EPL- Arsenal v Man Utd, April 28th, 16:00 SS1

[trunks206]

However I can't stand Evra. That ******** has rubbed our faces in it for years - and got away with it too. We've never had anything to throw back at him.

Sometimes I really want us to sign someone like Gary Medel or some other hothead who doesn't take **** from nobody, too many good boys in our squad.

I don't know about signing a "hothead" but we have a player who doesn't take **** from anyone and stands up for AFC in Frimpong. I feel he gets a lot of unwarranted crap for things outside of the playing field by many on here, but I really want him to make it here.

 

[jones]

Wenger signed Podolski, who's a far bigger hothead than Vidal ever was. And why should Wenger change the player type he wants? He kept Vieira for 9 years at the club, and now he suddenly changes his opinion? Doesn't make sense.

Vidal was never going to come here, he's a Juventus fan and even snubbed Bayern to go to Italy.

 

[evoh_1]

Arsène doesn't want player like that he want the cool and calm types, you'll never see another vieira or lauren with this setup.

If Arsène wanted that sort he would have been in for Vidal when he left Germany.

 

[RUS arsenal]

Wenger : those subs as usual are baffling - took the best performers and leave the worst for 90 minutes -

Don't understand this criticism. The kind of pressing we did in the first half left those he subbed off noticeably tired and unable to contribute. He made like for like changes in an effort to freshen up the squad while keeping the same dynamics. Nothing wrong with that as far as I'm concerned.

Rozza off in the 60th minute and AOC for Ramsey are not baffling enough for you?
How about Podolski for Gervinho ?
Still No ?

How about Manure gaining midfield control after Rozza and Ramsey off?

Rozza keeps having fitness issues so overusing him means he'll be injured when we need him in the last 3 games, don't want that. Not to mention he was doing an amazing job pressuring them all game and was exhausted. Not sure what happened to Wilshere, it is like he is a shadow of himself from just a few weeks ago, baffling to be honest. Sub out of necessity.

Same with Ramsey, he was everywhere and was starting to feel it, besides remember AOC coming on and providing that vital assist for the winning goal against Norwich not that long ago? AOC didn't come through but that's not Wenger's fault. Again, a necessary sub as Ramsey was out of gas.

Poldi? He was barely moving by that time and was mis-controlling balls he should have no problem with. He definitely has a fitness issue so again, no choice. Gervinho is the only other option on the bench so yeah....besides he is not Chamakh bad and is capable of a magic moment.

The midfield were like madmen with their pressing for the first hour or so of the game but it took its toll. We were losing control of the game and so the changes had to be made. Football is a sport, things don't always go your way, it is not Wenger's fault it didn't work out this time. He did what he had to do.

 

[King Malta]

Wenger signed Podolski, who's a far bigger hothead than Vidal ever was. And why should Wenger change the player type he wants? He kept Vieira for 9 years at the club, and now he suddenly changes his opinion? Doesn't make sense.

Vidal was never going to come here, he's a Juventus fan and even snubbed Bayern to go to Italy.

I'm not sure how people keep forgetting about how crazy Poldi is.

The guy is an absolute lunatic, it just seems that no one in the EPL's been game to rub him the wrong way yet.

 

[Enfield]

Not sure where to put this post but this is as good a place as any.

Roy Keane did a radio interview in Ireland last week and said that his only son is an Arsenal fan.

Also he has 4 daughters, am I the only one thinking we should pair them off with the offspring of say Jack, Henry, Bergkamp and Adams.


Also @Jury, how is it a shocker. The guy has played 2 ties against City, United, Chelsea and Sp**s. Thats 8 highprofile and high quality games where we really needed the points. The guy was anonymous for the most part. I just don't feel he has it in him to demand the ball and try to drag us back into the game like Wilshere, Arteta, Ramsey, Rosicky etc. He doesn't have their honesty.

 

[Macho]

Cazorla isn't a talisman, or even world class, he is just a good player. I much prefer Rosicky in the middle in those type of games, despite his faults he gets about and can influence others and bring urgency in to our game.

For all of Cazorla's technical prowess he just isn't capable of influencing others like our previous star players have. Drops his head when things go pear shaped and goes absolutely missing and doesn't wanna know in games such as these.

Its his first season though and he simply isn't the type of player Arsenal fans try to make him out to be. Needs better players to come in cause he is the type to make them shine. He will never be "the man" though.

 

[dpt49]

Cazorla isn't a talisman, or even world class, he is just a good player. I much prefer Rosicky in the middle in those type of games, despite his faults he gets about and can influence others and bring urgency in to our game.

This is right.
Although Cazorla is probably our best mid fielder he is no where near world class and would never got into one of our title winning teams.
Unfortunately our standards have dropped since we last won anything and players that would have sat on the bench a few seasons ago are now considered our best players.

 

[Glovegun]

Wenger signed Podolski, who's a far bigger hothead than Vidal ever was. And why should Wenger change the player type he wants? He kept Vieira for 9 years at the club, and now he suddenly changes his opinion? Doesn't make sense.

Vidal was never going to come here, he's a Juventus fan and even snubbed Bayern to go to Italy.

Wenger has said something about moving to possession-based football... something to do with fitness levels, not quite sure. I suspect it was actually more to with giving us a better shot at the Champions League. 'Emirates Arsenal' have actually done as well or better than Wenger's 'Highbury Arsenal' in Europe, despite falling away domestically, which is interesting.

I think playing a possession-based game requires players of a certain mentality, whereas the football we used to play requires another. I'd hazard a guess that if you want to play possession football you need player who are quite cold, calm, very rational.

 

[Macho]

Cazorla isn't a talisman, or even world class, he is just a good player. I much prefer Rosicky in the middle in those type of games, despite his faults he gets about and can influence others and bring urgency in to our game.

