Written by MickyDidIt89
A couple of things have got me thinking a little more laterally just now. One is the presence of Thierry Henry around the camp, and the other is transfer window talk. Lets see. We could buy a Right Back as cover for Sagna or even a top notch Goalkeeper. Maybe another Centre Half. Perhaps a world class leader in as a Midfield Dynamo. However, I have had an epiphany. I have noticed how scoring one more than the opposition can quite often win matches. Unsuprisingly, we have not won a trophy since Henry played for us. Robin van Persie is not an out and out striker, nor is Chamakh, and Bendy may have great hair and super footwear, but is hardly prolific in front of goal.
I shall get straight to the point. I am talking about the League now, not Cup games. We are over the half way point, and here are the goalscoring figures for the players who are, or have played, the central striker role:
Chamakh 7 Bendtner 2 Van Persie 1
Overall, our “Goals For” tally is very good. This is largely down to the weighty contribution of 9 goals from Nasri. The “Goals Against” is not so pretty, however this pales into insignificance when compared to the number of “Games Lost”. The presence of TH has made me hark back to the invincibles season. The Great Man scored 30 League goals.
There is much I like about Chamakh, sadly though I believe he is entirely the wrong type of player for us as first choice striker. Apart from his great work rate, he has a marvellous ability to hold the ball up and bring others into play. Therein lies my beef. By the time the ball gets to my striker, there should be no-one to “bring into play”. The ball into him should represent the last pass before the strike on goal. I want someone so utterly selfish when confronted by the whiffiest of whiffs of a goal that he would make my mother in law look charitable.
I am not going into the pros and cons of playing the high line, and the lack of opportunity it gives us to hit fast against smaller numbers on the break , but what it does mean is that many of our goals are going to involve a thread, a needle and the pin point accuracy of a damn good surgeon. Attack is a very effective form of defence, but in football speak, the attack must end in a goal. Playing a high line must not be interpreted as a form of attack, it is not. It is a positional stance. In the same way, sitting deep and hitting on the break is also a positional thing, and not therefore a defensive stance.
Everything about our football says “no” to the high ball into the box. Why drill nine outfield players in the fine art of pass and move, and then employ the tenth whose main asset is his heading ability?
Marouanne was bought to add another dimension to our play, and he does. For a first six months in the premiership, his goals scored figures are impressive. What I have not seen are the “You Tube” clips. The moments of individual brilliance that single handedly turn a dire team performance into three points. With MC, as well as Bendy, it is all about the inclusiveness in the build up play, which cannot be their primary role. TH’s first season was not littered with YouTube moments, so can MC go on and do a TH? At 27, I don’t think so. For all this, I love the man and his attitude. He is not one of our strikers I would be happy to see the back of.
Please don’t think for a moment that because I raise the striker issue, that I am saying this is our sole or even primary concern. I am not. All I am doing is highlighting one of my “lateral” thoughts.
To underline that, I have asked Rasp/Peaches to include this pic of Martin Keown. Firstly, because I got up twenty minutes early to write this, so I choose, and secondly to hint at my other concern! The bit we are going to need this weekend.
Arsenal News 24/7
arsenalarsenal.net 
Good morning folks- firstly- cracking write up MDi89! Loved this line in particular “I want someone so utterly selfish when confronted by the whiffiest of whiffs of a goal that he would make my mother in law look charitable.” I think you and I have a similar problem! My mates can’t believe that in this enlightened age I’ve “ended up with Les Dawson’s mother in Law”!
Secondly- back from a month of bliss in South East Asia where I managed to think about our great club only sporadically (for the first and possibly last time in my life) to find we could be psychoanalysed with split personality disorder! You’ve probably been through this innumerable times before now but how can the team I watched between 3-5am trouncing Chelsea get beaten by Ipswich and narrowly avoid defeat against Leeds? It’s like loving your wife but having her mother over all the time right now!
