Arsenal Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

Helix · 15-11-2008 06:57PM

OPENROAD wrote: »

The money is available, he just doesn't want to spend it, has a belief in his players, what we are lacking imo is the desire week in week out to win.

is it REALLY there tho? surely hes not intentionally just ignoring the glaring holes in the team. i was amazed you werent in for barry in the summer, perfect replacement for flamini right there, plus possible defensive cover if needed

i think you really have to spend a few quid in jan or you might be pushed right to the wire for 4th

Frisbee · 15-11-2008 07:02PM

Beau x1 wrote: »

Frisbee's going to hate me for saying this haha, but seriously; WHAT was Wenger doing still putting Bendtner on first after all this? Surely Vela would have been a better start to the game than him. Not sure why he took Diaby off first either. I'd have rather seen the reserves play Villa this afternoon tbh.

Vela has a really important WCQ on Wednesday with Mexico. I'm suprised he was even in the squad.
And I don't prefer Bendtner to Vela, Vela is without a doubt my favourite Arsenal player. (check the sig)

OPENROAD · 15-11-2008 07:15PM

Helix wrote: »

is it REALLY there tho? surely hes not intentionally just ignoring the glaring holes in the team. i was amazed you werent in for barry in the summer, perfect replacement for flamini right there, plus possible defensive cover if needed

Our accounts would suggest that it is and the board have always maintained that if Arsene wants a player the money is availabe.

I believe we were in for Alonso in the summer but when the Barry deal did not go through we were not able to get Alonso.

Quazzie · 15-11-2008 07:24PM

If Wenger doesn't make changes its a sign that he doesn't see there to be a problem. If he can't see a problem then he really should not be a manager and I don't think I'm alone in saying this but if he doesn't get his act together soon then I for one, wouldn't want him as a manager. We are better than this but Wenger's transfer policies, and team selection these last two years would suggest that he is past it as a successful manager.

Nunu · 15-11-2008 07:26PM

Wenger has a blind spot when it comes to the type of centre half he needs that would solve a lot of his problems.

Chelsea have Terry, Liverpool have Carragher and Utd have Vidic.

Why, oh why Wenger didn't snatch Laursen from Villa I will never understand? We all know Laursen was outstanding for Villa last season. He had to prove himself before a contract was offered because of his injury blighted career. He had more than done this by Christmas. Wenger could have got him for nothing if he doesn't want to spend any money.

Helix · 15-11-2008 07:32PM

Nunu wrote: »

Wenger has a blind spot when it comes to the type of centre half he needs that would solve a lot of his problems.

Chelsea have Terry, Liverpool have Carragher and Utd have Vidic.

Why, oh why Wenger didn't snatch Laursen from Villa I will never understand? We all know Laursen was outstanding for Villa last season. He had to prove himself before a contract was offered because of his injury blighted career. He had more than done this by Christmas. Wenger could have got him for nothing if he doesn't want to spend any money.

i couldnt understand that other, in fact i was quite worried itd happen. and why not go for mellberg either, although im certain he wouldnt have joined you, but it wouldve been worth a shot

Quazzie · 15-11-2008 07:44PM

AW has said the second goal was unlucky because it should've been a free kick. Who cares it was 2v1 in Arsenal's favour but those two useless clowns at the back are too slow and well past it.

Frisbee · 15-11-2008 07:48PM

It's getting painful to watch the matches.
You can see Wenger's idea. We're jsut two players away from awesome.
Imagine we still had Flamini this year. We would not have lost alot of the games we did.

Quazzie · 15-11-2008 07:55PM

Frisbee wrote: »

It's getting painful to watch the matches.
You can see Wenger's idea. We're jsut two players away from awesome.
Imagine we still had Flamini this year. We would not have lost alot of the games we did.

I agree except I think that figure is closer to 4 players short, and thats only from the starting 11. We need a DM 2 CBs and a decent consistent striker.

Frisbee · 15-11-2008 07:59PM

Quazzie2002 wrote: »

I agree except I think that figure is closer to 4 players short, and thats only from the starting 11. We need a DM 2 CBs and a decent consistent striker.

A DM would be the definite need. You'd be suprised how good our CB's would look with someone in font protecting them. Gallas and Toure didnt look half as dodgy last year with the Flamster in front of them.
And we have so many strikers. Getting another one would cause some of them to start getting stroppy. Can you imagine Ade or RVP not minding getting stuck on the bench?
He'll never get rid of Ade or RVP. Not this season anyway.
Eduardo is a very clinical striker when he gets back.
I think it would be a hugely bad move to get rid of Vela as he is going to be awesome.
If your going to get rid of anybody it would have to be Bendtner.

Pepe LeFrits · 15-11-2008 08:03PM

We need a DM and a CB, that's it.