This is right.
Although Cazorla is probably our best mid fielder he is no where near world class and would never got into one of our title winning teams.
Unfortunately our standards have dropped since we last won anything and players that would have sat on the bench a few seasons ago are now considered our best players.

Cazorla is comfortably our best player period. I am pretty sure he would fit somewhere in our starting 11's of the past.

I am just saying he isn't the man and him going missing against Man u is typical. He isn't what the fans think he is.

 

[jones]

Wenger signed Podolski, who's a far bigger hothead than Vidal ever was. And why should Wenger change the player type he wants? He kept Vieira for 9 years at the club, and now he suddenly changes his opinion? Doesn't make sense.

Vidal was never going to come here, he's a Juventus fan and even snubbed Bayern to go to Italy.

I think playing a possession-based game requires players of a certain mentality, whereas the football we used to play requires another. I'd hazard a guess that if you want to play possession football you need player who are quite cold, calm, very rational.

Interesting point of view, not sure if I can agree with it though. I don't think the personalities (or even worse, mentalities) of players play that big a role in the way a footballer plays on the pitch. It surely does affect a player's decision making, but it's not like we went from passionate hotheads to cold robots in the stadium transition - Poldi, Cesc, RVP and other players in the last few years all were pretty passionate about their game too.

 

[goonerwarsh]

I agree with you psycho.

Don't me wrong I like Cazorla, but he's simply a very good player with lovely technique. He's not the kind of player you'd bank your money on changing an important match for us. Maybe that's being a bit unkind to him - if he had more quality around him then it would be different.

Put it this way, I don't think the opposition are ****ting their pants when they see his name on the team sheet. They'd probably earmark him as a danger but he's been quite easily put on the periphery of the games against better opposition

 

[Glovegun]

Don't me wrong I like Cazorla, but he's simply a very good player with lovely technique. He's not the kind of player you'd bank your money on changing an important match for us. Maybe that's being a bit unkind to him - if he had more quality around him then it would be different.

My thoughts completely.

@Jones - I think there was a big transition. You've mentioned a handful of players with a bit of attitude. Contrast that to the Invincibles. Every single player was like that - and I don't just mean the obvious (Vieira, Lehmann, Campbell). Pires and Henry were cocky as ****, they wouldn't shy away from anything. Ditto Ljungberg and Cole - both small but very spiky little characters. Bergkamp was more than capable of mixing it. Razor sharp elbows.

My guess is that Wenger realised our counter-attacking brand of football wasn't working in Europe and decided that possession was the way to go, with Fabregas as the key. It seems like he decided to ape Barcelona - small, technical players who were at the club from a young age, bought into its ethos and were drilled to perfection. There are so many similarities. But for whatever reason we weren't and aren't as good at doing it.

You could arguably throw the same criticisms at both sides as well - only one way of playing, retreat into their shells when the going gets tough etc. Of course that's very overly simplified, but there are consistencies.

 

[kofigunner]

People forget that players like Cazorla and Giroud are really experiencing the physical side of the prem in their first year. They both look knackered and it has been obviously affecting their game. Having said that, I get what is being said about Santi. He can be taken out of a game with careful marking and harassing but that's more likely to happen when you don't have players like Oxo running at defenders and forcing them to stop double teaming Santi, besides Santi's not a Totti type of player who can 'win a game on his own'. Statistically, this is about Santi's best season of his career, first season where he has scored more than 9 goals and second season where he has more than 6 assists, so I expect him to push on from there.

 

[akhil]

Cazorla in the other big games this is year has been a single point of failure. If he's taken out Giroud, Walcott and Podolski don't get chances and without actually scoring goals, those 3 aren't going to create too many chances on their own.

Against United, Rosicky was in the middle and frankly he is still a very very good player. His movement, balance in dropping deep and getting close to striker is fantastic. He manages to move the attack in a couple of moves what Cazorla does in like 4-5 touches. Carrick and Jones didn't know how to pick him up at all and allowed him to turn quite a bit.

In our older teams, if Fabregas was being targetted, Nasri and RVP were capable of doing something on their own as well, we weren't compltely dependant on Cesc for creativity. Cesc's off the ball movement to be on the end of chances is still better than anyone here which will get him involved.

 

[SomGooner]

When Arsène said "When you give success to stup!d people....." He was referring to Mourinho but Evra is more deserving of that quote than Mourinho. That midget deserves a beating of Tyson Vs Bruno (Part 1) proportion and if I ever come across that tw@t I'll let him know what I think of him to his face.

 

[RUS arsenal]

Cazorla isn't a talisman, or even world class, he is just a good player. I much prefer Rosicky in the middle in those type of games, despite his faults he gets about and can influence others and bring urgency in to our game.

This is right.
Although Cazorla is probably our best mid fielder he is no where near world class and would never got into one of our title winning teams.
Unfortunately our standards have dropped since we last won anything and players that would have sat on the bench a few seasons ago are now considered our best players.

Whoa whoa whoa, let's not go overboard here. If he is good enough to play for the current Spanish NT then he is good enough to start at any club. He may not be a one man wrecking crew but he easily has enough quality to start for any team.

 

[coopsollini]

Playing Cazorla in big games is looking more like a liability, when the sh1t is flying about and the stakes are high he don't want to know about it.

That's a shocker. To arrive at that conclusion after a handful of 'big' games in his first season, in which he's performed to a high level in most of them, and almost god-like in a few, is astonishing. There's never usually anything in comments like these 99.9% of the time, and I've read them about practically every great player that's ever walked the earth.

I've just been looking at some youtube videos of the early to mid season and it is apparent that Cazorla, Podolski and Giroud are all seemingly showing serious signs of fatigue.