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cubeadvance

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Lucky

Lucky

Posted
Posted

I think it could be a tricky night too.

You never know with Newcastle, will they carry on being shit or will all this stuff being said about them wake them up?

That said, our reserves have beaten them already this season (ok it was at home) and if we play well there isn't much they can do about it anyway. :(

I'll go for 2-1 to us.

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Mars

Mars

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I was impressed with Almunia tonight. You can't legislate for a good finish and he made some crucial contributions.

I'd also like to say how impressed I was with the ref as well. I bet Sagna won't be doing that again for a while.

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Dude Ranch

Dude Ranch

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I was impressed with Almunia tonight. You can't legislate for a good finish and he made some crucial contributions.

I'd also like to say how impressed I was with the ref as well. I bet Sagna won't be doing that again for a while.

I agree on both fronts. I do think the ref gave them the benefit twice near the end though, with Adebayor. Both fouls in dangerous positions, IMO. And Sagna caught Smith on the follow through I think, but probably made the most of it. Smith himself is a little shit and Barton too. Both showed their true colours with deliberately nasty challenges.

Made me laugh when the commentators were having a go at Toure for 'getting a reputation' for chasing the ref. Jesus, he ran about ten yards. Then when Given ran about fifty yards and did it he got a yellow but hardly anything was said.

Anyway, we looked a bit flat and tired yesterday. Gilberto still tries but the team isn't as fluent when he plays. Diarra looked good in spells but we were wide open too many times in the middle. Eduardo is yet to impress me in an Arsenal shirt. Eboue was missing for most of it, as was Rosicky.

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Lucky

Lucky

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it's bad enough when Cesc isn't playing, we can look a bit short of ideas without him, but as we saw against Villa Hleb is more than able to fill in in that department. It's when you take them both out of the side that we really start to have problems, there didn't seem to be anyone yesterday who could pick the ball up and take control of the game like Cesc and Hleb do. I thought Diarra played quite well and he looks to do the simple thing, which is good, but when the rest weren't giving him options he was holding onto the ball a bit too long and ended up losing it a few times.

Still, not a bad point when you consider Cesc, Hleb and Flamini were missing (our 3 best players so far this season) and don't forget RVP is still out. 4 ponts from Villa and Newcastle away isn't bad and if we beat Boro then 7 points from 9 isn't bad at all when you take injuries and them being away games into account.

Let's hope these 3 injured players are back for the Chelsea game and it would be great to have RVP back for that one, even on the bench.

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Daley

Daley

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I agree, 7 points won't be a bad return from these three games, and I would have taken that before Saturday.

Blimey I didn't realise Chelsea was the weekend after. ;)

With regards to Eduardo, I don't think last night was a game for him. He is still settling in and i'm suprised Wenger played him, especially as he went 4-4-2 in the first half and could probably have played Bendtner up there with Adebayor. Bendtner is looking very impressive every time I see him play in the short time he gets, and is probably worth a start soon.

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Peter Hitchens

Peter Hitchens

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I agree, 7 points won't be a bad return from these three games, and I would have taken that before Saturday.

Blimey I didn't realise Chelsea was the weekend after. :angry:

With regards to Eduardo, I don't think last night was a game for him. He is still settling in and i'm suprised Wenger played him, especially as he went 4-4-2 in the first half and could probably have played Bendtner up there with Adebayor. Bendtner is looking very impressive every time I see him play in the short time he gets, and is probably worth a start soon.

I thought Eduardo looked quite promising for the brief period he was actually playign up front... he seemed to get switched out to the wing after about 15 minutes and from then on looked really ineffective. Hving said that, i can understand wenger's thinking because we were lacking a creative player in central midfield, so moving rosicky in did make some sort of sense...

Agreed that Bendtner was very impressive.

I can't help thinking that Adebayor, despite generally playing quite well and scoring a good goal, made a couple of awful mistakes... in the first half when he could've passed to Eduardo in acres of space, and in the second when Rosicky had the ball and he stayed in an offside position so that he couldn't make the pass to him. Either of those were really excellent chances and coudl've finished the game off for us.

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Petrousgyre

Petrousgyre

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Blimey I didn't realise Chelsea was the weekend after. :angry:

Looks like they're losing Drogba though, big loss for them.

I thought Eduardo was especially poor last night, Adebayor had the ball in dangerous areas but Eduardo's movement was appalling, mildly trotting alongside defenders. I'd have much rather seen Walcott or Bendtner.

