Arsenal Thread

I think AW could've brought Michel Preud'homme back from retirement at 55 or whatever his age is... Still better than what we have.

About Fabianski, there's no excuses left for him being so crap. He's 24/25 already! He's the worst of the lot, even Vito Manone is better than him IMO.

The right thing is to send him somewhere on loan and hope he does good there so he might get sold on definite.

Well, this was a fairly good transfer window with 3 players coming in (one on a free transfer) BUT..... the most important of all didn't happen: we need a quality keeper. Not just a promising one, but we need someone who's a reality already. Yes, for a GK Arsenal should make an exception about the developing policy and opt for buying success instead.

I've got no great expectations for this season. All I hope is that Almunia works his gloves off until January, when we can start this saga again.
 
Rentboy I feel ur frustration I really do. We need to move on n hope the backline can perform miracles. Remember...Theo...Eboue even Gallas were once the most frustrating Players at one time. They manage to win us back n became better for it. I`m hoping for a miracle season.

If Borac Hussein Obama ( middle class )could be president of the U.S. Then, we can win wit Almunia .Yes! We can!
 
gerd said:
Not at all...I was merely citing Mignolet as an example.
A couple of years ago Arsenal could have gone for Lloris to site another example.
Belgium has (like other countries) lots of proimising players, since i know Belgian football best, its only natural that speak a lot about Belgian promising football players.
The problem is that most of them stay promising but never become the real thing.
If i sound chauvinistic: i'm very sorry.
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Last time I remember you saying Arsenal should sign Bailly, who by the way conceded an Almunia-esque goal last weekend. Lloris is also famous for his weakness on aerial balls. Then you ignore Mannone, Fabianski and Szczesny and say Arsenal should give chance to young keepers. That might be not chauvinistic but is really shortsighted.
 
I'm surprised you never went for Eduardo who moved to Genoa (Their are some reports which say he rejected you though not sure on how reliable) as he seems to have gone for a reasonable fee and looks a talented keeper.
 
sattan_hussein said:
Last time I remember you saying Arsenal should sign Bailly, who by the way conceded an Almunia-esque goal last weekend. Lloris is also famous for his weakness on aerial balls. Then you ignore Mannone, Fabianski and Szczesny and say Arsenal should give chance to young keepers. That might be not chauvinistic but is really shortsighted.
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You are pretty serious about this and rather agressive in your discussion style, if i may say so.

Bailly let in an Almunia-esque goal last weekend? So what.
Every GK once in a while makes a fool of himself. Remember Arsenal legend Seaman on those Nayim and Ronaldinho goals? Was he a bad GK? I don't think so. If you search long enough you will find Almunia-esque goals from every big keeper (not implying that Bailly already is a big keeper).
Lloris was (just like Mignolet and Bailly) only an example of young keepers. I know that Fabianski, Manone and the other guy (never heard of him, which i probably shouldn't mention to you because you would see this as a prove of how shortsighted i am) are young (ex-?) promising keepers. Fact is that lots of Arsenal fans in this thread don't want them at the moment.

I've also always said that in my very, very humble opinion Almunia is a good keeper. I think Arsenal will have lots of avoidable goals because of their extremely attacking style (and i'm not cinvinced that Vermaelen who did splendid last year really is that defensively very stronf CB, i think he might have a very difficult second season, last year early on he scored some goals and that made it easier for him). Maybe Almunia deserves a litle bit more credit from the fans?

Ps: as an ex-GK a litle question. Do you think Lehmann did well at Arsenal? Personally i think Lehmann was a very good GK (not a great one) but that he underachieved with Arsenal. Arsenal's playing style will always be difficult for a GK. I think Arsenal defensive problem lies in midfield. They need a player like Van Bommel, a warrior who can play dirty and comes away with it. A second Viera...
 
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Gerd ..mind your tongue ! Vermaelen is a beast :)) supposedly Squillaci is a real pure old school defender and could improve Vermaelen if there is room to improve. :P

on a side note Vermaelen seem to be our hero who can`t do anything wrong! and has a great personality on video :LOL:
 
The Verminator is a hero! Ok, it was only his 1st season, but he has a lot of football ahead of him and he has that personality and attitude that winners are made of. I think he can only get better from now on.

Arsenal fans don't want young keepers because it hasn't been working. Apart from Almunia, our other keepers are young and were recruited by Wenger! So, they were supposed to be good, right?

It looks like a gamble not to buy success for such an important position.

Lehmann was very good at Arsenal. I'm not sure if he underachieved because it was when he was playing for Arsenal that he benched Oli Kahn in their national team (or maybe it was Kahn who wasn't in a good phase at the time).

