Arsenal FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

OPENROAD

Arsene not happy apparently, photo just in from dressing room.

http://www.gregoryeditions.com/SJSGC22-The-TerminatorZ.jpg

tony1kenobi

Quazzie wrote: »

Can someone please answer me a very basic question.

Why do Arsenal keep crossing balls high into the box when we have absolutely no one that can header them..

I cannot answer that...however you are completely correct.

Podge2k7

What happened to Fabregas?

ShoulderChip

Its very tough to take dropping points during a midweek game, with no buid up and not much of an inquest afterwards,

simply put its points lost and ye will have to cope with that...

Ush1

tony1kenobi wrote: »

I cannot answer that...however you are completely correct.

That's why Gallas ended up going foward. Also, Eduardo = bottler.

Royale with Cheese

ShoulderChip wrote: »

simply put its points lost and ye will have to cope with that...

Cheers for the advice. I was going to go shoot myself but I'll give that a miss now.

OPENROAD

Cesc, hamstring problem, will miss saturday match, not sure how serious yet according to Arsenal TV.

Frisbee

Fantastic

SDTimeout

Whatever about consipracy theorys. But i wouldn't be suprised if wenger fancied us to take hull at home, Give ramsey the game. Cesc is " injured " there fore can't play in that pointless friendly he's been called up to and then is recovered for villa

eh ?

Galvasean

SDTimeout wrote: »

Whatever about consipracy theorys. But i wouldn't be suprised if wenger fancied us to take hull at home, Give ramsey the game. Cesc is " injured " there fore can't play in that pointless friendly he's been called up to and then is recovered for villa

eh ?

Take off your most creative player half way through a tough away game while tied at 1-1 and searching for a win?

I think you're reading too much into it.

cson

The likes of tonight is why we won't win the Premiership for a while yet. Until we start putting the Burnleys of this world away we can forget about being genuine contenders.

Edit: I can honestly see how our season will pan out already - comfy enough 3rd in the league, q-finals of the Champions League depending on who we draw. Probably something like CSKA and then beaten by Chelsea. FA Cup 5th round defeat to Utd at Old Trafford. Season over ~ February/March.

OPENROAD

cson wrote: »

The likes of tonight is why we won't win the Premiership for a while yet. Until we start putting the Burnleys of this world away we can forget about being genuine contenders.

Edit: I can honestly see how our season will pan out already - comfy enough 3rd in the league, q-finals of the Champions League depending on who we draw. Probably something like CSKA and then beaten by Chelsea. FA Cup 5th round defeat to Utd at Old Trafford. Season over ~ February/March.

Although Burnley did beat Utd and Chelsea, but the worry is the way we played tonight, together with the ever growing list of injuries.

cson

Burnley never beat Chelsea.... did they?

Anyway, it's depressing me that I can pretty much see how our season is going to pan out already. It's been the same since we went on the Champions League run in 2006. Same scenario every year.

jank

Please god someone shoot Almunia, Diaby what did he do tonight? Walcott..has he developed at all in the last 4 years? I would give vela and Ramsey a good go now

mink_man

jank wrote: »

Please god someone shoot Almunia, Diaby what did he do tonight? Walcott..has he developed at all in the last 4 years? I would give vela and Ramsey a good go now

i bet ya u'd give them a go!

Quazzie

jank wrote: »

I would give vela and Ramsey a good go now

I'll probably be shot down in flames here for saying this but I think Vela has been given a few opportunities and has done sod all with them. Unless he really starts stepping up and improving I can't see him cutting it in the EPL.

cson

Come off it; Arsenal FC should not view an away draw to Burnley as a decent result. Maybe if we harboured ambitions of midtable mediocrity it would suffice but I'm pretty sure Wenger and most Arsenal fans have greater aspirations than that.

We should be beating Burnley end of.

Beau x1

cson wrote: »

Come off it; Arsenal FC should not view an away draw to Burnley as a decent result. Maybe if we harboured ambitions of midtable mediocrity it would suffice but I'm pretty sure Wenger and most Arsenal fans have greater aspirations than that.