Nasri has scored because he dribbles past the opposition and creates his own space. Our other CM’s and strikers all want top pass through the defenders. Often only marginally off target but enough for the defence to intercept. Theo can use his pace to get behind the defence but is one dimensional.
when we break we always look for someone to pass to. Passes do not win matches, we need goals, those post should be our focus
MDI89
Arsenals’ main problem in front of goal is trying to walk the ball into the net, which was ever so evident against Ipswich with, for instance, Cesc.
I long for the days where The Arse has 13 corners a game, a result of a constant bonbardment of the goal, & we see the odd pile driver go in from 20 metres/yards out 😉
For instance.
So we win the Carling Cup. Other club fans say so what 😉 But if the winner comes from a long thunderbolt, its advantage Arsenal for the rest of the season, plus the summer going into the next season. Talk about popular on You Tube 😛
Like the cricket tonight. You see young Aaron Finch belt & caress 53 no. We may not win it but his knock says, the sleeping giant is stirring & get ready for plenty more from the Brasil of cricket in the future 😆
Great post micky,
Our system is fragile and relies on the opposition playing into our hands. Every manager in the prem has a handbook now entitled How to beat Arsenal. It’s very short, it just says pack the defence, be direct and try to win as many attacking set pieces as possible.
The players let us down against Ipswich. Arsène’s achilles heal is his inability to put a rocket up the players and consequently our performance in the 2nd half was even worse than the 1st (which didn’t seem possible)
Re strikers: I assume that AW doesn’t think an out and out striker would fit into our system. As I have said before, all our strikers are No.10’s. We don’t have a single player (maybe with the exception of RvP) whose first instinct is to take a touch and shoot when he receives the ball in and around the area.
Good right up MD.
I agree in principle with most of what you say. However I think teams set up differently against us than they did in Thierry’s wonder years.
How many of his goals were scored breaking away from an opposition back 4 stuck on the halfway line, carved open by a pass from Bobby or Denis?
Would he be as successful playing in the current team against teams intent on closing all space around the box?
Until we can be confident enough in our defence to allow the opposition more possession in our half and springing counter attacks from deep I fear we should consign ourselves to more of the same from our strikers.
Funnily enough the one true goalscorer we have (Vela) is too often left to ply his trade on the left wing. He is probably the best striker to play in the current style of play but is susceptible to being out muscled by most CBs.
If we want to see a striker like Henry or Wright again we need to hope AW reverts to 4-4-2.
Morning All, interesting post Mickey. I find it interesting that in the days of the invincibles we were always there or there abouts with regards to the premier league but always struggled in the champions league despite having some of the best players in the world in their respective positions at the time. I would argue that after the Barcelona defeat in the champions league Arsenal have transformed the team which has resulted in a reversal of fortunes. We look very comfortable in Europe but often struggle in the league when we should’nt. Am I the only one who feels we sometimes play at champions league pace in the prem to our detriment?
On the striker point, I feel we are not using movement and pace in our forward line enough. I say not using because size apart the only forward we have who has very good movement and excellent pace is Walcott, who we play as a winger.For me Bendtner has a poor first touch and wanders away from the centre of the goal too often. Chamakh doesnt have lightning pace but I feel we will see more from him next season. Van Persie is an excellently skilled individual who will create something out of nothing.
I do sometimes wonder what Vela would produce if he was given as much game play as Arshavin
Nice one MDI89.
I think Wenger intended Bendy to be our out and out striker but he’s just not turned out as expected.
Have we scored from outside the area this season?
How many have we scored from headers?
There seems to be less variety and we always want to score 5-a-side goals.
I was thinking about why our players are always said to look good in training. It’s because they’re playing against our own attack-minded defenders! Can you imagine an exercise in training where one eleven ‘estacionar la autobus’ and the other tries to break it down. I can’t, but really it’s what we should be doing the most.
Good news is that Robert Green plays better at the Emirates than he does at the Boleyn. 🙂
Micky. Interesting post.
