Going into yesterdays fixture, our task was simple – three points behind Manchester United with a game in hand. If we could sweep our final ten matches and pick 30 points up, nobody would be able to catch us at the top, no matter what other sides did. You cannot get much more straightforward than that – win out, and lift the Premier League trophy on the final day.
While West Brom may be deep in a relegation battle, they came to the Ems six months ago and turned us over, 3-2, so we could not deny we were forewarned.
Arsene picked the following eleven: Almunia, Clichy, Squil, Kos, Sagna, Jack, Denilson, Ramsey, Samir, and Arshavin.
The newly re-signed Jens Lehmann, Gibbs, Miquel, Eboue, Rosicky, Nik, and Chamakh rounded out our bench.
Considering the injuries we are dealing with at the moment, the starting eleven was pretty much expected, with the only surprise being Aaron Ramsey’s first start for Arsenal since that ill-fated afternoon at the Britannia a year ago.
Rambo played a big part in the opening goal, shame it was West Brom scoring it. Barely two minutes in, Kos conceded a corner, Brunt sent the ball in, and the, not exactly prolific, Steven Reid headed home totally unmarked, with Rambo blowing the assignment. Not at all the start we wanted, considering the stakes. Just seconds after the restart, former gunner Thomas added injury to insult with a bad foul on Sagna, who required treatment. No booking and Thomas was the given too much time and space to cross for Odemwingie, who could have doubled their lead if had connected cleanly.
It took us another five or so minutes to settle, but we gradually started getting and keeping the ball. Unfortunately, it was much of what we saw at Old Trafford a week ago – plenty of passing for passing’s sake, slow off the ball movement, and a general unwillingness to get into advanced, threatening positions.
As we approached the half hour, we almost conjured up an equalizer. Robin sent in a firm header which beat Carson, but rebounded (not for the first recent time) off the crossbar…Rambo was in position, collecting the rebound, but the second he needed to steady himself for the shot allowed Carson to get in position to block the eventual shot. It’s easy to say Rambo should have scored, and I am confident that with regular action, he would have reacted instinctively to latch on to the ball and slot it home. Perhaps the limited recent activity dulled his reactions…Whatever the reason, a gilt-edged chance to restore parity went begging.
We had plenty of possession for the remainder of the half, and Robin worked himself into good positions; usually either the final ball failed to find him, or he failed to test Carson. While DiMatteo’s side attacked us in the September 2010 league fixture at the Ems, Roy’s side let us have the ball – as so many others have recently – kept it tight and allowed us to pass ourselves nowhere…
For the first time in quite a while (at least as I can remember), Arsene made a non-injury enforced halftime change, bringing Chamakh on for the ineffective Denilson. The move indicated that he felt we needed more up front and three points was the paramount goal, rather than patiently sticking with things until the hour mark; it also helped by moving Samir back into midfield, where he could dictate play and get attacks started. Chamakh had an early chance when latched onto a Clichy cross, but he could only direct a tame header straight at Carson.
Just a minute or two later, West Brom should have had their second. Mulumbu and Odemwingie combined to feed Cech, who sent a low ball across the face of our goal. Al scrambled to his right, but would probably not have been able to prevent a goal if the sliding Brunt had been able to direct the ball on target instead of sending it wide.
On 57 minutes, Arsene made a second change, bringing Nik on for Rambo. The former had barely cross the touch-line, however, when we went 2-0 down. Mulumbu won the ball off Jack in midfield and launched a long angled ball towards Odemwingie. Squil was there with the latter, but Almunia rushed all the way out of his goal, both he and Squil hesitated, leaving Odemwingie to cut inside and roll the ball into the empty net. Kos sprinted back from deep to try and intercept but couldn’t get there in time and we found ourselves 2-0 down.
This is not the first time that Al has let our side down with panicky defending – think back to West Brom’s third goal in September – but it may well prove to be the costliest instance…While the much-maligned Squil still may have been able to clear the ball – or stay with Odemwingie – I think the majority of the responsibility for this lies with our keeper, who rushed out at a time when Squil looked to be dealing with the situation, leaving our goal completely unprotected…Al’s facial expression and body language immediately afterwards suggested he knew it was his bad…Nor was it difficult to guess what Jens may have been thinking as he stonily observed our latest ‘keeper – defender calamity…
Yet the introduction of Nik helped add some attacking impetus, and we pressed for the next several minutes. Twenty minutes from time, we finally pulled a goal back – Samir won the ball and found Arshavin, who sent the ball to Chamakh on the left. He brought it just inside the penalty area, held it a second for Arshavin’s run, and fed him. Arsh controlled it on his right foot and lashed it into the far corner with his left, Carson not moving a muscle as the ball whizzed past him.
Having firmly gained the momentum, we pressed forward in search of the equalizer, and it arrived eight minutes following our opener. If Al was horribly at fault for West Brom’s second, Carson was very, very poor on our second. Clichy started the move down the left, Arsh continued the good work, taking two white/blue shirts with him and whipping a cross in. Carson panicked, flapping horribly at it, catching/tipping nothing and taking himself out of the play. As the West Brom keeper crashed to the ground, Nik latched on the cross sent it back into the area with what looked like his arm (!). Meite tried to clear the ball, but Robin reacted quickest to poke the ball towards goal from beneath the former’s feet. It took an eternity to roll across the goal line, but it went in and we were level…I have looked at the replay several times and it appears to me – although not conclusively – that the ball came off Nik’s arm – not his head – in the buildup. Regardless, nobody can deny we are due some luck…
West Brom almost got back on top, with Fortune getting free inside our area – this time Al was able to block his shot for a corner, which they couldn’t convert. From this point – just under ten minutes of regulation time – it was all Arsenal. The urgency that was so badly absent during the first 70 minutes was suddenly here and it was one way traffic to the West Brom goal.
We won several free kicks and forced a succession of corners, with Robin forcing Carson to save and Jack firing over after good interplay. Despite 14 combined regulation and stoppage time minutes of pressure, the winning goal just would not come, and West Brom escaped with a point after looking as though they would cruise to three…
As this unfolded, Man United picked up three huge points. Despite being outplayed for much of the match and playing the final 15-20 minutes with ten men after Evans was sent off, they found a way to win, the normally reliable Jaaskelainen spilling a late shot (88 minutes) allowing Berbatov to get the winning goal. So as it stands now, our margin for error has completely evaporated. We can still win this title, but with future results unknown, at this moment we MUST win all our remaining matches. We have 58 from 29. If we sweep our remaining 27 available points, that will give us 85 at end of the season. United have 63 from 30. If they win seven but lose at the Ems, they will finish with 84 and we will win the league. If they win seven and draw at the Ems, they will finish with 85, but we will only finish with 83 – not enough.
It’s probably better that we approach this with the mindset that even a single dropped point will be fatal – that will give us the urgency we need for this stretch run…Won’t it??
Ah….Therein lies one of our current problems…Urgency and purpose…We started today in the position that if we took care of our own business – take 30 of 30 remaining points – we would be champions…Period. So it was more than slightly frustrating to see us start slowly and casually. A lack of concentration on a set piece (when have ever seen that?) put us in an immediate deficit, and we settled into our comfortable pass-pass-pass routine, and looked toothless and clueless in front of goal – until we went with extra attackers and someone – Arsh – finally took things into his own hands.
