EPL Manchester United vs Arsenal | 29/08/09, 17:15 | SS1

[sabret00the]

Him and Diaby are the only players that didn't pull their weight, the stick he's getting is thus deserved, it's merely there's not enough stick in the direction of diaby.

I thought Diaby more than pulled his weight and with better composure would've levelled the score when he burst through United's defence. The boy no doubt has ability but his seemingly lack of brains will always be his downfall. I've seen the own goal again and it looks like he had his eyes half way closed. Just goes to show how clued on he was.

You do realise that Diaby was part of our midfield trio, where we had the fluidity of a haggard strained bladder right?

 

[General]

So was Denilson,who was just as much to blame for our lack of fluency, surrendering possession at the earliest opportunity and you'll be glad to know that it was his needless foul that led to the own goal, when Fletcher was going nowhere. But I'm sure you'll happily ignore this. On another day Diaby plants the ball in United's net and his ratings will be going over the roof. We played well enough with that dodgy midfield to earn at least a draw. Stupid errors and not the lack of fluidity contributed to our downfall.

 

[Norfbanker]

The game I watched our midfield trio pissed on theirs

 

[algunner]

Hey Eboue was not the best player but he played his part and did what he was told to do.... shut down Evra ( IMO was the best ManUtd player ) so all those who are anti Eboue despite his antics of diving and so on ... he did what was asked of him on the right side so get it on ya head. Bentdner would never be able to help Sagna with Evra's pace on the right side ..... we would have conceded easily. If ya guys remember most goals Manutd scored against us are always attacked from the right side but last game non... we just gifted them 2 goals to win and never looked like scoring( didn't even have a shot on target) until we we started chasing the game. Get it Eboue did his defending job and did it better than anyone could have done!!! Name one player in our staring lineup could have defended from the right side against Evra, Nani, Ronney or Giggs ??? Everyone knows ManUtd attack from that side all day and score goals with Evra overlapping and we shut them down.....Attacking wise you can say we were short handed but defending was excellent from the right side thanks to Eboue, Sagna and Gallas understanding.

 

[sabret00the]

So was Denilson,who was just as much to blame for our lack of fluency, surrendering possession at the earliest opportunity and you'll be glad to know that it was his needless foul that led to the own goal, when Fletcher was going nowhere. But I'm sure you'll happily ignore this. On another day Diaby plants the ball in United's net and his ratings will be going over the roof. We played well enough with that dodgy midfield to earn at least a draw. Stupid errors and not the lack of fluidity contributed to our downfall.

If people want to cum over Diaby, that's fine. But 97% of his minutes since coming here have been a waste of our time. Denilson and Song both has less than perfect games, but none were as bad as Diaby. You seldom hear of a player having the game of his life scoring an own goal, so it should be of no surprise that he was fail. To make the argument that he wasn't the only one that could've done better in the midfield is no argument at all.

The game I watched our midfield trio pissed on theirs

I'm really happy for you, but the reality was different. We had the better midfield, with a lot more presence, there was nothing about our midfield that pissed on theirs though. I haven't seen the stats, but i'd be surprised if midfield possession wasn't as close as something like 55% vs 45%. In their midfield that failed to do so many things right, we should've been ****ing with the tempo of the game for fun and picking passes into the front three with an eye on creating chances, this was diaby's role and he failed to do that. the weakest links in the chain, put pressure on over mechanisms and the excess load will lead to problems.

As for Eboue's job being shutting down Evra the guy played half the game in the centre of the park.

 

[fabo]

I agree Sabre. United were utter crap but we didn't exert our dominance enough. We limited them to little or no chances but by no means would I say we dominated the match. I thought we were pretty toothless in the final third tbh.

As for Diaby, I'm tired of saying it now but he's useless. At least Denilson tries to fulfil the job he's given even if he's not that talented. Diaby seems to think he has a god-given right to strut around doing nothing. I would have had him out in the summer, he epitomises everything that's wrong with Arsenal IMO.

 

[Norfbanker]

As for Eboue's job being shutting down Evra the guy played half the game in the centre of the park.

And where was Mr Evra then eh? Tracking him into midfield or staying deep in case he used his pace, that's where. Ie not running at the back 4 as he does every game if given the chance.

 

[AliBabaBrewer]

What's that about inexperience?
Wenger's never mentioned that before..

 

[kofigunner]

I agree Sabre. United were utter crap but we didn't exert our dominance enough. We limited them to little or no chances but by no means would I say we dominated the match. I thought we were pretty toothless in

Without a Cesc or any of our first choice creative mids we're always going to have this problem. Plus RVP's not the kind of striker who can hold up the ball especially with the kind of challenges coming in.

 

[sabret00the]

As for Eboue's job being shutting down Evra the guy played half the game in the centre of the park.

And where was Mr Evra then eh? Tracking him into midfield or staying deep in case he used his pace, that's where. Ie not running at the back 4 as he does every game if given the chance.

Evra is a right back. He stayed in his position. He's not the eternal out for cowardly full backs, so he knows he only has to get forward when needed or he feels he can offer something to attacking play, being that they had **** all going on in midfield, he prioritises maintaining the shape of the defence over anything else.

