Song is the new Fabregas

[Red Member]

Song has 8 assists this season

[LDB]

People are rightly focusing on Vermaelen for QPR's two goals but where the fuck was Song? Especially for the second one, absolutely criminal that he wasn't tracking Diabetes or whatever his name is. Denilson would be proud.

I've been saying it for years, people trying to solve our shitty defence by just signing centre halves are missing the point when teams are just given a free run at our back 4. You can have as many world class defenders as you like but if they're constantly exposed then they will eventually fuck up and be made to look silly. There is no world famous defender that I can think of that played with such disorganised midfield units infront of them.

[LDB]

Song has 8 assists this season

And i wonder how many goals conceded he has been partially or wholy responsible for due to his poor positional play, clumsy tackling, pacelessness and inability to read developing danger?

More then 8 would be my guess.

[flash gunner]

People are rightly focusing on Vermaelen for QPR's two goals but where the fuck was Song? Especially for the second one, absolutely criminal that he wasn't tracking Diabetes or whatever his name is. Denilson would be proud.

I've been saying it for years, people trying to solve our shitty defence by just signing centre halves are missing the point when teams are just given a free run at our back 4. You can have as many world class defenders as you like but if they're constantly exposed then they will eventually fuck up and be made to look silly. There is no world famous defender that I can think of that played with such disorganised midfield units infront of them.

Good post

[Red Member]

is it pick on Song week?

[SteveO 35]

is it pick on Song week?

I wouldn't say its restricted to this week

[frankbutcher]

Quite simply, Song has been earning plaudits for doing things that are not part of his job (setting up goals with hollywood passes). Vermalen is the same (marauding forward to score winners, when he should be leaving that to the midfield). The result of it all is massive holes in front of and in the defence. When we win games, this tactical naivety goes un-noticed (to those who know not a jot about football). When we draw or lose, everyone notices.

[SteveO 35]

Quite simply, Song has been earning plaudits for doing things that are not part of his job (setting up goals with hollywood passes). Vermalen is the same (marauding forward to score winners, when he should be leaving that to the midfield). The result of it all is massive holes in front of and in the defence. When we win games, this tactical naivety goes un-noticed (to those who know not a jot about football). When we draw or lose, everyone notices.

I don't get all the Vermaelen stick at all - goals need to come from all areas of the team and if he weighs in with half a dozen or so a season I'm a happy man. I don't think you can say he is doing to that to the detriment of his defending - at Everton he scored but was also a bloody colossus at the back when Everton started getting physical and pumping high balls up to the box. I know I'd rather have him there than the big German donkey, Djourou or Squidgy.

He was at fault for the first goal against QPR, but slipping over for the second one is an accident that could happen to anyone. His ratio of making mistakes is lower than all our other CBs - look at the own goals Kosicleny has scored, the mistakes Mertesacker and Djourou have made etc. Its a bit unrealistic to expect a guy playing at CB not to make a mistake that leads to a goal all season long. We seem to forget that even the likes of Tony Adams made balls-ups that cost us games

[franksav63]

Song is shit, I don't care about his assist record either, we need an upgrade, we need a defensive holding midfield player and Song, the dopey looking tosser is never going to be one of these, would he have ever got near a starting place in the invincibles.... the answer is a resounding NO!!!

[REB]

i really dont get what people see in song, for me he doesnt do the job he is suppose to do ,ok he has a few assists but big deal cos he hasnt got the energy or drive to be a box to box player or a defensive midfielder which is suppose to be his job, protect the back 4 but no the guy thinks he,s messi and off up to play with rvp upfront,

[I Hate Hleb]

Like others have alluded to, I believe Song sums up everything that's wrong with this current version of Wenger's Arsenal: ill-disciplined, over-confident, lazy, defensively and tactically naive, egotistical, extremely over-rated, mentally weak and - probably worst of all - giving the impression of being dispassionate and unconcerned with the team's or their own below par performances. There is also a selfishness borne out of the knowledge that regardless of what happens, they won't get pulled up or disciplined by their extremely liberal and forgiving 'father', who can only see the good they do. Indeed, they are more likely to get a new contract and pay increase!!

