Arsenal Football Club - The Gunner's Thread 3
- Thread starter Adam Goi
- Start date
freebird75
Member
at 4-2 if felt bad but still think Arsenal will hold on. at 4-3 i told myself, shiitt, this is gonna be newcastle's night. its its obvious diaby is in the wrong for shoving barton. but playing with 10 men is no excuse for losing a four goal lead.
well, thanks to Wolves for keeping the title race on.
Ongoinglearner
New Member
:bsmilie::bsmilie: I cant sleep after the game too. Now things do happen twice, once against Spud and now against Newcastle. When will they learn.
I did not see the match, and based on loosing a 4 goal lead, I would say its hard to believe that we are still in the 'Top Four'. Another CSer noted that ''why our Arsenal thread is so quiet as compared to Liverpool'. Well, this is your answer. There is nothing much to really scream about, really.
We keep calling ourselves 'Top Class passers', 'brilliant play', blah blah blah....
We play exhibition style. Nothing wrong with that, but I dont see us winning anything for the next 2-3 years. Why? Coz we said that 3 years ago!
If, if we lost or drew after loosing a 2 goal lead, that is pretty much acceptable. A FOUR GOAL lead? What, did we play with one leg strapped to our arses?
We keep calling ourselves 'Top Class passers', 'brilliant play', blah blah blah....
We play exhibition style. Nothing wrong with that, but I dont see us winning anything for the next 2-3 years. Why? Coz we said that 3 years ago!
If, if we lost or drew after loosing a 2 goal lead, that is pretty much acceptable. A FOUR GOAL lead? What, did we play with one leg strapped to our arses?
My take is 3-4 years ago, the team is really young.
In the midfield department Fabregas was still developing, and we lost alot of good players like Flamini, Hleb along the way. So Arsene had to literally rebuild the team around Cesc.
Strikers wise, nobody was able to fill Henry's shoes after he left for Barca. RVP is good but injury prone. Current crop of strikers are getting there but still below mark from what I see (especially Bentdner). Fortunately with Nasri showing exceptional form and Walcott finally establishing his presence, the midfield looks stronger than before.
The weakest link in my opinion is still the defence, they are all over the shop against Newcastle and the midfield also did little to provide cover for them. There simply isn't any dominant central defender to marshall the back four when they are under pressure.
In the midfield department Fabregas was still developing, and we lost alot of good players like Flamini, Hleb along the way. So Arsene had to literally rebuild the team around Cesc.
Strikers wise, nobody was able to fill Henry's shoes after he left for Barca. RVP is good but injury prone. Current crop of strikers are getting there but still below mark from what I see (especially Bentdner). Fortunately with Nasri showing exceptional form and Walcott finally establishing his presence, the midfield looks stronger than before.
The weakest link in my opinion is still the defence, they are all over the shop against Newcastle and the midfield also did little to provide cover for them. There simply isn't any dominant central defender to marshall the back four when they are under pressure.
ahbian
Senior Member
Which is why the reluctance to spend on a centre back during January could come back to haunt us. It's not asking the club to go on a crazy buying spree, just ONE good decent back up.
Now Song and Djourou could both be out injured, Diaby would be suspended, I am not convinced that Denisilon and Squillaci could step up.
Tigerbear
New Member
ahbian said:Which is why the reluctance to spend on a centre back during January could come back to haunt us. It's not asking the club to go on a crazy buying spree, just ONE good decent back up.
Now Song and Djourou could both be out injured, Diaby would be suspended, I am not convinced that Denisilon and Squillaci could step up.
Even Song or Djourou cannot match the level of Adams, Keown..., let alone Diaby. I can never understand why Wenger thought Diaby could be replacement of Viera...
Ongoinglearner
New Member
I feel that Squallaci needs time to really get into games in BPL. I think he can but he needs support. Actually I feel that they should have bought a CB but Wenger did point out, what if when of them all are fit? Then we will have 5 of them and having to rotate 5 is really tough. I mean 5 when and hoping Squallaci step up his game.
I didn't watch the game and I have no intention to watch the replay ... it's just too painful to watch. In all honesty, I think we can't blame it solely on Diaby's sent off nor Squillaci's performance ... you can't just blame one of two players as after all it's 11 against and 11 or 10 in our case ...
Those of us who have been a supporter for a while should realise it by now ... being an Arsenal fan has been tough tough since we won the last trophy ... we can lead and control the game comfortably for a while and yet in the next moment, we can lose our advantage and even get beaten spectacularly (remember the game against our arch-rival Tottenham?)
For now, I hope the team will learn move on (again) and build on this lesson ... as Arshavin has rightfully pointed out on Sunday:
"There is no breakdown. We have no right to afford it. If we want to win, we shouldnt cry, we have to analyze this failure and draw the right conclusions. This day is already over. Now we have to think about and prepare for the next game in the Championship."
Go Gunners!
ahbian
Senior Member
I agree whole heartedly that it is a team effort, but having a strong defense is psychologically important to the team. Successful managers realise that winning teams are built from the back, a good solid keeper and back four (plus a DM) give the forward players more confidence. It would be terrible when teams start to doubt the competency of their own defence. It doesn't do us much good to score bucket load of goals, but concede just as many...
