• Update: The issue surrounding 2FA logins using the Google Authenticator should be resolved now. Sorry for any inconvenience this has caused. /Tom
  • We've been getting a growing number of reports from users being unable to log into their accounts using Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) with the Google Authenticator, putting them into an error loop. Rest assured we're trying to fix this asap. Thanks for your patience! /Tom

Arsenal Thread

I pity the 11 year old boys that Mark Johnson is coaching. This is a prime example wy the English national team are a bunch of underachievers.
Football at youth level is all about technical skills. About developing technical skills and awareness, about learning that it's not all about dribbling but about passing and football intelligence. All what Mark Johnson describes as boring should be done at an older age.

Am i talking nonsense? Maybe. Who am i to discuss with Mark Johnson?
Well i also coach a youth team for the third season running.

The results of my team:

Second best under 6 team of Belgium
Best under 7 team of Belgium.
At present my team has played 7 matches has won them all, hasn't conceded a single goal and has scored an average of 12 goals every match.

In all this time the team only lost one game, 1-0 against a team of 7 year olds when they were five.

At the beginning of the season my team played a match against Germinal Beerschot, that is the team with the best Belgian youth teams, a team that produced players like Vermaelen, Vertonghen, Dembele, Alderweireld (all in our national team). My team beat their strongest team with 16-3.

Do i learn these boys pressure and set pieces? No. I constantly let learn them skills and combination football. I have a training drill where they can only touch the ball two times and things like that. Football is about skills and inspiration at youth level, not about transpiration.

I appreciate you very much jumbo, you are a true football fan (despite being a Man Utd fan, that's just a silly joke). But i do think that Wenger coaches his teams. I still consider Sagna a very good defender. The problem is that Arsenal lack a decent DMF a Viera, a Petit (or even the Brazilian player they once had ond who is still in the national team: Gilberto Silva). If Arsenal could transfer a player like Van Bommel they would win plenty of silverware. That is the only piece of the jigsaw that is still missing.

Oh and Vermaelen was in both last year's premiership's team of the year and the UEFA team of the year...so he can't be that bad.
 
Last edited:
gerd said:
I pity the 11 year old boys that Mark Johnson is coaching. This is a prime example wy the English national team are a bunch of underachievers.
Football at youth level is all about technical skills. About developing technical skills and awareness, about learning that it's not all about dribbling but about passing and football intelligence. All what Mark Johnson describes as boring should be done at an older age.

Am i talking nonsense? Maybe. Who am i to discuss with Mark Johnson?
Well i also coach a youth team for the third season running.

The results of my team:

Second best under 6 team of Belgium
Best under 7 team of Belgium.
At present my team has played 7 matches has won them all, hasn't conceded a single goal and has scored an average of 12 goals every match.

In all this time the team only lost one game, 1-0 against a team of 7 year olds when they were five.

At the beginning of the season my team played a match against Germinal Beerschot, that is the team with the best Belgian youth teams, a team that produced players like Vermaelen, Vertonghen, Dembele, Alderweireld (all in our national team). My team beat their strongest team with 16-3.

Do i learn these boys pressure and set pieces? No. I constantly let learn them skills and combination football. I have a training drill where they can only touch the ball two times and things like that. Football is about skills and inspiration at youth level, not about transpiration.

I appreciate you very much jumbo, you are a true football fan (despite being a Man Utd fan, that's just a silly joke). But i do think that Wenger coaches his teams. I still consider Sagna a very good defender. The problem is that Arsenal lack a decent DMF a Viera, a Petit (or even the Brazilian player they once had ond who is still in the national team: Gilberto Silva). If Arsenal could transfer a player like Van Bommel they would win plenty of silverware. That is the only piece of the jigsaw that is still missing.

Oh and Vermaelen was in both last year's premiership's team of the year and the UEFA team of the year...so he can't be that bad.
Click to expand...

good post.

Well done with your team :))

But how are they second best under 6 team, but the best under 7 team? surely the first best under six team will be the best under 7 aswell? or does it work differently?
 
The first season they were the second best under 6 team.
The second season they were the best under 7 team.

It's strange that they are that good. They have no obvious big talent player (you see them regularly, the kids with superb skills, but almost always very selfish) but it's a team of 8 boys who are in the same class since they were2,5 years old and who play football together every single day.

In the summmer holidays, we (the fathers) organize litle tournaments to keep them entertained (last summer we played an WC of course). They have tremendous team spirit, are fastly developing good technical skills and have tremendous vista and football intelligence. On top of that they have some big, athletic players, which is very important at that age.
But the the one who's developing best is a tiny litle guy who was by far the weakest link the first season. He compensates his athletic weaknes with technical abilities and outstanding passing and awareness.
 
Ok, ok, I've been misunderstood a bit, my fault.

Forget the bit about youth coaching that's irrelevant and I disagree with that part anyway, I was talking about Arsenal. These players aren't 6, 7, 11 years old they are adults and professional footballers so defending is important.

