LU Arsenal Brigade II

[andrew057]

he's available, isn't he ?

Eh just read he could be used in a deal for Walcott. 99% sure its paper talk, but its nice to dream.

 

[CC_Eagle]

Fairly confident that Theo will sign. I think it was a case of Theos agent refusing Arsenals first offer (which agent doesn't?) and it somehow leaking to the press.

He isn't worth more than 75K a week, and imo that's about 20K too much for him.

 

[BunniesMan]

Don't care about Walcott. AOC is better than him now. Miyaichi will be by this time next year.

Overall, including Wilshere and a fit Diaby I don't think we're far behind Chelsea and United. They both have flaws in their squads. United has a mediocre midfield, Chelsea has a mediocre defense.

If we remember how to score goals I think we can keep up with those 2.

As for City, they are their own biggest rivals. They'll win if their egos don't implode the joint.

 

[CC_Eagle]

United are STILL using Carrick as a CB ffs. At least we have Djourou!

Arsenal are yet to score a goal, but are still above Spurs in the league.:lol:

 

[BunniesMan]

Huge game today. Anything less than a win against this mob with no strikers is a failure. They're a famous name but now I reckon they're below Newcastle and Everton. We should be all over them and win without conceding a goal.

Because a par result is so high here I'm shitting myself in nervousness. After this game theres the break, we go into it with 5 points from 3 games and 0 goals conceded, that's a pretty nice base to work from. We go into it on 2 or 3 points, it'll be another long year.

 

[BunniesMan]

Literally just then Arsenal twitter announced the lineup. AOC is starting! Pumped. He's the best young player in England. He's already surpassed Walcott. Hoping for a big game from him.

 

[AusKnightRKO]

Podolski!!!!!!....

Serious question for Tone, has he always been a high energy player?, cause from most reports ive heard about him say hes lazy.

 

[BunniesMan]

Great 2-0 win. Podolski and Cazorla with their first Arsenal goals. Most impressed by Diaby. If he stays fit he is a clear upgrade from Song. Unlike Song he really is in the Viera mould and he's much more intelligent than Song. Tall, imposing, strong, good passer, good pace. He's got all the attributes you want in his position.

Who would have picked last year that within 12 months Arteta would be just our 4th best midfielder. Cazorla, Wilshere, Diaby, Arteta, Ramsey. Lots of talent and depth in our midfield.

Our Defense has gone 270 minutes without conceding. Incredible change from last year when we conceded 12 goals in a fortnight against United and Blackburn.

We finally broke our goal drought. And that is our weakest area. If Podolski, Giroud and co can finish consistently we will do well. We'll compete for the top 3.

As for Liverpool? They'll be lucky to compete for the top 8.

 

[smi962]

Another striker Wenger; loving the defence line at the moment they are looking so solid. The influence of Steve Bould?

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

Great game.

Diaby, Cazorla and Arteta were immense. Disappointed in Giroud's finishing, but his off the ball movement for his chance was impressive and also drew Agger away from Cazorla opening up space for the Podolski goal.

Probably Jenkinson's best game in an Arsenal shirt too.

 

[Knightmare]

Great 2-0 win. Podolski and Cazorla with their first Arsenal goals. Most impressed by Diaby. If he stays fit he is a clear upgrade from Song. Unlike Song he really is in the Viera mould and he's much more intelligent than Song. Tall, imposing, strong, good passer, good pace. He's got all the attributes you want in his position.

Who would have that last year that within 12 months Arteta would be just our 4th best midfielder. Cazorla, Wilshere, Diaby, Arteta, Ramsey. Lots of talent and depth in our midfield.

Our Defense has gone 270 minutes without conceding. Incredible change from last year when we conceded 12 goals in a fortnight against United and Blackburn.

We finally broke our goal drought. And that is our weakest area. If Podolski, Giroud and co can finish consistently we will do well. We'll compete for the top 3.

As for Liverpool? They'll be lucky to compete for the top 8.

:lol: How long have you been following the EPL for?

It's only round 3- a LOT changes between now and the end of the season. Liverpool's weakness has been the defence on the back line, cost them against City last week who are hardly a rubbish team...

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

:lol: How long have you been following the EPL for?

It's only round 3- a LOT changes between now and the end of the season. Liverpool's weakness has been the defence on the back line, cost them against City last week who are hardly a rubbish team...

