Firstly, congratulations to the Arsenal team, a great result after our abysmal performance at Wembley.
A five nil win against Leyton Orient was very emphatic and well deserved, the players were very focused and passed the ball about very effectively. A good one touch goal from a Rosicky fine run and a well executed cut back pass which found Chamakh and that was our first goal. I felt relief as that goal went in and I believe the players did as well.
It seemed to me that the game was set up for us to win. I couldn’t understand Orients tactics for the evening, they started from the back and tried to play in the same manner as we do, which in all honesty played straight into our hands. These tactics seemed very different to the way theyset up in the first game.
Maybe I shouldn’t question a win as at the end of the day we made another three million for this replay, when I say we I mean the club, not the supporters, they were the ones paying the money.
Perhaps I am just a bit touchy after the loss at Wembley but football is a business after all.
That win puts us in the quarter-final and we are matched with Manchester United. It appears to me that we will keep on being matched with United in every competition we stay in, so what are our chances against them. Most people would give us a good chance seeing how Ferguson’s men haven’t been firing on all cylinders but my opinion is that we don’t stand a chance.
Now don’t stop reading until I explain why.
Against Orient we passed all night and they gave us plenty of space and time to make our passes and that’s what we did all night. Our passing must have been close to Barcelona’s figures when we hosted them but when you look at the game again like I have, you see that we very seldom make a tackle. When I say tackle I mean going in with commitment, every tackle which is fifty-fifty our players pull out of. I understand that they do not want to be injured but I have noticed this trend more and more.
The same thing with heading, very seldom will we win a header. The players jump but only to try and put the defender off, never an intentional effort to win the ball, so what I am saying in so many words is that we are running scared of physical contact.
Denilson, Diaby, Rosicky, Nasri Eboue Walcott Arshavin, are some of the worst offenders. I have noticed that it is spreading right through the team, Diaby pulled out of several tackles against Orient and that brought him to my attention. When your defensive midfielder starts pulling out you know you’re in trouble.
Wenger said after our last game at Orient, that young Miquel would be left out till he was stronger to go into tackles with intent, I think he should be looking at many more.
Now I come back to my statement about us not winning against Manchester United. Now this is a physical side, they are on you as soon as you receive the ball especially, Vidic Evra Fletcher and Carrick. They never pull out of any challenge, they are fully committed with one intention and that’s to get the ball. Their forward players will all battle for everything, they jump and win most of the balls in the air. They also have a very solid goalkeeper who is very experienced – he maybe nearing retirement but he’s still one of the best if not the best in the league.
What I am saying is that you have to fight power with power and our boys haven’t got this in them, so when matched with a physical side we normally come unstuck. When our players are rushed they give the ball away and they seem frightened of the physical side of the game.
I believe we lost the Carling Final because of it. I’m afraid our team are chokers in the important games and until their tackling and ‘bottle’ is sorted out, I believe we will gradually get knocked out of the cup competitions we are left in.
Pretty football is fine but sometimes a bit of good old grit and passion win games and the latter seems to be somthing we lack.
When the going gets tough, do we really have the ‘tough to get going’?
So, despite what Samir Nasri has said in the last couple of days:
“We’ve become more macho, both physically and psychologically,”
Do you you believe we are strong enough to fight to the end and win something this season, or am I just still annoyed at losing the Carling Cup final.
Written by Steve Palmer
Good write up Steve…..! I’m with you mate think far to many lack passion and commitment, call it bottle or fight or will to win or what ever you want but yes think we lacking for sure…!
Morning peeps,
Good one Steve and spot on….
Morning WATH…
Funny how the result skews peoples peception of games. Yes B’ham played well but we were still by far the better side at Wembley & the performance was by not means abysmal.
Just a horrible fuck up at the end
hi simon, it was not good from the moment we turned up…. i know Foster had a decent game but we were second to most things….
Morning All,
i wonder how we can be scared of tackles and have one of the poorest diciplinary record in the league this season, i dont reckon that being our problem but a mental problem, either we consider the game won before its played (WBA, BCFC) or we lose our heads during the game (Wigan,Totenham)
Your veery easily pleased it seems Simon…!
