Arsenal FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

Frisbee

Galvasean wrote: »

When you think about it, it costed Birmingham £1million just to loan Hart. Ad on the fact that he's English and the way City consider us a rival club now he would end up being silly money.

Goalkeeper is somewhere I'd like to see us spend silly money for once.

I think he would be an absolutely fantastic acquisition and if he is going to be available on the open market instead of Brum having a first refusal policy then we should absolutely go for him.

OPENROAD

Good point, a top championship team might be the better option.


http://www.footballfancast.com/football-blogs/shrewd-move-wengershame-missed-trick-theo?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ffc_arsenal_blogs+%28FFC_Arsenal_Blogs%29

Frisbee

OPENROAD wrote: »

Good point, a top championship team might be the better option.


http://www.footballfancast.com/football-blogs/shrewd-move-wengershame-missed-trick-theo?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ffc_arsenal_blogs+%28FFC_Arsenal_Blogs%29

West Brom would be my #1 choice if they wanted him

jordainius

I doubt we'll be signing anyone which is a shame because I feel one or two additions in key areas would make the title more of a probable than a possible.

Goalkeeper is a problem, I like Almunia, seems like a decent chap but he lacks the consistency we got from Seaman and Mad Jens.

Shay Given was a massive opportunity lost in my opinion. There's been talk of the Hart fella but we all know how ridiculously overpriced English players are. Also, he's too young! Inexperienced players with bags of potential are the last thing the team needs!!

Yet again Frey is being mentioned but I'm fairly sure he'd be cuptied for the Champions league?

I'm almost certain there will be no signings though, in recent years Wenger has started to view long term injured players as signings so in the hopefully non too distant future we will be "signing" van Persie and Djourou and Bendtner.

Goalkeeper is the weak link at the moment though, if one signing will be the difference between winning the title and clinging on to 4th again then this is where we have to look. If you look at ManYoo mister Ferguson has never been afraid to sign a goalkeeper when his number one has a few poor games...

Fantasy signing: I would absolutely love to see Vieira end his playing days with us! He'd be useful with Song going to the African Nations and his physical presence would be a welcome addition even if he is no longer quite the player of old!

jordainius

Oh, and if we actually do sign anyone, I couldn't care less who it is just as long as it doesn't turn into another Arshavin type will he/won't he/its on/its off type "saga's" that just became tedious last January...

DenMan

The only problem I ever had with the January transfer window is the sheer waste of time it takes before a player seems to play for his new club. We had a month to sign Arshavin last year and we had people looking at him for months prior to that. Is it agents holding up everything? Get the player(s) signed at the start of January and get them into the team. Arshavin played in February and that's far too long to be waiting around.

G1032

jordainius wrote: »

Shay Given was a massive opportunity lost in my opinion.

Schwarzer and Friedel - two more who were massive opportunities lost. People (both fans and critics) continually bang on about Arsenal not having enough steel and bu11sh!t like that. Fact is we haven't won a trophy since Mad Jens left. Wenger, for whatever reason, hasn't replaced him. It has to be done this Jan, or it'll be another year without a trophy.

Beau x1

We're doing way better than last season. I think we might just have a chance.

L'prof

Beau x1 wrote: »

We're doing way better than last season. I think we might just have a chance.

Shhh, don't ruin it!

We've won as many league games as ever before at this stage of the season, which is very encouraging.

Frisbee

THE HEIR TO THE THRONE

Thought he was good today, but I felt Vela should have been Man of the Match. He was absolutely brilliant.

I think all Faubert saw of him today was yellow boots and a Mexican arse.

I was ready to complain about Eduardo but in hindsight of that goal I probably shouldn't. He was very poor today I felt, aside from that goal, everytime he got the ball the game completely slowed down.

Frisbee

And away to Stoke in the FA Cup

Another PL team, feck sake

Mossy Monk

Was hoping for a smaller team but what can you do.

OPENROAD

Frisbee wrote: »

And away to Arsenal in the FA Cup

Another PL team, feck sake

A tough tie, would have liked a home draw against a div 1 or 2 team

tony1kenobi

Frisbee wrote: »

And away to Arsenal in the FA Cup

Another PL team, feck sake

You a Stoke fan Frisbee?

Frisbee

tony1kenobi wrote: »

You a Stoke fan Frisbee?

Lol, well played sir

tony1kenobi

Frisbee wrote: »

Lol, well played sir

Not really.I was wrong too.It would have said "at home to Arsenal" wouldn't it?

Frisbee

tony1kenobi wrote: »

Not really.I was wrong too.It would have said "at home to Arsenal" wouldn't it?

