Arsenal Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

L'prof

Frisbee wrote: »

I would.
Look at Arsenal defensively this time last season to now.
Look at the impact Fab had at this stage last season to now.
Fab had to serve a suspension the other day for 5 reds yellows, dont think he got that many all last season. That's because he hasn't got Flamini around to take the brunt of the defensive work while he can roam forward. He knows he can't trust Denilson to do what the Flamster did, so he has to defend more, and as a result, break down the play to get players back in position, whereas before Flamini was in the hole, meaning Fab didnt have to do this.

Fixed that for you.

I agree we need somebody there, I just wouldn't touch Flamini.

Someone will be found eventually and then Flamini will be forgotten about! As far as I know he's being played out of position at Milan too?

Frisbee

jasonorr wrote: »

Fixed that for you.

I agree we need somebody there, I just wouldn't touch Flamini.

Someone will be found eventually and then Flamini will be forgotten about! As far as I know he's being played out of position at Milan too?

Haha whoops yeah yellows.
Someone being found eventually isn't good enough. someone needs to be found in January or we're in serious trouble.

I know he's basically just playing understudy to Gattuso...

L'prof

Frisbee wrote: »

Haha whoops yeah yellows.
Someone being found eventually isn't good enough. someone needs to be found in January or we're in serious trouble.

I know he's basically just playing understudy to Gattuso...

I know, I want somebody now in January...at the moment what we have isn't good enough, but

Wenger wrote:

I dont deny the quality of Flamini but he wanted to go. I didn’t want him to go. Today, we do it in a different way and we have to show we can be just as efficient.

I think Denilson had an outstanding start to the season, he is going from strength to strength and Alex Song can play that role too.

when Wenger thinks we are just as efficient, I begin to worry as to whether anyone will be brought in!

yahoo_moe

Evil_Clown wrote: »

If you leave tackling aside, Flamini had a far superior engine to Song and Gilberto had a much better passing range

Flamini undoubtedly had a better engine but I think people forget (or didn't notice) how much Gilberto gave the ball away. He had a pretty lazy style of passing a lot of the time and we often lost possession as a result. Having said that, you're right that his range was definitely better - I'd say just not always his execution.

As for Song, I'm not sure that the plan really was for him to play so much this season so I'd reckon Wenger thought he had more time before Song's passing would need to be up to first team standard.

im nothing short of getting a pain watching flamini's performance vs pompey at the moment. All the errors arsenal have made this year, he is preventing the same errors for milan tonight. He even headed out a corner which our centre halves have struggled with. id have him back in a heartbeat. very foolish to let that man walk out the door.I cant help feeling we made a foolish mistake not tying hime down to a contract last year. People talk about diarra, i didnt see anything that convinced me he was as good.

Frisbee

Deleted User wrote: »

im nothing short of getting a pain watching flamini's performance vs pompey at the moment. All the errors arsenal have made this year, he is preventing the same errors for milan tonight. He even headed out a corner which our centre halves have struggled with. id have him back in a heartbeat. very foolish to let that man walk out the door.I cant help feeling we made a foolish mistake not tying hime down to a contract last year. People talk about diarra, i didnt see anything that convinced me he was as good.

Was coming on to say the same.
He really is some player

EDIT: That tackle on Johnson there was what I miss about him

Evil_Clown

Also on the Pompey Milan game
I thought Traore had a good showing if he improves his final pass/cross a little more he should be a quality player. He is very quick and gave Zambrotta a torrid time down the left.
Oh and Senderos is still sh!t, look at him for Kaboul's goal

Frisbee

Evil_Clown wrote: »

Also on the Pompey Milan game
I thought Traore had a good showing if he improves his final pass/cross a little more he should be a quality player. He is very quick and gave Zambrotta a torrid time down the left.

He's a cracking aplayer. He was made look better than he was tonight though considering him and Belhacj are faster than greased lightning and Zambrotta must be nearly pushing 50 at this stage.
Will he be happy to stay with us though playing second fiddle to super Gael Clichy?

L'prof

Fro the website and here it is on eBay

Over 9 days left and it's at £1650 already (that's €1,957.41)! :eek:

Wreck

Article on the BBC website about Arsenal in the transfer window- Linky

wrote:

Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood says manager Arsene Wenger has money to spend in the January transfer window.