Morning Rico 😉 Lovely day today eh…. 😉
Hi didee….
Most of our cards come from silly clumbsy tackles, i think Steve is talking about good old fashioned, hard but fair tackles like we saw in the days of Bould, Adams and Keown…
Sun is shining, +1 degree, it’s wonderful 😉
I was contemplating a few hours in the garden to catch some rays Rico…. 😉 Go on you know you wanna…! Looks great from inside 😛
Hi Rico,
we have made some silly one and alot of good ones but most of the silly ones came in games where we lost out heads and sometimes when the ref picks on us
We are haemoriging (screw the spelling) our best players at a horrific rate.We are going to need more than our beautiful passing game set on auto pilot.We will have to get the best out of the players we have left. Diaby is going to have to adopt the get stuck in mantra of one Paul Davis who made up his mind to rise above his own mediocrity( by getting stuck in for the full 90 minutes)We are going to have to play to Bendtners strengths by putting him in the middle, telling him to stay there with his hand mirror and bombing in some accurate crosses.Not Bendtner crossing to Chamack (screw the spelling).We will need to be unpredictable, because as per usual our legs are falling off.We will need to start shooting at the goal.I will need some sedation now….
Rico – of course I wasn’t pleased but it just shows how the media can sway even Arsenal fans opinions. We were still the better side despite Bham playing well.
Simon, I agree with you
Ha ha, i’d need a scarf and wooly hat 😉
Simon, i just believe B’ham wanted it more than we did, they fought harder than us for that. I am sure that had we not made that daft mistake we would probably have romped home in extra time as B’ham were on their last legs…
But the reason they were on their last legs is they fought hard for everything and ran their socks off, the played through injuries and got what i believe they deserved….
Morning all,
I thought hard and long about this post and beleived you would be anoyed because of my lack vision for our team, almost like a traitor, i can assure you all, nobody wants Arsenal to win things more than me, but i write it as i see it, and at present i am not seeing the passion, i beleive a winning team should show. When Cesc went off against Orient,i could almost feel the players realise that if they got injured in that match, they would lose any chance of playing in the final, and it reflected in their play. I beleive we need to get stuck in and fight for every ball, never be satisfied,chase every ball down untill you reposess it, and never bottle any tackle, make that ball yours. I know this is easy to say sitting in a chair, but if you want to be succesfull thats the effort you have to put in. I know a lot of you will probably not agree but thats what these blogs are all about, Gooners talking Goonertalk
Morning all,
I thought hard and long about this post and beleived you would be anoyed because of my lack vision for our team, almost like a traitor, i can assure you all, nobody wants Arsenal to win things more than me, but i write it as i see it, and at present i am not seeing the passion i beleive a winning team should show. When Cesc went off against Orient,i could almost feel the players realise that if they got injured in that match, they would lose any chance of playing in the final, and it reflected in their play. I beleive we need to get stuck in and fight for every ball, never be satisfied,chase every ball down untill you reposess it, and never bottle any tackle, make that ball yours. I know this is easy to say sitting in a chair, but if you want to be succesfull thats the effort you have to put in. I know a lot of you will probably not agree but thats what these blogs are all about, Gooners talking Goonertalk
Hi unsedated… i don’t think its only Diaby…
Moving away from the CC, i am in agreement with the author of the post – just a bit more comittment is needed, fight for those 50/50 balls and start winning the aerial battles in defence and in midfield….
Morning Steve, I don’t think you post could offend as all you have pointed out is what most fans see.
Is it any different than suggesting that players need to shoot more often when they have sight of the goal?
I don’t think so…
You are always more likely to be injured pulling out of a challenge rather than following through….
Thanks for your support rico, we have the players that can win things eventually, But other Managers have found our weaknesses and untill we cure them we will stay losers
Do we pull out of tackles because we are milky or because we get our legs broken and get no protection?
No probs Steve, I share your beliefs….
Hi Will, didn’t stop Paddy and Co and they had less protection…..
Off for a bit guys, back this afternoon….
True Rico but we didn’t have that myth that physical football beats us. Also, that myth gets repeated by the popular press as a way to equal the game up.