What that guy said is over the top and exaggerated but I do agree with the crux of what he is saying.

How many times have you guys looked totally amateur at defending in the past few seasons? To me, there's a clear lack of understanding at the back mixed with a lack of desire to defend.

Of course we don't know what goes on on the training ground but if they do spend time on defending then they need some new coaches who are as good as the ones who teach them how to attack and play nice triangles etc.

Vermaelen was good last season, but far from brilliant as shown by Abou's posts with that link to the zonalmarking.net article. Scoring so many goals in his first few games masked any defence deficiencies he's shown from then on and they've been largely ignored. First impressions stick and all that.

Clichy is living off his one good season (07/08), more recently he's been pretty poor to be fair. He costs you quite a few goals with his laziness, poor positioning etc and contributes very little at the other end of the pitch. He's got the potential to be a really good player but he just isn't effective at all.

Toure's reputation definitely was tarnished. He was really poor after returning from the ACN in 2008 all the way through to most of last season at City and he's only just starting to recover that reputation now. He used to get mentioned as one of the best centrebacks in the league, now he doesn't really, though he's definitely looked better since Mancini arrived.
 
Jumbo_ said:
Ok, ok, I've been misunderstood a bit, my fault.

Forget the bit about youth coaching that's irrelevant and I disagree with that part anyway, I was talking about Arsenal. These players aren't 6, 7, 11 years old they are adults and professional footballers so defending is important.

What that guy said is over the top and exaggerated but I do agree with the crux of what he is saying.

How many times have you guys looked totally amateur at defending in the past few seasons? To me, there's a clear lack of understanding at the back mixed with a lack of desire to defend.

Of course we don't know what goes on on the training ground but if they do spend time on defending then they need some new coaches who are as good as the ones who teach them how to attack and play nice triangles etc.

Vermaelen was good last season, but far from brilliant as shown by Abou's posts with that link to the zonalmarking.net article. Scoring so many goals in his first few games masked any defence deficiencies he's shown from then on and they've been largely ignored. First impressions stick and all that.

Clichy is living off his one good season (07/08), more recently he's been pretty poor to be fair. He costs you quite a few goals with his laziness, poor positioning etc and contributes very little at the other end of the pitch. He's got the potential to be a really good player but he just isn't effective at all.

Toure's reputation definitely was tarnished. He was really poor after returning from the ACN in 2008 all the way through to most of last season at City and he's only just starting to recover that reputation now. He used to get mentioned as one of the best centrebacks in the league, now he doesn't really, though he's definitely looked better since Mancini arrived.
Click to expand...

I am of a differing opinion though. I think one of our big problems defensively is our keeper. If we had a better, more vocal keeper then I think this would do wonders for our defence. If our defence could rely on the keeper, then they could concentrate on themselves more.

Another problem we have is the way we play football always looking to get forward and get goals. This is always going to leave us vulnerable at the back.

We didn't suddenly play differently though when Toure came back from the African cup. He just wasn't the same player, is that Arsenals fault or the players?

Also with Clichy everybody was talking him up and saying how great he was. We never changed really and he has got shitter? Is this Arsenals fault or the players?

Vermaelen I agree isn't amazing and has got alot from the early goals, but I do think he has alot more to offer and it was a good first season from him. Nobody is saying he is one of the best in the world or anything.

I think we get players that are young, then they play very well and get too big for their boots and just don't have that desire anymore. It is very strange as you would think they get like that if they won lots of trophies. But they get this ego when they beat a team by more than a couple of goals and put in a good performance.

Players coming through like Gibbs and Wilshere should hopefully give clichy and diaby a kick up the arse and make them worried about their place in the team and so they step up their game....we will have to wait and see.

I really don't think it has to do much with the defensive coaching as a whole. I think it has more to do with our players attitude to defending. Including our midfield players that also need to defend but sometimes think that they don't have to for some reason.

I think a new goalkeeper and finding a consistant central defensive partnership is the key to our defence getting better. Our defence has changed around alot this season and we have two new players playing there, so it is never going to be perfect straight away. Imo our two new defenders look promising aswell.
 
Yeah I take your point, it's probably a bit of both.

Partizan look like they could rip you apart so far but a great goal puts you ahead.

Awesome from Wilshere.:SHOCK:
 
Decent result in the end. Didn't see it though, but sounded like they started off brighter, but after the goal we were pretty much in control?

A couple of headed goals aswell, hopefully we can get some more of those from our crosses :))

Now bring on Chelsea! ;))
 
BobbyBox said:
Decent result in the end. Didn't see it though, but sounded like they started off brighter, but after the goal we were pretty much in control?

A couple of headed goals aswell, hopefully we can get some more of those from our crosses :))

Now bring on Chelsea! ;))
Click to expand...

tbh mate we was poor. boring match as well. too much pass pass and very little movement from our players.

Defence as per normal is a joke. if that was chelsea we was facing, they would have banged 4 at least.

not looking forward to the chelsea match as im 100% certain we are going to lose that by more than 2 goals at least
 
jonneymendoza said:
tbh mate we was poor. boring match as well. too much pass pass and very little movement from our players.

