PL: Arsenal vs Birmingham City | 04/12/04

[MightyArsenal]

From all sources it appears our win wasnt that impressive compared to how we can play and how chelsea and man U played today.

The big one is next week...Time to start praying.

 

[fee_fi_fo_Gunners]

i hope this is gonna be the turning point for us! It is still not good to hear that alumnia is not really convincing though... what about taylor?? too bad stack is stuck somewhere...

 

[Gazza Martinez]

nah....if flamini started today then he would have to play for three straight matches...since Vieira was available why not use him...

I meant Flamini should've started in place of Cesc today. The lad needs a rest more than any of our other mids.

 

[James]

He's kept a clean sheet, our first in 14 games, can you really put Jens back in after that?

They say never change a winning side, but one which keeps a clean sheet after so long

 

[n_henry]

From all sources it appears our win wasnt that impressive compared to how we can play and how chelsea and man U played today.

The big one is next week...Time to start praying.

That's probably true, but we scored 3 goals while being well below our best, and being in poorer form than United and Chelsea :twisted:

November has definitely passed.

 

[patrick42uk]

i feel the same as you gazzamartinez. if wenger intended to play flamini on tuesday, he'd have played this game. pires spoke highly of flamini's stamina 'he can run for 90 minutes'. so i feel he could have handled the 4 games in a week. perharps wenger feels the two games coming up are too important for a player inexperienced with this team to handle. pires and cesc in the center is the possibility but that has clear defensive faults. against rosenborg we could get away with it because they will have only one thing on their minds when they come to highbury. but chelsea's hardworking midfield could dominate those two. some tough decisions to be made this week for wenger that will test his managerial abilty.

 

[Canuck]

Well, in thinking it'd be 2-0 I wasn't that far off. Thanks guys, we really needed this win!
Now to deal with RBK... :mrgreen:

A week tomorrow it's Chelski's turn!

 

[skart14]

I shudder to think what would happen if bobby and cesc played in the middle against rosenberg....

 

[las]

freddie was brilliant today,so important to have him I don't want swap beckies for him at all!!! Stay freddie!

 

[MightyArsenal]

If wenger doesnt rate flamini for the chelsea game the only option is to put a defender in midfiled whether its toure or lauren, putting pires there would be **** when you consider both arent the best tacklers and are lightweight.

 

[Gazza Martinez]

freddie was brilliant today,so important to have him I don't want swap beckies for him at all!!! Stay freddie!

Freddie rarely goes missing in crunch matches. Even if things don't work for him, he's always battling away on and off the ball and usually breaks the deadlock for us in tight situations. Now that he's found consistency this season, he's invaluable to us.

Re our formation for our next matches matches, maybe:

Lauren--Cygan--Sol--Cole
----------------------------
------Flamini---Kolo-------
------------Cesc------------
-----------------------------
Freddie--------------Reyes/Pires/Bergkamp
------------Henry-----------

OR

Lauren---Kolo--Sol---Cole
-----------------------------
-Cesc---Flamini---Clichy--
-----------------------------
Freddie--------------Reyes/Pires/Bergkamp
------------Henry-----------

 

[n_henry]

I shudder to think what would happen if bobby and cesc played in the middle against rosenberg....

I'm with you mate... surely Arsène won't go with such a defensively weak CM pairing... he must see that in Europe, a solid defense is probably more important than an attack..and at the moment, neither aspect of our game is looking too good...

Flamini HAS to start IMHO... :?

 

[las]

he also makes great passes1 the last one to Henry was superb!

 

[n_henry]

he also makes great passes1 the last one to Henry was superb!

Who? Flamini? He had a hand in one of Henry's goal..? 8)

Also, more about the Rosenborg game, Flamini's got some experience in Europe from Marseille making the UEFA Cup final last season. Wenger shouldn't be too nervous about having him there...

 

[Dr. Alban]

For me, Flamini is a real box-to-box player. He tracks back, he's able to go forward, he tackles, he passes. I don't agree with those who consider him to be a fringe player who won't be able to make an impact. After all Flamini was arguably Marseille's next best player this spring season (after Drogba) and played alot of big games, incl. the UEFA cup final. When everyone talks about lack of experience as a point against Flamini - well, he's got significally more experience than Cesc.

 

[Spike]

It's been a long time since I've not been down after an Arsenal match, I hope this is a sign of more things to come.

 

[Gazza Martinez]

For me, Flamini is a real box-to-box player. He tracks back, he's able to go forward, he tackles, he passes. I don't agree with those who consider him to be a fringe player who won't be able to make an impact. After all Flamini was arguably Marseille's next best player this spring season (after Drogba) and played alot of big games, incl. the UEFA cup final. When everyone talks about lack of experience as a point against Flamini - well, he's got significally more experience than Cesc.

Agreed. He has alot of good qualities, and Wenger is usually glowing in his praise of him. I saw the UEFA Cup final last season live, and Flamini was easily their best player, while Drogba went missing big time. Flamini showed that he was alot more than a standard DM in that match; he was Marseille's main source of creativity, and looked impressive whenever he got the ball. Plus he was up against Baraja and Albelda, aruguably one of Europe's best midfield partnerships, and did not look out of place at all. I have high hopes for him.

 

[Sammer]

Almunia wasn't THAT convincing. But still, a clean sheet is a clean sheet. Well done Manuel.

i disagree. it was one mistake which didnt lead to a goal. we kept a clean sheet for the first time in a long time. the only change in the line up was lehmann

i remember someone saying they'v seen numerous players arguing with jens. perharps the defence arent confident with him. i'v seen campbell clear some balls that really should have been left for the keeper. its up to wenger though. i'd like to see almunia get a longer run because one game isnt enough to make a judgment. lets see how he and the defence react to it.

Nobody can judge Alumnia at this point, unless he gets more games. I also thought that he was close to having a blunder again, but luckily, it did not lead to a goal.

I would like to see him get more games, now that Wenger has made the step to put Lehmann on the bench, he might as well give Alumnia more shots. It would be stupid to only give Alumnia one game to prove himself.

 

[Anonymous]

he also makes great passes1 the last one to Henry was superb!

Who? Flamini? He had a hand in one of Henry's goal..? 8)

Also, more about the Rosenborg game, Flamini's got some experience in Europe from Marseille making the UEFA Cup final last season. Wenger shouldn't be too nervous about having him there...

He's talking about Ljungberg.

 

[Lipe]

Yes we won! And we scored 3 goals! Wooo! I checked the score before and it was 1-0 but now I checked it and 3-0! Good ol' Henry, he comes through for us once again!