We should be beating Burnley end of.

This. Arsenal are a better team than Burnley, have access to far more resources and therefore should be going all out against them. That's the problem, they're not.

Also, we really need to start letting players go. Diaby, Denilson, Silvestre, Almunia..possibly keep Denilson as a backup but that's about it. I'm fed up of seeing these players who are playing on the pitch in an Arsenal shirt and not delivering.

As for Vela..well I give up hope.

Royale with Cheese

I'd be more worried about Walcott. Forget the fact he's 20, has a lot to learn etc... the fact is he's not learning anything. He hasn't progressed at all in the past couple of years, possibly even gone backwards.

I'm not completely writing him off just yet, but to have a young player playing that badly as a member of the starting XI? It's not good enough. People accuse Arsenal of being a 2 man team (van Persie, Fabregas). A more apt accusation would be that Arsenal are a 10 man team when Walcott is playing. He's just pointless at the moment.

As an aside, Wenger should buy an actual winger and play him on the wing. Too many centre mids playing out wide, always wanting to come inside and everything gets very narrow.

Beau x1

Yesterday I was looking at the videos from Walcott at Southampton...what happened?

CHD

Your carling cup team should play in the league.

Beau x1

CHD wrote: »

Your carling cup team should play in the league.

I was thinking that myself, not a bad idea. Keep some of the vital first team players though.

Ush1

jank wrote: »

Please god someone shoot Almunia, Diaby what did he do tonight? Walcott..has he developed at all in the last 4 years? I would give vela and Ramsey a good go now

Ramsey was awful when he came on for Fabregas, totally anonymous. The only player looking likely to do something was Arshavin. The rest looked "one paced", with Walcott having pace but no guile.

Frisbee

Almunia made 20 passes last night.

8 found an Arsenal player.
3 went straight into touch.
9 went straight to a Burnley player.

That's a fairly damning stastistic

Redzer7

Didn't get to see the match last night, first match I haven't seen in a while. I'm glad I didn't see it though as I would have been snapping, listening to reports it was a very dissapponting performance .

Another two points lost but it's not the end of the world, Chelsea and United will drop more points as it's a very tight league but weather we capatilise is another thng. Can't really comment on any of the players last night, didn't hear of any outstanding performances and it seems like were only relying on a certain few players to carry the team to where we want them to be.

Hope we bring a quality keeper into the club in January, Maybe a striker.

Whats happening with that Arsenal keeper Sean MacDermot I think his name is? Think he's only 16is he still at Arsenal? I've heard he was tipped by a lot of coaches that he is one of the best keepers in the world for his age? I'd like to know if he's still on track to reaching the potential everyone seen in him.

Joeyjoejoe43

Poor poor performance last night, Eduardo looked clueless, and Walcott was disappointing again. Defensively we looked naive on numerous occasions, and to be honest we can consider ourselves lucky that we got away with a point. However, it's fair to say that turf moor is very tough place to take points from, so its not a complete disaster. But the performance of the team once Fabergas went off is worrying. Still with all that said 4/6 points from liverpool and Burnley away cannot be sneered at, united got 0/6 points in the same fixtures. Lets get back on course with a resounding victory against Hull..

keano_afc

As for transfers, its all very well saying we need this and we need that. Why should we believe that Wenger is going to buy anyone in January? A new keeper and centre half has been needed for a long time now, but listen to Wenger and he just repeats the mantra "I trust my players".

I'll be very surprised if we sign anyone in Jan.

Paleface

keano_afc wrote: »

As for transfers, its all very well saying we need this and we need that. Why should we believe that Wenger is going to buy anyone in January? A new keeper and centre half has been needed for a long time now, but listen to Wenger and he just repeats the mantra "I trust my players".

I'll be very surprised if we sign anyone in Jan.

Did Wenger not come out after the Chelsea game and say he will be looking to sign in January but won't be held to ransom in terms of price?

I know it guarantees nothing but I feel he doesn't want to let the chance of silverware slip away this season due to lack of squad depth. The injuries have hit us hard in key positions and in the same way that he signed Arshavin when he knew Fabregas was out for a lengthy period last season he could splash out again this January.

