EPL – West Brom vs Arsenal - 3:00 - 13/05/12 - A.Player

[MaestroCesc]

Why did Wenger risk playing Szczesny with a shoulder problem when Fabianski was available?

Probably because Fabianski hasnt played in ages and is unreliable at the best of times.

 

[kopzilla]

He wasn't that bad but he did play ages ago..in the FA cup Vs Leeds.

 

[progman07]

well you may feel we have improved I disagree. The point I was trying to make is it is great we finished in the top 3 that is the basic thing we should be targeting. But 2 points does not mean much between seasons as there will always be a variation. So what else OS to be gained by saying we are 2 points better off without Cesc and Nasri. If it isn't to claim we are better.

If it is to say they are not the be all and end all, my point was that isn't the issue. It was that last year for big chunks we were challenging for a trophy. Without them we never were, merely surviving. The end of both seasons was a bit of a horror show and is why we ended up were we did. But it doesn't constitute an improvement in my view.

My point was that despite the horrific start to the season, brought about primarily due to the sudden departures, we overcame that and nicked third. I'm well aware of our collapse at the end of last season and this season's end bears no comparison as far as I'm concerned.

So, if we can somehow avoid having the near the worst start to a season in our entire history, then there are signs for me that this team is on the right track (pending what I outlined above). Signs brought about by the fact that we finished 3rd and, to a lesser degree, 2 pts ahead of last year.

That's it really.

I don't know if we can be so proud of the 3rd place. We bottled it against Norwitch, AT HOME, and it was HUGE luck that Sp**s are also bottlers. Then, we bottled it again, conceded two goals when we should have kept a clean sheet and if not for my fellow countryman, Fulop, we would have suffered a lot to win.

If anything it just showed again that we can only go on a good run when there is no pressure, and when it gets serious we crumble.

 

[AnthonyG]

Really, you (flat out) disagree prog, Anzac, (The Jury, and awooga+)? I guess the forecast in hell still calls for warm weather. I've said all I wanted to say, so I'll leave the rest of the (unashamedly positive) carcass for others to digest. Though I hope you can find some, however small, enjoyment in our pathetic finish of 3rd. Not quite the grist that 4th or 5th or 6th would have provided your mills, though; that I fully understand and sympathise with.

 

[ebouenolike]

I genuinely think some would rather we came 5th yesterday. Me, I'm over the moon that we can improve with the extra money, and that we are in the CL and finished above Sp**s.

Despite a horrific start, no full backs and a midfield decimated by injury we were the 3rd best team in England. Enjoy it for a second.

 

[AFC-Phil]

Aye. The job was a good 'n.

Beating this Spu*s team was more than enough to keep me happy. Especially when I ran into my Spu*s supporting mate! Onwards to our summer signings.

 

[awooga83]

I genuinely think some would rather we came 5th yesterday. Me, I'm over the moon that we can improve with the extra money, and that we are in the CL and finished above Sp**s.

Despite a horrific start, no full backs and a midfield decimated by injury we were the 3rd best team in England. Enjoy it for a second.

I am undoubtedly relieved that we have finished 3rd and in the Champions league that should be the lower limit of our ambition. The key point to your post is we can improve with the extra money, but that has been true for the last 7 years. I concede that I can appear down on the team but it is because I believe we are a big club and we can compete at the top but we haven't shown the ambition to match this recently. I will be happy with this season if we learn from our mistakes and build on this season.

 

[ebouenolike]

It's not 'been true for the last 7 years' as in the past we've needed to use the money to pay off debt. Our position financially now, in comparison to 2007, is much better and more relaxed.

 

[Jury]

More smug, 'top gooner', sniping from Ant there, I see.

Casting posters as some kind of extremists because they didn't like what they saw last on the whole last season, and for displaying disgust at not managing to mount any sort of challenge in any of the FOUR competitions for the first time in as long as I can remember.

My team managing to hang on to third, was like watching someone fall into dog sh!t and roll into a puddle.


And to stoop so low as to suggest fans like me, who live within 10 minutes of the stadium, and have supported the club for probably longer than you are familiar with the name, would have taken pleasure in seeing us finish 5th behind Sp**s.... Laughable stuff.

 

[AnthonyG]

Relax, jurisprudence, it's all codswallop anyway, right?

 

[AnthonyG]

And to stoop so low as to suggest fans like me, who live within 10 minutes of the stadium, and have supported the club for probably longer than you are familiar with the name, would have taken pleasure in seeing us finish 5th behind Sp**s.... Laughable stuff.

Well, that was more specifically, enl, but OK. Now, let me tell you a little story (lol-gif it away if you want; it might run a few lines) and I apologise in advance for the off-topic nature.

I used to help run an All Blacks 'site, though it also included NZ provincial rugby. I'm from New Zealand and was living in NZ at the time; I've seen the ABs dozens of times and Canterbury 100s. I was even once within 10 minutes walking distance of Lancaster Park (as it was then called; and still standing). Now, this board attracted a lot of foreign fans, like here. Understandably so in my mind, after all a NZ'er is surrounded by friends, co-workers, media etc. all involved in this stuff constantly, while someone at a greater distance might seek to reach out to some form of like-minded community. And on this board, not once did I play the proximity or heritage card. The reason(s)? I knew personally many who lived '10 minutes' away to be as full of **** as someone 1000s of miles away. Basically, I don't care. I wouldn't care if you lived in the stadium, if you were the stadium. You are judged by what you write and you write a lot of crap and don't for a second think it's just me who believes this because it's not. There's a very good reason why you have a checkered past on this board: you.

