ManUtd v Arsenal - Saturday February 16 - FA Cup

[DC Gunner]

I am not judging Lehman as much as I talking about people's reactions had it been Almunia.

Take the second goal for example, people would have slaughtered Almunia for not coming out or for allowing a near post goal.

Do you mean the point blank Gallas og? there's nothing any goalkeeper in the world could have done about that.

Yea, at least people need to be consistent.

 

[Anzac]

can anyone name a game this season where the mixed team has performed - and I don't mean by just getting a result - I mean really played the way the full senior side does?????

Wouldn't that be a bit too much to ask from a mixed team, Anzac? You were talking about a team filled with mixed players where some substitutes don't even have a chance to play in a consecutive run of games in order to create some sort of form, understanding and momentum compared to senior players who have already established themselves in the team, and not to even mention the difference in experience and personal attributes as a footballer. It is highly likely that you will experience something of a 'lesser' quality with the way that the mixed team play.

As long as the mixed team can get the job done in the absence of several senior players, I believe we should, at least, feel content about it.

That would be nice - but I don't think they can judging by their performance this season - and I didn't see a mixed team from ManU having the same sort of issues our lot did!!!!!!!

 

[banduan]

So the lesson is we shouldn't field mix teams?

Doesn't work though, even our backup team has injuries!

Wenger wanted to play Theo this match.

 

[Lancelot]

That would be nice - but I don't think they can judging by their performance this season - and I didn't see a mixed team from ManU having the same sort of issues our lot did!!!!!!!

Believe me, they do have an issue whenever they field a mixed team as well; why else would they be 5 points behind us in the league if that is not the case? They were simply awful at Old Trafford against City with their mixed team for example.

Being able to beat soulless Arsenal team doesn't quite conclude that their mixed team has superior quality if you ask me, although, I wouldn't take anything away from their victory; it was a deserved one.

Bearing in mind the moral aspect behind this supposed act of 'throwing away' the FA Cup (if that was actually the case and not that we were actually forced to field a weakened team due to injuries), let's wait for a couple more games and see if this horror show turns out to be a necessary evil instead of a foolish decision.

 

[law]

Anyone who even attempts to analyse this game is simply wasting their time. We all know that was not our Arsenal out there yesterday.

On top of that, anyone who believes yesterdays game will affect the players or will have some sort of bearing on the league game at Old Trafford is dillusional.

If the 5-1 defeat to the **** didn't affect the players yesterdays result certainly wont. From the moment the game kicked off it was plain to see Arsenal couldn't care less about the outcome of the game.

We were there simply because we had to. But then again I'm not surprised because if you guys remember back to last season, Wenger did say that this season he was going to sacrifice the FA Cup as he blamed our champions league exit to PSV on the replay with Blackburn.

The league game with United will be a completly different story, with different line-ups for both teams. As for Wenger criticising Nani.......I'm not even going to go there.

Don't know quite how to take this on a variety of levels.......... :?

I'm concerned / dismayed that we are so eager to write this type of performance off again - certainly it appears that no one has learnt anything from the Spuds defeat - neither the players, LeBoss or us here - or else we wouldn't be going thru' all this again!!!! :roll:

I must admit I'm a bit disgusted at the arrogance of the club in the implied 'throwing' of the results in 2 Cup competitions. As a supporter of some 30 years I did NOT support the club when they were shyte & could not win a title, nor did I put up with all the taunts of 'boring, boring' etc, just for the club to take some lofty we don't really care about this comp f**king attitude - who the f**k do they think they are!!!! :thumbdown

Well I'll think you'll find that many other supporters were very disapointed about the way our Chamions League's hopes were affected by the FA Cup. It's a nice competition and I'm sure every fan wants to win it but we've won it plenty of times under Wenger. I think people can be forgiven for setting their eyes more firmly on a far more prestigious trophy that we've never won.

The FA Cup in particular has been a lifeline for silverware to this club prior to AW, and it's not as if we have much to show for the past couple of seasons - it's about time we stopped resting on the laurels of The Invincibles or our CL final loss. :!:

It's very telling that even as a stout defender of the FA cup you mention our most recent glories as the Invincible season and a Champions League final, when our last piece of silverware was in fact an FA cup. You've pretty much proved my point for me - fans care far less about the FA cup than the league or the CL. Same for all the top four clubs. I'll also point to the fact that we're top of the league. Did we get there by resting on our laurels?