Personally I think we need a top class goalkeeper, a physical centre forward and ideally better cover for the DM role. However I definitely can't see him addressing all those areas.

Also you can expect whoever we do sign to be cup tied for the champions league as there are not many players who fit the bill outside of those involved in European competition.

Spiritoftheseventies

just curious but is there a rift between Fabregas and Arshavin. Seemed to be a bit of tension out there in game with Burnley last night. Took the ball off him for first goal and then didnt pass for the second.

Tusky

Any news on how long Fabregas is out ?

G1032

Joeyjoejoe43 wrote: »

Eduardo looked clueless, and Walcott was disappointing again.

I thought that Eduardo looked totally disinterested. Almost as if he'd rather have been anywhere but at Burnley last night. He didn't care at all. He only went through the motions.
And ya, Walcott was disappointing as usual. Worse than disappointing. He just irritates me now. He's no better than he was when we signed him. It's as if nothing has sunk in at all.

Ush1

ronaldochokes wrote: »

I thought that Eduardo looked totally disinterested. Almost as if he'd rather have been anywhere but at Burnley last night. He didn't care at all. He only went through the motions.
And ya, Walcott was disappointing as usual. Worse than disappointing. He just irritates me now. He's no better than he was when we signed him. It's as if nothing has sunk in at all.

What typified it was when he was through and didn't challenge on Jensen. He bottled it. He'll never be able to score if he keeps that mentality.

Walcott was Nani-esque last night. There I said it.

Kirnsy

bayviewclose wrote: »

just curious but is there a rift between Fabregas and Arshavin. Seemed to be a bit of tension out there in game with Burnley last night. Took the ball off him for first goal and then didnt pass for the second.

sorry to burst your bubble but we only got the one goal.

NabyLadistheman

Ush1 wrote: »

What typified it was when he was through and didn't challenge on Jensen. He bottled it.

I noticed this as well. I hate to say it but I think his head is gone - as far as the English league is concerned anyway. I hope Im wrong but you need more than silky touches to survive

Ush1

torresistheman wrote: »

I noticed this as well. I hate to say it but I think his head is gone - as far as the English league is concerned anyway. I hope Im wrong but you need more than silky touches to survive

Petr Cech the 2nd?...

Prolly premature!

NabyLadistheman

Ush1 wrote: »

Petr Cech the 2nd?...

Prolly premature!

Good comparison. Both extremely traumatic experiences. Time will tell I suppose

Spiritoftheseventies

Kirnsy wrote: »

sorry to burst your bubble but we only got the one goal.

Sorry meant to say second chance. But again did anyone think there was anything going on between the two.

Beau x1

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/wenger-wolves-side-hits-league-credibility Very hypocritical of Wenger imo.

yahoo_moe

I'm not really reading a lot into anything Wenger says right now - I think he's just taking the Mourinho approach of deflecting the press attention from the players. Obviously I'd rather he did it with less dodgy statements but still...

Without having seen the game, the point last night isn't that bad - we've seen before how bad we can be without Cesc playing and Turf Moor's a tough place to go this year anyway. Overall though we're in the middle of a bad and inconsistent patch since RVP's injury... to lose him while Bendtner was out (and with Eduardo in his current form and Vela looking patchy) was horrible.

Mezcita

Is Ramsey likely to get a game now with Cesc out?

cson

Mezcita wrote: »

Is Ramsey likely to get a game now with Cesc out?

Fantasy football fecker :pac:

Yup, stick him in captain.

Mezcita

cson wrote: »

Fantasy football fecker :pac:

Yup, stick him in captain.

Eek! Busted!

(hides)

gosplan

Beau x1 wrote: »

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/wenger-wolves-side-hits-league-credibility Very hypocritical of Wenger imo.

IMO it's McCarthy's decision to field whoever he wants in the best interests of his team. He's the manager and it's up to him.

But, it is a problem for the league if people simply stop trying to win points against some teams.

People have been saying that there's too many games around Christmas for a long time. This is the first manager to act on it by deciding to focus only on the ones he thinks are winnable and basically conceeding the others.

