Arsenal Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

Royale with Cheese

One of the easier quarter finals, with potentially the toughest semi final.

Getting past Villareal will be tough enough. I'd love to see Pires subbed on at the Emirates. He'd get some reception.

No point in assessing the potential United semi until both teams get there.

Wreck

Great draw for the quarters tbh, and there's always the chance we'll get Porto in the semi's :pac:

yahoo_moe

Wreck wrote: »

Great draw for the quarters tbh, and there's always the chance we'll get Porto in the semi's :pac:

We've done better against United so far this year than against Porto. I have my usual fear of drawing the smaller team in European competition - think it'll be tough but we have to have a good chance of taking them.

Apart from anything else, their league form has gotten patchier and ours has been improving.

thorbarry

ha, we deffo stand a very good chance getting in to the semi's.... lol Pascal Cygan, and Bobby Pires, should be good

Green Hornet

Not good news at all.....................

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/arsenal/article5944739.ece

Evil_Clown

Green Hornet wrote: »

Not good news at all.....................

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/arsenal/article5944739.ece

After being pretty happy with the CL draw then this happens, is there a curse doing the rounds at London Colney I wonder

keano_afc

I cant believe that. Just when things were looking positive.

thorbarry

ah, thats noot good... looks like eboue is gonna get more games

Roaster

thorbarry wrote: »

ah, thats noot good... looks like eboue is gonna get more games

Eboue's a ledge! 3 goals in 3 games

^^^ Oh dear ^^^

thorbarry

Roaster wrote: »

Eboue's a ledge! 3 goals in 3 games

although i was quite critical of him recentely, most notably against spurs.. i think he's done well in the past few games... hopefully.. he has gotten his confidence back, stops acting like a twat and continues to play well :cool:

AnCapaillMor

He did well against spurs until he realised he was eboue and then went into eboue mode.

Galvasean

yahoo_moe wrote: »

We've done better against United so far this year than against Porto.

We beat Porto 4-0. Granted they beat us 2-0, but we had already qualified at teha point and it was obvious we werent up for the game.

thorbarry

AnCapaillMor wrote: »

He did well against spurs until he realised he was eboue and then went into eboue mode.

lol

DenMan

Come on guys....lay off the Eboue jokes. With Theo out we will be depending on Emmanuel for the rest of the season. I think he is playing very well right now, looking strong and secure. Big game against Newcastle tomorrow.

gosplan

Anyone know if Nihat is back playing for Villareal yet?

I know that Rossi is their main goal threat and that can only be viewed as a massive positive. Fergie described him as something like 'the best finisher I've ever seen' but he never looked like cutting it in the UK.

Who else they got? Santi Carzorla is great on the ball but he always looks a bit limited in his end product - a bit hleb-ish.

Essentially though - do they actually play Cygan all the time? :D:D

I know we love our free flowing football at the Arse but if there's ever a player whose limitations we know it's Cygan - seriously stick Bedntner up top and pump those long balls in.

yahoo_moe

Galvasean wrote: »

We beat Porto 4-0. Granted they beat us 2-0, but we had already qualified at teha point and it was obvious we werent up for the game.

But we're 100% against United.

As for Villarreal, they also have Cani who's a pretty decent player and a definite goal threat. And despite what Rossi was like in England, he was certainly very good for them earlier this season. Nihat played in both Panathanaikos matches but hasn't scored this season. They also have Capdevila at full back who I think gets forward well.

Mgoraf

I think Nihat is due back before then so he could be fully fit by the time they play Arsenal.

And no Cygan doesn't play all of the time, Godin and Rodriguez are the first choice CB pairing (both very good too) but have suffered some injuries this season.

Wreck

I can't believe Walcott is injured again, and it sounds bad too.

Frisbee

Can't believe that about Walcott. Unbelieveable...

As for Villareal, this is going to be a very tough game, people thinking about the United game already are very delusioned, Villareal will push us all the way.

Beau x1

So guys should I still head down to paddypower put €50 on us winning the FA CUP?

Frisbee

Beau x1 wrote: »

So guys should I still head down to paddypower put €50 on us winning the FA CUP?

10/3 aren't great odds, if you have 50 quid to spare though why not

Beau x1

^ Yeah, pity about Walcott though, at least we'll have Fab back though with Arshavin.

tony1kenobi

I heard Walcott twisted his knee teaching Rosicky English.

Pepe LeFrits

Walcott hasn't suffered any serious damage to his knee so hopefully he'll be ready to go again after the international break. Good news.

I didn't see the game today but apparently Bendtner was excellent. Nasri had one of his 'on' days too.

cson

Bendtner.... excellent...... same sentence :eek:

On the plus side, we're starting to really kick on and win games now. A few months ago Hull would have beaten us after going 1-0 up. Im optimistic bout the rest of the season that we can win something and make 4th.

tony1kenobi

cson wrote: »

Bendtner.... excellent...... same sentence :eek:

On the plus side, we're starting to really kick on and win games now. A few months ago Hull would have beaten us after going 1-0 up. Im optimistic bout the rest of the season that we can win something and make 4th.

Based on form I think we'll finish second.....or first.

Frisbee

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

I didn't see the game today but apparently Bendtner was excellent. Nasri had one of his 'on' days too.

He was by no means excellent.
He merely did what someone of his stature should do. Put himself about, won headers, and held up the ball for other players coming on.

An average game by regular standards, but by Bendtner's standards I suppose you could call it an excellent performance...

L'prof

This season v previous seasons:

P   W   D   L   F   A  GD Pts
2008-2009:  30  15  10   5  48  27  21  55
2007-2008:  30  19  10   1  58  22  36  67 ( 3rd)
2006-2007:  30  16   7   7  52  28  24  55 ( 4th)
2005-2006:  30  15   5  10  48  23  25  50 ( 4th)
2004-2005:  30  19   7   4  68  32  36  64 ( 2nd)
2003-2004:  30  22   8   0  58  20  38  74 ( 1st)
2002-2003:  30  19   6   5  64  32  32  63 ( 2nd)
2001-2002:  30  18   9   3  60  32  28  63 ( 1st)
2000-2001:  30  15   9   6  47  29  18  54 ( 2nd)
1999-2000:  30  16   6   8  53  31  22  54 ( 2nd)
1998-1999:  30  16  11   3  42  13  29  59 ( 2nd)
1997-1998:  30  17   9   4  49  26  23  60 ( 1st)
1996-1997:  30  15   9   6  49  26  23  54 ( 3rd)
1995-1996:  30  14   9   7  42  27  15  51 ( 5th)

Current run:

P   W   D   L   F   A  GD Pts
2008-2009:  16   8   8   0  23   9  14  32

Come on the Pool

Pepe LeFrits

Frisbee wrote: »

He was by no means excellent.
He merely did what someone of his stature should do. Put himself about, won headers, and held up the ball for other players coming on.

An average game by regular standards, but by Bendtner's standards I suppose you could call it an excellent performance...

By stature do you mean 4th choice striker or 6'3"? 'cos I don't see our other strikers doing much of the above lately.