NEWCASTLE AWAY

[OneBardGooner]

With Arteta doubtful - who will act as oppo play BreakerUpper in mid-field? not rambo !Oh Gawd Lawdy Lawdy Please No....Coquelin? - he hasn't played for a while and JW is still carrying his ankle trouble.....Play Jenko in there till he gets sent off...sorrted. or Dench Innit fella - wasisname!?

[OneBardGooner]

We will win and everything will be rosy in the Wenger garage where he keeps spare handbrakes

Aaaah! I see what I did there!.

[Wengerism]

The only real reason we are playing well is that we don't have any other fixtures apart from league games.

The reason we won't replicate this '9 game, 23 point' run at the beginning of next season is that we have to play in fixtures other than league games. The reason United/City/Chelsea's league form is invariant to the time of year is that they have substantial quality on the bench.

Our first team is good enough (as proved imo by this particular run) to challenge for the title, but only if we're not playing in other competitions. The quality of our team drops massively when a first-team player is injured or even substituted - and it'll never change because AW feels he owes players a substantial amount of time to prove themselves (which results in Bendtner-esque inertia in player development) and his unwillingness to buy a number of good players for each position.

When teams like United are supposedly 'winning ugly' they're not in reality - their team isn't that skilful and that's why they're not winning in style - but they always have enough quality across their squad to pull them through. For the past 8 years we've had a huge imbalance in ability across our squad - hence the greatness of our best performances, and the sheer poorness of our losses.

To cut a long story short - we need to reduce the variance in our performances, only way to do that is to spend money on breadth. IMO I don't think we need a star signing.

[highburyJD]

Agree all the way to the last sentence. We need a superstar striker.

[Steve_I]

To cut a long story short - we need to reduce the variance in our performances, only way to do that is to spend money on breadth. IMO I don't think we need a star signing.

breadth play in the bundersleague?

[seb_afc]

I'm going up for this one....never been to Newcastle before, anyone know where the away pub will be?

[Wengerism]

Agree all the way to the last sentence. We need a superstar striker.

A superstar striker would play one role - it'd raise expectations of the team, and force the players to compete for something other than mediocrity - but in terms of actually increasing the number of goals we score, collectively as a team, I honestly don't feel it'd make a massive difference.

Part of the problem is, every season we lose an important player and the expectation of the team is to 'cope with the loss of [RVP/Cesc/Nasri/Hleb/Adebayor/Flamini]' - and this introduces the 'bear minimum to get what we need' type of thinking that creeps into our play. (Though as mentioned in my previous post, I don't think this is our biggest issue)

Long story short: More effective managerial qualities from AW (in terms of instilling fear into players) would do the equivalent job that buying a superstar striker would; raising expectations.

Will probably get slated for saying this, but I think Giroud would have got more goals this season if Arsenal adapted their play in some areas. Our insistency on taking opposing free-kicks by passing to the nearest man, instead of playing a dangerous ball into the box, means that we give opposing teams the chance to get away with fouling us without any risk.

[Brady's left peg]

Agree all the way to the last sentence. We need a superstar striker.

A superstar striker would play one role - it'd raise expectations of the team, and force the players to compete for something other than mediocrity - but in terms of actually increasing the number of goals we score, collectively as a team, I honestly don't feel it'd make a massive difference.

Part of the problem is, every season we lose an important player and the expectation of the team is to 'cope with the loss of [RVP/Cesc/Nasri/Hleb/Adebayor/Flamini]' - and this introduces the 'bear minimum to get what we need' type of thinking that creeps into our play. (Though as mentioned in my previous post, I don't think this is our biggest issue)

Long story short: More effective managerial qualities from AW (in terms of instilling fear into players) would do the equivalent job that buying a superstar striker would; raising expectations.

Will probably get slated for saying this, but I think Giroud would have got more goals this season if Arsenal adapted their play in some areas. Our insistency on taking opposing free-kicks by passing to the nearest man, instead of playing a dangerous ball into the box, means that we give opposing teams the chance to get away with fouling us without any risk.

We would still need a world class striker because in tight games when the opposition put every man behind the ball, the only way we will score is with a little bit of genius...... something maybe only 2 of our players have. A top quality striker is the difference between slugging it out for 4/5 and competing for the title.

[Wengerism]

Agree all the way to the last sentence. We need a superstar striker.

A superstar striker would play one role - it'd raise expectations of the team, and force the players to compete for something other than mediocrity - but in terms of actually increasing the number of goals we score, collectively as a team, I honestly don't feel it'd make a massive difference.

Part of the problem is, every season we lose an important player and the expectation of the team is to 'cope with the loss of [RVP/Cesc/Nasri/Hleb/Adebayor/Flamini]' - and this introduces the 'bear minimum to get what we need' type of thinking that creeps into our play. (Though as mentioned in my previous post, I don't think this is our biggest issue)

Long story short: More effective managerial qualities from AW (in terms of instilling fear into players) would do the equivalent job that buying a superstar striker would; raising expectations.

Will probably get slated for saying this, but I think Giroud would have got more goals this season if Arsenal adapted their play in some areas. Our insistency on taking opposing free-kicks by passing to the nearest man, instead of playing a dangerous ball into the box, means that we give opposing teams the chance to get away with fouling us without any risk.

We would still need a world class striker because in tight games when the opposition put every man behind the ball, the only way we will score is with a little bit of genius...... something maybe only 2 of our players have. A top quality striker is the difference between slugging it out for 4/5 and competing for the title.

Interesting you mention about 'tight games' - it's something I've always been frustrated about when watching Arsenal, and there's a tendency to feel as if loads of these teams just park the bus against us and get away with it..but the nature of our play is conducive to teams doing that against us.

