As we're unlikely to see terraces again at football, this is the virtual equivalent where you can chat to your hearts content about all football matters and, obviously, Arsenal in particular. This forum encourages all Gooners to visit and contribute so please keep it respectful, clean and topical.
augie wrote: However maybe you should analysise our injury crisis in the striking positions where it has taken just 2 injuries to leave us hamstrung (no pun intented) with only short, leightweight players to fill the void
i kinda wondered that myself. how the hell can we have only 2 tall and 3 short strikers!!!! that is not enough
we should have 8 carews and 15 owens actually, that would make the job done!
augie wrote:Boomer the strikers you listed are all short arsed, and in some cases unproven players, and these guys are not equipped to deal with physical defenders or the hopelessly high balls that almunia keeps delivering Our squad is nowhere near strong enough and only a fool or wenger (one and the same ? ) would argue otherwise
I assume he thought Van Persie, Bendtner and Eduardo were good enough to cover that one position, with Arshavin, Nasri, Rosicky, Theo, Vela, etc. covering the wide positions.
As we all know, Van Persie is out for the season, Bendtner has been out injured for 2 months or so, and Eduardo is struggling for confidence/form... yet, despite this setback, our fool of a manager (as you say) has somehow still managed to keep us on course for over 80pts and the highest scorers in the league!
I'm not sure that makes Wenger a fool as such, as bad luck has played a huge part. After all, would Fergie be a fool if circumstances left him without Rooney & Berbatov, meaning he had Michael Owen and Marcheda as the only real striker options??
Last edited by g88ner on Mon Jan 18, 2010 1:36 pm, edited 3 times in total.
augie wrote:Boomer the strikers you listed are all short arsed, and in some cases unproven players, and these guys are not equipped to deal with physical defenders or the hopelessly high balls that almunia keeps delivering Our squad is nowhere near strong enough and only a fool or wenger (one and the same ? ) would argue otherwise
I assume he thought Van Persie, Bendtner and Eduardo were good enough to cover that one position, with Arshavin, Nasri, Rosicky, Theo, Vela, etc. covering the wide positions.
As we all know, Van Persie is out for the season, Bendtner has been out injured for 2 months or so, and Eduardo is struggling for confidence/form.
I'm not sure that makes Wenger a fool as such, as bad luck has played a huge part. After all, would Fergie be a fool if circumstances left him without Rooney & Berbatov, meaning he had Michael Owen and Marcheda as the only real striker options??
We certainly got lucky with all the missed Bolton chances and a better team might make us pay for our frailties, but felt it was another great result, gained without playing that well.
Must say that TV handled Kevin Davies as well, if not better, than anyone in an Arsenal shirt previous had. Can't remember the big Bolton bruiser having as little impact against us as he did yesterday.
Although I was very excited about his talent a couple of years ago, Traore hasn't progressed as well as I'd hoped and it's obvious to me that he hasn't got the defensive nouse to be playing in defence for a top team. I think young Gibbs, although still learning the position, might end up being the better back-up to Clichy - who himself is defensively vulnerable. Perhaps we should bring Nutty back to coach them in the art of defending?
Going back to the injurys...how many players do we need in our squad then?
We have 4 GK's
10 Defenders(9 when PS leaves)
11 Midfielders
5 strikers
Alot of those players a versitile and can play in 2 or even 3 positions if really needed so that is nearly 3 full teams we could put out if we had no injurys.
augie wrote:Boomer the strikers you listed are all short arsed, and in some cases unproven players, and these guys are not equipped to deal with physical defenders or the hopelessly high balls that almunia keeps delivering Our squad is nowhere near strong enough and only a fool or wenger (one and the same ? ) would argue otherwise
I totally agree which is why I said "sadly Wenger will argue...."
I also should have added that Walcott will rarely play due to injuries.
augie wrote:Boomer the strikers you listed are all short arsed, and in some cases unproven players, and these guys are not equipped to deal with physical defenders or the hopelessly high balls that almunia keeps delivering Our squad is nowhere near strong enough and only a fool or wenger (one and the same ? ) would argue otherwise
I assume he thought Van Persie, Bendtner and Eduardo were good enough to cover that one position, with Arshavin, Nasri, Rosicky, Theo, Vela, etc. covering the wide positions.
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Yes, I was.....or are you refer to 'he' as Wenger?!
