What the trip to old trafford has taught me.......

[tomkingsbury]

One of the reasons i use this forum is because i like reading others and indeed posting my views and opinions on the arsenal team/management/performances etc. and in recent weeks i have seen many valid points from forum regulars (you know who you are) about the lack of depth in the squad, some of the players currently playing and why couldnt we have bought some players in january. I firmly believed that Wenger knew precisely what he was doing and i was comfortable that he didnt buy in january because although our performances since the 1st half at villa havent been excellent, we still won and are top of the league by 5 points - lets not forget that a loss and a draw could put us back in second place on goal difference.
However after reading some of the latest gooner on the coach back from manure and indeed talking to fellow gooners about our performance, i really felt, like Mr.Whitcher, that i wasted my money on saturday watching a half-arsed (and thats being generous) team fall apart at the hands of a united side with the likes of fletcher playing and no ronaldo in sight. I was probably more fortunate (although i didnt feel so at the time) to be on the penultimate row at the back of the stand for the game, watching our lads fail miserably.
What annoys me further is the number of 'injuries' -mainly muscular that our team had which undoubtedly will dissappear for wednesday night. Im sure there are many points already made about the game but i thought i'd make a few of my own about the players on the pitch who really pissed me off:
Justin Hoyte: so far this season he has been absolutely bollocks, non-existent, shit etc. and yesterday he just let anderson et al. walk all over him, never closed down, and was at fault for at least one of the goals, allowing the brazilian fucker far too much room to cross the ball. Sagna is a far greater full back and Song a far more competent centre back and although i'd love to see an english gooner fan make it at arsenal; justin get ya coat.
Armand Traore: many times last season in the league cup his performances excited me and i really thought this lad had great potential. This season he has been abysmal and although he has great pace, his inexperience and abiltiy to crumble in the big games has made him look awful. He was far too wasteful yesterday going forward and not much better defending. The lad has the undoubted potential to make it here, but he needs a season out on loan.
Gilberto: to think i thought he should be captain this season. Fuck me, has a player ever had such a blinding season only to be followed with an absolutely atrocious one? He should have gone in january and we should have kept diarra. Whether its psychological, low morale, or he has just lost his ability is up for debate but the summer clear out beckons for gilberto.
Eboue: where do i begin? awful although he has performed reasonably well in a few games before he went off to the ACofN. Usually good at helping out sagna, he was non-existent and is a disgrace to his club. I think we would have played better if he and our two full-backs werent on the pitch at old trafford.
Bendtner: i was hoping he was going to show us this season how good he was, but one goal (not the own goal) against your rivals doesnt make a player. He may be a good player but he just doesnt seem to fit into our style of play and certainly is far too slow. A poor, poor man's adebayor. Either give him a season on loan in the premiership or let him go in the summer, the latter preferrably.
This is not to say its all doom and gloom, the end of the world etc. 'Augie' and 'Gus Caesar......' have made valid points before on our squad and Mr Whitcher seems to be a modern day mystic meg - reading his intro to the new gooner he expressed a worry that this cup game could be on par with the spuds league game and i think it was much worse. Maybe some were right to suggest we needed more players to strengthen our squad, and i know its only one game but i remember a few seasons ago we were potentially a team capable of doing the treble before chelsea and manure ruined our chances in less than a week. However, if we were to thump milan 3-0 on wednesday, us fickle fans will be praising wenger's methods. You've got to take the rough with the smooth i guess. Hey, at least we're not derby fans......

[EL-Z]

Bendtner: i was hoping he was going to show us this season how good he was, but one goal (not the own goal) against your rivals doesnt make a player. He may be a good player but he just doesnt seem to fit into our style of play and certainly is far too slow. A poor, poor man's adebayor. Either give him a season on loan in the premiership or let him go in the summer, the latter preferrably.

Nice to see someone finally echoing my sentiments about Bendtner. Hes an absolute disgrace and with all the players being turfed out either for sale or on loan he should have been first in line.

[thatgooner]

Good post mate,
Im still defending Justin Hoyte, I think he has played well in the past and was just left completly exposed yesterday, Not only by Eboue, but by the two Centre backs as well.
We expect Gallas and Toure to give the young full backs confidence, security and cover if the Fuck up, but that just didnt happen yesterday!!

Also I think far too much came through the midfield, Cesc couldn't be arsed and Gilberto, a top bloke, but well past it.
Quite honestly I think Flamini is the key to our Midfield (defensivly) so far this season. What other midfielder do we have that can tackle? Possibly Diaby and thats it!

