Arsenal v Manure

[QuartzGooner]

If I had to choose a right back for my all time Arsenal team, I would go for Dixon precisely because of his consistency and competitiveness, and his crosses were decent enough.
He could get beaten for pace though, but so could our next long term right back...
....Lauren, who is unfairly underrated and overlooked by many on here, he was very reliable with his crosses and more often his good cut backs from forward positions.

When considering Sagna, he has been poor for two thirds of the season.

In his time with us, he had a wobbly patch after his brother died, otherwise he has been a very tough right back and imposing ball winner, though not as good as others in crossing.

Augie mentions possible reasons why his form has dropped this season.
I would like to add another couple - maybe Sagna is reflecting the general defensive doubts that have plagued us for a few seasons now?
Has Bould been involved in a bust up with Wenger over zonal marking and time allotted for defensive coaching, and how was Sagna involved in that?
Perhaps as a senior player he has strong thoughts on defensive coaching and is unhappy about the general set up?

I am not sure when Sagna's contract runs out, I think he has a year left?
If so I think a two year extension would be wise, even with loss of form, if there is no physical problem, then I think he can regain it.

Jenkinson has improved loads and is a good crosser, but his all round defensive reliability is not (yet) at the level needed for a first choice Arsenal right back.

[Rohan]

What do you guys make out of Lolercot today? He just get brushed off so easily. It is so frustrating watching him.
Not sure why wan*er took Ramsey off. And Kosh has a stormer today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBN57LkzG6g

[robbo10]

While all the arguments over Sagna/Dixon have valid points,the bottom line is the defenders at the club currently are not good enough,They switch off,make mistake after mistake,and are quite often caught out of position.Im sure Jenkinson will come good,Kos has good games and Gibbs has improved but the crux of the matter is as a unit for me, they just look incapable of keeping a clean sheets.I can't think of a goal they conceded this season that wasnt from a proper f*ck up.

[LDB]

Not sure why wan*er took Ramsey off.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBN57LkzG6g

Another quality performance from "the worst professional footballer to play the game". Still lacking the final ball/eye for goal that he had when he first came through but its hardly an accusation that can't be levelled at any of our other midfielders.

It has to be said as well that Wenger deserves great credit for believing in Ramsey when he was horrendously out of form, most managers would have put him on the scrap heap at that point. As much as I like Arteta its time to sign an athletic defensive midfielder to play in the centre alongside Ramsey with mikel as a backup.

The frustration yesterday was very familiar with every game we have against them nowadays - for all the possession and territory we have its still far far too easy for them to hit us on the break.

Koscielny rightly getting a lot of praise but how fucking good was Mertesacker? Performances like that go completely unnoticed but I'm sure next time he makes a mistake we'll be all over him. The bloke is the linchpin of our defence, especially away from home. Put vermaelen with koscielny and its back to dumb & dumber territory.

[augie]

Mert reads the game like none of the other centre backs in our club - yes I would like him to be more physical and yes I would prefer him to be more agressively vocal with his team-mates but he does organise the back 4 and I think kos is more inclined to listen to him than he is with tv5.
I feel sorry for tv5 I really do - his form this season has been very poor and although I always had question marks over his defensive responsibilities, I have always liked his passion and 100% commitment For me it is your stereotypical situation.....in a team often devoid and that passion and commitment he is important but if we strive to improve each season shouldnt we need defenders who are more aware of their defensive responsibilities and have better reading of the game - sadly on that count tv5 loses out

[VoiceOfReason]

Christ sake man, Lee Dixon is afforded legendary status and rightly so, but what could that mother fucker do from the by line?

What a load of utter bollocks. Watch the tapes back and you'll see that Dixon crossed killer balls in for many, many goals. From Wright, to Smith, to Anelka, to Henry, and to all the others in between.

Sagna, on the other hand, may have been responsible for one, maybe two assists in his entire Arsenal career.

What you mean when getting the ball into the box early and often was the priority? When the shape of the team and the focus of the set up was to give him something to aim at?

You're hiliarious dude.

