Arsenal

[smokie36]

High-tail it back to your thread and sort out those naughty puppies, Smokie. Theyre tearing bits out of each other again!

There's never gonna be two Arsenal mods Santi....you'll have to shoot migsy when her back is turned.

Question is.....have you got the bottle eh?

[smokie36]

While we're at it...come on fishface....your thoughts on the departures...etc..new season please.

[SantiSuk]

I'm pleased to see that Arsene reads Migsy's Arsenal thread and took the trouble to wade through one of my postings yesterday. I see he has posted on the Arsenal website this morning as follows:

While Wenger is “concerned” about losing players to clubs offering huge salaries, he believes the implementation of Financial Fair Play regulations means it is a short-term problem.

“It is a concern,” he admitted. “But you say we live outside of reality? No, we live in the economic reality that other clubs do not. There are some things we cannot afford to do, it is as simple as that.

“Honestly, I think it is a short-term problem - the world cannot go on like this. You cannot imagine that the world will go on just splashing money out without any return because people will get tired of that as you’ll only have a few clubs competing with each other.

“[Financial Fair Play] will make a big difference, how quickly I cannot answer because I am not responsible for putting it in place.”

I think most of us can probably sign onto those sentiments.

[SantiSuk]

Not sure whether to call tonights probable line-up as 4-4-2 or 4-1-4-1.

using the 4-1-4-1 format it's likely to be:

Sceszny

Jenkinson, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Gibbs

Song

Walcott, Arteta, Podolski,Cazorla

Giroud

If Song is clearly going then Arteta steps back to DFM and Ramsey comes in.

Bench: Flaphandski, Santos, Diaby, Ramsey, Arshavin, Gervinho

AOC and Koscielny are still suffering form light injuries picked up against Cologne

The new line-up has to hit the ground running and win this one. After today it is Stoke (A), Liverpool (A) Southhampton (H) Man City (A) and Chelsea (H). We'll be doing ok in the circs if we are on 10 points from 18 by the end of September.

Edited August 18, 2012 by SantiSuk

[smokie36]

0-0 to the Arsenal...0-0 to the Arsenal....

[MiG16]

Shhhh

Have u run out of beer

[mrtoad]

Still a better result than Liverpool got

[2unique]

Still a better result than Liverpool got

and Tottenham...

[smokie36]

Still a better result than Liverpool got

and Tottenham...

To lose by the odd goal at St James' Park is no disgrace. I suspect it will happen to a lot of teams this season.

[DreamRider]

No shame; unfortunate score but the solid framework is definitely there. I think its the best I've seen Gervinho play!!

[SantiSuk]

Very frustrating. Dunno what the Sunderland fans were cheering about - looks like they've got a lot of <deleted> boring 'park the red-and-white big stripey bus' games to come at the gaffs of the top half of the table . I'm the first to appreciate good defending, but O'Neal seemed to have zero strategy to get one on the break and, of course, they should have needed to get at least one on the break.

I hope Giroud has not lost confidence already - that's two games where he has fluffed his lines big time in front of goal. Too early to call him the mis-signing of the EPL summer

Plenty of good stuff to come out of it though. Cazorla, who looked like a fish out of water in the first half, suddenly realised he can play this game in England and produced a couple of divine through balls and started to dictate midfield - such a shame vanP didn't hang around to play with him. He looks like he could be a candidate for the signing of the EPL summer. {edit: - yes - either of those two!]

On the attacking front Podolski did not look as sharp as I've seen him in the friendly and for Germany, but Theo and especially Gervinho looked bright and tricky. Diaby did a good job as DFM - very quick and lively (Song's absence confirms his departure). Generally the defense looked ok - though most defenses would against such a sorry attack as Sunderlands. Jenkinson looked a lot more confident than I've seen him and I'm surprised how quick he is. Can someone please tell Gibbs to smile a bit when he's playing football. He has talent, but he doesn't look like he enjoys the game.

Ramsey seems to be going backwards in his development. I can't remember a good performance from him in 9 months.

Wenger - <deleted> get rid of Arshavin - the press cannot say that you've had to sell your most expensive signing for a pittance any longer, so what are you waiting for? His presence on the bench and your insistence on trying to prove that he is worthwhile is a huge distraction. {Go on prove my wrong lil russian}

A bad two points to throw away and I'm sure we will regret that in 9 months time. But early days and plenty of positives to suggest Wenger can craft another top 4 team out of this lot. wilshere/cazorla/vermaelen/koscielny has the makings of a longer-run trophy-winning team. We may still need a better striker to complete that backbone.

Edited August 19, 2012 by SantiSuk

[mrtoad]

Arsenal didn't look too bad to be fair. Still,lacking a cutting edge, but Sunderland are a hard team to break down these days. Arsenal will need Podolski and Giroud to start firing quick though, and they will not want to have a startntonthe season like last year.

[devilish]

Sunderland displayed a strong defense, I thought. Arsenal wasn't able to show their great passing game near the goal.

Cazorla was really fast on the pitch, but hopefully develops more control with the ball.

I liked seeing Giroud up front, but he also needs to control the ball better.

I'm glad Diaby is back. . . Van Persie and Song will be missed, no doubt.

[SantiSuk]

Beeb report on Song deal (no info on price yet) says that he had only 2 years remaining on his contract. I had thought it was longer-running than that. At least Wenger has cut short the prospect of having a third summer in a row (ie next summer) where he has to fire-sell a want-away player on a one year contract.