Quazzie · 15-11-2008 08:53PM

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

We need a DM and a CB, that's it.

If any more convincing is required try ask yourself how many Arsenal players would make the Chelsea/Utd/Liverpool team. Atm I fear it'd only be Cesc on all three (despite how sh*t he's been lately), and possibly a few more on Liverpool but apart from that there'd be no guarantees

leninbenjamin · 15-11-2008 09:26PM

Quazzie2002 wrote: »

If any more convincing is required try ask yourself how many Arsenal players would make the Chelsea/Utd/Liverpool team. Atm I fear it'd only be Cesc on all three (despite how sh*t he's been lately), and possibly a few more on Liverpool but apart from that there'd be no guarantees

I'd hazard Ade would start ahead of Berba for United, Keane at Pool and perhaps even Anelka at Chelsea.

I'm pretty positive Nasri would start for all three (ahead of Nani/Park, Riera and Malouda).

Walcott would probably start for both Chelsea and Pool (ahead of Kuyt and Kalou).

Clichy would start for Pool and Chelsea, better than Dossena and Cole/Bridge

Sagna would start for all three (perhaps on a par with Bosingwa, but i still believe he is the better player).

if Touré could regain his form I'd say he'd start for Liverpool at least.

so 4 or 5 anyway would feature on top of Cesc imo.

so all in all i'm in agreement with Pepe, by my analysis the real weak positions are the partner for Cesc and a CB.

L'prof · 15-11-2008 09:40PM

Here's our league standing compared to other years in the premiership:

2008-2009: 13  7  2  4 25 15 10 23
2007-2008: 13 10  3  0 29 10 19 33 ( 3rd)
2006-2007: 13  6  4  3 21 10 11 22 ( 4th)
2005-2006: 13  8  2  3 22 10 12 26 ( 4th)
2004-2005: 13  9  3  1 37 17 20 30 ( 2nd)
2003-2004: 13 10  3  0 28 10 18 33 ( 1st)
2002-2003: 13  9  2  2 28 13 15 29 ( 2nd)
2001-2002: 13  6  5  2 28 15 13 23 ( 1st)
2000-2001: 13  8  4  1 23 10 13 28 ( 2nd)
1999-2000: 13  8  2  3 20 12  8 26 ( 2nd)
1998-1999: 13  6  6  1 14  5  9 24 ( 2nd)
1997-1998: 13  6  6  1 27 13 14 24 ( 1st)
1996-1997: 13  7  4  2 24 11 13 25 ( 3rd)
1995-1996: 13  7  3  3 17  8  9 24 ( 5th)
1994-1995: 13  5  4  4 17 13  4 19 (12th)
1993-1994: 13  6  5  2 12  6  6 23 ( 4th)
1992-1993: 13  7  2  4 17 12  5 23 (10th)

And our all time premiership results, sorted by points per game first:

Reading               4   4   0   0  11   2   9  12 3.00
Watford               4   4   0   0   9   3   6  12 3.00
Barnsley              2   2   0   0   7   0   7   6 3.00
Wolves                2   2   0   0   6   1   5   6 3.00
Wigan                 6   5   1   0  12   5   7  16 2.67
Ipswich              10   8   2   0  23   4  19  26 2.60
Man City             22  18   3   1  44  11  33  57 2.59
Fulham               15  12   1   2  33   9  24  37 2.47
Charlton             16  12   2   2  36  12  24  38 2.38
Derby                14  10   3   1  27  11  16  33 2.36
West Brom             7   5   1   1  15   7   8  16 2.29
Leicester            16  10   5   1  38  13  25  35 2.19
Crystal Palace        8   5   2   1  16   5  11  17 2.13
Everton              33  21   7   5  66  26  40  70 2.12
Birmingham           10   6   3   1  19   5  14  21 2.10
Nottingham Forest    10   6   3   1  13   7   6  21 2.10
Sunderland           15   9   4   2  30  11  19  31 2.07
Southampton          26  15   7   4  50  24  26  52 2.00
Oldham                4   2   2   0   4   1   3   8 2.00
Swindon               2   1   1   0   5   1   4   4 2.00
West Ham             27  16   5   6  40  17  23  53 1.96
Middlesbrough        26  15   6   5  59  25  34  51 1.96
Coventry             18  10   5   3  25  13  12  35 1.94
Bolton               19  10   5   4  31  22   9  35 1.84
Portsmouth           10   4   6   0  16   6  10  18 1.80
Blackburn            29  15   7   7  47  26  21  52 1.79
Villa                33  16  11   6  51  28  23  59 1.79
Chelsea              32  15  11   6  47  34  13  56 1.75
Bradford              4   2   1   1   6   3   3   7 1.75
Newcastle            31  15   8   8  43  26  17  53 1.71
Leeds                24  12   4   8  43  25  18  40 1.67
Spurs                33  13  15   5  51  36  15  54 1.64
Norwich               8   3   4   1  17   9   8  13 1.63
MK Dons              16   7   4   5  30  16  14  25 1.56
Sheffield Wednesday  16   7   4   5  21  16   5  25 1.56
Sheffield United      6   2   3   1   9   4   5   9 1.50
Man United           33  10  10  13  33  43 -10  40 1.21
Liverpool            32   9   9  14  31  43 -12  36 1.13
QPR                   8   1   5   2   7   8  -1   8 1.00
Hull                  1   0   0   1   1   2  -1   0 0.00
Stoke                 1   0   0   1   1   2  -1   0 0.00

