lol.true.plenty too prove for toure in this three weeks,so does Djourou and song.
then again,wat is this injury dilemma piling up at arsenal.gosh.

Great post. Your posts have already surpassed mine in terms of long-windedness

For the bolded part, just treat it as fickle fans ranting rubbish. Losing one game doesn't make a young player an instant crap head. If they truly think Rafael is rubbish then by all means send him packing to the Grove. He'll do wonders in our squad with the correct football education - Anyone who watched his performance against us few months ago would have noticed his technical qualities.

I agree about our lack of defensive stature in every Wenger team, but we still had a solid organisation previously with Adams and later Sol as our spine. JD seems to be developing into the same kind of player but he's too raw and young at the moment; so no one would mind an instant replacement for the time being. Kolo's and Willy's attributes have already been well known and Arsene finally admitted that both of them don't compliment each other well. We could and should have been able to outscore our opponents, yet without a formidable midfield to supply ammunition and also goals, this aspect of our game is severely weakened. Not forgetting that Ade has not been on fire this season while Robin has just started to find his feet.

The only reason why I find Arshavin a good signing for the team is because of his similarities to Bobby, in terms of age, technical skill, and playing style. Yet I won't be too surprised if he doesn't come as Zenit seems to be waiting for a higher bidder to come in with a larger offer, rather than take whatever's available. Come on Gazi, show your worth !!

More random names being linked... now Silva? He's a quality winger, but isn't he too similar to Nasri?
And I don't think Valencia will sell to us either, broke or not broke; other Spanish (English too) clubs would be likely to pay astronomical amounts of money than we would.

This post has been edited by StarGhazzer: Jan 9 2009, 06:52 AM

@StarGhazzer

i mmg "chiong hei" one... write karangan all.. next time i put references .. =P

thanks for reminding me about that part.. bascially the whole man utd team got slated.. not sure who was able to leave the field with their head up high (or reputation intact) .. i wonder if anyone still pulled a decent performance. anyways....

silva was just a name that kaka91 mentioned who i taught would be good... now im not sure about his pace, but if he is a natural left midfielder then it would be great to see him there, and nasri to play in the middle.. nasri seems good at taking on his man and jinking etc but doesn't seem to have the pace to burn his player once he has him beaten, rather he seemed to have his man beaten again and again.. his playmaking abilities is quite stunning though.. i remember his outside foot throughball from the left to bendtner... wicked stuff, turning his man inside out... albeit repeatly due to the lack of pace... something that perhaps arshavin or silva may provide.. but of cuz i doubt they'll come anyway.. (esp silva who's tag would be even more astronomical than that of arshavins')

at this point it's really hard to tell who's coming and who's not , other than indulge in your "dream signings" we can only wait and speculate what the roles may be once a signing is made (if there is one) .. situation now may change as AW may be forced to look for a CB.. or perhaps "internal solutions" =/

This post has been edited by chronic_blade: Jan 9 2009, 09:19 AM

Looks like Arshavin is more likely to come. That's the only news i see day in day out. Other players are just one off news. First, we were link with Given, now seemed quiet. Even so, I think he'll come eventually. Sooner or later. I really pitied Almunia. He had work his socks off to be our number 1 but now with Given link with a move here, maybe he felt hard-done. I still think he deserved to be our number 1 keeper providing that he have a good defense partnership in front of him.

Btw, I'm worried of Rosicky. He's running out of contract by end of this season. It's a gamble for Wenger to offer him a new contract. If it's my decision, i would sign him for another year. We seriously lack of firepower upfront and creativity in the centre.

Having Arshavin in the press everyday is by no means an indication he will come. It could be his agent or Zenit planting this stories to try and start a bidding war... But it could go either way. We signed Nasri but we didnt sign Baptista. Both were long, drawn out sagas in the press.

Anyway, a bit of topic, I was reading something on youth teams on The Guardian football website. I know Barca is a super team, and I do know most of the players came through the ranks, but when you list down their names one by one, its an absolutely scary list!

Puyol, Iniesta, Xavi, Messi, Krcic, Valdes, Pique and Cesc. Dayymnn...

What do u mean Arteta is no better than wat we already have????r u saying diaby n eboue is at da same level as arteta????u must be joking... i think u haven't seen arteta play b4....im convinced buying arteta would really improve arsenal by a long way....heck i even think n'zogbia is even better than those 2(diaby n eboue) combined...n apparently nzogbia wants to come to arsenal if arsenal make an offer

Nzogbia favours Arsenal....

I'll attempt at some pre-match analysis:::

Bolton would give us a stern test albeit not like the ones of seasons ago when they had anelka, I hear Steinsson and Nolan are suspended with Cahill doubtful with an injury (although don't quote me on that, it's just news i picked up, and hardly from proven sources so.. just a warning first!)