What I'm saying is, the nature of play in a match is determined in a 'sequential-move game' if you want to look at it from a Game Theory perspective - teams like Stoke/Norwich know exactly the type of game we're going to play so construct an optimal response to that by parking the bus. Now, they're less successful at it against teams like United for one main reason - Stoke don't know what their optimal response to United is, because the latter vary their play a lot more. We're far too predictable..indirectly making games tight for ourselves. (and part of this links backs to lack of depth in the squad - Gervinho for example epitomises this 'predictability' and it's easily found out by Premier League opposition..ask Antonio Valencia)

Out of interest, where do people think we'd have finished with RVP in our team this season (still including the signings of Cazorla et al). I don't think much higher.

[QuartzGooner]

Our first team is good enough (as proved imo by this particular run) to challenge for the title, but only if we're not playing in other competitions.

This run has not proven we are good enough to challenge for the title, we drew the two games against the decent teams we faced (Everton and Man Utd).

To cut a long story short - we need to reduce the variance in our performances, only way to do that is to spend money on breadth. IMO I don't think we need a star signing.

Disagree.
We have plenty of squad level players, and lots more to come from the youth who may or may not be top class in a few years (Gnabry, Eisfeld, Zelalem, Yennaris, Aneke, Meade, Akpom, Afobe etc).

What I think we lack, and have lacked for too long, is a few top level players who can make the difference in tight games.
If we had RvP and Cesc instead of Giroud and Ramsey, I think we would have beaten Everton and Man Utd instead of drawn against them.

[Brady's left peg]

Out of interest, where do people think we'd have finished with RVP in our team this season (still including the signings of Cazorla et al). I don't think much higher.

I think you could safely say we would of had at least 10 if not 15 points more, so yes I make that second place and pushing Manure hard for the title as they would be RVPless.

Games I believe he would of made a difference in are....... Sunderland (H) +2 pts, Stoke (A) + 2 pts, Chelsea (H) + 1 pt, Norwich (A) + 1 or 3 pts, Villa (A) + 2 pts, Souhampton (A) + 2 pts, Scum (A) + 1pt, Everton (H) + 2pts and Manure (H) + 2pts.
I make that a possible 15 to 17 points putting us into second place just behind Manure and by turning then over at the grove we could of won the premier league title this season. But hey..... we sell our world class striker to our rivals and then wonder why we get shafted!
Until that *word censored* Kroenke puts this club in front of his fucking profit things will never change!
Sorry peeps went off on one there......... Just couldn't help myself.

KROENKE OUT!!

[Chippy]

Ahem, this thread was meant to be about the barcodes game!

[augie]

The only real reason we are playing well is that we don't have any other fixtures apart from league games.

The reason we won't replicate this '9 game, 23 point' run at the beginning of next season is that we have to play in fixtures other than league games. The reason United/City/Chelsea's league form is invariant to the time of year is that they have substantial quality on the bench.

Our first team is good enough (as proved imo by this particular run) to challenge for the title, but only if we're not playing in other competitions. The quality of our team drops massively when a first-team player is injured or even substituted - and it'll never change because AW feels he owes players a substantial amount of time to prove themselves (which results in Bendtner-esque inertia in player development) and his unwillingness to buy a number of good players for each position.

When teams like United are supposedly 'winning ugly' they're not in reality - their team isn't that skilful and that's why they're not winning in style - but they always have enough quality across their squad to pull them through. For the past 8 years we've had a huge imbalance in ability across our squad - hence the greatness of our best performances, and the sheer poorness of our losses.

To cut a long story short - we need to reduce the variance in our performances, only way to do that is to spend money on breadth. IMO I don't think we need a star signing.

Wind up surely ? Explain to me how beating teams like qpr, reading, wigan, norwich and villa qualifies us as good enough to challenge for the title ? Either you are on a piss take or you are too young to know what is actuallty needed toi be a title winning team

[augie]

Ahem, this thread was meant to be about the barcodes game!

Have to say that this is a guy that I dont feel confident enough to make any sort of a prediction Normally I would go into a game with some semblence of how it is likely to pan out but fcuk knows what will happen in this one. Will our team crack under pressure (again) ? Will their team be switched off now that they are safe from relegation ? Will the geordie fans be in a relaxed mood cos of their safety or will they be fired up to finish well after a really shit seaon ? If the crowd is passionately behind them will our players have to belief to stand up to it ? Will the loss of arteta prove to be a significant blow to our hopes ? If the scum score first and word filters through to our players then will the pressure be too heavy on them ?

In many ways the worst thing that could have happened was for pardew to make the comments about not caring if we beat them 4-0.....they (and their manager) will be under serious pressure to show the crowd that it was only a tongue in cheek comment and that they do have pride and respect for the club and it's fans. An early goal or two for us will put us on easy street but should we fail to score in the first 30 minutes and if the scum are winning, then I would be seriously concerned. Again I will add that I dont really give a shit about finishing top 4 so are far from spending any time worrying about this result

[DB10GOONER]

You know, I have a fucked up theory about this. I think we will destroy the Toon. Why? Because it's not a truly big event, it's not a cup final, or a league winning game. It's like our mindset is set to "second tier". Wenger has mollycoddled and pampered these players to the extent that they are incapable of winning anything like a cup or a league, but can "step up" ( ) and deliver to a limited degree when it doesn't really matter in the big scheme of things. Look how we came out of the blocks against Wigan, all guns blazing. If we'd done that against Brum we'd have won the WhateverItsCalled Cup.

Win a cup final? No way. Destroy a team that just barely escaped relegation and thus grab that oh so important 4th place spot? Christ Theo just hit a 30 yard volley and that makes it 5-0!!

We are the ultimate example of the big fish in the small pond.