Fabregas is always in Thet Gunners' heart. He belongs to Gunners, no matter in the past, present and future. We can't blame for his transfer, he moved not because of money, but because it was his hometown club. He also ever said that he will never see himself playing in other costumes. He loves Arsenal for BPL, he loves barca in La Liga, 2 different league : )
think about it fabregas do barca have a faster player than walcott, no, do they have a better finisher than van persie, no, do they have a better pass machine than Fabregas, no, do they have young players, some, but not many, and every match you play in the premier league you will allways play amongst and aginst great players, does la liga offer this, no.
@RoelRC1 I'm not worried about keeping the squad together. as rough and as disappointing as it's been for them, I think they're a tight-nit group and should be able to see that they're close and there's plenty of improvement still to come. Judging by a lot of fabregas statements in the media, twitter, etc, he seems committed to the club for now and next season.
I think keeping Bendtner might be hard. I'd actually be surprised if he stayed with Arsenal, and I don't blame him if he left...
@RoelRC1 disagree. bendtner has a very high work rate. always moving around and providing an option. quality player and has room for improvement considering he's young and has had limited opportunities. i'd rather use bendtner ahead of chamakh because bendtner has much more upside.
now we have 2 weeks off. More than any other Interlull we have to keep everything crossed that nobody picks up injuries. We cant afford them. Beyond that we need our injured players back badly.Yesterday was hugely disappointing, and of course it could have been worse but it probably should have been better
What you think? The EPL looking abit dodgy now can we win it? Well have to beat MU! Should Almunia be shot? Yes
Your grand about the reply. Mad Jens yeh he wouldnt have done that
@16arsenal4 Blackburn tonight. Walcott, Song and Cesc apparently are fit, but might not start. If these guys can come back fit and not have any setbacks, we are back in the title race, hopefully beginning with a strong victory v Blackburn.
Positives for next season: Vermaelen (hopefully) returns fit and at his best; One or both of Miyaichi/Hazard to add some pace down the wings; continues natural development of the team; hopefully one or more of Aneke/JET/Bendtner/Ramsey/Frimpong to break out..
Sorry mate Ive been away. Well depressing and down times to be an Arsenal fan....
Out of 4 cups and fighting for second who thought we'd be saying that after the Barca win, 3 wins in 11 thats bad. We never recovered after the Barca and Birmingham loses IMO. Teams in a tough, hard place now along with Wenger and his job.
Will our stars stay? Every week I have less and less convidence but can you blame them?
@16arsenal4 hey. i kinda forgot about you; have to get used to this new youtube account I have that isn't linked to the email address i'm always using.
yeah, season was going very promising but since that cup final loss things have started to go bad. I think it's temporary, and we'll rebound strongly next season, hopefully with a couple of new recruits as well as miyaichi. we need a couple of mature experienced players in the squad to close that gap between us and winning trophies...
@16arsenal4 season even though it's been a very injury interupted season for him. I hope he gets back to his best next season.
It was a good win - dominated the possession and unlike when we played them at old trafford, we didn't crack beneath their pressing. I thought Song was probably our best. sometimes he can be a weak link in these games, but he really stood up in the absence of Cesc.
There's one obvious area where Arsenal can improve: empowerment of our players to take on opposition...
@16arsenal4 Ramsey was great but I wouldn't get carried away. it's only one game, and in the other games he's played he didn't do much at all. Hopefully he can back it up again next week.
On Cesc i'd be surprised if he left yet. he hasn't achieved what he wants with Arsenal, and I believe he wants to continue with Arsenal for now. Also, Arsenal are not ready to let him go yet I think. Ramsey will be a worthy replacement, but it's still early days I think. Cesc has been important for us this...
Sorry havent replied in ages. So what you think about Nasri? He cant disrepect us like that, I hope he doesnt leave. We need him. And then theres the Cesc saga back again... will he wont he? And then maybe RVP? And for definate Denilson and Bendtner - no loss - and then Clichy hope he doesnt leave! What you think? If Cesc, Nasri and RVP leave were gone for next season, may get 6th or less. Wenger needs to spend and spend big its make or break next season.
@16arsenal4 hi dude. no worries. iºm actually backpacking through europe at the moment. where do you live? ireland? we should meet up if possible.
i think theres a lot of hysteria at the momet. i am not concerned at all about nasri. heºll stay. i think likewise with cesc. and iºm confident that we will get a couple of quality signings this summer. RVP??!! RVP is committed to arsenal until the end. hes an aboslute champ and should be our captain to be honest. but thats how classy he is, willing
Really mate thanks class. yeh in ireland no problem depends no the summer job though yano but sure well see. Where you atm?
Really your coinvident on Nasri? I suppose I am aswell Arsenal said they dont want to let their stars go and Wenger wants him so Id hope he will. Yeh Cesc said hes happy at Arsenal funny enough the same day Sagna said that Cesc wants to go, but hopefully he will aswell. RVP definately staying. I hope we get Hazard, Gervinho looks in the bag and aswell looks lik
@16arsenal4 awesome. will let you know when im in ireland.
nasri will remain an arsenal player. no doubt about it. it would be very random if he left. he's happy at the club. the contract negotiation are simply getting drawn out. hazard would be brilliant and gervinho is looking very likely, and i think he could really surprise us with the impact he could have at arsenal. i remember watching him in the world cup and he was a player that impressed me at the time.
@16arsenal4 awesome. will let you know when im in ireland.
nasri will remain an arsenal player. no doubt about it. it would be very random if he left. he's happy at the club. the contract negotiation are simply getting drawn out. hazard would be brilliant and gervinho is looking very likely, and i think he could really surprise us with the impact he could have at arsenal. i remember watching him in the world cup and he was a player that impressed me at the time.
@16arsenal4 preseason but id say that we have got some good prospects in frimpong and i really like what ive seen of gibbs so far and traore isnt bad also. jenkinson has a bit of a longer way to go but i think eventually he could take over from sagna and give us a bit more going forward. just hope we stay injury-free. the RVP one v benfica was worrying. but i just watched man u v man ct and was super impressed by man u to come back. arsenal dont have that maturity and winning mentality yet.
were after Samba and G. Cahill hope we get at least one of those Cahill wouls be first perferance. We bought a young full back from Charlton abit odd but definately a Wenger buy dont know anything about him about out of the blue. Yano who I would love would be Sanchez but too expensive for Wenger hed be brilliant though. Or Benzema. What you think? I do think we definately need a CB, DM (competition for Song), and a striker & then a player who can play RB&LB someone like Van der Wiel
@16arsenal4 dont think we need a CB now that vermaelen is good. our defensive issues were more team-wide rather than the back 4. we have three excellent CBs now. you couldnt manage and keep 4 world class CBs. then theres squilacci as a last resort and miquel will get chances. the signing from charlton looks promising. theres a vid of him on youtube. hes got some good ability and he is a lifelong arsenal fan. very versatile too apparently - can play all across the back. i think a great signing.
@16arsenal4 no worries. ive been travelling around europe so ive been distracted too. i cant see nasri leaving arsenal after the season he had. and he hasnt been at arsenal for long. cesc i still think will stay but it seems like its becomming harder for him to ignore barcelona. RVP will be at arsenal until the end. gervinho is a good signing and if we could get one more player of "super quality" as wenger is trying then we'll have a good squad. wouldnt read much into our performances this...
Well have 9 players injured for next Sat Robin van Persie, Gibbs and Vermaelen all picked up knocks and Walcott, Wilshere, Koscielny, Diaby and Nasri are also injured, while Fabregas is not fit. What good news! Yeh that "super quality" is a 17 year old like really is something wrong with him we NEED experiance and he spends a club record fee of 15m on a 17 year old i know hes good but really? its stupid why couldnt he spend that on a CB im still in shock! Yeh Gibbs is good and hell b
@16arsenal4 agree hope this isnt the quality signing. but chamberlain is a good signing for the future. 17 and playing quite well in the championship. but yes, we need a mature signing.
really bad news about all those injuries. that benfica game was crazy - way too intense for a preseason friendly. it was like a cup final or something. hopefully those players will be ready for the second round.
have you seen the video of RVP giving a fan his medal. should be the captain. cesc doesnt deserve...
good this season. Yeh I cant wait for the MU vs us match to see have we improved or not. But Ill be dissappointed if this is our quality signing a 17 year old
@16arsenal4 hey buddy. yeah im very glad hes gone. its been going on too long. i guess RVP will take the captaincy now, and its about time. yes we wont cope unless NAsri stays (looking unlikely) or we get one or two more replacements in the center. hopefully at least one of which is a mature proven player. well we have one of those in Ladson. dont know much about him but hopefully he can do well. we were terrible v Newc IMO. ramsey not ready yet. rosciky good, but cant rely on him for the...
Yeh he is good but still 15m a club record really? Better be worth it. What would you think about getting Barton on a free? I think hed be good and give that rough edge that we dont have to the team hed be different I think hed be a good buy. If we got him and Cahill Id be happy.
Yeh I agree and now Arshavin maybe out cause of a head clash he suffered in the Euro qualifiers for Russia. What cup was it though? No will you post me the video please. Yeh i know i RVP loves Arsenal and he
should be captain I fully agree. He actually is nearly the only one who really really loves the club like genuinely. Pitty hes always injured cause he would have been Henry. Yeh Cesc doesnt and if he does stay do we really want a captain who's heart doesnt lay in the club? Can he motivate his team? Will the players really respect him? I dunno I do think RVP should have it and I really want Arsenal to win a trophy for his sake and players like Rosicky, Vermaelen, Arshavin and Wilshere
who do genuinely love the club. Wenger would not take the captaincy off him anyway I say him and Nasri are going to leave and to be honest maybe its better off Cesc I wouldnt blame 7 years I think at the club and hes got nothing and he is returning to his home I see the attraction like. I dnt want him to go but maybe its best but we cannot sell him for under 40m. Then Nasri well Ive lost alot of respect for him the way hes gone around things and been acting. I wouldnt like to see
Almunia. He just shouldnt have been where he was. If youre looking for positives the comeback from 2-0 was certainly that. On the other hand being 2-0 in the 1st place begs real questions of not just the team but the manager too. Had we not turned it around I shudder to think what the reaction would have been. When we were losing it certainly wasnt good, and while you do have to say fair play for turning it around these are the games you need to win if you want to be champions. So
@16arsenal4 or at least show good development in the FA/Carling cup comps; A fit Cesc; A promising right back putting pressure on Sagna.
I have told you this, but I have been really disappointed and frustrated with Sagna lately. He is such a limited player technically and in attack. Out of all the players in the first team, his place is (should be) the most vulnerable.
So I think next season, if we can stay somewhat injury free, we'll improve further. We are the EPL club with the most upside.
-breakout of another arsenal youngster (aneke, JET, frimpong, Ramsey...)
-greater individual empowerment and expression on the field - want to sometimes see the players be a bit more selfish rather than just sideways passing all the time...it's about playing smartly
-continued improvement from players (naturally will happen)
-maybe a star recruit like Hazard
-back to the defensive pressing we had going in the middle of the season
Your grand mate. Thats exactly what Wilshere said that they played for pride and your right. Well Vermaelen played 90mins vs MUs reserves on Thurs and came out fine but I still dont think we should push him. Ramsey has broken out IMO. I agree fully with your wishes and mine would be them same added though keeping our stars like Nasri and Cesc.
The only surprise yesterday was the inclusion of Ramsey in place of the injured Cesc and it would be correct to say he had a pharaoh game.
@16arsenal4 and fullbacks who can be more damaging with the dribble. these sorts of players will force opposition teams to spread their defences more thinly at the back, and it will open up spaces for our central midfielders to maneuver in better.
so as much as I like Sagna/Clichy, they either need to develop the attacking sides of their games, or they will be overtaken by more worthy players.
Miyaichi will add in this regard and i predict will have a big impact.
Sorry havent replied in ages was on holidays & actually stopped off to see the emirates cup & arsenals stadium did the legends tours with John Radford and was excellent. But the game itself well I think you know yourself. So will Nasri and Cesc stay they didnt travel to Benfica and Cesc was kicked out at half time on the first day of the Emirates Cup and Nasri didnt play so you have 2 wonder. What you think? Gervinho looks good & Clichy was quite a shock but he wasnt improvin wit us
Sorry. It might have been a big blow but the young Aaron put in the kind of performance that reminded people why he is so highly rated and why weve missed out on so much since he was Shawcrossed. 14 months after the incident and h’s looking more r less ready for 1st team action. You get the feeling with more games under his belt hell be even better too. And he was just one of 11 who put in a real shift yesterday. 2 wins would win the title for MU but they were surprisingly lackluster
There was little thrust from them Song shackled Rooney very well and the other outlets Park & Nani were as quiet as theyve been against us for some time. We pretty much dominated the 1st half kept the ball well got behind their full backs a few times and created some half chances.When United did create an opening Sagnas defending was 1st class. We should have had a penalty when Vidic clearly handled Walcotts cross before it could find RVP. He leapt full length and tipped it away
beautifully with his fingertips. A quite fantastic save it has to be said but as clear a penalty as youll see and probably a red card too. The linesman looking straight at it gave a corner. The ref looking straight at it also gave a corner. It was really poor officiating from Foy and his assistant. At half time Arshavin replaced the hamstring tweaked Nasri. I thought he might add some attacking verve but instead he was sent on to carry out the enforcer role. He marshaled the LHS of
the pitch sliding into tackles winning the ball back and generally proving very annoying for United. That commitment in the challenge was obvious throughout the team as well a bit more spike and physicality from us was great to see. The the goal brillant work. How can you not be anything but chuffed for him? Hes missed a lot of football and to get a goal like that against MU was no less than he deserved. After that they seemed to perk up a bit. A couple of brillant saves from Szecney
The loss of Djourou might have been a big blow but Squillaci slotted in well alongside Koscielny who had a really excellent game at the back. It would be churlish to put the result and performance down to a lack of pressure having pretty much put ourselves out of the title race. There was pressure enough on them yesterday to respond and to show some character at home. I have to say I read some Arsenal fans suggesting theyd like to lose this game because it might precipitate change. i
really cant get my head around that at all.Whatever else has happened this beating United, and playing as well as we did is something to be enjoyed.The title is a step too far I think but with 3 games left weve got to keep going and finish as high as we can in the table.