I cannot understand what has happened to Chamakh. He looked lethal then gets rested and comes back a shadow of the player we first saw.
And Arshavin? One of our finest players has gone totally awry. Why? One can understand that he gets tired and has a few ineffectual games, but it does not explain why he can no longer trap a ball.
I have made my opinion known about the high-line. Our players have enough experience to change tactics throughout the game, we do not seem to do this anymore. There was a time when the team would slow the pace of the passing for a few minutes then accelerate. We would play mostly left side (when AA was in form) and then switch to play through the middle ot the right.
This constant tippy tappy stuff drives me nuts.
Plus I said at the time – why did we buy Chamakh when we could have bought David Villa, Ibramovich, Eto’o or Dzeko? We have the money …… bloody spend it on world class players not just very good players.
Morning all.
Carlito,
We do not share a similar problem at all. Far from it. Given the desert island, only two of you left, must reproduce scenario, I would give all the money I had to mate with Les Dawson himself over the creature known as my mother-in-law!
Anyhow, moving on to less important matters, BR, I could not agree more about the “we could have bought David Villa” line.
There seems to be a lot of criticism of our desire to walk the ball into the net, the fact that we play with a risky high line etc.
I would disagree that playing with a high line is only a positional stance and not an attacking tactic. I would argue that, playing against teams who generally look for a 0-0 or a breakaway victory against us leaves us with no choic but to force the play. If we played a bit deeper hoping for the swift counters that we used to see with Cole, Henry, Pires and Ljungberg, we’d get loads of 0-0’s. Teams got fed up of being ripped apart by Henry and Co so they just do all they can to stop us, even the top sides. It really is up to us to break them down. Maybe too many passes and a high line isn’t always the best tactic but it is the one we are using. The biggest problem for me is not the tactic but the lack of orgency with whcih we play – see Ipswich, Leeds, Braga for evidence. When we paly this style with pace we do realyl well, see Chelsea and apart from the score line, Man City.
I also think it’s too simple to aruge we should shoot more or that we don’t have an instinctive goalscorer. Our whole game is about passing so the striker has to be able to link up too. With a whole team camped on the edge of their own box it’s unlikely that a Fox in the Box type would get the onoe on one chances we hope for. Wenger once said that he didn’t want Michael Owen and this, I think, was becasue a striekr who plays off the defenders shoulder and into the space behind, just wouldn’t get chances at Arsenal, hence Theo playing out wide.
Sorry for all the typos!
Smith14,
I really only see the line as where we (AW) feels happiest with us pitching tent. My real striker issues are that Nasri is our top scorer. Its nice to share them about and that is one of the results of our high line, I just don’t feel that we have a striker with real “spark”.
Must to a meeting go.
mdi89,
I think the line is part of a wider thing, to try to build pressure, it’s part of the idea of trying to put pressure on oppostion players all over the pitch and not giving them time to breath. If we’re not on our game it does leave us vulnerable.
As for the stirker situation, I do agree that we don’t have a real talisman up there. I think Chamakh started well but the intensity is taking it’s toll. I also don’t think you can underestimate how much we miss RVP, he’s only just coming back to anything like form over the last couple of games. To me, he is easily the equal of Dzeko or Ibra. The huge problem is obviously his injury record.
Then of course we have Super Nic. Personally I think he was poor against Leeds although he did try. Against Ipswich he got frustrated with a lack of chances so started looking for the ball deeper which left him out of the middle when the ball did come in. Very frustrationg to watch and he still has a lot to prove.
Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to add David Villa to the squad but he was always going to chose Barca over us.
Smith14,
Last one before I go for a while. I know what you mean about RvP. Two points. One is that I have always seen him ideally suited to the DB10 role. Second, the injuries. In my mind I said at the beginning of this season one more serious injury and out. So far, one league goal!!
Back later.
We’ve stirred up a right old hornets next today!
