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cubeadvance

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Steve007

Steve007

Posted
Posted
I really must mention Diaby's amazingly bad performance yesterday too. It was amazingly bad.

Yes, he embaressed himself with a performance that reminded me of David Hillier. However, Wenger must take some of the blame for putting a right footed donkey on the left wing! :unsure:

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Steve007

Steve007

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I'm waiting for a Steve007 diatribe!

whoever said buy Tevez speaks the truth.

I can't be angry anymore. I've just started laughing at everything.

Tevez is a very hard worker but he's not exactly clinical. He will never come to Arsenal because as a free agent of sorts, his salary demands will not fit in with the clubs 'wage structure'.

We call all forget about fancy signings over the summer. He will bring in 2 first team squad players and let a few go. Our squad will be just as bare next season as it is next season.

However, I hope Kroenke's takeover happens this summer and he orders Wenger to spend money where it's needed to enable us to challenge the top 3 instead of making us look like a load of mugs again next season.

Did anyone read the match program from yesterdays game? Wenger makes no apology for his team selection again Man United on Tuesday, instead he just gets a hard-on about how the average age of the midfield was about 22 and that is something to be proud of. Fucking prick.

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Peter Hitchens

Peter Hitchens

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Yes, he embaressed himself with a performance that reminded me of David Hillier. However, Wenger must take some of the blame for putting a right footed donkey on the left wing! :unsure:

It does seem to be about time ot give up on Diaby. His progress has been stalled by repeated injuries, and he's barely ever had a run in the centre, but still... it's hard to remember the last time he was really impressive.

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Steve007

Steve007

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It does seem to be about time ot give up on Diaby. His progress has been stalled by repeated injuries, and he's barely ever had a run in the centre, but still... it's hard to remember the last time he was really impressive.

Diaby is frustrating because on his day, he reminds me of a young Vieira. The problem is that he is rarely on form and is jinxed with injuries. He and Denilson are Championship level footballers - not good enough for Arsenal.

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Dude Ranch

Dude Ranch

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Diaby is frustrating because on his day, he reminds me of a young Vieira. The problem is that he is rarely on form and is jinxed with injuries. He and Denilson are Championship level footballers - not good enough for Arsenal.

The thing is, I've been waiting for them to get good for ages. I've defended them, applauded their good games and put their bad performances down to age and experience. And that's exactly what Wenger's been doing and where has it got us? If they're not cutting the mustard then it should be goodbye, IMHO. If they get good at another Club then brilliant, good for them. Get a fee, free up the wages and sign someone decent for today. We need players NOW. I'm dreading the summer.

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carlito

carlito

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I don't feel that the cause is hopeless for Arsenal unlike many of you guys seem to. A couple of players in the right positions could make a huge difference.

I don't feel we have a massive problems going forward, when we have the right players playing the in right positions we can be pretty menacing going forward. The lack of players we get in the opponents box is fucking galling, but that is a question of tactics rather than personnel.

I would love to get rid of Adebayor just because he is a fucking lazy twat who seems to think he is doing everyone a favour just by stepping on the pitch, but realistically we need that presence up front, and although I rate Bendtner as a player for the not too distant future, he is not ready to lead the line all on his own week in, week out. With our defence in the state it is, and the apparent willingness of our our midfield to give up posession so recklessly, we rely much more on long balls out of our half, and it's led to some pretty important goals for us this season too. Adebayor is a talented guy, you just don't get many guys of his size and strength with his speed and skill. I really hope he can get his head right for next season, because he can make a real difference as we saw last season. Unfortunately I have seen nothing to suggest he will, but I don't know if cashing in on him after a poor season will result in us landing a like-for-like replacement who can make an instant impact.

Talk of Tevez/Villa being "just what we need" just doesn't seem right to me. They are both top class (Villa more so in my opinion) but although Wenger's oft-repeated mantra of injured players being "like new signings" does rankle more than slightly, we will have Eduardo back next season and he, in my opinion, can be just as good in exactly the same role those two would be most comfortable playing in. He is an absolutely clinical finisher, he's got the pace and guile to make a yard on any defender, and more importantly he actually gets into the box - shock, fucking horror. Don't get me wrong, I would love to have either those two players at Arsenal, but make no mistake these would be £30 million signings and I just feel that money would be far better spent on shoring up our defence, both in the back four and midfield.

Also lets not forget that, as impressive as Villa is, his goals are scored in La Liga which is a world apart from the Premiership. It's a league in which Diego Forlan and Freddi Kanoute have been amongst the top scorers in recent seasons and they hardly set the Premiership alight in their time here. I know he's also got a great goal scoring record at international level too, but so does Peter Crouch, and playing next to Fernando Torres with the midfield they have behind him you'd expect a few.