This is the kind of thing I really wish was kept quiet, serves no purpose to highlight the fact that we have cash available.

L'prof

Wreck wrote: »

Article on the BBC website about Arsenal in the transfer window- Linky

This is the kind of thing I really wish was kept quiet, serves no purpose to highlight the fact that we have cash available.

Agreed, the only purpose it serves is to antagonise fans when we inevitably spend no money!

Evil_Clown

jasonorr wrote: »

Agreed, the only purpose it serves is to antagonise fans when we inevitably spend no money!

Not to forget raising the asking price for any player if Arsene decides to make a move, if they think we have lots to spend they will try to bleed us dry

OPENROAD

Wreck wrote: »

Article on the BBC website about Arsenal in the transfer window- Linky



This is the kind of thing I really wish was kept quiet, serves no purpose to highlight the fact that we have cash available.

Heard the interview on Arsenal tv with him, he was asked, if Arsene comes in Jan looking for a player are funds available, PHW yes of course. What else is he going to say, everyone knows we have cash available.

newbie2

We've loads of cash available. We did before this season but didn't spend it. I'd like to see at least 3 big names with at least £35 mil spent;)

DenMan

Torsten Frings would be a brilliant edition to our squad. Reality check Arsene. We need to spend big in January. Our position in the top 4 is at stake.

PHB

Wreck wrote: »

Article on the BBC website about Arsenal in the transfer window- Linky



This is the kind of thing I really wish was kept quiet, serves no purpose to highlight the fact that we have cash available.

It does serve one purpose. To keep the fans thinking that Wenger is choosing not to spend money rather than the board.

OPENROAD

PHB wrote: »

It does serve one purpose. To keep the fans thinking that Wenger is choosing not to spend money rather than the board.

But money is available, we have excess cash, the last two Financial statements clearly show that, we were close to signing Alonso in the summer,it fell through pretty late, no plan b after that. The one thing is that Arsenal will only spend what is available to them unlike other teams.

L'prof

DenMan wrote: »

Torsten Frings would be a brilliant edition to our squad. Reality check Arsene. We need to spend big in January. Our position in the top 4 is at stake.

I don't think it is this year, but next year definitely!

Galvasean

jasonorr wrote: »

I don't think it is this year, but next year definitely!

*looks at Premier League table*

Do you mean the 2009 calendar year?

Arsenal1986

If u mean 2009/2010 i think thats defo wrong i think we are in a uniquely precarious situation this season that has come about through long term injuries of Rosicky(who i reckon Wenger thought would be back by oct at latest hence no need to buy another wide player)/eduardo and flamini and gilberto leaving with wenger failing to get who he wanted in the window (inler/alonso) and thus being forced to hope denilson would magically turn into Flamini....You cant help but feel that if we stay in the top 4 this season i cant see any of our players leaving and that then 2 or 3 players willl be signed and well also have the definite benefit of Ramsey,Vela and less so Wilshere being in 1st team contention week in week out....I know the same argument has been made for last 2 seasons but genuinely thin if we get through this year in 4th next year well be contending again

Galvasean

Arsenal1986 wrote: »

If u mean 2009/2010 i think thats defo wrong i think we are in a uniquely precarious situation this season that has come about through long term injuries of Rosicky(who i reckon Wenger thought would be back by oct at latest hence no need to buy another wide player)/eduardo and flamini and gilberto leaving with wenger failing to get who he wanted in the window (inler/alonso) and thus being forced to hope denilson would magically turn into Flamini....You cant help but feel that if we stay in the top 4 this season i cant see any of our players leaving and that then 2 or 3 players willl be signed and well also have the definite benefit of Ramsey,Vela and less so Wilshere being in 1st team contention week in week out....I know the same argument has been made for last 2 seasons but genuinely thin if we get through this year in 4th next year well be contending again

Hit the nail on the head there.

L'prof

Galvasean wrote: »

jasonorr wrote: »

I don't think it is this year season, but next year season definitely!

*looks at Premier League table*

Do you mean the 2009 calendar year?

