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Arsenal Thread

beachryan said:
For United this season, it comes down to the 24m RVP. His official name in the media is 24m RVP. That's how they overcame Man City. I've not heard one peep about the fact that City actually spent more this summer than United, not to mention, of course, how much more their squad cost. The most articles I've seen about United this season have been about how poor their play is, and how it's not a vintage United side.
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Did we?

IIRC, we both spent around 50m. City may have even spent less net than Utd with the sale of Ade and AJ for 15m
 
Godotelli said:
Did we?

IIRC, we both spent around 50m. City may have even spent less net than Utd with the sale of Ade and AJ for 15m
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It's very close, gross: City 54, Utd 48; net City 40, Utd 36. (Transferleague.co.uk). Doesn't really matter anyway, by City's standards it was a slow summer. Am sure that'll be rectified this off season.
 
Jesus, what a nerve wracking one!
All credits to Rosicky, man of the match. I can't remember him scoring a brace, and today was a really good one. And vital for the team.
Gervinho was excellent in the first half too.

But with Arsene's team, even a 2-0 is not a safe scoreline. It's incredible, how this team self destructs. From the players to the manager.

After the hour mark we were clearly being dominated, Lukaku was creating all sorts of trouble and we'd lost midfield, but our dear manager doesn't like to make tactical changes, does he? Especially before the 75 min.

Mertesacker was sent off during that patch where we were not seeing much of the ball and being completely undone tactically.
What happened after, I really don't know how we got all 3 points. It was mostly all due to good luck I guess. We didn't do much to help ourselves.

A few considerations:
1) Ramsey is a weak link. One of those guys who simply aren't too good at kicking a ball. Unfortunately this is a big part of the game.
Giroud set him up with a chance where even Fabianski's granny would score. He simply can't put a foot right, it seems... yet the manager plays him all 90 minutes. The reason is beyond me. Even after Mertesacker got sent off, we had Coquelin in the bench and I think Gervinho should have stayed on, being our fastest player on the counter.

2) Sometimes you have to resort to ugly tactics, especially when you got 10 men and winning the match. However, Arsenal invited the pressure and didn't do anything to slow down the game. We're so naive! Fabianski, for instance, was rushing to take his goal kicks as if we were losing the match.

Vital 3 points at the end of the day, even if it looked like a miracle we didn't concede a 2nd. Next game we're up against Norwich without Mertesacker.
Let's hope for a Everton win tomorrow! :D
 
1) Ramsey is a weak link. One of those guys who simply aren't too good at kicking a ball. Unfortunately this is a big part of the game.
Giroud set him up with a chance where even Fabianski's granny would score.

Oh my life this was brilliant!
 
I think Ramsey was good actually it was meant to be , another safe weekend for dictators around the world. Good win a vital away 3 points.
 
Aaron Ramsey has been great since Wilshere has been out, so it is a bit harsh calling him a weak link.
 
Rentboy, good post. It's just that you're too pessimistic a slight bit.

Actually it's the second time we've kept the 3 points in 10 men. It shows quite some... mental strength. :))

It really shows that we need a defensive midfielder because Arteta doesn't win as many balls back and plug the gaps as a real DMF would. Him/Jack and a real DMF would be great.
 
I hate to say this but Wilshere, although a great player, makes our midfield unbalanced. Ramsey has more defensive duties, maybe that's why the team looks better now. We were throwing Cazorla, Wilshere and Arteta at our opposition, but neither is a defensive expert, not even Arteta. He does become overloaded and exposed.

Ramsey at least shares the burden a little bit. Minutes before his miss, I was praising his effort, he was doing well there in the engine room. But in a matter of 5 minutes he can go completely downhill.

I think I'm not being harsh. That chance he wasted should be put on the back of the net by any professional footballer. These guys are making £50k a week aren't they?

I may sound harsh and negative at times, but we shouldn't be enduring such things at this level. That's why it does my head in when Gervinho or Ramsey flunk easy chances like that in front of goal. Gervinho has been really good lately though.

Then again, of course I'm happy with the result and 3 points, but I do know that the team sort of brought trouble onto themselves. If there was a little bit more ruthlessness about this side we wouldn't be struggling for 4th now.

BTW, just before Mertesacker got sent off, he stopped a dangerous move in the box by falling on his back over the ball.
Just watch MOTD or look it up on youtube, it's worth it! "Back Tackle" :D
 
So Ramsey is shit because he missed an easy chance? He isn't there to score goals, he is there to do many other things that he has been doing very well.

