Arsenal Thread

BobbyBox said:
My first I think was Adams, Then Dixon, Winterburn for a while, then Smith, then Merson, then Wright, then Bergkamp, then Ljundberg, then Fab, now my love is growing more and more for Wilshere.

Lots of Favourite players down the years (It was easy to have a favourite late 90's and early 2000's as we had a team of great players).

But Bergkamp is my all time favourite as I think he along with Wenger were the ones to really influence the new ethos of Arsenal football club.....and of course he was just amazing!
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...then Ljungberg, then...? Before Fabregas... Henry? :D

Dennis made me follow Arsenal and Thierry helped making sure my love stayed with the club. His development from that season when we lost Anelka, I think it was 1999-00 until 2000-01 was meteoric! He was barely used as a left-sided attacker at Juventus and arrived taking the Premiership by storm in the space of one year. I think it was the fastest I've ever seen a footballer transforming himself from an exciting prospect to outright badass world beater!
 
Rentboy said:
...then Ljungberg, then...? Before Fabregas... Henry? :D

Dennis made me follow Arsenal and Thierry helped making sure my love stayed with the club. His development from that season when we lost Anelka, I think it was 1999-00 until 2000-01 was meteoric! He was barely used as a left-sided attacker at Juventus and arrived taking the Premiership by storm in the space of one year. I think it was the fastest I've ever seen a footballer transforming himself from an exciting prospect to outright badass world beater!
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Henry is a legend and was amazing, but the guys I mentioned I really liked more than any body else over those periods. It's a strange one I've always loved him playing of course, but I never had the connection with him that I did with the other players I mentioned.
 
I had a soft spot for Grimandi as well
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Totally excellent win yesterday, guys. Top marks for Giroud, Walcott, Cazorla, Wilshere, Arteta. And the defence behaved quite well too.
Our CB problems are beginning to come to a head, now that we let Djourou leave on loan. Vermaelen is injured and Koscielny had a problem in warm up. So instead of adventuring in Squilaci territory, Wenger chose to use Sagna as a CB. Sagna did quite well though! Ramsey handled himself well as a RB too, after Jenkinson was sent off.

I'm just a bit surprised to see how things are still done at this club. The Djourou move was something good for the player, but not very good for the club. We have the Bayern match with 2 CBs injured and Jenkinson won't be available for the next weekend because of the suspension.

One final thought about yesterday, the refereeing was absolute utter shit. And not only that, but the ref seemed to be out there to harm us. Sunderland players had carte blanche to kick our players all day long. Several fouls on Wilshere not given, one even more clear on Walcott not given either. Yet all of Carl Jenkinson's actions were punished without hesitation and to the letter of the law.
Wilshere got kicked out of the game, and was subbed injured. We can only hope it's not that serious.

It was a very unbalanced piece of refereeing. There was that bit when Fletcher clearly blocked a Mertesacker clearance with his hands and nearly scored if it wasn't for Szczesny. Nothing given!

I take heart in the fact that we won 1-0 with 10 men against Sunderland, the ref, everyone. Seriously, hats off to the 10 men that stayed on the pitch for us.

I can't help but imagine though, what would Ferguson's reaction to outright robbery would be like if he was in our shoes yesterday. If he gets all worked up about a Rooney dive at Tottenham's place, imagine his reaction to that!
 
I didn't see the game but it sounded like we should have had it won in the first half. End of the second half sounded tense!

Great we could grind out the result in the end and it sounded like a lot of our players played well, especially Sagna, which is great seeing as he hasn't been at his best this season and Sczc.

We are going to need a lot more of these performances before the end of the season and hopefully we can do it.
 
Sagna was a beast, he was very attentive and really looked like a natural there. Jenkinson was very good at RB too, up until when he was sent off. Even after sitting on the bench for so long, he still didn't lose momentum, the boy is a gem!

And Szczesny was fantastic indeed. There were no pissing about with the ball, and lots of reflex saves, that was a world class display.
 
Rentboy said:
Sagna was a beast, he was very attentive..... he still didn't lose momentum.
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Sounds like a raunchy novel, how well do you know Sagna? ;))

Big Game against Spurs at the beginning of March, it will decide who will go above who imo. Seeing is it is at Spurs and how well they are playing I see them getting above us and I don't see Chelsea slipping that much....so that means we get 5th!! :(( I hope it doesn't happen, but that is the most realistic outcome at the moment.