Of course he's had some mistakes towards the end of his spell with Arsenal, but Wenger was unfair with him IMO. Didn't give him a second chance, unlike Almunia.
 
beboq said:
Gerd ..mind your tongue ! Vermaelen is a beast :)) supposedly Squillaci is a real pure old school defender and could improve Vermaelen if there is room to improve. :P

on a side note Vermaelen seem to be our hero who can`t do anything wrong! and has a great personality on video :LOL:
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I like him a lot too and i want him to do good (just like any other Belgian player in a foreign league, and maybe THAT is a litle bit chauvinistic, but i don't see the harm). He was very good last year, but i think he was a litle bit overrated because he had a fantastic start with all those goals. He's not that good for our national team and that in a defense with Alderweireld (Ajax), Kompany, Van Buyten and with Vertonghen (Ajax, imo the best Belgian player) and Fellaini before that defense...
 
gerd said:
I like him a lot too and i want him to do good (just like any other Belgian player in a foreign league, and maybe THAT is a litle bit chauvinistic, but i don't see the harm). He was very good last year, but i think he was a litle bit overrated because he had a fantastic start with all those goals. He's not that good for our national team and that in a defense with Alderweireld (Ajax), Kompany, Van Buyten and with Vertonghen (Ajax, imo the best Belgian player) and Fellaini before that defense...
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Yeah, he had a very good season last year but I get the feeling his goal scoring record meant that some of the basic mistakes he made that cost Arsenal were ignored, such as those in this article:

http://www.zonalmarking.net/2010/04/09/thomas-vermaelen-arsenal-positional-errors/

He's still one of the better centre backs in the league no doubt but needs to stop coming high up the pitch and leaving exploitable space behind him, otherwise he could cost you more points in future.
 
I think he is a good defender, but I also think that the goals he scored did make Arsenal fans warm to him alot more.

He still isn't the best in the league or anything. But I think he is solid and will get better and he definately has the right attitude and will to succeed.
 
Aboutreika18 said:
He's still one of the better centre backs in the league no doubt but needs to stop coming high up the pitch and leaving exploitable space behind him, otherwise he could cost you more points in future.
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Good call - One of Messi's goals was due to that - he completely missed a header, and Keita then headed it straight into Messi's path.
 
I will be mad at wenger if during the season we have a defender injurie crisis...thats all im saying....as for the goalkeeper,I never really think that arsenal is all about the keeper so im not worried we have some decent keepers, its the defense that need to improve...
 
gerd said:
Ps: as an ex-GK a litle question. Do you think Lehmann did well at Arsenal? Personally i think Lehmann was a very good GK (not a great one) but that he underachieved with Arsenal. Arsenal's playing style will always be difficult for a GK. I think Arsenal defensive problem lies in midfield. They need a player like Van Bommel, a warrior who can play dirty and comes away with it. A second Viera...
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I don't think he underachieved by any means, I believe that his contribution is completely undervalued by Arsenal fans and football lovers alike simply because of his fiery personality.
He was a very solid keeper for Arsenal and very dependable; it was quite rare for him to have a bad game as such. He didn't really have a weakness as such, just his temperament. He had very solid positional sense, great reflexes, handled the ball well and would always look to catch the ball, strong and rarely outmuscled (unless he could get Drogba in trouble) and was extremely authorative and commanding (you could hear him screaming at the back-line) and had the best distribution I've seen in a Premier League keeper (He was very technically adept. He wouldn't hoof it up field, he'd provide well-placed aerial passes, he'd continually change the avenues and directions of attack with his kicks, he'd play great ground passes. In fact, he was involved in more attacking plays in the 05-06 season than Hleb, Rosicky and Bergkamp combined!)

The fact is a lot of Lehmann's strengths as a keeper are actually the weaknesses of our current ones.
 
nasri is back n thank God for chamakh his role was not tended to be the main target man ...I really thought he would get little action w/ Robin leading the attack.
 
Nah, I knew Chamakh would be getting a LOT of time regardless and the target man is what he's supposed to be with his outstanding aerial ability and good technique in holding up ball, and good footballing brain to see other players' runs and make passes.

I think Arsene and Arsenal did amazing to get a player like him for free! Probably one of if not the best summer transfers in all of Europe. He'll help tremendously and offers something Arsenal were missing for years. With Bendtner coming closest to being a decent aerial threat but Nick isn't as good in the air despite being taller.

Chamakh is overall a very good balanced well-rounded footballer and forward. Notice I mentioned footballer before striker because tho he'll get some goals and can be a good finisher sometimes, he's ultimately a better player than a goal-scorer and so should never be solely judged on # of goals he scores despite his position because he offers the team much more than just that.
 
PLF said:
Nah, I knew Chamakh would be getting a LOT of time regardless and the target man is what he's supposed to be with his outstanding aerial ability and good technique in holding up ball, and good footballing brain to see other players' runs and make passes.