I don't think Wilshere unbalanced the midfield, I just think our team has been made to play differently coincidently at around the same time Wilshere went out injured.

I agree though about us being ruthless, we need to be.

At the end of the day we got 3 points at a hard place to play with a man sent off as well. We are not going to have as easy games as the reading one and the rest are going to be hard, but hopefully we get the wins to get into 4th.
 
I think Rent forgot about erratic Vermaelen who leave the back expose during is 80 yard runs. Ramsey is no more than a squad player who will play any position for the cause. Per receive red and Vermaelen gets the chance to make a mends , don't blow it!!!
 
I just saw MOTD, a bit of a fortunate escape there or am i wrong ?
Over the moon for Rosscisky though...great player.
 
I don't mind winning games like this, as long as we win them at the moment. We need that 4th spot.

Next season hopefully we can build on it....:COAT: ;))

We have always had problems with WBA for some reason, at least for the last couple of seasons (Mainly because they are not a bad team).
 
Well Bobby, better to win games like Arsenal did than not winning games like Spurs just did.
I'm afraid it might be over for Sprus considering the fact that both Arsenal and Chelsea have a game in hand.

The squad is just too thin. There is also a lack of creativity upfront.
 
We still have to play Everton and Man United. Plus the others which we can easily lose, so I still can't call it.

It is exciting that it is so close though, hopefully we just pip it in the end :DD
 
Rosicky is much more productive and efficient player than Cazorla. I think he has much more talent, but for the darn injuries.

Are we Arsenal fans a bit mad or traumatized from past seasons (re defence)? Our Goals Against is 3rd i think in the League at the moment. Not that bad.
And we have a good attack.

I don't know why we haven't got many points. One reason might be crazy matches with lots of goals (for and against).
 
n4p4st4 said:
Rosicky is much more productive and efficient player than Cazorla. I think he has much more talent, but for the darn injuries.

Are we Arsenal fans a bit mad or traumatized from past seasons (re defence)? Our Goals Against is 3rd i think in the League at the moment. Not that bad.
And we have a good attack.

I don't know why we haven't got many points. One reason might be crazy matches with lots of goals (for and against).
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You really think so? :SHOCK:

Cazorla is a little genius! He creates loads of chances and scores quite a few. If that's not productivity, then I don't know what it is :P
Really, I think Santi is one of the best buys of the season. And for the money Arsenal paid for him, a bloody steal!

Rosicky is a really nice player, great to watch, but he was struggling big time. I think his game started clicking again since the 2nd half of last season.
 
Rentboy said:
You really think so? :SHOCK:

Cazorla is a little genius! He creates loads of chances and scores quite a few. If that's not productivity, then I don't know what it is :P
Really, I think Santi is one of the best buys of the season. And for the money Arsenal paid for him, a bloody steal!

Rosicky is a really nice player, great to watch, but he was struggling big time. I think his game started clicking again since the 2nd half of last season.
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agreed !

Rosicky is a scratch above a good squad player(*injuries) for Arsenal`s 2nd half of the season . He goes missing every start of the season, He`s a sensational player for the 2nd half of the season. He is NO Cazorla (level) , not in this life or the next :P
 
Ok. was refering to the fact that he has much more impact when he comes on and talking about how much better he would be if it weren't for injuries.

..going back to my parallel Universe. :D

Truth is though Cazorla saved our ass plenty of times this season. That's proof of a big player. So did Rosicky yesterday. And it's proof again when big players score in important matches because when the mill gets going many can score in a 7 - odd thrashing... cough Walcott.
 
I agree with n4 to some degree Rosicky isn't as technical etc as Santi but when he plays he has a lot of energy and can make our midfield tick along really well. They are both different players, but both can be very important for us. Santi has gone missing in quite a few games this season as well (although it's a bit harsh as it is his first season).

If we didn't have Rosicky at the end of last season we wouldnt have finished so strongly and it looks like the same can be said about this season, hopefully he keeps it up.
 
It is incredibly harsh to even doubt the impact Cazorla has on this team. He is by far the most talented player in the squad right now. He scored 12 goals this season, link up play is brilliant, loads of assistances, the guy takes almost all free kicks and corner kicks (sometimes with his left foot!). He has superb technique and a winner's mentality. He doesn't shy away from responsibility. I'd say when he has a quiet game, it's an exception and may be due to the opposition marking him tightly.
Let's not forget he played almost all league matches, so he gets tired too. But overall, a durable player with refined technique, that's what we needed in that position.