If there is enough interest, I can post these after every game?

leninbenjamin · 15-11-2008 09:50PM

interesting stats. the only other time they lost 4 games this far into the season they finished mid table... scary thought. I do note they have the same points now as they did at the same time in 2001, still doable I guess however unlikely.

L'prof · 15-11-2008 09:56PM

leninbenjamin wrote: »

interesting stats. the only other time they lost 4 games this far into the season they finished mid table... scary thought. I do note they have the same points now as they did at the same time in 2001, still doable I guess however unlikely.

Well, we finished that season with 87 points, which won the league last year, but we still have 4 games against the top 3 (funnily enough, that isn't as scary as playing 21 games against the rest!!!).

cson · 15-11-2008 10:00PM

The thing that gets me is we were very close to having a title winning squad. Losing Hleb and Flamini in the summer were huge blows while trying to solve the CB issue with Mikael Silvestre was madness. It annoys me because imo, last season we were every bit as good and even better than Liverpool. This season they're top of the league and we're struggling for 4th. The difference? They've spent money.

OPENROAD · 15-11-2008 10:10PM

cson wrote: »

It annoys me because imo, last season we were every bit as good and even better than Liverpool. This season they're top of the league and we're struggling for 4th. The difference? They've spent money.

Liverpool always spend money though, and keane so far has not been a good signing for them.

Beau x1 · 15-11-2008 10:17PM

Anyone have an Arsenal TV account? Would love to see Wenger's press conference.

L'prof · 15-11-2008 10:18PM

Beau x1 wrote: »

Anyone have an Arsenal TV account? Would love to see Wenger's press conference.

Yeah, is it up?

Just checked, it's not up yet!

Mr Alan · 15-11-2008 10:29PM

OPENROAD wrote: »

Liverpool always spend money though, and keane so far has not been a good signing for them.

4 goals & near MOTM performances against United & Everton.

The lad aint doing too bad tbh! :eek:

L'prof · 15-11-2008 10:40PM

Mr Alan wrote: »

4 goals & near MOTM performances against United & Everton.

The lad aint doing too bad tbh! :eek:

He's doing OK! Once he's fully settled in, I'd expect a lot more...I don't think he'll ever live up to that price tag though!

DenMan · 15-11-2008 10:47PM

In my humble opinion I thought Vela looked brilliant today when he came on as a sub. Needs to start much more often in the league.

Beau x1 · 15-11-2008 10:47PM

jasonorr wrote: »

Yeah, is it up?

Just checked, it's not up yet!

Should be! Says it is on the site at least.
http://tv.arsenal.com/default.aspx?p=channels/C4_S2&a=55928

Galvasean · 16-11-2008 01:04PM

Anyone know the extent of Sagna's injury?

I think it's time we let Djourou have a shot at CB. We havent conceded with him on the field. Granted he hasn't played against the hardest opposition yet, but he couldn't do any worse than Gallas and Silvestre played against Villa.

The fact that we don't have a super centre back (in the Tony Adams mold not to put too fine a point on it) should mean a good DM is essential. It's common sense. If the CBs arent doing their job they need someone to help cover them.

PHB · 16-11-2008 02:12PM

Sagna out till December according to SSN. Huge huge huge huge blow I think, huge.

Galvasean · 16-11-2008 02:43PM

PHB wrote: »

Sagna out till December according to SSN. Huge huge huge huge blow I think, huge.

Agreed. When he got injured last season our back line got very exposed.

keano_afc · 16-11-2008 02:49PM

Big loss, and we've still got some massive games this month. As hard as it is to say Eboue actually looked ok last time he filled in. Sagna's injury is only one of the problems though. The confidence of the rest of the back four must be shot at this stage.

Pepe LeFrits · 16-11-2008 02:50PM

I don't think it is that big a deal to be honest, as long as Touré will take his place. If we also lose a CB to injury, hopefully Djourou will come into the side (and not Eboue) and we might actually decent defensively.

Galvasean · 16-11-2008 02:51PM

Toure is more than capable of filling in at RB. Unfortunately that limits options at CB which is where we are suffering at the moment.

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