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Football Thread |OT16| Bacon & Dregs

A

arkon

Member
I think the calls will be greater if they don't make the top four. Arsene's always had that to fall back on, but this season that's in the balance.
 
S

Sviatoslav

Member
Wouldn't not finishing top four be better for Arsenal if it forced them to actually spend? But who am I kidding, Rafa will make sure that Arsenal finish top four.
 
J

jtb

Banned
It would take a monumental fuck up for us to miss out on the top 4 this season. Very close behind Spurs and Chelsea, and they play each other in the run-in so guaranteed dropped points for at least one of those sides. I fully expect Chelsea to finish 5th; this is the same spine of the team that finished out of the top 4 last season, except a year older and a with a shitload more fixture congestion.

Top 4 is not a trophy, but you only need to look at Liverpool (sorry Fry :p) to see how difficult it is to break back into the top 4 after you drop out so it's important to stay in there.
 
J

jtb

Banned
Lightning said:
Southampton didn't beat us though so why mention us with City, Liverpool and Chelsea?



I don't mind the no trophies provided we play exciting football. Wenger frustrates me at times because he appears to be hell bent on making a point that the PL can be won and we can compete without major investment and realistically we can't because we've sold too many players for that. You don't need to spend 100million every year, that's just bs, but an initial investment is required to get us back at the level and I don't think Wenger will allow it and it pisses me off with him.

I greatly appreciate what he does and how passionate he is for our club though. That makes me forgive him after games like Bradford and Blackburn where I'm very annoyed at losing.
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Completely agree. The problem isn't spending money, since he does that. The problem is selling all of our best players to fund new purchases—poor new purchases at that. He just needs a summer where he buys some quality players, and doesn't fucking sell anyone. I only hope that making top 4 again doesn't renew his faith in players like Chesney and Vermaelen because they are shit and can easily be improved upon.
 
F

Fry

Member
jtb said:
Top 4 is not a trophy, but you only need to look at Liverpool (sorry Fry :p) to see how difficult it is to break back into the top 4 after you drop out so it's important to stay in there.
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ioqiR21ODcTVD.gif
 
C

Clegg

Member
Why did the writers of The Amazing Spiderman turn Peter Parker into a prick? I know that he's supposed to be cocky in the comics but his movie persona was that of a grade 1 arsehole.

The movie itself was poor too. I'd probably go SM2>SM1>>>>>ASM>SM3
 
L

Lightning

Banned
jtb said:
Completely agree. The problem isn't spending money, since he does that. The problem is selling all of our best players to fund new purchases—poor new purchases at that. He just needs a summer where he buys some quality players, and doesn't fucking sell anyone. I only hope that making top 4 again doesn't renew his faith in players like Chesney and Vermaelen because they are shit and can easily be improved upon.
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List the players you think we should sell? There are a lot of chaff at Arsenal that we can get rid off to bring in the class and regardless of what people think top players WILL come if we are prepared to pay the going rate for them.
 
K

K1LLER7

Member
LegoArmo said:
He might not have been born there, but his entire footballing style is clearly in the image of Ronaldinho.
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Not sure if it was during the 2002 World Cup or the 2006 World Cup, but I remember a pundit on TV saying Joe Cole was good enough to play for Brazil.
 
K

Kyoufu

Member
We're going to get smashed by Benfica. These injuries are bad.

We need to sell Ben Arfa. I love him and think he's amazing but he's injured all the time.
 
J

jtb

Banned
Lightning said:
List the players you think we should sell? There are a lot of chaff at Arsenal that we can get rid off to bring in the class and regardless of what people think top players WILL come if we are prepared to pay the going rate for them.
Click to expand...

If people will pay: (mostly just the fringe guys already on loan)
Sagna (because he wants out)
Djourou
Bendtner
Chamakh
Santos
Park
Denilson
Diaby (loljk he's injured again)
Any one of our various average keepers

Leaving on a free anyways:
Squillaci
Arshavin
Rosicky (?)

