football: the beautiful game

[JohannesDeSilentio]

I'm still in denial about that one

hence my ability to remain optimistic?

[chchchip]

think nasri will play? he's named in the squad.

[Magsåvningsreserven]

never would've thought kewell going to melbourne would trend worldwide, but good luck to the dude. always liked that guy.

[JohannesDeSilentio]

Yeah I think fondly of Kewell, which is odd because he's supposed to be a cunt. Same with Riise. Kewell and Viduka at Leeds had some quite lovely moments.

Suarez not starting, Nasri is... my feelings of excitement can only mean we're heading for a beating...

[chchchip]

frimpong reminds me of a ninja turtle.

[Yom]

he had a good game imo

just kicked too many ppl

we looked ok as well up until he got sent off and our players started dropping like flies

its gonna be a very long season.....

[chchchip]

he played great. i like him a lot. we looked good until he was off like you said. team has heart. these youngsters got some fire in them. however where the fuck is our teeth in attack. we've barely created anything in the opening 3 matches. i wanna see miyaichi play dammit.

[chchchip]

and pool aint winning shit this year. they do not look good.

[Yom]

agreed, i thought we were gonna get spanked today. players did look very committed

i think he is gonna have to play Ryo as we wont have enough players soon lol either sent off or injured

[JohannesDeSilentio]

Intrigued by Ryo, anyone seen a showreel?

Liverpool have a poor team, but they were tactically superior, packing the midfield, breaking fast, then forcing play wide when on the defensive, knowing that Arsenal can't cross or convert. Nasri, farewell, I'll never have to watch you turn your back and dribble the ball away from their goal and towards ours again. Arshavin's one contribution was a tackle. Ramsey was overwhelmed, whether in a crowded midfield or his own penalty box. Suarez is amazing, Carroll is shit. Frimpong puts it about to good effect, he's just got to learn when to have a dig and when to hold back. Tasty shot too. Getting booked in the first five minutes never really boded well though. Walcott looked frustrated. RVP looked isolated. Really think some of Gervinho's direct running would have unsettled that defence, more than yet further failed attempts to unlock it with a clever backheel. Still refuse to lose faith.

Also nice to see a player over 6' tall.

[chchchip]

zN0ppAQih70

[JohannesDeSilentio]

thanks for that, he looks like a lot of fun, rather in the Narsi mould of over-elaboration though. Him and Alex OC should get a fair run out this season, and may even be decent in a couple of years.

Also why are Arshavin and Rosicky so shit now? I used to love those two so hard, now consistently anonymous. What gives?

[Magsåvningsreserven]

[Yom]

i thought i saw him do that

who was it towards? first i though it was at our keeper.

[JohannesDeSilentio]

supposedly it was at Lucas, an homage to an earlier clash with Frimpong

[chchchip]

lucas is such a shit player don't know how he still remains in that squad. useless cunt.

fucking glad i love lfc isn''t on here anymore.

what's up with mierles and barton both looking like skinheads/nazis/hitler(barton)?

arshavin was utter shit today.

[JohannesDeSilentio]

TBH I quite like that skinhead look. I'll take it over Gervinho's absurd relaxed afro hair centre-parted over a ridiculously bulbous forehead look. Which, come to think of it, was Adebayor's stee when he first arrived...

My boy who was at the game said that Arshavin ran pretty hard throughout, just looked absolutely useless, totally lacking in match sharpness. The ball kept pinging off him, no control. So at least he's trying. Ramsey on the other hand was utterly invisible the whole game. Off day? I do rate Ramsey, he's a great player to watch on is day, absolutely bristles with energy.

What we saw a lot of today was attack minded players taking up position in and around the box, and then waiting, just as we saw it every game last season when Cesc was injured. The best moment was when Liverpool's clearance only got as far as Frimpong, and he wasted no time in hammering it towards the bottom corner. Time was when you could rely on any one of Nasri, Rosicky or Arshavin to smuggle a ball through on goal, now none of them look up to it. Why is that?

Also one of my more negatively minded friends made the point that patience runs dry not because of the repetition of empty words regarding youth and potential, but that so many players seem to be regressing or stagnating. Jay Emanual Thomas, Carlos Vela, Fran Merida, Henri Lansbury, Sanchez Watt... all players we've seen dazzle in the Carling Cup, then fade away into nothing. When this happens with hugely gifted seniors (Arshavin, Rosicky) questions should be asked. There's a feeling Arsenal might benefit from a bit of power sharing, bringing in a few more coaching staff so that Arsene's famed boredom at practicing set pieces, defensive organisation etc. no longer impacts so negatively on the way the team performs in matches.

[mis]

Lucas is a shit player? He got alot of flak at the beginning of last season but hes starting to become essential to the Liverpool team, nowhere near as high profile as other DM's, will never get goals and rarely gets assists, but he is pretty damn good at breaking up play. There were a couple of times yesterday when Arsenal could have countered through walcott, but he correctly pulled walcott back for a freekick, you need players like that, who know when and where to foul.

Henderson, on the other hand, was terrible. I think KD was trying to use him to link up between Lucas, who sits deep, and Adam, who is so immobile its ridiculous, but Henderson kept pushing high up that it created a huge hole between Lucas/Adam and him/Carroll.

