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.
augie wrote:LDB, I cannot agree with your assessment of gibbs - tbh half the time I am not sure if he should be first choice ahead of monreal or not
Re the 22 game run that you refer to, can I just ask again that you list out the amount of good teams that we beat in that run ? Everybody referred to the piss easy run in that we had at the tail end of last season as a major (not the only) reason why we secured the virtual trophy again, and that easy run of fixtures has extended to the first dozen games of this season. I understand the argument that we can only beat what is in front of us but it does create a false impression imo and the only way we can correctly assess this team is seeing how they perform in the big games against our rivals (and bradford ) and we will know then if we have turned a corner or not.
I too enjoyed watching how we played last night and it did provide a flashback of better times from the past but sadly (due to some psychological issues ) I cannot leave it at that - I look at this team and feel that it is close to being successful again but who will fall short yet again in their quest for trophies I look at a squad that is hugely short of options in the strikers department and I still feel that I would have been a lot happier had we of signed julio cesar instead of some guy rated below flaps For that reason alone (and there are many many more reasons) I do not believe we can ever be successful again under a manager that could not identify or recognise what our biggest needs were last summer. If you look at our midfield starters last night and then add wilshere, cazorla, ox, wally and podolski to them then you could justifiably argue that we are seriously overloaded in that department and then compare that to our strikers where the worlds greatest danish striker is viewed as our main back up to the giroud and you cannot but feel that something and someone has seriously fcuked up within the club. So to answer your point I will agree that I am enjoying our performances of late but cannot totally let myself go cos I feel that serious trouble is just around the corner
beaten bayern munich away
spurs home
marseille away
SteveO 35 wrote:People on here turn quicker than a pint of milk left in the sun for a week
FFS - Wenger has overseen 5 league wins in a row and has obtained a total of 15 points from six games where last season we got 18.
We've beaten West Brom on penalties, and the worst team I've witnessed in the CL in many a long year in Fenerbahce
Last night's win was fantastic and against a decent team and the win in Marseille showed great character against a half decent side
That's it - nothing more nothing less. We haven't played any of the major clubs in this country yet and the back to back Dortmund games will provide a real test of how far we've come.
Wenger often says "judge me in May" when we've had a fucking awful start and are out of the title race by Autumn, but now we've got people willing to judge him in early October when we've had a decent start without playing anyone of real note (Napoli apart perhaps)
Fuck me - at least wait till Xmas when the CL Group stage is over and we've played everyone domestically before even beginning to suggest that Lord Wenger has suddenly turned over a new leaf.
The squad is still fragile in too many places and I'm prepared to stick my neck out even now and say we'll end up 4th and without a trophy
we have more points at this stage than any of the seasons we have won the league in the last 23 years
in our 1st 6 games
in 97/98 we only drew at leicester and at home to spurs having won both those games the season before
in 01/02 we drew at home to leeds having beaten them the season before and drew at home to newly promoted portsmouth
in 03/04
we did get a point at old trafford having lost there the season before but we did draw at home to newly promoted portsmouth
Top Londoner wrote:One swallow doesn't make a summer.
Whilst our recent form is encouraging, it means little in the long game. The Villa game should be a reminder that we are one game away from going backwards.
One swallow?
Since we lost to Sp*rs away on 3rd March, we've played 22 games, won 19, drawn 2 and lost 1.
I'm really not convinced that can all be condensed into "one swallow"... it's a fleet at least, surely??
Top Londoner wrote:One swallow doesn't make a summer.
Whilst our recent form is encouraging, it means little in the long game. The Villa game should be a reminder that we are one game away from going backwards.
One swallow?
Since we lost to Sp*rs away on 3rd March, we've played 22 games, won 19, drawn 2 and lost 1.
I'm really not convinced that can all be condensed into "one swallow"... it's a fleet at least, surely??
Top Londoner wrote:One swallow doesn't make a summer.
Whilst our recent form is encouraging, it means little in the long game. The Villa game should be a reminder that we are one game away from going backwards.
One swallow?
Since we lost to Sp*rs away on 3rd March, we've played 22 games, won 19, drawn 2 and lost 1.
I'm really not convinced that can all be condensed into "one swallow"... it's a fleet at least, surely??
Top Londoner wrote:One swallow doesn't make a summer.
Whilst our recent form is encouraging, it means little in the long game. The Villa game should be a reminder that we are one game away from going backwards.
One swallow?
Since we lost to Sp*rs away on 3rd March, we've played 22 games, won 19, drawn 2 and lost 1.
I'm really not convinced that can all be condensed into "one swallow"... it's a fleet at least, surely??
Top Londoner wrote:One swallow doesn't make a summer.
Whilst our recent form is encouraging, it means little in the long game. The Villa game should be a reminder that we are one game away from going backwards.
