Arsenal FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

G1032

Frisbee wrote: »

Signing Sol Campbell would be a ridiculous step backwards, he couldn't even hack it at Notts County ffs.

He still reckons he can play at premiership level i'd say, which is why he bailed on Notts County. He was a huge loss to Arsenal when he left and he still hasn't been properly replaced. If he's fit and 'right in the head' would it be so bad getting him back for the remainder of the season?? He couldn't be any worse than Senderos.

SlickRic

ronaldochokes wrote: »

He still reckons he can play at premiership level i'd say

you're selling his ego short.

he probably still thinks he's the best in the country

OPENROAD

Well done Arsene


http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/wenger-blocks-catalonia-call-up-for-cesc

G1032

SlickRic wrote: »

you're selling his ego short.

he probably still thinks he's the best in the country

he probably isn't far off it, considering the rate goals are being leaked this season!!! his 35 year old legs might be able to run for another few months:D

Frisbee

ronaldochokes wrote: »

He couldn't be any worse than Senderos.

Having been out of the game so long and at his age I'd imagine he's substantially worse than Senderos.

Galvasean

Great results for us on Saturday. All of our rivals sropped points. It's up to us to capitalise now.

G1032

Frisbee wrote: »

Having been out of the game so long and at his age I'd imagine he's substantially worse than Senderos.

Out of the game so long?? He only left Pompey in July last. I don't recall Senderos playing too many first team games since then.

Frisbee

ronaldochokes wrote: »

Out of the game so long?? He only left Pompey in July last. I don't recall Senderos playing too many first team games since then.

Portsmouth wouldn't even renew his contract.

He managed to last one game with a League Twos side.

Is that the kind of player we want at Arsenal?

He's 36, and has only started training again in the past few weeks.
He's past his best and bringing him back on would be embarrassing imo, for both the club and him.

Galvasean

I really think it's time to drop Almunia. Give Fabianski some Premier League games.

monkey9

Galvasean wrote: »

I really think it's time to drop Almunia. Give Fabianski some Premier League games.

I'm not sure Fabianski is that great. You's would have seen more of him, but he's always seemed a bit dodgy to me.
I could never understand why Wenger didn't go for Given last year

Redzer7

Arshavin you sexy lil Russian fcuker

Frisbee

Galvasean wrote: »

I really think it's time to drop Almunia. Give Fabianski some Premier League games.

I've been one of the most vehement supporters of Almunia but my view of him is starting to change.

I don't even know what he was doing for the Pool goal today, it wasn't a punch or a catch.

However Fabianski or Mannone aren't the answer either, if he's going to be replaced we need to buy a new keeper.

Mossy Monk

Need a new goal keeper.

Redzer7

Can't believe we held on to the lead for once , I am absolutely delighted .

paul150

Agree about almunia he was shocking again today

Royale with Cheese

Great result but that first half performance was extremely worrying.

Almunia not good enough, new keeper needed. A striker is also badly needed. Team looked very narrow, Arsene keeps buying centre mids and putting them on the wing.

Second half however much better. Still didn't really create any chances (own goal and a half chance for Arshavin), but holding out against Liverpool in Anfield for 30 minutes is much improved on letting a 2 goal lead to West Ham slip.

SDTimeout

Almunia just flapped at it, Fabianski's catching from crossing and set pieces was very good mid week.

That saying, the wet dreams of Lloris shall continue for the near future.

MUST win this game in hand midweek.

Royale with Cheese

SDTimeout wrote: »

MUST win this game in hand midweek.

The game in hand isn't until early January.

SDTimeout

Thought it was this week against burnley my mistake so

therokerroar

Cracking result lads, well done.

Redzer7

Now back to reality, we really have to win our next few and the game in hand if we win that we are flying, we have to win the games against the smaller teams and grind out results agianst the bigger ones, we are certainly not out of the title race.

Mr.Nice Guy

Well done Arsenal. Deservedly back in the hunt. Love this photo of Arshavin too on the BBC:



"MWAHAHAHAHA!"

OPENROAD

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

Well done Arsenal. Deservedly back in the hunt. Love this photo of Arshavin too on the BBC:



"MWAHAHAHAHA!"

Arshavin is really small

cson

Hugo Lloris s'il vous plait.

Break the bank for him to ****. :cool:

Royale with Cheese

cson wrote: »

Hugo Lloris s'il vous plait.

