Arsenal Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2014/15

Mickeroo

When is Ospina due back? Would be very harsh on Martinez to lose his spot but at the same time I'd be curious to see Ospina given a run as we really haven't seen much of him at all.

Got the win but some amount of work was made out of it. Even non-Arsenal fans were decrying the lack of pacy attacking which says a lot.

Martinez has looked ridiculously good for a 3rd choice goalkeeper. Unless he regularly takes smoke breaks during training I'm wondering what the point was in signing Ospina. :P

Mickeroo

Deleted User wrote: »

Got the win but some amount of work was made out of it. Even non-Arsenal fans were decrying the lack of pacy attacking which says a lot.

Yeah Ian Wright said something similar, that there was pace in the side but we weren't playing with pace.

gosplan

Bob.Carcass wrote: »

I'm not saying we SHOULD have rested Sanchez but it wouldn't have been the end of the world to me and i'd completely understand the decision to do so.

Yes you did.

I said

'Give me a player we should have rested'

You said

'Sanchez and Ramsey'

Just stop already.

byrneg28

Deleted User wrote: »

Martinez has looked ridiculously good for a 3rd choice goalkeeper. Unless he regularly takes smoke breaks during training I'm wondering what the point was in signing Ospina. :P

Martinez had only played 2 competitive games for Arsenal and one of them was against Reading (7-5) and he had an absolute mare in that game.

Probably why we signed Ospina

Pudders

Last night Wenger got out of jail but he deserved it.

There were an awful lot of boos when Ox came off. There were any number of players who were having a mare that could have been hauled ashore deservedly before Ox. If the late goal hadn't happened there would have been increased calls for his head and boos at the end. I am not sure people here who aren't going to matches week-in-week-out realise how much Wenger has lost the crowd. I actually don't know any person who wants Wenger to stay from the people I go to matches with / sit around at the stadium / drink or socialise with pre/post matches. OK its a small sample size of probably 60 but not one wants wenger to stay on.

But this is not to say that they don't appreciate what Wenger has done for the club both pre-Emirates and post in putting the club into the position it is in. But there is a view unfortunately he has got stale and run his course, is too close to the current board and is not prepared to either open the cheque book fully or admit the weaknesses in the team or lack of tactics in the big games.

Last night to be fair to wenger, I could kind of see why he didn't take Ramsey (absolute mare last night) or Flamini (sadly not up to it anymore).I am in the upper tier and so get a good birds eye view. Even when attacking at least one of Flamini or Ramsey were always sitting as the holding mid. The defenders also were not as gung-ho. We appear to have gone back to the more rock solid defensive style of last year (ignore the big games). I don't know whether that was Kos' influence but assume given the subs it was Arsene.

We look so much more solid with Kos (even though I paniced at one stage towards the end of the first half where he looked as if he had done his achilles again.
Martinez as 3rd choice keeper has been a revelation but would be concerned if he got injured.
Mert looks so much better with Kos.
Ramsey had a mare last night. It may be best if he is dropped as his form from last year is just ot coming back. He over hit so many passes last night.
Sanchez is shoe-in for player of the season. Last night he lost the ball a lot of times but that is in part the risks he tries and he tries to win it back. The goal was a god send.
Giroud should start ahead of Welbeck. I have always been a Giroud fan but have to say Welbeck is a lot better than a donkey. We are lucky to have him as an option.

When Ozil and Theo are back, who the hell do we start up front?

gosplan

All I know is this.

Utd, City, Liverpool all just won two games on the spin for the first time this season.

Our performances weren't great but if we hadn't nicked the last two results we'd be in real trouble right now.

In any analysis, that's the most important thing.

Ken Shamrock

Mickeroo wrote: »

Ah here pull your head out of your ass for a second and give me one reason in hindsight as to why we would have benefited last night if Sanchez hadn't played apart from an injury he might have picked up but didn't. Just admit you're wrong, move on and quit digging a hole for yourself. It's very hard to take anything you say seriously when you say such ridiculous stuff.

gosplan wrote: »

Yes you did.

I said

'Give me a player we should have rested'

You said

'Sanchez and Ramsey'

Just stop already.