Don't beat yourself up. You got me.

cson

How many more chances does Eduardo get? Granted he scored but he's been absolutely abysmal for the last god knows how long. Bendy can't come back soon enough and I feel dirty saying that.

tony1kenobi

Eduardo is a striker and scored the winning goal.That's his job.Plenty of strikers around that don't do that.I'd rather have him than not have him.

cson

I realise that, but his utter uselessness so far this season is galling.

tony1kenobi

Do ya not think though,that it could be just a poor run of form?He was out for a long time and then when he doesn't set the world on fire on his return everyone panics.....I think he is useful for a lad that hasn't played much football in 2 years....the more he plays the sharper he'll get......same with Vela and Rosicky....that's my take anyway!!

ErinGoBrath

Frisbee wrote: »

Thought he was good today, but I felt Vela should have been Man of the Match. He was absolutely brilliant.

Were you even watching the same match as the rest of us? Vela was average at best and only played decent football in the last 20 when West Ham's legs were hanging off.

Diaby came on and changed the match. Ramsey was brilliant throughout as was Alex Song.

G1032

cson wrote: »

How many more chances does Eduardo get? Granted he scored but he's been absolutely abysmal for the last god knows how long. Bendy can't come back soon enough and I feel dirty saying that.

That goal today is exactly what Eduardo needed for his confidence. It was a brilliant header and I bet he'll score another, or two, against Bolton on Wednesday. As his confidence returns his all round game will improve too. And when Bendtner returns they may well form a good partnership. What Eduardo needs now is to stay injury free and the goals will follow.

Galvasean

Just looking at our 1st team stats. In all competitions our top goalscorers are:

Fabregas 12
Arshavin 8
van Persie 8
Eduardo 6
Diaby 6
Vermaelen 5
Ramsey 4
Gallas 4
Bendtner 3
Nasri 3
Denilson 3
Eboué 2
Vela 1
Rosicky 1
Walcott 1
Song 1
Merida 1
Watt 1

Nice and spead out. I like it that way as opposed to depending on a superstar striker.
Makes me think with Eduardo probably due to find his form soon and Bendtner back soon we probably don't need a new striker in January with so many players capable of scoring goals.

PS: In case anyone is wondering why players on the same amount of goals are ordered in the order seen here, I just picked them in the order of most likely to score more.

tony1kenobi

I thought Nasri had more than that...good to see Fab leading by example.

leninbenjamin

We had one successful cross today, and scored from it. The team really needs to work on that side of their game, far too many crosses fall far from the intended target.

ErinGoBrath

leninbenjamin wrote: »

We had one successful cross today, and scored from it. The team really needs to work on that side of their game, far too many crosses fall far from the intended target.

I'd prefere to play it through the middle than give the ball out to Sagna in the final 3rd. He could put in a decent cross if he was there till next week. Don't get me wrong, he's a top class defender just lacks the penetration in the final 3rd.

Frisbee

I'm not denying it was the introduction of Nasri and Diaby that changed the game.

But imo Vela was our best player going forward today, Ramsey played well and scored a fantastic goal, but I don't think I've ever seen him give the ball away as much as I did in that match.

Both of our goals came from the left, both were assisted by Vela. Infact the only dangerous balls into the box today were by him, Sagna, as per usual, couldn't hit the broad side of a barn door.

Pepe LeFrits

Sagna has put in a good few decent crosses lately. There isn't exactly a lot to aim for.

Frisbee

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

Sagna has put in a good few decent crosses lately. There isn't exactly a lot to aim for.

Very true. Hopefully once we get Bendtner back things will change.

Although having said that Bendtner isn't really a big fan of getting into the box to get onto the end of crosses.

Galvasean

Frisbee wrote: »

Very true. Hopefully once we get Bendtner back things will change.

Although having said that Bendtner isn't really a big fan of getting into the box to get onto the end of crosses.

Well remember how when Bendtner was fit he was on the same team as van Persie who played as centre forward, while Bendtner played on the right mostly.

A Primal Nut

Frisbee wrote: »

I'm not denying it was the introduction of Nasri and Diaby that changed the game.

But imo Vela was our best player going forward today, Ramsey played well and scored a fantastic goal, but I don't think I've ever seen him give the ball away as much as I did in that match.

Both of our goals came from the left, both were assisted by Vela. Infact the only dangerous balls into the box today were by him, Sagna, as per usual, couldn't hit the broad side of a barn door.

I am a big fan of Sagna defensively and he gets into good positions going forward. But he puts in 4 or 5 five crosses a match and good chance never seems to come from them - I only remember the own goal against Liverpool. Bendtner does get into good positions but he just can't finish the chances so I don't see his return as a big deal.

