Arsenal Thread

gerd said:
Bobby, one more try about the handball.
Of course as a Spurs fan i'm biased. But the Belgian commentator also said that, this was most difinitely not a handball...he did not guide the ball with his hand and did not even controlled it (his words, not mine).

Sad news from Sagna, he is an underrated player.
Ramsey was not good yesterday: lots of bad passes.

I'm quite sure things will be good soon...

PS: why is the Korean forward never playing?
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Gary neville said it was a handball mate. a United player.watch teh replays, he controlled the ball with his arm. had he not have his arm their he would not have controlled it well. Little things like miss controlling the ball makes a difference between winning and losing and had that goal been rightfully disallowed, Arsenal would have continued to pressure you lot and most likely would have taken the lead and then who knows how spurs would react.

Also he should have been sent off my celebrating infront of the croud. yes you can argue that its a daft rule but it is still a rule and he should have bene sent off. had that happened, Spurs would have been in real trouble. They couldnt hardly get the ball off us with 11 men, what more with 10 men?
 
gerd said:
Bobby, one more try about the handball.
Of course as a Spurs fan i'm biased. But the Belgian commentator also said that, this was most difinitely not a handball...he did not guide the ball with his hand and did not even controlled it (his words, not mine).

Sad news from Sagna, he is an underrated player.
Ramsey was not good yesterday: lots of bad passes.

I'm quite sure things will be good soon...

PS: why is the Korean forward never playing?
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Well if the Belgian commentator said it wasn't a handball it mustn't have been :PP ;))

He used the top of his arm to bring the ball down, it was a handball imo.

Sagna we will miss badly.

Ramsey has played well I think, he did have a bad game yesterday, but he will come good again. He has a killer pass in him aswell, he just needs to know when to release it more. He is still young.
 
gerd said:
PS: who is that Cocquelin, where does he come from? He was quite good imo. I still think Arsenal will finish higher than Spurs...
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A young Frenchmen that was loan out to Lorient in exchange for Koc. I think he has improve lots STR been talking about him lately a skinny kid w/ deceiving appearance he did great for French team over the summer .He came from the summer tourney straight into the 8-2 MUTD match, clearly the boy took that defeat and moved on. Song is just growing into a real strong player-unrated imo. He was a level down squad player he will be sold for millions!!! :LOL:
 
OK, i will stop discussing the handball...what counts is that Spurs won the 3 points, wether it's deserved or not is irrelevant if push comes to shove...
 
PU6HY said:
Why don't FIFA just change the name to armball? ;)
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heh that would reduce their error margin :D
FIFA should change sports. They should go regulate professional bowling, or something that doesn't leave much doubt, since they refuse to have replays to help ref's decisions.

Besides the handball, this weekend there was a legitimate goal for Bolton against Chelsea. It was 5-1, wouldn't make much difference but still the ball went all the way in before Ivanovic cleared.
Recently I heard about that ref who didn't give a goal to England against Germany in WC2010. Apparently he had stopped refereeing and only returned now just recently, as he was getting psycological treatment... that crucial mistake made him a broken man, it seems. Another thing to blame FIFA :P
 
gerd said:
OK, i will stop discussing the handball...what counts is that Spurs won the 3 points, wether it's deserved or not is irrelevant if push comes to shove...
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Very true, I think you just deserved the win aswell. You had much the better chances and tested Scez alot, So I am not moaning too much :DD

But it could have been very different if the deliberate handball was rightly given, then you wouldn't have got the goal and he should of also been sent off :)) but it never happened and you did win.

It's all done and dusted, we just need to win all of our games upto the Chelsea away, then try and win that, which isn't looking to hot at the moment, but you never know!

Verm should hopefull be back by then...hopefully :))
 
Never loose hopes! The team is not playing particularly bad, it's only missing the bits of experience and deffensive attitude in key moments. Maybe with time and recovering injured players things will start to look better.
 
Very true ..... What harder is all the negative press. It like the season of the witch just watch post or pre match interviews if i didnt know better i wud think arsenal is a feeder club bound for regulation and Wenger's target is to get the club in robust fashion
 
jonneymendoza said:
Gary neville said it was a handball mate. a United player.watch teh replays, he controlled the ball with his arm.....

Also he should have been sent off my celebrating infront of the croud. yes you can argue that its a daft rule but it is still a rule and he should have bene sent off. had that happened, Spurs would have been in real trouble. They couldnt hardly get the ball off us with 11 men, what more with 10 men?
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I totally agree with you on this one specialy about the celebrating! You can draw some paralels with Van Persie's red in Nou Camp! I mean booking player with his sceond yellow card for stupid rules!It would change the game just like it did that day!
 