I think we basically need to win every game and that just isn't going to happen. The only way is for a Spurs collapse and I don't see that happening with them this season. We need to get some Dodgy Lasagne down them again ;))
 
The Sunderland match was a reverse of the previous matches, instead of a crap first half and good second half it was the other way around. We really should've scored a second in the first half. The red for Jenkinson seemed a bit harsh in comparision with what some Sunderland players were doing (Lee Cattermole, I'm looking at you) Szszesny and Sagna were fantastic, I must admit, I was a bit anxious seeing Sagna starting in the centre, but he did a great job. Cazorla and Wilshere were class like always. Giroud and Walcott created enough, but were a bit unlucky with their finishes. Overall a good performance, hopefully some players will be rested this weekend against Blackburn in anticipation of the Bayern match.
 
we wasnt crap 2nd half. we created loads of chances. not much compared to 1st half but we still played well.

dont forget we was a man down most of 2nd half
 
BobbyBox said:
Sounds like a raunchy novel, how well do you know Sagna? ;))

Big Game against Spurs at the beginning of March, it will decide who will go above who imo. Seeing is it is at Spurs and how well they are playing I see them getting above us and I don't see Chelsea slipping that much....so that means we get 5th!! :(( I hope it doesn't happen, but that is the most realistic outcome at the moment.

I think we basically need to win every game and that just isn't going to happen. The only way is for a Spurs collapse and I don't see that happening with them this season. We need to get some Dodgy Lasagne down them again ;))
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That.. erm... I don't know the guy at all :P
What I was trying to say about Jenkinson is that it looked as though he didn't sit on the bench for months now. It looked like he had been playing all along.
And Sagna, dude if you watch the match you'd see he looked like a natural (and very good) CB. He had an unusual amount of concentration for an improvised player and quite frankly made Koscielny's and Vermaelen's recent performances pale in comparison.
Could very well be a one off, of course.

The match at Spurs is one where anything can happen. And one where a draw wouldn't be a bad thing.
I know it seems difficult to overtake them if they keep grinding out results like we're doing, but it's a 4 point gap, with 12 fixtures left. There's a lot to happen still.

If we did get 5th, the only way to avoid disaster would be to pull off a Chelsea and win the CL :D
Now that would be a great compensation for not celebrating St. Totteringham's day. I would settle for that!
 
Rentboy said:
That.. erm... I don't know the guy at all :P
What I was trying to say about Jenkinson is that it looked as though he didn't sit on the bench for months now. It looked like he had been playing all along.
And Sagna, dude if you watch the match you'd see he looked like a natural (and very good) CB. He had an unusual amount of concentration for an improvised player and quite frankly made Koscielny's and Vermaelen's recent performances pale in comparison.
Could very well be a one off, of course.

The match at Spurs is one where anything can happen. And one where a draw wouldn't be a bad thing.
I know it seems difficult to overtake them if they keep grinding out results like we're doing, but it's a 4 point gap, with 12 fixtures left. There's a lot to happen still.

If we did get 5th, the only way to avoid disaster would be to pull off a Chelsea and win the CL :D
Now that would be a great compensation for not celebrating St. Totteringham's day. I would settle for that!
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That would be sweet and stopping Spurs from getting into the Champs league again :LOL: .....but the chances of that happening are slim to none. I'm just hoping we put in good performances against Bayern and don't embarrass ourselves.

Spurs do seem to have a bit harder run in than us, but not by much, so they could drop some points. The result at Tottenham will more than likely be a draw or a loss, so I would obviously take the draw. It would be a huge result if we were to win at White Hart lane.

I suppose if they draw a couple as well and we win, then we will be equal on points with a better goal difference. But that is taking into account we win all our games up until the end of the season and again I can't see that happening. Spurs look stronger than I have seen them for a long while.

With the Spirit shown in the Sunderland game, I am hoping it will last to the end of the season, then we definitely have a chance. It is going to be exciting none the less :DD
 
Question is how can we stop this from happening next season i/e fighting for top 4 and instead fight for the title?

2-3 new player signings plus keeping everyone we have atm?
 
jonneymendoza said:
Question is how can we stop this from happening next season i/e fighting for top 4 and instead fight for the title?

2-3 new player signings plus keeping everyone we have atm?
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Pretty much I think, a new striker, Defensive midfielder and a defender (Maybe a good utility player that can play well in defensive mid and defender?)

But I think Sagna might ask for a move, but the rest should stay imo, I can't see anybody else leaving (That we don't want to leave). Obviously if Sagna goes we need another quality right back as well.

Get rid of players like Arshavin etc I want to see how Gervinho does for the rest of this season, maybe we can replace him if he still isn't performing well (Although I think he has it in him to be a really good player for us...I know I am the only one :PP )

I can see Wenger buying a few players, whether they will be of super quality though is another question, I hope so of course. Wenger must be fed up of not competing for the title now, he just has to be, no matter what people say about Wenger I refuse to believe that he is satisfied fighting for 4th place every year, but he has to do something to change things and make us a force again.

I hope he does his business early in the summer though and has targets already lined up.
 
On a side note, André Santos left on loan to Grêmio. Good luck to him (except when he faces Fluminense in the Copa Libertadores).
I suspect this is one of those loan moves that will never see the player again at the Emirates. I think Wenger found out pretty quick the mistake he made with him.

