Arsenal

[SeanR]

merde!

[Steve007]

Eduardo is out of Sunday at least and if Vermaelen has broken his leg as is feared we won't see him again this season.

season.

Vermaelen has been miles ahead of everyone else this season. If he is going to be out for a while then we are proper fucked. The guy is class, he defends like Adams did in his prime and scores goals Henry would be proud of.

[Daley]

Vermaelen has been miles ahead of everyone else this season. If he is going to be out for a while then we are proper fucked. The guy is class, he defends like Adams did in his prime and scores goals Henry would be proud of.

And gets the best out of Gallas and does his best to protect the worst goalie in the league. We are massively fucked if he is out for long.

[Rev]

From the paper this morning it sounded like "days" or "months" which adds to the tension a bit.

[Daley]

From the paper this morning it sounded like "days" or "months" which adds to the tension a bit.

Wenger said:

"Thomas Vermaelen we don't know. There will be an x-ray. He is on crutches and it is a fibula injury. We have to check tomorrow morning if it is just a nerve or a broken bone.

If it's a nerve it's days, if it's the other we have "sold" him for quite a while...

[Steve007]

If he's out for any length of time, I am mildly concerned about relying on Sol for the remainder of the season. I thought having Sol as cover and playing the odd game would be beneficial, but the rest of the season partnering Gallas?

[CandyBob]

I don't think anyone realistically thought we would be in this position after the Chelsea game?

In the last few weeks the expectation level has gone sky high, probably unfairly, which just goes to show how quickly things change in football. This team isn't up to winning the PL even from the position we are in. As mentioned earlier in the thread, we have been struggling in games for a few weeks now and have managed to scrape wins. This is good as before, winning when we have not been playing well was a problem, but the injuries will catch up with us eventually.

I think the squad, if it had an injury record that would be within the average across the PL, is strong enough. We never seem to have an average amount of injuries though.

Last night's game was disappointing as after sacrificing the FA Cup at the weekend, you would have expected a balls out performance. Villa did a good job of containing, but some of our players didn't perform or show the desire in such a big game. In much the same way as ManU last night, we should have been playing that game as though it was our last.

The best we can hope for is to not lose the next 3 games and see how far off the pace we find ourselves. If we are not too far off then maybe our relatively easy run-in will make it interesting.

[carlito]

Pretty negative here.

Obviously if Vermaelen is out for any serious amount of time it's going to be a huge loss. He's been outstanding in defence, he's brought the best out of Gallas and he has popped up and scored some important goals.

However Sol has proven he was worth the purchase, he might not have much in the way of legs these days, but he's a big lad, he knows the game and he'll do a job for us. Will he struggle against Rooney? Yes, but so does everyone.

I levy a massive proportion of the blame of our pretty insipid displays of late onto the head of Denilson. Obviously from a defensive perspective he is a liability: he doesn't even compete in the air, he can't tackle, he gives away possession regularly in incredibly dangerous areas, he commits unnecessary fouls in stupid areas, and his marking is dire (oh yeah, I'll just let SIDIBE outrun me, then instead of pressuring him as best I can, I'll just stroll away from him towards the box and let him cross). He also hurts us going forward, his passing is loose, he dwells on the ball, picks the wrong passes and because he can't bring the ball down under pressure he lays off the ball with these facking shat little flicks at chest height which no one can do anything. AND NONE OF THIS EVER GOES ON MATCH OF THE DAY SO NO ONE IS AWARE OF HOW MUCH THEY SHOULD HATE HIM!!!

We don't have to worry about this anymore Song is back dudes! Alex "I'm suddenly your most irreplacable player" Song.

Obviously the choice between Vermaelen and Campbell is an easy one I don't think the of Vermaelen/Denilson or Campbell/Song is quite so clear cut and I think I might be inclined to choose the later.

Also we've got Bendtner and hopefully Diaby back to lessen the blow of losing Verm at set pieces (as long as Diaby doesn't pull out the same set piece stunt he did last time we played manyoo).

I thought Bendtner made a difference yesterday, he has been out a long time yet he came on he really added something up front. He brought the ball down well and layed it off and passed it well too. Let's hope he can step it up.

[mindgames]

When's Flamini coming back?

[Dude Ranch]

When's Flamini coming back?

When he agrees to pay us a transfer fee.

[Rev]

Meeow Flamini.

[Daley]

Nicatlas Bendtner.

[Shoes]

You know, I woke up worried that we were going to lie down for United (like some sort of feline) but I'm full of crazy optimism now. Arshavin needs a good game, and he'll get it. Sol will punch Rooney's head clean off his shoulders. Almunia will acrobatically save a Ryan Giggs volley using his arse. We're going to WIN.

[Dude Ranch]

Arshavin needs a good game, and he'll get it. Sol will punch Rooney's head clean off his shoulders. Almunia will acrobatically save a Ryan Giggs volley using his arse. We're going to WIN.

If there were four things in life I wouldn't bet on..

[Rev]

Almunia will acrobatically save a Ryan Giggs volley using his arse.

That might happen. He'll probably have meant to use his hands, mind, but we'll take it.

[mindgames]

Meeow Flamini.

Mathieu Fleamini

[SeanR]

robinpersie?

[Daley]

Fedinand banned for four games. Nice of the FA to try and even Sunday up a bit.

[Daley]

Good news everyone.

Thomas Vermaelen has NOT fractured his leg but he still may miss Arsenal’s Premier League clash with Manchester United on Sunday.

[Rev]

\o/

New signing!