While I am fully aware of which players are unavailable at the moment, I just cannot fathom the lack of concentration and lack of urgency for so much of a match where the stakes were so, so high…
In the same match, however, we showed heart and determination which had been recently lacking, going 2-0 down, then dragging ourselves back and battering West Brom the rest of the way…This is something that should at least encourage us that these players can pull this off – they turned around a situation which looked completely lose with two-thirds of the match complete, and although time ran out before they could score the winner, they showed what they can do when operating with urgency and purpose. If that does not give them – and us – at least some heart and encouragement, then this truly is a lost cause.
I don’t believe it is…I think the odds are firmly against us now – but Man United are there to be taken, in my opinion. They are already without several players (it’s not just us who have suffered major injuries this season), and just lost another defender with Evans’ red card. The obvious flaw in points premise three paragraphs ago is that either us or United have to sweep the available points to win the title. Not so – I think we will both drop points in the final stretch…
Our players just have to take the mindset that they cannot afford to drop more points…We cannot continue to rely on someone else getting us out of jail: we dropped two points at Newcastle, but gained a point in the race when United lost at Molineaux. We dropped two more points at home to the Mackems, but gained another point on United when Liverpool thrashed them at Anfield.
Yesterday we fought back to gain a point from a lost situation but dropped two when United grabbed three points at the death. If we are going to do this, we are going to have to take the initiative at some point – and not keep relying on others to thwart United.
If our players need any further motivation or reminders of how precarious the situation is, they just need to look over their shoulders. Man City can close the gap on us to two points with a win, and Chelsea to four, if they beat City. Spuddies are only nine behind us, not insurmountable if you consider that we have to visit the lane on April 20th. So while we look to try and overhaul United, we cannot forget that three sides are within nine points of us…Champions League football is not yet secured. Should Chelsea win today, I would be very, very concerned – as should United fans be.
Since 2002-3 season, only United and Chelsea have gone the distance in Premiership title races. Unlike us, City and Spuddies, they know how to finish and if they can get themselves into a good position, all bets are off…
We’ll either get the job done or we won’t…Simple as that. I am frustrated as everyone else that we dropped two points today and lost ground to United – I think we continue to have problems with team confidence and collective mindset. I think Arsene has made recent mistakes with team selections, substitutions and in-match adjustments. I think he has been over-protective to the point that he may have unnecessarily have shielded them from valid, constructive criticism.
Some supporters will say I am the problem with Arsenal football club, not the players/manager. Other supporters will say that I am giving the manager and players a pass. Each of us has our own feelings on why we are not yet able to take that final step. These are all things to discuss after match 38 is in the record books. For now, I will do what I can to try and push these guys over the finish line.
But I – any supporter – can only do so much. At the end of the day, the players have to decide whether or not they are going to take things into their own hands – not worry about disallowed goals, bad tackles, poor pitches (you didn’t need to go there, Arsene), or any other external factor that provides an opportunity to shirk responsibility for personal/collective performance. At some point, they will have to decide as an entire squad of players that they are going to going to take three points every time they step on to the pitch for the remainder of the season, and refuse to allow anybody to deny them…
Believe in your hearts that you cannot be beaten and you will be that much more difficult to beat.
Choose not to believe, settle for what the opposition gives you, sink into self-pity over this disallowed goal or that injury, and it will be over by May 1st, I promise you that.
Dare to be great fellas – the league title is still there for the taking…
Written by Oliver
Lehmann should have started in goal and then we wouldn’t have conceded two goals, but no Wenger stuck with that idiot Almunia who doesn’t deserve to wear the Arsenal colours let alone call himself a goallie. He should be sold along with several other players and with the money generated buy decent players who don’t get injured after playing 5 minutes and are then out for months if not years, but no Wenger doesn’t want to spend money, it’s not yours in the first place, it’s the fans to come to see the rubbish you put on display week in week out.
Morning all, top write up oliver, thanks…
The more i watch the Almunia tribute to Comic Relief, the worse it gets…
Not only did he make a huge gaff by racing out and getting in the way of Squilli, who I thought had the situation in control, he then shoved Squilli off the ball…
Even a 41 year old who i haven’t see play in a long while seems a better option than Almunia right now, or the kid called Shea…..
Morning all.
hi judith, trouble is, had mad jens started and made an error we would be calling it the other way, wenger was in a no win situation…
what he should have done is got a proper goal keeper when mad jens left, none of this would be being talked about then and yes, you are right, its not his money so get on and spend it….
morning kt…
Good read oliver.if Al gets dropped he would’ve been dropped for fabianski,our 20 year old 3rd choice and dropped for our 41 year old 4th choice…you can’t make this stuff up.
Dont blame the players blame that stubborn idiot who bought them in the first place.
good read but I don’t honestly think we have a realistic chance having failed against a very weak Brom team. Our problem is not quality, although AL is lacking it, it’s about attitude of our players who play like they’re not interested.
You’re right Oliver in saying in that Manu are there to be taken but Arsenal are proving to be a team determined to be there for not taking advantage.
I was optimistic but now I think it’s over for us especcially with Almunia keen on going on holiday into the Sunny areas outside of his home or surface.
Even if as you said ManU are there to be taken I think the only team capable of capitalising by taking it with both hands is Chelsea.
Groundhog day i’m afraid, i love and share you’re passion for our great club but i’m really bored now watching and listening to the same old excuses and mistakes on the pitch. True gooners know we will not pip utd and that was before yesterdays usual display. I said a few weeks ago that chelski will give utd more of a challenge than ourselves and after yesterday who will argue. When utd roll up to the em’s we will be more worried about top 4 than the title. Will anything change next season let’s not hold our breath as long as our accountant oh sorry manager keep’s top 4 if that doesn’t happen than the board will have a word but until than GROUNDHOG DAY.
Being subdued for 70 minutes simply isnt on when you are playing fot the league,it is down to the manger to motivate these players if they cant motivate themselfes.
We have to find a way to get Arshavin involved for 90 minutes.its a must.
I think Almunia at this form, and he’s been like this for a while now, deserves to be driven outside of the club. I don’t think he’s enjoying it nor do we.
I believe Arshaving has lost his interests in Arsenal. His mind is somewhere in Spain. He should be sold in the summer.
I’m going to give it one more game, if we can come back after the break, with theo, song and cesc back we’ll see what happens, if it’s same old same old then i will give up belief for this season…
Then, wenger gets one more summer to make the changes in my book….
I love your optimism rico.its really admirable but in my books all is lost and i haven’t seen anything to convince me otherwise.
What Arshavin did in 5 minutes is what messi does consistently for 90+ minutes.i honestly think there are only a handful of players more talented than him right now…very few.
KT,
Arsenal are my club and like i said yesterday, until the maths say different i will believe in them.
That doesn’t mean to say that i think all is rosy, it isn’t – we have too many players who are just not good enough and they have been at the club for 3/4 years now.
I also have little faith in Wenger right now as he is going backwards and slowly ruining all the greatness he has done for Arsenal..
But, just because all is not going well i will not lose faith in ‘my club’, it doesn’t work that way for me…
In the past it’s been a lot worse and i am sure, if wenger could get his head out of the sand and the board would wake up and realise they are in charge of a football club and not a Building Society, the good times will be back….
Keep the faith rico.we are after all 5 points behind with a game in hand.if cesc/song/theo come back and no more injuries who knows?…you need to be strong for us who have lost hope.
hi stubbornjock..
there is a lot to be said about your comment, you can’t make a diamond out of an old stone but, west brom aren’t full of world class gifted players but they are prepared to fight for the cause and dig in for their club and manager –
where as some of ours can’t and dont do that..
