UCL: Arsenal v AZ Alkmaar, 04/11/09, 19:45

[otfgoon]

There's no bias here. I had no qualm with him being dropped for his previous performances, but if we're gonna blame someone for the goal tonight we might as well blame the right person.

Who cares about blame? It should have been an easy save and was a very poor piece of goalkeeping.

 

[Nela]

As annoyed as I am that we conceded, as they say on 606; it could be worse, we could be Liverpool.

 

[Ron Burgundy]

I gotta say, Almunia looked good today. He's starting to look like the Almunia that was so good last season. Very secure and commanding, despite the goal.

You can't say he was good besides the goal though, Klaus. He had quite a minimal amount of work to do during the game, and he still ended up making an error that led to a goal being conceded. His performance was not good enough.

That's for me to decide, isn't it? If I found him to be good I found him to be good. He looked secure and vocal and had one great save. I've stated my reasons already for not blaming him for the goal. He's got a presence again and shows off confidence, something that he severely lacked at the time he was being dropped.

It's a discussion forum, Klaus - if we all agreed on everything then Arsenal-Mania wouldn't exist!

 

[Klaus Daimler]

There's no bias here. I had no qualm with him being dropped for his previous performances, but if we're gonna blame someone for the goal tonight we might as well blame the right person.

Who cares about blame? It should have been an easy save and was a very poor piece of goalkeeping.

I disagree.

 

[bigtimetopbanana]

Didn't realize we are though already.
Olympiacos and AZ have to play each other. So we are though

We're not through yet.

- Liege have to beat Arsenal and AZ
- Olympiacos have to take at least four points from Arsenal and AZ.

So we just have to not snore in the last two games, but we are not through yet.

 

[Klaus Daimler]

It's a discussion forum, Klaus - if we all agreed on everything then Arsenal-Mania wouldn't exist!

And yet you was the one stating that I couldn't be of the opinion that he looked good tonight. :roll:

 

[Ron Burgundy]

It's a discussion forum, Klaus - if we all agreed on everything then Arsenal-Mania wouldn't exist!

And yet you was the one stating that I couldn't be of the opinion that he looked good tonight. :roll:

You were the one who said if you believe he played well, then that's what you're going to believe. In doing so you were effectively saying that I shouldn't have contradicted you and should've kept my thoughts to myself, no? Not much of a 'discussion' if people can't disagree with others.

But anyway, I digress. Of course you're allowed to be of the opinion that Almunia played well tonight; I simply disagree.

 

[qs]

There's no bias here. I had no qualm with him being dropped for his previous performances, but if we're gonna blame someone for the goal tonight we might as well blame the right person.

Who cares about blame? It should have been an easy save and was a very poor piece of goalkeeping.

I disagree.

Thats nonsense Klaus. Just because the defence ****ed up doesn't mean we don't expect Almunia to make the save. Thats his job, to make saves when the defence ****s up. That save was a particularly straight foward one. No excuse for not saving it.

 

[True Gooner]

Thats nonsense Klaus. Just because the defence f*d up doesn't mean we don't expect Almunia to make the save. Thats his job, to make saves when the defence f***s up. That save was a particularly straight foward one. No excuse for not saving it.

Agreed.

 

[otfgoon]

Thats nonsense Klaus. Just because the defence f*d up doesn't mean we don't expect Almunia to make the save. Thats his job, to make saves when the defence f***s up. That save was a particularly straight foward one. No excuse for not saving it.

Agreed.

Yep.

 

[outlaw_member]

best team in europe atm

This is almost mirror image to our start in 2007, hopefully the end is for the better.

 

[Klaus Daimler]

It's a discussion forum, Klaus - if we all agreed on everything then Arsenal-Mania wouldn't exist!

And yet you was the one stating that I couldn't be of the opinion that he looked good tonight. :roll:

You were the one who said if you believe he played well, then that's what you're going to believe. In doing so you were effectively saying that I shouldn't have contradicted you and should've kept my thoughts to myself, no?

No, you're free to disagree with me. But you can't tell me that I can't have the opinon I have because you view things in another way.

But anyway, I digress. Of course you're allowed to be of the opinion that Almunia played well tonight; I simply disagree.

Thank you.

In any case it was another good team performance despite the fact that we're yet again the most injury ridden team in Premier League (yeah, you heard me Liverpool). I really like how we look like we're going about our business in second or third gear yet bangs them in from all kind of distances and angles. We've scored 51 goals this season already. That's pretty damn impressive.

 

[otfgoon]

Indeed Klaus, 51 goals from 17 different goalscorers. Pretty ****ing impressive.

 

[Klaus Daimler]

Thats nonsense Klaus. Just because the defence f*d up doesn't mean we don't expect Almunia to make the save. Thats his job, to make saves when the defence f***s up. That save was a particularly straight foward one. No excuse for not saving it.

Like I said he had most of his weight on the other foot and for a good reason.

Indeed Klaus, 51 goals from 17 different goalscorers. Pretty f****g impressive.

I had no idea that there were so many goalscorers. Impressive indeed!

 

[TomasCR]

Diaby was outstanding tonight - why can't he play like this every week?

There were a few moments that showed two his main problems and that's: 1) passing a ball stright away to an opponent without being pressed (2 times) and 2) having no idea where is the right time to pass a ball. He got himself into a very difficult position where he couldn't pass it anymore as he was surrounded by a bigger amount of AZ players. (3 times)

If he can get rid if these two bad habits, he'll be a monster.

 

[outlaw_member]

Only slight concern was Gibbs - won't cost us now but I don't think he'll get away with moving infield against Chelsea.

There was one moment that summed up Gibbs's major weakness for me. AZ had the ball in midfield and we overturned possesssion, Song came in control of the ball inside our own half and he made a 15 yard forward pass towards the left flank to Gibbs who was no less than a metre behind Arshavin our LW. :roll:

 

[otfgoon]

Gibbs basically like Cole and Clichy when they first started out, he'll learn with games.

 

[True Gooner]

Indeed Klaus, 51 goals from 17 different goalscorers. Pretty f****g impressive.

How many games have we played? Surely we're on our way to break all kinds of goalscoring records? :shock:

 

[TomasCR]

Did you find out why was Cesc so fussed and mad after he scored the first goal? It looked like he was shouting something at their goalkeeper, who was a bit ****e from my point of view.

 

[xcdude24]

Back from the emirates. The atmosphere wasn't that great tonight, but I think it's "Sp**s hangover" or something. By the way, it was ****ing cold! Seriously, I miss california already!

Manny is at fault for that first goal, without a doubt. Thought gibbs looked shaky against dembele, and Eboue was ****ing about most of the game. Vermaelen and Gallas were great as usual; their consistency kind of reminds me of Flamster in 07-08.

Thought Diaby was better than most games- he scored and he was better defensively. But his passing was **** a lot of the time, as usual. Song wasn't as good as he's been, mainly because his passing was also ****. Cesc was good, played with a lot more fire in his belly, and his movement off the ball was a particular highlight.

Nasri was a bit quiet, but that goal was excellent. Absolutely world class. Can't wait until he gets a run of games. Thought Arshavin was quiet as well, but he played with our passing game very well. RVP was decent.

Overall a comfortable win. I'm a bit nervous about wolves, so hopefully we can keep our feet on the ground. Saturday is a big test.