FR: Gençlerbirliği vs Arsenal | 19/07/07

[Loylz]

To be honest, while Theo did have a good game and he did manage to get a goal and an assist, I really hope that he improves his final ball. While he's got a good cross on him, his long balls yesterday were not all that. But the idea was right every time. It's just that he lacked the execution and with a bit of work I'd definitely expect him to improve on that.

But that is not really the problem for me as he is at least trying those kind of long balls which our players bar one or two rarely try. What I really hope he improves is his low crosses into the box. That is one thing I that I personally think he has not really improved on from when I first saw him last season.

Granted he set up van Persie's goal with one like that (and if I recall correctly he got one or two assists like that to Baptista last season), and while he is still accurate with that kind of ball (which I reckon is the typical Arsenal cross used by us for years) he doesn't seem to put any pace on it which more often than not will allow a defender to intercept.

His low balls seem to take an eternity to reach the 6 yard box and against better opposition that will result in good attacking positions being relinquished by having the right idea, and accuracy, but not enough pace on the ball to reach the striker without giving the defender time to react to the cross.

 

[asajoseph]

Randall was much quieter, as was our whole left hand side. There seemed to be loads of room on the right, but the left was tight and congested - he barely got into the game.

Anyone know why Rosicky came on and went off again, after only a few minutes?

 

[Juicy]

walcott has a lot of potential, but i thought he had a poor game today. even though he scored a good goal and made some nice runs on the outside of the full back. first of all, he gets so much space and time on the ball, yet, most of the time, he does absolutely nothing with it. his dribbling skills seem as unevolved as ever and his passing is inconsistent. he did produce one moment of brilliance though, when he set up van persie's first goal. instead of trying to run straight at the defender, which he failed miserably at every time he tried, he ran around the defender.

If Walcott has 15 poor games like that next season, we'll win the league.

yes, of course we will...

:roll:

Well, it would beat the pants off what Rosicky and Hleb provided last year, which basically amounted to ****-all. 15 goals and 15 assists from a winger? I think that's a pretty good return for a 'poor' season.

That's like saying if we play every game like we played against Barnet, we'll win every game 2-0. I'm actually in agreement with you that Walcott had a good game and I'm probably being quite pedantic, but you have to take into account the opposition. If Walcott played like that against a top premiership team or even average premiership team then it is unlikely he would do as well as he did against Genclerbirligi (I had to copy and paste that). I don't think anyone is disagreeing with the statement "If Walcott gets 15 goals and 15 assists in the Premier League then he will have had a really good season" but I feel that if Walcott plays like that he simply won't get the same results as he did against Genclerbirligi.
Sorry to intrude on your discussion though...

 

[asajoseph]

Genclerbirligi may not be the greatest club in the world - but they're not mugs either. These boys finished 6th in Turkey last year, I believe, and have put a respectable UEFA cup run together in the recent past (eliminating Parma and Blackburn in 2004, before being knocked out by Valencia) - they're a hell of a lot better a side than Barnet were, and 3-0 is a more than respectable result against them.

http://www.arsenal.com/article.asp?this ... lerbirligi

Theo just did yesterday what he was doing for most of the first half of last year - showing inexperience, and bad decision making, but having enough skill, vision and natural ability to make the difference where it counts. He didn't do anything that we've not seen before, and apart from the finish, we already know he can make the difference in the Premiership and in Europe. He needs to settle down, and learn the game a bit better, but I have no doubt whatsoever that he's going to be a superstar for us.

 

[kel varnsen]

walcott has a lot of potential, but i thought he had a poor game today. even though he scored a good goal and made some nice runs on the outside of the full back. first of all, he gets so much space and time on the ball, yet, most of the time, he does absolutely nothing with it. his dribbling skills seem as unevolved as ever and his passing is inconsistent. he did produce one moment of brilliance though, when he set up van persie's first goal. instead of trying to run straight at the defender, which he failed miserably at every time he tried, he ran around the defender.

If Walcott has 15 poor games like that next season, we'll win the league.

yes, of course we will...

:roll:

Well, it would beat the pants off what Rosicky and Hleb provided last year, which basically amounted to ****-all. 15 goals and 15 assists from a winger? I think that's a pretty good return for a 'poor' season.

you're rolling your eyes at me? that's cute, considering your statement was nothing short of ridiculous...

Yes, I forgot, cute flicks and dragbacks are actually more important than goals and assists.

:roll:

Have another one.

noooo, really? seriously, i think your man crush on theo might be clouding your judgement here. if walcott has 15 games like that next season, there is absolutely no way of telling how will do in the premiership. to say that we'll win it, is nothing short of ridiculous.

