UCL | Arsenal vs Olympiakos | Wed 28/9/11 19:45PM SS2

[mistaT]

Santos looks the part, dude knows how to play and is willing to push the envelope. He's got my vote of confidence and I think we'll be able to rotate him and Gibbs quite nicely.

 

[GDeep™]

Santos is class on the ball, needs to shed a pound or two though.

 

[Y va marquer]

Very shaky in defence for the first half. Strangely Sagna played poorly.
Far better in the second half, Song got better and better as the game progressed, Per settled and dug in as well.
Santos looks already better that Gibbs at LB, as well as looking stronger and robust he looks better on the ball.
His goal was a classy effort.

Delighted with Chamberlain's CL debut, couldn't ask for or expect better from an 18 year old on such a big night.
His goal was fantastic. He's got such great confidence going forward.
He also placed a magnificent cross into the box at one stage but unfortunately only Rosicky and Chamakh were moping there without intent.

Arteta brings an air of calm professionalism to the team, hopefully it's going to spread to Frimpong who still looks a bit wild at times.
Chamakh works hard but he's got little to offer in terms of being a goal threat.
Shava had a five minute spell where he was dangerous in the second half but for the most part he was unbelievably frustrating and ineffective.
Rosicky is unbearably slow these days, hopefully we won't have to use him so much.
Szczesny didn't have a whole lot to do in terms of shot stopping but you could tell he was fuming with the gang in front of him in the first half.

Obviously it would have been great to crush them but given the team we played that was unlikely.
Happy with the win now up a gear for Sunday.

 

[ibby]

If you look at all the games we've played in the PL and CL this season, this is how many starts they have before this game (I wont include Sagna as he is usually pretty solid):

Arshavin 5 starts
Rosicky 3
Frimpong 3
Chamakh 1

So no, those players have not played the majority of our games so far this season (9 games). Only Arshavin has barely started the majority of the games, and today was the first time this season in a PL or CL game where more than two of those four players started. Having all four starting at the same time was obvious a reason why I didn't expect us to play well today.

No, played. I was very clear on that in my prior post.

And dude, it's Olympiakos, one of, if not the worst side in the competition. We didn't play well because we have bad players that play for us. And the majority of those bad players will play a prominent role in our season.

 

[eye4goal]

Arteta covered the most distance out of the 22 players(12km). I thought Rosicky and Frimpong were poor but the latter was better in the second half. Santos, Mertesacker and Song also had solid games.

 

[Y va marquer]

I don't think it's because the players are bad that we played poorly, it's because they've had very little time playing together.
They don't look like a team yet.

Those who played the worst are some of the most experienced, Rosicky and Arshavin, but I can't see Rosicky starting too many games and Gervinho, for most matches, will play instead of Arshavin.
We've a long road ahead of us before this team starts to play with a sense of unity and understanding - until then it's going to be scrappy, nail biting and sometimes awful to watch.

If we can manage to start winning consistently whilst playing like that the confidence should begin to return and the quality of the performances may improve.

 

[Eirico]

If you look at all the games we've played in the PL and CL this season, this is how many starts they have before this game (I wont include Sagna as he is usually pretty solid):

Arshavin 5 starts
Rosicky 3
Frimpong 3
Chamakh 1

So no, those players have not played the majority of our games so far this season (9 games). Only Arshavin has barely started the majority of the games, and today was the first time this season in a PL or CL game where more than two of those four players started. Having all four starting at the same time was obvious a reason why I didn't expect us to play well today.

No, played. I was very clear on that in my prior post.

And dude, it's Olympiakos, one of, if not the worst side in the competition. We didn't play well because we have bad players that play for us. And the majority of those bad players will play a prominent role in our season.

Well, if you count in short substitute cameos, then most of them have played in the majority of games this season yes. But my point is that they are squad players, and squad players usually get a lot of substitute appearances don't they?. So that's the reason why I left them out of the stats. My guess is that we will not see those four starting at the same time very often this season, and when they do, we will just have to lower our expectations. And that's the case today.
Anyway, I'm done with discussing this. We know we have bad squad players, but if you want to expect big things from the team when a lot of poor squad players start at the same time, it's up to you. I surely wont.

