FA: Arsenal vs Blackburn Rovers | 16/04/05

[hujja]

Freddie is a *****?!!! WTF?!!!! If he's such a *****, how come he's got the highest strike rate in the Premiership?

 

[Gazza Martinez]

^ Well said asajoseph.

 

[MightyArsenal]

People forget Freddie was carrying an injury thats why he went off.

 

[sabret00the]

also for those who have checked his gameage in the reserves you'll see that their should be no question over his individuality, he plays a very team orientated game, he just doesn't do it in the same way that either Dennis or Thierry does, he does it in hos own way and a way that's proved successful in the reserves.

thats reserve football which is a different kettle of fish. i think you were one of those who suggested that wenger gives him little time meaning when he does get the chance he tries too hard. i tend to agree with that.

what i do know is that we have to stop these comparisons with bergkamp. rvp is a decent passer of course with good technique, like bergkamp, but i just feel rvp is geared more towards goal scoring than creating. bergkamp tends to focus solely on the latter. i think thats where the clash of interest with henry emerges. rvp is more concerned about scoring rather than creating for henry. a lot of people feel that henry would do well in a more orthodox creative role (even if he is already creative now), but i doubt his willingness to give up the goals he would score from being the most advanced forward.

you more of less summed up what i was trying to say, while he can provide, he likes to score too, he is no bergkamp and we should just accept him for that, yes he can create goals but he also likes to notch, and i think one of the things holding him back is whether henry will be able to deal with that.

 

[sabret00the]

@ all the freddie bashing, he arguably had his worst game of the season on the back of an injury, get over it, however if he's nto fit now i worry for chelsea and tbh i think given that our contingency plan should be

lehmann

lauren senderos campbell cole

pires gilberto vieira reyes

van persie henry

 

[KingReyes]

rvp is a quality individual player with great technique but wenger doesnt trust him enough with a start. there is the discipline issue, as well as doubts over his overall team play. he needs to pick the moments better when he holds onto ball and when he releases it. once that is learnt, we will have a fine player i think. i also feel that bergkamp will go and the games he is getting now are token gestures from wenger. sort of a good bye present.

alidiare was on for 3 minutes, but didnt he do well? he does look bulkier which is good. i really hope he stays here for just one more season. will be a shame to let him go without him really getting a chance to impose himself due to injuries.

Agree on both points, seems that RVP is going to learn the hard way but he's making the most of it and maybe he tries to hard. Today what he tried paid off and you can see has the potential to be a class player.

Also on Ali you can he has great technique, he has been unlucky with injuries and as you said the guy deserves another chance. Its not his fault he's suffered these bad injuries and I feel that when he's played he's looked quality.

Finally a big mention to Vieira, thought he was brillaint and dominated the midfield. We definaltey saw the old Vieira back, lets hope he can play like that again against the Chavs.

 

[kidK]

I like freddy but he needs competition from someone classy. not a 17 year old out of position

 

[kidK]

not that cesc is not classy. its not what I meant

 

[Mark]

I really enjoyed that game. Blackburn are a bunch of c*nts so I'm glad we beat them good. We played very well. Pires was much better than usual, Vieira bossed the midfield, Gilberto was impressive, Freddie was poor but it was quite clear he wasn't fully fit.

Reyes didn't really do much, but I think he could have a field day on the left of midfield against Glen Johnson. That would be a good confidence booster.

Good work by Toure on the first goal. I really think his future might be in midfield or full-back, but he does deserve credit for his recent performances with Phil.

RvP's goals were class. He has great natural ability and in my opinion is more suited to this league and more suited to our game than Reyes. He has better physical strength and his decision-making is better. He's a more intellegent player.

Reyes has had a lot more games than Robin this season, but whenever we've seen Robin we've seen a lot of what he is capable of. I'm not sure how he will work with Henry though as he isn't as creative as Bergy. I think it could work though with Henry playing off him and RvP holding the ball up and stuff. It would give Henry more space to have another goal threat on the field. RvP will probably score quite a lot. I hope he gets more games before the end of the season.

 

[OneProudGooner]

The second half was mostly dull.. Blackburn made it hard for us until Van persie came on I missed the first 30 mins of the game cos of the silly kick off time but sounds like all I missed is Blackburn hacking our players to stop us getting some rhythm in our game.