Force them out on loan because they ain't good enough yet:
Ramsey
Coquelin
Frimpong

Ideally, bring in a striker, a center midfielder, a center defender, a right back, and a GK. Maybe another creative 10/winger type like Cazorla if one's available on the cheap. Keep Vermaelen around because he's better than Squillaci and we need the depth, but keep him as second choice. In theory, this should all be achievable with the new TV money and we'll win the treble next season!
 
L

Lightning

Banned
jtb said:
If people will pay: (mostly just the fringe guys already on loan)
Sagna (because he wants out)
Djourou
Bendtner
Chamakh
Santos
Park
Denilson
Diaby (loljk he's injured again)
Any one of our various average keepers

Leaving on a free anyways:
Squillaci
Arshavin
Rosicky (?)

Force them out on loan because they ain't good enough yet:
Ramsey
Coquelin
Frimpong

Ideally, bring in a striker, a center midfielder, a center defender, a right back, and a GK. Maybe another creative 10/winger type like Cazorla if one's available on the cheap. Keep Vermaelen around because he's better than Squillaci and we need the depth, but keep him as second choice. In theory, this should all be achievable with the new TV money and we'll win the treble next season!
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Pretty much how I want things to go as well with the exception of Ramsey who I want to stay. One of our GKs will definitely go. We do that and we'll be very competitive next season. Of course finishing top 4, preferrably top 3, is essential obviously.
 
J

jtb

Banned
Lightning said:
Pretty much how I want things to go as well with the exception of Ramsey who I want to stay. One of our GKs will definitely go. We do that and we'll be very competitive next season. Of course finishing top 4, preferrably top 3, is essential obviously.
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It's pretty ridiculous that those fringe players + those leaving on a free will free up ~500k/week. Christ, Wenger, you sure love to hand out fat contracts to shitty players.

I want Ramsey to succeed, but at this point, I just don't see it. I don't know if he's supposed to be a playmaker (because if so, he's like 5th in line...) or a ball winner (because he's just shit at that). Or, god forbid, a winger. The last time I can remember him having a good game was against City all the way back in September...
 
T

The_Hitcher89

Member
AndresON777 said:
Funny how your team is garbage besides the south American players. I love you though, Hitcher :)
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Johnson
Gerrard


Thinking about it, they're the only two non-South Americans we have who I consider undeniably very good.

That's on the understanding that you're an idiot if you don't rate Johnson, btw


For some reason I'm really looking forward to seeing Kelly at centreback, even though it might not happen
 
L

Lightning

Banned
jtb said:
It's pretty ridiculous that those fringe players + those leaving on a free will free up ~500k/week. Christ, Wenger, you sure love to hand out fat contracts to shitty players.

I want Ramsey to succeed, but at this point, I just don't see it. I don't know if he's supposed to be a playmaker (because if so, he's like 5th in line...) or a ball winner (because he's just shit at that). Or, god forbid, a winger. The last time I can remember him having a good game was against City all the way back in September...
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Wenger loves his shit players. Wenger admitted in the post match conference today that when the team loses confidence or comes under the hammer from the media Gervinho loses confidence and can't play properly. I can't believe it, that's just not good enough as the only way Gervinho can play well is if he receive a cuddle from the club every day? Fuck off.

I like Ramsey. Today he played a decent game and he does the hard defensive work. He's not a playmaker, we tried that last year and that failed, but where he plays at the moment is his best position but only as a squad player. He can fill in for Wilshere just fine and cover for Wilshere next season will obviously be a must as this ankle will come up again.

And yeah, I heard Squallici didn't want to leave in January or last summer because his wages would be cut. This is astounding when our top players are leaving because we are not offering high enough wages to them.
 
S

Salazar

Member
K1LLER7 said:
If Chelsea fail to reach the top 4, I could see quite a few teams come in for their players.