What we lack, despite wenegr bleating on about how together we are, is 15 players who will fight for eachother on the pitch, play with a never say die attitude – sometimes that is what will win you points just as much as anything else…
5 points behind, game in hand and one of our fixtures is against the team above us……
I can’t keep the faith for others, you have to do that for yourself – we ask the team to keep faith, we fans must too…
i keep saying, we should have theo, song and cesc back after this break, anything can happen…..
we need cesc, theo, song, nasri, jack and robin all together again….
Wenger blamed the pitch. Idiot he is
Bad managers make bad mistakes, i hate to say that but sombody has to. We needed a quality goalkeeper at the start of the season, not just me thought that, everybody knew that,Wenger knew better, Fabianski Czezsney have filled in as well as they could and in all honesty have not done bad, but they are not No1 keepers. Almunia has played his part in Arsenal colours, but never a safe keeper and never consistantly good,You know that as well as i. Wenger has outstayed his welcome in my eyes, he does not act as he should, see a weakness and strengthen, Wenger persists in playing players that are cosistantly bad and will not buy replacements.Whether funds are available or not we dont know, but the Board has said there are, so in my eyes Wenger is at fault. We needed at least one defender in the Christmas window, Cahill was available at 15mill Wenger risked four trophies by not buying and is now negotiating to buy him in the Summer after hearing two other clubs are after him. meanwhile three tropies have gone, with the last slipping away. A disasterous decision which can only result in sacking.Recruiting Lehman is an insult to supporters even if he wasn’t 41 and retired he still isn’t a premier keeper. Wenger may keep the spending down and the club in the black, but he cheats the supporters with their own money. i dont care what Hodgeson says about supporters calls for Wengers sacking, We need a winner and soon
amband –
i don’t know why he says things like that, all stupid comments like that do is set us up for more abuse from the media and pundits…
Morning HH , another dissapointment from the lads..what is Almunia,Denilson doing at Arsenal
W.brom had 2 shots on target to our 11 but the game ended 2-2…tragic.
Morning Steve..
I think everyone knew we needed a class keeper, including Wenger which is why he tried for Schwarzer but as usual he offered too little and missed his target…
I’m not sure sacking Wenger is the answer right now, what the answer is is getting him to eat humble pie, admit he should have bought in january and make ammends in the summer.
No man is bigger than our club but unless we get a top top manager to replace wenger i think we will lose a few players, and sadly it wouldn’t be the ones we want to lose, we’d be left with them….
Howdy erick, Song back after the break, Denilson will be back on the bench 😉
Rico I don’t share your optimism but you are a Lady and you guys have a sixth sense lets wait and see but Steve is spot on Aw is to blame
Rico are you talking about the bench at the subway station?…we can work with that.
Rico,
AW is French, a sure sign of arrogance. Even when the Germans ran over them twice last century, it didn’t cure them of arrogance.
AW routinely makes dumb statements in the hope of distancing himself from responsibility
Morning rico,
if a new Manager ment loseing all our team, then so be it, none of them have shown the commitment they should be showing. The teams worth is around 40mill which is less tham what Torres cost not a great loss, they have no heart and no passion i wouldnt miss any of them
RICO i SHARE YOUR PASSION for the club and I will forever support any player and management team of Arsenal, however, i’m not optimistic at all this time. They team looks uncommitted, uninterested and out of ideas, even those players we all expected to make difference are not doing anything to match our expections. The likes of Nasri, VP, Arshavin are all looking out of ideas and inventions.
Arsenal forever but im not optimistic that we gonna lift that thing come may. Manu are rubbish and may loose and draw some games in the upcoming away fixtures, but that comes to nothing if we’re playing like we did yesterday.
I’m all for stopping attacking our players and manager, getting behind the team and support them maybe and maybe they will believe they can do something.
I was talking to a mate yesterday and he told me Almunia does the flaps knowingly and I was like your right mate their is no other way to explain it
Its nowt to do with being a woman Erick, its forty years of following this club and many of those years were far worse than whats going on now 😉
What is sad to see though is a man who changed our club in so many ways and all for the better. Then, by sheer madness he has slowly undone all he made great….
Yes, it is AW’s fault but we cannot forget, Sir Alex was one game away from the sack…. he won that game and the rest is history……
I was thinking more of a long term stay on a physio bench first KT, well, until the summer by which time he will need to be fit enough to travel.. 😉
Steve your so right mate woke up and saw the Cesc rumour and am like lets get the money and built a great team and make Rvp Captain and Jack the deputy
amband
I’m not sure his nationality has much to do with it to be honest, in 1996 he shook us all up with some world class signings…
That is the man our club needs back and fast, then we’ll soon get back on track..
Will we ever get him back?? I’m not sure….
Rico I get the drift but Aw has been doing the same for a while and Ignoring our weakness why do you think he will Change?
My reference to French arrogance a little tongue in cheek, but only a little.
The company that runs Arsenal is running to a formula for the profit of the board members who are the owners. They are legally entitled to and actually buying expensive players to win the EPL or FA cup is probably counter productive to overall profits
Remember, this is a privately owned company. They are compelled by law to maximise the profit of the shareholders, who happen to be the owner/boardmembers
Actually Steve,
That is a very good comment and what that would do is sort out who wants to play for Arsenal and who wants to just play for Arsene Wenger…
You are right – and, do i dare suggest we may see a few more of our english boys get their chance then too…
As for the Cesc comments around, last summer i was all for selling him, if he wants to go i stand by my view now – one player does not make a team….
It’s an English club. English lads should play for it
AA reckons he scored when he is usually about to be substitued
Osi – i don’t honestly believe we will win the league but while there is a chance i live with hope. Like i said, if we can get a few players back we will have a much better chance, if its down to those who played yesterday, then we will do well to stay in the top four….
amband, i didn’t take your comment about him being french in any other way than tongue in cheek 🙂
Rico the Cesc stuff is distablizing the club he need to go or stay for good..re English am a foreigner who supports the Arsenal I may know nothing abt Arsenal but I don’t care who plays English, Spanish or Mexican as long as they show heart and drive the team forward
Osi, to quote you in part
” RICO i SHARE YOUR PASSION for the club and I will forever support any player and management team of Arsenal”
why, when the board and manager are clearly hostile the club?
It is the business model and company that runs the club , and the internationalization of players that causes this
It’s a bad system. So why support those that openly support it?
Danish Gooner
would you please take Bendtner back ( grin )
Erick,
Good question, why do i think he will change…
I said we needed the old Wenger back but not sure he will be back…
This season though we have seen a different Wenger during games, the water bottle throwing, he’s looked angry with players when they have come off, he has dropped a few (albeit with his gutless injury excuse) and even some of his interviews you can see he is angry when asked about players performances but he’s kept it all in…
Maybe i just hope that one day the penny will drop and i don’t think he will want to leave us in a mess for another manager to take over…
Broken record time here guys:
Attempts on target – 11
Attempts off target – 7
Goals – 2
Should I carry on?
Some of the critics of Wenger are exonophobic and hate him for he brings French players and have less british in his team. I’m sure that had it not been for Wilshere, Theo and Ramsey in the team we would have witnessed a greater assault on him.