On a final note, call me 'lad' again and this might get ugly.

 

[ArsenalDNA]

I don't know if we can be so proud of the 3rd place. We bottled it against Norwitch, AT HOME, and it was HUGE luck that Sp**s are also bottlers. Then, we bottled it again, conceded two goals when we should have kept a clean sheet and if not for my fellow countryman, Fulop, we would have suffered a lot to win.

If anything it just showed again that we can only go on a good run when there is no pressure, and when it gets serious we crumble.

Don't know if you noticed but Sp**s lost to Norwich, AT HOME. So you can say we bottled it and don't deserve to be third but don't forget Sp**s went like 2 months without scoring an away goal and threw away a 10 point lead over us.

We weren't great this season. But we were better than 17 other teams.

Sure we got lucky against WBA but you can't base a whole season on one game.

 

[Airknight]

I can agree that this season was far from good, with our early collapse in every competition and our rivals failing time and time again helping a lot for us to reach third place, but it looks like we can build easily on this, getting third after selling our best player, captain and not replacing it properly sounds like a decent outcome.

Looking forward to Wenger's moves on the market, if they are shrewd (and City doesn't monopolize the fun) we might have a huge shout next season

 

[Jury]

@Ant

Apologies in advance for going off topic once more, but I don't think you deserve a PM after the way you've conducted yourself as 'admin'. Lead by example and all that...

Couldn't agree more. Any other 'promotion' than from lobby to main forum is codswallop imo. But when I browse the lobby, the sheer volume of infantile attention seekers is ******* horrendous. Mature posters who just want to offer their opinions (that's all the main forum consists of, apart from a few that need a ******* lobotomy and nurse..)get lost under all the sheight.

So THIS is your problem, is it? I posted this in the lobby the other night. It was a reply in agreement with someone. If you had a problem with it, I'd have expected you to PM me. What's happened now? You've carried it around with you and it's festered. I knew it had nothing at all to do with football all along. Of course, I was right.

Oh, and my opinion is 'crap' is it? Jesus wept.

And as for my 'checkered past', well I suggest it's just a figment of your imagination, as I can count on 3 fingers the problems Ive had on this board with members in all the years I've been here, and it's never got personal or insulting; you've been in more scrapes than anyone I can think of with the caustic tone. And if all else fails, you ban them!

No doubt that's what you're implying to me in your last installment. this is the last phase now....the threats!

 

[AnthonyG]

Check your PMs, then. Nothing I like more than addressing wrongs.

 

[DJ_Markstar]

Thank god we paid off Martin Fulop to make up for another awful performance from the team.

He was conspiratorially bad.

 

[kofigunner]

We limped in third, sure but apart from Man City, how many of the top 5 teams finished strong. Man City is the deepest team and it shows but even they I still maintain are a bit dodgy without Yaya Toure. The key to our success next season will be to have sufficient depth that we can rotate from time to time, that's really the only way. If a younger player is good enough then he should be good for a few more games than just Carling Cup, if he's not ready then we need a few 28ish year- plus old players to provide the necessary experience and give us options when the chips are down. A sketchy win against West Brom, ..sure but hey, we won and hopefully finishing third will allow us to buy that experienced depth that we need to really contend next season. We're not going to be spending as much as City or even to some extent Man U but if we can fix our well documented defensive system, we'll be better. Let's just bask in the fact that a team that was 18th(?) and was 10 points behind Tottenham not too long ago finished third and deal with our problems soon.

 

[RUS arsenal]

I don't know if we can be so proud of the 3rd place. We bottled it against Norwitch, AT HOME, and it was HUGE luck that Sp**s are also bottlers. Then, we bottled it again, conceded two goals when we should have kept a clean sheet and if not for my fellow countryman, Fulop, we would have suffered a lot to win.

If anything it just showed again that we can only go on a good run when there is no pressure, and when it gets serious we crumble.

Don't know if you noticed but Sp**s lost to Norwich, AT HOME. So you can say we bottled it and don't deserve to be third but don't forget Sp**s went like 2 months without scoring an away goal and threw away a 10 point lead over us.

We weren't great this season. But we were better than 17 other teams.

Sure we got lucky against WBA but you can't base a whole season on one game.

Personally I think we were due for a bit of luck coming our way before the WBA game. Sure the team probably should've done better but if you look at our fortunes over the entire season, I think what happened was only fair. Sp**s were very very lucky this season and even with all that luck their best team in 50 years still finished behind our worst

 

[ebouenolike]

Sp**s were lucky as sin all season (Bale dive/Saha deflection at Emirates for example), but because we faced a dodgy keeper on the last day it's 'lucky Arsenal'.

Love the short term memories.

 

[DJ_Markstar]

Sp**s were lucky as sin all season (Bale dive/Saha deflection at Emirates for example), but because we faced a dodgy keeper on the last day it's 'lucky Arsenal'.

Love the short term memories.

Probably already been mentioned but West Brom got an offside goal, too. So even within the game we were ****ed over by yet more poor refereeing before Fulop made up for it for us.