LU Arsenal Brigade II

[CC_Eagle]

I was at Homebake yesterday and made an effort to drag my mates back to our YHA, then out to Cheers merely to watch the game - and wasn't it worth it!

I don't recall much, apart from Arteta's screamer.

 

[Habitual Linestepper]

Yeah I presume it's only PL. And I've forgotten it's been that long.

boxderp. I'm not quite that excited yet, 4-0 against Wigan is par IMO. I'm just glad the 4-0 didnt involve 3 RVP goals and a RVP assist.

All of a sudden we're 5th and just 2 points from top 4.

Chelsea play Man City next. We play Everton. A very very very very good chance to be back in the top 4. 10 weeks ago we'd have settled for getting back in the top 4 by the end of the season. Who would have thought we might be there in the 1st half of December.

Fckn not me!

1 win in our first 5 games, 3 losses. If you had told me after the Blackburn game that we would only lose one more time before December i would've laughed at you.

Everton will be a tough game, but we usually do pretty well against them. And with a weeks rest, i'm assuming the team that vsed City will play midweek, i'm sure we will be good to go.

Our next three games (in the PL) are Everton at home, City away then three days later Aston Villa away. Could go a long way to defining our season i think. I'd be happy with 6 points, over the moon with anything more.

 

[Habitual Linestepper]

I was at Homebake yesterday and made an effort to drag my mates back to our YHA, then out to Cheers merely to watch the game - and wasn't it worth it!

I don't recall much, apart from Arteta's screamer.

Haha you must've been in some state cause it was hardly a screamer. The GK definitely should have saved it.

 

[BunniesMan]

Fckn not me!

1 win in our first 5 games, 3 losses. If you had told me after the Blackburn game that we would only lose one more time before December i would've laughed at you.

Everton will be a tough game, but we usually do pretty well against them. And with a weeks rest, i'm assuming the team that vsed City will play midweek, i'm sure we will be good to go.

Our next three games (in the PL) are Everton at home, City away then three days later Aston Villa away. Could go a long way to defining our season i think. I'd be happy with 6 points, over the moon with anything more.

Two very solid teams and easily the toughest task in the PL today. If we just get the maximum against Cahills boys and Villa, that would be great.

But gee I'd love a shock upset against City. If Kos and Verm play together at CB, I think we have a fighting chance of keeping them out. Kos and Verm are yet to concede a goal in something like 500-600 minutes.

And if we pass as crisply and efficiently as we did last night...you just never know.

Champions league next, the result is meaningless but I'm just excited to see 90 mins of AOC.

 

[BunniesMan]

FA Cup 3rd round draw is being announced as I type this.

We've got Leeds.

But the big news is City v United!!! What are the odds that 1st and 2nd play each other in the THIRD round....

The FA cup is the best cup tournament on the planet.

 

[Habitual Linestepper]

Two very solid teams and easily the toughest task in the PL today. If we just get the maximum against Cahills boys and Villa, that would be great.

But gee I'd love a shock upset against City. If Kos and Verm play together at CB, I think we have a fighting chance of keeping them out. Kos and Verm are yet to concede a goal in something like 500-600 minutes.

And if we pass as crisply and efficiently as we did last night...you just never know.

Champions league next, the result is meaningless but I'm just excited to see 90 mins of AOC.

Yep, i'd kill to have Sagna back for the City game. I'd maybe even be inclined to play Djourou at right back. They will play Nasri on the left and he's too much of a bitch to take anyone on. I think we would need Vermaelen to handle Dzeko and Kos to take care of Aguero and Silva.

I think our defence could actually be able to handle anything they have, esp if we just get Song to man mark Silva.

And i'd love to see Theo running at that walking mistake Clichy. The one area where i will be a bit nervous is Adam Johnson/Milner/Aguero running at Santos with Micah Richards overlapping.

Love watching Frimpong and Oxlade playing. Was screaming at the tv to get AOC on against Wigan. Don't see why he doesn't blood the young players when we are 2-3 goals up at the end of PL games. I can only assume he was saving him for the midweek game.