One swallow?
Since we lost to Sp*rs away on 3rd March, we've played 22 games, won 19, drawn 2 and lost 1.
I'm really not convinced that can all be condensed into "one swallow"... it's a fleet at least, surely??
SteveO 35 wrote:People on here turn quicker than a pint of milk left in the sun for a week
FFS - Wenger has overseen 5 league wins in a row and has obtained a total of 15 points from six games where last season we got 18.
We've beaten West Brom on penalties, and the worst team I've witnessed in the CL in many a long year in Fenerbahce
Last night's win was fantastic and against a decent team and the win in Marseille showed great character against a half decent side
That's it - nothing more nothing less. We haven't played any of the major clubs in this country yet and the back to back Dortmund games will provide a real test of how far we've come.
Wenger often says "judge me in May" when we've had a fucking awful start and are out of the title race by Autumn, but now we've got people willing to judge him in early October when we've had a decent start without playing anyone of real note (Napoli apart perhaps)
Fuck me - at least wait till Xmas when the CL Group stage is over and we've played everyone domestically before even beginning to suggest that Lord Wenger has suddenly turned over a new leaf.
The squad is still fragile in too many places and I'm prepared to stick my neck out even now and say we'll end up 4th and without a trophy
we have more points at this stage than any of the seasons we have won the league in the last 23 years
in our 1st 6 games
in 97/98 we only drew at leicester and at home to spurs having won both those games the season before
in 01/02 we drew at home to leeds having beaten them the season before and drew at home to newly promoted portsmouth
in 03/04
we did get a point at old trafford having lost there the season before but we did draw at home to newly promoted portsmouth
Serious question Beck, does going back thorough your book of statistics to make a point about someone's opinion give you a cheap thrill to prove them wrong ?
As that is all you seem to do.
augie wrote:LDB, I cannot agree with your assessment of gibbs - tbh half the time I am not sure if he should be first choice ahead of monreal or not
Re the 22 game run that you refer to, can I just ask again that you list out the amount of good teams that we beat in that run ? Everybody referred to the piss easy run in that we had at the tail end of last season as a major (not the only) reason why we secured the virtual trophy again, and that easy run of fixtures has extended to the first dozen games of this season. I understand the argument that we can only beat what is in front of us but it does create a false impression imo and the only way we can correctly assess this team is seeing how they perform in the big games against our rivals (and bradford ) and we will know then if we have turned a corner or not.
I too enjoyed watching how we played last night and it did provide a flashback of better times from the past but sadly (due to some psychological issues ) I cannot leave it at that - I look at this team and feel that it is close to being successful again but who will fall short yet again in their quest for trophies I look at a squad that is hugely short of options in the strikers department and I still feel that I would have been a lot happier had we of signed julio cesar instead of some guy rated below flaps For that reason alone (and there are many many more reasons) I do not believe we can ever be successful again under a manager that could not identify or recognise what our biggest needs were last summer. If you look at our midfield starters last night and then add wilshere, cazorla, ox, wally and podolski to them then you could justifiably argue that we are seriously overloaded in that department and then compare that to our strikers where the worlds greatest danish striker is viewed as our main back up to the giroud and you cannot but feel that something and someone has seriously fcuked up within the club. So to answer your point I will agree that I am enjoying our performances of late but cannot totally let myself go cos I feel that serious trouble is just around the corner
beaten bayern munich away
spurs home
marseille away
Lads I have to apologise here for questioning the merits of our 22 game run - during that run we beat the teams beck listed above so out of 22 games he was able to list 3 decent teams that we beat and clearly those 3 games trump the other 19 games against mediocre opposition
augie wrote:
Lads I have to apologise here for questioning the merits of our 22 game run - during that run we beat the teams beck listed above so out of 22 games he was able to list 3 decent teams that we beat and clearly those 3 games trump the other 19 games against mediocre opposition
You can question the merits of the last 22 games if you like, but we're showing consistency (even away from home) that we're all surprised and delighted about, surely?
Winning 19, drawing 2 and losing 1 of the last 22 competitive games is impressive whoever you are and whoever you beat.
You only have to look at the results of United, Citeh, Chavs, etc. (and us over the years) to see how difficult it is to be consistent.
We've been critical of this Arsenal side for years for lacking consistency and concentration against the smaller clubs so why not celebrate it when it clicks? - we may not be world beaters, but I dare say we're doing far better than any of us (or at least most of us) thought possible at the start of March. After all, no other team has picked up more points than us since then, so credit where it's due.
SteveO 35 wrote:People on here turn quicker than a pint of milk left in the sun for a week
FFS - Wenger has overseen 5 league wins in a row and has obtained a total of 15 points from six games where last season we got 18.
