Arsenal Banter Archive January 01 2014

01 Jan 2014 23:09:50
Credit where it's due.

We all slate Bendtner off, and rightly so, but he did the business today.
He has played a few games and scored a couple of goals and wrongly, had one chalked off for offside at City.
I think we used our "get out of jail free" card today. The performance was not too bad but we came up against a very dogged and determined team today, but managed to pull 3 points out of the bag.

Lets rest a few players for the Spurs game, personally I don't give a stuff if they beat us, let's concentrate on CL and BPL.

We had 4 tough games over festive period and picked up 10 points, I would take that anyday, and could have had 12 points if we didn't have Mr.Magoo as referee against Chelsea.

Credit to the boys today, let's re-group, assess our injuries, field a weakened team against Spurs, give most of the players a damn good rest and let's kick-on for the remainder of the season.

Dags. I was watching the game live in a pub near me which is an Arsenal supporters pub so you can imagine the atmosphere? When he came on the pub went numb. But a few of us said Sod's law he will score! anyhow as we know he did then we saw him on the floor and hobbling off! Now I'm not being nasty but the pub erupted in laughter when someone said " he's not injured, he's gone into shock " Anyone else would have been fine but trust him to score a goal and injure himself at the same time. Got to see the funny side.! smiles.!😄

I agree when he first came back he looked out of shape and unitrestead after the transfer window shut he has knuckled down and got into shape, could now be a decent squared player well done niko, get well soon

Never throught I would say that about him

Goldboy, "He's in shock". I love that lol.

Agree Spanner.

01 Jan 2014 22:19:22
my choice of transfer has to be juan mata chelsea`seem certain to get rid of him now he would be perfect for us with his creativity, people say we have too many players like that but he would be the ideal replacement for ageing stars rosicky and arteta.

01 Jan 2014 19:16:54
How can a player be out for "weeks" with a bloody sprained ankle.
Apprantly this it what Wenger was quoted as saying about Niko B ankle
I think our medical team are a bunch of jokers.
I was gutted as never got to see the game due to work today, did it look like a bad injury?

There are different grades and kinds of ankle sprains. the worst kind is a high ankle sprain. it can keep you out for weeks to months.

I saw the interview Spanner.

He said he did not know, but it looked bad - NB was definitely out for the weekend - and NB might be out for weeks.

As to the sprain it depends on where it is; a high ankle sprain can keep you out and recur over a long period of time.

As on might expect, players that are expected to run continually and kick a ball with their feet may have more use for their ankle than you or I. So, although NB will probably be weight bearing shortly to expect him to play competitive football might be a big ask.

I had a sprained ankle years ago playing in a game, the swelling and bruising was quite bad, I missed a month, you have to remember apart from swimming there will be no other form of fitness he can do .

Ankle injuries are very easy to aggravate so you ideally want the ankle to be 100% before even returning to training, once he is back in training he then has to return to match fitness,

01 Jan 2014 18:46:06
what can I say today about the performance. played average and stole 3 points after it looked like we could have thrown the kitchen sink and still not scored. fair play for the teams relentless pressure and tenacity, it paid dividends and those 3 vital points have kept citeh from running away with the title. citeh are on a crest of a wave whereas arsenal are not playing particularly well but still keeping top perch. this is good for arsenals confidence that they will not slip due the dogged pressure from citeh. I have said before we are due a big thumping win.
18 games to go and if we can get ozil and co firing on all cylinders. well you never know we might just get a reward!
I can't knock the teams performance today, the defence was solid, even though merti should have had a couple of goals today, kosci was the boss and the full backs added pressure on our attacks. szecs made a wonder save that kept us a clean sheet at the end, so overall a good performance at the back. the midfield looked rushed and out of sorts in my opinion. cazorla was trying to be too intricate, flamini and arteta do not work well together (they get in each others way) jack and theo had good games always looking for the ball and making things happen. podolski looked like he had been out of action for a few months, me personally he should either play on the left or come on as sub.
verm tidied up at the end and rosicky made things click with his direct play, and what can we say about the greatest forward in the world bendtner, I hope wenger doesn't think that he is the answer - he is a good squad/impact player but not a starting XI in my opinion. fair play to him for the goal though - you have to be in the right place at the right time.
good performance and fighting spirit we never gave up, good confidence booster.
now going back to my point about arteta, me personally he is too slow and not the right person to hold the back line. so many times he leaves the defence wide open with his reckless challenges and he is too slow to react to a counter, his pace let's him down against fast opposition, on a couple of occasions he lost possession and was left for dead by a Cardiff player - imagine what Bayern would do! - on another he lost the ball and gently jogged back expecting Cardiff to score, its not good enough if you want to be winners! yes, we will get posts saying stats don't lie about arteta but seriously I have been watching carefully our Achilles heel position the "defensive mid" over the last few months and arteta is not the man, flamini is better at organising and has a more competitive nature but I think arsene should definitely invest in a powerhouse midfielder to support the defence and keep things simple. that is a must in my opinion even before another striker, we will always create and score but stopping the opposition from scoring and you will never lose. a quality defensive midfielder with pace and power and we definitely should not be afraid of anyone.