Break the bank for him to ****. :cool:

Yeah I'd prefer to see big money spent on a keeper and risk not buying a striker.

OPENROAD

Apparently Arsene and the rest of the coaching team appluaded the team off the pitch, anyone else notice that.

G1032

SDTimeout wrote: »

Thought it was this week against burnley my mistake so

Its Bolton, and at The Emirates.

OPENROAD

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

Yeah I'd prefer to see big money spent on a keeper and risk not buying a striker.

+1

Frisbee

OPENROAD wrote: »

Apparently Arsene and the rest of the coaching team appluaded the team off the pitch, anyone else notice that.

Unfortunately the stream switched off as soon as the final whistle blew...

If true though I'll see it on MotD later

cson

Did Fabregas say that AW said that some of them weren't fit to wear the shirt? :eek:

Tough words there, very unlike that man. That said, it rings true for some of the players. Here's what I thought of them today;

Almunia: I don't know whats happened to him but he was a lot better at the start of the season. His two half attempts to clear by punching or flapping at it were embarrassing. At fault for the goal, his confidence looks shot and his distribution was shocking today. Definitely not good enough for the club anymore. He's really gone backwards after being our best player in the Champions League Semi's last year v Man Utd. Mannone whilst he showed potential is still a rough diamond but he has time and as for Fabianski; definitely not the answer either. 4/10

Traore: Good performance by the youngster. Was a touch naive at times but generally defended well and offered a bit going forward too. Again another unpolished diamond but he'll turn out to be good in my opinion. We've a knack of producing left backs at Arsenal. Solid, and I'd have no problem with him in the team. 7/10

Gallas: He really needs to work on his decision making. Otherwise it was a decent performance as ever but he dives into challenges in the box sometimes and you'd wonder does he think at all. He was good, but he really should have given away a penalty and unless he improves on this he'll be a liability for giving penalties away. 7/10

Vermaelen: Very solid in the air and dealt with Torres well. He's been very good so far despite the fact he's not being helped by his goalkeeper and the general uneasiness Arsenal have at dealing with high balls into the box. 8/10

Sagna: This man needs to get back to basics. Some basic principles of defending seem to have escaped him and his showing of Benayoun inside was shocking. He's gone backwards as regards defending. Decent going forward as is his game but he needs to work on basic defending and positioning as both were lacking today. He was at fault for the Chelsea game too so he'd want to act quickly and nip this in the bud. 5/10

Song: Immense. The amount he has improved in the last year is astounding. Very composed on the ball and always has a cool head. He mops up some amount of ball in front of the back four. His distribution is something that he can improve on however, but his upward trajectory continues. I'm worried about him leaving for the AN cup. 9/10

Denilson: He's frustrating to watch. Tidy enough on the ball but he's neither an attacking midfielder nor a defensive one and seeing as we don't play two through the centre I don't see where he fits in. Useful player to have no less but he's not a first teamer should everyone be fit. Our version of Lucas imo. 6/10

Fabregas: Pretty anonymous game for him today. Played solid enough without doing anything of note. He got stuck in when it was needed and showed a bit of experience in hanging onto it up the Liverpool half in injury time. Sort of provided the assist for Arshavin and his passing was slick as ever bar a couple of wayward ones in the first half. He was pretty much in Mascherano's pocket in that half though. 6/10

Nasri: Whatever about Fabregas ebing anonymous, the game passed him by. Did very little of note and he's another one to have gone backwards after starting brightly last season. He would want to start finding a bit of form as there is no doubting his quality. 5/10

Walcott: Very disappointing. Wenger would want to decide where he sees Walcotts future - on the wing or up top. He was ineffectual today and didn't cause Liverpool any problems - he should be causing Carragher a problem or two with his pace but he never threatened. He needs to bulk up a bit too, he's too lightweight imo. I don't know whether he'll ever realise his full potential or if those flashes of brillance like vs Liverpool in the Champions League were just that - flashes. 5/10

Arshavin: Well what can you say about him? He's one of those luxuries that you can afford to have; does pretty much nothing in the match except win it for us with a spectacular goal. That said; there wasn't a lot he could do up top on his own and he did well for what was a thankless task. I'd love to see him played behind RVP - I think he'd revel in that position behind a target man or bigger physical presence (he'd clean up if you played him off the likes of Drogba for example). 7/10

Royale with Cheese

cson wrote: »

Did Fabregas say that AW said that some of them weren't fit to wear the shirt? :eek:

Yeah apparently Arsene gave them the hairdryer treatment for the first time ever.