Its important that the spirit of yesterdays performance is replicated in those final games too. Next up is Stoke away and there really should be no lack of character for that one. Theres certainly no love lost betwee
clubs the fans or Im sure the players after what happened last season so standing strong and playing as well as we did yesterday would be great to see. What you think of the game? Also shows that we can play very well and win without Cesc. IMO hes going to Barca even Sagna said he wouldnt be suprised but we'll have to wait and see. But Ramsey was brillant...
@16arsenal4 ...to take on their direct opponents individually. to me, this is why we aren't creating enough scoring chances and aren't being penetrating enough in the final third. all it takes is to beat one opponent with a dribble or a dashing run to open the play up. wilshere does this during matches and it always opens the play up and creates opportunities. our players need to do this more often rather than always pass and move.
another area we will improve is when we get natural wingers...
@16arsenal4 arsenal has been linked to a player called Alvarez from ARgentina. really good player from his clips and it is said that he has signed with us; unofficially...
I think JET can have a big impact for Arsenal next season in a similar way wilshere has. he just has so much ability and xfactor, and i think his presence on a wing or even in the center would provide unpredictability. however, I don't really know how he went on his loan spell.
@16arsenal4 to let cesc have it. iºm actually pretty confident weºll get hazard and weºre being strongly linked with gervinho. weºll find out soon enough. :D
@16arsenal4 im not that keen on benzema. and how would we play him? dont think we need another DM because spots in the center of midfield will be really competitive next season - wilshere, cesc, ramsey, song, diaby, frimpong........
i´m hoping JET can break out next season. heard that miyaichi cant come play in the EPL yet again and might go out on loan once more. not necessarily a bad thing but i just wana see the kid playing in the arsenal shirt.
@16arsenal4 the whole season. gervinho was good but just lacked that final touch. perhaps nerves. if he can get that final touch better hes going to be very very dangerous getting into the box and will give us what we were lacking last season. if we lose nasri, wow, things were looking so promising last season, and now we lose our two best players. really thought nasri loved the club and was committed. losing faith in the comitment of players to our club now. what did you think of the game?
Well Nasri is gone and good ridence!! did you see what he said about the fans and leaving Arsenal? Total disrespect! Good ridence to him Id say! Cesc not so much because he did genuinely love the club and even cried when saying his thank you's and goodbyes to the fans, team mates and Wenger publically and apologised for not saying anything sooner. I wish him all the best. Nasri didnt really love the club all money money money and thats sad, unlike Cesc, RVP, Ramsey, Wilshere who do.
apparently what nasri 'said' was in fact from a fake twitter/facebook account. dont know the full story but i think it was all fake. i dont share your opinion on Cesc. I think he's been selfish and he might love Arsenal, but not really. as captain of the club you've got to do better than what he did. he handled the whole barcca-arsenal saga poorly from start to finish. so i hope cesc struggles at barca to be honest. another player who took arsenal for granted, hopefully.
Did you read what Cesc said about Wenger, the fans and Club? Even on twitter he was like Ill never miss an Arsenal game only it it overlaps with Barca's and "Once a gooner, always a gooner" it was nice. But IMO hes gone before his time? no? What do you think?
Saturdays preformance well... Well Song was lucky to stay on the pitch, Arsenal were denied two penalties yesterday. There was definite contact from Tiote on Gervinho, penalty 1, but Walton played on. Secondly, as the ball was
@16arsenal4 and he absolutely left before his time and he has just about crippled the progress we were making. last season we were so close and if we had a comitted cesc and nasri we would have a tremendous squad this season. i still think our squad is good but like you said we have to replace cesc and nasri with creativity in the center.
i have a new nickname e for Song - Sloppy Song. gee, as a DM you cant ...
in play, Barton grabbing Gervinho up off the ground and tugging him about the place is also a penalty. Then Barton v Gervinho which Barton shoulda got sent off for and gets away with it but Gervinho was stupid and look what he got a 3 match ban no MU or Lpool for him. As for the football, there wasn’t a great deal to talk about or analyse. Arsenal had plenty of the ball but lacked the creativity to fashion clear cut chances another reason why Cesc’s departure has to result in a foray
@16arsenal4 afford to give the ball away so easily. he's a bit unreliable and i dont think he'll ever get those moments out of his game.
barton is scum and i would have liked to see the arsenal players refuse to shake that guys hand. he doesnt deserve the respect of the arsenal players and it made me furious to see them shaking his hand. yes you can tell without nasri and cesc we really struggle in attack. not to mention wilshere who i think is our most important player. song out for a few...
into the transfer market. The couple of half-chances we got fell to Robin but his recent run of excellent form deserted him and he wasn’t quite sharp enough to take them on properly. Theo had a pretty decent opportunity too but the shot was easy for Krul. Beyond that we did little from an attacking point of view and I have to say I think Bendtner would have been a decent option. At the back we looked good on Saturday. But no Nasri and Cesc we lacked creativeness.
@16arsenal4 weeks so im looking forward to a midfield of wilshere, ramsey and rosicky/other.
djourou and gibbs is a big loss. particularly gibbs. now its down to jenkinson for liverpool and maybe more. gibbs is so good though; its so refreshing to have a quality fullback at arsenal.
v udinese i agree with what you say. in attack we were poor and the one area where we can improve is when our players start to be more selfish and take the game on themselves. we rarely ever dribble aside from...
A good result but that was hard work & it was hard work because our squad is just so weak. We were desperate to be honest I dont think I can remember us playing as bad as we did the last few games. The goal was brilliant play by Ramsey and Wallcott nevertheless. We need to replace Cesc asap cause if we dont we are screwed and get Cahill and replace Nasri aswell. At least it was a won havent had one of those in a while!! But we played bad... if no new signings come in its going to be
@16arsenal4 gervinho. in fact, its made even more obvious when you see vermaelen take a dribble into the midfield. it makes you think, wow you dont see that sort of thing often from arsenal players. perhaps wilshere in a more advanced role will give us this. also i like the young signins like campbell because he has speed and this ability. wenger said hes a gamble and i hope it pays off coz hes the type of player arsenal needs. so we miss gervinho AND song for LP and MU, maybe also gibbs...
a long season ahead cause there are problems and hopefully Wenger saw them from the stands. Especially with Djourou and Gibbs out injured!! What did you think of the game?
goal that would ensure we kept pace with MU.I have to give credit to the lads for the fightback it showed good character and when we needed to be dragged back into the game Arshavins contribution was telling. However you have to ask why a fightback should be needed at all. The 1st goal well that can happen to any team at any time but the 2nd was completely avoidable. Arsene called it a ‘massive mistake’ and it was. I know people might point at Squillaci but for me its 100% down to
into it. He took a pass from Chamakh took a touch with his right and fired it home with his left foot. 1-2. Arshavin was involved in the equaliser too. His cross from the left found Bendtner at the back post he squirmed it back and when the ball fell under Meites feet RVP prodded it home. To say it crawled over the line would be an understatement but it went in and it was 2-2 with about 10min to go. Sadly no winner arrived we tried hard forced a couple of corners but couldnt find the
@16arsenal4 I think Aneke, when he's ready, will be enormous for our team. We are a bit small in the center of midfield, and Aneke would give us a different dimension much like p.viera. But I can't see aneke being ready for another couple of years.
incident showed exactly why he lost his place in the team. Fine shot stopper on his day but capable of making terrible decisions. Im still wondering what he was thinking hes a useless keeper. Having hauled of Denilson at HT replacing him with Chamakh we then Bendtner for Ramsey which meant we were playing with three strikers plus Arshavin with Nasri & Wilshere in central midfield. And it really didnt look as if much would change. That was until a fantastic Arshavin finish got us back
just inside the box it was all set up for Squillaci to head it back to him. Instead he came a good 10 yards outside of his area. Squillaci was confused. Which is completely understandable as he had no business being there at all.As Squillaci tried to figure out what his keeper was doing, Almunia failed to clear and the ball fell to Odemwingie who just rolled it into the empty net. At this level in a game of this importance it was an absolutely ludicrous goal to give away. That
only, chance in the 1st half fell to Ramsey. RVPs header looped back off the bar it feel to Aaron just a couple of yards out he had to wait for it come down but his shot was saved by Carson. You cant help thinking that a sharper Ramsey would have probably scored. 2nd half provided more of the same. Lots of Arsenal possession but no real chances. Still we didnt look under any particular threat. That was until Almunia decided to come for a long ball played down the middle. Had he been
We drew 2-2 with West Brom, making that a grand total of 1 point from 6 from our games with them this season.We probably could have gotten off to a better start. Reid headed in a corner we could have avoided giving away. On his 1st start since his injury Ramsey might have done better with his marking duties but once again a set-piece proved costly. After that we dominated possession WBA looked to hit us on the break and the game took on an all too familiar pattern. The best probably
Just saw the pictures of arsenal training ahead of the barca game and RVP is training with the squad. Hopefully a shock addition. Unlikely though. Hopefully wenger has a shock up his sleeve
i heard about fabregas's childhood story. his grandfather used to hide him from the barca scouts but aperently he couldnt cuz cesc is to good. i think it was his grandfather or dad i dont remember. but my dream is to play with arsenal. im not ganna get there on the internet tho
@16arsenal4 did you hear that Eden Hazard has a preference for La Liga? I'm not sure if this is just foxing on behalf of his management, and I hope it is. He is such a perfect fit for Arsenal
Shezny
sagna djourou vermaelen clichy Wilshere
HAzard/Walcott Ramsey Cesc NAsri
RVP
what a line-up? getting ramsey back, and with miyaichi to eventually come, doesn't look good for Song.
also, wellington silva struggling on his loan spell. hope he can turn it round
@16arsenal4 only disappointment was the Man U result. Blackpool so close, but somehow yet again Man U come back. I can't help but think that it's destiny for Man U. I felt so much hatred for them when I found out that fought back to win. they seem to have all the luck.
player ratings:
Shesny - 6.5 (didn't have much to do...he only needed to make one save the whole game...but i'm looking forward to fabianski coming back...i feel more reassured by fabianski)
@16arsenal4 future. Love to see our self-less defenders get on the score-sheet, and it was a quality header by koscielny. djourshelny is a fearsome combination, and I don't blame wenger for not rushing off to get another CB (Wenger looking to get one on loan, which makes sense). Cesc another great performance and lead the team by example. good lead-up work by arshavin to set Cesc up. But yes, the highlight was that bendtner goal...it was perfection. In fact, Bendtner makes a pretty good winger..
what a win! very mature performance. really happy we scored 3 second half goals. and even more happy with the scorers. Bendtner's goal was poetry; from the moment he brought the wilshere-long ball down with a sublime touch, to the little back heel into space, and finishing with the keeper blind-sighted. Bendter is a quality player who i really admire. I just hope he sticks it out with Arsenal. It gives me great confidence that we have a great replacement for RVP now and in the...
was good to see the players have this win and put that Denilson/Fabregas controversy behind them. for me, there was nothing in it; Denilson just has to be a little more careful of what he says from now on.
Should also say that Wenger managed the team really well. he called for a greater focus on being sharp, and we were. he was also right in playing djourou over miquel; it was an intense game; miquel might not have managed well. his subs of fab and RVP were perfect...
Sagna - a most impressive performance. he was really attacking, and causing some havoc for the opposition left back. a super goal.
arshavin/song - performed their holding roles very well. Song probably should have scored. would like to see denilson back himself more and be a bit more selfish. he's so unselfish, perhaps too unselfish.
Djourou/Koscielny - forming a good partnership. Djourou has such great confidence. Koscielny was very very solid.
@16arsenal4 Arsenal at their best. Where have they been? They've always had it in them. A focus on being sharp really paid off. they'd played with a lot of confidence, and there was some great individual performances. It was the perfect game.
Gibbs - great game going both ways. can see the similarities between him and A.Cole.
Bendtner - a winger! haha. he was really good. His pinpoint cross to Van Persies head was great. he played with a lot of intensity.
