Arsenal Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

Galvasean

Anyone got a link to the goals from the newcastle match?

Im_No_Superman

Galvasean wrote: »

Anyone got a link to the goals from the newcastle match?

Here you go.

http://www.101greatgoals.com/videodisplay/2248306/

Taylor forearm smash on Arshavin was shocking, how he wasnt sent off is beyond me.

Frisbee

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

By stature do you mean 4th choice striker or 6'3"? 'cos I don't see our other strikers doing much of the above lately.

Someone of 6'3"
To say he was excellent is a big statement, he merely looked like someone who can hack playing in the Premier League

Mr Alan

Bendter is ****e.

Eduardo on the other hand is ****ing amazing & fully fit is up there with the boy Torres as the best in the league imo. Yous are so lucky to have him.

Pepe LeFrits

Sounds like you're judging him by a different yardstick to others. Winning headers and holding up the ball is just as valid a skill in football as any other, and it isn't something some other Arsenal strikers who get much less criticism can do.

Frisbee

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

Sounds like you're judging him by a different yardstick to others. Winning headers and holding up the ball is just as valid a skill in football as any other, and it isn't something some other Arsenal strikers who get much less criticism can do.

Someone of his stature should do the above well and regularly. Something he doesn't usually. However yesterday he did this job, and looked much better than usual because of it.

Royale with Cheese

I can kind of see why Bendtner is highly thought of by some. He gets into some great positions.

If his finishing wasn't so awful he'd be a handy player.

Pepe LeFrits

Clear case of double standards if you're discounting his aerial ability because he's tall.

It's the same as saying Vela should be expected to get in behind defences and score regularly because he's quick and has got great finishing. He's only got 5 goals though in 25 odd appearances though so he doesn't look capable of hacking it in the PL.

Oh, and Alan - If Bendtner played for Liverpool, somehow I don't think you'd be saying he's ****e.

Frisbee

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

Clear case of double standards if you're discounting his aerial ability because he's tall.

It's the same as saying Vela should be expected to get in behind defences and score regularly because he's quick and has got great finishing. He's only got 5 goals though in 25 odd appearances though so he doesn't look capable of hacking it in the PL.

Oh, and Alan - If Bendtner played for Liverpool, somehow I don't think you'd be saying he's ****e.

Vela doesn't look like he can hack it in the PL up until his past few appearances.
Also Vela only has 12 PL appearances.

Bendtner was doing a good job at holding ball yesterday because he was in the positions. How often do we see him not bothering to go for a header, or out wide when he should be in the box?
Say what you will but anyone that tall and strong should be used as a target man. Yesterday was one of the first times Bendtner has operated in that role.

Pepe LeFrits

Frisbee wrote: »

Vela doesn't look like he can hack it in the PL up until his past few appearances.
Also Vela only has 12 PL appearances.

You're missing the point. I'm not down on Vela. I'm merely making an example of what someone might say if they were to apply the same rules of judgement that are being applied to Bendtner. Fortunately for Carlos, he's small, quick and skillful which is far more fashionable skillset, even if its overall effect on the pitch isn't any better.

Bendtner was doing a good job at holding ball yesterday because he was in the positions. How often do we see him not bothering to go for a header, or out wide when he should be in the box?
Say what you will but anyone that tall and strong should be used as a target man. Yesterday was one of the first times Bendtner has operated in that role.

Right, and Abou Diaby is a DM because he looks like Patrick Vieira?

Bendtner isn't a natural target man. He just happens to be tall. You're judging him against your perceived idea of what he should be and what he should do, and not what he actually is and what he does.

Frisbee

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

You're missing the point. I'm not down on Vela. I'm merely making an example of what someone might say if they were to apply the same rules of judgement that are being applied to Bendtner. Fortunately for Carlos, he's small, quick and skillful which is far more fashionable skillset, even if its overall effect on the pitch isn't any better.

I'm not down on Vela either. Most know I rate him massively.

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

Bendtner isn't a natural target man. He just happens to be tall. You're judging him against your perceived idea of what he should be and what he should do, and not what he actually is and what he does.

Well Bendtner does not have good finishing, pace, passing or dribbling. So what else has he got going for him beside acting as a target man?

