| West Bromwich Albion v Arsenal | 15:00 19 March 2011 |

The only mistake Squillaci made for the goal was not heading the ball away initially. When the ball was on the floor, he had Odemwingie dealt with and was goal side. Koscielny and Sagna were coming into the equation to help him out too. For me, the goal is purely down to Almunia. I'd give anything to know what he was doing by running out of his goal, absolutely mind blowing.

 

I thought Squib could've gone for the ball instead of turning away from it, the moment it came down to him and Odemwingie.
As soon as Al was in his way Squib of course had no chance of tackling Odenwingie, but the battle was imo lost before that.

Al is at fault for 80%, but Squib wasn't innocent either.
That's the impression I get, when I watch the 2-0 again.

 

what? Koscielny would walk into their starting 11...same goes for every EPL team bar Chelsea and ManU and if Terry didn´t have his hero untouchable status, then on the merit Kos would be possibly starting ahead of him imo, Terry is pretty average these days

 

I disagree, with the notion that this is the primary reason that Wenger retains his job.

Whereas these issues do play a role in Wenger's services being retained, combined with his track record, are they more a secondary role to what he really satisfies, these days especially.

To the powers that be at Arsenal, this season like the 5 before is already a success. A success because the basic board requirements have already been met, these include.

A top 4 finish and subsequent Champions League qualification.
Minimal transfer expenditure to add to profit gains.
A fully booked stadium, which is encouraged by a team build to play an entertaining game of football first. (Anzac's favourite point )

We are now in a position to break away from this pressing need, as we have successfully made the move to our new stadium and been able to generate operating profits. Our financial situation now allows us to make proper moves to address pressing issues within our squad.

A true test of the loyalty towards Wenger would be to put these factors to the test. I do not see any coincidence whatsoever in the big expenditure in attaining Arshavin and the type of season we had in 2008-09.

Whereas I admire Wenger's persona and desire to change the general managerial mould of today, he falls short with his blind spots and desire to push his own agendas above glaring frailties. A criticism I would raise to him if I have the opportunity to meet him. Its not a question about Arsène Knows Best, its a question about what is best for Arsenal going forward. All parties concerned being able to objectively analyse the issues at hand and admit when they are in the wrong.

 

yeah, you should never let the ball bounce...but he recovered, and then Al took him out

 

Haha, Koscielny ahead of Terry. Yeah right. Redknapp wouldn't drop a CB for him either.

Who cares what Koscielny might become? Rate his actual displays and they have been generally mediocre.

 

Ignoring the clown in goal for a minute, that ball should've never been allowed to bounce under any circumstances. This is what they teach them in the academies. Defensive coaching under Wenger has quite simply never been prescriptive enough. As a result we are always susceptible to schoolboy errors (read for both WBA’s goals)

 

He has been better than Terry this season...

mediocre? you can´t be serious...

 

....you can't be serious. This is the same guy who kicked the ball out of our GK's hands in a CC final to lose the trophy for us.

Squillaci should never let the ball bounce, that's clear. But he's a ***** French CB who is not suited to English football - experienced CB who is shaky in every game, what a joke. He must be chopped this Summer.

Koscielny is potentially very good but has been nothing but average this season. Cost us tons of goals, red cards.......the lot. He might be better than Terry in a parallel universe where CB's are rated on touch, distribution......in reality you need good decision-making, ability in the air, strength on the ball, keep errors to a minimum.

List the goals we've conceded and who was at fault for each one - Koscielny will feature heavily.

 

No he hasn't. By your own admission you just said in more words than me that Djourou makes koscielny look/play better.

Just because he is a harrying type of defender and what he does is more proactive/obvious doesn't mean he is out performing Djourou.

It's obvious who the better defender is when Djourou and Squilacci partnership and Djourou and Koscielny partnerships work but Kos and Squil don't.

You can arm chair pundit analyse it as much as you want. Djourou works all the time, Koscielny some of the time therefore Djourou > Koscielny.

Football is a season long sport, inevitably, the defenders will have to be rotated and Djourou can play with any of our defenders so for the season long game that is football Djourou is better.

 

No I didn´t say so..there is big difference between look and play in that sentence first sentence...

its not just that Kos is more proactive hence he is playing better than DJ...you can´t put every instance when he had better game down to being more proactive...Kos has been better than DJ lately...clearly, better vs Barca in both legs, better in CC final despite that cock up at the end, only game when DJ was better lately was ManU in FA cup and he wasn´t really brilliant himself either there...

as for arm chair pundit analysis...well that equation that DJ works all the time and Kos "some of the time" = DJ>Kos yes there is a record that should be taken into consideration but there is whole lot more which you have to consider as well...Koscielny is a quality player and over whole season in my opinion not much worse than DJ, in fact very close..

 

Listen, that was just my polite way of saying that if you're going to act like an 'arse', then don't be surprised when someone calls you on it. As I said, it's all in delivery.

 

kick the ball out of GKs hand? thats not how it happened, is it...I´m sure you remember it like that though...

Koscielny has this stupid habit of making costly errors, but he actually improved on that front but it doesn´t really matter because it will prevent you to look at his actuall performances during the games...

Terry is just pure MOTD lionheart hype, if Ferdinand wasn´t a crock he wouldn´t even get into starting 11 for England, let alone be captain again...

 

You obviously have a short memory and don't remember the calamitous performances by him when he was with Squuilacci for a run of games.

I guess we have differing opinions of what makes a good defender. I don't care how good Koscielny is theoretically. He has not been anywhere near as good as Djourou and the only times he has been as good or "better" than Djourou have been when Djourou was playing.

Djourou makes the defense work. Koscielny does not.

 

Djourou was better than Koscielny in the Nou Camp.

He had a dip after being overused during January but has easily been our best performing CB this season. And even he has a way to go before he's a top player.

When did Koscielny improve his habit of making costly errors? He's been doing the same stuff in recent games.

 

Koscielny played good because of Djourou. They play well with eachother. Him and Squillaci are a disaster.

Djourou has easily been one top 3 CB this season, with Smalling and Vidic.

 

Kompany has been miles better than Djourou, and always will be.

 

I was thinking Bossa meant Kompany and not Smalling.

Smalling has done nothing, product of SKY/media hype. Couple of solid games, couple of poor ones.

 

Kos got turned inside out by that lump Fortune yesterday. Squillaci made a great block, if he hadn't we probably would have lost.

By the way everyone go to arse.com and vote Al man of the match. He's currently third in the poll

 

Smalling ? :shock: May even mention luiz or alex then. Kompany and vidic have been head and shoulders above everyone else.