Sorry mate Ill be on-off for the next couple of weeks. Nasri just amazing.Hes ultra-confident in front of goal this season.We dominated the game in terms of possession and chances. We had quality in our attitude, spirit and focus.It’s a good sign ahead of what’s going to be another difficult cup tie next week against Ipswich. Overall I thought we played very well. It’s clear that some players are still struggling. Bendtner is not a wide player but didn’t shirk his responsibilities at all
great win. i was very flat when Barca went in front 1-0, but i knew we had 1 or 2 goals in us. we just had to get the ball! lol. and when we got the ball, we needed to keep it. in the second half we were playing much more through the center, whereas in the first half we seemed to be pushing the ball out to the wings too much - which is not our strength - and Barca were forcing us out there. our defensive pressure and high line was a great tactical move by Arsene.
He’s not much of a defender but at least he was back there covering Sagna when necessary and was involved in two of the goals. His cross for van Persie was first class. Arshavin just can’t do anything right at the moment, it’s sad to see him struggle like this, but despite the fact his form is in the toilet I thought he tried hard last night. He might have been stronger on one or two occasions – in the build up to their goal especially – but then he is no bigger than your thumb. If he
@16arsenal4 unfortunately at one point we failed to execute it effectively with clichy playing villa on-side, costing us the goal. we were resilient though. Wilshere was brilliant; MOTM. Koscielny, Shezny and WAlcott were also great. When Barca went 1-0 they somewhat arrogantly started playing keepings-off football and that was a mistake. they should have pushed for more. and then they subbed off Villa for a defensive midfielder way too early in the match, and with only 1 goal on us.
While it’s only half-time in the grand scheme of things the win last night was hugely significant,IMO. I agree fully with everything youve said about the game and i was goin to choose the same 4 who played brillantly and werent scared from the start they went for it.Last season we were on the back foot straight away and while Barca kept the ball well after kicking off we certainly gave them something to think about in the opening few minutes.Slowly though Barca turned the screw and did 2
us what they do to teams week in, week out. They pressured us to win the ball back and just kept it. They moved it around, probing for openings and looking to take advantage of mistakes.We played a high line, looking to catch them offside. They used their movement and timing to beat the offside trap goal was disappointing i agree. I was nearly certain that Song would get sent off.I thought our passing was quite careless in the first half and we weren’t quite decisive enough an extra
@16arsenal4 i think we play the high line to take away space from barca in the middle of the field. it worked to great effect in my opinion, with barca finding it very hard to get forward easily and create chances. the beauty of that tactic is that Barca refuse to change the way they play, so they don't do the logical thing in chipping the ball over the defensive line for barca players to run onto.
touch from RVP meant a good chance was spurned.It might have been 2-0 at half-time but for a fantastic Wojscezer save.At that point Arsenal had retreated, under intense pressure, and I felt we were sitting too deep and allowing them to have it too easily. Half-time came at the right time for us. Pique out for the second leg great.For me the changes with about 20 minutes to go were a big factor in the result. Barcelona took off David Villa and put on Keita, a defensive midfielder. It seem
odd to me aswell. With Arsenal having to press for an equaliser the threat of Villa would at least have made us more cautious. Guardiola obviously felt his team could hang on to the 1-0. At the same time Arsene’s choice of Arshavin to replace Song was brave. He moved Nasri back into midfield and Arsh played further forward.Then the equaliser Arshavin had it on our left, in the Barca half, played it back to Clichy whose right foot is normally just for standing on. He made up for his part
@16arsenal4 agree agree agree. disagree about the arshavin gamble. it was the perfect time to make such a sub - song, our defensive player, was on a yellow card and we were 1-0 down and needed more attacking options. arshavin, in the form he's been in, was perfect. we had to get a goal back. "right foot normally just for standing on", hahaha. what i realised from the song substitution is that we were much more fluent in attack with him off. made me think that Song will eventually get overtaken..
in the first goal with a lovely ball over the top to RvP. The angle was tight there was no way he could shoot from there and oh there was a way he could shoot from there. He slammed it home at the near post. Valdes had moved off his line, anticipating a ball across the box, RVP went for it and it was both power and precision. 1-1. I thought the substituation was perfect.From there it was just outstanding football. Koscielny played it to Bendtner who under real pressure from Barca playrs
@16arsenal4 especially considering we are becoming a much better side defensively (our back 4 and team-wide pressing) and aren't needing a technically limited defensive mid anymore. eventually, especially with Ramsey, miyaichi, possibly hazard coming in, wilshere will do that deeper mid role by himself (with the freedom to go forward), and cesc will have greater support up front with a ramsey or nasri to assist him.
we were much more fluent without him. i say all this as a fan of Song. just...
fizzed it across midfield to Wilshere who played a first time pass to Cesc, he controlled and turned in one movement and played it in behind to Nasri who drove into the Barcelona box. He waited, cut inside, saw Arshavin coming, saw Alves not bothering to chase back, and played it perfectly into his path. The Arshavin of a few weeks ago might have blasted it out of the stadium, this Arshavin curled it in first time to make it 2-1.And what made it all the sweeter was that we beat them when
they played well. This was no off night for Barcelona, but we held on, and showed great spirit and ability to get ourselves back into it.The concentration you need and the effort you have to put in to a) try and win it back and b) stopping them creating chances when they have it shouldn’t be underestimated. It’s incredibly hard to deal with, physically and mentally. We had our shaky moments but that’s only to be expected. I thought the team, as a whole, played well but might have been a
bit more sensible in possession at times. I thought we rushed things, anxious to make an impact instead of slowing it down a bit and just keeping the ball.Koscielny had an excellent game reading it well tackling and distributing it well and when you consider the quality of the players he was up against he deserves major kudos this morning.Wilshere had a coming of age performance. I remember people saying the same about Cesc when we played Real Madrid at the Bernebeu this was very similar
yeah i agree we weren't that good in possession. i put it down to poor off-the-ball movement. there was a lot of ball watching going on, and this was even more apparent against a team who's off-the-ball movement is so good. koscielny, wilshere, walcott and shezny were my four best players. there's a good vid of koscielny's performance if you search koscielny v barcelona you should be able to find it.
both in terms of the performance and the stage on which it was delivered.Last night Jack was up against Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets and was absolutely fantastic. He was as calm as you like when he had it, worked hard to deny them space when they were in possession, and he put in a serious shift in midfield. When you consider this is his first full season and that he’s just gone 19 it was remarkable. Though I thought Nasri took a while to get into the game and I dont think Cesc played that
@16arsenal4 absolutely; wilshere was motm. yeah cesc was down. he seemed flat. however he's always dangerous. he has those kinds of games where he's a bit down, but can make just one or two superb passes that make the difference.
the result is hugely important. beating the best team in the world will give us massive confidence in the league and the cups. it seems like the pieces are falling into place perfectly for a league win, and likewise for cup wins.
He’s not much of a defender but at least he was back there covering Sagna when necessary and was involved in two of the goals. His cross for van Persie was first class. Arshavin just can’t do anything right at the moment, it’s sad to see him struggle like this, but despite the fact his form is in the toilet I thought he tried hard last night. He might have been stronger on one or two occasions – in the build up to their goal especially – but then he is no bigger than your thumb. If he
keeps trying he’ll find some form again. There’s just no way he can keep playing this badly forever.At the back we were solid, we look so much stronger defensively with Sagna back in the team, while I thought Djourscienly put in another good shift. The midfield worked hard and when you can bring on Cesc and RVP to put the opposition even further onto the back foot it’s no bad thing. Wenger is getting a CB and Ramsey is goin on loan to Cardiff.
Ramsey is going on loan!?! I thought Wenger has said that he wants Ramsey around. But if you're right, I can see how another loan spell is a good thing, it's not like Ramsey is getting much match time, and that won't improve when Diaby comes back.
Wenger is getting a CB? how do you know? everything i've read is very inconclusive.
yeah they're good reason we can win it. Wenger said we're going from strength to strength, and I agree. We need MAn U/Ct to falter though...
@16arsenal4 Barca will be fired up for the second leg. but we'll have belief from this win. i'm hoping we can be a bit better in possession, and take advantage of our chances (walcott, who was great, overweighted a couple of his passes early in the match that otherwise could have been very good chances to score).
I agree that high line was a brillant tactic. Did I say it was the wrong tome for the substitution? I didnt mean that i meant to say it was perfect and we played far better after Song went off like you said. Yeh I like Song aswell but I agree with you I think Cesc and Nasri in the middle and Arshavin on the wing works better. Yeh they were my four best players aswell they were fearless. Ill look for that video later thanks mate. Yeh well have huge cionbidence after that win and were stil
@16arsenal4 yes, even cesc and nasri in the middle with arshavin on the wing sounds really good. it's been a big season for arsenal...lots of surprises...so i wouldn't be surprised if at the end of it all we had won the quadruple...well a little surprised haha.
yeah shezny was fantastic. I always preferred fabianski simply because shezny was very young, and if he did make some costly mistakes, it could really hurt his confidence. but I should have realised the guy has unbreakable confidence...
in 4 competitions we could win the quadruple. Yeh well see a different Barca the next game the Camp Nao is hard to win in. Didnt I tell you Szency would prove himself as a brillant keeper hes so coinfident I have no doubts with him in goal he was brillant. I thought Clichy could have got forward more during the match when he did finally go forward we got the goal something we could use the next match. The players are definately enjoyed that win but what i like is that they are still
@16arsenal4 clichy and sagna will always just be solid fullbacks who are good defensively, and aren't particularly threatening in attack. they'll have rare moments where they'll create an assist or even score. that's my opinion. they really aren't elite full backs, but they're very reliable and solid and always give 110%. most importantly, they love arsenal, and i can't see either ever turning their backs on the club.
focused on the next game and not basking in it to much. Im expecting to see alot more of Messi at Barca it was the same last season quite at ours and then... I read an artical and it was inresting after all the stick we got about our defense and keeper in the past and pre-barca. Are Arsenals Defense The Best in Europe? I dont think so yet but we did keep the best attacking team pretty quite. We have the best defensive record in 2011. And will Vermaelen get his place back? I think we need
@16arsenal4 i agree. i think credit goes to Wenger for setting them on the right path - refocusing on the FA cup, and making sure that they consolidate on this Barca victory, and not let it all go to waste. It's been confirmed that Djourou will be rested as he has a sore back. we have a busy schedule this week, so i want to rest as many of our first team as possible.
to rest Djourou this weekend last thing we need are injuries. On Wed he put in a decent performance but he was not the commanding force he usually is. He looked a bit off pace and was caught out of position a few times. It was in no way a bad performance but Djourou looked a bit out of color. I noticed Barca too have their faults and problems at the back. I was so happy that Arshavin scored close to 45 days, Arsenal fans booed him after he put on another sloppy and torrid performance.
Now he inspired Arsenal to a crucial win over Everton and then repeated the magic once more but this time against Barca. Hes finally back to his best. Koscielny proves Wenger is a transfer Genius IMO hes getting better and better ay the start i have to admit I wasnt a fan but he proved me wrong. Weve got so many big games before the next Barca game and it would be great to go into it with all wins and a Carling Cup trophy.
@16arsenal4 I always liked koscielnys determination and attributes such as his speed and compettiveness from the start. he still has improvement in him. and i think his confidence will only grow from this win, also considering he was playing in frances 2nd or 3rd league only 1 year ago. yeah would be fantastic to win the CC for the confidence heading into the second leg. yeah i reckon we realistically shoud be favorites to win the league. i'd also add:
I think Sagna attacks alot! But I agree they are solid fullbacks. Yeh I cant see them or RVP goin. Yeh Koscielny has done brillantly fair duece to him. Vermealen as cover? Hes brillant though. I always rathered Szency, Fabianski I always think hes an accident ready to happen. The quadruple will be hard but hopefully all depends if MU drop points big ask
Sunday, Football is a funny old game. One minute your beating Barca and in the throes of joy, the next you concede a late equaliser to a
@16arsenal4 Just on NAsri. I wish he had said that he was happy at Arsenal and doesn't plan to leave any time soon. Considering how much of a success he's been and a leader (or so i thought), why wouldn't he say that. Great leadership by RVP to say that he wants to be at Arsenal for life.
Vermaelen and Djourou will be our first choice IMO.
MAn U have to drop points...they face too many good clubs to not drop any.
lower league team in the cup and back comes the despair and confusion.We had most of the ball but did very little with it from an attacking point of view. Orient defended well enough, got men behind the ball and we lacked the bit of cleverness needed to open them up. When we did, and Gibbs cross found Chamakh six yards out and unmarked, he should have scored. Instead he made a total hash of it and put it wide. Whats wrong with him these days? He started off so well. Now you forget hes on
@16arsenal4 that's the roller coaster ride that is AFC. we controlled the match and the performance was encouraging but you're spot on about lacking cleverness to open them up in the final third. I'd prefer to see a bit more of an attacking line-up if Ramsey plays next game.
shezny
eboue miquel squilacci gibbs denilson
bendtner ramsey rosicky arshavin chamakh
risky without song, but LO weren't particularly threatening. put song on when we go up.
the team at all. At the back debutant Ignasi Miquel looked fairly calm and assured. And beyond that there’s not a great deal I can say about the performance. Rosicky’s first goal since he was a teenager came via a header from beyond the penalty spot, set up by Bendtner. Imagine the odds you could have got on that? lol It seems that the manager wanted that team to go on and finish the job off. No substitutions were made. Arshavin hit the post. And then, late on,Tehoue tricked his way
through Gibbs and Miquel and fired a shot between Almunia’s legs to make it 1-1.It adds one more game to our already hectic schedule but that’s hardly the end of the world is it? It is a really hectic schedual though. At least were still it.The one thing you could say about our FA Cup run this season is that we’ve shown remarkable consistency. We made hard work of 2 lower league teams in the previous 2 rounds and did the very same again yesterday. I expect us to go through at home and
@16arsenal4 yeah an extra game is no big deal because i'm confident we can start the same team at the emirates and not risk any of our first team regulars.