Ramires and Mata the main 2.
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Rafa should start booking some Liverpool venues for slideshow nights. Relive the triumph at 30 quid a pop. 15 pound per handshake.
 
Z

Zabojnik

Member
I know we're supposed to talk about football today, but I just saw the latest Southland episode. Fantastic stuff. This show doesn't get nearly enough love.
 
J

jtb

Banned
Lightning said:
Wenger loves his shit players. Wenger admitted in the post match conference today that when the team loses confidence or comes under the hammer from the media Gervinho loses confidence and can't play properly. I can't believe it, that's just not good enough as the only way Gervinho can play well is if he receive a cuddle from the club every day? Fuck off.

I like Ramsey. Today he played a decent game and he does the hard defensive work. He's not a playmaker, we tried that last year and that failed, but where he plays at the moment is his best position but only as a squad player. He can fill in for Wilshere just fine and cover for Wilshere next season will obviously be a must as this ankle will come up again.

And yeah, I heard Squallici didn't want to leave in January or last summer because his wages would be cut. This is astounding when our top players are leaving because we are not offering high enough wages to them.
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Yeah, Wenger doesn't push these players anywhere near as much as he should. Wenger has to shoulder some of the blame for the mental fragility of the past few years, I think. Also, to be fair, Gervinho did impress today. I've said all along: Gervinho is a decent winger—just a terrible terrible finisher so keep him on the wing, and he'll do fine.

I think Arteta should be Wilshere's backup. I don't like it when the two of them play together; it never seems clear between the two of them which is supposed to shoulder the creative burden and which is supposed to stay back and defend.

Wouldn't surprise me re:Squillaci. Same thing with Arshavin too, iirc. Ugh.
 
L

Lightning

Banned
jtb said:
Yeah, Wenger doesn't push these players anywhere near as much as he should. Wenger has to shoulder some of the blame for the mental fragility of the past few years, I think. Also, to be fair, Gervinho did impress today. I've said all along: Gervinho is a decent winger—just a terrible terrible finisher so keep him on the wing, and he'll do fine.

I think Arteta should be Wilshere's backup. I don't like it when the two of them play together; it never seems clear between the two of them which is supposed to shoulder the creative burden and which is supposed to stay back and defend.

Wouldn't surprise me re:Squillaci. Same thing with Arshavin too, iirc. Ugh.
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Arshavin is the same. Good riddance to them both.

Arteta's problem is age is catching up with him. He simply can't play every week but he's a very good player. On the Arteta/Wilshere thing, have you noticed that Cazorla plays noticably better when Wilshere is not playing? I've noticed it quite a bit and that Wilshere lacks direction in his play. Wilshere will become an excellent player but at the moment both Cazorla and Arteta are more important than him, imo.

I was just wondering your thoughts on that. It could also be that Caxorla enjoys being able to roam around freely which he can do more when Wilshere isn't there.
 
J

jtb

Banned
Lightning said:
Arshavin is the same. Good riddance to them both.

Arteta's problem is age is catching up with him. He simply can't play every week but he's a very good player. On the Arteta/Wilshere thing, have you noticed that Cazorla plays noticably better when Wilshere is not playing? I've noticed it quite a bit and that Wilshere lacks direction in his play. Wilshere will become an excellent player but at the moment both Cazorla and Arteta are more important than him, imo.

I was just wondering your thoughts on that. It could also be that Caxorla enjoys being able to roam around freely which he can do more when Wilshere isn't there.
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Yeah, I dunno about Cazorla and Wilshere. It might be because they're both natural number 10s that they drift into the same space even when they play in different positions; Jack is much more physical and stronger on the ball than Arteta and will move the ball forwards rather than simply recycling possession so perhaps that's interfering with Cazorla's normal space.

I also think Cazorla and Arteta probably had a lot of time to hone their partnership at the beginning of the season, where Jack's been out for a year and was struggling to get back to full fitness, let alone get any kind of understanding with a team that's had a ridiculous amount of turnover since his last playing season.
 
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