Yes what an idiot I am for thinking we should rest a player every now and then. Duly noted.

byrneg28

Bob.Carcass wrote: »

It;s not chaos theory, honestly do you think we would have scored with Aldervewield still on the field?

When we get lucky we still say we played crap?? We did play crap tho, and like you said we got lucky. I'm not giving out, i said last night i was delighted with the win and the clean sheet, I'm just wondering y everyone laughed st some dudes post where the majority of what he said was true, it was a poor performance.




Look if you think resting a great player is moronic so be it. If he gets injured don't be surprised.

Yes I do, Southampton we're truly inspired by 3 inspirational saves by Forster with 11 men on the field.

vs. Welbeck (header)
vs. Welbeck (curved shot)
vs. Giroud (header)

Forster was man of the match, the fact that we kept plugging at him and got the goal, didn't matter with 10 men or 11 men.

It was the same tactics for Southampton they weren't more likely to concede but more likely not to score as they sacrifice a man up front rather than one in the box defending.


For the 2nd bolded point I'm just making my point for the 10 men situation, it's such a silly argument imo

Hyzepher

We will rest them - but not last night when the stakes were high.

Probably against Gala

Ken Shamrock

byrneg28 wrote: »

Yes I do, Southampton we're truly inspired by 3 inspirational saves by Forster with 11 men on the field.

vs. Welbeck (header)
vs. Welbeck (curved shot)
vs. Giroud (header)

Forster was man of the match, the fact that we kept plugging at him and got the goal, didn't matter with 10 men or 11 men.

It was the same tactics for Southampton they weren't more likely to concede but more likely not to score as they sacrifice a man up front rather than one in the box defending.


For the 2nd bolded point I'm just making my point for the 10 men situation, it's such a silly argument imo

It's the quality of the man in the box and the shape of the back 4 that suffers. I don't think anyway that it was coincidence that very soon after he went off we scored. Who knows tho.

Skylinehead

Pudders wrote: »

When Ozil and Theo are back, who the hell do we start up front?

Tough one isn't it? Good to have options.

---

Ches (not getting dislodged based on a few games, not yet anyway)
Debuchy--Mert/Chambers--Kos--Gibbs

---

Arteta---Ramsey

---

Walcott

---

Ozil

---

Sanchez

---

Giroud

---

Goalie--otherCB--Monreal--Flamini--Cazorla--Ox--Welbeck


Probably our best team, there's enough pace to negate Girouds lack of said pace. Welbeck could easily go in for Walcott either, depending on whether Theo regains his form. Team is looking good aside from a DM. Great attacking options at the least.

byrneg28

Bob.Carcass wrote: »

It's the quality of the man in the box and the shape of the back 4 that suffers. I don't think anyway that it was coincidence that very soon after he went off we scored. Who knows tho.

Quality of the back 4 maybe, but they're professional footballers they should be able to rotate - Wanyama should be able to do a job there for the 6 minutes that was left.


So here's a little thing I did out, the defensive shape for the last ten minutes was like this a few minutes before alderweireld went off, when they were soaking up and playing counter. I've highlighted in red the second the position they sacrifice when alderweireld went off,

Everyone dominos back a position so Pelle goes from main attack to midfield (highlighted in red, I know there was no red card but easier than making an injury logo), then mané drops into defensive mid and wanyama moves into central defense.

Defensive shape doesn't change, it stays the same.. only sacrifice is lack of an outlet up front.. so what advantage did we have when we were piling on the pressure and they were only looking to counter in the last few minutes? None? It was their tactics against ours and we plugged away and won the game.

Ken Shamrock

byrneg28 wrote: »

Quality of the back 4 maybe, but they're professional footballers they should be able to rotate - Wanyama should be able to do a job there for the 6 minutes that was left.


So here's a little thing I did out, the defensive shape for the last ten minutes was like this a few minutes before alderweireld went off, when they were soaking up and playing counter. I've highlighted in red the second the position they sacrifice when alderweireld went off,

Everyone dominos back a position so Pelle goes from main attack to midfield (highlighted in red, I know there was no red card but easier than making an injury logo), then mané drops into defensive mid and wanyama moves into central defense.

