CELTIC THREAD

[Gunnersaurus]

This new system does not suit our front men. End. Of. Story. We can come on here and bleat about how woeful they were individually but the simple fact is that the system does not suit them and it showed tonight and it showed at everton

thought it worked well and wenger will use this a lot away from home. when we come across a better team it might not work but then again it might but you cant argue with 6-1 and 2-0 victories away from home

Tonight, with the exception of one really dangerous break when tv made an outstanding recovery to block brown, we were never really in danger. We controlled the midfield and looked solid at the back so from that point of view you can def say that the system suited the team. However lets be honest here and admit that we scored a freakish 1st goal and an og from a dangerous cross but what did we really create ? It is great that we finally got some overdue good luck for a change but it does not disguise the fact that we were largely toothless up front and for the 2nd game in a row arshavin, rvp and bedtner were nowhere near threatening. I would suggest that this system is very dependent on scoring the 1st goal and if we concede first in a game then we may struggle with the system

Predictably harsh as usual.

The home team is always going to be the more attacking side infront of their own fans, it was a good, solid, HARDWORKING performance which was the most pleasing.

Agree with a comment where someone mentioned how hard they are working off the ball, they are finally defending as a team and not relying or looking for 1 DM to be the saviour as that was never the case even though some bang on like a new DM will be the answer to all our problems, simply not the case at all, as a team they need to keep possesion better and defend as a team which they didn't do too well last year but so far in these 2 games they have.

Another good result, when the fixtures came out these 2 games along with the City and United games were looked upon as tricky, the formation is working for me, granted some of the players are adjusting but you would have to be blind not to notice how much the play has picked up and how snappy it is compared to last seasons laboured, sideways, uneventfull performances, so far so good.

PS. TV looks like some player, as some said in the Summer, forget the height or Wiki page, watch him play before you critisise or decide that "he's not what we need" because in 2 games (and it's only 2 games) he's pretty much put those negatives to rest.

[Magic Hat]

Positives

-The result
-Almunia did everything that was needed
-Gallas, the greatest poacher since Ian Wright, and TV were impeccable at the heart of our defence, if one of them was needed at the last then one of them would be there to deal with it
-Song in first half was a destructive force, made a series of key tackles, solid in possession and showed some lovely tricks
- Denilson, kept the ball well throughout and in second half provided a lot of defensive cover
-Van Persie made a series of good runs
- Nic was an awkward player in the good sense, kept possession, linked up well, gave Fox a head for most of the evening
- Work ethic of the entire team, pressing and harrying at every opportunity

Negatives

-39% possession in second half?
- Sagna and Clichy looked vulnerable when they were forced to turn
-Cesc looked like a man hampered by injury
-Song was poor in second half, sloppy, moved too far forward and easily turned
- Van Persie couldn't get the ball
-Arshavin did nothing
- Failed to work Boruc. Sure, we had a good few counter attacks in second half but rarely worked ball into the box or hit the target as are players ended up having to shoot from distance. We need more penetration
-Wenger's failure to use bench at 2-0 to rest a few players (like Cesc) with niggles.

[DB10GOONER]

jaggy - Exactly, half the muppets acctually just want to moan, pure and simple.

Decent away performance tonight against a team that hardly threatened let alone put a few passes together and yet we have a poster picking out a Celtic player.

You couldn't make some of this rubbish up.

Do you honestly just go through life thinking everyone should have the same opinion as you?

Everytime you come on here it is to moan about other posters moaning. At least they are making valid points and debating them. You just come on here and moan. Why bother?

This is a forum. A place for debate. If we all thought the same this place would be just fucking boring, like the "official" forum, which is where I suggest you go and spend your time seeing as you can't bare to be disagreed with.

[Gunnersaurus]

There's not much difference between here and the official forum to be honest, the only difference I can see is that the mod there is a Fulham fan and not as gobby as the mods on here......

[SPUDMASHER]

For me the main positive of the night was that we showed we can fight. "Win ugly" has been something that we've not been able to do for some time but last night we did exactly that. Two lucky goals but hey, when was the last time we got lucky?
There were weaknesses in the team last night, mostly up front, but it was good to see that the defence and midfield carried the fight to Celtic. Even Denilson did well and you won't hear that from me too often.
I'm no rosetinter but i'm struggling to find much to moan about following that.

[Gunnersaurus]

Completely agree, before the season started I thought this bunch would bottle it at CP like they did in the semis last season but they stood up, that is a big thing for me.

I'm in no doubt that it's definatly Lazybayor effect kicking in, a happy dressing room makes for a happy team, they look a team now.

[NBM]

For me the main positive of the night was that we showed we can fight. "Win ugly" has been something that we've not been able to do for some time but last night we did exactly that. Two lucky goals but hey, when was the last time we got lucky?
There were weaknesses in the team last night, mostly up front, but it was good to see that the defence and midfield carried the fight to Celtic. Even Denilson did well and you won't hear that from me too often.
I'm no rosetinter but i'm struggling to find much to moan about following that.