As I said yesterday, how many times do we hear that it is only fair that teams kick us as they have to equal the ability gap some way?
Will the prob is it’s not a myth that hard in your face football has upset us over the last 5 yrs the problem with that is it also breeds over the top tackles and tackles that are reckless and not just hard. Hoof ball causes us problems where as many moons ago it never did. The problem now is the team has to prove they can compete against in your face tactics fair or otherwise and secondly that we can also cope with hoof ball. We do compete better physically but we def have not coped with hoof ball just yet and also agree totally with Steve that soon as Cesc went off v Stoke many players noticeably didnt go in for tackles or compete with the idea the final was a few days away and none wanted injuries. Thing is you get hurt more when you go in half hearted.
Wath, I agree with you but it was more about why we pull out of challenges.
Wouldn’t you if you knew your opponent was going to come in over-physically and without sanction?
Will i think we a bit overboard on the everytackle is a leg breaker, sure we have suffered but in general a lot of our players don’t like a good 50/50…! I think it has nothing to do with anything other than not having the bottle to win tackles simple as that..! If your gonna play and worry about the physical battle then your in the wrong sport…! They need to toughen up but you can’t teach someone that so that means Wenger has bought a load of softies…!
I have to disagree with you a little.
All you guys have years of experience some as players and some at watching, where ever you amassed it tell me did you ever see Adams Viera Keown Storie go off the pitch dizzy and not come back on. Now thats the difference in then and now
morning all…good post steve – i had not previously considered the non-tackling…i would agree that our squad is mentally fragile. i think we do have some grit – no team composed entirely of shrinking violets will come back to win after barcelaona’s first half performance against us, as an example…but i think we do our worst in big spots where we are favored to win…i think this was never more evident than sunday at wembley – we froze under the weight of expectations.
unfortunately, i think our players yap a little too much about “mental strength”, grit, focus, etc…i think they talk a little too much in general…
As the old saying goes Oliver we’re far to much yap and far to little bite…!
michael madsen (mr. blonde) – “are you gonna bark all day, little doggie? or are you gonna bite?” (1992)
Hi, Wath, Oliver,
i Somhow think that loseing in the final will tongue tie some of the players who was shouting before the game,They now understand that they had the chance and blew it, i now get the feeling they wont be saying much for a while.
steve, just as you type this, a dot.com fluff piece pops up…squil commenting (extracts from an interview) about how he thinks the title is just between united and us…that may well turn out to be true, but it is a bit early to completely rule everyone else out…
play harder, talk less…
and now arsene is commenting on kolo failed drug test…supposedly taking his wife’s diet pill…even if arsene was asked about it directly, is it really his place to comment? man city issued the terse statement yesterday evening announcing the suspension. kolo is a city player, not an arsenal player…this is something arsene should not insert himself into, regardless of whether he was directly asked or not…
Sqill should keep quiet,most people see him as a stand in, i was hopeing he would come good, maybe Oliver, he knows somthing we dont, like Vermaelen emerging
now i am a little annoyed…kolo is not an arsenal player, this didn’t happen in a match with arsenal. absolutely nothing to do with us in any way…
I agree with your comment, none of our buisness
Seems funny though leave us for more money then get caught out poking diet pills up your hooter
What are your guys thoughts on the Wilshere thing?
Wise me up Will
will…? do you mean his tweet about the geezer (b. ferguson) that slapped kos around the head after the 89th minute disaster? eck makes me laugh – cyber bully indeed…jack issued one twitter comment, sarcastic in nature and then did not say another word. arsenal fc has said absolutely nothing about it. if eck had not said anything, it would all be forgotten…
ALEX McLEISH called Jack Wilshere’s Twitter dig at Barry Ferguson “cyberbullying”.
Arsenal star Wilshere, 19, commented on the social network site after Ferguson taunted Laurent Koscielny in the Carling Cup final.
Obafemi Martins hit the Blues’ late winner and, as players ran to celebrate, Ferguson tapped the distraught Koscielny on the head.
