothing this season and finish 5th.
Time for Wenger to go??
Tell us something we don’t know.
Morning to those just joining….
eddy, it’s simple, but wenger makes it difficult – said before, wish he had a bit of fergie about him sometimes….
Will
He has had since the end of the season, the way he has acted in this transfer window is a joke!!
I totally agree!
To win titles youn need a rock solid defence. Look at Inter Milan when beating Barca in CL, it was not nice to watch but they got the cup.
And look at Norway int. ( with Hangeland), they have raised frao 50-60 ranking to top ranking purely by defending. Its terrible to watch but it works.
AFC could combine the best from both.
And, Barca-midfileders put a hell of effort in retrieving the ball after loosing it, while a player like Archavin jogs back to be ready for the next attac – is there a defence-geen in that guy?
AFC has missed signing top defenders for the lst 5 years ( exept Vermaalen) an visiting “garage-sales” and buying players like Scillachi, Silvestre, Senderos……
When not winning titles the best players will move on. If the club had signed a couple of top defenders when Vermalen was long-time injured last season the “Fabregas- and Nasri- sagas” might not been.
Wenger is too occupied in bringing in forward players, success begins at the back ( Fab 4 and “the Invincibles”).
For a start : bring on Mertesacher and Perreira.
It’s still a friendly and players will not be going all out in a pointless friendly a week before the season. Agree with the signings though.
Morning guys, we are officially a team in turmoil
Who would buy Squillaci? I think he has to be left in the reserves. The problem is that we don’t have anyone on the board with a football brain. If you look at our past defenders – Cygan, Stepanovs, Luzhny, Senderos, Squillaci……..you would see that AW needs someone designated to scout for defenders and Keown could well be that person. We have never really replaced the Kolo and Sol partnership and just relying on Vermaellen is not fair to him. He is the one piece of quality that we should be looking to keep long term, not these overpriced players who have no loyalty. Ask yourself this question, if your wife wanted to leave you for a man with more money and bling would you throw more money and gifts at the ungrateful woman? Let whoever wants to go, go. We are the Arsenal and shall be when all these primadonnas retire.
I say chamakh should go and Bendtner stays, not the other way round! Chamakh has done nothing positive this preseason.
We have Steve Bould at the club so there’s no need to bring in another coach, although Keown would always be welcomed back. However, that isn’t the problem. The problem is we just don’t spend enough time on defending in training, as pointed out by a few ex-players, including Bob Wilson.
I’ve said it before; Wenger can’t be that rubbish in spotting a good defender, nor can a good defender suddenly become rubbish. It doesn’t matter how good the player is, if he doesn’t practice his skill, he will start making mistakes.
Dixon, Winterburn, Adams, Keown and Bould weren’t the best defenders in the world, although Adams would have been up there, yet they formed one of the best defences the world has seen. Clearly all of them were good, but the way they became so good as a unit was hours upon hours of practice under George Graham.
If you look at the rolling mistakes our defence and keepers make, season after season, it can only be because of a lack of cohesive understanding of their roles and position. They make basic errors yet never correct them.
I don’t care who we bring in, if they don’t practice what they do, they will be just as bad as what we have now.
Oh yeah forgot Silvestre.
Hi,saw all the match,lost fof words really same old problems.Arsene seems to have spent the summer trying to keep players at the club who don’t want to be there.Shouldn.ve been strenghtning the squad quality we’re needed, almost in aii areas imo.I scared to think what our “super quality signing” might be.The past seasons i have been worried,this season i really fear for Arsenal.Think if anyone out there has access to away tickets i may attend less home matches.Can anyone help? AFFA
Norweigian,
by the sounds of it, TV got ‘done’ a couple of times yesterday too…
MikeH – maybe my local village team would take him on for a season…. Spot on re the suggestion of leaving the defensive signings to someone like Keown, ok he has brought in Campbell, TV, Lauren etc, but for each good signing in defence, he has made more bad signings….