Pepe LeFrits

He's got poor finishing and touch but the rest of his game ranges from decent to very good. In particular I'd say he's our most intelligent (in a football sense) striker. Uses and finds space very well and his link play and vision is better than RvPs, Ades, Velas and is on a par with Eduardo. His attitude is good too, even when his confidence is down he keeps looking for the ball and keeps working hard.

He's 21 and has scored 12 goals this season. He'll be more prolific than Adebayor before too long.

Frisbee

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

He's got poor finishing and touch but the rest of his game ranges from decent to very good. In particular I'd say he's our most intelligent (in a football sense) striker. Uses and finds space very well and his link play and vision is better than RvPs, Ades, Velas and is on a par with Eduardo. His attitude is good too, even when his confidence is down he keeps looking for the ball and keeps working hard.

He's 21 and has scored 12 goals this season. He'll be more prolific than Adebayor before too long.

I wouldn't say his vision is on a par with Eduardo. Eduardo is a much more intelligent player, I'd have him on par with RVP in the regard though.

Also it wouldn't be very hard to be more prolific than Adebayor...

Galvasean

Frisbee wrote: »

Also it wouldn't be very hard to be more prolific than Adebayor...

True that, its been a while since Adebayor was prolific.

jesus_thats_gre

jasonorr wrote: »

This season v previous seasons:

P   W   D   L   F   A  GD Pts
2008-2009:  30  15  10   5  48  27  21  55
2007-2008:  30  19  10   1  58  22  36  67 ( 3rd)
2006-2007:  30  16   7   7  52  28  24  55 ( 4th)
2005-2006:  30  15   5  10  48  23  25  50 ( 4th)
2004-2005:  30  19   7   4  68  32  36  64 ( 2nd)
2003-2004:  30  22   8   0  58  20  38  74 ( 1st)
2002-2003:  30  19   6   5  64  32  32  63 ( 2nd)
2001-2002:  30  18   9   3  60  32  28  63 ( 1st)
2000-2001:  30  15   9   6  47  29  18  54 ( 2nd)
1999-2000:  30  16   6   8  53  31  22  54 ( 2nd)
1998-1999:  30  16  11   3  42  13  29  59 ( 2nd)
1997-1998:  30  17   9   4  49  26  23  60 ( 1st)
1996-1997:  30  15   9   6  49  26  23  54 ( 3rd)
1995-1996:  30  14   9   7  42  27  15  51 ( 5th)

Current run:

P   W   D   L   F   A  GD Pts
2008-2009:  16   8   8   0  23   9  14  32

Come on the Pool

Hey, where do you pull these from? Is it statto.com or somewhere else?



Arsenal are on a pretty decent run of form too.. Defo going to get 4th place IMO.

And this isn't a piss take, it wouldn't surprise me if you were to beat any or all of Liverpool, Chelsea and United. Twould make for a very interesting close season.

DenMan

Pool are doing the biz (3-0). Fair play to them. Villa's goal difference against us is collapsing completely into a black hole. 21/9 as it stands right now and Liverpool have the second half to grab more. Next up for us: Man City at home on April 4 while Villa go to Old Trafford on the Sunday.

Pepe LeFrits

5-0 now. Great stuff for us. If we can beat City at Emirates and then Wigan away in our next two league games, we could (the way things are going) quite easily find ourselves 8 points clear of 5th with a vastly superior goal difference. We're effectively 3.5 points clear of Villa now.

Green Hornet

City can be a tough nut to crack though. Always capable of beating anybody on their day.

Royale with Cheese

Green Hornet wrote: »

City can be a tough nut to crack though. Always capable of beating anybody on their day.

At home yes, away... not really.

Frisbee

Liverpool doing us a big favour.
Hopefully this will be a big dent in Villa's confidence aswell

DenMan

Frisbee wrote: »

Liverpool doing us a big favour.
Hopefully this will be a big dent in Villa's confidence aswell

It's the ideal pick-me-up for Utd that's for sure. At home agianst Villa.

Frisbee

DenMan wrote: »

It's the ideal pick-me-up for Utd that's for sure. At home agianst Villa.

Aye, Villa suffering two big defeats in a row before having to face Everton would be great for us.

gosplan

DenMan wrote: »

It's the ideal pick-me-up for Utd that's for sure. At home agianst Villa.