 

[kel varnsen]

I agree Sabre. United were utter crap but we didn't exert our dominance enough. We limited them to little or no chances but by no means would I say we dominated the match. I thought we were pretty toothless in the final third tbh.

hardly unexpected given our midfield set up. with song and denilson in central midfield, we would need someone of cesc' quality to actually control and create anything from central midfield. song and denilson are decent options when half our midfield is out injured, but they're not good enough to dominate possession against any decent side. throw in diaby there and the answer is given a priori.

we really need cesc, nasri and rosicky back as soon as possible. don't think we'll beat city with diaby, denilson and song in cm.

 

[giuliob]

ManU was suffering from post Ronaldo traumatic syndrome....

 

[Webdesignlab]

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/arsenal/6114767/Alan-Hansen-Arsenal-need-someone-like-Darren-Fletcher-in-their-team.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/footba ... -team.html</a>

"Alan Hansen: Arsenal need someone like Darren Fletcher in their team"

Good lord ... imagine? ... eek.

 

[ricky1985]

That is quite possibly the biggest load of rubbish I have ever read in my life.

Where was Fletcher on Saturday? He was getting passed around, so much so that he must have committed 15 fouls on his own, as well as a completely stupid, an unbelievably stupid, foul on Arshavin, that was a penalty in any game, anywhere, except there.

United didn't win the game because of Fletcher, or even because of any of their players, they won the game because we gave it to them with two moments of madness. We dominated them from start to finish.

Arsenal need Fletcher? Pffft. Alex Song is in a different league to that plodder.

What a prat Alan Hansen is, can't resist the opportunity to stick the knife in. I hope we shove those words so far down his throat, come the end of the season, that they're coming out of his arse!

 

[Norfbanker]

What a pile of horseshit, Fletcher was the 4th best CM on the park on Saturday. ManU need Fabregas is the ****ing obvious lesson from that one.

 

[redanddread]

redanddread, I'm sure we could go on and on about those merits till we reach number 20, but the valid criticism of Wenger's present methodology remains; we are no longer winners and it really pains some of us to learn that our recent failures to win some silverware were repeatedly forced upon us by arguable choices beyond our control, and that the people who made those definitive choices could have done more to increase the likelihood of us actually winning something, anything.

Not that I want to completely disregard what you said there, but the frustration on the other side of the fence is fully warranted for, imo.

Until we win the next trophy and then everyone will be saying how great Wenger is again. This team has a very decent chance of proving the sceptics completely wrong and I firmly believe that his policy will furnish us with a trophy this season.

The club made a decision , a HUGE decision to operate under a new player policy whilst moving stadium-what they have achived is enormous!

The pathetic bleating of our fans, including myself at times last season, is symptomatic of armchair generals who know everything but can do Knowt!

Watch this team this season, continue to demand more and criticize where need be, but learn to appreciate what we have and what we WILL have as a result of moves made under Wenger in the last 4-5 years.

And remember no one is perfect-the job he has is one of the most demanding in club football-who could do it better...maybe one or two, maybe.

 

[Norfbanker]

Wenger's a genius, surely everybody knows that?

 

[redanddread]

That is quite possibly the biggest load of rubbish I have ever read in my life.

Where was Fletcher on Saturday? He was getting passed around, so much so that he must have committed 15 fouls on his own, as well as a completely stupid, an unbelievably stupid, foul on Arshavin, that was a penalty in any game, anywhere, except there.

United didn't win the game because of Fletcher, or even because of any of their players, they won the game because we gave it to them with two moments of madness. We dominated them from start to finish.

Arsenal need Fletcher? Pffft. Alex Song is in a different league to that plodder.

What a prat Alan Hansen is, can't resist the opportunity to stick the knife in. I hope we shove those words so far down his throat, come the end of the season, that they're coming out of his arse!

well feckin said mate! This team means business and I firmly believe that we shall be contenders..........and assuming we can keep most of our stars out of the treatment room then there is NO reason we cannot win something this year. The Premiership is a QUALITY league and there are several good teams but we are one of the best, yet again.

 

[General]

So was Denilson,who was just as much to blame for our lack of fluency, surrendering possession at the earliest opportunity and you'll be glad to know that it was his needless foul that led to the own goal, when Fletcher was going nowhere. But I'm sure you'll happily ignore this. On another day Diaby plants the ball in United's net and his ratings will be going over the roof. We played well enough with that dodgy midfield to earn at least a draw. Stupid errors and not the lack of fluidity contributed to our downfall.

If people want to cum over Diaby, that's fine. But 97% of his minutes since coming here have been a waste of our time. Denilson and Song both has less than perfect games, but none were as bad as Diaby. You seldom hear of a player having the game of his life scoring an own goal, so it should be of no surprise that he was fail. To make the argument that he wasn't the only one that could've done better in the midfield is no argument at all.

You should stick to the script. You blamed our lack fluidity in midfield on Diaby when he wasn't the only the guilty party. Evaluating his career is another debate in itself and no one is coming over him. It's just typical of this place for the narrow minded to look for scapegoats whiles blindly ignoring the shortcomings of their favourites and cry wolf when they're fairly criticised. You conveniently ignore Denilson's guilt in giving away the needless foul that led to the goal but yet are all too happy to play up Diaby's failings. I'd be the first to admit that the latter is a very frustrating player but perspective is needed after a game like this. It was glaringly obvious that a catalogue of errors led to him eventually heading the ball into our net and Wenger is smart enough to see this. You can either look at the bigger picture or carry on with this ridiculous hate campaign.

 

[Norfbanker]

It's such a shame he didn't bury that chance he made (brilliantly) for himself - there was instant redemption. You did the hard bit Abou.