Defensive shape doesn't change, it stays the same.. only sacrifice is lack of an outlet up front.. so what advantage did we have when we were piling on the pressure and they were only looking to counter in the last few minutes? None? It was their tactics against ours and we plugged away and won the game.

The shape of the team in theory doesn't suffer but there is no doubt that in reality it does. Also again personal... Wanyama is no Alderverwield. Also the lack of an outlet is just saying come on Arsenal attack us because we have no choice.

Saying going down to 10 man especially losing a CB didn't affect Southampton is ludicrous.

byrneg28

Bob.Carcass wrote: »

The shape of the team in theory doesn't suffer but there is no doubt that in reality it does. Also again personal... Wanyama is no Alderverwield. Also the lack of an outlet is just saying come on Arsenal attack us because we have no choice.

Saying going down to 10 man especially losing a CB didn't affect Southampton is ludicrous.

Yes it does say attack us there is no choice, but they did that for the majority of the last 20 minutes anyway before they had 10 men

Wasn't alder moved into Central Defensive midfield by Koeman mid-game?

Ken Shamrock

byrneg28 wrote: »

Yes it does say attack us there is no choice, but they did that for the majority of the last 20 minutes anyway before they had 10 men

Wasn't alder moved into Central Defensive midfield by Koeman mid-game?

Al least they had an outlet at that stage, really how can u not see how it affected them? They lost a player...

I'm not sure tbh

greendom

byrneg28 wrote: »

Yes it does say attack us there is no choice, but they did that for the majority of the last 20 minutes anyway before they had 10 men

Wasn't alder moved into Central Defensive midfield by Koeman mid-game?

Wanyama is a bit of a bully so I loved it near the end when Giroud out-muscled him gaining posession off the ball and it almost led to a goal

Mr Blobby

Why the hell would we rest our best player against a team that was 6pts ahead of us.

We can't afford to drop players right now. Especially our best one.

byrneg28

Bob.Carcass wrote: »

Al least they had an outlet at that stage, really how can u not see how it affected them? They lost a player...

I'm not sure tbh

Yep Cork got injured, Yoshida came in for CB and moved Alderweireld into CDM

Alderweireld has well documented hamstring problems and was probably a bizarre move by Koeman to use all 3 subs, knowing that playing him in the most demanding position on the field physically it could go at any stage.

Koeman made unnecessary subsitutions and should have kept that in mind.

Wenger won the tactical battle, and people wonder why he doesn't use all 3 subs all the time.

Probably gone off my original point a bit here but f** it

2ndcoming

byrneg28 wrote: »

Yep Cork got injured, Yoshida came in for CB and moved Alderweireld into CDM

Alderweireld has well documented hamstring problems and was probably a bizarre move by Koeman to use all 3 subs, knowing that playing him in the most demanding position on the field physically it could go at any stage.

Koeman made unnecessary subsitutions and should have kept that in mind.

Wenger won the tactical battle, and people wonder why he doesn't use all 3 subs all the time.

Probably gone off my original point a bit here but f** it

It's a good point, and he won't get any praise for it. If Wenger had allowed it to happen he'd probably be receiving death threats today.

I'm well aware of his / our deficiencies but some of the stuff that gets thrown at him is just ridiculous.

extra gravy

byrneg28 wrote: »

Martinez had only played 2 competitive games for Arsenal and one of them was against Reading (7-5) and he had an absolute mare in that game.

Probably why we signed Ospina

In fairness that game was two years ago now and the whole defence had a mare. Kos scored an OG so Martinez wasn't the only one that made mistakes.

byrneg28

extra gravy wrote: »

In fairness that game was two years ago now and the whole defence had a mare. Kos scored an OG so Martinez wasn't the only one that made mistakes.

I like Martinez, I'm making allowances for why we signed Ospina.

Martinez never really proved himself in a competitive game nor on loan until now? Why would we move him straight to second choice keeper?

I'm well aware the whole team had a mare that day but there was two goals that were directly his fault and that doesn't look good when you get to prove yourself.

He's stepped up and been very good in the past 3 particularly against Dortmund, lets hope he gets given a shot and keeps it up.