 

[Habitual Linestepper]

FA Cup 3rd round draw is being announced as I type this.

We've got Leeds.

But the big news is City v United!!! What are the odds that 1st and 2nd play each other in the THIRD round....

The FA cup is the best cup tournament on the planet.

United always seem to get a rough deal in the FA cup. Last year they played us, and liverpool before they loss to City in the final.

 

[boxhead]

Yep, i'd kill to have Sagna back for the City game. I'd maybe even be inclined to play Djourou at right back. They will play Nasri on the left and he's too much of a bitch to take anyone on. I think we would need Vermaelen to handle Dzeko and Kos to take care of Aguero and Silva.

I think our defence could actually be able to handle anything they have, esp if we just get Song to man mark Silva.

And i'd love to see Theo running at that walking mistake Clichy. The one area where i will be a bit nervous is Adam Johnson/Milner/Aguero running at Santos with Micah Richards overlapping.

Love watching Frimpong and Oxlade playing. Was screaming at the tv to get AOC on against Wigan. Don't see why he doesn't blood the young players when we are 2-3 goals up at the end of PL games. I can only assume he was saving him for the midweek game.

Your defence will not be able to handle Silva, Aguero, Dzeko, Nasri, Balotelli, Johnson and so on in a game. The only team that has truly managed that is a CL team this season.
Santos is a terrible defender and City will exploit your defence no matter how good one would think it is.
They are the best defensive team in the EPL.
I wish you good luck because you will definitely need it!!!

 

[Habitual Linestepper]

Your defence will not be able to handle Silva, Aguero, Dzeko, Nasri, Balotelli, Johnson and so on in a game. The only team that has truly managed that is a CL team this season.
Santos is a terrible defender and City will exploit your defence no matter how good one would think it is.
They are the best defensive team in the EPL.
I wish you good luck because you will definitely need it!!!

Considering a defence that had Djourou at right back, Miquel at left back and Squillaci at CB prevented 4 of those 6 players having a shot on target for the first 80 minutes last week i'm not as worried as i would have been 3 or 4 weeks ago. The only person i'm afraid of is Silva.

Koscielny handled Aguero during the carling cup game aside from a cheap counter attack when all our defenders were up for a corner.
Nasri marks himself out of games.
Squillaci handled Dzeko during the cc game so i'm sure Vermaelen will be able to.
And Miquel did pretty well against Johnson so i'm sure an actual left back will be able to do just as well if not better.

And Santos being a terrible defender is a myth. He's not a great defender but compared to other PL left backs i'd say he's doing ok. He's every bit as good as Clichy was for us defensively while being a shit load better offensively. Granted Clichy has stepped up this year it has to be said.

The key will be watching out for Silva, he will be the one that creates everything. Without him i fancy our defence to handle the other players one on one. It's just Silva creating the space that worries me.

If Liverpool hadn't dominated City last week i would be a lot more nervous. But seeing Lucas contain Silva has given me some hope. If it hadn't been for Joe Hart being a monster in that game they could have easily lost by 1 or 2. That save on Carroll's header was the save of the season so far for me.

They might be the best defensive team in the comp but we have the most in form player in the comp.

Obviously i'm not going into it expecting a win. But i think we are more than capable of picking up points.

Who'd you guys get in fa cup btw?

 

[boxhead]

Yeah but City were poor in that game and you can't expect them to be poor again when you consider their league form. You can't make a judgement that you can contain City off of one-game in the Carling Cup, we all know City have saved by far their best form for the EPL.

You would know more about your players than me as you watch them more do I respect your opinion, but every game I have watched of Santos he has been either abominable or poor in defence, he might be gradually acclimatizing now but like with Kyle Walker improving his defence comes with maturity.

That might be the case but it doesnt change the fact their defence is far superior to Arsenal's, as is their attacking threat. Even if you do contain their stars, as I've seen many times this season, City are good enough to withstand whatever is thrown at them and score late goals against the run of play.

Again, I wish Arsenal luck, but I still doubt whether City are going to lose here.
Hell, Liverpool had mountains of chances and only got a goal off a silly own goal.