well done lads - 3 points in the bag keep your head up and concentrate on the next game. COYG

hulk hogunner

Great post, that was incredible Hulk (sorry)

But seriously, great post.

01 Jan 2014 17:22:31
What a win from such a stressful game! Crucial 3 points
We had so many chances and 12 corners

This game should encourage Wenger to buy a striker in January. Podolski plays better on the left wing than striker as he looked timid and only played backward passes. While Bendtner was surprisingly quality this game, he's not the one to carry us to the title.

01 Jan 2014 17:13:00
One thing Arsene needs to urge the boys to shoot from outside the box. I think we have enough firepower but we just have to utilise it better. Passing our way into the box all the time makes it hard for the strikers to shoot because by then, 8 players will be back defending for the opposition. We should play the through ball more often

We need a Yaya Toure type midfielder, an imposing, physical figure and one who's not afraid to have a rip from outside the box

If only Messenger mate, awesome player.

I think we missed the boat on Yaya. No way City will ever sell and Barca were daft to do so as well. We should have bought him despite the work permit issues when he was young.

It would be fun to make an Arsenal almost 11 - transfers that just did not quite come off.

Ronaldo, Ibra, Yaya, spring to mind immediately in the Wenger Era. I suppose you could add Mata to the list.

We could have had him too a few seasons ago before he went to Spain. But in our typical style we missed out!

01 Jan 2014 17:07:15
Well done lads. Was getting quite nervous there. Am happy for the Great Dane, we really do have the greatest striker in the world :)! We might slate him a lot, but one thing about him is he does get into goal scoring positions better than Giroud (I know I will get some stick for this)

I think that's a fair comment Rue.

01 Jan 2014 17:04:59
3 wins and 3 phews on the trot, we really are looking like contenders this season :-).
How many of these have got 2- 4 points from in recent years instead of the 9 we have this a season.

Yes we all want it to be easier and less stressful than of late but we had better get used to it if we are going to win things again

01 Jan 2014 15:51:49
As soon as I saw arteta and flamini playing together I knew It would be a bad performance. Think we should bring bendtner on push poldolski to the left and sub either flamini or arteta .

Shaneyd

01 Jan 2014 12:14:56
Before Malaga gets anyone too excited, Lewandowski is going to Bayern. Not to us or anyone else. Bayern.

Paul,

Last year I was sure of that too. Now, I am not sure if Pep wants him, which could scupper the deal.

I could see another side (not us) getting him (maybe Madrid if they do not go for Suarez in the summer).

To the 'Pool fans, yes I am aware Suarez has signed a new contract; but Suarez would bite Madrid's hand off if they came in with an offer (perhaps literally) and Liverpool would eventually and reluctantly sell (after extorting as much money as they can from Madrid).

(Back to Lew still 90 percent to Bayern)

01 Jan 2014 09:22:22
Happy New Year to :
The Arsenal Banterers, The Arsenal Rumourists, The Eds, The Arsenal Players staff and manager.

ANd may I wish an absolutely special 'Annus Horribilus' to all spurs and Manchester United heaps alike.

Happy new year Exiled