Arsenal Thread

Rentboy said:
Theo being on the bench is credited mostly to his contract situation. He will enter his final year and apparently his people said they'd wait until the season was over before discussing renewal details. Then Wenger said "Oh yeah? Then you can have a seat over there Theo, that bench needs warming". After Theo realised he has no guaranteed place in Arsenal's starting XI and will be getting 0 minutes if he drags this into a saga, apparently his people are finally back to the negotiations table with Wenger. So I've heard.

Whatever is really happening, Theo won't be holding Wenger to ransom anymore. He did it in 2013, played his hand well and became the club's best paid player. We had just lost Van Persie some 7 months before that, so they gave in to his demands.

Now if he's trying to do the same, I say good luck to him. Much has changed with Arsenal since. We signed Özil and Sanchez and Welbeck... so Walcott should find it hard to claim a place in the first XI as it is, let alone if he drags contract talks. I'm thinking Wenger would sell him in a heart beat if the talks aren't productive or if he senses Theo's agents are too greedy.
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I agree. I still feel a little sour about what Walcott did back then, talking about he wanted to play as the up-top striker...

Keeping him was definitely the right decision, because as you've said we had already lost a lot of our best players. However, in terms of footballing contribution, he's been pretty much plagued with injuries throughout the whole time.

He's had his moments of brilliance, and is now a decent option off the bench to vary the game approach, but I don't think he's the type of player we want week in and week out to be a starter.

Looking back on all the players who left us, which one's would you take back for a guaranteed spot in the Starting XI?

Van Persie
Fabregas
Clichy
Sagna
Song
Nasri

I reckon we don't really need any of them. I might take Song back if his attitude is not bad. They're all quality players, but it's hard to say that they're a definite step-up from who we have right now and that they would earn a XI position right now.
 
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AK.Rabona said:
I agree. I still feel a little sour about what Walcott did back then, talking about he wanted to play as the up-top striker...

Keeping him was definitely the right decision, because as you've said we had already lost a lot of our best players. However, in terms of footballing contribution, he's been pretty much plagued with injuries throughout the whole time.

He's had his moments of brilliance, and is now a decent option off the bench to vary the game approach, but I don't think he's the type of player we want week in and week out to be a starter.

Looking back on all the players who left us, which one's would you take back for a guaranteed spot in the Starting XI?

Van Persie
Fabregas
Clichy
Sagna
Song
Nasri

I reckon we don't really need any of them. I might take Song back if his attitude is not bad. They're all quality players, but it's hard to say that they're a definite step-up from who we have right now and that they would earn a XI position right now.
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Hard to say because Van Persie had one good golden season
then been injured
Nasri only plays here and there and this season has been poor
Fabregas maybe the only one,
Clichy done decent recent form not great but wouldn't pick him overall
Sagna had a great final season but that was probably to get more money
he hasnt played much for city but when he did he hasn't done well
looked rusty, Song started great for west ham but seems a bit fatigue in recent games but he could have been a good backup for Coquelin

Right now I cant really say who probably Fabregas

Arsenal 2-1 not making it easy
but ref has been awful reading players constantly kicking and taking out the player on the follow through atkinson has been crap

Come on Arsenal!!!!

Full Time Arsenal in final :D
In the final Reading played fantastic but rough
Arsenal didnt play the best until Giroud came on arsenal shouldve had welback wide and giroud on from the start
 
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Giroud wins aerial balls from the spot kick w/ class. We had nervy moments and the errors were a gift for both sides. Another final as holders of the cup .
 
It's Arsenal vs Aston Villa in the fa cup final

Hoping Wenger will take it more seriously with his lineup because that was the mistake
Hope to see Monreal instead of Gibbs, Debuchy is good but he just came back from 3 months out and ended up playing 120 mins

It will be a tuff match and Arsenal will need to be near their best
but it'll be great to retain the cup making it two in a row
 
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Monreal over Gibbs anytime for me.
Gabriel came on yesterday and was brilliant. Was a reassuring presence and almost scored. Mertesacker had almost scored too at the start, but their keeper made great saves. I almost felt sorry for him after the 2nd goal. Almost.