[CandyBob]

Phew.

[Dude Ranch]

\o/

New signing!

Tremendous!

[Rev]

Right, I'm going on the record and saying I really like Nicatlas Bendtner. How awesome is this quote:

"Is this a chance to become the No1 striker? That is my plan. Is it achievable? Of course. Why am I so confident? It is simple*. I am a good player."

Also, in 2014 he totally keeps Sergio Aguero out of the squad. He's still a bit crap, but just kinda gets goals in a Peter Crouch for England kinda way. You're not sure how, but they happen. For the record, Eduardo and Van Persie are both playing for billionaire-owned Stoke. In the Championship.

So yeah, ace. I salute him and his suitably cat-able name.

*This should have said "Simplez" though.

[Jonathan_Kerr]

Sounds like his positive affirmation he says in the bathroom mirror every morning.

[Rev]

But he said it loud!

He's ace.

[Dude Ranch]

I'll have some of that. Better than being scared of your own shadow like Walcott and Vela.

[Petrousgyre]

O'Neill and various Villa players getting their knickers in a twist regarding Wengers comments about them playing a long ball game, which seems a little odd. If you read it in context it wasn't particularly disparaging, for my money he accurately described what Arsenal came up against:

"I believe we dropped two points because we had clear chances, but on the other hand it was a very difficult game because they stopped us from playing when we had the ball and when they had the ball they played a very long-ball game and closed us down. It was difficult for us. We couldn't find our ­passing game."

To my mind that's not remotely contentious, yet the english press have sided with O'Neill and are characterising this as some kind of sulky french fit of pique. It's similar to how when Drogba scored twice against us in November, le boss said:

"Drogba is a good player. It’s funny because he doesn’t do a lot, but he’s efficient in what he does. You would be surprised by the number of balls he touched today. Jimmy Greaves was a great player, you still remember him. And Drogba is a great player, nobody can deny that. He’s very efficient.I think as well, at the moment he’s in a period where he kicks the ball and it goes in because you cannot tell me he wanted to kick the ball where he kicked the ball on the cross. He’s a good free-kick taker, but on the first goal, at the moment he has complete confidence and he doesn’t wonder ‘will I score or not?’. He just goes for it and he did very well. It’s a great goal, the first one, but it’s a goal of a striker in complete confidence."

Again, accurate and overwhelmingly complimentary, but the mental english press took that to be some kind of mortal insult, a case of sour grapes on Wengers part which is just insane. They reduced it to a 'jibe' about how Drogba 'does nothing on the pitch' which is utter crap. It's interesting how the english press have their own narrative they feel compelled to follow regardless of what's actually said. Wenger is meant to be petulant and spiky in defeat and he'll be damned if his actual words contradict that. If you read the international press' account of his comments on Drogba they describe it, quite accurately, as complimentary.

Anyway, sorry that was a longer than intended rant.

[David Kenny]

O'Neill and various Villa players getting their knickers in a twist regarding Wengers comments about them playing a long ball game, which seems a little odd. If you read it in context it wasn't particularly disparaging, for my money he accurately described what Arsenal came up against:

"I believe we dropped two points because we had clear chances, but on the other hand it was a very difficult game because they stopped us from playing when we had the ball and when they had the ball they played a very long-ball game and closed us down. It was difficult for us. We couldn't find our ­passing game."

To my mind that's not remotely contentious, yet the english press have sided with O'Neill and are characterising this as some kind of sulky french fit of pique. It's similar to how when Drogba scored twice against us in November, le boss said:

"Drogba is a good player. It’s funny because he doesn’t do a lot, but he’s efficient in what he does. You would be surprised by the number of balls he touched today. Jimmy Greaves was a great player, you still remember him. And Drogba is a great player, nobody can deny that. He’s very efficient.I think as well, at the moment he’s in a period where he kicks the ball and it goes in because you cannot tell me he wanted to kick the ball where he kicked the ball on the cross. He’s a good free-kick taker, but on the first goal, at the moment he has complete confidence and he doesn’t wonder ‘will I score or not?’. He just goes for it and he did very well. It’s a great goal, the first one, but it’s a goal of a striker in complete confidence."

Again, accurate and overwhelmingly complimentary, but the mental english press took that to be some kind of mortal insult, a case of sour grapes on Wengers part which is just insane. They reduced it to a 'jibe' about how Drogba 'does nothing on the pitch' which is utter crap. It's interesting how the english press have their own narrative they feel compelled to follow regardless of what's actually said. Wenger is meant to be petulant and spiky in defeat and he'll be damned if his actual words contradict that. If you read the international press' account of his comments on Drogba they describe it, quite accurately, as complimentary.

Anyway, sorry that was a longer than intended rant.

But both of those comments are totally wrong. Villa didn't play a long ball game at all, and Drogba is massively involved in games even when he doesn't score.

I think it's called damning with faint praise, and it's pretty transparent.

[Rev]

Whoever (someone in here) said it in the football thread was right - he just does it to avoid talking about important stuff. Pretty clever.

[Daley]

It was me. I said:

Wenger's post match interviews are intended solely to distract people from anything Arsenal may have done or not done. You didn't think he really couldn't see all those millions of incidents did you?

(Also see: Fergie calling the ref fat after they drew at home with Sunderland.)

See Wenger's words have worked. We are talking about his interview and not the game and the fact that Arsenal failed to win, have 8 million players injured and are going to win nothing again. He's a genius.

Goes for this thread too. We are talking about Wenger's pointless interview and not the two dropped points.