Official Gooners Thread - A New Hope

[Dinny Breen]

That's as good as Man U can play, Arsenal can play much better and thankfully through poor finishing, excellent goal-keeping and at times good defending as well, Arsenal are only a goal down. Arsenal will win the 2nd leg but they need to stop Man United scoring easier said than done but hopefully Clichy will be available and RVP as well. Confident Arsenal will win but maybe only 2-1.....

[Norf Tyrone]

Eduardo out for 3 weeks! The poor fella is having a mare. Prob best wrap him up now until mid July.

[EC Unique]

That's as good as Man U can play, Arsenal can play much better and thankfully through poor finishing, excellent goal-keeping and at times good defending as well, Arsenal are only a goal down. Arsenal will win the 2nd leg but they need to stop Man United scoring easier said than done but hopefully Clichy will be available and RVP as well. Confident Arsenal will win but maybe only 2-1.....

I would take that even if I had no nails left at the end

[ONeill]

That's what ye call a young squad. Too late for Bendtner's POTY award though.

[Minder]

That's what ye call a young squad. Too late for Bendtner's POTY award though.

I would say he isnt the best player in his house.

[The Watcher Pat]

That's what ye call a young squad. Too late for Bendtner's POTY award though.

I would say he isnt the best player in his house.

He's wouldn't even be the best player in my house and theres only me my mum and my sister here!!

[ONeill]

Bendtner's actually a better option than Adebayor at the minute. At least he's willing to try things whereas the man from Togo is having one of his strolling months.

[The Watcher Pat]

Bendtner's actually a better option than Adebayor at the minute. At least he's willing to try things whereas the man from Togo is having one of his strolling months.

He can try all he wants he's just not good enough...He really frustrates me so much...Very arrogant player for one with a very limited talent!!

[ONeill]

Well, for the few minutes he was on against Utd, he was the one player who actually had an attempt. That header wasn't a million miles from leaving Arsenal in a wonderful position. He can do those things - get his head on the end of a hospital ball. Fair enough, he can frustrate at times, but I've seen enough of him this year to suggest he can be of use. Wenger has played him all over the joint this year, mainly as a winger in the middle season.

If Arsenal were one up with 15 mins left on Tues and Bendtner came one, you have some hope that he'd be awkward enough to do something different.

[The Watcher Pat]

Well, for the few minutes he was on against Utd, he was the one player who actually had an attempt. That header wasn't a million miles from leaving Arsenal in a wonderful position. He can do those things - get his head on the end of a hospital ball. Fair enough, he can frustrate at times, but I've seen enough of him this year to suggest he can be of use. Wenger has played him all over the joint this year, mainly as a winger in the middle season.

If Arsenal were one up with 15 mins left on Tues and Bendtner came one, you have some hope that he'd be awkward enough to do something different.

He really should have scored that header thats what frustrates me. The keeper was off the line with a empty goal at his mercy....The funny thing is when i slag him off he ends up scoring....Lol so i'm just going to continue.....

Hopefully i'll get a top from the match yesterday...my cousin is in the pompey first team squad and i've told him not to bother coming home in a few weeks if he doesn't bring me home a Arsenal top from that match...Knowing my luck it'll be Bendner's...

[muppet]

Can anyone tell me how to embed videos on this site?

[ONeill]

Always wanted to know that too. Must be one of those hoors above the posts like:

http://[url=http://[email][ftp=ftp://[/ftp][/email]][email][ftp]][/ftp][/email]][email][ftp][/ftp][/email][/url] or something like that.

[ONeill]

A different Arsenal

By Asser Ghozlan on Monday, May 4, 2009


I am quite frankly fed up of all the hype surrounding big games, pumping myself up for a memorable occasion, with a cacophony of similar emotions shared by family, friends, and of course the mouthy Arsenal FC crew. I don't know about you, but it is becoming rather boring, the build-up, the readiness to realise potential, the match day nerves, only to fall flat on our faces against a fellow "big team" who are in reality superior opposition.

As I mentioned last week, the Champions League semi finals were our one chance for Wenger to be vindicated in his quest for realising our undoubted potential and strength, to kill off any lingering doubts that we are a big club, but only a second-rate one. To put us back on the map right at the very top when compared to our opponents and against the other two semi-finalists.

Sadly, as I sat and grimaced through the match at Old Trafford, at least certainly for the first half-hour, the painful realisation crept in on me and must have amongst many of you passionate Gooners out there- we are probably not as good as the Manchester Uniteds and Chelseas of this world, and we have been cruelly found out! As Rooney, Ronaldo, Anderson and many others ran rings around our clueless defence and outmuscled our flimsy midfield, creating chance after chance, chances they may yet hopefully regret, many questions ran through my mind. I asked myself then, and I plead with you all to ask yourselves now, that's if you already haven't done so- when are we to finally class ourselves as ready to challenge for top honours? When can we go into a semi-final against Chelsea or Manchester United and know that we will be equal to the task?