"It’s a lot to expect players who don’t play regularly to come in and perform at a very high level." - precisely.
agree we could have a bit more urgency in attack.
i thought we performed well the players were sharp and the movement was pretty good. everyone played pretty well and there was a lot of poise. i will check velas game out.
while a replay isn’t ideal it really isn’t a disaster. This is what happens in football. And not just to Arsenal either, although we’re kinda good at this sort of thing. It’s a lot to expect players who don’t play regularly to come in and perform at a very high level. However, it’s not too much to expect that a team full of internationals and experienced players might be a bit better than they were against Orient.What’s most apparent is the lack of urgency. In the first half we had most
of the ball but seemed content to just have it, rather than doing anything particularly positive with it. That’s something we could work on and these lads need only look back at Barca on Wednesday last to realise that having more of the ball doesn’t guarantee anything.Anyway, if we’re going to win this FA Cup we’re going to do it the hard way. A 3rd round replay, a win with 10 men over Huddersfield, now another replay against Orient, and then, should we win that, we’ll go to ManU in the
QFs. Quite the run of games but there you go. I’m fairly optimistic about the whole thing, really. I’ve seen much, much worse from us in the cup down the years, and from teams who really should have done better, so I’ll await the replay and take it from there.In the meantime we’ll turn our attention to the Stoke game on Wednesday because that’s now the most important thing. What you think of the game?
Vela played really well for WBA on Saturday he scored the winning goal in the 92nd min
Im afraid that Nasri wont sign a new contract I hope he doesnt leave he said that reports to Barcelona and other clubs are very flattering! Also RvP and Koscielny are out for the Stoke game bug misses. And finally we are leading the chase for Barcelona starlet Joan Toral, Barca arent happy about losing another brillant prospect to us.Toral has just turned 16 and has been part of Barca's academy system since before he was a teenager. Hes a midfielder. Story sounds familar doesnt it
@16arsenal4 Nasri really loves the club and great things are happening at the club so I'd be very surprised if he left. I don't even think Barcelona would want/need him. that's bad news about RVP and Koscielny. hopefully bendtner will play up front and it will be exciting to see how he goes.
I thought bendtner played very well in the FA cup game. he's very sharp and confident and I think he's actually developing his game a bit playing on the wing.
Yeh I hope Nasri signs the contract because hes our captain atm with Cesc and RvP out. Yeh I dont see RvP ever leaving! ManU have Chelsea next Tues. Exactly out season has been a rollar coaster. I dont think we should ever start Denilson and Song to defensive
Yeh I agree with you exactly we won BUT with consquences. Firstly the injuries, Theo went over on his ankle and was stretchered off. Cesc is being positive via his Twitter account, so fingers crossed he can pull a Djourou, but he
looked like a man who knew it was serious enough when he was coming off the pitch. Obviously it’s a big blow for us if he misses those games but you can’t help but feel absolutely gutted for him personally. He might well have a chance for Barcelona if it’s not as serious as we fear but for the captain to miss the chance of leading out the team and playing in a cup final seems particularly cruel.Arsene said afterwards that he was ‘very upset’ which probably tells you everything you need 2
@16arsenal4 Cesc ruled out. I'd say it's a big loss. he has had to come on several times and save us during previous carling cup matches. also, he's out captain, and it would be nice to have our captain playing in the final. but I think we should be able to win without him, and it's best that Cesc is not pushed.
If he and Walcott aren't fit to play against Barca, we can give up hope of getting the result we need there.
As insignificant as the carling cup is, I agree that winning it is very
know. It’s a cruel game sometimes. But Cesc is out for the CC but could be back for Barca. Theo I dont know.And while I think everyone has sympathy for Cesc, and for Theo, Sunday is more important than either of them. Winning a trophy is vital in this team’s development and for its future.There is some good news regarding injuries too. RvP, Koscielny and Diaby all return and I suspect all three will play a part on Sunday.
Our preformance I agree was ordinary and we started off well with
@16arsenal4 important. if we win, we get a taste of success that will stoke the hunger of the players for more.
We're no longer particularly weak at set pieces. I think Arsenal fans know this but others are yet to realise we're a much more resilient side defensively.
on walcott, you can tell he's not a natural winger when you watch Miyaichi play. miyaichi is a natural winger. walcotts speed gets him by though. eventually we'll somehow have to accommodate for him as a striker.
but when Cesc came off we looked less creative. Yeh I agree we did what Wenger said tactially keot the ball. Yeh RvP and Cesc are huge players and very hard to replace. Cesc was crowned as the player who creats the most chances in open play in Europe. Yeh Arshavin is getting back to his best which as you said is very comforting.You cant go through a game like that without hearing the commentator/pundit go on about our weakness from set pieces etc but last night I thought we did excellent
work defensively. I was pleased that Squillaci’s goal was backed up with a solid defensive display and the hard work and industry shown by the rest of the team was rewarded. I agree Walcott didnt play well he difts out of games at times and he should have scored that goal set up brillantly by Arshavin. Yeh Im happy Ramsey is coming back but we shouldnt expect wonders from him yet. He scored last weekend and is pencilled in for the Layton game. THings I noticed about the Stoke game.
We Struggle Without Fabregas and RvP.Walcott Should Stop Fading Away As the Match Goes On.There Is No Denying That Arsenal Have Progressed.The Premier League Title Race Is Now a Two-Horse Race.Unlikely Goal Scorers Are Sustaining Arsenal's Title Bid.
It leaves us one behind United who have two league games before we play again, one of which is against Chelsea, and when we play Sunderland next weekend they face a Liverpool. Vermaelen could make his first team comeback in 2 weeks time.
@16arsenal4 chelsea and liverpool. that's good news. surely they'll drop some points. they have a busy schedule too. hopefully that gives chelsea/liverpool the advantage. it's unfortunate that both of these teams still haven't really found winning form. but i guess that makes a result in this match for both of these teams even more important. If Cesc and Walcott recover asap, then we should win the league based on our fixture.
I still cant believe it.So the champagne remains on ice, the celebrations on hold and the wait for a trophy continues.it’s hard to look at the performance and rank it anywhere near our best this season. Not the worst either but when the time came we couldnt raise our game to the level we know were capable of. Some of that was down to the way Birmingham played they worked hard & defended very well. They got ten men behind the ball at all times when we had it and on a day when we lacked a
bit of spark that was always going to make life difficult for us. And as much as Birmingham played well we were leggy and careless, not a good day to have one of those days.The defensive solidity weve enjoyed over the last little while wasnt really obvious as we struggled to cope with Zigic. Time and again Birmingham hit him with the long ball and when you’ve got the best part of a foot on your opponent youre always going to win more headers.In possession we were careless giving the ball
ball away too easily, and the first goal came after a mix-up between Sagna & Wilshere gave the ball back to them.Shortly afterwards it really should have been 2 Gardener was stopped on the edge of the box the ball rebounded to Zigic who was clean through and denied only by a Wojscezcr save and the fact he had to use his feet.It was bit of a wake-up call and Wilshere drove us forward from midfield, cracking the bar with a shot. When it rebounded to Arshavin he skinned the defender crossed
Man, what's the song's name, the video and the song are excellents!
Flakoverdolaga 1 month ago
Fabregas is always in Thet Gunners' heart. He belongs to Gunners, no matter in the past, present and future. We can't blame for his transfer, he moved not because of money, but because it was his hometown club. He also ever said that he will never see himself playing in other costumes. He loves Arsenal for BPL, he loves barca in La Liga, 2 different league : )
arsenalkezia 1 month ago in playlist Cesc Fabregas
Neymar
edinhogorillaz 4 months ago
goodbye fabregas, we will miss you
RoelRC1 6 months ago
WHAT A PLAYER!!!!!
ImTheBest544 7 months ago
if Fabregas moves I don't blame him. Lack of support.
all i can say is that if he wins a trophy with Arsenal it would be more special than wining things with Barca.
KinMobby3tic 8 months ago 11
@KinMobby3tic I second that!
RuddGerrath 8 months ago
Great Fabregas! what's the song's name?
Flakoverdolaga 9 months ago
think about it fabregas do barca have a faster player than walcott, no, do they have a better finisher than van persie, no, do they have a better pass machine than Fabregas, no, do they have young players, some, but not many, and every match you play in the premier league you will allways play amongst and aginst great players, does la liga offer this, no.
RoelRC1 11 months ago
@RoelRC1 I'm not worried about keeping the squad together. as rough and as disappointing as it's been for them, I think they're a tight-nit group and should be able to see that they're close and there's plenty of improvement still to come. Judging by a lot of fabregas statements in the media, twitter, etc, he seems committed to the club for now and next season.
I think keeping Bendtner might be hard. I'd actually be surprised if he stayed with Arsenal, and I don't blame him if he left...
markgunna1 10 months ago
@markgunna1 i want bendtner to leave he dosent work hard enough he just chews gum, they shold rather use chamakh
RoelRC1 10 months ago
@RoelRC1 disagree. bendtner has a very high work rate. always moving around and providing an option. quality player and has room for improvement considering he's young and has had limited opportunities. i'd rather use bendtner ahead of chamakh because bendtner has much more upside.
markgunna1 10 months ago
@markgunna1
now we have 2 weeks off. More than any other Interlull we have to keep everything crossed that nobody picks up injuries. We cant afford them. Beyond that we need our injured players back badly.Yesterday was hugely disappointing, and of course it could have been worse but it probably should have been better
What you think? The EPL looking abit dodgy now can we win it? Well have to beat MU! Should Almunia be shot? Yes
Your grand about the reply. Mad Jens yeh he wouldnt have done that
16arsenal4 11 months ago
@16arsenal4 Blackburn tonight. Walcott, Song and Cesc apparently are fit, but might not start. If these guys can come back fit and not have any setbacks, we are back in the title race, hopefully beginning with a strong victory v Blackburn.
Positives for next season: Vermaelen (hopefully) returns fit and at his best; One or both of Miyaichi/Hazard to add some pace down the wings; continues natural development of the team; hopefully one or more of Aneke/JET/Bendtner/Ramsey/Frimpong to break out..
markgunna1 11 months ago
@markgunna1
Sorry mate Ive been away. Well depressing and down times to be an Arsenal fan....
Out of 4 cups and fighting for second who thought we'd be saying that after the Barca win, 3 wins in 11 thats bad. We never recovered after the Barca and Birmingham loses IMO. Teams in a tough, hard place now along with Wenger and his job.
Will our stars stay? Every week I have less and less convidence but can you blame them?
16arsenal4 10 months ago
@16arsenal4 hey. i kinda forgot about you; have to get used to this new youtube account I have that isn't linked to the email address i'm always using.
yeah, season was going very promising but since that cup final loss things have started to go bad. I think it's temporary, and we'll rebound strongly next season, hopefully with a couple of new recruits as well as miyaichi. we need a couple of mature experienced players in the squad to close that gap between us and winning trophies...
markgunna1 10 months ago
@16arsenal4 season even though it's been a very injury interupted season for him. I hope he gets back to his best next season.
It was a good win - dominated the possession and unlike when we played them at old trafford, we didn't crack beneath their pressing. I thought Song was probably our best. sometimes he can be a weak link in these games, but he really stood up in the absence of Cesc.
There's one obvious area where Arsenal can improve: empowerment of our players to take on opposition...
markgunna1 10 months ago
@markgunna1
Sorry about the slow reply but Im speakless... what a shit way to end the season I cant remember the last win.
Intresting stat: Arsenal's form since the Carling Cup final - LWDLLDDWDDLWLLLLD
16arsenal4 9 months ago
@16arsenal4 yeah we're just mentally weak. injuries haven't helped either. shows that we are still dependent on Cesc I think.
only player who can really hold his head up is RVP and maybe wilshere throughout all of this.
wenger is going to buy - well at least try to buy - too add what Arsenal is missing.
I hope we can address our mentality issues and be ready to go next season.
hopefully miyaichi and JET can step up and add some unpredictability to the team. we really lack unpredictability...
markgunna1 9 months ago
@16arsenal4
big game against man u even though the title is beyond us now; we're playing for pride and also to take away a good victory for next season.
Man U give us a lot of trouble though, so i'm not convinced we can even beat them at home.
Wish-list for next season:
-miyaichi
-wellington to make a lot of progress (he could be that tricky brazilian type who can individually break through defences)
-bring in two experienced mature players (not sure who)
-vermaelen back to his best
...
markgunna1 10 months ago
@16arsenal4 Ramsey was great but I wouldn't get carried away. it's only one game, and in the other games he's played he didn't do much at all. Hopefully he can back it up again next week.