Arsene Wenger is genius and did more than anybody in any other club to make this club stands on its feet and survive the financial crisis. He’s working for the longer term which tough may compromise his own success would be beneficial for the club. He could have done what Mourinho likes to do; asking the club to buy him all the players in the world with exorbitant sum of money to achieve short term benefits that would boost his ego, but Arsene chose the difficult road which is trying to live for the club. He made mistakes so did everybody else in life. But, if you look objectively at his achievement for the club you’ll realise he achieved a lot.
I wanted him to buy some world class players in every position but then I realised, unlike those stupid and financially uneducated lot, that the club financial resources wouldn’t allow for such exorbitant buys.
Those who think that Wenger has resources and refuse to buy are in DENIAL for they refuse to see the reality of the market, the resources of the club, and the availability of players. To be an objective critic you should consider all these factors and assess the situation from many perspectives. Thinking that we can anyone is just naive and pure denial.
Also Wenger has outlined, few years back, his philosphy for the team and the way he saw would save the club from being left behind; he said that because of the stadium and the emergence of super rich Chelski club, the club doesn’t have financial resources to compete with them in buys and wages, and that he’ll use all his skills to enables us to compete in the longer term by utilising the youth. However, this wasn’t his choice; it was imposed on him by the realities of the market.
If you look back at the buying behaviour of Wenger you’ll realise that he use to buy ready made players to make difference for us. He never hesitated to buy big, we all remember Pires, Wiltord, Henry, Edu, Gilberto all cost a lot and were mature experienced and instantly made the difference. So when what made those critics to believe that Wenger likes to buy only unexperienced players. That’s ignorant, selective, and tinted glasses critics.
Amband how can the system be changed by the fans?
Erick,
the club need English players because its an English league, no other reason. But when i say English, I mean London born and with Arsenal in their blood.
Players with Arsenal in their blood won’t need telling about a NLD, they won’t need a pep talk to get them up for a game of that order, it will have been in them since birth..
Players with Arsenal in their blood will live, breathe and shed blood for their club, they’d lay their body on the line…
How many players do we have that would do that right now, other than Jack Wilshere???
Djourou maybe…..
Morning Will,
Summer time – sell Nik and get Scott Sinclair, he won’t break the bank….
Will
you forgot to mention the 64% possession we had. That’s the other thing. We always have greater possession, but still lose
Amazing
Rico I think Its about attitude more than where you are born but totally agree thats why Daglish plays Spearing when they play Everton agree
Amband,it is not the possession. I don’t care how much we have of the ball but when you have 18 shots in a game but can only muster two goals, something is wrong. As I keep saying (and I am sure people are bored of me now) that have the amount of shots to give goals on target and then half that again for goals and yesterday we would have scored 4 or 5 to 2.
Osi –
I’m not suggesting he go and spend £50M on one player and I don’t think the sensible fan is either.
And to be honest big names don’t always mean big hearted players, all they want to do is line their pockets – to hell will them i say…
Just look at Balotelli? Liability, arrogant, dirty and rubbish!
I just want Wenger to buy proper footballers who want to play football and will fight tooth and nail from start to finish and give their all….
Osi Aw been living in past glory, we needed three world class players for the last 5 or 4 seasons
Hi Rico. We need a proven international class striker. Not another prospect who might do it.
And when I say international, I mean from one of the big countries and someone whoo can play all season and bang them in. Someone whose name instils fear into defenders because of reputation.
Erick – partly I agree but there can’t be anything like playing for Arsenal against the spuds when you have been born and bred the right part of London 😉
But yes, if you are of the right menatality and a born fighter and winner, you should be able to play at your best whoever you play for
Will, you seen Scott Sinclair play recently?
I’d swap him for Nik today…..
Erick, how can the system be changed by the fans. Well, it can’t
You don’t change the system as that will require legislation to change the companies laws.
It’s up to people who know what they are talking about to approach banks and wealthy Arabs etc, get them to buy the club on two conditions
1. Sponsors get their money’s worth
2. After a time to be determined by those involved, the club is returned to the community as a publicly owned not for profit identity, where the board members are voluntary, and legally subject to the will of the membership like it used to be
It will take years, as any sponsor will want a lot for the money. Well, they will get it ; gate takings, marketing, sponsorships, merchandising TV rights etc
I think Barca is still publicly owned
Will,
That kind of player will cost too much money….
ARMBAND are you saying the business model of Chelsea and Man City (outside unlimited and maybe shorterm chash), ManU (debt and unclear future)are righteous and deserves support?
Is a sustainable business model for Football is wrong?
I am a great believer in sustainable business model for sector and industry that saves jobs for the workers in it, the community around it, and the fans. A business model that doesn’t produce heartach for the fans, joblessness for its workers, and profits for its executives and shareholders by going into the administration. A shareholder is never in loss because whenever they realise that they loosing they gonna opt out and go into other business.
Rico, money schmoney. Get the player in, sell the shirts, make most of it back, win things, get more money, pay even more of it back.
Will
yes will, but having possession is all about getting to their goal and shooting
I take your point though
In my dreaming kind of a world, I am hoping that Wenger has been saving his pennies up for one massive transfer season…
I’m also hoping he is now at the point of saying to a few, you’ve had your chance and you just aint up to it’
I’m sure he’s fed up with Nikk’s big ego trip and his partying and igf AA doesn’t sign by the summer i can see him going back to Zenit.
A few youth to step up and a few quality summer signings….
Amband wow thats complicated for my small head..but Aw need to spend that Cash the board is sitting on..Will we need a striker thats a beast
Buying an expensive world class player will cost around $40m at least and we just can’t afford to buy such player. Even a world class goal keeper and defender would cost around same amount of money so we won’t buy them unless we increase our fiances from commercial avenues. I thing is that our club was robbed in their sponsors contracts.
In an ideal world Will, yes, but we are in Wenger world and Arsenal world – wenger won’t spend more than £15M on any one player.
Hi Osi,
I have to agree with rico, Wenger has been a great Manager and a great Ambasador for our club, through his visions we have acheived massive moves forward fantastic stadium superb training facilities youth programes all of the charity functions hospital visits he has by himself pushed Arsenal and English football by massive amounts, but, yes but, he has let Arsenal supporters down he has let his captain down, he asked Cesc to stay Cesc asked for new players, to help him lift trophies Wenger said he would strengthen the team so Cesc stayed, Wenger bought Kosi and Squilly and got Chamakh for free and thats it, letting Cesc down, and the Fans Cesc may forgive him but he has let me down for to long, he wont clear out the deadwood next year and he wont buy quality. bargain buys is all you will get from him and i dont think thats good enough for me.
Rico hope your right because we are becoming a useless club who can’t win anything and full of babies
I think the only time we will spend £40M + on a player will be in the dreadful days of a takeover and a new manager…
Then watch us become just like the chavs and northern chavs, one manager after another as the arabs or russians get impatient….
Is that what we really all want? Do we want to become a club that buys the league? Do we want to become a club like those we now sya cheat to win things by buying it??