Blues boss McLeish said: “It’s not my world, Twitter and all that stuff. Cyberbullying isn’t for me.
“We’ll draw a line under it.”
It was Koscielny’s mistake, along with keeper Wojciech Szczesny, that gifted Martins the Brum winner.
And as the defender knelt on the ground, Ferguson mockingly pushed his head down on the way past as Blues began celebrating.
Wilshere’s tweet said: “Well done to the Birmingham player who slapped Koscielny on the head when they scored – very big of you.”
McLeish hailed Ferguson, who cried tears of joy at lifting the trophy, for playing an hour of the final with a broken rib.
He added: “It shows Fergie’s pain threshold is frightening.”
If any of you guys do or have watched NCIS on tv, i would have thought Wenger whould have given all the players a headslap after that game.
Love me some NCIS.
Cheers Will i had read that, i thought the silly bugger had stopped another cab
nothing to add to my previous comments…other than it’s nothing – jack tweeted and then let it drop. eck is the one making a big deal of it now…
however, if you want to highlight the larger issue of our players having a plenty to say and not always backing it up, i will say that we don’t always do ourselves favors with our chirpiness…i will highlight szczesny’s tweet regarding ashley cole’s penalty miss…considering what happened on sunday, he would probably have been better advised to hold his counsel…
it’s a free society and social media platforms are certainly extensively used. i just wish our players would keep a little quieter at times.
I am hopeing that the young guys in our team, have learnt a little bit about themselves now, how things have to be earnt and are not just handed to you. Nothing like a loss and dissapointment to get your mind right, those players must feel embaressment when they stand surrounded by the fans, i am hopeing they will work hard to put that right.
steve, only problem is we have had disappointments before – came close in two of the past three seasons – but still cannot take that final step…i think a mental block has developed, it looked to me as though the players were more afraid of losing than going out and winning..
i love our legends but seeing things like this would never have happened in the bould,keown and adams days is rose tinted nonsense.
the last time we went out the fa cup to lower league opposition at home was against millwall in 94/95 after an away draw
keown had a ball played through his legs for the 1st goal and adams missed a sitter from 12 yards to equalise with only the keeper to beat.
mental strength is a load of bollocks and chasing 4 trophys should be incentive for any team but to make out fuck ups have never occured among the best is a load of old shit.
we are in the hunt for 3 and i,m loving it and believe we can win the lot and so should the team
Oliver, i know it’s sort of maybe a step backwards but maybe not in so far as the next lot of Brit players are really very close to knowcking on the first team door, this will help the fighting spirit for sure, That’s not me saying we still don’t need to buy a couple of ready made class players but in letting a quite a few of teh fringe ones leave it seems the next lot of kids coming through will bring us a lot more fight and passion.
wath, that sounds good in theory and i am certainly hopeful, but at the same time there are no guarantees…i don’t think it would have been too unreasonable to have expected the players we now feel are coasting to have brought fight and passion to the squad when they were preparing for the step up. a few have, many have not…
i, for one, don’ think all of our young brit players will make it. and i think that our squad will retain a predominantly french/former french colony personality as long as arsene is running things…
that is not in any way an aspersion on french culture – rather an observation based upon arsene’s recent purchases and the personality of the squad.
Hear what your saying Oliver but for me from day one a few of those young ones that are now players we are saying coast or don’t have what it takes didnt do it for me even then…! I just think the current crop coming through def have the technique and look to have the fight and the commitment which I think will make a big difference. Also agree not all will make it but I’m looking at the 18 yr olds and the 17yr old and purely by numbers alone there is noway we can keep them all.