So if it keeps going this way, a packed schedule will simply widen the gap between top and bottom while resulting in a load of injuries

I imagine by 'hypocritical', you're referring to Wenger's usual Carling Cup squads. The credibility of the league and the credibility of the Carling cup are very different things.

I think the issue is that we've seen reserve teams played in the Europa league to concentrate on the Premiership. We've also seen reserve teams played in the Carling Cup to concentrate on the Premiership. this is the first time we've ever seen a reserve team played in the Premiership to concentrate on other Premiership games. It's a perfect definition of a two-tier league.

G1032

Beau x1 wrote: »

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/wenger-wolves-side-hits-league-credibility Very hypocritical of Wenger imo.

I don't agree that it's hypocritical at all. Wenger only fields weakened sides in cup compteitions, where a poor result affects no one else except Arsenal. If the weakened team he fields loses, then its tough luck on Arsenal.
Fielding a weakened team in the Premier League is a whole different ball game where the repercussions are potentially enormous. If Wolves fielded their strongest team and snatched a draw at Old Trafford that'd be two points less that United would have. This affects Arsenal, Chelsea and others who feels they have a chance of winning the league.

Ush1

ronaldochokes wrote: »

I don't agree that it's hypocritical at all. Wenger only fields weakened sides in cup compteitions, where a poor result affects no one else except Arsenal. If the weakened team he fields loses, then its tough luck on Arsenal.
Fielding a weakened team in the Premier League is a whole different ball game where the repercussions are potentially enormous. If Wolves fielded their strongest team and snatched a draw at Old Trafford that'd be two points less that United would have. This affects Arsenal, Chelsea and others who feels they have a chance of winning the league.

Not entirely true. If Arsenal field a poor team against a side that beats them, that side then goes into the next round of a cup against another side that were potentially banking on Arsenal to beat them. But I do see your point though.

Galvasean

So FC Porto. Not the worst draw imaginable.

Evil_Clown

Galvasean wrote: »

So FC Porto. Not the worst draw imaginable.

Happy with that,
Maybe we will buy Hulk off them in Jan so he can't play against us

Beau x1

gosplan wrote: »

this is the first time we've ever seen a reserve team played in the Premiership to concentrate on other Premiership games.

Is it really the first? We've never fielded more reserve players than first teamers before an important CL game? What McCarthy did was OTT, I agree - and I also agree with your post (and ronaldochokes') but while the Carling Cup may not mean a lot to Arsenal, it probably has more significance to many 'lesser' teams who don't have much of a chance at winning silverware due to the competitiveness of the Premier League than it does to the big four . So if Arsenal were to draw Chelsea in the CC or something, a 'lesser' team could have to play Chelsea, which can be argued as a more difficult game considering Arsenals consistency at the moment.

If any of the big 4 play even a slightly weaker team to a relegated threatened team (which happens all the time), then surely that's unfair to other teams that are also facing relegation around the corner. Even if Arsenal were to rest 2 players in an event like that (Fabregas, Arshavin) our team would be significantly weaker and I could see any team such as Bolton, Hull, West Ham, Portsmouth, Wolves etc getting something out of the game - and that's the point I'm trying to make. There's not much difference between what many of the big 4 do and what McCarthy did, seeing as there's no actual formal measurement of 'strength' in a team.

Also, we drew Porto. Not too bad, but anything can happen :eek:

Beau x1

Evil_Clown wrote: »

Happy with that,
Maybe we will buy Hulk off them in Jan so he can't play against us

Can we even do that? I remember we couldn't play Arshavin last time, but I'm ignorant of the rules specifically.

Galvasean

Beau x1 wrote: »

Is it really the first?

Not really. It happens regularly at seasons end, where big teams rest key players once the title has been statistically wrapped up (with a view to play ythem in cup matches). Managers of smaller clubs often complain as it effects the relegation battle.
What McCarthy did is the first, that I know of, time where it has been done so early in the season with a view to rest players for another league game.
KInda sucks for us, but he's not technically breaking any rules, so we'll just have to deal with it.