Indeed, there is also the possibility that the first leg defeat to the European champions was a mere blip. A defeat that any team can suffer at such a late stage of the season, especially when considering it was away from home. However, we were meant to be the team in form, remember? The team ready to put paid to United's hopes of two consecutive continental crowns, and most importantly, ready to wipe out years of underachievement and criticism and nagging doubt.

But the match last Wednesday, coupled with the FA Cup defeat to Chelsea, perhaps suggested that our defeats were in no way an unfortunate coincidence.

Starting with the selection and tactics, Wenger opted to deploy Fabregas and Nasri in similar ways that had worked so effectively against Middlesbrough, with the skipper in the "hole" and the young Frenchman occupying a defensive role. To be fair, with the success that had reaped in the Premier League, you might perhaps have forgiven Wenger for sticking to the idea. Not when we are in a Champions League semi final against the world's top team I'm afraid. This was always doomed to failure, particularly in giving the defensive role to such a novice in Nasri, and sticking Diaby, a player who is usually so inept in his own real position, out on the left wing!

This was not all as far as tactical blunders ago. Wenger opted for the "experience" of Silvestre in the centre of defence alongside Touré, and, although the pair improved as the match wore on, they were given a torrid time by Rooney and Tevez in the United frontline. Not only that, Wenger finally decided to play two strikers with Bendtner's introduction on seventy-seven minutes. Hardly all the time in the world to come back in such a crucial match is it?

With the manager making such costly mistakes at such crucial moments of the season, first in dropping Arshavin and Song for the FA Cup semi final defeat, and then on Wednesday, mistakes that any lay person can pick up on, it hardly does much to endear the underachieving Wenger to the success-starved supporters and the media's vultures, does it?

With regards to the players out on the pitch, well it doesn't need a genius to come up with the conclusion that we were second best throughout the ninety minutes. With the defence an absolute and utter shambles as the match began, exactly the opposite to what is required early on a European semi final, it was no surprise when John O'Shea (O'Shea!?) thumped the ball into the roof of the net with less than an eighth of the tie gone, with Ronaldo and Anderson queuing up for the finish too incidentally, and with our defence ball-watching, all at sea!

As the match wore on, we improved, and despite having the greater possession in the second half, it was United who threatened to score again, and we failed to create one meaningful chance. Interestingly, one stat that popped up late during the match stat pointed out that we had completed 295 passes to United's 200, a stat that, if anything, highlights our lack of functionality and inability to be potent when it counts. A stat that can be thrown right in Wenger's face by any laughing rival manager, player or fan!

In attack, Adebayor's publicised mare and the midfield's profligacy contributed to our lack of a cutting edge, something that we will surely have to improve on, and with the correct personnel come Tuesday.

After the match, listening to Wenger's post-match conference, I didn't know whether to admire his fighting talk or ridicule his nonchalant attitude to the press. Sounding almost triumphant, Wenger predicted that we would see "a very different Arsenal team" next week and make United "regret their missed chances". Now, whilst it is part and parcel of the game that every manager builds his team up or else there would be no point in turning up, Wenger's chat sounded more like a man desperate to combat his stubbornness and tactical naïvety; a ploy to keep his dejected supporters on-side.

On last Wednesday's viewing, many of the mistakes highlighted will have to spot on. A two-goal victory will do, and as it is not as easy it sounds, a clean sheet will probably be required. Not the easiest of tasks against a side as free-scoring and as powerful in attack as Manchester United are, but then again, and despite our known defensive vulnerabilities, 2009 is yet to see us let in a goal against European or Premier League opposition at the Emirates, and so we will hope to be fighting tooth-and-nail for that record to continue come Tuesday night.

The players will have to be up for it, realising that it is simply now or never. Time to prove that we are indeed back on the big stage, and that we will not lie down and give up in the face of every big match. Time to justify the manager's unwavering support and confidence to the whole world, the time to prove the doubters wrong. The time has come to show that Arsenal Football Club can fight for the biggest prizes and not simply be the nearly-men when it comes to the business end of every season, prompting the media to say that "now is not their time" and the fans craving success to predict that "next year is the year".

Enough excuses, enough "next years", this has to be our year!

A different Arsenal please, Arsène! A better, stronger one.

http://arsenal-mania.com/articles/3106785/A-different-Arsenal.html

[ildanach]

van persie and silvestre both in the squad for tomorrow night.
Think we will go with almunia
                            sanga toure djouru gibbs
                                   song denilson
                                nasri cesc walcott
                                    van p  adebayor

[gawa316]

van persie and silvestre both in the squad for tomorrow night.
Think we will go with almunia
                            sanga toure djouru gibbs
                                   song denilson
                                nasri cesc walcott
                                    van p  adebayor

12 players...good luck to that