i hope so…but again, there are no guarantees…our current business model dictates we emphasize future over present, as they key is a continued production line of talented young players, both to make the step up to the first team and generate revenue (through sales of those who do not make the cut)…one of the biggest risks with this, however, we are effectively relying next season’s kids to provide the drive and motivation missing in certain elements of our current squad…talented as they are, at the end of the day they are still kids – i would consider jack very much the exception…for every one of him, we have an eastmond – or three…
i am in the minority here, as i do not think there will be a mass clear-out in the summer. i think that – unless we get offers too good to refuse – many of the players who have frustrated this season will still be in the squad next season…perhaps almunia will be moved, but i would only expect a couple of other departures, to accomodate certain players assessed as ready…
this may well be anathema to some, but i think that other than al, our next most likely summer departure may be cesc…
I cannot see us not getting rid of quite a few Oliver purely again on sheer weight of numbers, we cannot feasibly keep all the young players its impossible, Agreed the likes of Eastmond can go so too a few others but I think it’s taken many yrs but the quality kids are starting to outweigh the ones that won’t make it. I think if we can get one more season out of Cesc that will be spot on so that Jack gets another yr under his belt, expectations on Aaron won’t be excessive and a few of the hopefuls come thru and learn from Cesc as well. A win win in my view but as you say we’ll see…!
i understand what you guys are saying, but with the loan system thats in, a lot of players will go out on loan, we may get offers for some allready on loan, i honestly think it depends how much Wenger gets in on sales determins whether we buy, Arsen appears to like this loan idea, as it saves on wages and he can see promising talent should it emerge, i still dont think there is a great deal in the transfer kitty. I could see Robin moved on as he could sell, Bendy if sombody comes in with a decent offer. I personally dont see a great change.
Sell
Almunia
Squil
Denilson
Nik B
Take the money and get in a top class CB and a clinical striker. Job we and truly done.
Will thats about 20 quid you just raised !!! 😉
I dont understand how we can see it and Wenger dosnt
It is so plain to see. we need an experienced, top class centre back who can organise and we need a clinical striker who can play 40 games a season and score 25-30 a season.
I second that Will
Boo, whats occurring 🙂
Howdy all.good read steve.am still disappointed after Sunday and i don’t know if i’ll be able to be rational in my barca post.rico i may skip that one.
KTR, i enjoy your post, have a re think,
i dont agree with the post..
the cup final was tough to swallow but we do have the bottle..
just cos the crap players dont have any dont mean its spreading thru the team..
the actual first team are tough weve picked up our fair share of reds this season and we are second in the league..cant remember the last time we finished higher than 4th…
think the mancs are above us in the fair play league too…
yeah for sure the backup players are dodgy but thats why they are backup players…
Hi JJ,
you watch the games, you telling me you havn’t seen them jump but never try to head it, also never seen them pull out of tackles, thats why their always injured, only saying what i watch and i call that bottleing
ive seen song kicking peoples ankles deliberately all season
ive seen sagna sent off for headbutts
cesc, jack, koz, jd, rvp, aint nancy boys either
yeah maybe a year or too ago i would have agreed with you but not this year..ive seen jd win most of his headers
they aint always injured cos they pull out of tackles at all…
u cant tarnish the whole squad with the same brush as denilson
the reason rvp scored v brum is cos he didnt pull out of anything…he scored..and got clattered in the process..thats bottle..
I say again, we are on the end of a lot of overly physical assaults (don’t call a lot of them tackles) and the FA condone it by not punishing them.
JJ you know as well as me rvp is fragile, he dosnt need a lot to be out lets face it, his record proves that, i hadn’t listed Sagna Clicky Alex Kos or Jack or Jd, i wouldnt have listed Diaby but for three pulled tackles the other night, the reason i said its spreading is because of Diaby
I agree Will over the top tackles should not be allowed as they break legs, but that is the fa job to make sure they appoint competant officials, but it dosn’t give players a licence to skip a tackle Utd wont and thats the difference between wining the ball and not
yeah youve listed mostly the backup players..
but thats why they are backup players..
when they play we finish 4th..
when they dont we fight for titles..
cant say arsenal lack bottle cos of denilson and eboue etc etc cos they aint first teamers..its like saying utd wont score goals cos owens always injured
and nasri shouldnt be in your list either..hes on the verge of being pfa player of the season..
Nas is brilliant when he dribbles,he deserves the acclaim he gets i wont deni that, but i wouldnt like him to be the last man when they attack
it just seems a bad time to say we wont win anything cos we lack this and that..
this is our best chance to win the league in ages and we are there on merit not on luck..
we take a lead into the nou camp..
weve just been beaten in one final but got to the final we did and we are still in all the other comps..
its march
that takes guts..
the chances are nasri wont be the last man when other people attack cos hes not a defender..
im not even worried about barca or the manu game..our players will be back by then
im more worried about the game tomorrow…
Hi all….