[EL-Z]

i totally agree. Fabregas, im sorry but he just hasnt looked the same since he got that "minor" injury and its Flams who has been making the telling contributions in the middle. Looks like a case of just bundling Fab over the finish line before something bad happens to him. I don't rate Hoyte at all, never have and never will but I did feel sorry for him and Traore. Man United knew that they could exploit the wings with those two so they did. Arsenes tactics played right into United's hands and we got what we deserved sadly

[augie]

Last August I was begging for signings and in January I was even worse but it is not the lack of signings that is eating away at me of late but more about the lack of quality in the current squad. This is a point I touched upon earlier in the season and is even more evident as the season goes on cos we just do not have the back up needed when injuries and suspensions hit. In August I argued that 2 or 3 quality experienced signings could make a huge difference but now we appear to have so many holes in the squad that even abramovich doesnt have enough money to fill them. Think about the cover players from last seasons lge cup run that we expected to be ready to step up to the plate when asked this season and ask yourself how many if any are good enough to play for us in the premiership and champs lge ? You certainly could write off hoyte & traore and you would have serious question marks over theo,djouru & bedtner(who was away on loan last season so wasnt in cup squad). On top of all that you have the ageing bert,the shakiness of senderos, the constant injuries with rvp & rosicky and of course not forgetting the embarrassing *word censored* eboue and it doesnt make good reading does it

There is a saying in life that sometimes you reap what you sow and this is what has happened here - wenger decided to skimp on the squad and hope to be successful with a quality 13 or so but has been exposed coverwise as he has been last season and the season before I have always said that we have as good a team as anyone but we are not in the 1980's anymore and you will not be successful with a small squad

[EL-Z]

Im quite adept to opinions but yesterdays result has got me thinking so much it would bve criminal to myself not to rant. First of all i echo most when i say we were an absolute disgrace yesterday. Even the players you would expect to perfrom like Gallas and Hleb were awful. However my biggest criticisms are obvious but the first one has not been spoken of enough in recent weeks. Physicality. Teams would often berate us for our lack of physical toughness (Blackburn always springing to mind). Well yesterday there was none. we let Man United bully us into submission. Players like Kolo and Gallas were literally barged out of the way and made Man United ariel threat look all the more dominating. Up front we had about as much creation as a bowl of bran flakes without milk. Why the fuck are we still playing Bendtner. Hes a joke. Eddie was drowning out there. Gilberto has finally done all he can for football and I think yesterday was the final nail i was waiting for. He held it off well enough but its time to say goodbye Gilberto. Lets hope we can send him packing with a Champions medal but dont hold your breath. I thought Hleb lacked creation and the one thing hes best at he just didnt seem to do and thats hold the ball. Eboue was just plain dog ***** as always and im sick of seeing him in an arsenal shirt. There was no point bringing on Adebayor. Im worried it may have damaged his mental game slightly by not getting a goal but if its like Tottenham it may rile him up to smash other teams.

My only mention to a player goes to Jens Lehmann who I thought had a damn good game given he had no fucking coverage whatsoever. He made some great saves and desperately tried to keep it respectable. If he had, had a howler just think what we may have walked away from. Well done Jens, you showed passion and spirit when the rest of the team just didnt seem fucking bothered. Lets hope we can prove to Milan it was a one off but you can be damn sure the Italians were watching and laughing hysterically at how porr we were. Get your act together Arsene and for once it wouldnt hurt to just say we were poor instead of hiding the facts again.

Lastly I just wanna say to every Arsenal fan who went yesterday who stayed till the end and particulary all the guys right at the back of the upper tier with me, you were amazing and a credit to the club. You people are my family and I love you guys to pieces. Its just a damn shame that barely anyone on the pitch (bar the ever passionate Flams) recognised your efforts and contributions.

[OT02]

Good post mate,
Im still defending Justin Hoyte

Shame Justin Hoyte's not defending


Bit of lazy sunday afternoon wit for you

[thatgooner]

Genius...
what more can i say.

[Sutch]

Justin Hoyte: so far this season he has been absolutely bollocks, non-existent, shit etc. and yesterday he just let anderson et al. walk all over him, never closed down, and was at fault for at least one of the goals, allowing the brazilian fucker far too much room to cross the ball. Sagna is a far greater full back and Song a far more competent centre back and although i'd love to see an english gooner fan make it at arsenal; justin get ya coat.

