Arsenal Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 12/13 MOD POST #232

Marty McFly wrote: »

On the full backs id try Sagna ant left back and stick with Jenkinson at right back, Mert and Verm in centre as Verm is a certain since hes captain.

Why play one of our best players out of position? How often has Sagna even played on the left? Man United isn't the time to experiment.

Could work both ways with Santos if he's dropped. I personaly think we're in for a hiding down that side if he plays against Valencia. But what will dropping him to do his confidence? Or, it could give him a kick up the arse and get him working on the non-existant defensive side of his game.

HazDanz wrote: »

Just stick verm out there. Plug the hole. who cares if we don't threaten strongly down that side it'll be better than conciding a probable few if Santos plays.

Yeh but the problem when Verm played at left full last year wasnt only the lack of threat he offered going down the flanks but positionally he was terrible aswell and made a lot of errors.

keano_afc wrote: »

Could work both ways with Santos if he's dropped. I personaly think we're in for a hiding down that side if he plays against Valencia. But what will dropping him to do his confidence? Or, it could give him a kick up the arse and get him working on the non-existant defensive side of his game.

it'd make no difference, that's the reason he's been dropped by Brazil

Mano Menezes the Brazil manager used to be manager of Corinthians when santos was there, this is his reason for dropping him since the copa america

"The problem with Andre Santos is tactical. He turned my hair grey when we were still at Corinthians," said the national coach.

"Why? Because he is tactically irresponsible, but he did score 20-goals and it was worth it in the end. It was value for money and with the Seleção, you cannot pay this price."

link

though maybe he has been trying to work on the defensive side & just isn't any good at it :pac:

Walcott 7 (2)
Gervinho 5 (3)
Podolski 4 (2)
Giroud 3 (1)
Cazorla 2 (2)
Chamakh 2 (0)
Koscielny 2 (1)
Mr. Owen Goal 2 (2)
Arteta 1 (1)
Arshavin 1 (0)
Miquel 1 (0)
Oxlade-Chamberlain 1 (0)
Ramsey 1 (0)
Jenkinson 0 (0)

*league goals in brackets*

Galvasean wrote: »

I'm not buying all the Walcott hype. The papers keep saying he's our top scorer and that we must give him a big bucks new contract, but they lack perspective. He's only scored against minnows thus far. Coventry, Southampton and Reading are al minnows. The only decent team he has scored against so far this season is West Ham.

Has he had much of a chance outside those types of games though? I really hope his contract gets sorted out anyway and he gets more game time.

As far as I know Nani is having contract problems at Utd, I have a sneaky suspicion Theo (or Theos Agent) might be keeping an eye on whats happening up there.

I'd hate to see him go up to his old buddy RVP.

j14 wrote: »

As far as I know Nani is having contract problems at Utd

In fairness after he started crying when Carra done him in I would have booted him out the door before he'd time to reach for a kleenex.

What a fcukin pussy of a player.

batistuta9 wrote: »

it'd make no difference, that's the reason he's been dropped by Brazil

Mano Menezes the Brazil manager used to be manager of Corinthians when santos was there, this is his reason for dropping him since the copa america



link

though maybe he has been trying to work on the defensive side & just isn't any good at it :pac:

That is my biggest problem with the way we are playing Santos at the moment. We all know that he can be defensively weak, but if he were allowed to take defenders on and push forward, there is a good chance he could either score or give others the opportunity to score.

Instead we are telling him to keep doing what he is bad at and not to play to any of his strengths.

greendom wrote: »

I think I'd rather experiment - we know exactly what we're going to get with Santos - a hiding !

If he is being played there this weekend, whoever is playing in front of him needs to be tracking back and helping him. It hasn't happened for the last two games and bad as he is, there is nothing he can do when he is trying to mark two players.

Santos at full back against Valencia or Nani = trouble.

Not too sure but didn't Kos play left back for France ? Vermaelen has certainly played at left back but it's not his prefered position. I think we should let Vermaelen man mark RvP and play four across midfield with Pod and Giroud up front and I'd try the team like this:

Mannone:(
Sagna,Mert,TV5,Kos
Arteta
Cazorla,Jack,Rambo,
Podolski
Giroud

If we need to, bring Coquelin on to strengthen midfield if Jack gets fatigued, let Rambo track Rooney, Podolski and Giroud to swap between front and back - Podolski will have a better awareness of Giroud's flick ons than Gervinho:mad: - we can always introduce Theo around the hour mark. I feel that we've been left desperately short again by putting all our eggs in the one basket with Diaby and Rosicky:( - and of course we have no experienced goalkeeper - even though Jaskelainnen could have been bought for peanuts - deja vu every time we play Utd - we are lacking key players in key positions or we have players coming back from long term injury - have to say I'm not too optimistic about this one - between crowd pressure on officials and our ability to give other teams a head start - plus RvP anxious to show everyone he was right to leave us :mad: - we need a solid defensive display but we also need to take the few chances we create - yes ... I'm still talking about Arsenal when I speak about chances created (forgeting the Norwich and Schalke debacles:o ). A draw at best.

Liam O wrote: »

what a scummy comment.

Oh precious are you a bit sensitive???

greendom wrote: »

What other matches has he played this season ? As a starter anyway ?

He has his faults but I'd be delighted if he stays with us. From my perspective he's really improving and I'd be sick if he continues on that trajectory with one of our opponents.

I too would love to see him sign a new contract, but not at £100k per week. He's not our best player so we'd have lots of guys looking for wage hikes too if he got that much.