Without wishing to write anoter disseration, I agree that RVP is best suited to the deeper attacking role but that either means he takes Cesc’s current role in the side (which he did earlier in the season when we played RVP and Chamakh – cant remember which game) or we play a 4-4-2 and leave Cesc as an orthodox CM. The problem with that is that a) We don’t have a typical 9 to partner him (the point of this post I suppose!) and b) Cesc is, in my view our best player and we have to set the team up to get the best from him.
i want astriker who could create chances,score goals.he may not necessarily be expensive,coz there are loads of good quality strikers in the world which will not caused wenger much.i think wenger should bereading more of these writeup.search me on facebook,adedayo adeyemi akanbi
Smith14. I can see you point of view but I state again, we must use a variety of tactics to draw teams out. The high line and pressurising the opposition is just one of our attacking weapons – it should not be exclusive.
Do Barca have the same problem? Why can they find gaping holes on defences and we can’t? Apart from the obvious (they have better players) do they find better tactical solutions, and if so, why can’t we copy them?
The player this team needs is Ian Wright, a selfish fox in the box and the best finisher I have seen at Arsenal.
Finally, the need for financial security can and does bite the club. I would ask Liverpool how much they would want to sell Torres and break our transfer record to buy him. He is wasted up there.
Raddy, I totally agree that we need to vary things sometimes.
The point about Barca can perhaps be explained in a couple of ways. Firstly, they play against weaker opposition than we do. Apart from Real there is really no challenge out there. The intensity of the Premier League is entirely different to La Liga.
The other thing is that Barca are just exceptionally good. They are arguably on the brink of being the greatest club side ever. They have mastered the art that we are still learning.
I still think we’ll beat them though!
Good article and interesting Discussion, whilst I have some sympathy with BR’s mix it up plea, Smithy has nailed it for me. Our real problems with the massed clogging defenses in recent games has been lack of pace in our passing game. Pass and move at speed was our hallmark but with the constant niggly fouls and a stop start game this has been slowed down to our detriment. A reluctance to head for the 6 yard line or the far post when Theo gets round the fullback has also wasted opportunity’s
So I would like to see the midfielders running at the packed defenses more often rather than always passing along them looking for a break. The close control skills of our players make the opposition reluctant to tackle for fear of penalties and a return to our high tempo game both in and out of the box, would IMHO reap many benefits. An occasional shot on the run would also further confuse the opposition who tend to funnel back when approached by quick players and give our skillful midfielders time.
It would of course also be good to see poor dejected AA given a rest and time to regain his confidence.
And for anyone in need of a smile I offer this.
Subject: How to make a baby
There is not one dirty word in it, and it is funny!–
The Smiths were unable to conceive children and decided to use a surrogate father to start their family. On the day the proxy father was to arrive, Mr.. Smith
kissed his wife goodbye and said, ‘Well, I’m off now.
The man should be here soon.’
Half an hour later, just by chance, a door-to-door baby photographer happened to ring the doorbell, hoping to make a sale. ‘Good morning, Ma’am’, he said, ‘I’ve come to…’
‘Oh, no need to explain, ‘Mrs. Smith cut in, embarrassed, ‘I’ve been expecting you.’
‘Have you really?’ said the photographer. ‘Well, that’s good. Did you know babies are my specialty?’
‘Well that’s what my husband and I had hoped. Please come in and have a seat!.
After a moment she asked, blushing,
‘Well, where do we start?’
‘Leave everything to me. I usually try two in the bathtub, one on the couch, and perhaps a couple on the bed. And sometimes the living room floor is fun. You can really spread out there.’
‘Bathtub, living room floor? No wonder it didn’t work out for Harry and me!’
‘Well, Ma’am, none of us can guarantee a good one every time. But if we try several different positions and I shoot from six or seven angles, I’m sure you’ll be pleased with the results.’
‘My, that’s a lot!’, gasped Mrs. Smith.
‘Ma’am, in my line of work a man has to take his time. I’d love to be in and out in five minutes, but I’m sure you’d be disappointed with that.’