Wouldn't take that for granted. Pool scored off pretty much their first chance today and Reina was kept busy until they scored their second, which came totally against the run of play. He made one outstanding save from Carew while Liverpool were 1-0 up.

Man U will have a lot of players coming back from international duty and will be without Rooney, Scholes, Vidic, and probably Berbatov now.

tony1kenobi

Green Hornet wrote: »

City can be a tough nut to crack though. Always capable of beating anybody on their day.

I think City have only won once away this season.

jesus_thats_gre

gosplan wrote: »

Wouldn't take that for granted. Pool scored off pretty much their first chance today and Reina was kept busy until they scored their second, which came totally against the run of play. He made one outstanding save from Carew while Liverpool were 1-0 up.

Man U will have a lot of players coming back from international duty and will be without Rooney, Scholes, Vidic, and probably Berbatov now.

Villa getting completely thumped could also give them the kick up the arse that they need..

Pepe LeFrits

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

Villa getting completely thumped could also give them the kick up the arse that they need..

Perhaps, but you could have said that after they were beaten at home by Spurs, or beaten by Man City, or... etc. They've lost 6 and drawn 2 of their last 8 games. Shocking form.

jesus_thats_gre

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

Perhaps, but you could have said that after they were beaten at home by Spurs, or beaten by Man City, or... etc. They've lost 6 and drawn 2 of their last 8 games. Shocking form.

Tis unlikely alright. Am just thinking that a defeat like that might result in a hard reset and they could possibly scrape a draw out of United. I am obviously praying to god that this happens

jester77

It's in Arsenals hands now, they have the points advantage and can afford 1 slip up. Shouldn't be relying on other results from here out.

Wreck

Another hugely important win yesterday, only saw highlights but we seemed to play well. Fcuking international break now, hate it.

Pepe LeFrits

I'm happy to see the break for once. Gives us a chance to get Fabregas and Walcott fit for City. Of course now that I've said that we'll probably lose half a dozen other players to injury...

L'prof

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

Hey, where do you pull these from? Is it statto.com or somewhere else?

No, I do them myself! I have a all our premier league results in txt files and I just run a program that spits out the results!

Rolling season:

P   W   D   L   F   A  GD Pts
2008-2009:  38  20  11   7  64  36  28  71

Not a great tally any season!

yahoo_moe

Royale with Cheese wrote:

At home yes, away... not really.

That's what I'm banking on - going over to the match so hope they continue their shocking away form.
And just to pick up on some of the Bendtner-bashing...

Frisbee wrote:

How often do we see him not bothering to go for a header

Not a lot - say what you like about his finishing but his effort and workrate are excellent. It's why he keeps getting into the positions to show off his inconsistent control and finishing.

or out wide when he should be in the box?

Not his fault he's been played out wide at times this season. And, I'd never 'expect' an Arsenal frontman under Wenger to be in the box. Now I'm not saying he's Henry but it's not the way Wenger's strikers play.

Well Bendtner does not have good finishing, pace, passing or dribbling.

I'm with you on dribbling and maybe pace but he's shown that he can pass and finish. His consistency is just way off. And while his execution isn't always right, the passes he goes for show a good awareness.

If he makes a jump up like Ade did last year, or Hleb did, he'll be very valuable.

Frisbee

yahoo_moe wrote: »

I'm with you on dribbling and maybe pace but he's shown that he can pass and finish. His consistency is just way off. And while his execution isn't always right, the passes he goes for show a good awareness.

Yes he can finish, how many efforts does he need before he puts one away though?
He had about 5 very good chances last week, and several the week before.
I don't want to sell him. But I think he should be used as cover for RVP, Ade, Eduardo, not as a starter

yahoo_moe

Frisbee wrote: »

Yes he can finish, how many efforts does he need before he puts one away though?
He had about 5 very good chances last week, and several the week before.
I don't want to sell him. But I think he should be used as cover for RVP, Ade, Eduardo, not as a starter

But if he makes a jump up, he'll be as worthy of a place as Ade, who for all his strengths is still a 1-in-3 finisher.