Osi, man U and Chelsea are bad business models for supporters, as the clubs are no longer clubs, they are profit making businesses under the companies laws and what financial success or lack thereof is not the fans concern. It’s not their money
If the clubs returned to being Not for profit, the same revenues would come in and the board is voluntary and the revenue is for the members who can dictate we buy players, how much the manager and CEO are paid etc, as they are the shareholders being members
By definition, businesses are for private profit. A football club should not be. They never used to be
You cannot be a true member of something you don’t own. You are, customers, who purchase from the owners, yearly subs etc
By comparison you own the non profit club
Erick, it has to happen, if only because of logic. Wenger is a great manager, one of the best in the world – i don’t want him out, i want him him to wake up…
I’m sure when he watches the VT’s of our games he doesn’t sit there thinking how wonderful we are, he can see the errors, i am convinced of that and at some stage he is going to break the seal on the cheque book…
RICO In my dreaming kind of a world too I hoping that he’s saving for a big buy, but then even our savings may not be enough to buy three world class players in every position except the goalie.
We could only buy if we got:
$17m for Benty, $12 AA, $1.007m for Rosicky, £1.8m for Deni, $6 for Eboue, $1m for Al, and $45m for Fab. that’ll make around $80m and that’ll enables us to buy some quality shit.
Erick,
yes we need a Droga type. Didier is getting old now but he has a coupla good years left with the right club. He appears cheesed off with Chelsea
You know AW could have bought Didier Drogba for !00,000 ( one hundred thousand quid ) and brought him the Arsenal? Another AW failure
Bent would have been good, and Carroll. I always had time for Gallas as defender. We worked hard but others seemed to sponge off him.
In other words you buy a Rolls Royce, you drive it for 300,000 miles superb then it starts to go wrong it starts to get old and it becomes a banger need it lets you down, i say more.
I personally think that if Cesc had never had Denilson behind him for best part of the season his hamstrings would never had gone all Denilsons shit passes and mistakes have made Cesc stretch and chase everything, as Denilson has stood and watched most of the time.
Armband I got your point but I think it’s more of idealism now to think we can go back to sort of Not for Profit business model as regulating laws, business people who run the clubs now as well as the mentality of the british trophyhunters fans need to change for that to happen. So in the hope for a more sustainable business model we need to think how to improve the existing business models of football clubs so that crisis are not being created by profit hunters.
I want to keep Wenger, I think I am on record saying that but he needs a strong personality with him that will make him see the flaws in his babies.
Osi, I don’t think we need to buy ‘big’ – i don’t want us to buy big either, not big money anyway and certainly not for a big name who just doesn’t want to work for his money…
Give me a £12M Samir Nasri over a £32.5 Robinho any day of the week….
Will,
I have a theory for that one and I’m hoping to post it tomorrow if i can work out how to write it 😉
Rico, how did that letter go? Have you added any to it?
amband – we cannot say that wenger failed by not getting Drogba, who did we have up front when Drogba signed for the Chavs for £24 Million?
He signed in 2004 and we had just gone the season unbeaten, did we need Drogba at that time??
Steve lol…armband am sure we can get something close to Drogba and at a fair price
Osi
the fans will easily want to return to not for proft when they realize all profits go to them as members by law, and the board are elected volunteers who are no allowed shares so they can’t buy the place
Ask any old supporter or middle aged even that remember the clubs were like that
To say it’s idealism is correct. Nothing wrong with pursuing something because it’s the right thing to do. What a great ideal
StevePalmer if anyone is feeling let down right now it is Wenger who rewarded Fab well enough to backpay for his past efforts, and in return Fab did nothing to improve the club in the contrary he let Wenger and me down so many times. Chamack was free but he made better contribution than so many expensive big names. I personally don’t feel let down by Wenger because he was successful in the past when he had only Manu to compete with, but now that other big clubs are inflating the prices. So I don’t accuse someone as intelligent as Wenger to refuse to buy to improve his chances of success. You may accuse him of being delusional and out of touch but that’s just ignoring the fiancial realities of our clubs, and the reality of the market.
Not yet Will, I shall i promise but just haven’t had the go in me this week, next week i should feel back ‘to me old self’, then i will add a few things… sorry for the delay…
Rico and Will I share your view I want Aw to wake up and be more harsh and critical to the players
if Wenger was to stay, what i would like to see next season is when we attack 3 players racing to get in the box, if we keep what we have they will miss anyway, but just look as if they wanted to score.
ARMBAND I’m totally in agreement with you and I think that we, those who want a better and stable business model that does’nt compromise our communities, shouldn’t stop dreaming, working for the realisation of that objective. Yes, we can do something about it if we get involved and assert our influence as fans.
I don’t think Cesc has let us down, he made an error in the tunnel snogging the barca lot and a gaff with his flick during the game…
Wenger cannot keep living on his past reputation he has to bring himself into line with 2011 and realise that our squad may be deep but after the first 13, we are weak, very weak.
Rico,
yes, we needed Drogba then. The reason being, the board and AW knew what they were going to do in the future and getting Drogba then would have been insurance for the years to come, until AW pissed him off that much he wanted to leave
A talented footballer waiting.
Osi 57mill profit, most clubs have losses and he couldnt afford 15mill for Cahill and a good chance for four trophies
Thing is Erick,
he might be behind the scenes, a public hanging will do no-one any good but i just wish he would stop blaming the whole world for our losses/draws and just one day when asked he says,
‘we were crap today, we weren’t focused, we were slow and a few players let the side down today, they know who they are – we got what we deserved today and thats it’
OSI,
thanks
I think all the supporters ( not supporters clubs. i don’t trust those that run them ) should find the right people and get a steering committee going and approach corporations and do something about it
If we, all clubs, returned to not for profit status, the price of players would drop, literally by the millions per player
Rico, everybody thinks that we need to buy three world class players or more for every position and I’m not disagreeing with that, what I disagree with saying that we could afford them.
Unless we improve our profit margins we won’t be able to buy quality players. The reality of the market is that even Bent cost £20+, that Sir Luiz cost £20+ so tell me hoow we can afford such prices?
Looking at the money side of things Osi, what i saw of us yesterday, i am not convinced we can make the Champions league next year if that were to happen, 15mill would have been a snip
We wouldn’t have been able to afford his wages though amband and we were building the new stadium…..
its easy to look back and say we should have, just like we could have got ronaldo…
we didn’t though and we wouldn’t have been able to afford 24M for the player then. when was he available for £100,000 ??
StevePalmer you said:
“Osi 57mill profit, most clubs have losses and he couldnt afford 15mill for Cahill and a good chance for four trophies”
Do you really believe that we could have won CC had we had cahill lining up for us, that we couldve been Barca, that We could have beaten mANU? AND that our defence wouldhave suddenly turn into solid thanks to the magic of that player? Would have Sir Al stayed in his box instead of rushing out? That we coulhave saved the first goal because he sees Cahil in front of him? Do you think Vp, Arshavn, Denilson could have been more motivated by his addition?
If we lose Wenger, we go way backwards. We need to let the guy know we still want him but he has to see the players for what they are.
Has any club got three world class players in every posistion, those fans live in dreamland.
I’m geting pessimistic myself StevePalmer, but i’m not worry about us missing on the Champions LEAGUE next year. Although I think they’re just uncommitted and uninterested bunch of players I still BELIEVE a la Wenger that we have the ‘mental strengths’ to do that.
That’s what I am saying Osi, we don’t need big expensive players, we need good footballers who play with heart, fire and committment.
Not players who ponce around like Denilson, Diaby and Bendtner!
almunia needs drop kicking
weve still got a chance of the league it depends who comes back from injury in a fortnight but 5 points maybe too much
especially with manny in goal we need ches back and quick
So, anyone think Wenger will sell big this summer?