All this stupid clown of a manager do, is laying to us fans. He promise new quality players before every season, but what happend. He is so fu.. stupid this man and have a ego bigger than himself. Every idiot see what the problems are in this team expect him. Arsenal is the only team in PL where players like Chamak and totally useless Sq get first team play. It’s a shame. This players together with serval deadwoods must just be given away almost for free, or maybe the club must pay to get rid of them. And then you have this absolutely nonsens situation about Fab and the overpaid stupid Nasri. Get rid of them asap and bring in quality players over the hole line!!!!!
Morning Erick,
all is not good is it, I know some will say it’s only a friendly but sadly we have seen it all too often in the ‘proper’ matches to know that is a lame excuse for yet another shocking display…..
Hi Rico. The fans, well some of them anyway, have known what has been wrong for years. We told Wenger that Denilson,Eboue, Bendtner, Diaby, etc weren’t good enough years ago. But he told us they were and in some cases still are. We told him that we needed a new goalkeeper of the highest quality. He told us that Almunia was the answer. We let him know that the central defense was little short of ghastly and he bought Silvestre and the Squillaci. Who can honestly say the the fans were wrong about any of these things? Every year, for the past several years we have done nothing and not moved the squad forward and now it is showing. We have known about the Cesc thing for ages and the Nasri situation since before the end of last season. But Wenger has fiddled while Rome has burnt. And here we are, one week before the new season starts, in a worse position than we have been for years. He might well patch things over with a few signings. But where is the master plan? Where is the future? Complacency has bought us here. Perhaps we haven’t had the money, but I doubt that personally. We are a rich club, one of the richest in the world and yet we have a manager out of place and now running out of time who seems still transfixed with buying 18 year olds. As ever, the results will be the final arbiters of where the club goes from here but I sense a hurricane coming.
Morning rico, morning everyone.
I’m fed up with all the rumors. The list has about 3563 defenders linked to us, and none of them have signed. We will never be a winning team under Wenger again, never. When Diaby is at his best, his really good, VP is class, but they’re both always injured. What happened to the GPS system? Why are we letting Bendtner go? We have no attackers when VP gets injured. Chamakh is pretty useless. Sorry for the rant, i’m just so bloody frustrated and angry!
bt62, can’t help re the tickets, sorry….
Pete, i don’t think wenger involves Bould, he leaves him to get on with his own role – i honestly believe we need Keown, wasn’t he the coach that saw us get to the CL final ??
The problem is that it seems Wenger doesn’t listen to anyone, he is his own worst enemy – look at Pat Rice, (a defender himself in his day) all Wenger does on a match day is use him to shout at….
Re the Dixon, Winterburn etc, they were good defenders already, diet changed them, they became fitter imho… but they were already good…. Difference was that Adams got his life together and bossed the back line, he was immense Everyone knew their job as you say, but now they are like rabbits in headlights…..
Steve,
Thank you for the post. I think for the first time in a long, long time. I’ve lost faith. For the first time. I don’t believe that the manager and the board are in control of the situation, in previous years. I always had a feeling that they would pull a rabbit out of a hat. Perhaps I should have more faith stop being so negative and just support Arsenal.
When you compare Arsenals situation to our nearest competitors have done in the transfers window, mainly Manchester United have transferred out that deadwood and brought in new blood, and Liverpool, who have spent in excess of hundred million on players. I’m sure the players that we have bought will be very good, if they given time and a bit of luck, but are still don’t have time or that luxury. We have lost one of our most experience defenders Clichy and there has been the ongoing saga with Nasri and Cesc. All of last season we were being told we needed central defenders none really arrived.
What particularly upsets me is two major shareholders are reputed to be billionaires. I know that the stock market and commodities have tumbled, but I want them to sanction something in the region of 50 Million, this combined with the clubs transfer kitty of approximately 35Million and the sale of Clichy and others would provider us with a kitty to go after the best all world-class players. I really don’t mind if a player costs 18Million in the market but we only value him at 15 Million. It doesn’t matter, providing we get the right players too often we lose out to the best players, cutting off our nose to spite our face.