Defence as per normal is a joke. if that was chelsea we was facing, they would have banged 4 at least.

not looking forward to the chelsea match as im 100% certain we are going to lose that by more than 2 goals at least
Click to expand...

I've read a couple of match reports and they don't mention we were poor? said they were better before the goal and then we stepped things up.

on the bbc site it said we had 65% of the possession and 15 shots to there 3?

It is an away game and that is a good result imo. not every game can be entertaining aswell.

I am not looking forward to the Chelsea match, but hopefully we can do ourselves proud and our players put in the desire and performance to justify them being at Arsenal.

Fab should be back for the Chelsea game, shouldn't he? that will be a bit of a boost. Our defence do need to buck up their ideas though, otherwise we will get raped by chelsea.
 
well , easy for the Arsenal :BOP: good group stage for us a cake walk. I only fear these team can just cause some niggle injuries . Can`t wait for Cesc to comeback and start commanding the mid ,because it seem like no one is really commanding the ship atm.
 
Aboutreika18 said:
This is why:

YouTube - Amr Zaki vs Kolo Toure
Click to expand...

What do you mean? This is why what?

The point you quoted, I am saying who's fault is it that Toure got worse after the African cup? Arsenals or His own fault?

The video shows him being a doofus that is all.

He played in the same system before he went away and was highly regarded. He came back to the same team and never looked the same again. How is that Arsenes fault?

If he was a highly regarded player before he came to Arsenal and then he got shitter and shitter at Arsenal, then the point would be valid...but I don't think it is a valid point :))
 
About Arsenal's defensive problems.
I've heard something strange in the Guardian's podcast.
Sagna was quoted saying that Arsenal's back four communicate in French, unless the GK's needs to be involved and then they speak English...poor Almunia. This may well explain some things (if it's true).
Wenger (even being Feench himself) should change this. Most French people are very chauvinistic when it comes to speak foreign languages...IMO this is very unprofessional.
 
Aboutreika18 said:
It's Amr Zaki's fault. ;)
Click to expand...

I think he might be to blame for all of our injuries aswell! the bastard!

gerd said:
About Arsenal's defensive problems.
I've heard something strange in the Guardian's podcast.
Sagna was quoted saying that Arsenal's back four communicate in French, unless the GK's needs to be involved and then they speak English...poor Almunia. This may well explain some things (if it's true).
Wenger (even being Feench himself) should change this. Most French people are very chauvinistic when it comes to speak foreign languages...IMO this is very unprofessional.
Click to expand...

That does sound silly. They need to all be unified especially with the keeper.
 
gerd said:
About Arsenal's defensive problems.
I've heard something strange in the Guardian's podcast.
Sagna was quoted saying that Arsenal's back four communicate in French, unless the GK's needs to be involved and then they speak English...poor Almunia. This may well explain some things (if it's true).
Wenger (even being Feench himself) should change this. Most French people are very chauvinistic when it comes to speak foreign languages...IMO this is very unprofessional.
Click to expand...

LOL it wouldnt surprise me if that was true
 
Kinda funny, as when we went for that long run on our way to the CL final, we set a bench mark in clean sheets in the CL, and our back line spoke in French then as well, albeit, with a German keeper (come back Jens!)...

Eboue......Senderos.....Toure......Flamini
 
ppl just make assumptions I remember gerd said "at least Vermaelen is not injured" from the international break :SMUG: . Thing is he was even though by vision he didn`t see him woppling . By the way Vermaelen is out still :COAT:
 
Yes.. i remember that. It turned out that i was totally wrong.
That was Murphy's law.
I assumed that because Vermaelen ended the match...that could also be the reason why he hadn't the best game.

About the language thing. I did hear that in the Guardian's football podcast...of course i'm not sure it's true...
 
IceMan_Bergkamp said:
Kinda funny, as when we went for that long run on our way to the CL final, we set a bench mark in clean sheets in the CL, and our back line spoke in French then as well, albeit, with a German keeper (come back Jens!)...

Eboue......Senderos.....Toure......Flamini
Click to expand...

Yeah come back Jens...great keeper for us. Entertaining too!
 
Chelsea Arsenal starting team = 13 players formed in France

chamakh, nasri, diaby, song, clichy, squillaci, koscielny, sagna, cech, drogba, essien, anelka, malouda
 
Well Arsenal should spend some BIG time in gym after defeat to Chelsea surley they are to week!If you compere Chelsea and Arsenal players then there is big big difference betwen their body built!!PLUS it would make less injuries!!BIG example is Alex amazing power i thin non of Arsenal players can do that well maybe Van Persie or Vermaelen but only by half!!
 
Dissapointed but expected a loss.

plus points are that we played well and they didn't destroy us :))

Also we are without Vermaelen, Cesc, Van Persie and Walcott (who was our most on form player before he got injured).

Although we are always without players, I think with a game at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea you have to think of the positives.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom