One-nil to the Arsenal Topic

tracyr
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my grades so far this season (just in the premiership

G - Almunia - B - has held them together at times, but often lets a stoppable goal thru
LB - Clichy - B- - his runs up the are lagging way behind last year, but that could be the lack of skill in front of him - is still a good one on one defender
CB - Gallas - D - has been awful for long stretches - and airing the teams dirty laundry doesnt help him
CB - Djourou - C - gets beaten a lot, but recovers most of the time - makes me nervous
CB - Toure - C - is better with Djourou next to him than Gallas - should be taking control in the middle, but often does not
RB - Sagna - B+ - makes some crazy decisions sometimes, but has been making runs up the right that leads to chances
LM - Nasri - C - disappears for LONG stretches, then comes up with brilliance - is better as the focal point in the midfield, but will never be that guy at Emirates
AM - Diaby - C - should be better than he his, seems to have it all - shies away from the action at times
AM - Cesc - A- - was playing well when he got hurt - he plays well with VP and Adebayor linking the midfield up with the attackers
MD - Denilson - C- - is not a top 5 club starting midfielder - doesnt do any of the little things a middie is supposed to do
DM - Song - C - too slow, but has a lot of other skills - he just needs to show them off
RM - Theo - B - was also playing well before getting hurt - without him, it forces the pace to come from the back
RM - Eboue - C - awful at times, but can provide spark and toughness - does some sillyass **** on the pitch
ST - Adebayour - B+ - gets frustrated when he gets no service - if he has to do it himself, he can't finish
ST - Van Persie - A - has been ridiculously good for most of the year - their best player by far
ST - Bendtner - B+ - pretty good scoring rate when he is in - i like him a lot
2/2/2009 9:34 AM
willgibson
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Quote: Originally Posted By breum on 2/02/2009Link

What do you guys think of that article? Comments by Dein and another former Arsenal man..
David Dein is largely right but does miss some important context.

First and foremost, injuries have killed us. If you look at our midfield, we've fielded a reserve squad for much of the season. I don't think they anticipated having Rosicky out for the better part of the year or Walcott getting hurt while on England duty. Looking Cesc, even though he was out of form, for at least two months was the topper.

Dein is also being a bit disingenuous in that he largely signed on to Wenger's vision to remake the team through the academy once Roman Abramovitch pitched up at Stamford Bridge with a seemingly limitless supply of petroroubles to buy off any potential targets. Arsenal were simply outpriced after expressing interest in the likes of Shawn Wright-Phillips (and purchased Hleb instead), Didier Drogba and Michael Essien so they decided to continue with the strategy of hoovering up great academy players from other clubs at bargain prices, which is how Clichy, Djourou, Fabregas, Walcott and Adebayor -- among others -- have come to club.

Petit is also accurate (what we really need is a 30-year-old version of himself) but misses some context. Wenger had to make a tough choice. He bought Lassana Diarra from Chelsea with the intention of turning him into his holding midfielder if Flamini chose to run out his contract. Diarra felt betrayed and Wenger had to gamble, selling him to Portsmouth and hoping Flamini would re-sign. He didn't, which led to Wenger's rant last summer about the "mercenary" nature of modern players. I'd argue Arsenal's bigger issue isn't at holding midfield but at finding the right partnership in defence -- a problem since Sol Campbell started to slip following the Invincibles campaign -- and finding a creative player to unlock defences this year. We've scored far fewer goals. Part of that is down to Adebayor's poorer form, but Fabregas was unsettled even before he went down injured. Nasri has been very inconsistent, shining one moment and vanishing for long stretches (even entire games). Diaby and Denilson are not up to snuff.
2/2/2009 1:46 PM
willgibson
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Quote: Originally Posted By tracyr on 2/02/2009
its dead on

1 - they should have never let Flamini go - it's the biggest gaping hole on the team - and i said it before the season started

Very true. Wenger made the wrong decision in January by selling Diarra. He should have let Flamini go.

2 - no depth to replace injuries - they need more veteran players who can step in and play at a top level when needed

Partially true. He bought Silvestre, who has looked poor. Part of the decision to go young has helped us get talented young players such as Fabregas, Walcott and Ramsey, who stated they believe they will get a shot with Arsenal. Wenger does need to find a better balance though.

3 - they just arent that good setup as they are now - Gallas needs to go - the midfielders just effin stand around in the offensive half - there is none of the usual Arsenal movement - and its due to lack of skill - Diaby, Denilson, etc are just not that caliber to be playing 90 minutes every game - i'd rather see Eboue out there, at least he tries to create

Very true Gallas is another greybeard who let down the squad. The midfield is very static. And the quality of crosses, both from the fullbacks going forward and from set pieces, has been very poor.

2/2/2009 1:51 PM
willgibson
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Quote: Originally Posted By tracyr on 2/02/2009
my grades so far this season (just in the premiership

G - Almunia - B - has held them together at times, but often lets a stoppable goal thru
LB - Clichy - B- - his runs up the are lagging way behind last year, but that could be the lack of skill in front of him - is still a good one on one defender
CB - Gallas - D - has been awful for long stretches - and airing the teams dirty laundry doesnt help him
CB - Djourou - C - gets beaten a lot, but recovers most of the time - makes me nervous
CB - Toure - C - is better with Djourou next to him than Gallas - should be taking control in the middle, but often does not
RB - Sagna - B+ - makes some crazy decisions sometimes, but has been making runs up the right that leads to chances
LM - Nasri - C - disappears for LONG stretches, then comes up with brilliance - is better as the focal point in the midfield, but will never be that guy at Emirates
AM - Diaby - C - should be better than he his, seems to have it all - shies away from the action at times
AM - Cesc - A- - was playing well when he got hurt - he plays well with VP and Adebayor linking the midfield up with the attackers
MD - Denilson - C- - is not a top 5 club starting midfielder - doesnt do any of the little things a middie is supposed to do
DM - Song - C - too slow, but has a lot of other skills - he just needs to show them off
RM - Theo - B - was also playing well before getting hurt - without him, it forces the pace to come from the back
RM - Eboue - C - awful at times, but can provide spark and toughness - does some sillyass **** on the pitch
ST - Adebayour - B+ - gets frustrated when he gets no service - if he has to do it himself, he can't finish
ST - Van Persie - A - has been ridiculously good for most of the year - their best player by far
ST - Bendtner - B+ - pretty good scoring rate when he is in - i like him a lot

Agree with almost all of these.

I'd give Djourou a B. The lad has shown real progress and deserves to be one of the two starting central defenders as Gallas and Toure cannot play with each other (and are understood to dislike each other in the change room. It shows on the park, which is unprofessional).

I'd give Song a B-. He's shown himself to be the best candidate for the central holding role. His distribution needs work but he's made real progress this year.

I'd give Fabregas a B. He was in very poor form, but still managed to influence games before getting injured.

I might be tempted to downgrade Adebayor slightly and give RVP an A++.

2/2/2009 1:56 PM
tracyr
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RVP is my favorite player, so i didnt want to seem like a homer

i dont know about Song - he seems to slow for the game at this level
2/2/2009 5:07 PM
willgibson
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Quote: Originally posted by tracyr on 2/02/2009RVP is my favorite player, so i didnt want to seem like a homeri dont know about Song - he seems to slow for the game at this level

RVP="POY." And that's from somebody who wasn't convinced when Wenger first bought him from Feyenoord.

Song's speed of foot isn't an issue for me as much as his speed of thought. He needs to improve his distribution, but he's still better suited to the shielding role than Denilson (too lightweight), Diaby (cannot tackle) or anybody else at the club. Of course, if Wenger had held out and received Yaya Toure as part of the deal that sent Hleb to Barcelona, Song wouldn't be anywhere near the pitch. And we'd be doing one hell of a lot better than fifth spot. That ship appears to have sailed because Toure is having a monster season at the Nou Camp. Toure has become to Barca what Essien was to Chelsea a couple years back and what Real Madrid thought they were buying when they overpaid for Mahamadou Diarra from Lyon. And we could have had him for a song.
2/2/2009 8:32 PM
tracyr
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Song was awful today, no first touch, no pace

Eboue freaked out, pretty much on cue - he needs to go

again, Nasri didnt play well until Eboue got sent off - wtf?
2/8/2009 9:58 AM
willgibson
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It's terrible to get up at 6:30 a.m. and watch that stuff. Eboue lost his rag. The first yellow card came after three warnings to stop talking. The second was simply indefensible for a player who had already been booked and just seen Adebayor hobble off the pitch.

There were a couple of bright spots -- Gallas had his best match of the season -- but it was largely blighted by another injury to another key player that will underscore our lack of strength in depth. We're losing touch with the top four.
2/9/2009 9:24 AM
tracyr
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great article on players getting booked on purpose - link from the MBM on guardian.co.uk - Rob Smyth thought maybe Eboue did it on purpose

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2009/feb/08/football-steve-bennett-booking-referee-premier-league
2/9/2009 11:48 AM
willgibson
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Quote: Originally Posted By tracyr on 2/09/2009
great article on players getting booked on purpose - link from the MBM on guardian.co.uk - Rob Smyth thought maybe Eboue did it on purpose

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2009/feb/08/football-steve-bennett-booking-referee-premier-league

Thanks, that's an excellent article. If Eboue deliberately tried to talk his way into the book after less than 20 minutes were gone in the match, that's just insane. He's too stupid to play for Arsenal.
2/9/2009 12:38 PM
tracyr
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100 pct agreed on the too stupid part regardless

2/9/2009 12:44 PM
willgibson
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Welcome back to Eduardo! He took his goals very well against Cardiff and it gives me some hope that we'll have a good spring, especially with Walcott, Fabregas and Adebayor set to return in the coming weeks.
2/17/2009 10:12 AM
tracyr
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i liked Vela on the in that game altho he tired a bit
2/18/2009 9:11 AM
boonta23
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Eduardo out again, with a hammy injury.
2/19/2009 9:11 PM
tracyr
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4 consecutive nil-nil league games - 2nd time in club history - this is just effin retarded

stoke with a great last 3 minutes vs Villa to tie
3/1/2009 12:03 PM
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