Arsenal Banter Archive February 12 2015

12 Feb 2015 20:54:58
Posteon wrong page - was logged on rumour page :(

Looks like Wenger got his treatment of Pod spot on

I can be a little pro-wenger but I think he was right to avoid pressure to play him and stick to his guns.

Pod is popular with fans and you could see why but looks like AW was right again.

Thoughts?

12 Feb 2015 21:47:47
Good squad member, handy to have coming off the bench and could always nick you a valuable goal or two.

{Ed025's Note - i said that about stevie g.. :)

Mancini said Pods work rate was deceptive, he's actually lazier than he looks

12 Feb 2015 22:27:54
Yep can't trust them scourers ed:)

{Ed025's Note - i agree mate.. :)

Scourers? You're worrying me now I've just cleaned my bath with one

12 Feb 2015 17:27:54
I know its more or less impossible to try predict where the top 7 teams will all finish. But the poll question "is this the year we fail to make top 4" prompted me to have a go. The 35:65 spilt was quite surprising. I thought we would be more confident that we can see out competition from Spurs, Liverpool, Saints and United. There are only 13 rounds league games left this season. I have to say we probably have the easier run in. Our squad probably has the most quality.

That said, Liverpool have Sturridge back which is a huge boost. Southampton have proved they won't fade away anytime soon. And Man U just keep winning games. I watched their game last night, Burnley were all over them, i'm amazed they won 3-1. They can't keep playing like that and finish top 4.

Anyways, from our remaining games.

Palace (A), Everton (H), QPR (A), West Ham (H), Newcastle (A), Liverpool (H), Burnley (A), Sunderland (H), Chelsea (H), Hull (A), Swansea (H), Man U (A), West Brom (H).

Now from that I see a record of: DWWWDWWWLWWLW. That makes 29/39 points. That leaves us on 74 points. Will that be enough?

Spurs:

West Ham (H), Swansea (H), QPR (A), Man U (A), Leicester (H), Burnley (A), Villa (H), Newcastle (A), Southampton (A), City (H), Stoke (A), Hull (H), Everton (A).

I reckon: WWWLWDWDDLDWD. Their last 6 games are tough. that's 23/39. Leaving them on 66 points.

Liverpool:

Southampton (A), Man City (H), Burnley (H), Swansea (A), Man U (H), Arsenal (A), Newcastle (H), Hull (A), W Brom (A), QPR (H), Chelsea (A), Palace (H), Stoke (A).

I reckon: DDWWDLWWWWLWD. that's 25/39. Leaving them on 67 points.

Southampton:

Liverpool (H), West Brom (A), Palace (H), Chelsea (A), Burnley (H), Everton (A), Hull (H), Stoke (A), Spurs (H), Sunderland (A), Leicester (A), Villa (H), City (A).

I reckon: DWWLWDWWDWWWL. Giving them 27/39 points. And Saints finishing on 73 points.

Manchester Utd:

Swansea (A), Sunderland (H), Newcastle (A), Spurs (H), Liverpool (A), Villa (H), City (H), Chelsea (A), Everton (A), West Brom (H), Palace (A), Arsenal (H), Hull (A).

I predict: WWDWDWLLWWWWW. Giving them 29/39 points and 76 points overall.

So final table:

1.) Chelsea -?
2.) Man City -?
3.) Man United - 76
4.) Arsenal - 74
5.) Southampton - 73
6.) Liverpool - 67
7.) Spurs - 66

Basically its going to be really tight. there's a lot of fixtures that can go either way. We play Man U on the second last game of the season, that could be crucial and decide who finishes 3rd, 4th or 5th.

Spent a lot of time doing this, I am pretty bored. thanks of you managed to read all of it.

{Ed025's Note - good read that detroit, well done mate....but miles away by my reckoning...arsenal nailed on 3rd, and the saints to crumble like a stale scone and finish 7th..