At some point I thought the referee was allowing too many dangerous tackles. There was that leg breaker one on Mertesacker that forced him out. I hope the BFG isn't badly hurt. That was appalling, red card worthy all day long.
It seemed Atkinson was officiating "Championship style" and I was hoping Arsenal would get more physical and start grinding some ankles themselves via Coquelin and Co.

Happily Girroud came on and he made us much better up front with another dimension to our play. But I have to say that at least yesterday our most expensive signings carried us through to the final. Sanchez with 2 goals and Özil, who was superb, one of his best matches so far. I could watch a replay of that assist for our 1st and have a hard on right now.

So, we're facing Villa. We can beat them to retain the FA Cup as long as we don't take anything for granted and play as focused as our last Premiership appearances. Not like yesterday, when we were a bit sloppy. Oh, and beware of Benteke. Our centre halves need to bring their A-game to the final, cause Benteke is on form again.

PS: To answer the question about former players, the only ex-player I would take right now is Fabregas. The man is so good it's outrageous. I would find space for him. Was gutted when we didn't re-signed him, because he wanted to return to Arsenal. But then again, we got Alexis, so there's that.
 
I think Monreal has improved greatly this year defending better and knows the right times to attack

in my opinion theres just times when gibbs goes forward at the wrong occassions
and i think monreal is better defensivly

you need to take your chances in football and i think when monreal took his, he's done well in most of the games he's played

that was the biggest mistake that wenger made he shouldnt have used gibbs or (and more particully) debuchy because in a cup you never know what can happen but its good that they both made it through 120 mins

I was saying that too so many rough tackles on the follow through
Reading could have been down to 9 or even 8 men some shocking tackles and the one on mertesacker shouldve been a straight red all day long
It's one thing aggressive tackles but fair but its another thing when they're stonewall fouls and dangerous tackles

Agreed with Gabriel he was good when he came on and was needed
for this kind of game you seen reading trying to do runs behind mertesacker
and arsenal full backs needing to attack I think gabriel was more suited and
the changes arsenal done improved things

I do hope when we face villa that arsene will put his best squad out

ramsey is not a winger he played much better when walcott came on and became more central, ramsey style of game is not really suited as being on the wing
i think wenger has an issue of worrying not to upset the big names because ofcourse its hard to pick who goes on the bench but as a manager he needs to do it and rotate go with the right decision for the team and be serious because if he doesnt stuff like today will happen when its a much tougher match than it needed to be
 
Winning the FA Cup is not that impressive, but when you win it twice in a row, then that catches some eyes. Also, having the most FA cup records doesn't hurt either.

But Aston Villa is pretty much on fire right now and they're building a lot of confidence. Will be a tough final, they are going to be super motivated.
 
absolute gutted, I said Chelsea,no striker this match might get more difficult . Alexis held on to the ball too long and made the wrong pass by doing so. Ramsey making the width so narrow it was shooting our self in the foot. Chelsea didnt need a win a draw is just delaying a few days.
 
We're just letting you sneak a little taste :D
Quite frankly, 2nd and 3rd would be the same thing at this stage. I just don't want 4th again, so hopefuly we can avoid that CL qualifying round.

Yesterday we just needed to break the deadlock to make Mourinho try to play the match like a man, but unfortunately we couldn't. It was hard to create real chances against a 4-6-0 formation from a team that knows how to defend, but we could have done it if Chelsea players weren't allowed to handle the ball inside their box.

We couldn't finish the chances we had, especially when Mertesacker caught that Cortois rebound and Özil kicked air when he should have scored from close range.

But Arsenal did well, I think we can be proud. Risks were taken and we got caught off-guard a couple of times, but overall the team did most things that were needed.

I just think that Arsenal should realise that we shouldn't overcook too much possession and wait for the perfect chance to score against a cynical Chelsea team. Time was always on their side, so I hoped there would be just a little bit of urgency and more efforts from long range for instance.
 
