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.
You forgot the 3-0 drubbing at home by Chelsea last season (Drogba again surprise surprise, rapes our defence once more and Mr Incompetent Fool still hasn't a clue how to stop him)
Citeh away 4-2 (shit tactics, Bendtner and Eboue on the wings Almunia own goal )
Thanks for your comments (likewise Donaldo).
I had remembered the Chelsea game, just missed it off by mistake, it seems. Another terrible result in a game we never looked like threatening.
Last edited by Bring Back Pires on Tue Aug 31, 2010 10:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.
goonermarc wrote:Have Man Utd done anything in the off-season to overcome Chelsea?
Teams aren't just made up of eleven individuals, they're developed over time. Who did Chelsea add to their team which made them significantly better last year?
No one, they were built into that unit from playing with each other over time.
Sorry but that is complete bollocks considering the calibre of players they(chavs) have to start with and the money they spend getting those players.
Also, ever wonder why Utd have no problem playing 442? its because their players are capable and ours aren't.
Those teams dont need to strengthen because they dont have the problems we have and thus been more successful in recent years.
Fegie might be a twat but he knows how to kick a shit player out of his team especially a goalie, Taibi, Carroll, Howard. No sentiment.
I am quite willing to believe that Wenger may have unearthed another gem and I will be more than happy if he turns out to be as good as Verminator. What I can't understand is how a club of Arsenal's standing need to be scratching around looking for hidden gems in the bargain basement!!??
When I was a young lad Arsenal signed Charlie Nicholas - I can remember coming out of school and getting the bus to Oakwood station and hearing that we had got him. Everyone wanted him and he signed for us. I was over the moon and really gave my mates who supported other lesser teams some stick that Arsenal were able to snatch this great player when everyone else wanted him. Thats my most vivid memory of a signing and perhaps getting Denis Bergkamp and Campbell on a free were close but my point is that I felt like a winner before any of these players had even kicked a ball for us!! When I went to Highbury my chest was pumped out with pride at these great players who at joined us!! Not just joined us but consciously chose us over others!!
I know times change and there are some mega rich owners about now who can snap up anything with a pulse but we are not a poor club - we are not a west ham or sunderland - looking for scraps - WE ARE ARSENAL for God's sake. We have always been the in the gentry of clubs - cock sure Londoners who had class and cash - we got what we wanted by paying top wages and fees and then completed the deal while they walked around our marble halls and marvelled at our history??
Ok - so maybe we do now play in a concrete bowl and we can be outbid for the very highest level players - its not like I expect us to sign Messi?? But we should be able to get a quality player such as a goal keeper ? Ok so Chelsea are not about to let us have Cech no matter what we offer but can the same be said about Lloris of Lyon??? Surely he could have been got even if it meant pushing out the boat and paying £20million??
There can be no more excuses - we are not a pauper club waiting for the next Oligarch or Sheikh to take a fancy to premiership football - we are in good shape financially and for all the problems playing in a soul less bowl it does make good financial sense!!
If the current directors and management are not up to the job then lets welcome a change if that's whats needed. The club will be here long after we and them are gone. WE ARE ARSENAL so lets hope these so called experts start to look at some of the romance of our great club rather than just the bottom line of the balance sheet!!!!
Yeah because signing Charlie Nicholas in 1983 instantly brought the good old days back to Highbury didn't it? Along with all the other big names like Anderson, Woodcock and Mariner. That's when we won the title every year wasn't it?
Lucky we didn't buy minnows that nobody had heard of or other sides rejects from clubs like Stoke, Wimbledon and Watford or relied on the youth otherwise we would have had the frustration of seeing Rocastle, Thomas, Adams, Merson, Dixon, Winterburn, Richardson and what would we have won with a line up like that? Fuck all, that's what![/quote]
Louder wrote:
SPOILT FAN ALERT, I think we need to change your nappy little man
So I'm not allowed to be bothered by the fact that we get soundly beaten by our main competitors every time we play them?
Because correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that the point of football? Beating your competitors?
If they were narrow or unlucky defeats, then I'd have to accept it. But that's not the case. We're a real class below the teams I've mentioned, and I don't see any progress being made in the slightest that we will have what it takes to compete with these clubs any time soon.
All that's changed is the date.
As many others here have summarised - defeats, and a lack of silverware, aren't the main cause of aggravation. The main annoyance is the failure to address our areas of weakness and blindly hope for improvement nevertheless.
Spuds ? Wigan ? Shitty ? A real class below them ? You're joking.
Manure ( I think we're closer to utd now!) and Chelski ? We should expect to compete with them, but to expect to beat them more often than not given the financial gap ( at the moment ) is a bit daft.
Barca'- Possibly the best side in the world and improving all the time, but we'll catch 'em given time, GIVEN TIME !
Louder wrote:We should expect to compete with them, but to expect to beat them more often than not given the financial gap ( at the moment ) is a bit daft.
I'm not asking us to go on a £100m raid every summer. But £5m on a goalkeeper with proven experience - or even finding one on loan - shouldn't be out of the question for a club with professional, worldwide scouts.
Even Spuds' apparent signing of Van Der Vaart looks set to be only £8m.
There are experienced, solid players out there that don't cost £60m a pop. But we don't go for them, and continue with the same players that continually lose our key games. It doesn't make sense.
1) Biggest of them in my opinion is not employing Keown as defensive coach, a proven success in the role.
2) Concentrated too much on short passing in training at expense of set pieces (I know this is a fact because a player told me and anyone who thinks I made it up I could not care less).
3) He has also made a number of tactical mistakes, especially baffling substitutions.
4) Shown faith in Diaby and Denilson beyond my tolerance!
Yet there are other things going on.
Amongst them:
1) New stadium meant money would always be tighter.
2) Other clubs have richer owners than in our golden era of 1997 - 2006.
3) Dein's departure rocked the club more than they might care to admit, though Gazidis is now on board.
4) Injury crisis each season, though club is now investigating.
All things considered, Wenger gets a grade B+ from me, but we need things back to the A and A+ he used to get 1997 - 2006.
Almunia own goal
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