Vela wasn't great on Sunday until his assist for the first goal and he played well from then on. As far as I remember he was through the centre in the first half but then swapped with Eduardo and put on the left he played better. Overall I am disappointed that for all his potential, at age 20 he still can't get a run of games in an injury-hit Arsenal side.

Never thought Eduardo would score a goal like that - 3 in 4 games he's starting to look like he could lead the line successfully.

A Primal Nut

January is a big month for Arsenal - you could make a great outfield team out of the players missing:

.....Eboue.........Djorou...........Gibbs............Clichy......

......................Song.............Denilson......................

..............................Fabregas................................

............Walcott.......................Bendtner.................

..............................Van Persie...............................

5 of those players are part of Wenger's best eleven (Clichy, Song, Denilson, Fabregas, Van Persie); Walcott, Bendtner and Gibbs would probably be playing due to those injuries to first team players; so thats 8 big players missing. Eboue and Djorou could be big losses in the sense that if anything happens Sagna, Gallas or Vermealan we could be screwed.

Nevetheless, we can still put a decent first 11 together that can win the games in January, although either Wilshire, Vela or Merida will have to get a run of games and hopefully perform to a high standard. Vela is the most likely to get a run I think.

The big question is how many of those players will be back and fit in time for the games against Villa and United at the end of the month. Hopefully Cameroon will get knocked out nice and early for a start. He is the biggest loss of all as we have no obvious replacement. Denilson or Diaby (if he can curb the attacking side of his game) might be able to fill in - they both played there last season when we had no established holding midfielder.

Green Hornet

Frisbee wrote: »

I felt Vela should have been Man of the Match. He was absolutely brilliant.

I think all Faubert saw of him today was yellow boots and a Mexican arse.

No way was Vela MOTM. He played well for the last 20 mins or so but was very poor up until then, yet again.

To be honest I'm not convinced he's going to make it at Arsenal at all.

yahoo_moe

A Primal Nut wrote: »

I am a big fan of Sagna defensively and he gets into good positions going forward. But he puts in 4 or 5 five crosses a match and good chance never seems to come from them - I only remember the own goal against Liverpool

What about the two crosses that Van Persie scored from against Spurs? And that's just goals - his crossing genuinely has improved this year (it's just been less noticeable recently because since RVP got injured, we've had hardly anyone making runs across the defenders).

He's still not a great crosser of the ball like United have had with Gary Neville/Ronaldo/Beckham or Barca have with Alves or whatever but he's improved a lot this year.

gosplan

Green Hornet wrote: »

No way was Vela MOTM. He played well for the last 20 mins or so but was very poor up until then, yet again.

To be honest I'm not convinced he's going to make it at Arsenal at all.

Thought he was pretty poor as well.

We suffered from having Vela, Merida and Wilshire playing though. Not enough experience in the attacking midfield area.

It's no surprise Vela started looking much better when he had better players around him.

A Primal Nut

yahoo_moe wrote: »

What about the two crosses that Van Persie scored from against Spurs? And that's just goals - his crossing genuinely has improved this year (it's just been less noticeable recently because since RVP got injured, we've had hardly anyone making runs across the defenders).

He's still not a great crosser of the ball like United have had with Gary Neville/Ronaldo/Beckham or Barca have with Alves or whatever but he's improved a lot this year.

Yeah I guess but he puts so many in in every match sometimes I want more haha. Its not really his fault its more that our strikers aren't suited to those high balls, or so I thought until Eduardo scored.

I agree about Vela not being MOTM, he was poor in the first half. Song was the best player for me.

Ush1

Eduardo actually should have scored a second header after. I can't remember if it was Upson marking him for that chance and the goal, but it was shocking. Add to that Green being really bad and he got a headed goal. I think Green was in disbelief that Eduardo won the header.

For some reason I can't see him getting a goal like that against someone like Vidic.

yahoo_moe

On another note, got myself a ticket earlier to the United game at the end of the month. Hoping I'll get to see one of these kinda moments







Or of course:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbASd5CU3H8

L'prof

Ush1 wrote: »

Eduardo actually should have scored a second header after. I can't remember if it was Upson marking him for that chance and the goal, but it was shocking. Add to that Green being really bad and he got a headed goal. I think Green was in disbelief that Eduardo won the header.

For some reason I can't see him getting a goal like that against someone like Vidic.