On Cesc i'd be surprised if he left yet. he hasn't achieved what he wants with Arsenal, and I believe he wants to continue with Arsenal for now. Also, Arsenal are not ready to let him go yet I think. Ramsey will be a worthy replacement, but it's still early days I think. Cesc has been important for us this...
markgunna1 10 months ago
@markgunna1
Sorry havent replied in ages. So what you think about Nasri? He cant disrepect us like that, I hope he doesnt leave. We need him. And then theres the Cesc saga back again... will he wont he? And then maybe RVP? And for definate Denilson and Bendtner - no loss - and then Clichy hope he doesnt leave! What you think? If Cesc, Nasri and RVP leave were gone for next season, may get 6th or less. Wenger needs to spend and spend big its make or break next season.
16arsenal4 9 months ago
@16arsenal4 hi dude. no worries. iºm actually backpacking through europe at the moment. where do you live? ireland? we should meet up if possible.
i think theres a lot of hysteria at the momet. i am not concerned at all about nasri. heºll stay. i think likewise with cesc. and iºm confident that we will get a couple of quality signings this summer. RVP??!! RVP is committed to arsenal until the end. hes an aboslute champ and should be our captain to be honest. but thats how classy he is, willing
markgunna1 9 months ago
@markgunna1
Really mate thanks class. yeh in ireland no problem depends no the summer job though yano but sure well see. Where you atm?
Really your coinvident on Nasri? I suppose I am aswell Arsenal said they dont want to let their stars go and Wenger wants him so Id hope he will. Yeh Cesc said hes happy at Arsenal funny enough the same day Sagna said that Cesc wants to go, but hopefully he will aswell. RVP definately staying. I hope we get Hazard, Gervinho looks in the bag and aswell looks lik
16arsenal4 8 months ago
@16arsenal4 awesome. will let you know when im in ireland.
nasri will remain an arsenal player. no doubt about it. it would be very random if he left. he's happy at the club. the contract negotiation are simply getting drawn out. hazard would be brilliant and gervinho is looking very likely, and i think he could really surprise us with the impact he could have at arsenal. i remember watching him in the world cup and he was a player that impressed me at the time.
markgunna1 8 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
@16arsenal4 awesome. will let you know when im in ireland.
nasri will remain an arsenal player. no doubt about it. it would be very random if he left. he's happy at the club. the contract negotiation are simply getting drawn out. hazard would be brilliant and gervinho is looking very likely, and i think he could really surprise us with the impact he could have at arsenal. i remember watching him in the world cup and he was a player that impressed me at the time.
markgunna1 8 months ago
@16arsenal4 preseason but id say that we have got some good prospects in frimpong and i really like what ive seen of gibbs so far and traore isnt bad also. jenkinson has a bit of a longer way to go but i think eventually he could take over from sagna and give us a bit more going forward. just hope we stay injury-free. the RVP one v benfica was worrying. but i just watched man u v man ct and was super impressed by man u to come back. arsenal dont have that maturity and winning mentality yet.
markgunna1 7 months ago
@markgunna1
were after Samba and G. Cahill hope we get at least one of those Cahill wouls be first perferance. We bought a young full back from Charlton abit odd but definately a Wenger buy dont know anything about him about out of the blue. Yano who I would love would be Sanchez but too expensive for Wenger hed be brilliant though. Or Benzema. What you think? I do think we definately need a CB, DM (competition for Song), and a striker & then a player who can play RB&LB someone like Van der Wiel
16arsenal4 8 months ago
@16arsenal4 dont think we need a CB now that vermaelen is good. our defensive issues were more team-wide rather than the back 4. we have three excellent CBs now. you couldnt manage and keep 4 world class CBs. then theres squilacci as a last resort and miquel will get chances. the signing from charlton looks promising. theres a vid of him on youtube. hes got some good ability and he is a lifelong arsenal fan. very versatile too apparently - can play all across the back. i think a great signing.
markgunna1 8 months ago
@16arsenal4 no worries. ive been travelling around europe so ive been distracted too. i cant see nasri leaving arsenal after the season he had. and he hasnt been at arsenal for long. cesc i still think will stay but it seems like its becomming harder for him to ignore barcelona. RVP will be at arsenal until the end. gervinho is a good signing and if we could get one more player of "super quality" as wenger is trying then we'll have a good squad. wouldnt read much into our performances this...
markgunna1 7 months ago
@markgunna1
Well have 9 players injured for next Sat Robin van Persie, Gibbs and Vermaelen all picked up knocks and Walcott, Wilshere, Koscielny, Diaby and Nasri are also injured, while Fabregas is not fit. What good news! Yeh that "super quality" is a 17 year old like really is something wrong with him we NEED experiance and he spends a club record fee of 15m on a 17 year old i know hes good but really? its stupid why couldnt he spend that on a CB im still in shock! Yeh Gibbs is good and hell b
16arsenal4 7 months ago
@16arsenal4 agree hope this isnt the quality signing. but chamberlain is a good signing for the future. 17 and playing quite well in the championship. but yes, we need a mature signing.
really bad news about all those injuries. that benfica game was crazy - way too intense for a preseason friendly. it was like a cup final or something. hopefully those players will be ready for the second round.
have you seen the video of RVP giving a fan his medal. should be the captain. cesc doesnt deserve...
markgunna1 7 months ago
@markgunna1
good this season. Yeh I cant wait for the MU vs us match to see have we improved or not. But Ill be dissappointed if this is our quality signing a 17 year old
16arsenal4 7 months ago
@16arsenal4 deserve the captaincy.
markgunna1 7 months ago
@markgunna1
WELL HES GONE .... now what cause I dont know how we'll cope
16arsenal4 6 months ago
@16arsenal4 hey buddy. yeah im very glad hes gone. its been going on too long. i guess RVP will take the captaincy now, and its about time. yes we wont cope unless NAsri stays (looking unlikely) or we get one or two more replacements in the center. hopefully at least one of which is a mature proven player. well we have one of those in Ladson. dont know much about him but hopefully he can do well. we were terrible v Newc IMO. ramsey not ready yet. rosciky good, but cant rely on him for the...
markgunna1 6 months ago
@16arsenal4
Yeh he is good but still 15m a club record really? Better be worth it. What would you think about getting Barton on a free? I think hed be good and give that rough edge that we dont have to the team hed be different I think hed be a good buy. If we got him and Cahill Id be happy.
Yeh I agree and now Arshavin maybe out cause of a head clash he suffered in the Euro qualifiers for Russia. What cup was it though? No will you post me the video please. Yeh i know i RVP loves Arsenal and he
16arsenal4 7 months ago
@16arsenal4
should be captain I fully agree. He actually is nearly the only one who really really loves the club like genuinely. Pitty hes always injured cause he would have been Henry. Yeh Cesc doesnt and if he does stay do we really want a captain who's heart doesnt lay in the club? Can he motivate his team? Will the players really respect him? I dunno I do think RVP should have it and I really want Arsenal to win a trophy for his sake and players like Rosicky, Vermaelen, Arshavin and Wilshere
16arsenal4 7 months ago
@16arsenal4
who do genuinely love the club. Wenger would not take the captaincy off him anyway I say him and Nasri are going to leave and to be honest maybe its better off Cesc I wouldnt blame 7 years I think at the club and hes got nothing and he is returning to his home I see the attraction like. I dnt want him to go but maybe its best but we cannot sell him for under 40m. Then Nasri well Ive lost alot of respect for him the way hes gone around things and been acting. I wouldnt like to see
16arsenal4 7 months ago
@16arsenal4
go though, its hard. I can see Wengers problem
16arsenal4 7 months ago
@markgunna1
Almunia. He just shouldnt have been where he was. If youre looking for positives the comeback from 2-0 was certainly that. On the other hand being 2-0 in the 1st place begs real questions of not just the team but the manager too. Had we not turned it around I shudder to think what the reaction would have been. When we were losing it certainly wasnt good, and while you do have to say fair play for turning it around these are the games you need to win if you want to be champions. So
16arsenal4 11 months ago
@16arsenal4 or at least show good development in the FA/Carling cup comps; A fit Cesc; A promising right back putting pressure on Sagna.
I have told you this, but I have been really disappointed and frustrated with Sagna lately. He is such a limited player technically and in attack. Out of all the players in the first team, his place is (should be) the most vulnerable.
So I think next season, if we can stay somewhat injury free, we'll improve further. We are the EPL club with the most upside.
markgunna1 11 months ago
@16arsenal4
-breakout of another arsenal youngster (aneke, JET, frimpong, Ramsey...)
-greater individual empowerment and expression on the field - want to sometimes see the players be a bit more selfish rather than just sideways passing all the time...it's about playing smartly
-continued improvement from players (naturally will happen)
-maybe a star recruit like Hazard
-back to the defensive pressing we had going in the middle of the season
markgunna1 10 months ago
@markgunna1
Your grand mate. Thats exactly what Wilshere said that they played for pride and your right. Well Vermaelen played 90mins vs MUs reserves on Thurs and came out fine but I still dont think we should push him. Ramsey has broken out IMO. I agree fully with your wishes and mine would be them same added though keeping our stars like Nasri and Cesc.
The only surprise yesterday was the inclusion of Ramsey in place of the injured Cesc and it would be correct to say he had a pharaoh game.
16arsenal4 10 months ago
@16arsenal4 and fullbacks who can be more damaging with the dribble. these sorts of players will force opposition teams to spread their defences more thinly at the back, and it will open up spaces for our central midfielders to maneuver in better.
so as much as I like Sagna/Clichy, they either need to develop the attacking sides of their games, or they will be overtaken by more worthy players.
Miyaichi will add in this regard and i predict will have a big impact.
I have a new player I wish...
markgunna1 10 months ago
@16arsenal4 we need to address?
markgunna1 9 months ago
@16arsenal4 i reckon if we get 1 or 2 of gervinho, hazard and willian, we should move arshavin and denilson on.
oh, i´m in san sebastian spain btw. lovely city. where do you live in ireland?
can´t wait for some of these signings. talk soon.
markgunna1 8 months ago
@markgunna1
Sorry havent replied in ages was on holidays & actually stopped off to see the emirates cup & arsenals stadium did the legends tours with John Radford and was excellent. But the game itself well I think you know yourself. So will Nasri and Cesc stay they didnt travel to Benfica and Cesc was kicked out at half time on the first day of the Emirates Cup and Nasri didnt play so you have 2 wonder. What you think? Gervinho looks good & Clichy was quite a shock but he wasnt improvin wit us
16arsenal4 7 months ago
@markgunna1
Sorry. It might have been a big blow but the young Aaron put in the kind of performance that reminded people why he is so highly rated and why weve missed out on so much since he was Shawcrossed. 14 months after the incident and h’s looking more r less ready for 1st team action. You get the feeling with more games under his belt hell be even better too. And he was just one of 11 who put in a real shift yesterday. 2 wins would win the title for MU but they were surprisingly lackluster
16arsenal4 10 months ago
@markgunna1
There was little thrust from them Song shackled Rooney very well and the other outlets Park & Nani were as quiet as theyve been against us for some time. We pretty much dominated the 1st half kept the ball well got behind their full backs a few times and created some half chances.When United did create an opening Sagnas defending was 1st class. We should have had a penalty when Vidic clearly handled Walcotts cross before it could find RVP. He leapt full length and tipped it away
16arsenal4 10 months ago
@16arsenal4 arsenal could get - Hulk! watching him in the Europa league recently i realise he's the perfect fit for arsenal for the following reasons:
-physicality
-long range shooting
-speed and dribbling
-can play right left or middle
-intensity and is that impact player - for all the above reasons - we need
he'd be perfect. he's 25 too, so mature and has his best years ahead of him.
maybe my dreams will come true......
it's good the arsenal we know and love is back
markgunna1 10 months ago
@markgunna1
beautifully with his fingertips. A quite fantastic save it has to be said but as clear a penalty as youll see and probably a red card too. The linesman looking straight at it gave a corner. The ref looking straight at it also gave a corner. It was really poor officiating from Foy and his assistant. At half time Arshavin replaced the hamstring tweaked Nasri. I thought he might add some attacking verve but instead he was sent on to carry out the enforcer role. He marshaled the LHS of
16arsenal4 10 months ago
@markgunna1
the pitch sliding into tackles winning the ball back and generally proving very annoying for United. That commitment in the challenge was obvious throughout the team as well a bit more spike and physicality from us was great to see. The the goal brillant work. How can you not be anything but chuffed for him? Hes missed a lot of football and to get a goal like that against MU was no less than he deserved. After that they seemed to perk up a bit. A couple of brillant saves from Szecney
16arsenal4 10 months ago
@markgunna1
The loss of Djourou might have been a big blow but Squillaci slotted in well alongside Koscielny who had a really excellent game at the back. It would be churlish to put the result and performance down to a lack of pressure having pretty much put ourselves out of the title race. There was pressure enough on them yesterday to respond and to show some character at home. I have to say I read some Arsenal fans suggesting theyd like to lose this game because it might precipitate change. i
16arsenal4 10 months ago
@markgunna1
really cant get my head around that at all.Whatever else has happened this beating United, and playing as well as we did is something to be enjoyed.The title is a step too far I think but with 3 games left weve got to keep going and finish as high as we can in the table.