Godotelli said:
Thanks for keeping our 2nd place warm ;)

yea yea I know you've got a game in hand
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When did this happen :RANT: Im so tire of you coming in here and starting a fight w/o cause. You should've gotten the hint! No MCity players mention in the PFA ceremony, or when Mou said Arsenal is in 2nd they haven't played their game in hand yet.

On a serious matter ,I hope Aquero gets the golden boot... Fantastic player \0/ ! Tbh 2nd/3rd is no difference like what Rent said. NOW! Take your oil filled environmental petrol polluted money back to 4th . So much for CL seeded tears over The Arsenal:P
 
If i was Guardiola i knew what i would wich club i would go for...Arsenal of course.

Would personally also like to seem him at the Emirates, as it would be more of a challenge than City...
 
He lived in Barcelona, NYC, Munich(presently). He's cultural competence and the shadow of Wenger won't hunt no one. The only fear factor is Wenger deciding not to retire or he having any say who the club should bring in.

I'm was certain Chelsea won't take this lying down. Roman always wanted Pep. MCity might hand him a 8 yr contract and a baby island w an elephant. Arsenal only has 4th place requirement and you can run the club, just make us richer .
 
Such class! Santi is standing on the bench , but the Model is too tall to see.
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Alexis is a bit shite! He's constantly running non-stop . He has 16 league gols \0/. I wonder (if) Barça has anymore players they want offing.


Ramsey what a turn around , he so consistent its shocking. He's keeping Jack- Theo - Welbz out of the starting XI .
 
Football is weird. Between that match and our loss to WBA, I don't know what to think.

Possession football definitely isn't all that.
 
There we go flirting with 4th place again. FFS that was frustrating.

It seems like Mourinho, among other things, laid down the template to stop Arsenal at the Emirates. The 5-5-0 formation. Swansea played without a centre forward for 75 minutes and when Wenger took his Coq out replacing him with Jack Wilshere the opportunity for a cheeky win appeared for Swansea. It meant we were going to be very exposed with only Ramsey covering the defense sometimes and without the recognised DMF (although we went through many years without one anyway, heh).

And sure enough, they found their cheeky goal and it felt like a sucker punch. We had been undone in Wales exactly the same way: tricky play by Montero over our fullback, cross to Gomis. Wham bam, exactly the same goal. Looked like a replay to me. With the exception that now we had a keeper that jumps backwards! Tough choice for Wenger: a keeper that stands still or one who jumps backwards to block a header behind the line?
Fabianski had this habit too, but (typically) today he was solid(ish). IMO our attack didn't finish any chance with the necessary power to beat a professional keeper. Maybe not even a U19 keeper.

All our shots looked like ones taken by a 12 year old. There was that combo of Alexis and Walcott inside the box that drove me crazy. They just had to hammer it in, FFS! Especially Walcott, who tried to side foot it? What a joke. There's our answer if we think Walcott can play a role as a central striker. I'd say he still can't finish. Doesn't bode well for his contract talks does it?

What really boils my piss though, is the insistence of our manager on only one way of trying to break down their defence. It was alarming that we tried the same thing over and over, then instead of keeping the only strong physical presence we had in their box, Wenger went for replacing Giroud with Walcott and maintaining the exact same passing routine, at the same tempo. Even after they scored 1-0 we lacked urgency once again.

I know our unbeaten run had to end some time, but it is frustrating to go like this. Felt like they didn't try hard enough. Any other team would be hurling balls inside their box - even if there's no Giroud, throw Mertesacker in there as CF! Their defence isn't even too tall.

It's proven that it doesn't take a Chelsea defence to stop an Arsenal that refuses to change its approach and, even with the brilliance of Cazorla, Ozil and Sanchez, becomes too predictable.

Like I said, I don't give a rats ass if we finish 2nd or 3rd. But now they guys have made things unecessarily more exciting with a trip to Old Trafford coming up. Even with a game in hand it wouldn't take too much for us to find ourselves bottling it yet again.
 
