Official Gooners Thread - A New Hope

[ONeill]

Wenger on Celtic - http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/scotland/8208605.stm

[ONeill]

Mowbray - http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/scotland/8208623.stm

[irunthev]

It was an intense match in that the pace hardly dropped all the way through. For all of Celtic's possession they didn't actually manage a shot on goal the whole game and while I appreciate that both of Arsenal's goals were lucky, they just seemed so much more in control. While you could argue that they may not have deserved to win that match 2-0, by the same token, they never looked like losing it. Vermalen looks the part, although it must be added he hasn't really been tested in his first two games, but looks like an excellent long term prospect, while Gallas, just can't stop scoring at the moment. That should help him keep his toys in the pram for a week or two at least.

[ONeill]

It was intense in that Celtic harried all day but they never threatened whatsoever. They just crowded the defence and attempted to have a few races between Sagna, Clichy, Maloney and McGeady. The Arsenal full backs were well able for them. I thought Celtic's passing was awful at times. Although McGeady was Celtic's most danderous player, he wouldn't cut it at the top level in England. Runs into cul-de-sacs and doesn't really know what he's going to do with it. Apart from the crowd, you wouldn't have known who was at home as Celtic's attack was non-existent and they just concentrated on crowding out Arshavin and Van Persie. As Celtic tired they just resorted to small-time fouling which was fair enough.

Song played well in midfield and Vermaelen steady. Offensively Arsenal were below par but I thought it was a fairly comfortable game for this time of the season in Europe.

[Doogie Browser]

Vermaelen is some player.

[gerrykeegan]

Arsenal same as for Everton game. Celtic drop O'Dea, Fortune and McDonald and bring in Loovens, Brown and Samaras.

Can you get TV3 on freview in Belfast? Chipped NTL has messed up so cant get Sky Sports 

Tv3 is a joke, Trevor Welch last night, "Arshavins get free and is taken down, thats a bad tackle, sorry it was Robin VanPersie", 30 seconds later Lauro pipes up "I think Trevor that was Fabregas"

[Eastern_Pride]

Bodes well for arsenal that they can beat the 2nd best team in Scotland 2-0 without exerting themselves at all.

[Archie Mitchell]

Rumours in Spain suggesting that Arsenal and Barcelona have agreed a deal for Fabregas to join Barcelona next summer for £25-£30 million. If it's true, surely he's worth more than that.

[Main Street]

Although McGeady was Celtic's most danderous player, he wouldn't cut it at the top level in England. Runs into cul-de-sacs and doesn't really know what he's going to do with it.

Is this what passes for football analysis these days in the brand sky epl threads?
Running into a cul de sac, means he reaches a dead end and is either dispossessed or cant find a  team player.
Neither of which happened to McGeady. He retained possession well when running deep into Arsenal packed defense or when receiving a rare decent pass. He rarely lost his ball and his passing success rate in the 2nd half was about 95%.
Considering how far off his teammates were from his wavelength, that's no mean achievement.

[ONeill]

Although McGeady was Celtic's most danderous player, he wouldn't cut it at the top level in England. Runs into cul-de-sacs and doesn't really know what he's going to do with it.

Is this what passes for football analysis these days in the brand sky epl threads?
Running into a cul de sac, means he reaches a dead end and is either dispossessed or cant find a  team player.
Neither of which happened to McGeady. He retained possession well when running deep into Arsenal packed defense or when receiving a rare decent pass. He rarely lost his ball and his passing success rate in the 2nd half was about 95%.
Considering how far off his teammates were from his wavelength, that's no mean achievement.

I think you'd need to watch it again. Time and time again, McGeady would have an option to pass to a player in a better position. Instead he'd run with the ball, Arsenal would crowd him out and he'd simply play the ball back to where he started with the Arsenal defence in position.

I also think you'd need to read up on cul de sacs. Just incase you drive into one, you can get out so don't abandon the car young man.

[118cmal]

McGeady is very much overrated.  Too selfish.  He'll never make it at a big club.

[AZOffaly]

I agree with O'Neill about McGeady. I think he's just like a child in a schoolyard. It can be refreshing to see someone like that, but it's pretty hard to dribble past the top defenders and defensive teams. It's rare that a lad will only have to beat one man before doing something, because there'll be cover. McGeady just has the head down, runs and runs until he either a) scores, b) passes it off or c) loses it. Against Aberdeen and Dundee United he might do a and b a lot, but against top teams, it's frequently c.

[Main Street]

Still sounds like lazy rehashed armchair hyped cliches with no relation to last nights efforts by McGeady.

Taking too much out of the ball was an old failing, taking on too many defenders was also an old failing. He has changed his game and that reflected in much of his intelligent play last night.
He did not try to dribble through lost causes, did not get dispossessed and his distribution was very good.
Weakest point is is his crosses, can be sublime but mostly sub par.

[AZOffaly]

Still sounds like lazy rehashed armchair hyped cliches with no relation to last nights efforts by McGeady.

Taking too much out of the ball was an old failing, taking on too many defenders was also an old failing. He has changed his game and that reflected in much of his intelligent play last night.
He did not try to dribble through lost causes, did not get dispossessed and his distribution was very good.
Weakest point is is his crosses, can be sublime but mostly sub par.

Have to disagree Main Street. Several times last night I saw him dribbling around in what could be loosely called 'circles' before either getting dispossessed or just passing it backwards.

He does have talent with the ball at his feet, but I think he still overdoes it, and would be better served beating one man and quickly looking for the pass or cross. Make the ball do the work. Looking at him, to me, it looks like he himself doesn't have a clear plan and tries to run to daylight with the ball.

[Eastern_Pride]

Still sounds like lazy rehashed armchair hyped cliches with no relation to last nights efforts by McGeady.

Taking too much out of the ball was an old failing, taking on too many defenders was also an old failing. He has changed his game and that reflected in much of his intelligent play last night.
He did not try to dribble through lost causes, did not get dispossessed and his distribution was very good.
Weakest point is is his crosses, can be sublime but mostly sub par.

Have to disagree Main Street. Several times last night I saw him dribbling around in what could be loosely called 'circles' before either getting dispossessed or just passing it backwards.

He does have talent with the ball at his feet, but I think he still overdoes it, and would be better served beating one man and quickly looking for the pass or cross. Make the ball do the work. Looking at him, to me, it looks like he himself doesn't have a clear plan and tries to run to daylight with the ball.

The thing is, playing against teams of the calibre of Hamilton Academical, he is allowed to do this because they will just sit back and watch. If you want to see a perfect example of a good running game watch Stephen Hunt's game vs Italy. I think McGeady meeds to take a leaf  out of his book because, if he masters the art a a goodrunning pattern, he will take Ireland to the world cup.