Still don't think it was that ugly. The defensive side of the team did what was needed, and while we didn't quite click attacking we never really needed to get out of 2nd gear. Job done I think is the phrase.

Anyone else think that Samaras looks like a tranny?

[DB10GOONER]

There's not much difference between here and the official forum to be honest, the only difference I can see is that the mod there is a Fulham fan and not as gobby as the mods on here......

How many people have been suspended or banned from here for questioning the club (or, indeed, questioning or having a pop at the mods)?

A fucking Fulham fan modding an Arsenal forum??!! That's about all I need to know about the .con forum...

[augie]

Unbelievable the number of people (not fans) who are so negative to the team.

Does my head in reading some of the shit posts on here.

As for Augie, you may always seem impressed with something that goes against Arsenal.

So you pick out a player from Celtic to praise, what complete bollox.

You ec3, are a complete knobhead Flick back through my posts and read the part where I said that cesc was immaculate all night. Read back and see where I wrote about how solid we were defensively. Read where I praised vermaelen for an unbelieveable recovery to get in a vital tackle. Yes I gave credit to one of their players after reading some of the comments on their forum where they were complimentary to some of ours and I recripcated in kind. It seems that you are one of these morons who has to feel that every opposition we face has to be hated 100% and as a result should get no credit no matter what they do so obviously in your life you cannot under any circumstances criticise any of you own players and equally must never praise the opposition or one of their players What a sad individual you are

[DB10GOONER]

I thought we we were excellent last night. We hunted in packs to win back possession and stood up to a very physical approach by Celtic (particularly aimed at Fabregas). Denilson ran and ran and covered well. Song was awesome in the first half in fairness to him. Gallas and Tommy V look like a decent combo.

Only (slight) negatives were Cesc misplacing passes alot in the first 15 minutes, Song looked weaker in the 2nd half (but it's early season, he may not be fully up to fitness and he did work his bollocks off in the 1st half), our inability to work their keeper much, and finally Denilson's passing is still very poor (I hate criticising him after he worked so hard for the team but I have to be honest).

All in all though, a great AWAY performance against a physically tough side.

The 433 suits us defensively (particularly Song) but really limits us going forward. We need to find a way (or a couple of players) that can work the 433 effectively up front - RVP can't because that is not his style of play.

[Alex]

Very happy with the result & the desire last night.

The work ethic off the ball was excellent & good to see the likes of cesc getting on with it despite being clattered several times.

TV looked very composed, both him & Gallas look like making a very solid central defensive partnership this season.

Song had an excellent first half. Our midfield looks far more imposing with both him & Denilson alongside Cesc. All 3 still lose the ball too much for my liking but you can't expect perfection, perhaps a slight improvement. More concentration required.

Up front, apart from Shava, none of our forwards looked particularly dangerous & we rarely looked like creating anything from open play. That was the case throughout last season especially in the big games & is a big concern of mine. I'd like to see the likes of Wilshire come on as a sub whilst Nasri & Sick note are out.

[TeeCee]

I don't think we played well at all but that's what makes it such a good result.
What I am really impressed by so far this season is the closing down that our players are doing, we're putting in some really hard work and it's paying dividends. In the two games we've seen so far, Vermaelen has been awesome. He's pretty quick, good positional sense and a very good tackler, he does remind me of Vidic but about 6 inches shorter! But he is still pretty decent in the air, Gallas looks a much better player with TV besides him. Also, Kolo tended to go sideways or backwards with the ball a lot of the time, TV looks comfortable going forward.
Celtic were what I expected, hard working but not great quality although McGeady looks like he could be a very good player.
I was puzzled why Wenger didn't make a couple of changes towards the end though?

[Mikegooner87i]

Thats exactly the result we were looking for last night, and wether it was done in style of by way of luck, i could not give a shit. We were the better team overall and deserved to win.

Cesc was like a warrior last night. They tried thier best to batter him, and keep him out of the game, but every ball he lost he chased down and won it back, Song also had another good game and he might just be out to shut us up this season (even though i still belive we cant win the league with him and denilson in the middle of the park). Vermaelen again was brilliant, nothing got past him and every tackle he went into he went in hard and won the ball, so far so good from him! hope to see more of the same...
Also, won 133.10 from last night games. 4 away win Arsenal, Boro, Chelski and leeds, not a bad night at all!

[bunch]

Happy with the result and happy with th eoverall performance last night. They pressed us in mid-field which led to some sloppy passing. But we gave them no space either.

My concern is that Arshavin is being wasted out on the wing. I would like to see him with more freedom in attack.

It was also good to see our main strikers, RVP and NickB, really putting the effort in to make sure we ground out a result. Thanks be that Lazybarndoor has followed the cash.

Thinking about who wasn't playing last night, Theo, Rosicky, Eduardo and factor insome of the younger guys who might come through, Vela, Ramsey and Wilshere, I think we are in pretty good shape.

Vermaelen is looking really top quality too.

[Lethal]

for me it had a very Chelsea kind of feel to it,when they would go away and just force a win without ever really playing well.

a really good away performance and big tom looked great again.

really encouraging signs so far,lets keep it up on saturday