12 Feb 2015 18:17:37
Fantastic post.
Top analysis Detroit. Respect.

I wish I was as confident as Ed025.
I still think it will go down to the wire.
We have 7 home games, bar Chelsea, I'm expecting us to win the remainder.

Even the away games, bar Man Utd, the others are all very winnable.

But, a lot will depend on injuries.

On paper, we could/should clinch 3rd, but we need to win 9/10 of remaining 13 games.

Nice one DG.

I am certain we'll get 4th place, possibly 3rd so the results of the poll surprised me too.

Miles away D G in my opinion, I will have a shot at later

1 chavs
2 city
3 winners utd v Arsenal at old traford
4 Southampton
5 loser's in old Trafford game
6 Liverpool
7 West ham

You have not taken into consideration the european games which spurs, liverpool and arsenal will be a part of.

the thursday schedule seems to do more harm.

while Manchester United don't play in europe this season it helps to have a midweek game to bounce back in terms of a defeat suffered in the league or to keep you match smart.

too many variants and factors but I think the experience of the players in similar situations will prove vital

PS
Ment to say absolutely brilliant post Detriot mate thanks for getting this thread going will be interesting getting people views

12 Feb 2015 20:28:17
Thanks guys, I appreciate the comments. Gald to know it wasnt 20/30 mins of my life wasted

How long Detroit? What did you do write one out for each member individually? :-)
Only kidding mate you did really well, I'd have had to book two weeks off work and hire in a herd of mathematicians to do it for me and even then I'd have got it wrong

Been interesting reading everything on here for the last few months. Still can't make up my mind on our season so far, maybe says it all. I do feel that we will finish stonger than most though. Also spooky that I was doing just what Detroit had done in terms of remaining games and my conclusion is

1- Chelsea 88
2- Man City 81
3- Saints / Arsenal 74
4-Arsenal / Saints 74
5- spurs 69
6- Liverpool 67
7- Man U 64

An FA Cup Win and at least Semi final of Champions Lge. How would everyone view that??

12 Feb 2015 21:42:23
Estepona,

I can't see us finishing 10 points in front of Utd.

Dags, I just can't believe that they can keep knicking wins the way they are playing. They have Us spurs City at home and liverpool chelsea away. all possible losses. I have us down for a draw at theirs. We only have them away (D) chelsea liverpool at home (I have D, D) as the tough games. By the way do love the jokes

I'd love Us to finish 3rd so we don't have a playoff again. I'd also take spurs making top4 if it meant manu missing out. Lvg is too smug now.

13 Feb 2015 02:09:04
Southampton being the underdogs, everyone who is a neutral will want to see them make top 4. But I reckon they would get creamed by Europe's finest. Look at City, its taken them years to get where they are in Europe.

For the benefit of the Premier league, Man U and Arsenal should be the teams that go through as we are the two most capable.

{Ed001's Note - do you not think Citeh get creamed because they are expected to go out and try and win, whereas Southampton can just defend for their lives and pick up results?}

13 Feb 2015 03:32:39
Thank you Estepona :-)

13 Feb 2015 07:15:29
Agree with Ed001,

I think Southampton's brand of football is very suitable to European football.

Defensively, I think they are one of the best in Europe, but are lacking an out and out number 9.

13 Feb 2015 10:00:08
This is a really good debate. I see Arsenal and United making it back in.

Can't see Rodgers taking Liverpool even close to be honest. The man is a tool.

Southampton haven't got the experience to go the distance (though at the start of the season a top half finish would have been amazing for them).

Spurs are wildly inconsistent, they win one big one then lose the next.

United play awful football but get results. This is not new. Lack of European games is huge.

Arsenal have the best run in and (despite what some of you may think) the best manager to get you there. Sanchez getting fit is obviously important.

Everton are. .'nt relevant. Sorry Ed025

We know the top two but 3rd and 4th is a toss up between United and Arsenal in my opinion.