Fixed! I genuinely feel we are strong enough to finish 4th this year especially with City and Villa playing in the Uefa Cup! Next year season, will be a bit hairy depending on whether or not we ever bulk up our squad!

Frisbee

At least Villa drew today

Every cloud

Frisbee

We got Plymouth at home in the FA Cup

Arsenal1986

Gotta applaud Wenger for team selection today finally having faith in djourou and gallas together and it paid off!Id like to see Djourou given a run of games now perfect complimentary partner for Gallas....Delighted with RVP think in general hes having a great season so far bar the stupid red card

OPENROAD

Brilliant win today, and we still have to play Liverpool twice

DenMan

Well done Arsenal on a brilliant win today. When I saw the lineup and Denilson was starting I feared he wouldn't be tough and agressive and he was. He played very well. Roll on Burnley.

Wreck

Great win, didn't think we would do it but really was a great performance today. Now if we can just build on this and go on a bit of a run we could be back in it after xmas.

cson

Denilson was ****e. The kid is too young, too light and too naive.

Fabregas deserves a better partner in midfield.

Frisbee

cson wrote: »

Fabregas deserves a better partner in midfield.

+7

That's what we need to buy in January, or Fabregas won't be half the player he was last season/in the Euro's.

Pepe LeFrits

I thought Song did well today. He's still some way off the standard for a first team place but he's good enough for a backup place.

Djourou & Gallas together for the rest of the season please, Arsene.

tony1kenobi

OPENROAD wrote: »

Brilliant win today, and we still have to play Liverpool twice

....We still get to beat Liverpool twice.

Green Hornet

I also thought Song did well this afternoon, particularly in the latter stages of the game. Protected the back 4 well.

Chelsea were as poor as I've seen them in a while.

Beau x1

Mmm. We were lucky with that offside goal, but we did play excellent in the second half. I'm actually looking forward to the youngsters playing in the Carling Cup on Tuesday night.

gosplan

Song was good, thought Denilson was terrible. Chelsea weren't great but it was the most solid defensive performance we've put in for ages.

Frisbee

gosplan wrote: »

Song was good, thought Denilson was terrible. Chelsea weren't great but it was the most solid defensive performance we've put in for ages.

Denilson was playing out of position in all fairness.
Although yes a new, established CM needs to come in in January and relegate Denilson and Song to backup.

gosplan

Frisbee wrote: »

Denilson was playing out of position in all fairness.
Although yes a new, established CM needs to come in in January and relegate Denilson and Song to backup.

True but in the order New player / Song / Denilson.

I'm even very hopeful about Song being a long term Arsenal star but he can't carry the dmf on his own at the moment.

The problem with Denilson is he's a very poor man's Fabregas. He'll never be a tackle-crazy specialist DMF which is what we need to allow Fabregas a bit more freedom.

L'prof

2008-2009: 15  8  2  5 27 19  8 26
2007-2008: 15 11  4  0 32 12 20 37 ( 3rd)
2006-2007: 15  7  4  4 25 12 13 25 ( 4th)
2005-2006: 15  8  2  5 22 13  9 26 ( 4th)
2004-2005: 15  9  4  2 39 20 19 31 ( 2nd)
2003-2004: 15 10  5  0 29 11 18 35 ( 1st)
2002-2003: 15 10  2  3 33 16 17 32 ( 2nd)
2001-2002: 15  8  5  2 33 17 16 29 ( 1st)
2000-2001: 15  8  4  3 23 13 10 28 ( 2nd)
1999-2000: 15  9  2  4 26 15 11 29 ( 2nd)
1998-1999: 15  6  7  2 15  7  8 25 ( 2nd)
1997-1998: 15  7  6  2 30 17 13 27 ( 1st)
1996-1997: 15  9  4  2 29 13 16 31 ( 3rd)
1995-1996: 15  8  4  3 21 10 11 28 ( 5th)
1994-1995: 15  5  4  6 18 16  2 19 (12th)
1993-1994: 15  7  5  3 15  8  7 26 ( 4th)
1992-1993: 15  9  2  4 22 13  9 29 (10th)