I feel really bad for Wenger, Koscielny's injury looked pretty serious considering he couldnt even walk off the field properly. At the rate Arsenal are going, Wenger is going to have to play in defence against Man U. But it just goes to show the lack of depth in the Arsenal team, and much of it has to do with Wengers transfer policy, refusing to pay inflated prices and considering seasoned veterans to the game. But frankly speaking, he hasnt made any good transfers in recent times, with the exception of Vermaelen, and Nasri(although he only displayed his brilliance in flashes), its gonna take a lot of time to rebuild this Arsenal team, especially with Wengers insistence on buying young players

[zeen]

Arsenal is probably going to be mid tablers this season unless wenger actually sign a few quality players this season. The current team has no substance. RVP is going to get injured in probably another 8 games or so. Then we're going to have strike problems as i don't see chamakh scoring any time soon.

Arsenal's midfield? Lack of experience.

Defence?= lots of injuries plus squid is shit and i don't see gibbs actually feeling clichy's role.

As fans, we are doomed. Fabregas is probably thankful that he is no longer a gunner.

[polishmike]

lucas is such a shit player don't know how he still remains in that squad. useless cunt.

If you think Lucas is useless I guarantee that you have no clue about modern football. I'll call you out on it. Total bullshit.

[clover]

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but what's the real reasoning behind Wenger not bringing in more experienced players?

When they were actually winning trophies back in like 03 with the undefeated season, the team was led by the likes of Henry, Bergkamp, Vieira, and Pires who were considered pretty experienced at that point.

Cultivating young talent is important no doubt, but isn't it clear as day that they need more experience in their squad?

edit- arsenal back then was soooo much fun to watch...

[Dan.]

I love Liverpool Football Club! Totally outplayed the arse, no excuses, everyone has to play with injuries an suspensions and they were at home. Dominated them 70 minutes of that match.

Lucas was class.

[78]

just as mis n' mike said Lucas is KEY to pool. He's only a shit player in terms of fantasy football... ain't that right fellas? 5pt starter bargain lol!

All players are struggling with the new ball. It's like a diet WC ball. Corners are going high and long or straight into the ground. I do feel that many of the results from the last two GWs would have been different if they kept the same ball as last year.

I do hope Arse-anal/Wenger learn their leason this year.

And yeah I called it. Despite only being 2-0 they got their arses handed to 'em. And man oh man Suarez... what a fuckin dude.

In other news... Torres is doing great for us...............................................................................................................................................

Why didn't we just buy Kaka?

[mis]

^Torres looks so awkward in the Chelsea system. Hes like the skinny, frail guy among the rest of the jocks and hes trying his best to fit in but it just isnt happening.

Regarding Wenger, soccernomics had a whole chapter on him iirc: "Arsene Wenger is the best manager around when it comes to this. Whether it’s Thierry Henry, Emmanuel Adebayor, Kolo Toure, Alex Hleb, the list goes on, it’s very rare that a sold Gunner will go on to be as good for his new club as he was for Arsenal. Each of these players has a price tag and the key is not just to sell up, as soon as possible, once a player’s downward spiral is evident but to maximise the return. As far as potential suitors are concerned, match form indicates that the player in question is still in his prime, often meaning that they are willing to pay an optimum fee. The selling club should always have a price on every single one of these players, if a buyer’s offer greatly exceeds this asking price that means it’s time to sell."

Thing about him is that he really built his team around Fabregas, two seasons ago Fabregas exploded. If RVP could have stayed fit for majority of the season, I think they wouldve had a serious chance of winning the title. This should be the period when Fabregas comes of age and leads Arsenal to trophies, Nasri was starting to shine right around the beginning of last season too, but the main fault lies with Wengers insistence on buying young players with resale value, in the middle of last season during the January transfer window, Arsenal were strongly linked with Schwarzer, but no deal went through and Almunia cost them several matches. Its kind of sad like I said, alot of rebuilding to be done.

[Dan.]

First paragraph by mis there^ is spot on.

[polishmike]

I love Liverpool Football Club! Totally outplayed the arse, no excuses, everyone has to play with injuries an suspensions and they were at home. Dominated them 70 minutes of that match.

Lucas was class.

I love Liverpool as well and we never really outplayed them. Maybe after the first goal. It all went down to shit for them after Frimpong got sent off. Otherwise I could see it being 0-0. Good win for us. Fairly unlucky for Arsenal.

[Dan.]

I think we did outplay them.

[chchchip]

If you think Lucas is useless I guarantee that you have no clue about modern football. I'll call you out on it. Total bullshit.

yeah yeah. i know you're right. that kind of player is crucial. butttt i still don't like him.

and we definitely weren't outplayed for 70 minutes. thought it went downhill after we were down to 10 men obviously. gotta drop carroll from my fantasy team and pick up suarez.

[clover]

What do you all think about Wenger trying to bring in Kaka on a loan?

http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer/premierleague/story/paper-chase-aug-21-wenger-lines-up-loan-move-for-kaka-082111

[Nov Spur]

What do you all think about Wenger trying to bring in Kaka on a loan?

http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer/premierleague/story/paper-chase-aug-21-wenger-lines-up-loan-move-for-kaka-082111

Even at the height of his form at AC Milan, I never thought Kaka would be particularly outstanding in England. Sure he has great vision and would likely fit in with Le Arse's system, but he lacks the pace to keep up with this type of game and excel (hence why he was so great in geriatric Italy). Years and injuries later, I ask is he really worth the wages for a minor upgrade on Rosicky? All this said, I doubt he's top of Wenger's list anyway.