How often have you seen Van Der Vaart play ? He was brilliant before but has been well below par for a couple of seasons particularly last season. I watched a handful of Real's Liga games last season together with some of their Champions League games and I got to say in those games I've watched he has been absolutely woeful. Honestly I don't see him as a better footballer than both Nasri and Rosicky are currently. I wouldn't call it a great deal signing a player who has been relatively poor in form for some time now. To be honest he was no better than Diaby was last season and those wanting to to offload Diaby and replacing with Van der Vaart would just be like replacing Diaby with another Diaby Moreover I doubt he will settle for a place on the bench and I don't think we need another attacking midfielder. If its a position we should reinforce its one of our defensive midfield positions in preparation for when Song jets off to that worthless tournament for 2 months provided Cameroon do well. A not too glamorous but decent DM signing who is willing to fight for his first team spot and wouldn't mind playing as a squad player currently would do nicely indeed. Someone like Matuidi perhaps.

As for Hangeland I admit I have not watched enough of him to pass judgment but most Gooners in the UK who are on other Arsenal forums and message boards which are footie freaks that watches virtually every BPL game regardless which teams are playing week in week out are not convinced he is good enough for the Arsenal and is just like another Senderos. Physically strong and fantastic heading abilities no doubt about it but very slow and unfortunately not very good on the ball with poor distribution. A fast, quick and tricky striker can pressure him into mistakes and does make the odd bad back pass or bad pass to a teammate which puts his defense in danger. However I admit if Senderos does leave, we will need another central defender. Yet again though with Gallas and Vermaelen looking promising I'm sure Arsene would not want to break that partnership up so quickly, if we do get him though question is will Hangeland settle for the bench for the time being ?

This post has been edited by sigheart: Aug 16 2009, 06:48 PM

I definitely disagree with point 2. Forwards/strikers aren't always just about goals. You have to look at their contribution in a game as a whole. Kind of like what Rooney was doing for Man Utd last season. Striker in name and on paper but despite the lack of goals he more than compensated with some assists and contributed heavily in build ups in majority of United's goals. Both RVP and Bendtner both had very good games in my book and only probably Arshavin could have done a little better on the night IMO and even then still ended up with an assist. Not too shabby I say. On paper it was 4-3-3 but for most parts of the match RVP was playing as a lone striker in a 4-5-1 with Bendtner out so far wide right I don't think you could even consider him a striker. Same goes for Arshavin who was roaming around freely but even then most of the time found out far wide left. As a lone striker I felt RVP did pretty good and I have no complaints, held the ball up well and played in his teammates whenever he could as most lone strikers should do most evident with the assist to Fabregas for our 4th goal. If there is any example of a bad lone striker performance all you have to do is look no further than Jo's performance against us. Zero ball retention, zero movement and zero passing. Uh, pretty much zero everything.

This post has been edited by sigheart: Aug 16 2009, 11:36 PM

Its true he has been marked tightly and double teamed at times but when he did get the ball his touch, passing, ball control was well below par of what we are used to. Yes, players are only human and at the end of the day they may be excused for having a bad game once in awhile but by no means should they be exempted from criticism if people choose to do so. Fact is he was poor on the night and when players play poorly they get criticized. Simple as that. I'm sorry but I rate Phil Neville as an average player at best. As a top player in a top team anyway you should be expecting and should be ready for tight marking in every single minute of every single game you play regardless the tournament so IMO not performing due to tight marking as an excuse is a poor excuse to make.

Yeah which is why in my post before last I did mention despite being below par I was still more than happy with his contribution to the game. Even visibly not at his best still managed to produce an assist which isn't too shabby indeed

Arseblog copied my post ! Hahaha jk

Yeah Bendtner was awful. Sell him. Cesc didn't get a hattrick. Must be rubbish sell him. Arshavin didn't score. How useless. Sell him. Song was horrible. He lost 1 header to Fellaini. Sell him. Almunia is losing hair hence losing his ability as well. Sell him. Vermaelen conceded a foul. Terrible signing IMO. Not to mention the other players like Van Persie, Denilson Clichy, Sagna and Gallas were absolutely crap as well. Sell them all too I say. And while we are at it my as well sack Wenger as well. Why didn't he play Wilshere ? Clueless old geezer IMO.

This post has been edited by sigheart: Aug 17 2009, 07:53 PM

Regardless the result please do not draw comparisons with the Everton match. Please bear in mind that this is a whole different ball game altogether and even a draw tonight would be regarded as a very good result although I would be surprised if we didn't win.

Guess Arsene is no longer interested in Chamakh.