It worked.

Frisbee

Good to hear he gave them a right bollocking, it was absolutely deserved, and it worked

SDTimeout

I think it was more of a, with a performance like that you're not fit enough to wear the shirt.

OPENROAD

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

Yeah apparently Arsene gave them the hairdryer treatment for the first time ever.

It worked.

Not the first time he has lost it, remember around this time of the year back in 98 I think after getting beaten by Blackburn he lost it apparently and we all though what happened that season

leninbenjamin

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

Yeah I'd prefer to see big money spent on a keeper and risk not buying a striker.

I think everyone would, but it ain't going to happen. Outside of Lloris there is no one really, and to get Lloris you'd be talking stupid money (a la Benzema).

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

Yeah apparently Arsene gave them the hairdryer treatment for the first time ever.

It worked.

SDTimeout wrote: »

I think it was more of a, with a performance like that you're not fit enough to wear the shirt.

Some of the older boys have gone on record before saying Wenger can get heated when he wants (I think it was Keown? before said Wenger once just stared them down during a half time). It's only Cole's generation and after who talk about the paper cup thing.

Royale with Cheese

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgrQmo8EQjw

gosplan

Serious turnaround anyway.

Thought our defence was really good today. Think that Liverpool figured that if they played to their strength, which is their strength, it'd work for them.

In fairness, it usually does work against Arsenal but this week there was plenty of dominant clearances from Verm and Gallas. They really too control of balls into the area - nice to see.

cson

Unbelieveable finish; the power in it is insane. Hopefully he can keep it up.

cson

"you don't save them"

No, you don't.

Frisbee

Johnson just lets Arshavin inside and says; "have a go son if you want", and the little Russian says: "I will, I will have a go", and I'm sorry, you just don't save those.


Andy Gray, making up conversations since 1990.

cson

And it was Song's determination to win the header back that started that move off.

Redzer7

A better keeper should be our priority in January, imagine if we had a quality keeper, he would provide confidence to the whole back four, Would be nice to get another striker but we could certainly do without for the moment.

efb

I really dislike Andy Grey, apart from being a Sky Sports Marketing Mouthpice, he frequently contradicts himself with what he says re tackles/penalties etc, depending who's playing...

Meanwhile Arshavin, sweet!

Mr Alan

well done today.

wat a goal from Arshavin, i hate that little fella!

tony1kenobi

Was that Andy Gray on the "yes" commentary?I don't watch Sky Sports but I didn't think it sounded like him.

Frisbee

tony1kenobi wrote: »

Was that Andy Gray on the "yes" commentary?I don't watch Sky Sports but I didn't think it sounded like him.

Yeah I'm fairly sure it was him

Mossy Monk

Andy Gray was commentating on Sky Sports with Martin Tyler. Craig Burley was commentating on the international feed with Jon Champion.

tony1kenobi

Frisbee wrote: »

Yeah I'm fairly sure it was him

His growl is gone...he must be off the fags.

Kirnsy

jesus i haven't felt more happy about a win in a long long time. I'd call it at the Utd game last year (the one we won obviously). At least we are cautiously back in the race.

anyone hear the post match interview? apparently Wenger tore into them! even the Verminator was shocked!
fair play to wenger telling them that the performance wasn't fitting of an arsenal jersey.....

Link to TV and Cesc interview

ErinGoBrath

Wow what a result today. Where to begin...

Firstly, I'm absolutely delighted with Alex Songs progress this season. I have to say at one point I was hoping he'd pack it in and leave but now he's clearly listening to his mentors and working hard to adapt to the holding midfielder role. He's passing medium to long range passing needs a lot of work but as long as he's all over the pitch breaking up play I'm more than happy. Long may it last. Personally I would have given him man of the match.

Secondly, I'm yet again disappointed with Walcott, Denilson and Diaby. They aren't up to Arsenal stardards and I'd be happy to see them all leave the club provided Wenger brought in suitable replacements. Call me harsh but I'm willing to put my neck on the chopping block and stick by my statement.

Finally, how refreshing was it to hear that Wenger went to town on them at halftime? Brilliant!

Well done lads, back in the hunt.