The '98 and '02 double sides weren't set up for crosses into the box, were they?

And regardless, the fact is that Sagna has the opportunity to cross 4-5 times per game, despite our style of play. And they still all bomb.

[northbank123]

Number 5 - I wasn't saying he should be crucified, that was part of the point that I find it bizarre how he's being shielded for such piss-poor turnouts. But if you do want to bring other players into it how about some still at the club - Diaby still getting hammered for his red card in the 4-4 when we were cruising because people have to pin their dislike of him onto something? Sagna let us down with TWO ridiculously needless and brainless tackles yesterday (somehow getting away with the second).

I agree with you that some of the criticism is over the top but I can't understand some people giving him carte blanche to play abysmally and not put the effort and commitment in because he was a good player for us until 18 months ago.

[Wengerball]

Yesterday was an opportunity wasted in my book- Manure were off on their holidays for the first 30 minutes and even after that they were playing with the handbrake on but we still couldn't finish them off.

For what its worth with this point, Im certain we'll finish top 4 again because Spuds have got a knack for dropping points anytime the pressure is on

[DB10GOONER]

Typical latter-day Wenger-era Arsenal. Played them off the park in the first half but still could have conceded at least 3 goals too! And then Wenger sticks with a player that has been appallingly shit for 3/4's of the season. Sagna was a very good right back (not as reliable as Dixon or Ralf in my view) but he is now and has been for months absolutely shite. Afraid to run at his oppo number, pisses the ball away into touch Denilson-style far far too often and is so error-prone it’s like watching an amateur player. I wasn’t even surprised he fucked up his back pass under moderate (at worst) pressure. But as he scrambled back I just kept saying don’t fucking lunge in, use your brain, don’t lunge... But again I just wasn’t even vaguely surprised when he did. I really don’t care how good he USED TO BE, he should be picked or dropped based on how good he is now. And he’s proper shit right now and has been for months.


Thought Ramsey did ok again. Had a bad 10 minutes where he pissed 3 easy passes out of play and then fucked up when he should have given the ball to Feo Feo but chose to overpass it to Podolski. Ramsey’s been shit for 2 years, has improved a good bit over the last 3 games but ultimately I don’t think he is good enough to be at Arsenal.

Was shocked when Sith Lord Vengar took Rosicky off. Thought Rosicky was our best player in the first half.

So finally Arsene gave Podolski a run. And plays him as a fucking lone striker. When the sweet lesbian fuck will Wenger give up this fascination with a 5 man midfield and a lone striker? Podolski is not tall enough and/or fast enough (depending on if you use your lone striker as a target man or as a runner in behind the back 4) to play as a lone striker. Why can’t Wenger just play to the strengths of the players we have?



Also thought Mert and Kos did well. As did Santi and Arteta.

And I am seriously sick to my arse of the inability to cross a ball at our club. Apart from Jenko no one can cross a decent ball. Gibbs and Sagna in particular are fucking appalling at it, the worst two in the PL. It’s such a basic skill. There are 8 year olds on my son’s team that can whip in better crosses than Gibbs and Sagna ffs!

Even though we outplayed them in the first half, and were ok in the second, we ultimately couldn't beat 11 hangovers after a week on the piss. I don’t doubt for a minute if they’d needed to win yesterday to win the PL they would have done so.

[Tomáš]

RVP took the wrong way to the changing room, he went first to the home team
http://www.spiegel.de/sport/fussball/pr ... 97144.html

Comment from Wenger:
Wie Arsenal-Trainer Arsène Wenger verriet, schaute van Persie nach der Partie noch einmal in der Heim-Umkleidekabine vorbei. Diesmal aber beabsichtigt, "weil unser Essen in unserer Umkleide besser ist als in deren Kabine", scherzte Wenger.

He did that because the food in our room is better then in theirs.

[A dallying Gus Caesar]

Those booing RVP yesterday need there heads seeing to. They completely miss the point.

I thank him for his honesty (and saying what we all thought) when he said I am off the club is going nowhere. Yes, he got a big pay rise but so what. And what a good decision he made. Just won himself a league title.