If LeBoss or anyone seeks to 'justify' such a position by claims that it detracted from our CL performance last season - well that's why you have a squad, that's why you have 70mill quid to buy some players with - if you didn't think we had the depth or quality to be competitive you should have bloody well done something about it FFS!!!! :evil:

I very much doubt Arsène has ever had 70 million to spend. Regardless, buying more players would lead to having more back-up players, who we'd still play in the FA cup and quite possibly not fare much better than the back-ups who played against Man Utd. Or are you trying to claim having a strong squad allows you to always play your first team? Because that plain doesnt make sense.

Everyone is saying we are a BIG club, well we may be big in finance, but IMO we are looking pretty small in our application so far as the football side of things goes.

Because we all know how often small clubs are sitting 5 points clear at the top of the hardest league in the world with 12 games to go. Get real.

 

[arsmile]

the reason we lost is simple- we didnt try to win, the players diddnt try to win, the management diddnt try to win- it was almost a conscious decision- i'm not saying that is an excuse, part of me thinks it is a disgrace, but hey- we diddnt think that game was worth investing the effort it....if we beat millan and carry onat the top of the table- we can only say wenger was right- i still think it might be good thing that manure are distracted with the facup- that is their best hope of a trophy this season- not the prem, so....maybe they'll invest more into that comp......

 

[vin de guerre]

There is going to be a very different result when we go next time to Old Ratford. Being hammered 4-0 will put a right kick up the players for both the EPL and CL.
This is a bad enough result to hurt until the end of the season.
I would love to go back there in april to pick up the EPL!

 

[True Gooner]

Liverpool fan to me,

"Arsenal are the most overrated team in England"


What can you say to a person like that?

 

[qs]

Liverpool fan to me,

"Arsenal are the most overrated team in England"


What can you say to a person like that?

Shut up you lost to Barnsley and you aren't gonna finish in the top 4, would be my response.

 

[hujja]

Liverpool fan to me,

"Arsenal are the most overrated team in England"


What can you say to a person like that?

Shut up you lost to Barnsley and you aren't gonna finish in the top 4, would be my response.

Well put.

I can't believe all this tripe I've been receiving from Mancs that the game automatically means that they are superior to us in almost every way.

It was clear from the start that the team showed up but their minds were still in London thinking about the Wednesday game.

And let's be honest here, we all knew that we were going to lose this one. At the moment, our squad does not have the depth to win more than two competitions and Arsène knows this.

As far as I'm concerned, this game was just a victim of prioritization. Let's move on to more important things.

I love how the Mancs are so happy they beat an injury ridden uninterested Arsenal side with what was essentially a full force team bar Ronaldo.

 

[mccroix]

Liverpool fan to me,

"Arsenal are the most overrated team in England"


What can you say to a person like that?

Shut up you lost to Barnsley and you aren't gonna finish in the top 4, would be my response.

Well put.

I can't believe all this tripe I've been receiving from Mancs that the game automatically means that they are superior to us in almost every way.

It was clear from the start that the team showed up but their minds were still in London thinking about the Wednesday game.

And let's be honest here, we all knew that we were going to lose this one. At the moment, our squad does not have the depth to win more than two competitions and Arsène knows this.

As far as I'm concerned, this game was just a victim of prioritization. Let's move on to more important things.

I love how the Mancs are so happy they beat an injury ridden uninterested Arsenal side with what was essentially a full force team bar Ronaldo.

And that's the fact that I dislike the most

 

[Anzac]

Well I'll think you'll find that many other supporters were very disapointed about the way our Chamions League's hopes were affected by the FA Cup. It's a nice competition and I'm sure every fan wants to win it but we've won it plenty of times under Wenger. I think people can be forgiven for setting their eyes more firmly on a far more prestigious trophy that we've never won.

I have no issue with the CL as being the primary target - my issue is in our inability to mount a challenge on any more than 1 comp at a time.

It's very telling that even as a stout defender of the FA cup you mention our most recent glories as the Invincible season and a Champions League final, when our last piece of silverware was in fact an FA cup. You've pretty much proved my point for me - fans care far less about the FA cup than the league or the CL. Same for all the top four clubs. I'll also point to the fact that we're top of the league. Did we get there by resting on our laurels?

It proves nothing - my reference was in regard to how some here refer to those seasons as being the primary focus of our achievements of late, and that it some have forgotten that we are talking a number of seasons ago - I said nothing about them being our last silverware.l

I very much doubt Arsène has ever had 70 million to spend. Regardless, buying more players would lead to having more back-up players, who we'd still play in the FA cup and quite possibly not fare much better than the back-ups who played against Man Utd. Or are you trying to claim having a strong squad allows you to always play your first team? Because that plain doesnt make sense.