13 Feb 2015 14:28:46
Maybe Southampton would be a breath of fresh to the Champions league. But. Theh would be a 4th seed in their group. So they'll get an impossibly hard group. The best they could hope for from the top seeds would be PSG, Juventus or Porto.

I think most people are of the opinion the top 4 wil have two of Man U, Arsenal and Saints. I think we do tend to kick on towards the end of the season and pick up quite a lot of points.

The game at OT in May will be huge. That could be our seasons cup final. Winning could be the difference between 3rd and 5th/6th.

Its really hard to call how Southampton will finish the season. They recently lost and drew their last two home games, and very narrowly beat QPR. Since buying Elia and Duric in Jan they have better strenght in depth. If they beat Spurs and Liverpool they could prove to be too hard to overtake.

Still a long way to go, but I think come May there will still only be 2-3 points difference between 3rd and 5th.

{Ed002's Note - Juventus?}

12 Feb 2015 11:03:54
Just read that Raymond Verheijen has labelled Arsenal as amateurs and says that Aaron Ramsey should leave the club after his latest injury unless Arsenal change their training methods. In fairness, you can't deny that we are constantly plagued by injuries and have been for years.

Hopefully this public criticism from a coach will persuade us to atleast look into where all of these injuries are coming from and then remedy the problem. I know that other clubs have injuries too and that footballers are a fragile build these days but (other than perhaps Man United under LVG) Arsenal as a club are surely unrivalled in the injury department.

{Ed001's Note - Man Utd brought in a fitness coach from Southampton to try and fix their issues.}

We brought in the fitness coach from the German world cup winning team Ed but nothing's changed, no idea why.

{Ed001's Note - maybe Wenger doesn't take his advice?}

Yeah that would be my guess Ed: that the training methods haven't changed regardless of advice.

I don't recall us having these problems when Gary Lewin was with us, I never understood why he couldn't do the England and Arsenal jobs together, when we have internationals there are no players left at the club!

He has a point. The injury record at the club is dire. Even when players return from injury, they get injured again! Mind you the injuries to Debuchy & Wilshere were a direct result of awful challenges.

I won't lie, I have no idea on how our injury record was when he was at the club but I can't help but feel that a physiotherapist can only cure/improve an injury after it's happened - we need to identify the causes of the injuries in order to prevent them. Our rehabilitation is quite good I feel (except Diaby), we even got Eduardo back playing.

Just read, Gary Lewin is the one credited with getting Eduardo back playing so that was a moot point aha. This guy really is held in high regards 337, perhaps you're on to something there.

Ed is it a known fact that wenger is ignoring advise of specialist or just that the coaches involved in the training are over doing in the rehab process.

{Ed001's Note - I don't know mate, I have asked to see if I can find out, waiting to hear back. A lot of previous issues were just down to rushing players back too quickly.}

12 Feb 2015 09:50:59
Anyone else notice that Theo has bulked significantly while he's been out? Impressive given he doesn't seem to have lost any of his pace.

High hopes for Theo being a key player in the run in. So much so he's earned a spot in my fantasy football team.

Give me a year off work on 100k a week and tell me to hit the gym. i'd bulk up big time

Fair point but not really the reaction I was anticipating Derby.

Haha I know mate. I do love the gym tho. give me money to train i'd be in heaven

12 Feb 2015 08:16:37
random one but i'd like to see us sign. memphis depay. having a fine season for psv. this guy is the real deal. would sort our left side out for the next decade. they have some gems in that team.

random also. but villa another example of an american rinsing a club. lerner needs moving on

11 Feb 2015 23:33:01
Why did aguero handle the ball lol. don't get it. Surely he could of got it in anyway

Apparently being argentinian 'Maradona ' is his idle - he wanted to emulate him

Maradona is also his Father-In-Law.

{Ed025's Note - he is KMO..

Thats 'handy'

Oops 26, how could I forget louis van gonk