In fact I like JH, he has come in a number of times and helped us, he played well in the CC last year, so he deserves much credit for that. And in my opinion he is one of the few LOYAL English players around today. shrek, ferdi-nan-fucker, muppet carrk, chuckle brother neville would all leave if man utd got relegated man.

Don't be too hard on Justin, he's a good player with lots of technical ability, and has an eye for a good pass or two. He's good going forward as well, but last night's game for me was a one-off, even though he didn't play any good against spuds either. Give him time, knocking the lad won't boost his confidence, the same with Armand Traore, they are both gifted players but need to learn a bit more and put a bit more effort and grit in. COME ON ARSENAL!

[thatgooner]

Justin Hoyte: so far this season he has been absolutely bollocks, non-existent, shit etc. and yesterday he just let anderson et al. walk all over him, never closed down, and was at fault for at least one of the goals, allowing the brazilian fucker far too much room to cross the ball. Sagna is a far greater full back and Song a far more competent centre back and although i'd love to see an english gooner fan make it at arsenal; justin get ya coat.

In fact I like JH, he has come in a number of times and helped us, he played well in the CC last year, so he deserves much credit for that. And in my opinion he is one of the few LOYAL English players around today. shrek, ferdi-nan-fucker, muppet carrk, chuckle brother neville would all leave if man utd got relegated man.

Don't be too hard on Justin, he's a good player with lots of technical ability, and has an eye for a good pass or two. He's good going forward as well, but last night's game for me was a one-off, even though he didn't play any good against spuds either. Give him time, knocking the lad won't boost his confidence, the same with Armand Traore, they are both gifted players but need to learn a bit more and put a bit more effort and grit in. COME ON ARSENAL!

Well said,
thought i was gonna be the only 1 stickin up for JH.

[Sutch]

Justin Hoyte: so far this season he has been absolutely bollocks, non-existent, shit etc. and yesterday he just let anderson et al. walk all over him, never closed down, and was at fault for at least one of the goals, allowing the brazilian fucker far too much room to cross the ball. Sagna is a far greater full back and Song a far more competent centre back and although i'd love to see an english gooner fan make it at arsenal; justin get ya coat.

In fact I like JH, he has come in a number of times and helped us, he played well in the CC last year, so he deserves much credit for that. And in my opinion he is one of the few LOYAL English players around today. shrek, ferdi-nan-fucker, muppet carrk, chuckle brother neville would all leave if man utd got relegated man.

Don't be too hard on Justin, he's a good player with lots of technical ability, and has an eye for a good pass or two. He's good going forward as well, but last night's game for me was a one-off, even though he didn't play any good against spuds either. Give him time, knocking the lad won't boost his confidence, the same with Armand Traore, they are both gifted players but need to learn a bit more and put a bit more effort and grit in. COME ON ARSENAL!

Well said,
thought i was gonna be the only 1 stickin up for JH.

Thankyou. The man is class and on his day can be brilliant man. Legend one day

[REB]

sorry but the only reason anyone defends jh is that he is English its the same with tw,, hoyte and traore are not good enough back up,, and shouldn't be in our squad,, again our lack of strength has been shown up for what it is,, we have a good first 11 and thats it,, i was embarrassed watching that pitiful display yesterday and my heart went out to the gooners who travelled,, as for billy big balls bendtner,, another superstar who thinks he has it all

[augie]

Hold on guys that was nani making an ass of hoyte yesterday not ronaldo or messi A born and bred Gooner he may be but that can only get him so far and he just isnt good enough to be honest. It was hoyte that allowed shrek the header for 1st goal and hoyte that got skinned for the crosses for the 2nd and 4th goals so while I applaud your loyalty it is misplaced here especially as I didnt see him going to acknowledge the fans at the end of the game either which is surprising to be honest

[Sutch]

Hold on guys that was nani making an ass of hoyte yesterday not ronaldo or messi A born and bred Gooner he may be but that can only get him so far and he just isnt good enough to be honest. It was hoyte that allowed shrek the header for 1st goal and hoyte that got skinned for the crosses for the 2nd and 4th goals so while I applaud your loyalty it is misplaced here especially as I didnt see him going to acknowledge the fans at the end of the game either which is surprising to be honest

I know Hoyte played shit last night, but you can't pin all the blame on him. The whole team played crap apart from the fans, they were the best performer.

[thatgooner]

Gallas and Cesc were shit as well, it doesnt mean they arent good enough.
Iv seen Hoyte play much better, and I think and hope he will develop into a top quality player.