The thing about negative press is so true.

It is funny comparing actions by us and other teams and how the commentators report them.

Walcott had a shot and it went just over the bar and it was described as 'wayward'. Bale had a shot missed and was further from the goal and it was described as 'nearly a goal' for tottenham and 'so close' etc.

Also whenever we have a slip up in defence now or a lapse in concentration, it is really played on by the pundits. Yet the other teams do it and it is brushed over.

It's annoying, but it is as if people want us to do badly. Like Arsenal fans were all cocky before because we played good football and now we are going through a bad patch everybody wants to put the boot in.

A bit like YoungGun coming in here whenever we lose and saying his little comments (I'm not saying you shouldn't by the way, it is all banter :DD)

Anyway it is footy, you have to take the rough with the smooth I guess.
 
girts1204 said:
I totally agree with you on this one specialy about the celebrating! You can draw some paralels with Van Persie's red in Nou Camp! I mean booking player with his sceond yellow card for stupid rules!It would change the game just like it did that day!
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The rule is that you must book a player if he crosses the fence or advertising hoarding to celebrate with the crowd. It's very specific.

So when Van Persie ran halfway up the stairs (and past the advertising boards) he was correctly booked.

When VdV ran IN FRONT OF the fence and was reached out to by fans, he was correctly not booked.

Exactly the same as the ABUs trying to argue Vidic should have been off last season.

If you're going to moan about rule, at least know the rule - not the public perception of it.

Incidentally - the rule has been updated to also book players who cover their face with their jersey, even while wearing it. How f*ckign sad is that?
 
Yes i dont know the rules quite well but even commentators said that he could easly be booked by that!!!

Looks like soon footballers will not be allowed to celebrate goal at all!
 
I think players celebrating a goal (in an unprovocative way) should never be booked. If players celebrate a goal provocative (Adebayor for Man City against Arsenal) or agressive (Rooney after his free kick against West Han United i think...), they should be booked.
 
Yes exactly, celebrating a goal shouldn't be booked in anyway, unless they are being dangerous or provocative.
 
BobbyBox said:
Yes exactly, celebrating a goal shouldn't be booked in anyway, unless they are being dangerous or provocative.
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This.

The reason FIFA introduced the yellow for taking off your jersey was actually as it wastes time, so I kind of get that.

But all the others...man. Spoilsports.
Literally.
 
:DD Indeed just Banter Bobby, If im honest deep down I feel a bit gutted you lost Fabregas and Nasri, the football you played is worthy of applause it's just a shame it's not the same at the minute with us being surrounded by Oil Baron run clubs rather than you lot.
 
Some of the defending was worse than schoolboy level, seriously. Wenger managed to take Arsenal to the final of the Champions League going a record amount of time without conceding a goal.

What happened to that organisation at the back? I mean we had Flamini playing full-back for goodness sake and they were still watertight at the back.

He needs to bring in a coach to help organise that shambles of a backline.
 
Aboutreika18 said:
Some of the defending was worse than schoolboy level, seriously. Wenger managed to take Arsenal to the final of the Champions League going a record amount of time without conceding a goal.

What happened to that organisation at the back? I mean we had Flamini playing full-back for goodness sake and they were still watertight at the back.

He needs to bring in a coach to help organise that shambles of a backline.
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I agree and I think most Arsenal fans would, there is something fundamentally wrong with our defence/defending.

We do look better with Vermaelen though, its like our defenders only play well with him next to them. Koscielny looks like half the player when matched with anybody else and Merts looked good with Verm aswell.

I'm not naive enough to think he will solve everything, as there are definately big problems there and they aren't going to get better with Sagna out aswell. But Verm being back should provide some stability...if he can stay fit, which in itself has a big fat question mark by it.
 
beachryan said:
This.

The reason FIFA introduced the yellow for taking off your jersey was actually as it wastes time, so I kind of get that.

But all the others...man. Spoilsports.
Literally.
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I think there's more to it, not just time wasting. I'm convinced there's pressure from sponsors too, from a marketing point of view. When a player scores a goal and celebrates it's a moment of maximum exposure for their brands.