For me, I was a fan since 1989, long before Arsene Wenger was manager. During the days when we were accused of "playing tennis (pump long ball from one end to the other) with the soccer ball" and when just getting into the top four/six was a great achievement... :embrass: But i loved the team ever since it showed the never- say-die attitude to go to anfield and beat liverpool on the last day to win the league title.
So I'm not too concerned with the lack of trophy's compared to my friends who are more recent Arsenal fans, its the lack of focus and steel that is frustrating to me. No doubt the result cannot be undone, its just that they never seemed to learn the lesson of holding on to leads.
Having said all that, once a gooner, always a gooner.
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ahbian
Senior Member
Can't really recall from recent memory when ALL our CB + DM were fit.:think: We have missed TV quite badly.
So it would really be a blessing if all five of them are fit at the same time. It is actually easier to rotate CB compared to other positions. There are 2 or even 3 CB (unlikely based on AW's tactics) in most formations, that is more than other outfield players.
Still, the main thing is not about how many CB, but how many good enough CB. Get a CB in that would improve the team, get rid of those who are not up to it. I rather 4 good CB, than 2 good + 3 average CB...
Was there a CB that was affordable during the transfer window and could have improved the team? I guess only AW had the answer.
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Tigerbear
New Member
I agree whole heartedly that it is a team effort, but having a strong defense is psychologically important to the team. Successful managers realise that winning teams are built from the back, a good solid keeper and back four (plus a DM) give the forward players more confidence. It would be terrible when teams start to doubt the competency of their own defence. It doesn't do us much good to score bucket load of goals, but concede just as many...
For me, I was a fan since 1989, long before Arsene Wenger was manager. During the days when we were accused of "playing tennis (pump long ball from one end to the other) with the soccer ball" and when just getting into the top four/six was a great achievement... :embrass: But i loved the team ever since it showed the never- say-die attitude to go to anfield and beat liverpool on the last day to win the league title.
So I'm not too concerned with the lack of trophy's compared to my friends who are more recent Arsenal fans, its the lack of focus and steel that is frustrating to me. No doubt the result cannot be undone, its just that they never seemed to learn the lesson of holding on to leads.
Having said all that, once a gooner, always a gooner.
"...once a gooner, always a gooner." => I like that :thumbsup: I have been a gooner since 1998
shaoken
Deregistered
Tigerbear said:ah yes, should be not winning any silverware since 2005. But it is the first cup final since 2007...
But the FA cup is a "unstable" tournament.
This is what I'm afraid of.
If wenger still put subs to play for the finals, I can say that he is dumb.
This maybe the ONLY trophy that Arsenal are so close to. So should go all out to win this!!
Ongoinglearner
New Member
Can't really recall from recent memory when ALL our CB + DM were fit.:think: We have missed TV quite badly.
So it would really be a blessing if all five of them are fit at the same time. It is actually easier to rotate CB compared to other positions. There are 2 or even 3 CB (unlikely based on AW's tactics) in most formations, that is more than other outfield players.
Still, the main thing is not about how many CB, but how many good enough CB. Get a CB in that would improve the team, get rid of those who are not up to it. I rather 4 good CB, than 2 good + 3 average CB...
Was there a CB that was affordable during the transfer window and could have improved the team? I guess only AW had the answer.
I understand what you meant but too bad, we cannot have the same combination like Lee Dixon, Tony Adam, Martin Keown, Steve Bould and Nigel Winterburn. Okay, minus Lee and Nigel. A good 3 CBs we have (I can only remember these few really good CBs). Let's hope to have that kind of steel at the back on these bunch. We are just unlucky that TV is down and so is JD. If both of them are up, I see some real steel there.
Yes, we can afford to buy but worth it? It's up to AW. Probably the one that came in especially if he's from the BPL sides will cost a lot. And those that came from other leagues might not work even though we may have seen them playing. Nevertheless, I still trust AW vision. I think Kos, TV and JD had proven that they can play (we can feel the impact of Kos and TV immediately, whereas JD needed time because of injury), I just feel that SQ needs time to adapt (given his age) and there's one more coming up from the youth if I am not wrong. Anyway, what done cannot be undone and what have not done we cannot do anything now either until the summer. Let's hope they will remember these lessons at St James Park and against Spurs - "never to give up until the final whistle"
Once a gunner, forever a gunner.
Ongoinglearner
New Member
But the FA cup is a "unstable" tournament.
This is what I'm afraid of.
If wenger still put subs to play for the finals, I can say that he is dumb.
This maybe the ONLY trophy that Arsenal are so close to. So should go all out to win this!!
I think we are also very near to the league title. Well, that's just a personnal opinion.
Tigerbear
New Member
Ongoinglearner said:
I think we still have a good chance for the league title and the cups, but not CL. I think Wenger will not send the reserve/juniors to the cup final. He knows how badly the club needs a trophy regardless of what cup it is. And he knows winning the carling cup will help lifting the spirit of the whole team. Manu and man city have yet to play each other. Hopefully we can take advantage from their dropping in points
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