We've beaten West Brom on penalties, and the worst team I've witnessed in the CL in many a long year in Fenerbahce
Last night's win was fantastic and against a decent team and the win in Marseille showed great character against a half decent side
That's it - nothing more nothing less. We haven't played any of the major clubs in this country yet and the back to back Dortmund games will provide a real test of how far we've come.
Wenger often says "judge me in May" when we've had a fucking awful start and are out of the title race by Autumn, but now we've got people willing to judge him in early October when we've had a decent start without playing anyone of real note (Napoli apart perhaps)
Fuck me - at least wait till Xmas when the CL Group stage is over and we've played everyone domestically before even beginning to suggest that Lord Wenger has suddenly turned over a new leaf.
The squad is still fragile in too many places and I'm prepared to stick my neck out even now and say we'll end up 4th and without a trophy
we have more points at this stage than any of the seasons we have won the league in the last 23 years
in our 1st 6 games
in 97/98 we only drew at leicester and at home to spurs having won both those games the season before
in 01/02 we drew at home to leeds having beaten them the season before and drew at home to newly promoted portsmouth
in 03/04
we did get a point at old trafford having lost there the season before but we did draw at home to newly promoted portsmouth
Serious question Beck, does going back thorough your book of statistics to make a point about someone's opinion give you a cheap thrill to prove them wrong ?
As that is all you seem to do.
no
finding a reason to be happy about supporting the arsenal does
and whilst understanding that there is an awful lot of football to be played and its hard to absolve wenger of blame when he has been underperforming for the last 5 and a half years
we are top of the table
we are playing some good football and like in all my 43 years of gooning i intend to enjoy every good moment of it
rather than the nano second after immediatly winning a trophy
i don,t buy the humour of god ain,t we shit because i have never believed it to be true
and when wenger was playing the little old arsenal aint we doing well to compete i could have hacked his scrawny neck
i believe as a fanbase its our job to walk in that stadium with a how dare you think you are going to beat us mentality
and whilst constructive critique is always welcome it should come with facts and a heavy heart rather than sprinkled like cheap confetti.
my thrills come from good things in life and for huge parts of that has involved arsenal
lucky me lucky all of us
A nice sequence of wins do not overcome 8 years of incompetence and stupidity.
But, the 3 teams all considered way above the rest are all overrated imo and have been for the last 2/3 years. Talent for talent, we could do it, but does the manager have the powers of leadership, the coaching ability, and the ability to seize the moment? I doubt it, but he has to go for it. Based on Tuesday, he has the Grove back with the team, so there can be no more excuses.
No more crap about 4th being a decent finish. It isn't and never has been.
I could do with one or two of you good folks coming onto the Guardian site to fight the good fight against some real AKB numpties on there who are one stage short of booking an open top bus.
The worst thing is the intolerance these clowns have for anyone who dares question their beloved Arsene and anything he has ever done. One had to be put in his place this morning.
For the record, I'm pretty happy with a lot of things we have done since the Villa game, but we have an unbalanced squad, and still lack the intensity to play at a furious tempo for 90 minutes. I also question the medical attention a lot of the players have and tactically Wenger is a nightmare, doing his best to blow games like the NLD by removing the threats to the oppositions back 4 and enable full backs to fly at us at will.
I'd have fired Wenger 4 years ago, but we have him and have to live with him. So let us hope he stops seeing 4th place as a prize and attacks first, because there is no team out there that is all that good.
Done
Welcome on board (sic) mate. Tradition states that you now visit the Cannonballs section and start a tit thread. Thank you.
I could do with one or two of you good folks coming onto the Guardian site to fight the good fight against some real AKB numpties on there who are one stage short of booking an open top bus....
To be fair, if you insist on going on that website to read and exchange opinions on football then you deserve everything you get!!
Phuncky, do you use that user name. I read the Grauniad but don't go below the line very often. Your user name doesn't ring a bell though.
I do actually, and it is taken from a song from a favourite band of mine, not from an inability to spell
) and we will know then if we have turned a corner or not.
I look at a squad that is hugely short of options in the strikers department and I still feel that I would have been a lot happier had we of signed julio cesar instead of some guy rated below flaps
For that reason alone (and there are many many more reasons) I do not believe we can ever be successful again under a manager that could not identify or recognise what our biggest needs were last summer. If you look at our midfield starters last night and then add wilshere, cazorla, ox, wally and podolski to them then you could justifiably argue that we are seriously overloaded in that department and then compare that to our strikers where the worlds greatest danish striker is viewed as our main back up to the giroud and you cannot but feel that something and someone has seriously fcuked up within the club. So to answer your point I will agree that I am enjoying our performances of late but cannot totally let myself go cos I feel that serious trouble is just around the corner