The truth is that last season the CL qualification was a lot closer than some deluded Arsenal fans like to admit. "Fans" love to trash some players, some known scapegoats, but even them made their contribution at times.

We qualified to CL by a meagre 1 point margin.

I don't want to take anything away from Rosicky, but there were other factors and other players helping a lot the campaign.
When we think how Arshavin scored the winner against Swansea in a way no one else would (in that Michel Vorm cock up) and even André Santos scored a vital goal to bring us level when we beat WBA at their place). Even Benayoun has also made an excellent and very professional contribution during his time - even knowing he would stay for only 1 season.
Djourou played even at RB, enduring a bit of humiliation even, but was there for us with lots of professionalism.

Some players are much better than they're given credit for. It's just that sometimes it doesn't work out for them.
I hope Rosicky can find his footing again and get rid of his injuries. If he does, he could be like a.... a new signing! :D
 
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Rentboy said:
It is incredibly harsh to even doubt the impact Cazorla has on this team. He is by far the most talented player in the squad right now. He scored 12 goals this season, link up play is brilliant, loads of assistances, the guy takes almost all free kicks and corner kicks (sometimes with his left foot!). He has superb technique and a winner's mentality. He doesn't shy away from responsibility. I'd say when he has a quiet game, it's an exception and may be due to the opposition marking him tightly.
Let's not forget he played almost all league matches, so he gets tired too. But overall, a durable player with refined technique, that's what we needed in that position.
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I don't doubt this and I am very aware of Cazorla and the type of player he is and what he has done for us this season.

I pointed out he went missing in quite a few games, because it was brought up that Rosicky only comes into form at the end of the season (Which I don't agree with fully anyway). I wanted to highlight that all players have there peaks and troughs throughout a season. NAsri had two good half seasons and was touted as some as the greatest player to ever have lived ;)) and how could Wenger sell him etc etc.

Rentboy said:
The truth is that last season the CL qualification was a lot closer than some deluded Arsenal fans like to admit. "Fans" love to trash some players, some known scapegoats, but even them made their contribution at times.

We qualified to CL by a meagre 1 point margin.
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I don't know any fans that don't know how close it was last season? The thing that the fans loved was that we overcame the deficit of points that Spurs had over us and finished just ahead of them :))

Do you mean the 'Fans' that love to trash Ramsey whenever they get the chance?

Rentboy said:
I don't want to take anything away from Rosicky, but there were other factors and other players helping a lot the campaign.
When we think how Arshavin scored the winner against Swansea in a way no one else would (in that Michel Vorm cock up) and even André Santos scored a vital goal to bring us level when we beat WBA at their place). Even Benayoun has also made an excellent and very professional contribution during his time - even knowing he would stay for only 1 season.
Djourou played even at RB, enduring a bit of humiliation even, but was there for us with lots of professionalism.

Some players are much better than they're given credit for. It's just that sometimes it doesn't work out for them.
I hope Rosicky can find his footing again and get rid of his injuries. If he does, he could be like a.... a new signing! :D
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I think for the last two seasons when he has been put in the team he has played very well most of the time. I think his injuries are becoming less and less and he is doing very well.

Of course other players contributed at the end of the season, I was not saying that he won all the games for us on his own. But he was one of the players with class and fight that was performing on a consistent basis for the last 3 months (If memory serves correct) I think he got a couple of player of the month awards (On the Arsenal site) in those last few months as well.

He gave our team an extra lift, like it seems like he is doing this time around as well. It would be nice if he could do it all season, but the truth is he doesn't get much of a chance unless there is a problem with Wilshere, Cazorla etc

My point agreeing with n4 (I said to some degree as well, not fully :DD) was to highlight how good I think he is and even if Cazorla is the better player, it isn't by as great a margin as people suggest imo.

They are both different players and can both be very influential in dictating how Arsenal play their football on any given day.
 
Completely agree with the fact that Cazorla is superb, but imo you haven't seen the best of him at Arsenal. At the moment he still isn't up to his standards with both Malaga and Villareal. I know he does well, but i personally have been somewhat underwhelmed by his performances. I eexpected an even bigger impact from him than from David Silva last season...maybe i expected too much...
 
The thing with Ramsey is that Wenger sometimes seems to be going out of his way to accommodate him into the team when, let's face it, the truth is he's no world beater that would justify all this.
At times he played out of position and no wonder he under performed.