All the issues that we have highlighted mean that it is less attractive for players to come to Arsenal because of the uncertainty and this puts a premium on attracting great players to the club. Clubs know that we’re in a desperate situation and know that if we express an interest in the player than our competitors will be sniffing around to get the same players.
Sorry if this sounds unduly negative but come on you gunners. Let’s just spend some money on class.
Werder Bremen are demanding 6 million pounds for Mertesacker as his contract is running out next season. A 6″6 defender, who can deal with the aerial threats, will wenger buy him? Or will he offer 4 million first? 🙁
Arsene wenger leave our arsenal fr us b4 u finish it, u r not a coach fr not signing cb, cf, rb lb fb, we need all this positions but this man pretend as if everythings is ok u lie man is not. Gogogogogogogogogogogogogogogogogogog out.
Totto
We need to forget about the outs and get on with the ins!!
Hi Adam, good comment, spot on……
Hi ADK – last season i thought Chamakh was going to turn out good – he hit the ground running then that was it, burned out and has never recovered since. Not sure he ever will…. I’m sick of all the rumours too, I just cannot get my head around why wenger has not bought yet…
As for the Oxo and Campbell stories, they are not going to stop us leaking goals are they….
Mike, that is a great idea, have a designated defensive coach and scout and leave Wenger to work on the attacking side.
Can anyone tell me the problem defensively with our midfield?
Surrey Gunner. You are right that our two major shareholders are billionaires, but Usmanov, despite his huge investment, isn’t even on the board while a Port-sodden old fool like Hill-Wood is the club’s embarrassing mouthpiece. Kroenke won’t talk to Usmanov. In fact Kroenke is very seldom even here. He has said nothing, made no statement to the supporters and is probably maintaining a watching brief. Perhaps he will see that the future is going to require massive changes and huge, huge investment. In that case will he take Usmanov’s money and run?
Boo!! rico, am I on mod??
Will, you tell us – i don’t do questions 😉
Surrey Gunner, good comment…
I read the other day that AU wanted to meet Stan with the view of discussing him investing in players but Stan rejected his offer. Whether that is true or not i don’t know.
But, I don’t see why they cannot, AU has an awful lot of shares but it seems wrong that he has little say in what goes on. Right now I wish he had bought us out, I know that long term he may not have been ideal either but what good is Stan doing right now….
New owner, same old Arsenal…..
Hey, agag, where you been?? Sunning yourself again??
You haven’t missed much in the world of Arsenal….
Saw Martin Keown on ESPN last week. He was great. He should be the defensive coach for AW.
The great reason they were invincible was the defence.
Had AW that defence the last two years then the trophy cabinet would look different.
Rico, there is no positional sense in our midfield, there are far too far apart when we have the ball so if we do break down, one pass and our midfield might as well sit down.
Hello, all!! Steve, beyond frustrating, yesterday’s performance was angering. We looked very much like a two-bit side. Embarrassing, shambolic defending has undone us again. Our midfield was pretty appalling, too.
The silver lining to the heavy cloud cover must be that surely, surely, surely we would be getting at least two class defenders now. For a management that boasts at every opportunity of its healthy financial standing, our board is certainly turtle-slow in loosening those purse strings. Grrrrr.
Off to Singapore and Bali this week, rico. It’s been raining here for a solid month, bar two days, maybe. I miss my sunshine, 😀 How are you?
Hello, all
Just because 2 billionaires own our club,it doesn’t mean that we can demand them to shell out money left right and centre . Just like many Arsenal fans who have supposedly declined the opportunity to renew their membership because of high ticket prices , even they have the right to decide whether to put their money into the business or allow it to be self sustaining. Other billionaires bought their clubs for pittance compared to Arsenal, while Stan Kroenke has had to pay roughly close to £485-500M for just a 67% stake(club valuation based on this supposedly £731M) . Chelsea was bought for £140M while complete control of L’pool was done close £350-365M I won’t even bother discussing Man Utd or Citeh because the former was always a bigger club than Arsenal with its popularity and a player like Beckham contributed hugely for success off the filed apart from the success they had on the field.The latter has an almost unlimited source of money. These business aspects have to be looked into as well.
