hhhmmm... and here i thought keown was the crazy one... =)

anyways, just thought i'd drop by and wish all LYN gunners a HAPPY NEW YEAR!
if i got time, i'll weigh in with some thoughts about arsenal in 2009... =)

have fun, and be safe!

been reading some rumour mill reports about vieira coming back to the EPL, and the talk seems to be picking up steam. although i don't vieira has enough juice to rejoin arsenal, the thought of vieira putting on the jersey of another EPL club is kinda hard to swallow, especially when the team seems to be the club that loves to recruit all things arsenal... =)

Man City close on Vieira as Lyon lose interest

our defending was awful today. the two goals we let in was absolutely rubbish. for the first goal, no one picked osman although he ran all the way from home, and i honestly felt that almunia could've made a much more concerted effort to try and save that ball. i mean, the defending was bad to begin with, but i expect more from the goalie to attempt to save the ball as the last line of defense. as for the second goal, that was classic case of what happens when both your CBs go up to join the attack without realising that song isn't there anymore to mop up the mess.

with regards to diaby, the comments to say that he's bad and he's sh!t seem pretty harsh to me. he did play badly in the beginning of the 2nd half, but he was the one who was harrying the everton players, making vital interceptions (including the clearance that would've given osman the simplest of tap ins after gallas was totally hoodwinked by cahill) and he provided the ball for rosicky to score the equaliser. diaby has never been my favourite player, but he was one of our better performers out there today and i believe that credit should be given where credit is due.

our midfield was totally disjointed today. we miss song terribly and denilson isn't coping well without him. also, our passes were pretty slow, most of the time allowing everton time to regroup and totally crowd out the arsenal players. they were also VERY uncomfortable with the tight marking and constant harrying from the everton players. the introduction of rosicky really helped to bring much needed creativity into the midfield and also bring some stability to it as well.

today, the players who i thought performed the worst today was traore, ramsey, almunia and arshavin. while i am willing to say that the first two may have lost out due to lack of experience, i feel that the latter two have no excuse. i do hope that rosicky gets to start in the next game while traore gets his head sorted out, especially after the earful he was getting from gallas towards the end. the poor kid looked like he was going to cry. as for the double A's, perhaps an enforced rest to remind them that they will be dropped if they put in underpar performances may do some good.

for those who say that the cold and snow was affecting our play, aeroberg did make an observation that everton were also playing under the same conditions and yet they still brought home the bacon while arsenal didn't. we have no one else to blame except ourselves that we dropped 2 points today.

bro, got MOTD in avi or wmv format eh? heheh.. thanks yeah!

this is good news....

William Gallas to avoid FA punishment

wow... it's been pretty heated in here... the temperature must've been rising.. =)

i was reading the posts (yeah, even though i don't post too much in here, i try to read all the posts if possible) and reading all the calls to sack wenger or for him to step down, was frankly, quite painful.

it's ok to be angry, and yes, perhaps we could've done this or that, but to start calling each other names, and using profanity on other forumers and also the club i feel is crossing the line. we're all on the same side, and i have no doubt that opposing views will be tolerated as long as they're presented in a non-threatening manner and properly explained.

however, be prepared to be proven wrong or to admit mistakes. most importantly, be prepared to agree to disagree. just because all of us are arsenal supporters, it doesn't mean that we all have to agree on everything. let's try to be civil in this forum. after all, how we react in here will affect how other LYN forumers view arsenal supporters.

and finally, YES, song is coming back! how we've missed his presence in front of the back 4...heheh...

i think the lineup may be something like:

------------------almunia-------------------
sagna --- gallas --- vermaelen --- clichy
---rosicky --- denilson --- fabregas---
---walcott --- eduardo --- arshavin---

where denilson will play a more withdrawn role while rosicky and fabregas pull the strings from midfield.

it's not like we have that many options anyway.. heheh... but this lineup still looks pretty decent, to me lah that is... i doubt song will be used for the match against villa to let him recover from his ACN exploits. he may end up on the subs bench though, unless wenger is ready to let eastmond sit there instead...