I don’t think it’s a case of not winning anything the way we are, i think its more of a case of we could win more if we were more committed – we have the flair, style and wonderful on the eye football – but, we play in a tough league….
sometimes we need to match that toughness…
JJ, i am not critisising for the sake of it, theres know one that wants us to win more than me, but if i see a problem i have to say it, I’ll be the first one to put it in print if i am proved wrong, and i dont care if my nose is rubbed in it over and over as long as we win a cup, i want to be wrong realy i do
JJ, think what Steve is saying though is that we can’t and won’t win the legue with our first 11….. So if we are looking at the squad as its the squad that will win things (maybe) then in general the squad still lacks bottle, AA rarely makes a tackle, nor Theo, nor Bendy thats 3 players that are very much involved in the first 11 and then when you have a few fringe player coming in and waving their leg at a tackle they are asking to get hurt and thats was most certainly diaby the other night and quite a few did Orient in the first game. Until there is steel throughout the squad we’re always gonna struggle against teams that are hoofballers and are gonna try unsettle us if it’s not our first 11…!
Hi jj.
Hi wath.hope all is well.
the toughness, bottle thing is all tosh..
we are second in the league not in relegation battle..stoke, birmingham are down there for a reason..
the thing we lack is energy..certain players are just lathargic and rely too much on technical ability..they dont have good engines so they get outdone easily..
prime example is jack..hes got natural energy..and it shows in the midfield..we need more of the local lads to come thru cos it provides a heartbeat in the team..a natural energy and desire to do well…nothing to do with bottle..
diaby manhandled both barton and nolan..thats bottle..hes not scared, hes just a lathargic git…
Rico i hope you have a post in waiting for Tuesday as i may not write.sunday’s loss still hurts and i may not write a well balanced post.i hope i’ll be back to normal after tomorrow.
evening guys..
yeah wath take our first eleven away and add the crabbage patch kids and we are struggling..
but it aint bottle..
they just fucking pampered, well paid, lazy gits..
dont matter how bad they play, they never get sold they always get a wage hike..
Hi rico,
they have the same injury problems as us, but we should be able to get the points, i keep my fingers crossed. Barca away, going to be hard, but we got through them, and they will be aware of that, could be harder this time, but thats all down to who we have playing.They play similar to us and that suits us. looking forward to that one.
jj, but then what happened to Diaby?
Right now we are taking it, now we need to learn to give it a bit more. I don’t mean lowering ourselves to others ways of kicking and being dirty but – if we had a player who would have made that crunching tackle on Barton, he would have stopped his pathetic antics….
I still like the sound of Melo for Denilson – he’d be that man…..
changing the topic slighty…i see lille have extended hazards contract 🙁
It’s not energy JJ it’s about graft and commitment, we got far to many who don’t show it and a few that for me def don’t fancy games where they gotta get stuck in…! Thats bottle…! we need a mix of the two and the first 11 is very close but when we lose a few is when we struggle. 2moro is a prime example we are going to be technically better than them but what we need to do is match their graft and put a decent shift in and then the technique will shine through but technique alone won’t win a game and its where we come unstuck. All good KT, really chuffed to see Aaron in the squad for 2moro.
Hi Steve – i am confident for tomorrow, but Barca does worry me. Thats only because Walcott is out and they fear his pace..
But, AA will hopefully start the game as he finished the last…
Don’t know why but I still have this feeling we will sneak a draw…
diabys always going to pull out of tackles..hes had his leg busted
if you have a car crash but dont wear your seatbelt and you get badly injured, chances are your going to start wearing your seatbelt..
melo would probably get pasted by diaby..
but melo has energy and runs for 90mins and plays to the whistle..making him a more effective midfielder than someone who cant be arsed when the balls not at his feet..