Still, the guy contributed with a decisive goal against West Brom in the last fixture, last season. If we drew that game 2-2 we would be f*cked!!

Arshavin will finish his contract now in 2013, I think. It's a shame because we all know he has the talent.
Gervinho is a disaster. I can't see him getting near the 1st team with the likes of Walcott, Giroud, Podolski, Chamberlain and with even Cazorla being used as a winger at times.

I'm eager to see other deadwood getting off the payment sheet, like Denilson, Bendtner, Chamakh, Squilaci, etc. Then, we replace those guys (and use their salary costs) to buy quality.
When the stadium debt and these players' contracts are over, then the world shall see! :P
 
Yeah, Denilson is still on loan at São Paulo, isn't he?

Gervinho is frustrating to watch. This may be subjective, but I for one think he's not good enough for Arsenal. Bad finisher, shit passing, bad decision maker, runs into defenders when he should pass, or tries a pass when he has an open shot at goal... It's teeth-clenching, hair-pulling stuff for me.

You can't imagine my relief to watch an in form Walcott and Lukas Podolski as our wingers. With these guys in form, the African Nations cup can go until April, for all I care.
 
I still think he can still do well for us, his goals at the beginning of the season were important for us.

He isn't afraid to take on defenders and he can take them on, if he improves his decision making and finishing (He can finish, but he was going through a very bad patch recently)

So I don't think he has been a disaster a disappointment maybe, but never a disaster and he can still improve and I hope he does. He has shown glimpses of the player he can be.
 
BobbyBox said:
I still think he can still do well for us, his goals at the beginning of the season were important for us.

He isn't afraid to take on defenders and he can take them on, if he improves his decision making and finishing (He can finish, but he was going through a very bad patch recently)

So I don't think he has been a disaster a disappointment maybe, but never a disaster and he can still improve and I hope he does. He has shown glimpses of the player he can be.
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Hmm, yeah he did have a good run scoring goals in the beginning of the season, but most were tap ins. He got into the positions and on the end of some Jenkinson crosses. Gervinho is a good mover, I'll give him that :D
Anyway, Wenger was playing him as a CF back then. And let's face it, this shouldn't happen again. Giroud fits like a glove into this team right now.
Whenever a team figured out how to neutralise our slick passing from the back and pressed Arteta and other deep lying midfielders in our own half, we didn't really have an answer to that. Now we sort of do. We very often see long balls being chested down or flicked on by Giroud. And it's been effective. It isn't always pretty, but it's a nice alternative to have.
If the ball comes along the ground, he knows what to do as well. He produced some nice one-touch assists to Walcott and Wilshere recently.

And I'm impressed to see how many aerial duels Giroud wins. Not only on the attack, but when helping defence the guy cleared a LOT of crosses last week against Sunderland.

I think Wenger is finally finding the ideal shape of this team. Against Sunderland we had Cazorla, Wilshere, Ramsey and Arteta all playing together and even though Cazorla "officially" started as a winger, he drifted back to midfield very often, mimicking a 4-4-2 if you will :)
I don't know if I'm just fed up with our worn out 4-3-3 that doesn't create enough chances, or if I'm a fan of the 4-2-2, but the team certainly looked much more fluent in the last couple of matches.
 
No doubt Giroud is looking good in the centre, I think it is quite pretty as well. He isn't your average target man and he can assist very well with cushioned passes and lay offs, as well as winning headers and flick ons. He is a great addition to the team and has to have that centre position. But you could see this at the start of the season, he just wasn't finishing, which was getting him a lot of stick and doubt about his abilities. His goal tally and assists in his first half of the season are great (along with Podolski).

We need another quality striker though and if he is too much quality it could reduce Girouds playing time somewhat. But hopefully they will be quite different styles, so can be used effectively for different situations. It would be horrible to see Giroud sitting on the bench stagnating next season.

Gervinho shouldn't be in the centre of course, but to come on for either Podolski or Walcott in the last 20mins or so he could be really effective. It doesn't matter if his goals were tap ins really, he got in the positions and he finished them (when lately he has missed a lot of them). Again I have hope for him and I still think he can play a role for us and I hope he proves me right this half of the season, because we are going to need him to be at his best. He is one of the only players we have that can really take on players and beat them, he just needs to do better with the ball once he has beaten them, which I hope he can improve.
 
Be safe and stay away from those vice girls. They killed Mr. Kung fu! Stuffed his franks in his arse and they called it self inflicted . We have a large gooner support there \0/ !
 
bebo said:
Be safe and stay away from those vice girls. They killed Mr. Kung fu! Stuffed his franks in his arse and they called it self inflicted . We have a large gooner support there \0/ !
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I'm not surprised we have a lot of support there! Sounds like fun. Have fun Jonney.
 
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