Halfway through that game I lost the will to live

Post by **QuartzGooner** » Sun Jan 18, 2009 4:00 pm

Halfway through that game I lost the will to live
It was a case of to Hull and back for one frustrated observer

By Mark Vallis

18 January 2009

http://www.onlinegooner.com/exclusive/index.php?id=966

Contentious points made by the author Mr Vallis!

Is Bendtner really the "ultimate impact sub", or just a big lump who gets lucky?

Is Clichy a "liablity", or one of the hardest working men in the sports business?

Is Denilson's lack of pace a major hindrance, or is he the 'Steady Eddie' type midfielder that brings cohesion to the team?

Exiled-Gooner · Post by **Exiled-Gooner** » Sun Jan 18, 2009 11:51 pm

Bendtner seems to be our super sub like that ugly twat fairclough at liverpud years ago but it's a shame he can't transform that form when he's given a start.Yes Clichy didn't have a good game but 1 game doesn't make him a bad player maybe as we lack strength in depth he needs a rest or it's just 1 of those days as he has given us 110% every time.On denilson he doesn't show any creativity and he seems to be pushed off the ball too easily when at the moment we need him to take the games by the bollocks and unlock opponents defence.At present RVP and Nasri have been standing up to the plate and Sagna has not let us down with his consistency as with Clichy minus yesterday's game but the others need to pull here fingers out and start making themselves known.

LeftfootlegendGooner · Mon Jan 19, 2009 11:27 am

[quote="QuartzGooner"]
Halfway through that game I lost the will to live
It was a case of to Hull and back for one frustrated observer

I don't know about Denilson, but I certainly think diaby has something to offer, he just needs to make better decisions, when and when not to dribble, when to offload the ball after he has taken a couple of players out of the game with fine feet, he can score goals and is very cool in front of goal, I rate him but h needs better coaching i guess.

Eboue has just lost all his confidence, I have seen him have good games and although he does dive and roll around thats what a lot of players do isn't it? remember pires, brilliant player but what a diver, i don't remember arsenal fans getting at him because he was part of a winning team as I am sure if we were top of the league no one would bat an eyelid at eboues diving.
A couple of seasins ago i thought he was class, he just gets played out of position.

I have always maintained that if RVP stayed fit he could easily be the best striker in the league, nasri is good but inconsistent but getting better all the time.

Bentner is an unknown quantity, one minute he can look class the next like a hungover sunday footballer. He has scored some important goals though and can see a pass, maybe on his current run of form his confidence will be sky high and after all football is ALL about confidence.

Clichy is quality but as a whole we have looked a bit dodgy at the back but that is also due to the fact that we don't get decent cover from the midfield like we used to so they are under more pressure and he has been a bit unlucky in that a lot of his mistakes end up in a goal, but there are 5 (keeper as well) defenders so surely if he lets a cross come over there are other defenders who should clear up the danger.

Sammy Mooner · Post by **Sammy Mooner** » Mon Jan 19, 2009 1:08 pm

Half way through the article I lost the will to live

Denilson is in a class of his own. He reminds me of those joggers you see running round the streets. One paced? Bearing in mind that that one pace is slow, I'm not even sure that qualifies. Added to that, he can't tackle without fouling or falling over, and can't reliably make a ten yard pass to a red shirt. In the end you have to ask yourself what exactly is the point of him being on the pitch?

What utter rollocks. Denilson is certainly not slow when it comes to closing players down. I'd have thought this might have been noticeable due to the fact that he's the only player in the squad to have been closing opponents all season. It's not his fault he's been slung in the team as a regular aged just 20 to be our mainstay midfield player. I believe him to be a fine player but not quite ready. But his pass completion stats are better than most Premiership players - so where you get that about unreliable passing is a mystery. Maybe it is because he is one of the few players who works hard and is always available for a pass. Denilson has what it takes, give him time, he's the sort of Parlour/Gilberto/Flamini work horse you don't miss till he's not in the side.

So I'm not quite sure why you've confused him with Eboue

barnfield88 · Post by **barnfield88** » Mon Jan 19, 2009 1:15 pm

Here we go again with the fucking doom and gloom bollocks..... what the fuck do you want? You moan about we cant nick games and go away to games like stuarday and get something...then when we do, you fucking moan about that.... for fuck sake what do you want?

LeftfootlegendGooner · Mon Jan 19, 2009 1:28 pm

barnfield88 wrote: Here we go again with the fucking doom and gloom bollocks..... what the fuck do you want? You moan about we cant nick games and go away to games like stuarday and get something...then when we do, you fucking moan about that.... for fuck sake what do you want?

Yeah you are right there, i thought we looked good against hull saturday, of course they are going to have some part of the game at home but we were not just a little better but a lot, we could have got five with a little more luck. And all players make mistakes, as nearly all goals come from a mistake somewhere down the line.

The writers of these articles should b picking out the upside of our game and not just jump on the media bandwagon and always look for the bad points about our side, look at the quality we have out at the moment and this recent run of form is all the more impressive.

NBN · Post by **NBN** » Mon Jan 19, 2009 2:26 pm

hang on, we have gone away to hull (a side who beat us at home), in fucking awful weather, with key players injured, won 3-1 and you lost the will to live whilst watching on tv? Turn it in mate, i for one was fucking delighted.

LeftfootlegendGooner · Mon Jan 19, 2009 3:05 pm

NBN wrote:hang on, we have gone away to hull (a side who beat us at home), in fucking awful weather, with key players injured, won 3-1 and you lost the will to live whilst watching on tv? Turn it in mate, i for one was fucking delighted.

Me too, me brother and me got pissed after that game and couldn't stop rewinding V+ box to see goals and phil brown looking totally fucking dejected, and to think he was jumping around and celebrating like he was robbie keane and had eventually scored only a few minutes earlier.

barnetgooner · Post by **barnetgooner** » Mon Jan 19, 2009 6:42 pm

what game was the author watching? we won 3-1 away as far as I can recall...

and Clichy a total liability!? Have some faith in a quality player who's going through a moderately bad spell - do no good players go through dips in form!?

proudtosaythatname · Post by **proudtosaythatname** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 7:21 pm

what game was the author watching? we won 3-1 away as far as I can recall...

and Clichy a total liability!?

Couldn't agree more. RVP and Nasri were brilliant and anyway this is the sort of game we used to lose even in the good old days.

As for Clichy, why do 60,000 sing 'He should have been No 3' at the Grove (well, maybe not 60,000, but a fair few...)

PETER59 · Post by **PETER59** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 1:55 pm

Clichy is a 100% effort player which is why fans are reluctant to criticize him.He does have lapses of concentration which have cost us dearly.I still watch his error at Birmingham more in disbelief as he actually moves away from the ball.Granted it was not a pen but the ball should have long been cleared.You cannot get more costly than that as I believe it cost us the league especially as the Gallas trouble started because of this.He caused the drawn game against Spurs when he dithered then fell over.If he had kicked it anywhere we would have won.Then Hull why did he back off.There are many other instances luckily they have not all been costly.I believe he can address these lapses I am sure Arsene has had words.
Anyway we are gradually getting our quick passing game together as we
proved in spells at Hull.VP is coming into great form.Great result the never say die Gunners could just be back.