Now he's playing better because he's in his position, but still there are so many facepalm moments it's not even funny.

As I said, he can have a great 30 minutes and then when he screw up an easy sitter like he did, and suddenly his performance is all over the place. After that he gave away the ball in our half 2 or 3 times with clumsy touches and passes. He needs to get it together, but in some level he must know he's not going to lose space. I truly hope he's not content with mediocrity. Because being played week in week out regardless of the level of your performance, isn't helping.

It looks like he's not coping with the pressure. But instead of benching him for someone more ready, better and experienced (which we don't have right now) Wenger has little choice other than starting him almost every match.

Anyway, when I'm saying things about "fans" is about little bits I witness here and there, crows reaction, talking to fellow fans or reading online comments.

Right now for instance, there's people out there saying Podolski is shit, can you believe this? It's his first season only, and we've seen some great performances, one of the best being that against West Ham at home.

Some players get no leeway it seems, but people seem to have infinite patience with some others. Go figure.
 
Take nothing for granted , Arsenal plays Sat. N Tues. and Spurs goes a whole week w/o playing (FACup innit) The game in hand will turn and Chels/ Spurs will be a game behind. Every week the table can change imagine last season was a mere point this could be goal difference .
 
Rentboy said:
The thing with Ramsey is that Wenger sometimes seems to be going out of his way to accommodate him into the team when, let's face it, the truth is he's no world beater that would justify all this.
At times he played out of position and no wonder he under performed.

Now he's playing better because he's in his position, but still there are so many facepalm moments it's not even funny.

As I said, he can have a great 30 minutes and then when he screw up an easy sitter like he did, and suddenly his performance is all over the place. After that he gave away the ball in our half 2 or 3 times with clumsy touches and passes. He needs to get it together, but in some level he must know he's not going to lose space. I truly hope he's not content with mediocrity. Because being played week in week out regardless of the level of your performance, isn't helping.

It looks like he's not coping with the pressure. But instead of benching him for someone more ready, better and experienced (which we don't have right now) Wenger has little choice other than starting him almost every match.

Anyway, when I'm saying things about "fans" is about little bits I witness here and there, crows reaction, talking to fellow fans or reading online comments.

Right now for instance, there's people out there saying Podolski is shit, can you believe this? It's his first season only, and we've seen some great performances, one of the best being that against West Ham at home.

Some players get no leeway it seems, but people seem to have infinite patience with some others. Go figure.
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I think he is playing well and I don't think there are many facepalm moments at all.

I think it is testament to him and Rosicky that the team has been getting results even with the players we have out injured. Most people thought that we would get worse.

It's so strange how you see Ramsey, I think he suffered a lot from being played out of position by Wenger and I think it makes people concentrate on him now, so everything he does wrong is amplified.

But I think he has handled the pressure well and I can't see why you are saying what you are saying? I think he is pretty consistent throughout games and don't see the 30mins thing you said.

It just goes to show how different people's perceptions can be.

On the fans thing, we do have some moronic fans as most clubs do, if anybody thinks Podolski is shit after this season, then they need their head examining. For a first season it has been good, of course he can get better and hopefully he does next season when he has a season under his belt.
 
I don't exactly have a problem with Ramsey, but he's prone to some horrible mistakes which obviously get more amplified than others.

Somehow he's one of the players I trust the least, cause he's more likely to play a pass straight into an opposition attacker in our own half, for instance. Or miss a sitter like he did, which in this case shows a lack of confidence - any toe poke would probably have sufficed there.

I don't think he is consistent, really. But what I do like about him is his willingness to help the club anywhere the manager plays him. He even played an almost entire half improvised as RB that day when Jenkinson was sent off. I do praise him for that kind of stuff.

But he's not ready IMO. He definitely shouldn't be played every week.
Once again, the shortage in the sector is AW's fault. He said we were crowded with midfielders in this club, but he seems to forget some of these guys are Diaby and Rosicky.

I do believe Ramsey would get better if he was eased into this team, instead of being always in the first XI. Makes sense when people say he seems a bit burnt out, because he has been playing lots of games with almost no breaks in between club, country and even Team GB last summer.

As for Podolski, he is injured, right? Someone said there were rumours of a bust up between him and Wenger. I hope it isn't true.
 
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I thought he is due for surgery for a niggling problem, reason why he could never finish a match . Either way he contribute to the cause he even tracks back and that something for a winger.
 
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