As for aggressive celebrations, I've seen Van der Vaart get away with it more than once, running towards opposition fans and telling them to shut it. Once he got booked at the Emirates, but after that he went a couple more times unpunished.
Anyway, I wish we had a Charlie George type of player today, who would, in the words of Nick Hornby, "say 'fuck off you provincial cunts' with a V sign to away fans" :LOL:
 
Vermaelen is a very good player, but i have the impression that he is overrated...it's as if all Arsenal's problems will be solved once he'll be back...
They won't...not all problems will be solved.
 
gerd said:
Vermaelen is a very good player, but i have the impression that he is overrated...it's as if all Arsenal's problems will be solved once he'll be back...
They won't...not all problems will be solved.
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I'm just going by what I have seen, Koscielny with Verm looks quite stable and seem to work well together, the couple of games he played with Merts aswell they looked quite good together.

I don't think he will solve all of our problems, because it is evident that the whole team needs to know how to defend. But there is no doubt in my mind at the moment, that he brings a stability to our defence and can lead at the back more than our other defenders.

He is our best defender and any team that can play their best defender is going to benefit from that.
 
gerd said:
Vermaelen is a very good player, but i have the impression that he is overrated...it's as if all Arsenal's problems will be solved once he'll be back...
They won't...not all problems will be solved.
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Hi Gerd - i was apprehensive too when i heard he was coming, and seeing him and RVP go head to head at an Amsterdam tournament, that was the only game i could judge him by. Albeit, I'm watching more Erevidise on ESPN now.

However, there is no doubt in my mind that he is the most 'consistent' defender, 'gung-ho', and scores many goals. He is also the most vocal, and that adheres him to fans as the Verminator. However, he is not without his faults - his eagerness to run into tackles has left us exposed in the past - i.e., against Barca in the CL two season ago when he ran too close to Messi to win a header, missed, and then Keita looped a header over him and onto Messi's path to goal.

He does a great job as a sweeper at the back, and complements a slower 'blocker' type tackler - like Koscielny. Anything he misses, Vermaelen will collect.

I see our strongest back four as:

Sagna - Vermaelen - Mertesacker - Gibbs*

Not sure on Andre Santos yet at LB.

However, the coming back of one man will not create a better defence when there is:

1) No communication
2) Lack of decisiveness
3) Unable to play the line
4) No confidence in ability
5) Playing a high line with slow CB's (see Chelsea defend from their penalty box due to Terry's slowness).
6) Not defending set pieces (come on Arsene - it's now our trademark!)
7) Confusion with the Zonal system in defence

Couple this with a DMF who doesn't sit in front of the defence, and plays more as an AMF, and the other two wingers not tracking back to protect the fullbacks. See Young cover Evra for instance.

Finally, the tactics of 4-4-3 were based around Fabregas and Nasri. We simply do not have the players currently who can keep possession and play triangles. Therefore, losing possession allows the other team to attack and exploit the issues i've raised above.

I see us going back to 4-4-2 or a 4-2-3-1 to provide solidity and boost confidence.

Just some ideas i had scibbling on a pad on my way in this morning to work....
 
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I think Vermaelen is great and his abilities, physicality and attitude overcome his shortcomings. Being a natural leader and hating to lose, you know, these sort of things you don't teach someone, they have to be born with it. You see SZCZ, he's only 20 years old and he's much more vocal than the other keepers.

Also agree on the need to change formation. 4-3-3 with wingers who don't cover, a midfield that can't hold posession like before... Wenger needs to look into it. With 2 forwards in a more central role, we could have RVP + Arshavin/Theo/Gervinho (the latter 2 also fit as wide midfielders, as long as they provide cover).

But for that to happen of course we need Jack ASAP.
 
Is that true about Adebayor? I mean, the chants towards the Togo NT? Oh gosh, fortunately those kids don't represent the whole and great Arsenal fanbase. Disgusting.

Btw, great article by Arseblog Bobby. Didn't know your name was 'The Arsenal'. It's kind special indeed, here in Lisbon we have 'Os Belenenses'. :D
 
The_Special_One said:
Is that true about Adebayor? I mean, the chants towards the Togo NT? Oh gosh, fortunately those kids don't represent the whole and great Arsenal fanbase. Disgusting.

Btw, great article by Arseblog Bobby. Didn't know your name was 'The Arsenal'. It's kind special indeed, here in Lisbon we have 'Os Belenenses'. :D
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Yeah it was true and very disgusting. I love football banter but there is a line and it was crossed.

Not many people use the 'The' but I never thought of it that way before really, I never knew we were the only ones :DD

I really miss Highbury like Arseblogger, it was a special stadium.
 
To be fair the Spurs fans also misbehaved and i thought Harry was rather hypocritical in only mentioning the misconduct of the Arsenal fans...i've lost a lot of respect for him since that (and before that i didn't like him much either...let him go to the national team ASAP...).
 
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