Quality cross, quality header, Green had no chance for either goal really so how was he "really bad"? Upson should have been tighter to Eduardo but, he did very, very well!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwEWWQf506c

Frisbee

Green Hornet wrote: »

To be honest I'm not convinced he's going to make it at Arsenal at all.

Neither do I unfortunately

A Primal Nut wrote: »

Song was the best player for me.

Have to disagree, he picked up a very early booking and from then on had to curb himself going into tackles.

Paleface

Frisbee wrote: »

Have to disagree, he picked up a very early booking and from then on had to curb himself going into tackles.

While agree with you that he quietened down somewhat after the booking he was still involved in almost every move Arsenal had. Whether it was winning the ball at the start or playing some nice forward passes, he was always involved nonetheless.

I really hope he doesn't come back from the ANC injured or burned out cause as much as Arsenal will miss him when he's gone, it would be a cruel blow to lose him for any longer than that.

I have to mention Fabianski aswell who although could probably have done better for Diamanti's goal, kept Arsenal in the game early in the second half with a stunning save from Diamanti's shot from distance. Hopefully he can build on this performance.

Ush1

jasonorr wrote: »

Quality cross, quality header, Green had no chance for either goal really so how was he "really bad"? Upson should have been tighter to Eduardo but, he did very, very well!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwEWWQf506c

He was really bad because he should have come right back onto his line when the cross came in and he should have been able to move his feet quicker and not just get a hand to the ball.

Also, Upson was fairly close to Eduardo, his feet didn't leave the ground however. He just shoved Eduardo rather than actually jumping and trying to win the aerial ball.

yahoo_moe

Ush1 wrote: »

He was really bad because he should have come right back onto his line when the cross came in and he should have been able to move his feet quicker and not just get a hand to the ball.

Move his feet when exactly? Before Eduardo heads it?

And why would he move back? That just widens the angle for Eduardo.

Upson could have done better but like Jason says, not by much - it was a very good cross which favoured the attacker.

As for best player, in that kind of performance, it's very hard to choose - a few did better than others but nobody was outstanding throughout.

Ush1

yahoo_moe wrote: »

Move his feet when exactly? Before Eduardo heads it?

And why would he move back? That just widens the angle for Eduardo.

Upson could have done better but like Jason says, not by much - it was a very good cross which favoured the attacker.

As for best player, in that kind of performance, it's very hard to choose - a few did better than others but nobody was outstanding throughout.

Yes, when a goalkeeper realises he can't retrieve a cross, he moves back to his goal line, it's fairly basic stuff. It gives him more time to see the ball coming in if a header is got and he lets the centre half do his job.

It was a good cross but shouldn't favour the attacker nessacerily, particularly when you look at the height difference.

Galvasean

A Primal Nut wrote: »

January is a big month for Arsenal - you could make a great outfield team out of the players missing:

.....Eboue.........Djorou...........Gibbs............Clichy......

......................Song.............Denilson......................

..............................Fabregas................................

............Walcott.......................Bendtner.................

..............................Van Persie...............................

If you ad Szczesny (who is away on loan) there's a full starting eleven.

Diaby says he's willing to fill in for Song's role while he's away:
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/diaby-i-ll-talk-to-wenger-about-song-role
Cue the, "He's the next Vieira" comparisons.

A Primal Nut

I think Diaby in his typical role is more like Vieria because he is a box-to-box midfielder although obviously he scores more goals.

Whereas Song's role is more to sit in front of the back four like Petit/Gilberto Silva/Flamini.

Even so, Diaby is the obvious choice to cover for song because he played their last season for a few games and he is big and strong and a good tackler.

Galvasean

I'd prefer him there than the lightweight Denilson anyhow.

AnCapaillMor

That the one where scholes got the first goal? Always remember that game so well was in a pub with a mate or 2 and it was full of united supporters, the minute scholes scored some united dude turned around and abused us for 5 minutes shouting about how cocky arsenal were and we were shown who the true champions were. i never saw the guy leave after henry got that goal, even wnet outside to find him, no sign of him.

yahoo_moe

Nah, it was the one when Van Persie broke the bone in his foot equalising before Henry scored that header just at the end. Rooney scored United's goal.

Myself and my brothers scared the bejesus out of my niece that day with the roar we let out when RVP scored - hence we had to go with 'whispered shouts' for the winner

Diaby is the obvious choice

I dunno - I really don't think he's that great a tackler/intercepter. If Denilson's fit, I think we'll have Denilson as DM with Diaby and Ramsey ahead of him for the Bolton match, with Fabregas hopefully back to take over from Ramsey against Everton. Whoever's playing there though, the other midfielders will have to give him more cover than they do Song so it might be a case of 2 hanging back more often than not.