Jaaskelainen is one of the keepers who usually has his day when he plays against us... like shay given etc.. and we would usually need something special to beat him.. hopefully he won't have those days this weekend. With nolan suspended.. ( i hope) perhaps things would be a little easier in midfield so perhaps we won't get walked over so easily.. who AW will put in midfield would be interesting.. diaby or song partnering denilson ?

probable arsenal line-up
4-4-2

RVP - ADE

NASRI - DENILSON - SONG - EBOUE

CLICHY - DJ - TOURE - SAGNA

ALMUNIA


this would be a tentative lineup i predict, if AW wants diaby to feature, he may play 4-4-1-1 or perhaps put denilson on the right and put diaby in the middle, bringing in eboue in a later stage, i don't see much of a point in eboue in RM as we're at home, and bolton may shutup shop and hit us on the counter attack via long ball.. DJ will have his work cut out for him and hopefully we don't concede a goal like one against liverpool (by keane over a long ball over the top not closed down) Toure will have his chance to stake a claim for the position again. I won't read much into gallas's "injury" yet, we'll have to wait and see.

our form isn't that great coming from a recent 1-0 scrappy win following a string of draws barely surviving christmas period, bolton themselves not that great and have just been dumped out of the FA cup by sunderland 2-1 .. their last game in the league a home defeat to wigan.. bolton do not pose as strong as a threat as they did when big sam was there but Arsenal are not as strong as season's back too.

For me it depends on which arsenal side turns up. A committed performance like the beginning of the game against plymouth like a flurry of attacks to besiege the bolton goal would set the tone and hopefully with any luck of banging in an early goal, we may well have an open game. If they shutup shop however and play as long as they can.. we may get frustrated, lose concentration and 1 long ball may just well cost us 3 pts..

in the bigger picture of the EPL .. Aston villa are home to west brom and should win it so 3 pts is a must for us to keep chase. Liverpool meet stoke city away and we might just see something, a result may swing to their rival's way and injuries may crop up with the "rugby" style of stoke... however their reputation may just cause the ref to pull out his cards sooner and should stoke get a sending off, it may just be too much for them.

Man Utd and Chelsea lock horns on sunday so a good result for us on sat would enable us to sit back and enjoy the battle between our rivals. If you ask me i'd prefer chelsea to beat man utd although any result is find and a draw is well.. i guess good for the rest of the rivals as well. Would love to see us get a big win on sat and aston villa losing allowing us to sit on top of them in terms of goal difference (currently we're 1 goal behind them) that would be a start to edge closer back into the title fight again.. the likes of pool, man utd are still poised to suffer poor run with liverpool starting to pick up injuries, man utd still not as convincing.. displaying title champion credentials yet..

Come on now gunners, we can still do this! Lets get back on track now! plymouth game may be an easy opposition on paper, but at least a win still gave us some confidence and i guess the 1 goal we conceded should be a reminder again of our concentration.. perhaps that 3-1 score was perfect.. i sure hope so.. and i hope we come flying out of the traps to seige bolton from the whislte, we should do what the other teams do to us.. give them no space, no time, harry for the ball sense of urgency and then attack, give them no time to reorganise by quickly attacking instead of passing around. Confidence is key here for that to happen.. hopefully we'll start like how we started against plymouth, i wouldn't mind how we ended too.. the scoreline that is =D

come on ya gunners!!

With the loss of Fabregas, Nasri has stepped up his game with two solid performances in the middle of the park. I hope we try to accomodate him there in some ways...

It's natural for fans to slate the team after a disastrous performance, so don't read too much into it. I'm sure there are MU fans who are proud of their youths, and as a rival fan I do think they have several bright starlets which may make it big in a few years time, with Rafael being one of them.

David Silva has pace and trickery, and he seems more fitting on the wings than Nasri who's more comfortable as a free role. It seems that he'll be able to provide some qualities on the flanks ala Reyes did, but until he comes (which I kinda doubt as there's no smoke, let alone fire) we won't be sure. As for Nasri, I believe a truly great player will be able to dictate play in whatever position. The great Zizou was equally comfortable in the middle, behind the strikers, or on the left side - Same with Nedved as well. Nasri showed his worth during the early games where he performed well on the left wing, and I don't think I need to elaborate more on his recent displays as a central playmaker role.

The CB issue is worrying, and now it piles more misery on us as both Willy and Silvy will be out for some time. It's pretty much a no brainer now for JD to partner with Kolo, and hopefully Kolo will be able to recapture his form and consolidate himself as first choice.

Given would be a good addition despite being harsh to Manny, but we have more important areas to buck up rather than muck with the GK position. Manny's a bit maligned over here - He has done well in the early games especially after he got the armband, but his howlers against T'ham were appalling and many people failed to forgive him for that. As much as I would welcome a top class keeper to replace Manny, I believe our Spaniard has been a victim of our shambolic defense. Any keeper who receives limited protection from his defenders would have a hard time in every match.