[T.S]

After a performance like that, criticism of Vermalen is completely justified. However - what I don't understand is the would-be football pundits on here who seem to think that there is some kind of correlation between Vermalen bombing forward and scoring a couple of decent goals and him making a couple of mistakes at the back. Was he at fault at the weekend because he was too late running back having tried to score a goal? Of course not. To suggest that Vermalen is some kind of liability defensively because he's scored a few goals this season is the laziest piece of faux-analysis I've heard on here for a long time.

Vermalen tries to score a goal sometimes + Vermalen makes two mistakes at the back =

A bad performance, no doubt. But one (or, admittedly two or three this season) bad performance doesn't make a bad player - just in the same way that certain 'realists' who reckon that they know oh-so-much about everything correctly suggest that one good run of form doesn't mean that this team has fully turned the corner. You'll all be singing his praises again after a few good performances. That I can guarantee.

Song on the other hand fucking winds me up.

[I Hate Hleb]

...

A bad performance, no doubt. But one (or, admittedly two or three this season) bad performance doesn't make a bad player - just in the same way that certain 'realists' who reckon that they know oh-so-much about everything correctly suggest that one good run of form doesn't mean that this team has fully turned the corner....

Name names!!! (You mean augie don't you TS? Or is it sid? Flash perhaps? Gosh, there are just too many options to know for sure)

[T.S]

Vermalen is the same (marauding forward to score winners, when he should be leaving that to the midfield).

Yeah. Thank God. I thought I was the only one who was annoyed when Vermalen scored against Everton, and the equalizer against Fulham, and the late winner against Newcastle. Whilst everyone was going mental celebrating, I was sat there pissed off that it wasn't a midfielder.

The result of it all is massive holes in front of and in the defence.

Right again, Frank! I'm noticing a pattern here. I mean, if Vermalen hadn't bombed forward twice against QPR, we would never have let those goals in. Those goals were definitely a result of Vermalen 'marauding forward' and nothing else. Can't see a problem with that logic at all .

When we win games, this tactical naivety goes un-noticed (to those who know not a jot about football). When we draw or lose, everyone notices.

Three in a row, Frankie! Spot on again in saying that whilst those who know 'not a jot about football' were going mad when Vermalen was scoring those goals, football scholars like you and I were left to rue the tactical naivety which manifests itself in scoring crucial goals. If no one had scored them at all, we would definitely be in much better shape.

Fuck you, Vermalen. You liability.

[frankbutcher]

After a performance like that, criticism of Vermalen is completely justified. However - what I don't understand is the would-be football pundits on here who seem to think that there is some kind of correlation between Vermalen bombing forward and scoring a couple of decent goals and him making a couple of mistakes at the back. Was he at fault at the weekend because he was too late running back having tried to score a goal? Of course not. To suggest that Vermalen is some kind of liability defensively because he's scored a few goals this season is the laziest piece of faux-analysis I've heard on here for a long time.

Vermalen tries to score a goal sometimes + Vermalen makes two mistakes at the back =

A bad performance, not doubt. But one (or, admittedly two or three this season) bad performance doesn't make a bad player - just in the same way that certain 'realists' who reckon that they know oh-so-much about everything correctly suggest that one good run of form doesn't mean that this team has fully turned the corner. You'll all be singing his praises again after a few good performances. That I can guarantee.

Song on the other hand fucking winds me up.

TS - We will never get along. However, there is a clear correlation between Vermaelen bombing forward and us conceding. When he bombs forward, the full-backs have to tuck in and we are too narrow. The opposition's wingers can break quickly down the flanks and thus put us under massive pressure. Whilst you may not have seen Vermaelen out of position for either goal on Saturday, the inability for the defence to sit and defend stretches play that creates space elsewhere. The result is normally goals against us.

TS - I don't think you can read a game. Simply looking at individual pieces of play is extremely lazy analysis. Make sure you join up all the "dots" that you can see. It creates a picture of an ill-disciplined team that is stretched to the point that it concedes at will.