 

[Habitual Linestepper]

Yeah but City were poor in that game and you can't expect them to be poor again when you consider their league form. You can't make a judgement that you can contain City off of one-game in the Carling Cup, we all know City have saved by far their best form for the EPL.

You would know more about your players than me as you watch them more do I respect your opinion, but every game I have watched of Santos he has been either abominable or poor in defence, he might be gradually acclimatizing now but like with Kyle Walker improving his defence comes with maturity.

That might be the case but it doesnt change the fact their defence is far superior to Arsenal's, as is their attacking threat. Even if you do contain their stars, as I've seen many times this season, City are good enough to withstand whatever is thrown at them and score late goals against the run of play.

Again, I wish Arsenal luck, but I still doubt whether City are going to lose here.
Hell, Liverpool had mountains of chances and only got a goal off a silly own goal.

They played poor cause we dominated them. Obviously their midfield wasn't filled with starters, but neither was ours. They had more players from their first 11 than we did though and we still dominated them.

I'm happy with Santos, maybe that's because i've had to put up with that genius Clichy for so long.

Liverpool couldn't score because they have a team full of shit finishers. Suarez misses sitters more often than he dives. And it's not like Downing, Henderson, Adam or Lucas are even close to being considered clinical. If our midfield does as well as Liverpool's did against City i'd expect us to score at least twice, especially with the form RvP is in.

It is at Etihad though, and for that reason i think they will pip us. If we do lose it's not going to be by much. I cant wait for it. This game will really show how much we have progressed.

I just hope Song doesn't pick up another yellow against Everton this w.e coming cause he's already on four so another one would see him miss the City game.

 

[boxhead]

And they still beat Arsenal, so even if you do dominate them, which is highly unlikely, I doubt you'll best them.
Suarez and Kuyt aren't exactly bad finishers, Suarez is out of form and Hart was fantastic. City kept United to 1 at Old Trafford, if you think you will score. "at least" two goals then you can understand why I am very sceptical given it is at City.
Frankly, even if the game was at the Emirates I'd still tip a City win.

 

[Habitual Linestepper]

Course they beat us. We had one starter, Koscielny, they had four, Aguero, Dzeko, Nasri and Johnson. The team we played had 4 goals between them, Dzeko got that in a single game, guessing i don't need to remind you who that was against.

Whatever way you look at it. We did well against them. Obviously that's not going to have a bearing on the PL game but their strikers are going to have to play better cause they wont be facing Miquel, Squillaci, Djourou or Fabianski.

It's irrelevant talking about it this far out anyway. We have two games before that.

As of now, i think we will surprise a few people, while you don't give us a chance. Considering who the two of us support i'm guessing that's not much of a surprise to anyone.

 

[BunniesMan]

An unusually specific rumour has us offering 25m + Arshavin + Bendtner for Gotze in January. Supposedly Wenger is being aggressive because he knows his value will only go up after the season and wants to get in before other clubs are confident enough to offer the real mega bucks (over 30m) that is beyond us.

Meanwhile Gotze has been announced as the 2011 Golden boy award winner. Joining the likes of Rooney, Messi, Fabregas, Aguero and Pato from the last few years.

The award has a pretty good record of identifying the next world class superstar (except for 2008 when Anderson won...the exception that proves the rule).

We can only cross our fingers and hope we have good news in January.

 

[boxhead]

An unusually specific rumour has us offering 25m + Arshavin + Bendtner for Gotze in January. Supposedly Wenger is being aggressive because he knows his value will only go up after the season and wants to get in before other clubs are confident enough to offer the real mega bucks (over 30m) that is beyond us.

Meanwhile Gotze has been announced as the 2011 Golden boy award winner. Joining the likes of Rooney, Messi, Fabregas, Aguero and Pato from the last few years.

The award has a pretty good record of identifying the next world class superstar (except for 2008 when Anderson won...the exception that proves the rule).

We can only cross our fingers and hope we have good news in January.