I’m hopeful too
JJ is diaby is gonna pull out of tackles he’s gonna get hurt again…! You can’t play football if you got no bollox…! Eduardo lost his bottle it was plain to see so lets see how Aaron deals with it cos i reckon he will fly into tackles…!. not picking on diaby again here but Steve mentioned him and he did wave his leg a few times wednesday and even the commentators picked up on it.
wath..
this kind of topic is one of the reasons why i say weve missed flamini..until this season..
flamini was that type of player..wasnt a great player but he did the donkey stuff and just ran about like a div closing people down..its a domino effect on the rest of the players, they see one man closing down and the rest follow..
jacks doing that this season..
if we play a midfield of denilson song and diaby we go to shit..
songs improved but he gets tired playing game after game but denilson cant run and diaby wont run..
lansbury and frimpong would be more effective, not in a technicall way but in an energetic way..
it would make a huge difference
jj, Diaby will get hurt even worse by playing that way – like i said earlier, injuries happen more often when a player pulls out of a tackle rather than getting stuck in…
What gets me are these instinctive passes, Arsh does them quite alot where he imagines somone is running in to a space and passes it there, and the runner has cut inside, only takes a second to look, awareness Jack cesc players like them are aware to where the players are.
Steve, tomorrow will be ok, trust me, i’m a GP 🙂
They also grew up playing together as well JJ its the same thing like mid 80’s you kick my mate I am gonna kick you back…! Lansbury is technical but also a great engine and he’ll get stuck in, so too Frimpong and there are a few others as well and thats exactly what we need, the one gets kicked someone says hmm next time mate ur going up in the air cos don’t kick my mate, we still don’t have that mentality but I think it’s coming.
i must admit i am looking forward to Rambo’s return but as Wath said a hard tackle will be interesting.
your preaching to the converted mate i know what diaby is and what he cant and can do..id of sold him years ago but its not my choice..
but hes not a first teamer either..so to say the whole squad lack bottle cos of players like denilson and diaby when they aint even been in the first 11 this year is a tad harsh..
its probably just post cc blues 😉
Rico take that lucky shower.
Diaby is going to bag a triaby soon.
rambos gotta play tomorrow steve..
we cant have a diaby denilson midfield it wil get out run
i agree wath..its gotta be a tribal thing….most foriegnn players just see it as a job..but the local lads take it personel..like u say ‘hes my mate, u kick him and il kick u..’
All i know, is that if the players ever get off of their Twitter pages and read one or two of the comments on here, and it makes them get stuck in, its all been worth it
Steve the thing with barca is that like us they hate pressure.attack them like demons and they get rattled.
Did you a say a Trilby KT…? 😉
JJ, stop being a knob…. The wording of saying the whole squad lacks bottle isn’t in question but when you look at the squad in general then yes they do lack bottle cos outside the 11 the rest are found wanting so the whole being the sum of all parts means the squad does lack bottle BUT not the whole squad…. Now sit down and work that one out lol 😉
Steve, my gut feeling is Aaron with run thru a brick wall he has that fire in him, the proof is still in the pudding but we’ll see…!. As for you using that greedy cnut flamoney as an example of a grafter could you please use a better exaple next time… ie Ray Parlour…!
such a shame frimpong got injured..
denilsons days are numbered…
i know his minians will say he brings so much to the team with those passes but any one can pass like that..any footballer anywhere can pass like denilson..we need more..
diabys just diaby but his days will never be numbered whilst AW is in charge..he wont give up on him..but his injuries will mean he drops further down the pecking order as more of the kids come thru..
Did any of you read the article ealier in the week on one of our youth coaches and scouts Steve Gueisling…? he commented specifically on Jack kicking players who kicked a teammate…!
lol..stephen hawkins couldnt work that one out..
although stephen hawkins would have more than some of the squad players..
a cardboard cut out of the squad players would be better than the squad players
Good memory KT 😉 i don’t think i’ll be listening or watching sadly, all a bit hectic for me until next week…. 🙁
i read that
also jack went at ferguson cos he slapped the koz..
KTR easier said than done, but i get the point, as for your post, your depriveing us of your Knowledge
jj is right about one thing tonight and it aint Flamini….. 😉
Its CC blues that make us feel down but ask yourself one thing…
Had we had ‘Patrick Vieira’ in our side on that day, would we have lost….????