Its important that the spirit of yesterdays performance is replicated in those final games too. Next up is Stoke away and there really should be no lack of character for that one. Theres certainly no love lost betwee
16arsenal4 10 months ago
@markgunna1
clubs the fans or Im sure the players after what happened last season so standing strong and playing as well as we did yesterday would be great to see. What you think of the game? Also shows that we can play very well and win without Cesc. IMO hes going to Barca even Sagna said he wouldnt be suprised but we'll have to wait and see. But Ramsey was brillant...
16arsenal4 10 months ago
@16arsenal4 ...to take on their direct opponents individually. to me, this is why we aren't creating enough scoring chances and aren't being penetrating enough in the final third. all it takes is to beat one opponent with a dribble or a dashing run to open the play up. wilshere does this during matches and it always opens the play up and creates opportunities. our players need to do this more often rather than always pass and move.
another area we will improve is when we get natural wingers...
markgunna1 10 months ago
@16arsenal4 arsenal has been linked to a player called Alvarez from ARgentina. really good player from his clips and it is said that he has signed with us; unofficially...
I think JET can have a big impact for Arsenal next season in a similar way wilshere has. he just has so much ability and xfactor, and i think his presence on a wing or even in the center would provide unpredictability. however, I don't really know how he went on his loan spell.
what positions and which players do you think...
markgunna1 9 months ago
@16arsenal4 to let cesc have it. iºm actually pretty confident weºll get hazard and weºre being strongly linked with gervinho. weºll find out soon enough. :D
markgunna1 9 months ago
@16arsenal4 im not that keen on benzema. and how would we play him? dont think we need another DM because spots in the center of midfield will be really competitive next season - wilshere, cesc, ramsey, song, diaby, frimpong........
i´m hoping JET can break out next season. heard that miyaichi cant come play in the EPL yet again and might go out on loan once more. not necessarily a bad thing but i just wana see the kid playing in the arsenal shirt.
markgunna1 8 months ago
@16arsenal4 the whole season. gervinho was good but just lacked that final touch. perhaps nerves. if he can get that final touch better hes going to be very very dangerous getting into the box and will give us what we were lacking last season. if we lose nasri, wow, things were looking so promising last season, and now we lose our two best players. really thought nasri loved the club and was committed. losing faith in the comitment of players to our club now. what did you think of the game?
markgunna1 6 months ago
@markgunna1
Well Nasri is gone and good ridence!! did you see what he said about the fans and leaving Arsenal? Total disrespect! Good ridence to him Id say! Cesc not so much because he did genuinely love the club and even cried when saying his thank you's and goodbyes to the fans, team mates and Wenger publically and apologised for not saying anything sooner. I wish him all the best. Nasri didnt really love the club all money money money and thats sad, unlike Cesc, RVP, Ramsey, Wilshere who do.
16arsenal4 6 months ago
@16arsenal4
apparently what nasri 'said' was in fact from a fake twitter/facebook account. dont know the full story but i think it was all fake. i dont share your opinion on Cesc. I think he's been selfish and he might love Arsenal, but not really. as captain of the club you've got to do better than what he did. he handled the whole barcca-arsenal saga poorly from start to finish. so i hope cesc struggles at barca to be honest. another player who took arsenal for granted, hopefully.
markgunna1 6 months ago
@markgunna1
Did you read what Cesc said about Wenger, the fans and Club? Even on twitter he was like Ill never miss an Arsenal game only it it overlaps with Barca's and "Once a gooner, always a gooner" it was nice. But IMO hes gone before his time? no? What do you think?
Saturdays preformance well... Well Song was lucky to stay on the pitch, Arsenal were denied two penalties yesterday. There was definite contact from Tiote on Gervinho, penalty 1, but Walton played on. Secondly, as the ball was
16arsenal4 6 months ago
@16arsenal4 and he absolutely left before his time and he has just about crippled the progress we were making. last season we were so close and if we had a comitted cesc and nasri we would have a tremendous squad this season. i still think our squad is good but like you said we have to replace cesc and nasri with creativity in the center.
i have a new nickname e for Song - Sloppy Song. gee, as a DM you cant ...
markgunna1 6 months ago
@markgunna1
in play, Barton grabbing Gervinho up off the ground and tugging him about the place is also a penalty. Then Barton v Gervinho which Barton shoulda got sent off for and gets away with it but Gervinho was stupid and look what he got a 3 match ban no MU or Lpool for him. As for the football, there wasn’t a great deal to talk about or analyse. Arsenal had plenty of the ball but lacked the creativity to fashion clear cut chances another reason why Cesc’s departure has to result in a foray
16arsenal4 6 months ago
@16arsenal4 afford to give the ball away so easily. he's a bit unreliable and i dont think he'll ever get those moments out of his game.
barton is scum and i would have liked to see the arsenal players refuse to shake that guys hand. he doesnt deserve the respect of the arsenal players and it made me furious to see them shaking his hand. yes you can tell without nasri and cesc we really struggle in attack. not to mention wilshere who i think is our most important player. song out for a few...
markgunna1 6 months ago
@markgunna1
into the transfer market. The couple of half-chances we got fell to Robin but his recent run of excellent form deserted him and he wasn’t quite sharp enough to take them on properly. Theo had a pretty decent opportunity too but the shot was easy for Krul. Beyond that we did little from an attacking point of view and I have to say I think Bendtner would have been a decent option. At the back we looked good on Saturday. But no Nasri and Cesc we lacked creativeness.
Now tonights game
16arsenal4 6 months ago
@16arsenal4 weeks so im looking forward to a midfield of wilshere, ramsey and rosicky/other.
djourou and gibbs is a big loss. particularly gibbs. now its down to jenkinson for liverpool and maybe more. gibbs is so good though; its so refreshing to have a quality fullback at arsenal.
v udinese i agree with what you say. in attack we were poor and the one area where we can improve is when our players start to be more selfish and take the game on themselves. we rarely ever dribble aside from...
markgunna1 6 months ago
@markgunna1
A good result but that was hard work & it was hard work because our squad is just so weak. We were desperate to be honest I dont think I can remember us playing as bad as we did the last few games. The goal was brilliant play by Ramsey and Wallcott nevertheless. We need to replace Cesc asap cause if we dont we are screwed and get Cahill and replace Nasri aswell. At least it was a won havent had one of those in a while!! But we played bad... if no new signings come in its going to be
16arsenal4 6 months ago
@16arsenal4 gervinho. in fact, its made even more obvious when you see vermaelen take a dribble into the midfield. it makes you think, wow you dont see that sort of thing often from arsenal players. perhaps wilshere in a more advanced role will give us this. also i like the young signins like campbell because he has speed and this ability. wenger said hes a gamble and i hope it pays off coz hes the type of player arsenal needs. so we miss gervinho AND song for LP and MU, maybe also gibbs...
markgunna1 6 months ago
@markgunna1
a long season ahead cause there are problems and hopefully Wenger saw them from the stands. Especially with Djourou and Gibbs out injured!! What did you think of the game?
16arsenal4 6 months ago
@markgunna1
goal that would ensure we kept pace with MU.I have to give credit to the lads for the fightback it showed good character and when we needed to be dragged back into the game Arshavins contribution was telling. However you have to ask why a fightback should be needed at all. The 1st goal well that can happen to any team at any time but the 2nd was completely avoidable. Arsene called it a ‘massive mistake’ and it was. I know people might point at Squillaci but for me its 100% down to
16arsenal4 11 months ago
@16arsenal4 its going to be tough. but one positive i can see out of everything is we do seem to be making a greater effort to defend as a team.
markgunna1 6 months ago
@markgunna
into it. He took a pass from Chamakh took a touch with his right and fired it home with his left foot. 1-2. Arshavin was involved in the equaliser too. His cross from the left found Bendtner at the back post he squirmed it back and when the ball fell under Meites feet RVP prodded it home. To say it crawled over the line would be an understatement but it went in and it was 2-2 with about 10min to go. Sadly no winner arrived we tried hard forced a couple of corners but couldnt find the
16arsenal4 11 months ago
@16arsenal4 I think Aneke, when he's ready, will be enormous for our team. We are a bit small in the center of midfield, and Aneke would give us a different dimension much like p.viera. But I can't see aneke being ready for another couple of years.
markgunna1 11 months ago
@markgunna1
incident showed exactly why he lost his place in the team. Fine shot stopper on his day but capable of making terrible decisions. Im still wondering what he was thinking hes a useless keeper. Having hauled of Denilson at HT replacing him with Chamakh we then Bendtner for Ramsey which meant we were playing with three strikers plus Arshavin with Nasri & Wilshere in central midfield. And it really didnt look as if much would change. That was until a fantastic Arshavin finish got us back
16arsenal4 11 months ago
@markgunna1
just inside the box it was all set up for Squillaci to head it back to him. Instead he came a good 10 yards outside of his area. Squillaci was confused. Which is completely understandable as he had no business being there at all.As Squillaci tried to figure out what his keeper was doing, Almunia failed to clear and the ball fell to Odemwingie who just rolled it into the empty net. At this level in a game of this importance it was an absolutely ludicrous goal to give away. That
16arsenal4 11 months ago
@markgunna1
only, chance in the 1st half fell to Ramsey. RVPs header looped back off the bar it feel to Aaron just a couple of yards out he had to wait for it come down but his shot was saved by Carson. You cant help thinking that a sharper Ramsey would have probably scored. 2nd half provided more of the same. Lots of Arsenal possession but no real chances. Still we didnt look under any particular threat. That was until Almunia decided to come for a long ball played down the middle. Had he been
16arsenal4 11 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
@markgunna1
We drew 2-2 with West Brom, making that a grand total of 1 point from 6 from our games with them this season.We probably could have gotten off to a better start. Reid headed in a corner we could have avoided giving away. On his 1st start since his injury Ramsey might have done better with his marking duties but once again a set-piece proved costly. After that we dominated possession WBA looked to hit us on the break and the game took on an all too familiar pattern. The best probably
16arsenal4 11 months ago
@mnpoo2
Just saw the pictures of arsenal training ahead of the barca game and RVP is training with the squad. Hopefully a shock addition. Unlikely though. Hopefully wenger has a shock up his sleeve
16arsenal4 1 year ago
@16arsenal4 i'll add to that that when diaby played against barca last year, it did seem like barca found him tough to manage at times.
mnpoo2 1 year ago
anyone know the name of the song?
5cmy 1 year ago
I love you, Cesc. I love you, Arsenal.
emmaj923 1 year ago
what is the name of song?
machiavellithedon7 1 year ago
esta cerrado 45 millones de euros+ tihago alcantara y al Barça
jesuo1982 1 year ago
i heard about fabregas's childhood story. his grandfather used to hide him from the barca scouts but aperently he couldnt cuz cesc is to good. i think it was his grandfather or dad i dont remember. but my dream is to play with arsenal. im not ganna get there on the internet tho
TheNextLeo 1 year ago
wow! that`s an excellent vid.
MyFSXChannel 1 year ago
@mnpoo2
3hrs 15mins. I'll reply later about the rest
16arsenal4 1 year ago
@16arsenal4 did you hear that Eden Hazard has a preference for La Liga? I'm not sure if this is just foxing on behalf of his management, and I hope it is. He is such a perfect fit for Arsenal
Shezny
sagna djourou vermaelen clichy Wilshere
HAzard/Walcott Ramsey Cesc NAsri
RVP
what a line-up? getting ramsey back, and with miyaichi to eventually come, doesn't look good for Song.
also, wellington silva struggling on his loan spell. hope he can turn it round
mnpoo2 1 year ago
@mnpoo2 sorry mate the final is on the 27th of february
16arsenal4 1 year ago
@16arsenal4
RVP - 7.5 (he sets the bar high for himself...wasn't as influential as usual, but understandable after he made a big statement in the previous match)
bring on Wembley...btw when will the final be played, roughly?
mnpoo2 1 year ago
@16arsenal4
koscielny - 8.5
djourou - 8 (goal seperates the two)
Clichy - 8 (solid all game...love his intensity)
Wilshere - 8 (lovely ball to pick out bendtner)
Denilson - 7 (want to see more confidence going forward from him...needs to be a bit stronger on his feet)
Bendtner - 9 (MOTM! individual brilliance...very disciplined mature game)
Cesc - 8.9 (better than a 8.5 but Bendtner solely deserves the title of MOTM)
Arshavin - 7.5 (up and down, few poor passes, can do better, but kept at it)..
mnpoo2 1 year ago
@16arsenal4 only disappointment was the Man U result. Blackpool so close, but somehow yet again Man U come back. I can't help but think that it's destiny for Man U. I felt so much hatred for them when I found out that fought back to win. they seem to have all the luck.
player ratings:
Shesny - 6.5 (didn't have much to do...he only needed to make one save the whole game...but i'm looking forward to fabianski coming back...i feel more reassured by fabianski)
eboue - 7 (safety first)
...
mnpoo2 1 year ago
@16arsenal4 future. Love to see our self-less defenders get on the score-sheet, and it was a quality header by koscielny. djourshelny is a fearsome combination, and I don't blame wenger for not rushing off to get another CB (Wenger looking to get one on loan, which makes sense). Cesc another great performance and lead the team by example. good lead-up work by arshavin to set Cesc up. But yes, the highlight was that bendtner goal...it was perfection. In fact, Bendtner makes a pretty good winger..
mnpoo2 1 year ago
@16arsenal4
what a win! very mature performance. really happy we scored 3 second half goals. and even more happy with the scorers. Bendtner's goal was poetry; from the moment he brought the wilshere-long ball down with a sublime touch, to the little back heel into space, and finishing with the keeper blind-sighted. Bendter is a quality player who i really admire. I just hope he sticks it out with Arsenal. It gives me great confidence that we have a great replacement for RVP now and in the...
mnpoo2 1 year ago
@16arsenal4 Did you watch the game? What were your thoughts?