‘Don’t I know it,’ said Mrs. Smith quietly.
The photographer opened his briefcase and pulled out a portfolio of his baby pictures. ‘This was done on the top of a bus,’ he said.
‘Oh, my God!’ Mrs. Smith exclaimed,
grasping at her throat.
‘And these twins turned out exceptionally well – when you consider their mother was so difficult to work with.’
‘She was difficult?’ asked Mrs. Smith.
‘Yes, I’m afraid so. I finally had to take her to the park to get the job done right. People were crowding around four and five deep
to get a good look’
‘Four and five deep?’ said Mrs. Smith,
her eyes wide with amazement.
‘Yes’, the photographer replied. ‘And for
more than three hours, too. The mother was constantly squealing and yelling – I could hardly concentrate, and when darkness approached I had to rush my shots. Finally, when the squirrels began nibbling on my equipment, I just had to pack it all in.’
Mrs. Smith leaned forward.
‘Do you mean they actually
chewed on your, uh….equipment?’
‘It’s true, Ma’am, yes.. Well, if you’re ready, I’ll set-up my tripod and we can
get to work right away..’
‘Tripod?’
‘Oh yes, Ma’am.. I need to use a tripod to rest my Canon on. It’s much too big to be held in the hand very long.’
Mrs. Smith fainted.
Here is a little music vid for cricket fans, especially you GG
It tells a tale from Fatman Gattings point of view of his infamous 1993 dismissal.
I despair that there are still people who I respect that think that just because a club offer what seems like enough money they can buy a player, if this were true Kaka would be playing at Eastlands…….but he is not, is he?
The idea that Arsenal could have signed David Villa because “we have money” is the kind of sensationalist nonsense that LG sprout to get hits. It is about as accurate as saying if we offered a bit more money we would have got Alonso. People outside Spain often miss just how iconic Barcelona and Real Madrid are in that country. David Villa said over and over again in almost every interview he gave that he did not want to leave Spain; his dream was to play for Barça in the same way the Alonso was never going to give up an opportunity to play for Real Madrid.
BR
I share your frustration but David Villa was never a possibility, AC Milan sold Ibrahimavich for 30 mil to Barça and frankly Bendtner is better; Etoo? Do you really think he was going to choose us over Barça? And Dzeco, true we have money to spend but we would never be able to compete with City in a bidding war and once again Bendtner is better……something I suspect we will see in the not too distant future.
London. Of course you are right. Just frustration getting the better of me. I want the best for our club and we are so close to having a fantastic team, but I would be lying if I said I was thrilled when we signed Chamakh – I wanted a player with equal status to Fabregas. Is it too much to ask of a club in the Top 6 in the world?? Would he get into any of the other top sides (Barca, RM, MU, Inter, Bayern/Chavs) ?
Fair enough BR
For the sake of conversaton, the flaw in the question is that if Chamakh was good enough to get into any of the teams you mentioned he probably would have gone to them rather than us.
But this may not be entering into the spirit that you intended so with that in mind I certainly share your wish for Fabregas.
London two very good posts am with you 100%
I agree with Dandan. The amount of times this season I’ve seen Theo get round the back of the defence and slide a ball across the 6 yard box with no-one there to tap in is very frustating. Is it a poor ball, or is he too quick for the midfield? Or, as I suspect, is it no one taking a gamble. It gives people a chance to say that he doesn’t play the right ball, when clearly he has created a goal scoring opportunity.
Afternoon people,
I don’t think anyone was suggesting that Villa was ever a target. It is hard to imagine any player choosing us over Barca right now. Of course in Spain they have to put up with the rubbish food and nasty sticky weather, so we do have something going for us!
dandan,
The joke is very good. Has been copied to a photographer chum, who as a massive cricket fan, and has also received BR’s Gatting clip.
Wow, we have Spurs v Utd. Is that sunday? Hoping for a foul tempered draw.
