Arsenal Thread

[supergrass]

It's been reported a lot also that Wenger doesn't like to buy players in January. I can see why he might shy away from doing that, wasn't Reyes signed then? He took a good while to settle in.

Although all players are going to take time to settle in, if we brought them in now they'd probably be ready to go come the start of next season. We need to sign someone, absolutely anyone - I really don't care who anymore. The novelty of actually seeing the club buy another player will do me just fine.

[Guest muddatrucker27]

It makes too much sense to buy them now and let them settle for the rest of this shitty season, I'm not calling for him to be sacked, but someone sort something out.

[supergrass]

That's something I've been thinking. Obviously Wenger is the main reason we took the step from being mid-table/top six-chasers to one of the top teams in England and Europe. But things are going shit, and they weren't much better last year (when Vieira was around). It could be worse but by our own high standards it's not enough.

The thing is at what point does someone say somthing to Wenger (and who'll say it?)? It's a bit like David Moyes' situation at Everton. A manager can do great for as long as he wants, but he's in a results business. If the results stop coming and no sign of improvement is clear something's got to change.

I think it might help if Wenger were to admit this IS a transitional year (as the next one might well be too). You can't put the expectations of two years ago on this seasons squad as he's doing.

Edited January 3, 2006 by supergrass

[therockbox]

Bwahahah, what a miss by Ronaldo.

[MDK]

Christ, if I were an Arsenal fan I would be so aggrivated. Why must they insist on playing the ball into the net? For every match that Arsenal play and they don't score, I would be tearing my hair out.

And Cygan needs to be taken round the back and shot, he is awful. I wouldn't even have him in the Orient squad.

[CarlitoJay]

I thought Cygan done particularly well considering who he was up against.

I thought we should have been awarded a penalty Neville seemed to puch Fabregas and get more of him than the ball when he tackled from behind.

Im happy enough to take the draw as it could have been so much worse.

[supergrass]

I don't really think we should be changing our formation to face the bigger teams. It might mean we can match them in the middle but it kills off most of our creative spark. Henry isn't a lone striker, we don't have anybody who could naturally play that role.

It's good to see Wenger is trying to differ his tactics now, but I don't think he's got the mix right yet. 4-4-2 is fine for us, it's that we don't have the players to make it work like it used to.

I'd agree with whoever said on Sky that Arsene/Arsenal were perhaps more worried about losing this than winning it. And on a semi-related note would like to nominate Ray Wilkins as one of the most boring people I've ever had to listen to.

[CarlitoJay]

I was worried when it was announced we were playing the 4-5-1 after using it in the FA Cup Final and getting pummeled you cn understand the frustratuon but it worked ok. Reyes was great tonight and practically covered the whole of the left hand side, assisting Henry up front and helping Cygan deal with Ronaldo or Giggs. Hleb had a good game after a difficult Christmas period.

[MDK]

I thought Cygan done particularly well considering who he was up against.

I thought we should have been awarded a penalty Neville seemed to puch Fabregas and get more of him than the ball when he tackled from behind.

Im happy enough to take the draw as it could have been so much worse.

Cygan was awful, almost everytime the ball came near him I was worried for the sake of all Arsenal fans and players. Its like they found him at the bus stop and asked him if he wanted to play.

[supergrass]

Take it from an Arsenal fan, that's really as good as he gets. And sadly for Arsenal fans, as good a left back as we've got.

[MDK]

I know, I was stupid enough to pick him for my dream team when he was first signed. I've had a vendetta with him ever since.

[supergrass]

I remember the first few games he played when he looked like a really good defender, I believe he also came to us as the former French player of the year. He cleared a great ball off the line at Roma in the Champions League, but when that's all I remember of anybody's career it's safe to say it hasn't been great.

[CarlitoJay]

2001 he was French Player of the Year

Scored 2 goals against Fulham this season, his other goal for us came against Everton in 2003.

[TheArsenal]

I said he was a waste of space on the day we singed him.

I stand by that.

[supergrass]

Almost makes you pine for Luzhny and Stepanovs.

[Guest muddatrucker27]

We really should consider recalling Hoyte in the transfer window, but I know we extended the Poom loan (why?) so I'm not sure how possible that was.

We need some players who are willing to hoof the ball, rather than dance around the outside of the box like a couple of fairies, its beautiful it really is, but with our current team, it doesn't work.

[TMM]

I'm just interested in knowing what's happened to Ryan Garry. One minute he and Hoyte are being talked about in Arsenal as great players for the future, and then Garry seems to have vanished off the face of the planet. I know he's been injured for what seems like forever, but I dunno if he's still injured...is he?

Oh, and on a somewhat related note I take back all the defence of Jeremie Aliadiere, as he is rubbish.

[supergrass]

I think he'll go down as another one who's not a bad player, but just not an Arsenal player. Though he provided me with one of my favourite TV moments a few weeks ago. His girlfriend was on Richard & Judy, the humour came in her trying to explain firstly how to say his name, and then who he was. Nobody seemed to know or care.

On the defender-hoofing thing touched upon. It's one of the things I like about Senderos. On the downside he has spells where he's awful. I really can't believe that he ever kept Sol Campbell out of an FA Cup final against Man Utd.

There was also a thing on the Arsenal website a while ago about how the loan players were getting on. They noted that Hoyte had been switched to left-back and was doing a good job. So we probably could use him around right now.

Edited January 4, 2006 by supergrass

[TheArsenal]

To be fair, he was possibly our best player during the Cup Final.

I think the problem with loaning players out is that we're ruiningour potential. They don't play at the top level - often in the Championship or Scottish/Belgian leagues, and never in European competition. We need to test them, push the boundaries and make them better.

[fineintent]

Isn't hindsight a brilliant thing? Someone just showed me this:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/t...nal/2095996.stm

The 3rd and 4th paragraphs are my favourites.

Edited January 4, 2006 by fineintent27