 

[sabret00the]

i thought the game was largely dull to be honest, the most exciting was the last 20 minutes, we tried to play well but the first half took the piss for boringness we just couldn't get no fluidity

 

[arsenal98]

Well teams like Blackburn and Bolton are ****. A disgrace to have in the prem I think.
They´ve got nought else but f**king maiming and GBH. And the managers, as good ****** as you´ve ever likely to encounter. Telling us and other footballing teams that we´re just wimps and moaners. The refs are the ones to blame. Today it took 30 minutes for Dunn to realize it might be appropriate to caution the Blackburn asses for murdering Vieira. I cannot express the feeling of joy for absolutely trashing these c**ts!
We´ve survived two violent teams in the last 2 rounds and will encounter one more in the final so if we keep our heads, like today, we´ll grab the cup from the red-nose.
BTW these thugs are always from the north. Is it just a coincidence ? They probably don´t know the difference between football and rugby up there.

 

[asajoseph]

I struggle to find Arsenal games dull, although I think that with Pires generally not able to unlock defences like he used to, Ljungberg not the most creative of players, Bergkamp struggling to get into the games as much as he used to, and Reyes hanging out wide, we weren't really able to create too much.

We weren't always creative, but we were dominant in the first half, and despite a few fortunate offside decisions we didn't look bothered.

In the second half, we were able to play keepball for the first 15, and blackburn decided to play for the second 15 until RVP came on. Finally, once Blackburn had to go for it, it opened up and RVP got two crackers, and we could have had a couple more.

But I don't think there's a lot of creativity in that team any more, and I think that has to change over the summer.

 

[sabret00the]

i'd definately agree Asa, i feel we're really in a huge dilemma in regard to our wing situation, once we get that sorted i think we'll be fine, a new right winger and a new left winger, oh and the nod to play a striker who likes to both play centrally and score goals.

 

[kanuuu]

I Just got back from the game, the Millenium stadium is class, but it would have been nice if some Blackburn supporters had come. :wink:

Savage is a ****.

 

[asajoseph]

Someone pointed this out to me today - Blackburn has a population of 60,000.

How they expected to sell a ticket allotment of 35k is beyond me. Statistically, over 1/4 of the town was there, although many were probably from other areas of the country.

 

[Chicago]

Someone pointed this out to me today - Blackburn has a population of 60,000.

How they expected to sell a ticket allotment of 35k is beyond me. Statistically, over 1/4 of the town was there, although many were probably from other areas of the country.

Where do you get that? that's saying that only people living in blackburn are fans of blackburn FC.

oh wait, we're talking about blackburn here, sorry

 

[informed1]

Someone pointed this out to me today - Blackburn has a population of 60,000.

How they expected to sell a ticket allotment of 35k is beyond me. Statistically, over 1/4 of the town was there, although many were probably from other areas of the country.

Where do you get that? that's saying that only people living in blackburn are fans of blackburn FC.

oh wait, we're talking about blackburn here, sorry

whew....now thats just taking the piss......but seriously when I came home and saw the replays on sky I couldn't believe the empty seats, I'm sure there were plenty of other people who wanted to be there though.

 

[asajoseph]

Actually, I just checked - it is BS - there are just under 140k people in Blackburn, just under 70k of which are male.

Still, an impressive attendance, from a small club.

 

[Mbaki Mutahaba]

RvP is not a solution for Reyes. Reyes brings something that very few of our other forwards bring so I really hope we still hang on to him. I give Wenger so much credit cos when you look at these kids Ali,RVP and Reyes both offer a different kinda style upfront. RVP is the most clinical of our forwards and is not scared to take a shot. His vision is not i par with Bergy.(whose is?) but he can play very well the role of the withdrawn striker. We need that. Reyes is the most comfortable having a run at defenders..when they kick him..he is less effective but once the game opens up..he will always be a threat and take 1/2 defenders with him on his runs. I rate RVP highly because of not just his talent but also CONFIDENCE. I was hoping Ali gets more playing time.

The Vieira/Gil partnership today was solid. Props to them. Pires well pires is pires..he decides when to lay low which is usually for a long time..and when to come out. That does work at times cos the defenders do let their guard off.