 

[asajoseph]

What, you're trying to tell me you don't think having a winger who scores 15 and makes 15 would make a massive difference?

 

[kel varnsen]

not enough to win the premiership on its own. i am fairly confident man u and chelsea will end up with about 90 points last season. having a wing who scores 15 and makes 15 would give us a number of extra points, but not enough to overtake any of the two. not even close imo... having a goalscoring winger is just one of many improvements within the team needed to win the premiership.

 

[Viper]

What, you're trying to tell me you don't think having a winger who scores 15 and makes 15 would make a massive difference?

I agree. See C. Ronaldo's impact for Man yoo.

 

[choi12911]

Well, there's more chance of Baptista scoring 96 goals for Real Madrid than Theo getting that 15/15 figure. I'd say.

 

[celestis]

No one is saying that Theo is going to score 15 out of 15 .

 

[scruzgooner]

but if he gets half of that, we will all be pleased, no?

 

[Glovegun]

Randall was much quieter, as was our whole left hand side. There seemed to be loads of room on the right, but the left was tight and congested - he barely got into the game.

Anyone know why Rosicky came on and went off again, after only a few minutes?

As far as Im aware Randall is like a Carrick, sitting-type midfielder. Wide left probably isnt his natural position. Wenger seems to rate him very highly though, hes had a lot more first-team action than some of the more obviously talented lads (Merida, Lansbury, Barazite).

 

[M+D]

Anyone know why Rosicky came on and went off again, after only a few minutes?

He got 20 minutes, as did his replacement, Hleb, so the pitch time was shared around, so I think that was the reasoning behind that decision. I doubt it was an injury, it was just so the whole bench got some game time.

 

[kel varnsen]

the commentator said wenger wanted the likes of cesc, hleb, freddie, diaby, rosicky etc to see about 20 mins of action. i guess that makes sense...

 

[asajoseph]

not enough to win the premiership on its own. i am fairly confident man u and chelsea will end up with about 90 points last season. having a wing who scores 15 and makes 15 would give us a number of extra points, but not enough to overtake any of the two. not even close imo... having a goalscoring winger is just one of many improvements within the team needed to win the premiership.

I'll be honest with you Kel, I was being slightly rhetorical when I said we'd win the league if Theo scores 15 and makes 15 - I was simply making the point that, for a 'poor' performance, his end product was rather good on enough occasions to significantly influence the outcome of the game.

That said, I do believe that we weren't as far from the top in terms of our level of football as the table would imply - our conversion rate on straightforward chances was appalling last year, and making a step forward in this regard, even without new signings, will significantly improve our points tally by the end of the season. If Theo gets games next season, and starts finishing the type of chance he had last night, he'll make a massive impact on our team next season, even if his overall performances are inconsistent.

It's undeniable that our wings were probably the weakest area of our squad last season - they delivered very little in the way of results, and whoever's getting game time there this year is going to have to make big improvements. Hleb and Rosicky are all fancy and fine, but if Theo's end product can be at a level similar to last nights when he plays next season (and of course, that's a big if), he'll be more effective than either, regardless of their overall game.

 

[asajoseph]

Randall was much quieter, as was our whole left hand side. There seemed to be loads of room on the right, but the left was tight and congested - he barely got into the game.

Anyone know why Rosicky came on and went off again, after only a few minutes?

As far as Im aware Randall is like a Carrick, sitting-type midfielder. Wide left probably isnt his natural position. Wenger seems to rate him very highly though, hes had a lot more first-team action than some of the more obviously talented lads (Merida, Lansbury, Barazite).

I don't know that Merida is more talented to be honest (though that's with a big caveat of not having seen either more than a few times), whilst Lansbury I believe is a lot younger, and Barazite if being used as a forward (and is also younger, I believe).

But I think you're right - Randall is a central midfiedler, who's been getting time out on the left. He was very impressive against Barnet, really excellent out there, and looked to have an excellent passing game. But as I said, much quieter against Generligbibisieigeni

 

[Wenger14]

So anyone know what happened to Gallas last night?

Him and Lehman have yet to feature. Other than Gilberto and Hoyte ofcourse.

 

[sabret00the]

Hopefully Gallas has been sold.

Was anyone else surprised to see Robin scoring the type of goals which injured him?

 

[otfgoon]

Hopefully Gallas has been sold.

Was anyone else surprised to see Robin scoring the type of goals which injured him?

The first thing I thought when the first goal went in was "OMG I hope he's ok"

Good to see him scoring that kind of goal though.

 

[sabret00the]

yup his chance:goal rate is still on the sloppy side though sadly.