Up the Arse! Goons thread. :)

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Benno_900

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Player thoughts ...

Clichy:
"We did well to score the first goal and to come back and get the game to 2-2. And at that point we were through. But what happened after that was really disappointing.

To concede a goal like this, whether it is a penalty or not a penalty, may be disappointing but it is not unlucky.

It is unreal to have had a chance like this, to score the equaliser and get to 2-2 and then to concede a goal only a few seconds after kick off.

I can't find the words for it. It is just ridiculous."
Toure:
"We came back into it and then Liverpool got a penalty, which was really hard to accept.

The referee gave the foul against me, but I just moved away from him [Babel] and I think Cesc [Fabregas] caught his hand maybe, which was outside the area anyway - but that is the game and the referee has given the penalty. What can you do?

We just need to think about the Premiership now and see how far we can go."
Adebayor:
"There's a lot of things I don't understand in football and I couldn't say if it was a penalty or not tonight.

We had the chance of a penalty in both the last two games against Liverpool and the referee didn't see it like that, but tonight he gave them a penalty.

That happens in football and we have to be big enough to take it."

"Of course we're all disappointed but it's happened now and we have to respond.

We were in a position to get through twice and that's the worst thing. We had chances to win and we didn't take them.

Perhaps we weren't sure how to take our opportunities but that's football and we have to accept it."

"Of course we can still win the league.

Sunday is our season now, it determines whether we still have something to play for or whether we can go on holiday.

If we win in Manchester we can still hope to win the league so we have to get our focus back, stay strong and make sure we do that.

Right now we're all disappointed but we will be back in the Champions League next season and the boss knows the answers. He knows what to do and what's needed to win it."
 

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I haven't seen the game yet, as I've been flat out recently, but reading a few of the comments on here, I've noticed a lot of knee-jerk reactions. A few random thoughts:

  • Toure and Gallas is not a good partnership. Both players like to sit back and mark their man, ignoring the high ball, and leaving players like Drogba plenty of time to control the ball. All the good partnerships need a player who can attack the ball (Sol Campbell) and a player who can sit back (Kolo Toure). I think Senderos is a good enough player to play the Campbell role, and I think Wenger agrees, but if he doesn't, he needs to buy a centre half who can attack the ball in the air. If that means benching one of Toure and Gallas, so be it. They don't work as a partnership.
  • Eboue needs to be gotten rid of. He's a capable reserve right back, a useless right midfielder, but he is a bit of a head case. Wenger has dropped him on three different occasions for his on field shenanigans, and has tried yelling at him in front of the players, taking him aside and everything under the sun to stop him from diving, feigning injury and all of the bollocks he gets up to. It hasn't seemed to work, and he needs to go.
  • We need to sign a few 5-10 million pound players in the summer. A reserve right back to replace Eboue, a reserve left back, because Traore is not ready, a central midfielder to replace Gilberto, Ricardo Quaresma when Porto get relegated, a Tomas Rosicky type player for when Rosicky is inevitably injured, and a striker for when van Persie is inevitably injured.
  • I understand that Wenger is a man of principle, and his principle is to develop the players he has, but if this season has been of any use to us, it must be that Wenger has opened his eyes, and realised that it's not the Wayne Rooneys or the Rio Ferdinands that win titles, because we can match them with van Persie and Gallas. It's the John O'Sheas and the Darren Fletchers that win titles, because the likes of Traore, Hoyte and co. need to be developing on loan to Championship clubs, not in the first team of the Arsenal.
  • We need someone like Martin Keown to come back to the club as a coach to give the players a good bollocking and to instil a bit of toughness and love for the red and white into the players.
 