I don't dare to put any more hopes on Tommy despite my liking and respect for the player. Until the day where I see him being fully fit and running on the pitch, let's not hope that he'll be a vital cog in our team anymore.

I hate Barca, the team, with a passion after their constant courting of our players. Yet at the same time I admire their players and their academy which churns out quality youngsters on a regular basis. It amuses me that we managed to pry two of their brightest stars in Fabs and Merida, and let's hope both of them stay long enough at the Grove to become true Arsenal legends.

By the way, interesting perspective from arseblogger regarding the Arshavin situation. Let's hope he doesn't turn out to be another "Beast" for us.

http://www.oleole.com/blogs/arseblog/posts...t-another-beast

FTK gives his opinion about the Russian Assassin as well. His similarities to Nasri is obvious, but as mentioned before a truly great playmaker can operate either in the centre or on the wings. But he does hint at the possibilty of Arshavin being a smokescreen - something we just cannot rule out
http://www.arsenalinsider.co.uk/?p=3074

Great article on our young Gibbs. It's remarkable isn't it, where Arsene manages to create 3 players who are so similar in Cashley, Clichy, and now Gibbs. Had Traore been slightly more defensive-minded we'd have 4 of the same kind. The image of Gibbs marauding down the left flank with ease, twisting past opponents and taking shots vs Inter Milan in the inaugeral Emirates Cup still remains fresh in my mind.
http://www.islingtongazette.co.uk/content/...3A11%3A12%3A727

This post has been edited by StarGhazzer: Jan 9 2009, 11:22 AM

don expect too much on Wenger will sign those name that appeared in media everyday. He might end up not signing anyone or he might bring in somebody that all of us never expect. but as a fans, i think just stick and trust with professor

Barca have one of the best youth acedemy in Europe, imo. They train them when they are merely 12. We have a great prospect in our youth team but if compare to the success Barca have in their youth team, we're still lacking behind. Zan81 mentioned those names, it really brings chill to your spine. At least 6/11 in the list is their first team players. Amazing...

The next game against Bolton will have to be our turning point if we want to salvage anything from the BPL. It will still be a miracle if we can win the title. Let's be positive now. 10 pts is a big gap but the statistics from the first half of the season shows it is still possible providing the rest slipped a few games more. Get some experienced new faces and bulk up our defense and maybe we could turn this season around.

Common you Gunners!

the onli weak link in barca team is valdes...

I agree
I do not even know where to begin with Arteta. The only player at his level of skill is Cesc. Everyone else cannot hold a candle to Arteta.
Even N'zogbia would be a huge acquisition to this current Arsenal side. For starters, he can cross the ball, can play at full back and is deadly at set pieces
so we wont have to deal with Van Persie's blasting.

arteta is one of my favorite player in epl beside arsenal player.
his set piece and passing are truly awesome.. he also a more an arsenal type of player.
sure a massive addition to the squad if he come.

infact, maybe he can partner cesc, and maybe the line up will be something like this..

nasri - arteta - fabregas - walcott

no need dm, if our back 4 are solid enough..
and if we conceded 2, we can score 5..

arghhh... too much FM i might say...

I've seen him a lot. I've highlighted already before Arteta comes across to me as a "comfort" player. Looks fantastic when the players around him play well but next to anonymous and tends to go missing in games when the players around him play badly. Not one to step up and get stuck in when the going gets tough which is exactly what we don't need now.

As for N'Zogbia he was decent about 1 or 2 seasons back which of course I wouldn't mind him then. But some of his performances this season has been appalling and shockingly poor at times. His progress looked to have taken a small step back this year IMO.

i like this.. who cares about conceding if we can score 5? lol. but is arsene REALLY interested in arteta? seems like all everyone is talking abt these days is arshavin.

Don't think Arsene was even interested in Arteta in the first place. It all started just because of Cesc's injury IMO.

damn, i tot he really wanted arteta. haiz,can still hope. transfer window still long more to go and with arsene, you never know.. he might get him after all. however, knowing our players, they will probably play the games of their lives and convince arsene that no more players are needed till the window closes and then.. eh.. yea... play poor again

then i dun mind having arteta n nzogbia...at least they can play as wingers n can perform well when others play well...diaby n eboue tend to go missing in every match even when others r playing well....even when arteta n nzogbia is having a bad day...diaby n eboue doesnt hold a candle to them...nzogbia needs to come to arsenal to progress...as u can c newcastle is in a big mess since Sir Bobby Robson got sacked......n eboue n diaby have taken a huge step back a few years now IMO....

This post has been edited by RyanAtwood: Jan 9 2009, 03:28 PM

nzogbia! come one AW.. get him... hehehehe... then we can have

Nzogbia-Cesc-Nasri-Walcott

midfield... scary weh! ehehehehe the pace of Nzogbia and Walcott.. Woot!