There can be absolutely no doubt that we need a top-class centreback. At the moment we have two "footballing" first choice centre backs. I fucking hate that phrase - it almost forgives a lack of defensive know how. "Oh they can't head the ball and they lose players willy-nilly at set pieces, but, you know, they are great on the ball" - so fucking what. Gallas is approaching his twilight years and is a massive cunt who could not be a worse role model to all our young players, and Toure, as painful as it is to say, is just not the defender he used to be. We need a big tall bastard who will get in amongst it. Djourou is physically closer to what I think we need, but he just doesn't seem to have the bite in him - it's like sending a choir boy into a boxing ring, even with the best intentions, he just doesn't seem to have the heart, he seems too soft.

Unfortunately that's going to be a rough position to fill, as I can't see us picking up a defender from another a Prem team. I know Hangleland is touted around as possible target, and there is no doubt he would improve what is a very sorry pool of Arsenal centrebacks at the moment, but I just don't see it for some reason. Agger looked to be in the shop window for a while too before he signed his deal, but that's gone now, and even though I really like him physically (no homo lol etc) and I reckon he will mature into an excellent player, he is prone to the odd mistake and that's the last fucking thing we need, we already fill our "try to turn a player in your own defensive third" quota and more with Clichy.

So assuming they come from another league, there is a pretty decent chance they will have have a good few months of being completely caught out by the pace of the game. Recent examples being Vidic when he first started at Manu or Skrtel at Liverpool. They both had atrocious starts to their careers in England and look at them now. My glory pick would be Christian Zapata at Udinese, he's young and untested in the Prem, but he's big and, from what I've seen, he's got great awareness of potential danger which we are sorely lacking. Unfortunately he will cost a fucking bomb, I don't think he has too long left on his contract, but with him, Quagliarella (sp?) and Inler likely to on the way out of the club sooner rather than later and a potential queue of big money club suitors, there is no reason to expect he will go for anything less than a pretty inflated figure inspite of market conditions. Anyway even if we don't get him with our extensive web of scouts I really hope that we get someone good. And big. And nasty.

Sendero's inevitable return is NOT a solution.

The other position is a defensive midfielder. We lost Flamini this season and it killed us. We were written off at the start of last season as dropping out of the UCL places and Flamini came in and changed the team almost single handedly. Giving us a bit of structure and a bit of strength not to mentioning freeing up Cesc. We played the best football in the league, winning games for fun and we rightfully sat at the top of the league right up until the end (well, almost the end). Can you even remember what that feel like?

Someone who could play the ball a bit, as Flamini did, would be a lovely bonus, but really just someone who knows that his sole primary role is to close people down, tackle and not give the fucking ball away in our half. I don't think any Arsenal fan needs examples of goals we have needless conceeded this season for reasons no more complex than one of the opposition players has simply not been closed out or pressured even slightly on the ball in dangerous areas. Not because no one was close to them, just because no one thought do it. It simply isn't in the footballing make-up of most of our players, and that is not really their fault. We've got to find the balance, for every Pirlo there has to be a Gattuso, for every Gerrard a Mascherano.

Song is the best we've got, and I've been really impressed with his improvement towards the end of the season - but is he that much better than say Plessis or Lucas at Liverpool or Fletcher at Man U or Obi Mikel at Chelsea? Probably not and these players are all second choice players or understudies at their clubs and Song is by far the best we have in this role and it's just not good enough. It wouldn't kill Song not to play week in week out, in the same way it didn't kill Clichy when we had Cole and it didn't kill Walcott when we were playing Eboue on the right - it helped them, it gave them time to learn their trade outside the pressure cooker of must-win games.

We have to get someone, and someone good at that. It wouldn't just help us in defence, it would give a chance to get the jump on teams with early counterattacks. We tried to get Inler and we tried to get Alonso, but we couldn't see it through. Although those two are slightly further up the luxury fancy pants spectrum than the bare minimum of gritty terrier that I would have settled for they could have made a huge difference to our season. Huge.

I don't give a fuck if Francis Coquellin or Jay Emmanuel Thomas is going to break out of the reserves and be the most cultured holding midfielder the game has ever seen in four years time. We need it now. If they are good enough then they can break into the team through merit, not be rushed in through a desperate need to fill a woefully vacant position.

Anyway I really hope with Gazidis taking a bit of the weight of seeing through the meat and bones of signing players from Wengers over-encumbered shoulders we will see at least a couple of much needed players coming through.

One really good centreback and one really good defensive midfielder would make me a happy man, any extras and I would be choking up gleeful sick until August.

Wow. Essay, sorry.

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phresh

phresh

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Posted

You shouldn't have sold Palacios (or Flamini or Diarra really..)!

Highlighting the average age of the midfield against United was daft, especially considering the average age of Uniteds midfield (including Rooney and Park) was only a couple of years more. Obviously ours is a lot more expensive but thats not the point (or maybe it is).