This post has been edited by lostasylum: Jan 26 2010, 01:42 PM

sorry beandy, i just needed to clarify a few things....

I believe that wenger has been one of the most ruthless managers in terms of disposing of players who he believes are past their primes or who have lost their commitment to the cause. he allowed the sale of anelka, petit and overmars despite their importance to the team after winning the first double. many questioned the wisdom of that and many others felt that wenger had lost the plot. he brought a much maligned french winger and a little known brazillian defensive player along with another french winger. today, we know them as the legends henry, gilberto and pires respectively. when their influence started to wane, they were moved along with other players such as vieira, cole, adebayor, etc.

So, technically, the assertion that wenger keeps his players until they want to leave is actually a fallacy. however, wenger is fiercely loyal to the young players he has groomed and he has at times refused to sign big money players simply because they are overpriced and would impede the growth of the younger players. without this fierce loyalty to his policy, we would not have players like cesc fabregas, alex song, flamini and ashley cole.

let's assume that all the other players do not deserve first team, but the fact remains that the 3 players you have mentioned were bought, coached and defended loyally by wenger. a lot of critics said that it was foolish to sell vieira because fabregas would not be able to handle the midfield by himself. and yet wenger persisted and now you have a world class midfielder. gallas was bought as part of the ashley cole deal (another example of wenger's ruthlessness) and did pretty well. but during the meltdown at birmingham, almost everyone supporting arsenal called for his head and the captaincy. wenger did remove the captaincy, but stood behind gallas unwaveringly and this season he has become an integral part of the defense. the same goes for vermaelen. when wenger signed him, everyone said that 10 mil pounds was way too much money and that he was unproven. and yet now, they all hail him as the buy of the season. perhaps that long time taken to purchase was to track his progress and ensure that he wouldn't turn out to be a cygan or stephanovs.

i really dislike adebayor, and his final season with arsenal he was better off on the bench, but to say that he was sh!t the entire period he was at arsenal would be quite a lie. he scored many vital goals for us, and his specialty of scoring against man united was always something that made those matches pretty interesting. however, it was after his head was turned by the likes of milan and barcelona that his attitude changed. he started believing his own hype and his performances dipped. and typically, wenger ruthlessly dispatched of his services. a final note on adebayor is that he was at arsenal for less than 4 years... 3 years and 6 months to be more precise. so no, wenger didn't take 5 years to realise that adebayor was rubbish. he sold him the season after his performances made him unworthy to wear the red of arsenal.

but i will agree with you about almunia and fabianski. i believe that both are average keepers at best and we could afford to buy better goalies. but i guess no one can be perfect. but do i think that mourinho or hiddink or mancini could've done a better job than wenger since 1996, especially with the constraints that he's had, i would say no.

honestly, if you could present your points and views in a much less threatening manner, i think a lot more people would read what you have to say. goading fellow arsenal supporters will only make you even more disliked in this thread. just some food for thought.

for the rest of us, let's make sure that we also back up our arguments with facts. then it makes for healthy discussion, rather that mud slinging and name calling. =)

This post has been edited by lostasylum: Jan 26 2010, 05:52 PM

i'm quite sad to read about this. senderos was not my favourite defender and he's failed to recapture the form that took us to the CL final. and he's been somewhat mediocre since the community shield ownage by drogba, but i think he'd do as a squad player. but from what i gather since senderos came back from milan is that wenger doesn't want him anymore. the very fact that even sol campbell who not so long ago was playing for notts county can get a start before he does just shows that senderos' time is up at arsenal. and le boss' quotes above is just the nail in the coffin....

I totally agree that senderos has conducted himself in the most professional manner possible for a footballer and i have nothing but respect for him as a person. I honestly do hope that he will be able to cement himself in everton and be the CB lynchpin that he couldn't be during his time at arsenal.