Bobby Baccala

greendom wrote: »

Wanyama is a bit of a bully so I loved it near the end when Giroud out-muscled him gaining posession off the ball and it almost led to a goal

yeah wanyama has a bit of an old school approach, and it works for him.

Anybody here know anything on Kondogbia that plays for monaco? could be an ideal signing for us in january, he's a cdm, strong as an ox and only 21! Also french so hes a very wenger-esque signing :P

Soups123

byrneg28 wrote: »

Yep Cork got injured, Yoshida came in for CB and moved Alderweireld into CDM

Alderweireld has well documented hamstring problems and was probably a bizarre move by Koeman to use all 3 subs, knowing that playing him in the most demanding position on the field physically it could go at any stage.

Koeman made unnecessary subsitutions and should have kept that in mind.

Wenger won the tactical battle, and people wonder why he doesn't use all 3 subs all the time.

Probably gone off my original point a bit here but f** it

I'm all for the positives from last nights game but to suggest we won it with tactical clought is a bit far. It also doesnt go on to prove Wenger is right to have not made subs in the past, this was one game in a 100+ where this happended.

It was a game that never got started really and we got a breakthrough

efb

Three wins on the bounce lads! Weyhey!

Colonialboy

Well done Arsenal,
I like to see them win a tough,close scrappy game, that will build some resolve and discipline into them.
We need to be able to win both ways, dirty and also playing the beautiful game.

wonga77

If this guy was half as good at football as he is at social media then he would be one of the best in the world. Tis no wonder he's so popular :pac:

http://instagram.com/p/wMLJ-5uJ_I/

tayto lover

efb wrote: »

Three wins on the bounce lads! Weyhey!

It's great alright but it's the same kind of performance (or maybe a bit below) we had against United and will not trouble any of the other teams in the Top 4.
Hopefully the results will continue but for sure the performances have to improve too.

greendom

Soups123 wrote: »

I'm all for the positives from last nights game but to suggest we won it with tactical clought is a bit far. It also doesnt go on to prove Wenger is right to have not made subs in the past, this was one game in a 100+ where this happended.

It was a game that never got started really and we got a breakthrough

no that's true we only lose matches down to tactics

Ken Shamrock

greendom wrote: »

no that's true we only lose matches down to tactics

Of course, sure every game we win is because of Wenger's genius...We are just unlucky when we lose.

greendom

Bob.Carcass wrote: »

Of course, sure every game we win is because of Wenger's genius...We are just unlucky when we lose.

2 sides of the coin

truth of the matter is I probably come across more "pro" than I actually am to counter some of the riduculous outright negativity we see on here at times.

Soups123

greendom wrote: »

no that's true we only lose matches down to tactics

There are games we will win and lose that relied heavily on tactics, my point was last night wasnt one of them.

The game against DB at the Emirates for example was well played physically, tactically and mentally

Ken Shamrock

greendom wrote: »

2 sides of the coin

truth of the matter is I probably come across more "pro" than I actually am to counter some of the riduculous outright negativity we see on here at times.

Soups wasn't being ridiculously negative tho

greendom

Bob.Carcass wrote: »

Soups wasn't being ridiculously negative tho

I wasn't referring to that post in particular

emergingstar

Jaysus lads every debate don't have to come down to wenger

We will have opinions on him weather that's him to stay or go that's up to yiur own preference

But why does every debate have to come back to it

You can want him out and still think he done good on any giving day, and you want him to stay and still be critical

But it looks like a line is after been drawn in the sand and everyone on one side is blaming him for everything no matter what and the other side saying it's not his fault no matter what

It's tiresome to read and it takes all the good out of the debate cause it seems yer sticking to your agenda instead of judging a game on its merits

farna_boy

wonga77 wrote: »

If this guy was half as good at football as he is at social media then he would be one of the best in the world. Tis no wonder he's so popular :pac:

http://instagram.com/p/wMLJ-5uJ_I/

I think the whole criticism of players being popular on social media is overstated. In many ways its the same as Ramsey getting a new haircut. After a while we all need to get our haircut (unless we intend to do a Bale on it). A haircut won't make a blind bit of difference to how someone plays. If Tony Adams had got a haircut when he was playing for Arsenal, who would have taken notice, never mind attributed a bad game to his new haircut. It's total BS.