I think Arsene and Arsenal did amazing to get a player like him for free! Probably one of if not the best summer transfers in all of Europe. He'll help tremendously and offers something Arsenal were missing for years. With Bendtner coming closest to being a decent aerial threat but Nick isn't as good in the air despite being taller.

Chamakh is overall a very good balanced well-rounded footballer and forward. Notice I mentioned footballer before striker because tho he'll get some goals and can be a good finisher sometimes, he's ultimately a better player than a goal-scorer and so should never be solely judged on # of goals he scores despite his position because he offers the team much more than just that.
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That is exactly what Robin does for the Arsenal since Henry left. I`m impress with Chamakh`s speed he even commented that Arsenal`s workout is pushing him to the next level. Well, he actually said he feels dead after training n that it`s a regime like no other he experience :LOL: . I read btw the lines... I know it will take some time getting use to the roughness of the Premie. I know you watch a lot of French Ligue n are loaded w/ info . Who do you think will partner better with Vermaelen or do you think squillaci n koc could gel well together.Bolton will push him to the next level Davies is a Brut .
 
beboq said:
That is exactly what Robin does for the Arsenal since Henry left.
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Yeah true. But Van Persie's aerial ability is a joke compared to Chamakh's. It's like comparing Walcott's speed to someone like Fabregas. Top of the line vs. Average.

Yeah I think he's still adapting to EPL and I'd say he's already been a useful contributor to the team. Yeah for me, I said it the day Arsenal officially confirmed his capture, this could be one of the best signings in all of Europe let alone England. Especially since he's coming on a free!

beboq said:
Who do you think will partner better with Vermaelen or do you think squillaci n koc could gel well together.Bolton will push him to the next level Davies is a Brut .
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Yeah Davies is a head-ache for any defender! One of the worst guys to play against most EPL defenders have admitted. Let's not forget about Elmander who finally seems to be rejuvenated and found his belief/confidence back. He's very athletic! Can jump like Davis and cause problems in the air but is also quite fast when he gets going.

I think against Bolton I'd go for Squillaci and Vermaelen. Kevin will still be a handful for either but these 2 jump high and are athletic. Not that Laurent isn't.

I see Squillaci and Kocsielny as more similar to each other to be honest. They're both 'defenders'. Now Thomas plays as a CB too but he's more of a footballer than just a defender. In fact his actual defensive skills while good could still be improved further and I have full faith that it will. :) He can pass better than the average defender, his technique is better than the average defender, so for me he's 'different' where as the two French CB's are more alike and so should be competing each other for a place along the Belgian to have the ideal setup complementing each other.

But I think the two Frenchmen can work together as well and both are solid defenders. Not world-class but good and in Sebastien's case, pretty experienced despite being only 30.

Way I see it tho, bar any injuries to the Belgian, he'll be in the starting line up and at least for this season, the two French new-comers will more or less be competing for a spot alongside him.
 
Watched Vermaelen two times with our national team (two defeats 0-1 against Germany and 3-2 in Turkey) and he was very poor albeit as LB...both our Cb's had howlers: Van Buyten against Germany and Kompany against Turkey...Vermaelen should play CB.

Sorry to be slightly off-topic...

Oh and at least Vermaelen isn't injured...
 
Nick Cave said:
Can't see why anyone would be surprised, you need a big squad to cover your delicate players...
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Our squad is quite decent now I think. We have plenty of cover in midfield and we have our 4 stikers/forwards that most clubs have now (two are injured though now :ROLL: ) and defence now we have quite good cover with 4 capable centre backs and people to cover Sagna and Clichy. We also have plenty of Goalkeepers....shit goalkeepers but plenty ;))

So there is no team that can completely saturate the club with players to try and counteract some injuries that you don't know who they are going to happen to. Especially now with the 25man squad thing.

In short I think we have a big enough squad :DD
 
BobbyBox said:
Our squad is quite decent now I think. We have plenty of cover in midfield and we have our 4 stikers/forwards that most clubs have now (two are injured though now :ROLL: ) and defence now we have quite good cover with 4 capable centre backs and people to cover Sagna and Clichy. We also have plenty of Goalkeepers....shit goalkeepers but plenty ;))

So there is no team that can completely saturate the club with players to try and counteract some injuries that you don't know who they are going to happen to. Especially now with the 25man squad thing.

In short I think we have a big enough squad :DD
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My point Bobby, you know you have susceptible players so you get cover...
 
We have cover, but so unfortunate to have Walcott out when he was at peak form. Such bullshit, Arsenal must be cursed! I wasn't even too sad to hear that Van Persie was out, because I have gotten used to him missing in action, but Walcott has been a different story recently.
 
It`s just a sprain ankle a little bruise not sure why he couldn`t get an injection or placenta treatment ;) at least play in the CL match.
 
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