Yep MdI89 – a nil nil, 4 sendings off each, multiple injuries suffered and a mass brawl at the end of the game will do nicely in the ManUre-Spuds game.
Chary,
Well, that covers the players and the result. You have nothing in mind for the Scotish Manager?
All to often this season DanDans observation of the ball in the box and no one there has happened.
Watch the best goalscorers and they are attacking that are. I’ve seen Cesc stop his run on more than one occasion to take up a position at the penalty spot with players in the way that makes threading the eye of the needle look as easy as the proverbial.
The position is fine if taken as an option but should really be for deeper players coming onto a loose ball. Anyone in the box should be breaking backs to get on the 6 yard box. Bendtner has also been guilty of being on his heels as has AA, AAs is poor form and I’m putting Bendtner down to lack of match practice at the moment.
Thing is only 10 days ago we thought the world had changed with outplaying Chelsea, beating Birmingham and coming up against the Sky Blue Bus. Yet two results later (I’ll forgive Wigan) we are all concerned again.
We’ve all got to get our swagger back tomorrow.
Oops, I forgot about him MDi89– sent to the stands and made to sit in the Park Lane End after taking a swing at the ref for only allowing 10 minutes of injury time as they fail to score during normal time.
The Twitch to have his collar felt by HMIT at the same time and driven off in a Black Maria to Highbury Corner magistrates for fraudulent tax returns and avoidance.
One can dream.
Micky would you please allow peaches to send me your email addy I think we have something in common.
dandan – I think micky has already emailed you 🙂
dandan,
No problem. I did reply to her request yesterday and included your address in the reply, so I would have thought you received it. Strange, I will try again now.
I just got off the phone with a friend here in the fens. He said that the snow that has been falling since early this morning and is already knee deep will be nearly waist high by the end of the day.
The temperature is dropping below zero and the north wind is increasing.
My Mother in Law, has done nothing but look through the kitchen window all morning long.
I’m thinking that if it gets much worse, I may have to let her back in.
dandan,
Oh go on, one more night won’t hurt her!
dandan,
Oh crikey, if the thing in common has something to do with mother-in-laws, then your email is most unwelcome!
Security has been tightened.
Hi all
Thanks Micky for the post – I just miss Thierry 😦
But thinking about playing with such a high line surely it compresses all the play into a smaller area and gives us even less chance of getting through unless we are banking on other defenders not being very good and winning lots of penalties.
@London 2:02 I couldnt agree with you more !!!! people seem to forget that players have children in schools, wives preferred areas to live in, etc nevermind the fact that the purchasing of a player takes several meetings and is never ‘done’ until everything is signed. I used to love the days when a new signing was just announced out of the blue and you sat there half surprised in some cases half excited. Unfortunately in a time of the internet and webcams, mobile communication etc it is almost impossible to keep a lid on things these days
@dandan that joke was hilarious
Right- I know he’s a cheating scumbag- but the striker most likely to happen to be in the right area for one of theo’s crosses right now is the supposedly available Luis Suarez. Would you have him? He’s allegedly a Spurs target but then everyone catches Arry’s eye at this time of year!
Afternoon all,
I think the most likely scenario is that we shan’t buy or sell anyone in this transfer window.
It seems my passing comment about playing with a high line has sparked a very interesting debate.
As unusual as it is in the blogosphere, I can tell you a FACT about this subject. I happened to meet Pat Rice the summer that TH left and asked him where the goals were going to come from now. He became very animated and said “don’t worry, we’re going to play with a high line now and compress play in the opposition’s half and that will lead to goals from all over the pitch” AW must have a lot of belief in this policy because it’s been in place ever since.
Hi Carlito,
Nice to have you back although I’m sure you’d rather still be in paradise 😛
You are not wrong Rasp- but it’s always a brighter day under grey skies when there’s good footy banter to partake in 🙂
Just seen poor old Dundee are in administration again an a 25 point deduction. Sad times for my favourite club North of the border
Carlito. Watford are my favourite club North of the Border
Train tickets booked for the Wiganers Game. Let the week speed on by.