 

[GDeep™]

Baldini was at the Emirates, probably hoping to see Gibbs in action, guessing he will have a word or two to say about AOC when he speaks to Capello.

 

[Jury]

Rosicky is a disgrace.

And these sky ads can **** off.

What the ****ing hell's going on with these poxy adverts? It's like my lap top has lost the ability to detect bollocks despite every ad blocker under the sun being deployed. Does anyone know how I can stop this awful ****ery? :twisted:

 

[GDeep™]

Those ads are ridiculous, thankfully I don't get them when I'm on my IPad.

 

[Jury]

The site management shouldn't be allowing that type of aggressive advertising. If I want to click on an advert, I will do, but I don't expect some ****ing massive Sky pop-up to dominate the screen just because I took the ****ing liberty of going within an inch of it with my mouse cursor. All it makes me want to do is fire bomb Sky offices.

 

[Jury]

Sorted, but now the screen takes a while longer to load. Nothings free in this world, is it?

 

[blaze_of_glory]

The site management shouldn't be allowing that type of aggressive advertising. If I want to click on an advert, I will do, but I don't expect some ******* massive Sky pop-up to dominate the screen just because I took the ******* liberty of going within an inch of it with my mouse cursor. All it makes me want to do is fire bomb Sky offices.

I contacted them about annoying ads a few months ago, before I just installed a Flash-blocker thing. They told me that they were aware of the problem and were working on stopping it, but looks like they haven't.

 

[Kain]

It's bullshit, even the dropdown menu tabs on the top of this website get hidden behind the sky advert.

 

[ebouenolike]

I think it will soon dawn on people that Ramsey is not a great footballer.

If you're going to have a go at a Ramsey performance of 22 mins in a crucial win then at least spell his name correctly.

 

[Cudareli]

I think it will soon dawn on people that Ramsey is not a great footballer.

If you're going to have a go at a Ramsey performance of 22 mins in a crucial win then at least spell his name correctly.

 

[Invincible]

Have to say I was very impressed with André Santos. Superb going forward and solid defensively. He'll have the left back spot sewn up if he carries on like this. Great signing.

Mertesacker played his best game yet. He's getting better and better and settling very well. He's already showing leadership qualities and bossing people around despite only being at the club for no longer than 4 weeks. Well played Big ****ing German.

 

[Gunner_JT]

Santos for me was the second best out their after Song, very clever going forward.

 

[Cudareli]

Only saw the last 25 minutes or so as i was busy losing 4-0 in a five-a-side match. Pretty much my first thought was, "my god, Rosicky is rubbish". The bloke offers nothing. Mertesacker and Song looked good (from what i saw) and nice to see Santos has already matched Clichy's goal scoring record

 

[mo50]

Have to say I was very impressed with André Santos. Superb going forward and solid defensively. He'll have the left back spot sewn up if he carries on like this. Great signing.

Mertesacker played his best game yet. He's getting better and better and settling very well. He's already showing leadership qualities and bossing people around despite only being at the club for no longer than 4 weeks. Well played Big ******* German.

Yeah, that was Mertesacker's best performance. Credit to Song too, who looked like a natural defender. The likes of Djourou and Squillaci (what happened to him?) should learn a thing or two from him. I just can't wait to get Vermaelen back. I have a hunch that him and Mertesacker will form an excellent duo.

Chamberlain just oozes class. Its hard to believe this kid has just turned 18, and is scoring in the CL. He'll become one hell of a player very soon. Santos looks a very good player, and as mentioned before, he's got as much goals as Clichy so far .

Now to the usual disappointing suspects. To think Rosicky, Arshavin and Chamakh were the more experienced heads, their performances were shambolic, to say the least. There was one time Rosicky was given a through ball and he barely even attempted a sprint. Either that or his legs are gone. Arshavin is the most frustrating player since an 18 year old Walcott was on the wing, and Chamakh looks like he's never seen a football before, let alone kicked one.

Good result overall, and we've managed to rest several key players for the NLD.