I also thought Gilberto looked dreadful too, I'm afraid to say. I know he chipped in with a few goals last season but IMO that masked some fairly poor performances and he's been going downhill ever since. Denilson looks a far better bet but we really are missing that Hleb-Fabregas-Flamini partnership.

Newcastle played well though, as well as I've seen them play this season.

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Lucas

Lucas

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I can't help thinking that Adebayor, despite generally playing quite well and scoring a good goal, made a couple of awful mistakes... in the first half when he could've passed to Eduardo in acres of space, and in the second when Rosicky had the ball and he stayed in an offside position so that he couldn't make the pass to him. Either of those were really excellent chances and coudl've finished the game off for us.

This.

If Adebayor had any tactical nouse and new how to say onside, that would have been a great chance - the score would have been 2-0 and that would have been that.

Doesn't he know how to bend/time a run? That's schoolboy stuff.

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Peter Hitchens

Peter Hitchens

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I also thought Gilberto looked dreadful too, I'm afraid to say. I know he chipped in with a few goals last season but IMO that masked some fairly poor performances and he's been going downhill ever since. Denilson looks a far better bet but we really are missing that Hleb-Fabregas-Flamini partnership.

Agreed about Gilberto, although to give him the benefit of the doubt part of that can be down to being rusty having had so little action this season. And also, not having the other regular midfielders around him. Diarra looked impressive at times but they didn't look like a comfortable partnership. I imagine Diarra playing behind Fabregas could be as good if not better than Flamini, though.

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Lucky

Lucky

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I imagine Diarra playing behind Fabregas could be as good if not better than Flamini, though.

Agreed and I think this could be the central pairing some time soon, but at the moment I would stick with Flamini as he really has been fantastic this season and as long he keeps playing this well his name has got to be one of the 1st on the teamsheet

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Peter Hitchens

Peter Hitchens

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This.

If Adebayor had any tactical nouse and new how to say onside, that would have been a great chance - the score would have been 2-0 and that would have been that.

Doesn't he know how to bend/time a run? That's schoolboy stuff.

I think maybe on that one he was expecting Rosicky to play it straight back to him immediately, in which case he may have been just onside... but it was weird, he just stayed in an offside position for a good few seconds after that, didn't even attempt to drop back again.

I thought the one in the first half was an even worse wasted position though, Adebayor was dribbling towards the left edge of the area, and eduardo was in the centre running into a huge space. Eduardo had a poor game generally but we know he's a good finisher, he would almost certainly have scored if Adebayor had passed to him.

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Petrousgyre

Petrousgyre

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In terms of the Jan transfer window, what's our thoughts? IMO we need three players (although we're unlikely to buy that many, having said that Wenger seems to like this window). A top drawer centre back, to cover for Kolo in the ACN - I've completely lost faith in Senderos. An out and out winger in the Overmars mold and another good striker, possibly a switch for Eduardo.

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Lucky

Lucky

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Agreed, definitely need a CB and we could do with a winger too. A CB with experience and who is a little older rather than a 12yr old, someone who might not expect to play every week. The Villa 2 are a good shout.

As for a winger, we need a proper one, an Overmars, Freddie in his prime or a Pires would do nicely.

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Daley

Daley

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I think one of the Villa pair could be a bargain (both have contracts ending in the summer) and would accept the "squad" role and are experienced and have experience of playing in England. Basically, exactly what we need.

I think Modric looks like a decent player but is too similar to what we have. I don't know who else could fit the bill but agree that a pacy proper left winger is needed, not a Hleb or Rosicky type, who basically both want to play in the middle or on the right. There must be some 16 year old Frenchman Wenger has lined up.

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Peter Hitchens

Peter Hitchens

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I don't think we necessarily need a 'proper winger' for the left, but we definitely could do with somebody else to provide cover for the left. I don't think Ljungberg or Pires were 'proper wingers' and nor are Rosicky and Hleb but they've grown into their roles and look good there this season. The way we play now it works well having 3 players (those 2 and Fabregas) who are almost interchangable - they all have the passing, quick feet, neat and skillful play and combine well.

As we saw yesterday with our midfield injuries, without Fabregas and Hleb we really needed Rosicky (as the best creative midfielder) to move into the centre, but without him on the left we didn't have anyone comfortable playing there to fill in. If we get someone who can play well on the left I wouldn't mind if they are another player similar to Rosicky/Hleb. It would just mean we have the cover to fill the midfield when we have injury situations like last night.

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