Always been a Hearts man, for no other reason than they play in our original colours. Then I discovered that Edinburgh is a nice place.
Point of not much interest, but a single first class ticket from Devon to Paddington is £246!!!!
A normal is £35. What the heck do they serve up?
BR,
I remember being so drunk in the standing away end at Vicarage Road, that I did not see the ball once during the entire match!
This was what Arsene said about Thierry;
“In front of goal, Thierry was somebody who was very sharp. He can give you good advice because he analysed the defenders very well.
“He knew the weakness of every defender in the back four in the first ten minutes of every game.”
Owh, how we miss him!!
Hopefully Walcott can exceed that by the first five minutes in a few years time!
Good debate today – thought-provoking post Micky. The stats on how many our three strikers have bagged in the league this season were quite shocking.
Welcome back Carlito.
After the last two cup games it’s tempting to give up on Bendy, but do you remember that game against Burnley last year when he missed chance after chance (I think it was seven in the end, of which about four were easier to score than miss)? The misses were terrible, but an important point was that he was in the right position to have the chances. He then turned out against Porto in the CL a few days later and was again always in the right position – and this time he bagged a hat trick.
What seems odd this year is that when he gets on the pitch he is seldom in the the sort of central position where he can find these goal scoring opportunities. So often he drifts out to the wings leaving us with no-one in the middle. Why? Is he acting under orders? Is it meant to pull defenders wide so the likes of Cesc can break through the centre of the defence? Is he being undisciplined?
I feel that he could score goals if given a decent run and if played in the position that suits him best.
I know he doesn’t have the touch or skill of Henry or Torres, but you don’t have to be as gifted as they are to be a successful goal scorer. Last year Darren Bent was third top scorer in the league with 24!
Micky @ 7.02……Nigella Lawson on your lap?
This one’s for Carlito, Micky and Dandan:
A man who hated his mother-in-law got three wishes from a genie.
Genie: “Whatever you wish for, your mother-in-law gets DOUBLE.”
First wish: “I would like one billion dollars.”
Genie: “Ok but your mum-in-law get’s two billion.”
Second wish: “I would like an island off the coast of Greece.”
Genie: “OK but she get’s two islands.”
Third wish: ” I would like you to beat me half to death.”
Chas, You sure you dont mean Nigel? he’s the money Man LOL
Rasp
You name dropper you, speaking to Pat Rice personally gives you first hand knowledge…….that’s practically cheating.
On a slightly more serious note the high line will only work if our control and passing are absolutely perfect. Nasri can do that, Fàbregas obviously, Arshavin when he can be arsed, as can Chamakh but Bendtner’s touch is too heavy and Walcott is no where near good enough to being thought of in that way.
This is possibly the only difference I have with DanDan; when there is space Theo can get to the by line and pull the ball back for someone who should have bust a gut to get on the end of the pass; this hypothetical person comes in for a lot of stick for not being at the right place at the right time but with Walcott being pretty much the fastest player in the Prem is there any surprise that no one is fast enough to get into the box in time.
Back to the high line, the best proponents of this are Barcelona I asked one of my friends who lives there why don’t other teams play as they would in England and “Park the Bus” he said they do but that usually lasts less than 30 minutes before Barça score which forces the opposition to come out allowing the Catalan’s pick them off.
My belief is that the Barcelona way works because every player has exceptional control and passing this is obviously something that Wenger aspires to but Bendtner and Walcott are far from being able to deliver that kind of skill set. Maybe this run of games will knock the rust off of Bendtner and iron out the continuous control issues that Theo has.
There is one thing that no one has gone over the top about by way of explanation as to why when we play big boys football we are back to being a force to be reckoned with: Chelsea, Birmingham etc………the answer is, off course, the Boy Wonder: ladies and gentlemen the difference is no other than our very own Dutch maestro Robin Van Persie.