You've got a lot more weaknesses than your defense. I'd even go as far as saying your defense is your greatest strength. Sure Reina is pretty rubbish but Skrtyl and Agger would be one of the better CB pairings in the league, top 5 or 6 pretty easily i'd say.

Watching you guys last night was like watching Arsenal 2 or 3 years ago when we would be play and Cesc and Van Persie would be injured. You had no cutting edge or creative force. You had moments (the ball that fell to Suarez when he ridiculously tried to chip Don Vito from like a metre out) but on the whole you didn't really trouble.

With your midfield and the way you're set out to play i'm thinking you'll dominate a lot of games this season but struggle to break teams down. The same sort of problems we have had for years.

Your midfield, while being able to hold possession reasonably well, was soft as sh!t and really put up no resistance to Diaby or Cazorla.

As i said in the Liverpool thread, i think you guys are in for a pretty long year. I just can't see where the goals are going to come from. Rodgers had problems last year with converting possession into chances and i can't see why that would be any different for him now.

 

[AusKnightRKO]

Liverpool have no strikers, they will finish 5th or 6th

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

Can't see them finishing above the Manc clubs, CSKA London, us, Spurs or Newcastle. Could pip Newcastle to 6th if things go their way but i'm expecting them to finish 7th.

f**k all offensive threat basically.

 

[Knightmare]

Young Stirling shows promise, however the kid is only 17 so I'm definitely not expecting them to rely too heavily on him at this point in time.

 

[AusKnightRKO]

Yea sterling looks awesome, better than the Ox ATM

 

[NK Arsenal]

Happy to get the win but I thought it was a bit closer than 2-0

Very impressed by Diaby, Vermaelen, Podolski, Santi, Arteta. Gibbs and Jenko got better as the game went on but i wasnt happy about KB blasting Giroud for not hitting the target. Giroud had a few chances and could have dond better, give him 2-3 weeks and he will be converting. Thought Per was ordinary. The ox had a great first half, much better than Gervinho last week...anyone know how bad his injury was?Mannone was rubbish especially under the high ball, very keen for Shez to return, when is he coming back?

Sterling was very good (especially in the first half) for LFC, Suarez was a bit off his game. It was silly of them to get rid of Carroll, they have no depth up front..they have to buy in January otherwise they'll miss out on Europe completely

 

[BunniesMan]

About Per, he would have been much more valuable if Carroll was still in their team. He's suited against the big traditional strikers like Carroll, Crouch, Drogba etc. With Kos returning to matchfitness the more mobile Verm-Kos partnership will be used against teams like Liverpool.

:lol: How long have you been following the EPL for?

It's only round 3- a LOT changes between now and the end of the season. Liverpool's weakness has been the defence on the back line, cost them against City last week who are hardly a rubbish team...

How about a year ago when you only finished in the top 8 on goal difference...

I agree a lot can change over the course of the season. We looked like we were in relegation form this time last year. But IMO there's not much to like in the Liverpool squad. Besides Gerrard (who is either aging or just really out of form) our #4 midfielder would be your best.

Rodgers is rebuilding what is a squad full of mediocre overpaid talent that King Kenny put together. He'll need a year or two to clear out.

A nice word I do want to say is I greatly admire Gerrards loyalty. Year in and year out he shows the character the likes of Van Persie, Nasri, Clichy, Adebayor etc could only dream of.

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

Yea sterling looks awesome, better than the Ox ATM

And you're basing that on what? One game?

Sterling is a great talent.

But until he does what Oxlade did to United last year or City in the CC they're not even on the same level.

Granted that's to be expected because Sterling is about a year younger.

Sterling had that one chance in the first half where he hit the post but other than that he was relatively quiet. Oxlade had a quiet game too. But it's a bit different coming up against an experiend PL player in Enrique and a novice like Jenkinson.

Not taking anything away from Sterling though, because he looks like he has immense potential. And was probably one of the two Liverpool players that looked like they could cause us some damage.

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

I thought Per was decent. Had one or two iffy moments but marshalled the defense well. Was great defending crosses and set pieces and was the one that made that awesome tackle on Sterling in the first half.

His lack of pace probably meant we had to set the defensive line a bit deeper which helped opened things up and also made the defense a bit more solid. If the only way we get rid of that dumb high line is play Mertesacker in defense then i'm all for it.

There just aren't any positives to having our defense set on half way. Easy to counter and gives us f**k all room to build anything. Most of the good things we created this morning were because of how much room there was.

Hopefully we see the end of it and today wasn't just a one off due to how well Liverpool retained possession.