If we are going to play 4-3-3 it makes no sense at all to count someone like Eduardo as a central striker. Essentially we had two centre forwards who could play in that system. I guess if you have two injuries that's quite unlucky (though with RVP's record we ought to have expected 1) but nonetheless we were not prepared in that position.
But as people are rightly pointing out is that in spite of a lot of injuries and the loss of a front line centre forward we are still right in the fight. The switch to 4-3-3 and arrival of Vermaelen have made such a difference at either end of the pitch.
djhdjh wrote:If we are going to play 4-3-3 it makes no sense at all to count someone like Eduardo as a central striker. Essentially we had two centre forwards who could play in that system. I guess if you have two injuries that's quite unlucky (though with RVP's record we ought to have expected 1) but nonetheless we were not prepared in that position.
So you're saying that the goal pouching, fox in the box should play outwide?
The problem is he's still not fully returned after breaking his leg. He's very rusty and looks like he needs a load of confidence.
You have to admire Wenger though, no other team on the planet could operate a 4-3-3 without a single fit centre foward and still be in the race for the EPL.
djhdjh wrote:If we are going to play 4-3-3 it makes no sense at all to count someone like Eduardo as a central striker. Essentially we had two centre forwards who could play in that system. I guess if you have two injuries that's quite unlucky (though with RVP's record we ought to have expected 1) but nonetheless we were not prepared in that position.
So you're saying that the goal pouching, fox in the box should play outwide?
The problem is he's still not fully returned after breaking his leg. He's very rusty and looks like he needs a load of confidence.
Perhaps we should buy Skippy the bush kangaroo!!!!
djhdjh wrote:If we are going to play 4-3-3 it makes no sense at all to count someone like Eduardo as a central striker.
i'm unsure about that, mate. i know eduardo from before he joined arsenal, and even though he is short, i think he can work as central striker in a 4-3-3, though not with his current lack of confidence.
in a more traditional team, you expect the centerforward to be the huge guy who can chest the ball, hold it on his feet and when the other players arrive he then passes the ball. i think it is not our case. we're a very pacey team who pass the ball with one or two touches and get from our pitch to the opposition's goal in seconds. so what I expect from our centreforward to do is exactly what eduardo did in our first goal yesterday - very quick thinking and precise passing, both subjects in which he excels.
other than that, he has one of the best positioning i ever saw from a striker - just like romario - and that's why he poaches so many goals - he is always at the right place, and has a very good finish, which hopefully will be back in a few matches.
i like eduardo as a centreforward and i think he'll prove me right in the next couple of matches. at least i hope so
djhdjh wrote:If we are going to play 4-3-3 it makes no sense at all to count someone like Eduardo as a central striker.
i'm unsure about that, mate. i know eduardo from before he joined arsenal, and even though he is short, i think he can work as central striker in a 4-3-3, though not with his current lack of confidence.
in a more traditional team, you expect the centerforward to be the huge guy who can chest the ball, hold it on his feet and when the other players arrive he then passes the ball. i think it is not our case. we're a very pacey team who pass the ball with one or two touches and get from our pitch to the opposition's goal in seconds. so what I expect from our centreforward to do is exactly what eduardo did in our first goal yesterday - very quick thinking and precise passing, both subjects in which he excels.
other than that, he has one of the best positioning i ever saw from a striker - just like romario - and that's why he poaches so many goals - he is always at the right place, and has a very good finish, which hopefully will be back in a few matches.
i like eduardo as a centreforward and i think he'll prove me right in the next couple of matches. at least i hope so
eduardo has no pace anymore though it makes me sad example is that through ball cesc played to him, even i would of been able to keep up with that
djhdjh wrote:If we are going to play 4-3-3 it makes no sense at all to count someone like Eduardo as a central striker. Essentially we had two centre forwards who could play in that system. I guess if you have two injuries that's quite unlucky (though with RVP's record we ought to have expected 1) but nonetheless we were not prepared in that position.
So you're saying that the goal pouching, fox in the box should play outwide?
The problem is he's still not fully returned after breaking his leg. He's very rusty and looks like he needs a load of confidence.
Perhaps we should buy Skippy the bush kangaroo!!!!
Goes with the saying "in the bag" and 'Back of the Onion net!'
Our squad is nowhere near strong enough and only a fool or wenger (one and the same ?
) would argue otherwise