This performance is going to shut up a lot of idiotic arsenal "supporters" who keep calling for the heads of Denilson, Bendtner, etc.
mnpoo2 1 year ago
@16arsenal4
was good to see the players have this win and put that Denilson/Fabregas controversy behind them. for me, there was nothing in it; Denilson just has to be a little more careful of what he says from now on.
Should also say that Wenger managed the team really well. he called for a greater focus on being sharp, and we were. he was also right in playing djourou over miquel; it was an intense game; miquel might not have managed well. his subs of fab and RVP were perfect...
mnpoo2 1 year ago
@16arsenal4
Sagna - a most impressive performance. he was really attacking, and causing some havoc for the opposition left back. a super goal.
arshavin/song - performed their holding roles very well. Song probably should have scored. would like to see denilson back himself more and be a bit more selfish. he's so unselfish, perhaps too unselfish.
Djourou/Koscielny - forming a good partnership. Djourou has such great confidence. Koscielny was very very solid.
mnpoo2 1 year ago
@16arsenal4 Arsenal at their best. Where have they been? They've always had it in them. A focus on being sharp really paid off. they'd played with a lot of confidence, and there was some great individual performances. It was the perfect game.
Gibbs - great game going both ways. can see the similarities between him and A.Cole.
Bendtner - a winger! haha. he was really good. His pinpoint cross to Van Persies head was great. he played with a lot of intensity.
Nasri - same old from him
mnpoo2 1 year ago
@mnpoo2
Sorry mate Ill be on-off for the next couple of weeks. Nasri just amazing.Hes ultra-confident in front of goal this season.We dominated the game in terms of possession and chances. We had quality in our attitude, spirit and focus.It’s a good sign ahead of what’s going to be another difficult cup tie next week against Ipswich. Overall I thought we played very well. It’s clear that some players are still struggling. Bendtner is not a wide player but didn’t shirk his responsibilities at all
16arsenal4 1 year ago
@16arsenal4
great win. i was very flat when Barca went in front 1-0, but i knew we had 1 or 2 goals in us. we just had to get the ball! lol. and when we got the ball, we needed to keep it. in the second half we were playing much more through the center, whereas in the first half we seemed to be pushing the ball out to the wings too much - which is not our strength - and Barca were forcing us out there. our defensive pressure and high line was a great tactical move by Arsene.
mnpoo2 1 year ago
@mnpoo2
He’s not much of a defender but at least he was back there covering Sagna when necessary and was involved in two of the goals. His cross for van Persie was first class. Arshavin just can’t do anything right at the moment, it’s sad to see him struggle like this, but despite the fact his form is in the toilet I thought he tried hard last night. He might have been stronger on one or two occasions – in the build up to their goal especially – but then he is no bigger than your thumb. If he
16arsenal4 1 year ago
@16arsenal4 unfortunately at one point we failed to execute it effectively with clichy playing villa on-side, costing us the goal. we were resilient though. Wilshere was brilliant; MOTM. Koscielny, Shezny and WAlcott were also great. When Barca went 1-0 they somewhat arrogantly started playing keepings-off football and that was a mistake. they should have pushed for more. and then they subbed off Villa for a defensive midfielder way too early in the match, and with only 1 goal on us.
mnpoo2 1 year ago
@mnpoo2
While it’s only half-time in the grand scheme of things the win last night was hugely significant,IMO. I agree fully with everything youve said about the game and i was goin to choose the same 4 who played brillantly and werent scared from the start they went for it.Last season we were on the back foot straight away and while Barca kept the ball well after kicking off we certainly gave them something to think about in the opening few minutes.Slowly though Barca turned the screw and did 2
16arsenal4 1 year ago
@mnpoo2
us what they do to teams week in, week out. They pressured us to win the ball back and just kept it. They moved it around, probing for openings and looking to take advantage of mistakes.We played a high line, looking to catch them offside. They used their movement and timing to beat the offside trap goal was disappointing i agree. I was nearly certain that Song would get sent off.I thought our passing was quite careless in the first half and we weren’t quite decisive enough an extra
16arsenal4 1 year ago
@16arsenal4 i think we play the high line to take away space from barca in the middle of the field. it worked to great effect in my opinion, with barca finding it very hard to get forward easily and create chances. the beauty of that tactic is that Barca refuse to change the way they play, so they don't do the logical thing in chipping the ball over the defensive line for barca players to run onto.
mnpoo2 1 year ago
@mnpoo2
touch from RVP meant a good chance was spurned.It might have been 2-0 at half-time but for a fantastic Wojscezer save.At that point Arsenal had retreated, under intense pressure, and I felt we were sitting too deep and allowing them to have it too easily. Half-time came at the right time for us. Pique out for the second leg great.For me the changes with about 20 minutes to go were a big factor in the result. Barcelona took off David Villa and put on Keita, a defensive midfielder. It seem
16arsenal4 1 year ago
@mnpoo2
odd to me aswell. With Arsenal having to press for an equaliser the threat of Villa would at least have made us more cautious. Guardiola obviously felt his team could hang on to the 1-0. At the same time Arsene’s choice of Arshavin to replace Song was brave. He moved Nasri back into midfield and Arsh played further forward.Then the equaliser Arshavin had it on our left, in the Barca half, played it back to Clichy whose right foot is normally just for standing on. He made up for his part
16arsenal4 1 year ago
@16arsenal4 agree agree agree. disagree about the arshavin gamble. it was the perfect time to make such a sub - song, our defensive player, was on a yellow card and we were 1-0 down and needed more attacking options. arshavin, in the form he's been in, was perfect. we had to get a goal back. "right foot normally just for standing on", hahaha. what i realised from the song substitution is that we were much more fluent in attack with him off. made me think that Song will eventually get overtaken..
mnpoo2 1 year ago
@mnpoo2
in the first goal with a lovely ball over the top to RvP. The angle was tight there was no way he could shoot from there and oh there was a way he could shoot from there. He slammed it home at the near post. Valdes had moved off his line, anticipating a ball across the box, RVP went for it and it was both power and precision. 1-1. I thought the substituation was perfect.From there it was just outstanding football. Koscielny played it to Bendtner who under real pressure from Barca playrs
16arsenal4 1 year ago
@16arsenal4 especially considering we are becoming a much better side defensively (our back 4 and team-wide pressing) and aren't needing a technically limited defensive mid anymore. eventually, especially with Ramsey, miyaichi, possibly hazard coming in, wilshere will do that deeper mid role by himself (with the freedom to go forward), and cesc will have greater support up front with a ramsey or nasri to assist him.
we were much more fluent without him. i say all this as a fan of Song. just...
mnpoo2 1 year ago
@mnpoo2
fizzed it across midfield to Wilshere who played a first time pass to Cesc, he controlled and turned in one movement and played it in behind to Nasri who drove into the Barcelona box. He waited, cut inside, saw Arshavin coming, saw Alves not bothering to chase back, and played it perfectly into his path. The Arshavin of a few weeks ago might have blasted it out of the stadium, this Arshavin curled it in first time to make it 2-1.And what made it all the sweeter was that we beat them when
16arsenal4 1 year ago
@mnpoo2
they played well. This was no off night for Barcelona, but we held on, and showed great spirit and ability to get ourselves back into it.The concentration you need and the effort you have to put in to a) try and win it back and b) stopping them creating chances when they have it shouldn’t be underestimated. It’s incredibly hard to deal with, physically and mentally. We had our shaky moments but that’s only to be expected. I thought the team, as a whole, played well but might have been a
16arsenal4 1 year ago
@mnpoo2
bit more sensible in possession at times. I thought we rushed things, anxious to make an impact instead of slowing it down a bit and just keeping the ball.Koscielny had an excellent game reading it well tackling and distributing it well and when you consider the quality of the players he was up against he deserves major kudos this morning.Wilshere had a coming of age performance. I remember people saying the same about Cesc when we played Real Madrid at the Bernebeu this was very similar
16arsenal4 1 year ago
@16arsenal4 bein realistic.
yeah i agree we weren't that good in possession. i put it down to poor off-the-ball movement. there was a lot of ball watching going on, and this was even more apparent against a team who's off-the-ball movement is so good. koscielny, wilshere, walcott and shezny were my four best players. there's a good vid of koscielny's performance if you search koscielny v barcelona you should be able to find it.
mnpoo2 1 year ago
@mnpoo2
both in terms of the performance and the stage on which it was delivered.Last night Jack was up against Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets and was absolutely fantastic. He was as calm as you like when he had it, worked hard to deny them space when they were in possession, and he put in a serious shift in midfield. When you consider this is his first full season and that he’s just gone 19 it was remarkable. Though I thought Nasri took a while to get into the game and I dont think Cesc played that
16arsenal4 1 year ago
@mnpoo2
that well. But as Cesc said this is only 90mins of a 180min match were only half way there. But whata game brillant. Cant wait for the next leg.
16arsenal4 1 year ago
@16arsenal4 absolutely; wilshere was motm. yeah cesc was down. he seemed flat. however he's always dangerous. he has those kinds of games where he's a bit down, but can make just one or two superb passes that make the difference.
the result is hugely important. beating the best team in the world will give us massive confidence in the league and the cups. it seems like the pieces are falling into place perfectly for a league win, and likewise for cup wins.
mnpoo2 1 year ago
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@mnpoo2
He’s not much of a defender but at least he was back there covering Sagna when necessary and was involved in two of the goals. His cross for van Persie was first class. Arshavin just can’t do anything right at the moment, it’s sad to see him struggle like this, but despite the fact his form is in the toilet I thought he tried hard last night. He might have been stronger on one or two occasions – in the build up to their goal especially – but then he is no bigger than your thumb. If he
16arsenal4 1 year ago
@mnpoo2
keeps trying he’ll find some form again. There’s just no way he can keep playing this badly forever.At the back we were solid, we look so much stronger defensively with Sagna back in the team, while I thought Djourscienly put in another good shift. The midfield worked hard and when you can bring on Cesc and RVP to put the opposition even further onto the back foot it’s no bad thing. Wenger is getting a CB and Ramsey is goin on loan to Cardiff.
16arsenal4 1 year ago
@16arsenal4
Ramsey is going on loan!?! I thought Wenger has said that he wants Ramsey around. But if you're right, I can see how another loan spell is a good thing, it's not like Ramsey is getting much match time, and that won't improve when Diaby comes back.
Wenger is getting a CB? how do you know? everything i've read is very inconclusive.
yeah they're good reason we can win it. Wenger said we're going from strength to strength, and I agree. We need MAn U/Ct to falter though...
mnpoo2 1 year ago
@16arsenal4 Barca will be fired up for the second leg. but we'll have belief from this win. i'm hoping we can be a bit better in possession, and take advantage of our chances (walcott, who was great, overweighted a couple of his passes early in the match that otherwise could have been very good chances to score).
and how good is shezny. didn't put a foot wrong.
mnpoo2 1 year ago
@mnpoo2
I agree that high line was a brillant tactic. Did I say it was the wrong tome for the substitution? I didnt mean that i meant to say it was perfect and we played far better after Song went off like you said. Yeh I like Song aswell but I agree with you I think Cesc and Nasri in the middle and Arshavin on the wing works better. Yeh they were my four best players aswell they were fearless. Ill look for that video later thanks mate. Yeh well have huge cionbidence after that win and were stil
16arsenal4 1 year ago
@16arsenal4 yes, even cesc and nasri in the middle with arshavin on the wing sounds really good. it's been a big season for arsenal...lots of surprises...so i wouldn't be surprised if at the end of it all we had won the quadruple...well a little surprised haha.
yeah shezny was fantastic. I always preferred fabianski simply because shezny was very young, and if he did make some costly mistakes, it could really hurt his confidence. but I should have realised the guy has unbreakable confidence...
mnpoo2 1 year ago
@mnpoo2
in 4 competitions we could win the quadruple. Yeh well see a different Barca the next game the Camp Nao is hard to win in. Didnt I tell you Szency would prove himself as a brillant keeper hes so coinfident I have no doubts with him in goal he was brillant. I thought Clichy could have got forward more during the match when he did finally go forward we got the goal something we could use the next match. The players are definately enjoyed that win but what i like is that they are still
16arsenal4 1 year ago
@16arsenal4 clichy and sagna will always just be solid fullbacks who are good defensively, and aren't particularly threatening in attack. they'll have rare moments where they'll create an assist or even score. that's my opinion. they really aren't elite full backs, but they're very reliable and solid and always give 110%. most importantly, they love arsenal, and i can't see either ever turning their backs on the club.
mnpoo2 1 year ago
@mnpoo2
focused on the next game and not basking in it to much. Im expecting to see alot more of Messi at Barca it was the same last season quite at ours and then... I read an artical and it was inresting after all the stick we got about our defense and keeper in the past and pre-barca. Are Arsenals Defense The Best in Europe? I dont think so yet but we did keep the best attacking team pretty quite. We have the best defensive record in 2011. And will Vermaelen get his place back? I think we need
16arsenal4 1 year ago
@16arsenal4 i agree. i think credit goes to Wenger for setting them on the right path - refocusing on the FA cup, and making sure that they consolidate on this Barca victory, and not let it all go to waste. It's been confirmed that Djourou will be rested as he has a sore back. we have a busy schedule this week, so i want to rest as many of our first team as possible.