It's an interesting 'debate' this whole style versus grinding out results business. Football works in cycles, and this cynical style was big about 6/7 years ago with Benitez and Mourinho doing their best to bore each other into submission with 'tactical masterclasses' that tend to be based on:
You, attacking players, work hard to close down the space, and don't commit forward
You, defending players, never leave your half. Ever. Do not try to score, do not pass go.
You, big fast forward, we shall hit it and you and hope you magically create something, or get a set piece.

I feel like us United and Arsenal fans are in the same boat in this regard. It's not hard to beat us if you don't try to play football. Premier league players are amazing athletes now, they can run for 90 minutes, even when chasing the ball. And without luck or a 1/10 piece of skill, it's almost impossible to break down a well organised defence.

And yes, bla de bla resources, bla de bla need money of the prem, bla de bla winning is everything. But imagine this continues? Games between WBA and Swansea turn into battles of attrition, where both teams refuse to try and score outside of set pieces or on the break, and it just becomes a midfield struggle.

I'd turn it off. And I can't be alone. There are so many other things we could be doing, watching two teams in a sport try really hard not to lose just isn't that attractive.

And I think that's what would happen. Teams that permanently play negatively would get a reputation, see declining viewer numbers, become less popular and viscious spiral continues. At least that's what I hope happens.

Swansea are a good footballing team. So are WBA. I've seen both string together gorgeous football. They both have fast, attacking talent in players like Berahino, Montero and so forth. But it's easier to defend than to attack, so they made the 'smart' choice.

Put another way. Mayweather's fighting 'style' is clearly massively effective. He won. How many millions of people would tune into his next fight? I bet less than half. Sport is entertainment, it kind of fails when it's not entertaining.
 
Last night Bayern vs Barça ... Entertaining match, almost like they played the part to drop off a bit. It felt like a Wrestling script match. If Barça were merciless I doubt Pep would be so gracious imo .

I agree w/ your post from start to finish.
 
Easy to say when your team has much better players.

I've no problem with lesser sides parking the bus. It's a problem tho when you have a Mourinho doing it with a top team
 
Swansea were an attractive side under Brendan Rodgers and Michael Laudrup. Period.
I think Garry Monk is doing a fine job - he certainly got some results. But it's not that fluid football anymore.

WBA is now managed by one odious prick who we know only too well is more than happy to just defend (and tell his players to "get in their faces" so to speak, even if it means serious injuries). So no surprises there.

I'd like to think though that WBA and Swansea would go at each other. It's more like Godotelli said. They take the measure of their opponents and know pretty well their place when facing Arsenal or United away.

Still, even for a side like Swansea visiting the Emirates, it's bad that they're using a formation with no center forward. I remember a very different Swansea going for it against Arsenal at the Emirates and won it thanks to a Michu goal.
Now this looked a lot like Mourinho's 5-5-0 a couple weeks ago. When they talked about the "death of the CF" they meant the emerging importance of the "false 9". Not this. Feels like the "death of football" sometimes, if you excuse my exaggeration.

What's surprising in all this is that Swansea needed the result more than Arsenal. They were supposed to finish mid-table with nothing to play for, but with Spurs and Southampton having a meltdown of late, it means they have a shot at a Europa League place. So what do their manager do? Play for 1 point. And got 3! Thanks to Arsenal throwing everything they had to win it. But I'm under the impression that if Arsenal didn't throw caution to the wind, we would have a draw and possibly Gary Monk wondering 'what if' at the end of the season.

At the end of the day, Swansea got the 3 points and it will be reputed as a 'tactical masterclass' but the truth is that they got very lucky.
Possession football may be in decline, but a side like Swansea doing a Mourinho isn't the way forward. A more clinical Arsenal could have banged in 3 or 4. It was more about our shortcomings.

Anyway, I've got nothing against Swansea. They did their thing, but they're not hacks, played fair football and all that. Good luck to them if they do get a spot for Europa (although I hope Southampton gets it 'cause they've been deserving it).
 
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