I said that Bendtner's consistency is way off but if that improves and the ball stops pinging off him as much as it sticks to him, and he starts scoring as many as he misses, then I'd be as happy to see his name on the teamsheet as Ade's.

tony1kenobi

I'd keep Bendtner. I think he is great craic.

Frisbee

yahoo_moe wrote: »

But if he makes a jump up, he'll be as worthy of a place as Ade, who for all his strengths is still a 1-in-3 finisher.

I said that Bendtner's consistency is way off but if that improves and the ball stops pinging off him as much as it sticks to him, and he starts scoring as many as he misses, then I'd be as happy to see his name on the teamsheet as Ade's.

+1 to this
Neither Ade or Bendtner are anywhere near clinical enough

Indie18

When is Adebayor back for us, I have done alot of criticizing of him this year but we still need him as a different option up front.

yahoo_moe

Probably after the international break as well, I think - I'd have thought a week or so behind Fabregas (seeing as he's not back in training yet) but Togo have still named in their squad for next week.

I hate when a player's first match back is an international though, always seems like the club haven't okayed his return.

Joeyjoejoe43

Id have to agree about Ade, I have criticised him in the past, but we could do with him back, as for me in order of what the player offers us, id have RVP, Edourdo, Ade, Anybody else, Bendtner. He is way too inconsistent and at this level his first touch should be so much better, he is only a young fella, but he has quite a way to go, id give him 20 mins at the end of an easy game until he proves himself, I certainly would'nt be starting him.

Galvasean

jester77 wrote: »

It's in Arsenals hands now, they have the points advantage and can afford 1 slip up. Shouldn't be relying on other results from here out.

Unless we intend to do better than 4th.

Pepe LeFrits

Looks like Ade will be back shortly anyway. He's been called up to the Togo squad.

OPENROAD

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

Looks like Ade will be back shortly anyway. He's been called up to the Togo squad.

Wonder will he join up with them.

itsjaybud

Just seen this on youtube, away to spurs back in february! I knew the police presence is high around these fixtures but i didnt think it was this extreme! The atmosphere must be so intense! Anyone being to arsenal spurs within the past few seasons?

edit: btw i know the lad recording it is a total plank!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgGFqysm5g4

Frisbee

Adebayor wouldn't have been playing on Saturday if we had a game so I really don't like the idea of him playing for Togo.
They really rely on him and I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up playing the full 90 minutes , especially considering their playing Cameroon. which isn't great for us considering he hasn't had any match practice yet...

Mossy Monk

"This is ****ing joke." Is that street talk for "I'm an idiot"?

Beau x1

Maybe it's just been too long since I've seen Adebayor play, but I'm starting to prefer Bendtner to him now; just because of how he's really making an effort to set things up on the pitch and assist. He just really needs to work on his first touch and finishing, other than that I've really seen a vast improvement with him this season.

Definitely have more respect for him now than I did at the start.

Evil_Clown

Look it's Wenger as a nipper !



If anyone is good at French there is a big write up on Wenger in the latest issue

http://goonertalk.com/2009/03/24/photo-wenger-as-a-toddler/

Pepe LeFrits

Robin says of Bendtner:

"He's got such big potential," he said. "It's incredible he's only 21. The things that he can do already are frightening. But I think what I like most about him is his awareness and his all-round game. At one point in the second half in our win at Newcastle on Saturday he gave me a pass which not many other players would have seen. It was brilliant.He just saw it. Those sort of things really say a lot about what sort of player he is. He reads the game very well. He thinks it but more importantly he can produce it as well. He has a great future, no doubt about it."

yahoo_moe

I really like the way Van Persie is acting like the senior squad member he is recently. He's really stepped up this season, giving good interviews and talking about the success the team can have and his role in it. Quite Fabregas-like really. Plus it gives me hope that he's definitely staying

And on the footballing side, his performances have been more consistent, he's obviously working hard on his conditioning to prevent injuries (probably the main reason he didn't hit this level last season) and he's working for the team rather than losing interest completely when things aren't quite working for him.

Top stuff.

Green Hornet

Seems to be a few whispers about Big Al for England again:

http://www.sport.co.uk/news/Football/16713/Shilton_Capello_should_ignore_Almunia_claims.aspx

Wont happen although I think he's at least as good as what they have.