You think an award that only caters to players in Europe means anything?
Everyone knows the best, most coveted under 20's talent in the world is Neymar.
It's a meaningless award as it is anyway.

 

[Habitual Linestepper]

Bendtner's loan is season long. Sunderland gave us 1-2 mill for him so we can't bring him back at any point until after the loan. Pretty much rules that out.

I can't see us getting Gotze. Reus would be a more realistic target. His buy out clause is 18 mill which means it won't turn into a bidding war. And he's a life long Arsenal fan so we should be able to convince him to come here.

 

[BunniesMan]

You think an award that only caters to players in Europe means anything?
Everyone knows the best, most coveted under 20's talent in the world is Neymar.
It's a meaningless award as it is anyway.

Neymar will get recognition if he ever gets the balls to come to Europe and then does well for a big club in a big league. While he continues to play for a midtable team in Brazil, excuse me for not showing him much respect.

And does it mean anything? I've mentioned several recent winners, the award has a good record of picking out the next big thing.

And HL, loans get broken all the time, who knows there might even be a sell on clause in the deal. Or if the difference between getting Gotze for the amount we're offering and not getting him is Bendtner I'm sure we'd pay to get him back.

And the reason I'm more optimistic than usual that we'll do something of note is RVP. Wenger has to prove to him that our ambitions are still to be top of the league. I think we're one top player away from that. So he needs to get a big talent to keep RVP. His natural instinct might be against spending large 8 figure sums on talent, but he might be forced to do that to keep the man who is keeping us in contention for top 4.

 

[boxhead]

:lol: Bunniesderp strikes again.
So Neymar playing in Brazil means you don't consider him a world class talent yet you harp on about Gotze being the best young player in the world in a league you say is crap?
I thought the Bundesliga wasn't a big league according to you; that must disqualify Gotze. I'm guessing Hazard must be disqualified as well. Moron.
:lol:
Neymar is far more coveted than Gotze, like any Brazilian teen sensation. He has more potential than Gotze at this stage but there is definitely the greater risk he could be a flop.
You must be the only person on the planet that doesn't rate Neymar, it must be because he is definitely out of Arsenal's price range.
If Arsenal were tangibly linked to Neymar you'd be carrying on like he is better than Messi.

"the next big thing"
Uh huh.
So a pointless award, Wikipedia articles, Google News and FIFA 12 are all you have to justify your argument.
Fantastic.

 

[BunniesMan]

:lol: Bunniesderp strikes again.
So Neymar playing in Brazil means you don't consider him a world class talent yet you harp on about Gotze being the best young player in the world in a league you say is crap?
I thought the Bundesliga wasn't a big league according to you; that must disqualify Gotze. I'm guessing Hazard must be disqualified as well. Moron.
:lol:
Neymar is far more coveted than Gotze, like any Brazilian teen sensation. He has more potential than Gotze at this stage but there is definitely the greater risk he could be a flop.
You must be the only person on the planet that doesn't rate Neymar, it must be because he is definitely out of Arsenal's price range.
If Arsenal were tangibly linked to Neymar you'd be carrying on like he is better than Messi.

"the next big thing"
Uh huh.
So a pointless award, Wikipedia articles, Google News and FIFA 12 are all you have to justify your argument.
Fantastic.

What's the point of replying to me if you're just going to launch into disrespectul personal attacks? Notice how I've managed to avoid personal attacks.

And I don't rate the Bundesliga compared to the EPL. It shits on Brazil ffs. And Neymar doesn't even play for a decent team in Brazil. It would be like losing your shit over some kid in Portugal.

Yes he's setting the world on fire playing against mediocre players but there is no guarantee that he'll make the leap. Gotze is already playing in the Champions league.

And how many "Brazilian teen sensations" have we seen in recent years go to crap when they came to Europe. He's just as likely to become the next Denilson or Anderson than the next Ronaldinho.

Gotze > Neymar. Regardless of whether we get him or not.

 

[Tonearm Terrorwrist]

Lol

These androtrops base their opinion on players on whether they're Arsenal 'fans' or not despite never hearing of them at all.