Pre-season it was announced that we had a cash surplus of 70mill and that all of it was available for use in transfers. IMO we are short of like for like type cover in key positions regarding our style of play. If we had bought some cover that offered us the same sort of options then IMO our standard of play would not be so adversly affected in the mixed team - this is what a strong squad can give you - nothing about always playing your 1st team at all. Similarly AW has recently said that we were very thin re injuries as early as the ManC game - only 14 fit outfield players at that time.

Because we all know how often small clubs are sitting 5 points clear at the top of the hardest league in the world with 12 games to go. Get real.

Again it means jack sh*t until the end of the season - we've choked from here before. On more than one occaision our season has fallen apart after Christmas - this is crunch time for the big games and when the fixture list backs up, this is where your depth & quality of squad often make the difference & of recent years we've shown our squad incapable to mount sustained challenge on more than 1 front at a time.

IMO injuries, while a reality, are also a red herring - the fact remains that we have a smaller / younger squad than any Top 4 club and there is a very real drop in quality to our mixed team & we have no competition for starting positions.

How many games have we played since the C Cup drubbing with the same sort of team???? If anyone thinks that we are going to be able to play our 1st choice 11 until the end of the season then I'm not the only one who needs to get real.

 

[RammiXP]

I am not sure if anyone else picked up on this as i can't go through 46 pages of a match Thread however i felt so mad at the time regardless of the result i had to see if anyone else noticed it.

There was a situation in the second half where Rooney was pulled up for a foul. Gilberto then tried to get the ball of him and rooney started to piss about and shielded him from getting the ball eventually the Ref had to step in and tell him. The incident was not as bad though in compared to the bias crap that then came out of both commentators though it was lawrence that said "There's nothing wrong with it, Rooney is just enjoying himself out there" At this point my blood boiled as i just knew had this been an Henry or a Pires it would have been put down to arrogance and and act that would only serve to wind up the other players (which it was) but no it is England holy christ Wayne Rooney so its ok he is a young lad enjoying himself. Still pisses me off today.

On another note that was the worst we have played all season looked like a bunch of mugs Wenger better sort it out.

 

[goonerwarsh]

I am not sure if anyone else picked up on this as i can't go through 46 pages of a match Thread however i felt so mad at the time regardless of the result i had to see if anyone else noticed it.

There was a situation in the second half where Rooney was pulled up for a foul. Gilberto then tried to get the ball of him and rooney started to piss about and shielded him from getting the ball eventually the Ref had to step in and tell him. The incident was not as bad though in compared to the bias crap that then came out of both commentators though it was lawrence that said "There's nothing wrong with it, Rooney is just enjoying himself out there" At this point my blood boiled as i just knew had this been an Henry or a Pires it would have been put down to arrogance and and act that would only serve to wind up the other players (which it was) but no it is England holy christ Wayne Rooney so its ok he is a young lad enjoying himself. Still pisses me off today.

On another note that was the worst we have played all season looked like a bunch of mugs Wenger better sort it out.

I know exactly what you mean, but you just have to rise above all that bollocks. They'll get their just desserts. The team should use them little examples like Rooney and Nani to press on and win the title. Ignore the bullshit and focus on every game from here on in.

I've got to say though that this and the performance at Sp**s are two of the most disgusting shows i've ever seen from and Arsenal team. It was the manner of both defeats which is the hardest to take

 

[sabret00the]

Nani got told off for terrorising us. I'm gutted as i actually feel that football needs more entertainment of such a manner. Even as a Gooner struggling to watch the match it was one of my highlights. I like being able to feel gutted about stuff like that and the fact our players wanted to cry about it makes it even better, if we made another team cry with such acts i'd be sure to gloat for days.

 

[patrick42uk]

I think Glen Hoddle made the best point on that; he was doing it the wrong way. If he was running towards our goal, rather than his then there would have been a point and it would be more difficult to argue against it.

 

[sabret00the]

Didn't Henry actually do it once?

 

[outlaw_member]

Did it 6 times.

Does anyone realise, that had we not let the Spuds thrash us, we would have been playing in the CC final and not have had to play yesterday.

 

[lagos]

Did it 6 times.

Does anyone realise, that had we not let the Spuds thrash us, we would have been playing in the CC final and not have had to play yesterday.

while we are at it do you realise that if only I was born into the Royal family I would have a life of liesure and wouldnt have to worry about going to work tommorow?

 

[Tony Montana]

Did it 6 times.

Does anyone realise, that had we not let the Spuds thrash us, we would have been playing in the CC final and not have had to play yesterday.

So what's your point? We were supposed to know Edu would be hacked down?

You can say this sort of thing about anything. If we had beaten Brum we would be five points clear not 3.

Stupid comment.