Shezny/Almunia
sagna koscielny squilaci gibbs
denilson Song
Rosicky Cesc Arshavin
Bendtner
mnpoo2 1 year ago
@mnpoo2
to rest Djourou this weekend last thing we need are injuries. On Wed he put in a decent performance but he was not the commanding force he usually is. He looked a bit off pace and was caught out of position a few times. It was in no way a bad performance but Djourou looked a bit out of color. I noticed Barca too have their faults and problems at the back. I was so happy that Arshavin scored close to 45 days, Arsenal fans booed him after he put on another sloppy and torrid performance.
16arsenal4 1 year ago
@mnpoo2
Now he inspired Arsenal to a crucial win over Everton and then repeated the magic once more but this time against Barca. Hes finally back to his best. Koscielny proves Wenger is a transfer Genius IMO hes getting better and better ay the start i have to admit I wasnt a fan but he proved me wrong. Weve got so many big games before the next Barca game and it would be great to go into it with all wins and a Carling Cup trophy.
16arsenal4 1 year ago
@16arsenal4 I always liked koscielnys determination and attributes such as his speed and compettiveness from the start. he still has improvement in him. and i think his confidence will only grow from this win, also considering he was playing in frances 2nd or 3rd league only 1 year ago. yeah would be fantastic to win the CC for the confidence heading into the second leg. yeah i reckon we realistically shoud be favorites to win the league. i'd also add:
mnpoo2 1 year ago
@mnpoo2
I think Sagna attacks alot! But I agree they are solid fullbacks. Yeh I cant see them or RVP goin. Yeh Koscielny has done brillantly fair duece to him. Vermealen as cover? Hes brillant though. I always rathered Szency, Fabianski I always think hes an accident ready to happen. The quadruple will be hard but hopefully all depends if MU drop points big ask
Sunday, Football is a funny old game. One minute your beating Barca and in the throes of joy, the next you concede a late equaliser to a
16arsenal4 1 year ago
@16arsenal4 Just on NAsri. I wish he had said that he was happy at Arsenal and doesn't plan to leave any time soon. Considering how much of a success he's been and a leader (or so i thought), why wouldn't he say that. Great leadership by RVP to say that he wants to be at Arsenal for life.
Vermaelen and Djourou will be our first choice IMO.
MAn U have to drop points...they face too many good clubs to not drop any.
mnpoo2 1 year ago
@mnpoo2
lower league team in the cup and back comes the despair and confusion.We had most of the ball but did very little with it from an attacking point of view. Orient defended well enough, got men behind the ball and we lacked the bit of cleverness needed to open them up. When we did, and Gibbs cross found Chamakh six yards out and unmarked, he should have scored. Instead he made a total hash of it and put it wide. Whats wrong with him these days? He started off so well. Now you forget hes on
16arsenal4 1 year ago
@16arsenal4 that's the roller coaster ride that is AFC. we controlled the match and the performance was encouraging but you're spot on about lacking cleverness to open them up in the final third. I'd prefer to see a bit more of an attacking line-up if Ramsey plays next game.
shezny
eboue miquel squilacci gibbs denilson
bendtner ramsey rosicky arshavin chamakh
risky without song, but LO weren't particularly threatening. put song on when we go up.
mnpoo2 1 year ago
@mnpoo2
the team at all. At the back debutant Ignasi Miquel looked fairly calm and assured. And beyond that there’s not a great deal I can say about the performance. Rosicky’s first goal since he was a teenager came via a header from beyond the penalty spot, set up by Bendtner. Imagine the odds you could have got on that? lol It seems that the manager wanted that team to go on and finish the job off. No substitutions were made. Arshavin hit the post. And then, late on,Tehoue tricked his way
16arsenal4 1 year ago
@mnpoo2
through Gibbs and Miquel and fired a shot between Almunia’s legs to make it 1-1.It adds one more game to our already hectic schedule but that’s hardly the end of the world is it? It is a really hectic schedual though. At least were still it.The one thing you could say about our FA Cup run this season is that we’ve shown remarkable consistency. We made hard work of 2 lower league teams in the previous 2 rounds and did the very same again yesterday. I expect us to go through at home and
16arsenal4 1 year ago
@16arsenal4 yeah an extra game is no big deal because i'm confident we can start the same team at the emirates and not risk any of our first team regulars.
"It’s a lot to expect players who don’t play regularly to come in and perform at a very high level." - precisely.
agree we could have a bit more urgency in attack.
i thought we performed well the players were sharp and the movement was pretty good. everyone played pretty well and there was a lot of poise. i will check velas game out.
mnpoo2 1 year ago
@mnpoo2
while a replay isn’t ideal it really isn’t a disaster. This is what happens in football. And not just to Arsenal either, although we’re kinda good at this sort of thing. It’s a lot to expect players who don’t play regularly to come in and perform at a very high level. However, it’s not too much to expect that a team full of internationals and experienced players might be a bit better than they were against Orient.What’s most apparent is the lack of urgency. In the first half we had most
16arsenal4 1 year ago
@mnpoo2
of the ball but seemed content to just have it, rather than doing anything particularly positive with it. That’s something we could work on and these lads need only look back at Barca on Wednesday last to realise that having more of the ball doesn’t guarantee anything.Anyway, if we’re going to win this FA Cup we’re going to do it the hard way. A 3rd round replay, a win with 10 men over Huddersfield, now another replay against Orient, and then, should we win that, we’ll go to ManU in the
16arsenal4 1 year ago
@mnpoo2
QFs. Quite the run of games but there you go. I’m fairly optimistic about the whole thing, really. I’ve seen much, much worse from us in the cup down the years, and from teams who really should have done better, so I’ll await the replay and take it from there.In the meantime we’ll turn our attention to the Stoke game on Wednesday because that’s now the most important thing. What you think of the game?
Vela played really well for WBA on Saturday he scored the winning goal in the 92nd min
16arsenal4 1 year ago
@mnpoo2
Im afraid that Nasri wont sign a new contract I hope he doesnt leave he said that reports to Barcelona and other clubs are very flattering! Also RvP and Koscielny are out for the Stoke game bug misses. And finally we are leading the chase for Barcelona starlet Joan Toral, Barca arent happy about losing another brillant prospect to us.Toral has just turned 16 and has been part of Barca's academy system since before he was a teenager. Hes a midfielder. Story sounds familar doesnt it
16arsenal4 1 year ago
@16arsenal4 Nasri really loves the club and great things are happening at the club so I'd be very surprised if he left. I don't even think Barcelona would want/need him. that's bad news about RVP and Koscielny. hopefully bendtner will play up front and it will be exciting to see how he goes.
I thought bendtner played very well in the FA cup game. he's very sharp and confident and I think he's actually developing his game a bit playing on the wing.
I heard we already signed that Toral.
mnpoo2 1 year ago
@mnpoo2
Yeh I hope Nasri signs the contract because hes our captain atm with Cesc and RvP out. Yeh I dont see RvP ever leaving! ManU have Chelsea next Tues. Exactly out season has been a rollar coaster. I dont think we should ever start Denilson and Song to defensive
Yeh I agree with you exactly we won BUT with consquences. Firstly the injuries, Theo went over on his ankle and was stretchered off. Cesc is being positive via his Twitter account, so fingers crossed he can pull a Djourou, but he
16arsenal4 1 year ago
@mnpoo2
looked like a man who knew it was serious enough when he was coming off the pitch. Obviously it’s a big blow for us if he misses those games but you can’t help but feel absolutely gutted for him personally. He might well have a chance for Barcelona if it’s not as serious as we fear but for the captain to miss the chance of leading out the team and playing in a cup final seems particularly cruel.Arsene said afterwards that he was ‘very upset’ which probably tells you everything you need 2
16arsenal4 1 year ago
@16arsenal4 Cesc ruled out. I'd say it's a big loss. he has had to come on several times and save us during previous carling cup matches. also, he's out captain, and it would be nice to have our captain playing in the final. but I think we should be able to win without him, and it's best that Cesc is not pushed.
If he and Walcott aren't fit to play against Barca, we can give up hope of getting the result we need there.
As insignificant as the carling cup is, I agree that winning it is very
mnpoo2 1 year ago
@mnpoo2
know. It’s a cruel game sometimes. But Cesc is out for the CC but could be back for Barca. Theo I dont know.And while I think everyone has sympathy for Cesc, and for Theo, Sunday is more important than either of them. Winning a trophy is vital in this team’s development and for its future.There is some good news regarding injuries too. RvP, Koscielny and Diaby all return and I suspect all three will play a part on Sunday.
Our preformance I agree was ordinary and we started off well with
16arsenal4 1 year ago
@16arsenal4 important. if we win, we get a taste of success that will stoke the hunger of the players for more.
We're no longer particularly weak at set pieces. I think Arsenal fans know this but others are yet to realise we're a much more resilient side defensively.
on walcott, you can tell he's not a natural winger when you watch Miyaichi play. miyaichi is a natural winger. walcotts speed gets him by though. eventually we'll somehow have to accommodate for him as a striker.
mnpoo2 1 year ago
@mnpoo2
but when Cesc came off we looked less creative. Yeh I agree we did what Wenger said tactially keot the ball. Yeh RvP and Cesc are huge players and very hard to replace. Cesc was crowned as the player who creats the most chances in open play in Europe. Yeh Arshavin is getting back to his best which as you said is very comforting.You cant go through a game like that without hearing the commentator/pundit go on about our weakness from set pieces etc but last night I thought we did excellent
16arsenal4 1 year ago
@mnpoo2
work defensively. I was pleased that Squillaci’s goal was backed up with a solid defensive display and the hard work and industry shown by the rest of the team was rewarded. I agree Walcott didnt play well he difts out of games at times and he should have scored that goal set up brillantly by Arshavin. Yeh Im happy Ramsey is coming back but we shouldnt expect wonders from him yet. He scored last weekend and is pencilled in for the Layton game. THings I noticed about the Stoke game.
16arsenal4 1 year ago
@mnpoo2
We Struggle Without Fabregas and RvP.Walcott Should Stop Fading Away As the Match Goes On.There Is No Denying That Arsenal Have Progressed.The Premier League Title Race Is Now a Two-Horse Race.Unlikely Goal Scorers Are Sustaining Arsenal's Title Bid.
It leaves us one behind United who have two league games before we play again, one of which is against Chelsea, and when we play Sunderland next weekend they face a Liverpool. Vermaelen could make his first team comeback in 2 weeks time.
16arsenal4 1 year ago
@16arsenal4 chelsea and liverpool. that's good news. surely they'll drop some points. they have a busy schedule too. hopefully that gives chelsea/liverpool the advantage. it's unfortunate that both of these teams still haven't really found winning form. but i guess that makes a result in this match for both of these teams even more important. If Cesc and Walcott recover asap, then we should win the league based on our fixture.
can't wait to see Ramsey play.
mnpoo2 1 year ago
@mnpoo2
I still cant believe it.So the champagne remains on ice, the celebrations on hold and the wait for a trophy continues.it’s hard to look at the performance and rank it anywhere near our best this season. Not the worst either but when the time came we couldnt raise our game to the level we know were capable of. Some of that was down to the way Birmingham played they worked hard & defended very well. They got ten men behind the ball at all times when we had it and on a day when we lacked a
16arsenal4 1 year ago
@mnpoo2
bit of spark that was always going to make life difficult for us. And as much as Birmingham played well we were leggy and careless, not a good day to have one of those days.The defensive solidity weve enjoyed over the last little while wasnt really obvious as we struggled to cope with Zigic. Time and again Birmingham hit him with the long ball and when you’ve got the best part of a foot on your opponent youre always going to win more headers.In possession we were careless giving the ball
16arsenal4 1 year ago
@mnpoo2
ball away too easily, and the first goal came after a mix-up between Sagna & Wilshere gave the ball back to them.Shortly afterwards it really should have been 2 Gardener was stopped on the edge of the box the ball rebounded to Zigic who was clean through and denied only by a Wojscezcr save and the fact he had to use his feet.It was bit of a wake-up call and Wilshere drove us forward from midfield, cracking the bar with a shot. When it rebounded to Arshavin he skinned the defender crossed
16arsenal4