I’m with you on that Will, we will have to start all over again, sell players, buy players and wait another 2/3 seasons for them to setlle…
We don’t need much change, five squad players out, 3/4 in and bring through the likes of JET, Lansbury, Bartley, Chuks, Afobe etc etc…
Osi, to speak the truth i dont know, but what i do know is we had a problem in defence and we needed a remedy we didn’t get one, extra games with Orient may not have helped a young Miquel or a Cahill i would always go for Cahill
I do Will….
We could have a page of our projected sales, you all email me with your names before the end of the season and we’ll see who gets it nearest right – i promise not to change mine 😉
hi jj,
i want wenger to stay
but if we dont win the league and he doesnt have a shakeup in summer my patiance will wear thin
the longer we rely on the ever shit denilson and the ever injured diaby we will continue to fuck up
we dont need to buy a huge expensive player for the midfield we need to get shot of those two and bring in lansbury and buy a scotty parker for experience
and help for song and jack
Rico In my mind I already got rid of those mentioned players plus well known others.Even Fab I think he’s not committed to our cause or he’s troubled by the Geneticians of Barca who constantly analyses his DNA compositions.
I think we can get rid of about 11 players for around $80 millions and get some real class committed and hardworking players.
I’m not sure though whether we can get some cash for some of them.
rico, our midfield needs changing penetrating midfielders as opposed to sideways backwards, we get to the back line and go backwards, Song and Fabregas missing has killed us
Steve, i’m a massive fan of Cahill and i think he would have made a huge difference to our side. He is the next main stay in the England defence and we missed out. Come the summer he will sell for 30M and prob to Manure as Rio is finished…
Not only would his performances have tightened up our defence, just the signing would have given us the lift, sometimes thats all it takes….
And, we could have pushed JD into CM and sold Denilson 🙂
Steve, i can’t argue one bit with that….
We miss Walcott too….
Will
not if it is against the business strategy of the company, no! Even if they sell, they will by according to the same company strategy
Nothing will change unless the Uzbeki crook takes over. Unlikely as they can’t stand him
This crook has nearly 30% of shares required for take over. Once he reaches 30%, he must by law make a formal offer to buy the company that runs Arsenal outright
Even then there is no telling what Asimov will do. We don’t want him, s he’s a crook
Snd them in the Osi, if I get enough I’ll do a little fun thing to help get through the summer silly season 🙂
Rico
yes Cahill is good
jj, just what i was saying earlier, don’t want him out just want the old boy back and a few sensible changes….
Hi JJ, i called foe Parker a long while ago, we could have had him for 5mill every one said he was to old his had a blinding season would have been worth 5mill just for this season
StevePalmer I think our problems are with goalkeeprs, general organising philosphy, and lack of team effort rather than individual defenders mistakes. I’m not saying that Squilaci is world class and his faultless, but all Im saying is that the problem is more deeper.
I also think that Cahill is very good committed and hardtackler but we have to realise that if he comes to Arsenal he’ll have many troubles to cope with as our team is constantly attacking without any real threat and that all our players are usually stationed in and around the opposition box. That gives other teams contre-attacking opportunities which puts more pressure on our defence. At the moment Cahill is playing in a team with ‘defend deep’ organising philosophy where the whole team is defending their own half and that makes even average defenders look great.
I remember fans as well as pundits and writers rating Lescott so high when he was playing in a smaller team with hardwork, committment and deep defence philosphy, but now that he’s playing in a team that attacks most the time he’s struggling.
I think we should factor that aspect into our evaluation of defenders as well.
Got to pop off for a short while, won’t be gone long….
Hi StevePalmer you said:
“rico, our midfield needs changing penetrating midfielders as opposed to sideways backwards, we get to the back line and go backwards, Song and Fabregas missing has killed us”
I totally agree with that. I don’t why our players insist on passing sideways even talented players like Nasri. Talking about players capable of passing forwards and making difference I always thought someone like Gerard could make bid difference for us.
Good point Osi, i am a bit old school i think a good defence is where a team starts from, if teams dont score you dont lose. Goalkeepers are usually cheap compared to outfield players, but the saves of Van da Sar and Gomez, have been worth bundles, Chelsea havent been great but Chec is quality, with a solid keeper,it saves so many games in a season. and builds confidence.
Van Der Sar is something of out of this world, at 40yrs he’s still getting man of the match in most of the games.
StevePalmer, I really think that we can lure Gerard to join us in the summer he won’t be as expensive as some of those so-called world class players, and he has skills, committment, leadership, and experience of PL in abondance, and would improve our team greatly. I also think that we need to get a mixed styled winger; sort of old a guy who can cross a la Englaise and pass past players a la Francaise.
Osi, i’ve been watching clips of the young Myachy or whatever his name is and he bolts forward and takes on every body, still a bit naive, but has the spirit were seeking, i wouldnt mind him replacing Walcott and Walcott given a go up front i’m sure we would be on the edge of our seats
Last season we were talking Gk now we are still talking GK get Vito back and let Coco go..Fab & Woj can fight for one
Steve Ryo been getting rave reviews…we need him at the Arsenal we clearly lack pace while going upfront without Theo
Osi,I agree with you on Gerrard, but his a bit to outspoken for Wenger, he likes them to be pliable and i couldnt see Gerrard quiet
I saw him as well Miyachi he made bid difference alredy for Feynoord, and yes I think he’s much better and more courageous than some of our players and could have helped us right now. We’ll have next season.
StevePalmer last night watching MOD my brother remarked when Nasri took his shirt that he was fat, do you think Nasri is put some weigh on that makes him less fitter? The guy was very fit at the beginnning of the season and run past players with ease, but now he seems to be slower.
Hi Eric, do you think any of our keepers can do the biz for us, or do we need a clearout and recruit
Osi, never took much notice to speak the truth, but i do know, when he was injured pre season i think he went to the mountains and trained running up and down hills, he said it made him a lot stronger and built up his stamina. And i must admit it has showed this season, perhaps his hill running has stopped and the chips and burgers are back
Fabianski and Chesney can do the job Steve we need a defender (cahill) a midfielder who can defend and attack (assuming Cesc is stayin) and a lethal striker as described by Will. Osi its true Nasri has got a little off the pace of late may be…but I didn’t see him with his shirt off
I hope your right Eric, Al and lehman have got to go though
Steve Chesney is the real deal mate…when he gets experience he will be great for us.
Erick, if he gets worth a good profitable transfer fee, they will sell him
Eric i honestly feel that all the team have been off the pace. A fit Fabregas does seem to lift them though whether we’ll see a fit Fabregas again is another matter
I believe that we have two very good keepers if not great in Chezzer, Fabia and that we don’t need any more goalkeepers.
hi all thanks for this wonderful conversation and see you all in good health again.
be nice if they wouldn’t let the ball through to make the keeper work so hard
Armband and Steve I think we should cash in then again am no Aw all the Barca talk does not help the team but my greatest fear is that we won’t reinvest the dosh
No they won’t reinvest if it goes against the company strategy. Buy young players and impress owners of other clubs and sell high
If the owners are profiting they won’t change, and the is nothing we can do about it
personally I would love to see a cleanout of at least half of them
we are totally lcuky to still be in the title race
it took us three months to find our number one and it took and injury to tv to find out we do have a bunch of good cbs..
its been nothing short of an experiment as far as this season is concerned in regards to the cb’s and gk
its wengers fualt he should have axed manny in the summer but at least going into next season we know what we have..