Sahin on a one year loan deal - with no buy-out clause unfortunately - is a good elastoplast (sorry Liverpool, what are you smoking? no amount of exhortations by friends is going to convince him to give up on Champions League experience), but we will be no further forward in 12 months unless Diaby and/or Frimpong come good in that role

Let's hope the likes of Vermaelen, Sagna and Wilshere can be more patient for success, but there's the rub - management has us locked in a viscious spiral of no-trophies=wantaways=no-trophies. Can some journo please corner management on how we are going to break-out of that cycle.

[SantiSuk]

Sunderland displayed a strong defense, I thought. Arsenal wasn't able to show their great passing game near the goal.

Cazorla was really fast on the pitch, but hopefully develops more control with the ball.

I liked seeing Giroud up front, but he also needs to control the ball better.

I'm glad Diaby is back. . . Van Persie and Song will be missed, no doubt.

Think you'll find Cazorla has no trouble with ball control, Devlish! 46 appearances for the world's best national team and you think he has control issues?

Just trying too hard in the first half - I saw no issues second half.

[StevieH]

I hope Giroud has not lost confidence already - that's two games where he has fluffed his lines big time in front of goal. Too early to call him the mis-signing of the EPL summer

Plenty of good stuff to come out of it though. Cazorla, who looked like a fish out of water in the first half, suddenly realised he can play this game in England and produced a couple of divine through balls and started to dictate midfield - such a shame vanP didn't hang around to play with him. He looks like he could be a candidate for the signing of the EPL summer. {edit: - yes - either of those two!]

i was really surprised you started with podolski up front rather than giroud. odd choice by wenger that. podolski's not a natural number 9 yet giroud is.

cazorla could be player of the season in england this year, fantastic footballer. am still genuinely amazed that city and united weren't in for him at the price arsenal got him for.

[smokie36]

Arse 0 .........better get used to that again!

[SantiSuk]

Arse 0 .........better get used to that again!

Hope this isnt symptomatic of the level of erudition in the running commentary we can expect from Spuds fans this season, Smokie

[katana]

The amount of time he spends on this thread, you'd think he was an Arsenal supporter...

[Notstupid30]

Robin Van Persie's First Manchester United Interview 2012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEqUpET41fM

[SantiSuk]

Post it on the Manc thread. we're no longer interested in what he has to say :-(

[Notstupid30]

Post it on the Manc thread. we're no longer interested in what he has to say :-(

[MrRed]

[SantiSuk]

<deleted> Red :-). were you keen on what Ronaldo had to say when he got to Real?

[MrRed]

Not really because i knew we had had the best years of him,do you feel the same?

[oldgit]

I was impressed with Arsenal and don't see much wrong with the new signings,including Giroud.With the speed and invention in midfield,I can see him knocking in a few goals in no time.

[smokie36]

Arse 0 .........better get used to that again!

Hope this isnt symptomatic of the level of erudition in the running commentary we can expect from Spuds fans this season, Smokie

I'm keeping a close eye on your goalscoring average this season!

[SantiSuk]

Not really because i knew we had had the best years of him,do you feel the same?

Time will tell. At 29 he should have another 2-3 good seasons in him (plus some bench years after that if he stays injury-free, in which case you get a good deal. It's not like we had any choice in the timing of his sale.

He was a disappointment for Arsenal in one sense. Wenger bought him in 2004 as a long term replacement for Denis Bergkamp. He never hit the heights of Bergkamp IMO and he left his defection too late to be a legend at the TOD - don't think he will ever replace even van Nistleroy, let alone Eric the seagull. I'm sure he will be seen as a pretty good value purchase, nonetheless.

Surprised if you still feel you had the best of the Portugese ladyboy. Hasn't he been the number 2 player in the world for the last 5 years since he left OT? Seems that long - maybe its only 4 complete seasons.

What are you guys paying vP by the way - haven't seen any report on that.

Edited August 20, 2012 by SantiSuk

[MrRed]

Santi at United Ronaldo was probably the worlds best player,like you say now he maybe is number 2? behind Messi but i still think the Spanish league is easier to play in week in week out than the Premier League.

Van Persie i agree with you 100% never really reached the heights of Henry or Bergkamp but he never really had a companion as good as either of them two greats did he!

At 29 just he is a gamble in the age/injury sense and is looking at maybe 3/4years at his best,who knows maybe more because his game is not about pace is it,i think the link up with Rooney is going to bring the best out in both players and Wellbeck will also be involved,he is still very young and will get stronger this year.

At United history tells us that players make there own status and become legends for there ability and how they cope with the United experience,they are not seen as replacements for anybody.

As for how much we are paying him ....i guess around 150k a week?? i have not seen any reports on wages and would be surprised if it was over 200k a week as some tabloids have reported.

[devilish]

This is from Arsenal.com :

"...Giroud - along with Lukas Podolski - will fill the void left by Van Persie’s departure, but he insists he is a different player to the former Arsenal striker.

“It is up to me to succeed. I’m not here to make people forget Robin,” said Giroud. “He has made beautiful things here but I just want to bring something new.

“People are clever enough to know that Robin took a lot of space here. His last season was wonderful. But before that, he took time to settle..."

Van Persie was such a big part of our team last year since he was scoring most of the goals each game. I guess Giroud is saying he has a different style of play that will be new to the Arsenal. It will be interesting to see exactly what this will look like as the season moves on...