Arsene Wenger

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I haven't seen the game yet, as I've been flat out recently, but reading a few of the comments on here, I've noticed a lot of knee-jerk reactions. A few random thoughts:

  • Toure and Gallas is not a good partnership. Both players like to sit back and mark their man, ignoring the high ball, and leaving players like Drogba plenty of time to control the ball. All the good partnerships need a player who can attack the ball (Sol Campbell) and a player who can sit back (Kolo Toure). I think Senderos is a good enough player to play the Campbell role, and I think Wenger agrees, but if he doesn't, he needs to buy a centre half who can attack the ball in the air. If that means benching one of Toure and Gallas, so be it. They don't work as a partnership.
  • Eboue needs to be gotten rid of. He's a capable reserve right back, a useless right midfielder, but he is a bit of a head case. Wenger has dropped him on three different occasions for his on field shenanigans, and has tried yelling at him in front of the players, taking him aside and everything under the sun to stop him from diving, feigning injury and all of the bollocks he gets up to. It hasn't seemed to work, and he needs to go.
  • We need to sign a few 5-10 million pound players in the summer. A reserve right back to replace Eboue, a reserve left back, because Traore is not ready, a central midfielder to replace Gilberto, Ricardo Quaresma when Porto get relegated, a Tomas Rosicky type player for when Rosicky is inevitably injured, and a striker for when van Persie is inevitably injured.
  • I understand that Wenger is a man of principle, and his principle is to develop the players he has, but if this season has been of any use to us, it must be that Wenger has opened his eyes, and realised that it's not the Wayne Rooneys or the Rio Ferdinands that win titles, because we can match them with van Persie and Gallas. It's the John O'Sheas and the Darren Fletchers that win titles, because the likes of Traore, Hoyte and co. need to be developing on loan to Championship clubs, not in the first team of the Arsenal.
  • We need someone like Martin Keown to come back to the club as a coach to give the players a good bollocking and to instil a bit of toughness and love for the red and white into the players.

No offence mate - but very little of that makes sense apart from the Eboue sentiments.

Toure and Gallas are quite good together I feel. All centre halves need to mark their man tightly, both do, they just dont have the height that other good centre halves do.
 

DB10

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I've long had a theory about our defensive failings. It might be complete tosh but it's just an opinion. Anyway. We all know what Arsene Wenger has demanded Arsenal produce on the field since he took over in '96 - high quality, technically precise, fast flowing one-touch attacking football. Naturally, that means he spends a hell of a lot of time in training getting all of this perfected. My theory is that, while Wenger is a superb manager, he doesn't spend as much time on defending as he does attacking.

When Wenger arrived he inherited the greatest back five in English football history. They'd been essentially together, minus the addition of Seaman in 1991, since the 80s. They were ridiculously experienced between them and were all veterans, all in their late 20s/early 30s which is the perfect age for a defender. They'd won two brilliant league titles, FA Cup's, even success in Europe. They had George Graham as a manager and say what you want about GG's latter years, Arsenal could always defend and defend very well. Wenger didn't have to spend hours and hours on the training park with them. So when they retired or left, basically in one hit (Winterburn in 2000, Adams and Dixon in 2002, Seaman in 2003, Keown in 2004), he had to replace that defence and with Campbell and co. he was doing fine, but it was never as solid and we still conceded far too many goals.

Why?

Because I really don't think Wenger spends as much on defending as he does on attacking. I'm sure on a 6hr training day he'd spend 4hrs with the forwards and 2hrs with the defenders, kind of like Billy Wright in the mid-60s. It shows, too. Arsenal's defensive organisation can at times be as bad as a team sitting 16th. We concede a shockingly high rate of weak goals that none of our immediate competitors do. We win too many games 2-1 instead of 2-0, 3-1 instead of 3-0. Manchester United don't do that. When they're up 2-0 it bloody well stays 2-0 and they are just as attack minded as the Arsenal are.

I don't think there is anything wrong with Sagna-Toure-Gallas-Clichy. In fact, they're bloody good. He doesn't need to sign a new world class defender to replace any of them. What he needs to do is spend more time with his defenders and if he can't improve the organisation at set-pieces, something so bloody crucial in England, then he must get someone else in. I'm sure Tony Adams could be persuaded to leave Portsmouth to be Arsenal's specialist defensive coach.

Anyway, just my $0.02.
 