what we need to do is add to that in the summer
stop fucking about playing the shit players that have been shit the last 4 years and get some new faces
the reason we havent won the league in recent years is because of players like almunia and now we are again relying on him to win it this year
its fucking stupid he should have been sold two years ago…
Armband that would be sad so Cesc should stay…JJ Spot on am smiling because you haven’t called for Aw to spend like the Avenell days you want the youth to come in but next season we will be in a better position
Amband so so sorry for spelling your name wrongly…JJ around 5 players should be shipped off 🙂
Erick
yes, Cesc should stay, but he may wish to win trophies. My guess is Arsenal is holding out for Barca to make an offer they can’t refuse
They should be careful not to overplay their hand
LOL Thanks Erick but that is fine
we still need to invest erick
we dont need 100mil though from the bank we can raise some funds by selling the crap
all players like denilson and diaby and almunia are doing is making up the numbers and eating up the wage bill
weve got players in the academy that can make up the numbers just as good if not better and they wont eat the wage bill up as much..
then we have funds and wages spare to get someone in of quality…
it wont cost 30mil i keep using parker as my example but he cost 7.5mil and hes better than denilson and diaby put together…
we could spend 50mil adding to the team in the summer and if we raised 30 of it selling shit players a net spend of 20mil would be a good transfer summer…
yes sell most to buy a coupla good players
Jj I know but Aw has really done all this to himself, its even hard to continue the youth project because of the trophy draught we need a trophy
Makes sense guys sell crap for mo quality…If I may ask do you think we will finish 3rd guys?
well if we let utd win the league then this season will be seen as a disastor
especially after being knocked out of 3 cups in 2 weeks..
he’ll have to shake it up..
if he doesnt conceed defeat with this lets stick with all the players policy hes stuck up his own arse with no chance of pulling him out of it..
no…
chelsea will catch us..
meant yes
chelsea will catch us..
depends on whos back from injury but if we dont have a near full strength team for the end we’ll collapse
I have the same feeling too JJ that would be awful sad to say but the spuds are catching up on us
No mindset for urgency, oliver. Not until too late, anyway. And no intention to be daring and take their chances. Pass after pointless pass. That pretty much sums us up. Oh, and That Goalkeeper. I do not wish to say more. 🙁
Oh, and hello, all! 🙂
Agag howdy
Its been tough agag the last three weeks but we got to keep the faith
I’m good, Weeds. Except for AFC stuff 🙁 You? Well, it’s been a rough ride keeping faith in this team. Some of ours are… Not. Good. Enough.
Boo 🙂
Afternoon all.
Dark times. Please don’t slaughter me, but I think we’d be better off without Fabregas. Jack Wilshere will be better, and instinctively has more leadership qualities. For me, Fabregas epitomises everything that is currently wrong with our whole mentality. Wenger has abandoned his 4-4-2 attacking philosophy that won silver-ware to the much more negative 4-3-3 or 4-5-1, where we look horribly impotent. The back-heel on the edge of his own area against Barca, injury or no injury is unforgivable, and that irresponsible couldn’t-care-less attitude is poisoning us. The massaging of undeserving mercenary ego’s needs to stop, and Wenger needs to get ruthless or get gone.
Agag am great just stressed with Afc..HCCA you won’t get picked on in here we agree to disagree..Rico your back
Come on Citeh 😉
Hi HCAA – if Cesc is fully committed we are better off with him for a couple more seasons, by which time he will be crocked and then Barca can have him….
Hi Rico,
My personal opinion is that he isn’t fully committed, nor is he good enough to base your whole teams formation and tactics around. No-one is bigger than the club. Wenger is neglectful to the point of stupidity too. He has based the club’s whole approach to suit Fabregas, even though we all know under intense examination it crumbles with or without Fabregas, but persists with it even when Fabregas is unavailable.
Maybe its me but every body is all for jack, now i’m not against jack in fact i like his fighting spirit but he does like passing sideways and backwards to. i like to see an attacking midfielder moveing forward and being industrious, your there to feed the strikers and make goals, passes from their box back to the halfway line does my head in, i like penetration, defenders shitting themselves, and a bit more urgency. On one of our attacks the other day i went out and made a cup of tea and came back and it was still the same attack
Boo! AFC is the current bane of my existence, Erick! 😉
Hey, rico. Howdy??
I would have to disagree though HCAA. We are a much better team when a fully-fit Cesc plays. Our midfield is all over the place without him. To me that is what’s wrong; that we are entirely too dependent on a few key players.
I am unhappy about the come hither overtures of Barca; and truth to tell, I’m unhappier the about the I’m coming thither air about Cesc.
Steve we normally play with teams that pack the bus and Jack is still learning his trade he will be a great player no doubt but he aint Cesc
Now you lot will not agree with me, but my tactics against Barca would have been to take Messi out, if we had done that early i beleive we would have got a result. not the right thing to do, i know but we could have still been in it, Carragher done it with Nani and we know what happened.
I know your right Eric, i just dont want him to get set in his ways.
Agag the Barca stuff gets into Cesc head me thinks he hasn’t had the best season in our colours
What Arsenal lack the depth and speed is in the attack. The depth has to be obtained by extremes. And then we only have Walcott and Arsawain (in my opinion, I repeat is badly used and I think it is a very useful player. the speed, because it causes imbalances and is not afraid to shoot at goal) or through the fullback. The speed, freshness requires physical agility of movement and concentration. As we played, we need to have two players in the area that will hold the defenses, stretch the game so you gain more space at the entrance of the medium and create imbalances. As I said, They would create conditions for shots outside the area (Denilson finishes off well!).
As for players: Cahil. I think that misses the essential point: class. Money is always an unknown quantity but the hype has its limits. One case is that of Andy Carol (40 million!) Last match versus Braga, pass all the game, went all to seek, without ideas, an aerial ball to use his physical strength. We see clearly, as is the money only is everything in football it is well spent.
Players have already spoken of AA. I think they are wrong. Almunia, Rosicky and Squillaci are in downward trend. Diaby is a complicated case. 75% of the time he is injured. Not enough to recover physically nor be able to contest because your body is not ready for this intensity of effort. Turns out to be a player that can not be counted. I think Denilson can be optimized, only as sunderland and now the WBA, was a unit in the game without intervention. Should you be given more leeway to participate offensively. Chamack is good technically strong in the air, must be served by the extremes, Bendtner is a different player, but you have to explode more and has the capacity to do so. PVR, loses much of its talent among the plants. We gained more in one position 10, into the area, freeing you to the punch.
Steve, I think Jack will be great. He looks hungry. But he does need to curb his temper, work on his wild tackling, and keep out of clubs and bars and such. On Messi 😀
Erick, he definitely hasn’t had a stellar season. Until his injury, Nasri was all sorts of amazing; now to recover that form.
And Cesc should stop declaring himself fit when he isn’t. It is a massive disservice to the team. 🙁 Since our play is made to pass chiefly through him, we play poorly when he does.
HCAA, if i am honest, i am at the point where i couldn’t care if he stays or goes, we have Ramsey and Lansbury and one or two others who could step up..
Like you say, one man is not and never will be bigger than Arsenal Football Club…..
Hi Agag, Although i love Cesc to bits, he is one of the finest players we have had, but he will leave whether to Barca or not, but a man with his class needs good players around him, I have watched him go downhill playing with downright no hopers, surely thats enough for anybody
Steve – i have nothiced that with Jack but i have also noticed he plays sideways for two reasons – one is its the only option and two, its when Denilson plays, more often than not though he’s look for the ball forward or to take it himself….