I can’t comment on yesterday Will as I didn’t see it 🙁 But I get what you are saying…
I thought you had been away already agag 😉 Bet you can’t wait to go on a well deserved break 😉
Welcome Keown, totally agree re your namesake
Be back shortly, got to go feed the neighbours cat….
HOW CAN YOU SAY SELLL SONG …….. ARE U FUCKING MADD .
ARSENAL CAN HARDLY COPE WITH OUT HIM WHAT OTHER GREAT HOLDING MIDFEILDER IS THE LEAGUE.
THINK ABOUT IT GAMES LIKE NEWCASTLE (4-4) WE MISSED SONG THAT DAY AND RELIED ON SHITTY DIABY
LOOOK ALL ARSENAL NEED IS TWO NEW CENTRE BACKS WITH HUGE EXPERIENCE,A GOOD LEFTBACK , COVER FOR SONG AND MATA!!!!!!!!!!!
Good Post, as per usual, Steve..
Now to read the comments….. 🙁
Rico, I know Bould has nothing to do with the 1st team but there’s no reason why he can’t be moved up to it. The point I am making is, we don’t spend enough time practicing the art of defending or goalkeeping. I know this for a fact.
Dixon, Nutty etc were good players and they did have an exceptional leader in Tony Aams, however, the only reason they were as good as they were was the hours and hours George Graham spent drilling it into them.
It would never happen because Wenger is too proud/stubborn and he likes his stopwatch too much but he should bite the bullet and ask George Graham if he could spend a few months at the training ground. I never want to change our style of play back to what we had before Wenger but there is no reason we can’t improve our defenders understanding of how a defensive unit plays together.
Forget bringing in new players first sort out the board and the medical staff!
Hi all….its not all doom and gloom guys wenger has promised a super quality signing so let’s all bury our hatchets and pitchforks and support the arse….hi mama bear…don’t worry I have it on good authority its SNEIJDER……whisper it though let’s we jinx it!
Meant lest we jinx it…..
Keown did some coaching for us on the way to the CL final and was highly praised for it. Arsene never forgot that. You must remember, the reason Seaman, Adams, Viera, or Keown are not at the club is because AW wants it as a one-man show. Its all about Him.
I can understand how disappointed a lot of Gooners are, on here today, but the 1st 45 was ok wasn’t it?
And that’s the basis of the team that’ll play 90 mins at St James’ Park…
Djourou had a solid 45, so did Sagna….
My biggest concern is not the defence……….8O
No, it’s the attack… What happens if RVP goes down?
That folks… is a shit sandwich…
Agag, how ya doing?
Going on holiday ‘again’…… 8)
Alright for some….
Shrek……. where you been hiding? 😆
hey allezkev….. Work keeps me busy,I rarely go on the internet nowadays.I feel too tired to type or read any news .
Hey, AK. 🙂 I wish I had a sinecure and could be on a perpetual holiday. Haha. How are you?? How’s the gym? 😀
Hey, Shrek. You haven’t missed anything of note, I must say. 🙂
I thought you was avoiding us because ‘your boys’ had underperformed… 😉
To be fair, you’ve had some terrible luck with injuries.
How has Doni gone down in the Indian Press..?
Pete,
Sorry, i din’t meant to come accross as being argumentative, i guess my point was he’s already got Bould like you say but he doesn’t utilise him, he’d rather leave him with the kids.. I wish he’d bring in Keown and then the best one take over from Rice…. when he retires…
Morning Kev, Goonster (aka Stan 😉 )
Gym Fri’ & Sat’ agag, having a rest today.
Actually doing some housework….. eek 😆
Morning boss,
Morning Stan… Snieder????? Not sure about that one mate..
Thanks for you comment Brad, shame you had to be so sarcastic… please lock the door….