Reading               4   4   0   0  11   2   9  12 3.00
Watford               4   4   0   0   9   3   6  12 3.00
Barnsley              2   2   0   0   7   0   7   6 3.00
Wolves                2   2   0   0   6   1   5   6 3.00
Wigan                 6   5   1   0  12   5   7  16 2.67
Ipswich              10   8   2   0  23   4  19  26 2.60
Man City             23  18   3   2  44  14  30  57 2.48
Fulham               15  12   1   2  33   9  24  37 2.47
Charlton             16  12   2   2  36  12  24  38 2.38
Derby                14  10   3   1  27  11  16  33 2.36
West Brom             7   5   1   1  15   7   8  16 2.29
Leicester            16  10   5   1  38  13  25  35 2.19
Crystal Palace        8   5   2   1  16   5  11  17 2.13
Everton              33  21   7   5  66  26  40  70 2.12
Birmingham           10   6   3   1  19   5  14  21 2.10
Nottingham Forest    10   6   3   1  13   7   6  21 2.10
Sunderland           15   9   4   2  30  11  19  31 2.07
Southampton          26  15   7   4  50  24  26  52 2.00
Oldham                4   2   2   0   4   1   3   8 2.00
Swindon               2   1   1   0   5   1   4   4 2.00
West Ham             27  16   5   6  40  17  23  53 1.96
Middlesbrough        26  15   6   5  59  25  34  51 1.96
Coventry             18  10   5   3  25  13  12  35 1.94
Bolton               19  10   5   4  31  22   9  35 1.84
Portsmouth           10   4   6   0  16   6  10  18 1.80
Blackburn            29  15   7   7  47  26  21  52 1.79
Villa                33  16  11   6  51  28  23  59 1.79
Chelsea              33  16  11   6  49  35  14  59 1.79
Bradford              4   2   1   1   6   3   3   7 1.75
Newcastle            31  15   8   8  43  26  17  53 1.71
Leeds                24  12   4   8  43  25  18  40 1.67
Spurs                33  13  15   5  51  36  15  54 1.64
Norwich               8   3   4   1  17   9   8  13 1.63
MK Dons              16   7   4   5  30  16  14  25 1.56
Sheffield Wednesday  16   7   4   5  21  16   5  25 1.56
Sheffield United      6   2   3   1   9   4   5   9 1.50
Man United           33  10  10  13  33  43 -10  40 1.21
Liverpool            32   9   9  14  31  43 -12  36 1.13
QPR                   8   1   5   2   7   8  -1   8 1.00
Hull                  1   0   0   1   1   2  -1   0 0.00
Stoke                 1   0   0   1   1   2  -1   0 0.00

Galvasean

gosplan wrote: »

The problem with Denilson is he's a very poor man's Fabregas. He'll never be a tackle-crazy specialist DMF which is what we need to allow Fabregas a bit more freedom.

YES! I'm glad people agree with me on this. He is too much like Fabregas, just not as good. Actually Ramsey is also quite similar and will probably be better than Denilson in a couple of years.

Frisbee

Galvasean wrote: »

YES! I'm glad people agree with me on this. He is too much like Fabregas, just not as good. Actually Ramsey is also quite similar and will probably be better than Denilson in a couple of years.

He'll be better than Denilson by next season imo.

newbie2

I'm gonna have to stop posting. I keep getting infractions. I'll see you all in January.......

Galvasean

Frisbee wrote: »

He'll be better than Denilson by next season imo.

Probably. Unless Denilson improves too edit: which I would say he will because he's still developing too people have to remember.
Gotta say one attribute where Ramsey is better than both Denil and Fab is his free kicks. That belter against Wigan :eek:

Speaking of youngsters. I reckon we'll see them get a good run out against Plymouth.

leninbenjamin

gosplan wrote: »

He'll never be a tackle-crazy specialist DMF which is what we need to allow Fabregas a bit more freedom.

plenty of people said the same about Flamini until he was finally given a good run of games.

I like Denilson as a prospect/ Yes, he's young and naive but there's plenty of potential there.He's a good passer, he has the aggression and he has great energy. I would hate to see him not given his fair chance tbh, i think he's a much better prospect than Song and will come good in time. perhaps not quite quick enough though for this season...

Royale with Cheese

Could Fabregas in some way be causing a problem for Arsenal? Yes he's their best player, but the team is built around him.