Saying that, I much prefer we have Poldi in our team who, a) when he plays puts his all into it and b) when he gets pissed off with not playing will go down the park and have a game of ball with a group of random young lads, than storm off in his car sulking like a b*tch. At least it shows he just wants to play rather than being a spoiled diva.

emmetlego

Great post. Love Poldi's attitude too.

jonneymendoza

emergingstar wrote: »

Jaysus lads every debate don't have to come down to wenger

We will have opinions on him weather that's him to stay or go that's up to yiur own preference

But why does every debate have to come back to it

You can want him out and still think he done good on any giving day, and you want him to stay and still be critical

But it looks like a line is after been drawn in the sand and everyone on one side is blaming him for everything no matter what and the other side saying it's not his fault no matter what

It's tiresome to read and it takes all the good out of the debate cause it seems yer sticking to your agenda instead of judging a game on its merits

Well Wenger needs to change his whole approach and start competing at the very top.

greendom

jonneymendoza wrote: »

Well Wenger needs to change his whole approach and start competing at the very top.

in light of emergingstar's post I'm not biting

emmetlego

I had some stomach cramps. Wenger out!!

AdamD

This may be against the point of the forum or whatever but I honestly don't see the point in discussing Wenger when we all know that he will be here until May at the absolute minimum.

Nemeses2050

from Arsenal Presser - BBCSPORT

""Theo Walcott has an injection today, so he will not play. Galatasaray is also too early for him in midweek.
"Abou Diaby is on the brink of returning to training. If he's fully fit, he'll have a new deal" - now I can see this thread going into a meltdown

Soups123

Nemeses2050 wrote: »

from Arsenal Presser - BBCSPORT

""Theo Walcott has an injection today, so he will not play. Galatasaray is also too early for him in midweek.
"Abou Diaby is on the brink of returning to training. If he's fully fit, he'll have a new deal" - now I can see this thread going into a meltdown

If its pay as you play then fair enough

Ken Shamrock

I agree with Emergingstar but still just gonna post this here, press conference this morning.

Boss on Galatasaray: "My job will be to decide who travels. Offensively I won't have a problem but it'll be more difficult defensively"

Wenger on @Alexis_Sanchez: "Unfortunately you never know how far you can push players. He has a great recovery speed"

Wenger on transfers: "We are following a few young players but we are not close to signing anybody

Boss on @emimartinezz1: "I always thought he would be a top-level goalkeeper, that's why we extended his contract"

Wenger on @Alexis_Sanchez: "He has a huge desire with a fighting attitude. Missing chances doesn't affect him"

Boss: "Stoke don't lose many games at home and have good records against many good teams"

Wenger: "It's a football game, not a hate game. We want to focus on playing football"

Boss on #SCFCvAFC: "It's always a tough and committed place to go but we dictate the way we want to play at that level of commitment"

Wenger: "@13Szczesny13 should be in full training today. @MatDebuchy is back in training. It's too early for him"

TEAM NEWS: "@_nachomonreal is out for tomorrow's game. Hopefully @KieranGibbs will be back" #SCFCvAFC

And obviously what Nemesis posted.

Nemeses2050

Soups123 wrote: »

If its pay as you play then fair enough

Don't know how true but apparently he is not collecting his wages until he is fully fit, fair play

http://www.thefootballnetwork.net/boards/read/s378.htm?721,14314468

Jaafa

If Diaby can stay fit for the 6+ months until his contract is up then I dont have a problem with giving him a new short term contract. He can still do a job as a squad player for us.

Ken Shamrock

Put him on loan at a decent Championship side, if he proves he can stay fit and find form then take him back if not it's time to part ways.

Nemeses2050

Bob.Carcass wrote: »

Put him on loan at a decent Championship side, if he proves he can stay fit and find form then take him back if not it's time to part ways.

Noway championship...they would break his legs...probably a lower team in Italian or Spanish league.

Ken Shamrock

Nemeses2050 wrote: »

Noway championship...they would break his legs...probably a lower team in Italian or Spanish league.

Haha, I guess the USA would be the safest place to play ball? Can't remember the last time I've seen a bad foul there, although I do see 4 or 5 games a year.