You definitely need a new CM, but I don't agree with you needing a big-bruiser of sorts. Lets be honest, you really, really need Yaya Toure. Song's done well recently but he isn't an organiser and he doesn't have the attacking threat of a typical Arsenal side.

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phresh

phresh

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Losing the CL final might make him think about it! He would also get more freedom at Arsenal which could appeal. It's a long shot but for Arsenal to be really competitive in midfield that is exactly the player, or kind of player, they need.

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Lucky

Lucky

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Palacios was on trial with us back in the day when we had Gilberto, Diarra & Flamini. I think the story goes, Bruce asked if anyone was available for a loan deal, AW said no but he's got this trialist who is pretty good and is worth a look. The rest we know.

Lee Dixon

Their 21-game unbeaten run in the league has probably papered over the cracks for a while.

In the grand scheme of things they need a holding midfielder, another striker, a centre-half who is commanding in the air and a new goalkeeper.

That is four players just to get anywhere near competing. I think Arsenal are quite a way ahead of Aston Villa and Everton but they are miles behind Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea.

Maybe this week will have been an eye-opener for the Frenchman.

Bloody hope so!!

Like Daley said, Lee Dixon is absolutely spot on.

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Lucas

Lucas

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Very good read, but we've all been saying it in this thread for ages!

Another problem with our defence is that they're so sloppy. There is no Adams or Bould drilling them now, no "old-pro" to learn good habits from. Our defence at corners/set-pieces is horrible.

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Mars

Mars

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I'm hoping that Gazidas and Kroenke give le boss a kick up the bum. The 2 games this week have been like watching your Dad getting beaten up.

Also, I'm going to the Man Utd game this weekend... in the United seats :unsure: Got offered the ticket by a good mate who's coming up for the weekend and I was mistakenly under the impression that I might actually witness a contested match, not the arse-raping that will surely be followed by them lifting the trophy and me vomiting into my shoes.

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Daley

Daley

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Posted
Has anyone noticed the increased number of mentions of Usmanov being a large shareholder and what he thinks of Wenger's decisions to buy/not buy in the media recently?

I find it very disturbing.

It is all gonna kick off in the summer. They (Usmanov and Kroenke) both seem to be preparing for a full takeover.

My money is on Stan the Man. USA! USA!

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Steve007

Steve007

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Dear Supporter,

You can be positive or negative about Sunday's game. We lost the game 4-1 which is a major disappointment, but I feel going forward we had a very interesting game and created plenty of chances.

It was never a 4-1 game, we should have been 2-0 up before Chelsea had a shot on goal. On the first free-kick, we made a mistake and they scored. We missed seven or eight clear-cut chances and on every single mistake we made we were punished.

The free-kick for the first goal should not have been awarded. We live in a league now where the divers are rewarded. It's not right but it is like that. I don't think the free-kick should have been given but it doesn't mean that we shouldn't win the header afterwards. I believe we must live in our job where the referee makes some decisions for you and some against. But defending consequently you should clear the ball on the cross.

We conceded four at Liverpool, three against Man United and four on Sunday. We have to improve the way we defend. But I wouldn't like to come out when we lose 4-1 and say 'listen, we are going to buy four defenders'. I believe we have quality defenders and it's more a case of balancing the team defensively than the quality of our defenders. If you look at the second goal we could have done much better in midfield to prevent it.

Our chance of finishing third has gone but three months ago everybody said we would finish 10th, so I would have signed at that point to finish fourth. I don't feel we have to be too disappointed with that, but what is very disappointing for us, is in the games that mattered in the last three or four weeks we couldn't win. That's where we have to analyse.

It is difficult to deal with two heavy home defeats in a week but this is a job for strong people. When you decide to live in a competitive world you have to deal with that - we cannot complain. It is a bit more difficult when you are young, but when you are young you want to be challenged. It is a good opportunity to show we have the mental strength that is needed at this level.

I still feel I was more worried in February when we were drawing 0-0 without creating a chance. On Sunday I feel we created the chances and had an interesting game. When you see that in a team it's always easier to correct what doesn't work defensively; if you don't create chances you are always more worried.

Thanks for your support.

Arsène Wenger

:unsure:

And I was waiting for the "mental strength" comment.

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Mars

Mars

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Seriously, you wouldn't stay for that would you? That's like watching a couple of your mates double-teaming your bird.

Well I'm going with my mate who's a Man U fan so I'd feel obliged. I'd just really fucking hammered. Yeah. [/arseblog].

If it comes down to a scrap between the 2 potential buyers then you've got to back Kroenke all the way - he's got admirers on the board, influenced some key decisions already and he's got to a far more suitable candidate for the fit & proper persons test, especially if it's revised.

What's happened to Dein? Just keeping his head down and going to the games?

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