Nice one Rocky: But my mother in law would grab the poor Genie and shove his lamp where the light dont shine.
But that is my point London he pulls the ball back that means the ball is travelling from the goal line back in the direction from which the players should be arriving if they are putting the effort in.
My other big hang up is how many players attack the near post rather than the back stick from where they can either score or head back across the goal. Old fashioned football perhaps, but bloody effective against a static team defending their own penalty area.
Dandan
If we were to play open expansive football then I would agree with everything you say. The problem is, as I am sure you know we don’t, opponants won’t let us; they park the bus, congest the penalty area which makes it impossible for Walcott to make such runs: look no further than Ipswich.
This happens to Barcelona but the close control of Messi etc allows them to create space to score, Nasri can do this, Fabregas, Chamakh, Arshavin but Walcott unfortunately cannot and it costs us.
I think we will have to agree to disagree London, Theo IMHO has more skill than you give him credit for and opportunities and chances he has created have been wasted by his colleagues this year
Fair enough Dandan
I think if I try to take this any further I will start to resemble a dog chasing his tail, have a good evening.
When our front players are on form, then Cesc, Nasri, Theo, RvP and Arsh really can make us look like Barca.
It’s an issue of either form or attitude that’s killing us in some games (like Leeds and Ipswich), where some players are bang out of form and others don’t seem as if they’re arsed. As has been said many times, our style of play is such a finely tuned instrument that it only needs one or two notes to be off for the whole thing to fall apart.
The only way manchester united will survive @ Shite Hart Lane is by bias refereeing or out & out luck. Otherwise, Spuds will win.
Don’t agree GG. The Spuds will roll over and have their tummies tickled.
A Spuds-ManUre draw will probably be the best result for us. If there has to be a winner, I would prefer ManUre as I still think they’ll be found out in the last third of the season and I don’t want Twitchy and his boys getting ideas above their station.
RL
Spuds have been duped by man utd/ref in recent times in this fixture. I reckon spuds will be up 4 this one. Also, if Hotshit do lose this fixture they will finish no higher than 5th, coz the chavs will over take them.
No RL, Hotpoop should prevail in this one, & help keep The Invincible tag to “by far the greatest team, the world has ever seen”.
Speaking of which, that photo that MDI89 via raspy of Martin Keown is my 2nd favourite Gooner shot of all time. My favourite Gooner shot is Charlie putting the ball in the back of the net after a pass from Big Raddy in 1971. But I really love the one above though 😀
Morning,
We will find positives from any of the Spurs/Utd outcomes, only much more so after a win today.
Despite my gloomy stat of RvP’s solitary league goal this season, I think he is the best at lubricating the movement of our attack. Is the poor fellow available for today?
chas says:
January 14, 2011 at 7:48 pm
Micky @ 7.02……Nigella Lawson on your lap?
I am not one for risks, but have just upgraded on the off chance that Chas was being serious!
Shoot me down I want Spuds to beat ManUre today.
Unfortunately Dear ‘Arry has tried Psychological warfare in his Sun column, saying that Man U can’t go the season unbeaten that the Arsenal Invincibles were a much better team than the current Man U team and that Real Madrid and Barca are on a different stratosphere.
As mindgames go it’s a poor effort!
GiE,
Hate to even think like this, but should we lose today, then we are looking over our shoulders rather than upwards. Therefore a Manure win. A win today, then yes, a Spuds win tomorrow.
haha micky, I just thought it would be ‘first class’ 🙂
BR,
Expecting nothing less than 11/11 today. Oh and 4-4-2!
.
Chas,
All woman that woman.
Gie- have to say I weirdly agree I hope manyoo get beaten tomorrow but also agree with Micky that anything less than a win at west ham today makes that prospect very unappealing. But anything less that a win out east makes our prospects in general pretty miserable. Hope the ‘backlash’ many pundits think our boys will serve up today materialises
And thanks to all for the welcome back- good to be amongst friends and enjoyed the jokes 😀
Morning,
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