The fans booing RVP should have turned their angst on Kroneke and Wenger. They are the biggest problems we have at the club. They hold us back. If we had no Kroneke, we would now be owned by an Arsenal supporter, Alisher Usmanov.

[VoiceOfReason]

Those booing RVP yesterday need there heads seeing to. They completely miss the point.

I thank him for his honesty (and saying what we all thought) when he said I am off the club is going nowhere. Yes, he got a big pay rise but so what. And what a good decision he made. Just won himself a league title.

The fans booing RVP should have turned their angst on Kroneke and Wenger. They are the biggest problems we have at the club. They hold us back. If we had no Kroneke, we would now be owned by an Arsenal supporter, Alisher Usmanov.

FWIW, I completely agree. Unlike Nasri, Adebayor and the rest who jumped ship for a better payday at the first chance, RVP stayed for the best part of a decade and actually wanted to stay, based on what he said - and I honestly think that if AW and the board HAD given him assurances that we'd show some ambition, then he'd have happily stayed.

Was I happy that he went to Man Utd? No, not at all. But it wasn't done with any malice; it was merely a move to further his career, and at the age of 29, I think he's fully entitled to do that. It particular hit a nerve with us because it made it totally clear that we're not even challenging Man Utd anymore, and for many, it's a bitter pill to swallow.

RVP hasn't said a single bad word about the club since he left, and even refrained from celebrating his goal yesterday (which he would've been quite entitled to do, based on the fans' reaction). Ultimately, AW and the board were happy to sell him, and not only that, but to sell him to Man Utd. I can see why fans are so angry about it, but it's as much AW's doing as it was RVP's. Fans should look at the big picture and vent their anger at the way the club is being run overall; the RVP saga is merely just one small piece of the puzzle, and is NOT the crux of the main problem here.

[goonersid]

Those booing RVP yesterday need there heads seeing to. They completely miss the point.

I thank him for his honesty (and saying what we all thought) when he said I am off the club is going nowhere. Yes, he got a big pay rise but so what. And what a good decision he made. Just won himself a league title.

The fans booing RVP should have turned their angst on Kroneke and Wenger. They are the biggest problems we have at the club. They hold us back. If we had no Kroneke, we would now be owned by an Arsenal supporter, Alisher Usmanov.

RVP is a judas traitor bastard end of. Kroenke and Wenger are also bastards imo, as for usmanov Arsenal fan my arse, I am starting to think he is no different to the rest of them. If he loves the club then why doesn't he go public and make kroenke an offer? Kroenke may not sell but at least Usmanov would have shown his intentions (if he has any) and it would put pressure on kroenke which supporters groups could exploit.

[northbank123]

I think nearly everybody can acknowledge that the club's management need to shoulder a lorryload of responsibility for the van Judas mess, amongst other things. But that in no way precludes people from ill-feeling towards van Judas. Regardless of the truths within that statement was designed to deflect attention away from him being a huge *word censored* by manipulating fans' frustrations - and judging by some of the comments it's worked. Moving was one thing and there would have been bitterness if he'd gone to United under any circumstances, but to force it through with that statement that slagged off his team-mates on the pretence he was doing it for the greater good of the club... wanker.

Also to justify a season's worth of ramming it down our threat then Sky typically overplayed the reaction he got. Yes it wasn't fantastic but I've seen/heard worse. Just like the guard of honour was predictably a complete non-event.

[augie]

All this bullshit from players not wanting to celebrate a goal against their old teams makes me want to vomit If said players loved their previous clubs so much then why did they leave ? I have no ill feeling towards rvp leaving and said last summer that he was 100% right in looking to leave this small time outfit (plus a league medal in his pocket has already justified his decision imo) but nobody put a gun to his head and made him leave Obviously my gripe isnt aimed just at rvp but if a new player joined our club and scored a goal for us against his old club and chose not to celebrate then I would be very pissed off - for me you are either 100% on board with the club you are playing for or else just fcuk off