I don’t think so, because he would ‘kicked ‘ass’….
yeah romford p was that man too..
fuck, id take 7 rays now and put them on our bench
Thing is KT will AW play a team that will hassle and hurry barca and to get them rattled, nope he won’t cos he’ll wanna beat em at their own game and then we will lose…! For once pick a team that will graft and get stuck in and run for 90 mins and they will def not like it but not a chance will AW pick a team to do that.
rico we had paddy in the side that should have lost v the mancs in 05..
we were crap that day i dont know how we won it..
well i do we needed pens but our midfeild was battered that day..
we proved its all about luck as much as anything..
Also shows where we lack a proper leader on the pitch cos if anyone didnt get stuck in can u imagine TA putting up with that on the pitch, not a hope in hell would you of got away with it…!
Thats me done for the night catch you all tomorow enjoy yourself grand princess rico
Cheers Steve !!
Rico i don’t forget easily.
Thanks Steve – nighty night 🙂
did u know, in all comps and finals since wengers been in charge weve come runner up 11 times..
Exactly what i fear wath.under Guardiola barça have never won a 1st leg KO game away from home.in the 2nd leg they slice teams apart in 20 minutes.if we can have grafters to weather the storm we’ll have a chance.
seeya steve…
jj, but we didn’t lose though 😉
I’d pick a team of grafters for tuesday KT and it would put barca well out of sorts it’s the last thing they would expect us to do and with a few of the injuries we will def not out football them on tuesday, we don’t need to play anti-football just clode them down hurry them get stuck in and dont let them settle, they’ll hate it…! I’d def go 4-4-2 and that also stops the fullbacks getting in the game. make the forwards go look for the ball cos they supply is dead…! that would be interesting…!
only three of those 11 have come in the post paddy/adams era
we lost two finals in the 1980 season..
two…
was rice our captain for both???
But Wenger won’t do it and we know he won’t do it…! Stubborn stubborn stubborn….!
We all hoped theo would play but AA when on his game can offer more than theo.i really hope he is arsed for this one as he can basically win the tie by himself.
rice is the weak link 😉
wath..ktr said something similar tother night..
shock and awe tactic..confuse the shit out of em..
play both nikki and chamakh and hit the long ball/crosses and see what their backup defence and gk are made of
i think we can beat both barca and manutd..
im more worried about sunderland
Yep JJ Rice was captain in 1980 in both finals, then finished his career at Watford I think…!
Thing is JJ fuck what we say we all know Wenger won’t do it….! So we wasting our time even bringing it up cos we know it won’t happen.
Wath i have been a keen follower of barca.in the 2nd leg ties they are usually out of the blocks early blowing up teams in minutes.if we try to outpass them we’ll get beat easily.what we did so well at the Emirates in the 2nd half was that theo and nasri tucked in,clichy and eboue too.this clogged the middle stifling xavi/iniesta/messi of any space.we let alves/maxwell have the ball wide as JD would win all aerial contests and we would win the 2nd balls due to how close jack and song were to the defense.this also ensured villa/pedro ran into walls while trying to latch onto through balls aimed in between our CBs and FBs.
JJ i watched barca struggle to beat copenhagen.one of the main reasons was that N’doye who is a motivated version of ade kept running at them and receiving long balls.we have a better team and all the tools.all that is required is the right mix.
Done for the day me, catch up tomorrow….
Nighty night…
ARSENE KNOWS wath 😉
seeya rico
jj, he ‘knows naff all’ ……. 🙂
barca havent really been on fire in the leagye either..
struggled against the last few teams theyve played apart from one
We really need to take advantage of sunderland’s form.after 4 consecutive losses for them an early goal for us could rattle them.
What exactly does he know JJ, what he knew he’s forgotten 🙂
Am off, chat 2moro good people…!
see ya wath..
yeah kte i say im concerned but sunderland are on the back of 4 losses and they have injuries too..
we should in theory still do em but we should have done brum as well
JJ im worried too.
New Post up…