Goonster, Welsey to AFC, now I know you are hoping a bit too much 😉
allezkev……no it had nothing do with the Indian cricket team doing poorly. The English team played very well . Dhoni is being crucified (on a small level) but its the Indian cricket board which is gaining brickbats for the way it has handled schedules . The IPL is one of the main reasons for Indian cricketers are not getting any rest and thus getting injured . T20 is a major reason why I fear none of the new batsmen barring a very select few lack technique and temperament to play Test cricket.
hey agag,rico….
I ‘ll have to correct my last sentence in the earlier bigger post,”T20 is a major reason why I fear none of the new batsmen barring a very select few HAVE the technique and temperament to play Test cricket.
Hi folks, Rico , Will is right about the gaps in the team trouble is that they are all over. The defence doesn’t seem to communicate with the midfield and when Rvp is not there no link exists between our lone forward and the wide midfield players. It’s just a team of individuals.
rico, I almost wish you had let Brad in. I was sort of in the mood to vent some spleen. But my dinner’s just arrived so I’m happy again.
AK, not bad. 🙂 You’d better do a good job, or the missus won’t make you a nice lunch. As for yesterday’s performance, average is the best that could be said about most of our players. Some were downright disastrous though.
Hi shrek, how you doing – a cricket fan too, join the club 🙂
I have to agree with Freddie Flintoff, this current Ebland squad is better than the 2005 one, great bowling unit and great depth in the batting line up….
Yeah, Shrek, i couldn’t believe the way your team jetted in and virtually went into back to back Tests…..
I like one-dayers, 20/20 etc, but to me Test cricket is the ultimate, and it worries me that in certain parts of cricket authority that it’s being downplayed….
I mean England vs India should be 5 Tests.
Agag, i’m making me own lunch….. 😉
I still think it was… a game of two halfs….. 🙁
Hi Potter,
My worry is the little time left to change such glaringly obvious problems…..
I was tempted agag but he/she was patronisning towards the post, the author and us who have our own views… Obviously Brad thinks he is the expert….
Anthony Stokes scores again for Celtic…. huff….
Should have let us at him/her. We need a new target !
😛 Potter, that’s you and agag up for a tussle then.. See what wenger is turning us all into 😉 😉
Are the schools on holiday Rico….?
Brad should be doing his homework
Haha, rico. 🙂 if JJ were here, he’d have had fun with that “Brad”.
AK, that’s good, too. that way you can make yourself anything, and you can have few sips of the good stuff while you’re at it. 😀
I’m still hopeful we get a few good signings though. There’s still time. 😉
😆 Kev, funny enough they are …
agag, i’m hopeful too but not confident hence my new widget in transfer news 😉
jj hasn’t been around for a while, i think he’s prob waiting for us to sign Hazard 😉
Just popping out for a quick walk in the rain with Fido, back shortly…..
Have we signed MATA yet?
Generally agree with what you’re saying there, but the first goal was Gibbs and Vermaelen’s fault.
Our greatest problem yesterday with the defence is that the only capable defensive midfielder is Song.
I think what we need is a good defender who’ll challenge Vermaelen and Kocielny but who can also play as a holding player.
Gutted for Fat Sam…. 😆 😆 😆
West ham lose then Kev 🙂
Good, should we go and get Parker??
yes m’lady 🙂
Afternoon all
Here’s a question for you guys, as Citeh are winning 2-0
Taking us out of the equasion, would you rather Citeh or Old Red Nose lot won the PL??
Hi SL, sorry for the delay, first comments go into moderation…..
2-2 Rico. Cleverley is chasing around like Fletcher usually does, and as i’d like to see from Lansbury….
ManUre look good again….. how depressing…
West Ham lost 1-0 in added time Rico.. 😆
I know kev, very depressing….. i can see these two being 1st and 2nd… How has Clichy played, haven’t been watching??
Lansbury = Fletcher – good point and i think he could be if he gets and takes his chances….
3-2 ManUre…… You should see the balls-up Kompany makes.
And we think our defence is suspect….!
Clichy did ok… he came on as a sub with about 20mins to go.
If Man City defend like that, then i can’t see them as title contenders.
Chelsea will be the main competitors to ManUre again.