DB10

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In other news the great man himself, Dennis Bergkamp, has returned to football as coach of Jong Ajax (Ajax' youth team). I'm a bit disappointed we didn't appoint him as an assistant.
 

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/a/arsenal/7340652.stm

Out-of-favour goalkeeper Jens Lehmann claims he could have prevented Arsenal going out of the Champions League - if only he had been given the chance.

In German magazine Kicker, Lehmann, 38, hit out at manager Arsene Wenger and first-choice keeper Manuel Almunia, 30, after the defeat by Liverpool.


"For me it is a tragedy since I did not have a chance to prevent it," he said.
"I stayed here to win the competition and saw good chances to play but I've not had them. It makes me very angry."


During the Bundesliga's winter break, the German number one rejected a return to Borussia Dortmund in an effort to regain his starting place with the Gunners.



But this has not happened and Lehmann is concerned that a lack of first-team action could cost him any chance of playing at Euro 2008.
"To be sitting on the bench behind somebody who only started to play when he was 30 is not funny," he added. "I am very angry."


He also laid into Wenger over his handling of the situation.
"If the coach had spoken to me before the start of the season then I would have been able to decide if I wanted to sit on the bench," he stated.


"He has a different opinion and I don't really believe he can be happy with it."
 

PendlePie

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Almunia didn't make any mistakes over the two legs so our goalkeeper cannot be blamed. I doubt Jens being in goal would've made a difference tbh.
 

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Almunia didn't make any mistakes over the two legs so our goalkeeper cannot be blamed. I doubt Jens being in goal would've made a difference tbh.
He would have scored a hattrick, one of which would have been a save from the penalty, then a shot straight from there.:thumbsu:
 

windyhill

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Boys, I`ve mentioned previously, this season has/will end up like the last 3/4. I like the runs we go on in Europe purely for the $. We`ll never win it because we do not have the pedigree. I`m just rapt with progressing through the stages because you know, the further we go the better the coin. The league ?? ____ing hell, I can not see the monopoly that man u and chels have on it ceasing, they have the money and they spend it, obviously we`ve got it but The Great Man will not part with it.
(Is that due to paying off the emirates ?)
I want a big name this summer Arsene.Spend it.
 

ashley12

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I too, lol'd at the concept of Fletcher winning the title.

I understand the point the BtG was trying to make, that you guys lack the depth of a United or Chelsea, but to say Fletcher won us the title is laughable. It was more the fact that our midfield of Anderson, Scholes, Ronaldo, Nani, Giggs, Fletcher, Park, Hargreaves etc... had more options and flexibility, compared to you guys with Eboue.

You guys need a few 5-10 million pound players. You already for the core for a great team in Cesc, Flamini, Hleb and van Persie. A few more players and you will be be able to compete for longer then you are now. If Wenger opens the cheque book, you guys are a shot at the title next year.
 

DonMania#5

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Wenger: I will sign one experienced player

Manager Arsène Wenger has said that will most likely sign one experienced player to bolster the young squad at his disposal.

He says that he wants to give the young players a chance to grow and build on the experience that they have gained this season. Hence, his priority is to hold on tot he current squad as much as possible.

But he is looking to improve the experience in the team by signing one established player, though he stopped short of saying whether that would be a big money signing.

Wenger said: "We will continue to do what we have done.

"I will not buy too much in the summer as my priority is to keep the team together because we are still young.

"If we can add one player we will do it - not in each department - just one experienced player."
 

PendlePie

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FFS - that is annoying. That article suggests that he is acting completely on his youth policy and is too stubborn to acknowledge that we need more than one experienced signing. And knowing Wenger it'll be an average player for 5mil euros who we probably don't even need.

Disillusioned by Arsenal's inability to challenge for top honours, midfielder Alexander Hleb has agreed to join Inter in the summer, according to reports in the Italian media...
Probably just a rumour but I wouldn't be upset to see him go. Rosicky is just as good. If he does go we need to buy an extra left sided midfielder. I'd be happy with Out: Hleb In: Ashley Young.
 
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