Sauce

Celtic 0 - 1 Arsenal
.................Gallas (ASS) 43'

Partly because Bendtner did not track back as much as probably Arshavin did on the other flank. They seem to have specifically targeted our right side and rightly so due to Bendtner's non existant work rate today and there were numerous occasions when Maloney and McGeady were both teaming up on Sagna with Bendtner nowehere at all. I don't think Sagna was poor at all. IMO he held up pretty well and was probably made to look bad by Bendtner's lack of tracking back. If it is anyone who needs bucking up its Bendtner defensively IMO.

This post has been edited by sigheart: Aug 19 2009, 05:49 AM

Yes he got 13 goals in all competitions that season. But he has never gotten double figures in the league itself yet.

Nah not funny at all. Please don't laugh at them Man Utd or their fans. Karma bites back, hard. Back then they were laughing at Liverpool when they lost to Tottenham over the weekend. What went around, came around lol.

I mean its good to show respect to other teams by not making fun of them when they get beat. Things like these do happen in football and it has happened to us before and could happen again *touch wood*. Well you should understand how it feels after being beaten by Hull last year IMO.

So I guess *ahem* the wife was on top last weekend

Hehe anyway in my group we have 2 Gunners, me and another though the other Gunner isn't has hardcore as me , most of them obviously are Man Utd supporters with 1 Liverpool and 2 Chelsea supporters. Supposed to have 3 Gooners in my group including me but the guy quit supporting Arsenal and became a neutral after Titi left for Barca.

Actually he supported Arsenal because of 2 players, Bergkamp and Henry. He started supporting when we won in 1998 IIRC. When Bergkamp left there was still Henry but when Henry left there was no one left lolz Became a neutral after that because he didn't like Barca either. Coincidentally the duration of his support was our most successful period in terms of winning trophies.

Same here. Well as for players there were no particular favorites for me as anyone who dons the red and white no matter who will get my support although I must admit though Freddie, Bergkamp and Bobby P will always remain a bit more special to me than anyone else

Edit: Walcott gets a huge a** dragon tattoo on his arm Lets hope he plays as fierce as that dragon looks when he returns !



This post has been edited by sigheart: Aug 21 2009, 08:35 PM

Again another mistake from Almunia. I have said before many times his antics and mistakes will cost us a number of goals this season and that is number 1.

Yes, rumours emanating that Cesc has done his hammie. Few weeks at the very least on the sidelines quoted by one of the radio doing live footie commentary in the UK according to some Gooners. That will rule him out against Celtic, Man Utd and possibly Man City which is a shame.

The injury curse is starting to hit us again just when crucial games are around the corner

Fabs could be out for three weeks. Wenger's actual quote in the post-match interview. If it is just tightness he will miss the Celtic match but back for Man Utd.

With Rosicky back we could probably move Arshavin into the Cesc role with Tomas on the left. I have a feeling its going to be a pulled hamstring rather than a tight one

Really, we NEVER have a complete first 11 against Man Utd. It has been the case for the last how many meetings with them I have lost count. Each time a meeting with Man Utd approaches we lose one or more key players. Here is to hoping we don't lose anymore players when we play Celtic....

This post has been edited by sigheart: Aug 23 2009, 05:10 PM

Yeah hopefully its just the hamstring feeling tight. Well personally if Fabs is out I would prefer Arshavin moved to the middle to replace Cesc with Rosicky taking up Arshavin's place wide left or Arshavin remaining in his current position with Diaby coming in for Cesc. Ramsey has the ability and potential but I just feel for big games such as this I would prefer more mature heads to be on the field. He is still young and vastly inexperienced thus the high tendency that he might be bullied out of the game and also make mistakes in an area which may prove very costly. Best example was Gibbs against Man Utd last season in the ECL semifinal.

Sigh I do miss him. Was a top top goalkeeper for us. He had everything. Not only a great reader of the game but a brilliant shot stopper to boot. Just love the way he rushes out and sweeps up through balls beyond our back four with great timing and precision. He does have a few forgettable blunders but then again who doesn't. The memory of David Seaman was gone when he stepped in between the sticks. I will never forget those saves he made. The one from Solskjaer, Scholes from point blank range, that impossible double save from Raul, Riquelme's penalty save, the 2005 FA Cup Final saves etc etc. God the list goes on and on. One of the best goalkeepers to ever wear an Arsenal jersey and play in the BPL.

Sadly Almunia is a universe away from Lehmann's best. I very well hope Almunia proves me wrong but as of currently I am still not convinced he is Arsenal quality let alone world class.