City will be fighting it out with Liverpool and Arsenal for 3rd and 4th.
Good Kev about Citeh’s defence… but I hate all three of those you mention….
Hey – come on Kev, we’ll be their main challengers 😉
Well…. Rico, you never know boss 😉
How much did the Man City defence cost…???
KT, if you’re out there, can you tell me how much those Man City defenders, who played today, and conceded 3 second half goals, how much mate?
Hi all.man city have no mental strengzzz…;)
Almost £70mil AK.
Steve, great post.
This is the time of the year when I begin to shift from complaining about the team to trying to convince myself that we can win with the players we have. By January I’ll have myself convinced this will be our season.
Taking a step back and looking at the team as a whole, I think the real problem is that we only have one true World class “killer” … Robin van Persie. I believe that both Fabragas and Nasri are overrated, mainly because they are weak mentally and thus prone to giving in to frustration in tough games, or simply not putting it all out there when we need them. In the case of Fabragas, he is a particularly bad Captain and poor example to the rest of the team. Jack Wilshire had a great year, but he is still young, has a lot to prove, and is not a very effective finisher. Likewise, Theo shows great promise as always, but he seems lost on the wing.
And don’t even get me started on defense. To say we lack depth is an understatement. We can only field 2 top quality defenders.
Infect, depth is our single biggest problem everywhere. We have an awesome, if injury prone stiker, some top midfielders, two defenders… and that is really it. Look at the players who sit on the bench at Man U, Man City, Chelsea. Those teams have options galore. The can afford to rotate and rest players. They can afford a few inevitable injuries. We can not.
That’s why since early this summer, I (like many of you), have been shouting from the rooftops that we don’t just need one or two defenders, we need 3 or 4. That’s just a bare minimum. A couple creative and attack minded midfielders would have been nice. Perhaps a fast winger, allowing Theo to play more centrally, with van Persie as a second striker (in a 4 4 2).
Of course I had no delusions that all that would happen. Nor do I actually believe that I know better than Wenger what our formation should be or how our players should be played. That’s why I generally fall in line with the AKBs once the season starts. Also, I think Arsenal fans in general are to negative – how could they boo our team in the Emirates cup? Unacceptable. Still, i’ve never been more concerned than I am now.
I’ve said my piece. I’ll shut up now. I hope and pray something happens soon, but even if it doesn’t I still think we have a chance. The odds may not be good, but it’s still possible.
Kev – if Wenger buys 3 maybe 4 players we could beat anyone…..
on a good day 😉
Cheers KT..
Now Arsenal’s defence at Newcastle:
Sagna, Vermaelen, Koscielny, Gibbs, cost, if i’m correct=
£28 million, or a James Milner…
If Djourou plays instead of Kos, that drops to=
£18 million, or a Jolien Lescott….
Food for thought?
Clichy showed how terrific a defender he is in the mancs 3rd goal…8-)
KT, didn’t that just bring back some fond memories.
There’s no doubt, AFC have definately sold Man City some very expensive and doubtfull ‘talent’…
ROTFLMAO CLICHY!!!!
Please watch again with Clichy instinctly peeled off to makr left flank instead of closing down Nani….leaving Kompany in a 1-on-1 situation.
Last season, how times we seen CLichy – and Denilson as well – suddenly peeled off to mark “zone” instead of closing down players?
Is it the fault of our “zonal marking” coaching system that caused our defenders to instinctly mark their respective zone instead of closing down opponents running 1-on-1 at his fellow defender’s zone?
Sold Adebayor and as usual he created disharmony there.
Sold an “over-the-hill” Kolo and got caught doping.
Sold CLichy and looked what happened!!!
Let’s sell our “half-a-season” wonder Nasri to e’m and watched him gone MIA during 2nd half of season.
Hi Doc –
good comment and i think we all try and convince ourselves that we are in with a chance when the season begins but deep down we know the truth…
Then, we get to January and we are high a kites as we are in the top 2, maybe 3 and things look good – then, the same old thing happens, we wilt as we have no guts in our squad….
And, as the saying goes, No Guts, No Glory….