He’s still young, he’s learning and right now he’s one of our better players but then i know you know that 😆
Moreira true thats why Steve and I think Osi said we need Miyiachi on the right and Theo as the striker
Boo agag 🙂
Guys, you recall a post i did, it may have been on AR but it said about players that Wenger over plays when he knows they are soon to leave…
Well you tell me that theory hasn’t got Cesc’s name all over it, he comes back too early from injury, he plays when he’s not quite fit and he’s often ‘risked’….
Cesc’s bones are weak, he breaks down far too easy, he’s off in the summer or the next one …..
Steve, i cannot believe you could say that about Cesc, not when he plays alongside Denilson, he’s sheer class……!!
Ok ok, just kidding 😉
Rico, i’m with you and Eric about Jack,it would be nice to see forwards getting in the box and makeing themselves space, they stand there waiting for an imposible pass right to their foot
Rico I hope not given the fact that Amband said he was sure the cash won’t be reinvestd
Anyone watching the Chav match…?
When they break, my goodness they break at speed….
Eric maybe a quarter will be used,Cesc will go for about 25mill who would pay more with his season, should have sold him last year, another Henry scenario
Watched the first half and got tired of the game
Steve, I love Cesc. I want him to stay put. We should put blinkers on him. Would stop those puppy dog eyes straying. And the grass is not always greener on the other side. Hleb should have told him that. Although they are differently situated, and Cesc is an outstanding player, who would do well anywhere.
rico, I remember that. Can’t be too sure whether it was on AR though; if true, then AW is sinister. Haha.
Erick..
No-one knows whether Cesc will be sold, no-one knows how much he will go for and no-one knows whether that money will be re-invested….
Only the Arsenal football club know that…
No disprespect meant amband.. 😉
If Cesc wanted to stay, if he only played 4months of the season i would want to keep him, but financially his wages could pay Jack and Rambo’s wages for a year, so it would pay the club to sell.
chavs are 1-0 up…
agag, i honestly believe in my theory, just look at the players who he has let go and when…
I don’t like talk of selling Cesc. 🙁 Makes me feel like I’ve had too much GG on an empty stomach. 😉
I’m all fuzzy feelings about Cesc tonight. 🙂
Its the same as most things Arsenal Steve, none of us know the truth, only he and wenger knows what is inside cesc’s heart and head…
I’m off good people! Night!
rico, that makes AW not one to cross then 8)
2-0 chavs… they are on the march
Nighty agag, rest well 🙂
Rico true nobody knows re Cesc we will have to wait but I want a settled Cesc Agag not the Cesc who goes to spain and starts crying when he see’s pics of when he was young in a Barca jersey
Hahaha on your last comment, Erick.
Hope your theory is wrong rico as we will have Eboue Eastmond Rosisky staying
Gang am off for today Its 9 PM in Nairobi Kenya thanks for the discussions Peace. Rico you should bring back a day for Banter may be Friday gdnt
Steve I am with you on Cesc. It must kill your morale to play with the dross he has to every week.
Nte Eric,
Hi Will, we know his quality but i dont think he wants to stay, and his chance with Barca may have passed him.
Given a midfield of Cesc, Nasri, Jack, AA and Song with some real talent up front, Cesc would be happy and we would see the best of him.
Steve, and Almunia 😆 😆
night night Erick, we’ll chat on that suggestion 😉
Will, isn’t that exactly what most of us have been saying, three good players is all we need….. including a goal scorer….
Don’t tease rico.
Ah well, have let all my frustrations out, and am going to watch the tele been a pleasure talking to you Nte nte one and all
Nite nite Steve, TV is rubbish tonight…
I’m off to read – catch you all tomorrow folks,
Be good and stay safe
Nighty night…..
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1268407/Nicklas-Bendtner-Am-I-best-strikers-world-Yes-Ill-prove-season.html?
P1ssed myself when i read it….that Luiz been a good signing for the Chavs….
Lee, it is why he has to go.
chelsea are going to catch us..
Sadly for Nick, if he marries the Princess, he will still be outranked by an Australian lady, named Mary Donaldson, who is to be Denmark’s next Queen, but not sovereign
What got me was when he said he is one of the worlds best strikers apart from the goals. Then Mr B, you are not one of the worlds best strikers.
Time for a complete shake up.
let him keep saying it..hopefully someone will believe him….and buy him
im pleased for him…the fact that the average gooner cant afford to feed his kids never mind a season ticket yet hes driving round in a nice little motor..
at 22..
Morning 🙂
Bayern Munich they’ll have him…thank fck!!
Geographically better for his skiing too….
bonjour ricolicousness…
id prefer dortmund..exchange deal for either hummels or subotic
Call me a big head but 2/3 years ago i was saying Nikki was an arrogant pig headed footballer who was rubbish…
I got laughed at and and told he’s going to be great…
Always nice to be right in the end 😉 😉
Ok, i am a big head 🙂
Morning peeps, I reckon he’s pretty good at skiing too…
nikki was never going to be massive
but for a fourth choice striker he was ok..
only he didnt realise hes a fourth choice striker..
Thats what smacks of arrogance jj, he couldn’t give a flying one about his game, as long as he’s got the flash car with a girl on his arm…
If only he was half as good as he thinks he is….
some thought he was though jj, not you of course, you are not in my ‘some thought’ 😉
Rico, you flatter him.
exactley rico
his attitude is whats wrong with the team
they think they are better than what they are..
wengers made it that way..
Will
“What got me was when he said he is one of the worlds best strikers apart from the goals. ”
LOL Poor Nick. Doesn’t know the point of a striker
The idiot needs a sat nav on his feet to find goal
ive been a bit up and down with nikki
i wanted him sold ages ago..
then he started to win me over
now i want him sold again
😆 Will, I really don’t like him at all, not as a footballer or how he comes accross as a person….
he couldnt finish his dinner
Ok guys, let’s hear your 5 point plan to get Arsenal to the top again. Mine is:
1: Sell the dross
2: Buy in 5 top class players who will make a difference
3: Get someone in who can stand up to Wenger
4: Sort out the PR dept
5: Get in someone who knows how to get the most out of sponsor’s.
I liked the one about he tried to leave in January…
But he missed the door 🙂
1 get right of the board and Wenger
that’s it!
It’s also the hardest thing to do
lol
Will, I’d like to flatten him not flatter…
il get back to you with mine will..
Will, I agreee with your points but I think we can get away with only buying 3 players..
I’m going to put the new post up now, see you over there…
Lee, maybe 4 players.
In my humble opinion we need
1) An experienced top flight keeper who Ches can learn from.
2) A no nonsense central defender who can organise.
3) A physical central midfielder who can enforce and protect. Sorry Mr Song, that is not you.
4) A robust striker who can give us a full season and bang in 25-30 goals.
The players we have who would stay are.
Ches Verm Kos JD Sagna Clichy Gibbs Cesc AA Nasri Theo Song Jack Rambo RvP Chamakh.
Add to that some of the promising youth and 4 top class winners and we are there.
Morning all,
at Christmas i would have bought Cahill, Charly Adams and Scott Parker,Then i would have waited till Van da Sar retired and made him an offer he couldnt refuse if only for a year but enough time for our youngsters to mature, probably wouldn’t have taken much more than 40mill the lot
NEW POST is up guys 🙂