Back in the days when Arsenal used to win things, they never had an attacking centre mid. Was always two holding midfielders and two goalscoring wingers. Vieira, Petit, Gilberto, Edu. Now Fabregas has come along things are different. Anyone reckon Arsenal would get outmuscled by Hull, Fulham etc. with two holding midfielders on the pitch?

Yeah I know the actual problem is that Arsenal currently have 0 holding midfielders, but they haven't won anything since Fabregas came along.

In absolutely no way am I saying go back to this system and get rid of Fabregas, just wondering does anybody else reckon it could actually be making a difference.

Arsenal1986

Royale with Cheese that actually makes alot of sense - similar sentiments echoed here too - http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8742_4516199,00.html seems to say that this reemphasis, of building a team around Cesc is to win the champions league

Frisbee

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

Could Fabregas in some way be causing a problem for Arsenal? Yes he's their best player, but the team is built around him.

Back in the days when Arsenal used to win things, they never had an attacking centre mid. Was always two holding midfielders and two goalscoring wingers. Vieira, Petit, Gilberto, Edu. Now Fabregas has come along things are different. Anyone reckon Arsenal would get outmuscled by Hull, Fulham etc. with two holding midfielders on the pitch?

Yeah I know the actual problem is that Arsenal currently have 0 holding midfielders, but they haven't won anything since Fabregas came along.

In absolutely no way am I saying go back to this system and get rid of Fabregas, just wondering does anybody else reckon it could actually be making a difference.

This has been echoed before.
Yes Wenger changed his winning system in order to accomadate Cesc.
But is the reason we're losing because of Cesc? No
The reason we're losing is because we have crap players around Cesc.
If he didnt play Cesc we'd have Denilson and Song in CM. They both will be good players in the future, right now though, they're not Premier League Top 4 Standard. They could both ply their trade quite comfortably at someone like Blackburn or Boro on their current merits.

Galvasean

TBH blaming Cesc for our problems is complete and utter drivel.
Himself and Flamini were arguably the best central midfield pair in the Premier league. We didn't win the league due to a poor run of form, four league draws in a row followed by a narrow defeat by Chelsea. Bear in mind that during this run of poor form our squad was absolutely ravaged by injuries. In fact throughout the whole season the number of times we had our first choice starting XI could be counted on one hand.
Also, we were eliminated from the Champions League after a torrid run of bad luck in the first leg against 'pool.
This season Cesc as no Flamaini type to back him up where there was one before. In fact Fabregas has suffered somewhat offensively this season since he no longer has ol' reliable watching his back while he goes forward. If we had someone like Flamini to help out the CBs there would be no problem.

Smegball

I think if Arsenal get a quality CM to partner Fabregas and a better goalkeeper, and possibly a quality CB an you wil have a awesome team, you already have two exceptional full backs, the best CM in PL and two excellent strikers.
As a United fan, why isn't Vela getting more chances rather than Bendtner, I don't rate him at all really.

Frisbee

Smegball wrote: »

I think if Arsenal get a quality CM to partner Fabregas and a better goalkeeper, and possibly a quality CB an you wil have a awesome team, you already have two exceptional full backs, the best CM in PL and two excellent strikers.
As a United fan, why isn't Vela getting more chances rather than Bendtner, I don't rate him at all really.

No idea, you'd have to ask Arsene.
Although I agree with Bendtner coming on instead of Carlos the Ninja yesterday, he put more of a question to the Chelsea defence than Vela could have done with his physical presence.

We have a good choice of strikers depending on whats needed:

Ade = Strong and talented striker who uses his presence and pace well.
RVP = Technically gifted dutchman with a killer shot.
Bendtner = The Tank
Vela = Young gun with serious skizzles and pace
Eduarco = Clinical Finisher

L'prof

Smegball wrote: »

I think if Arsenal get a quality CM to partner Fabregas and a better goalkeeper, and possibly a quality CB an you wil have a awesome team, you already have two exceptional full backs, the best CM in PL and two excellent strikers.
As a United fan, why isn't Vela getting more chances rather than Bendtner, I don't rate him at all really.

I think the only reason for this is that at the moment he is a bit lightweight, but I'd expect him to be a a quality player for us very soon!