Re RvP – You are bang on the money there – No RvP and our goals dry up….. However, I honestly believe Gervinho will score a few but just imagine if RvP gets injured on the 1st Jan, what will Wenger do then….
Hey Merlin, thank you, thank you – i needed that about Clichy 😛
Ooh arsenal i was shocked to see how terrific our defender are pls wenger do smthng fast about it
Merlin, you took the words right outta my keyboard 😉
Yes £22/25 million for Nasri…. 150k per week of Arab oil money 😀
Clichy must have felt a sense of de javu today…wasting a 2 goal lead…last minute goals…blunders…
Afternoon all….
Top 2 or 3 in jan Rico….. never in a month of sundays…!
Least the Hi rd is looking a bit better than normal…! lol
That’s an Italian manager for ya KT…
Lets also get it right Citeh stuffed up for a couple of goals we seem to do that every game….!
Great 2nd goal from the mancs, great footie and great finish..! they’ve got rid of the deadwood and now integrated youngsters back into the squad as well…!
Hey, Let’s do this Cesc deal then!!!
£35million + Hleb + Cesc’s £4million loyalty bonus
= £39million + Hleb.
Without Nasri and Cesc, we need Hleb as Cnetral Midfielder then.
……………….Szczesney
…Sagna…Mertesacker…Vermaelen…new LB
……….new DCM……….Wilshere
…Walcott………Hleb…………Gervinho
………………Van Persie
And all these new players are bought with Cesc & Nasri Transfer Funds..like how we use that £23million Anelka Transfer Fund to buy Henry, Pires, Gilberto and WIltord.
We really need Hleb during this transitory post-Cesc period when waiting for Wilshere, Ramsey, ANeke, Toral-HArper, Bellerin, and any new buys like Mata to groove into the team for the future.
Perhaps we can buy ANelka as well!!!!
We need Hleb and Anelka for teh next 2 seasosn ebfore all our youngsters are ready to take their palces as regualrs in 1st team!!!
Throw Oxalde-Chamberlain into the mix, with Benik Afobe developing all the time……
Thank goodness clichy is not more our defender now,surely fab and Nasri if they quit arsenal they’ll end up like flamini,Hleb,Edu etc fuck em if they dont want to stay,up Van persie truly Hero
Hi Wath, i was referring to previous seasons – this coming one we have no bloody chance…..
ooooi..I love that Spanish goalie.
ManU is going to leak goals as they maybe communicaiton problem between goalie and Back-4.
He is young, uncertain and need a few months to blend with his team-amtes.
Not forgetting English Winter and the terrifying sight of English forwards charging into him with little protection from English referees.
Guarantee we are going to see a few cockups like ALmunia or Fabianski….lol…
😛 Merlin, the second goal EvDS would have easily got a hand to….
Off for dinner….
Only saw the third , nice to see that Gael hasn’t forgotten all that we taught him.
🙂 Potter…
All quiet on here so I’m going to take advantage and have a restful evening – a cup of cocoa and then night night….
Catch you all tomorrow….
Thanks again Steve for todays post……
Night all……
Evening all, bit late i’m afraid, golf club bar kept me for a while, i noticed by some of your comments that you don’t seem to happy with the Arsenal set up at the moment, i certainly am not happy, one week from the start of the Premier league and all i get from the Manager is “I may have good news next week” Arsene i am sorry, i have been a staunch supporter of you for many years but, “may have good news for you next week” is not good enough with only one week to the start of the season. If you haven’t secured a centre back who will play on Saturday, and instilled a coach for our defence, i’m sorry , but you are not doing your job right. a phone call on Monday morning asking another manager if said player is still available and if he is how much, is all that is needed pay the money get his signature and register him all in an hour, if you can’t manage that, move over, and pack your bags, as you are not the man i thought you were.
Hi Steve P did you see the manc game
Yep !
You got the hump
Nte.
I have good news. Arsene is thinking about trying to sign a footballer sometime in the future but doesn’t want to give any names in case Benfica get in first.
Morning
New Post up…