Arsenal Banter Archive December 23 2014

23 Dec 2014 20:43:29
Hopes for Arsenal within the realm's of realistic possibility for 2015.
Sign Hummel's
Sign Spyder
Kos gets fully fit ahead of schedule
Mesut plays in the number 10 position and shows the world at 42 million he's a total steal.
The Arsene in out shake it all about debate becomes a distant memory as we finish 3rd only 5 points off the winners .
We end the season a million miles from what we've known so far as we prepare to take on Chavs in the Fa cup final and Real in the Champions league a few days later

23 Dec 2014 21:53:23
Save the Mulled Wine until Christmas Day G62 :-)

23 Dec 2014 22:18:50
"When you wish upon a star. "

Don't forget Diaby returns from injury and scores the winner in the champions league final!

Wake up wake up wake up, your tablets are ready.

I did get a bit carried away there Dags :-)
I started off OK then got more and more OTT as I went on didn't i.
Hey ho it was a welcome break from reality even if short lived

23 Dec 2014 16:32:31
Just thinking out loud here.

Are we defeated before a ball is kicked?

Can you imagine the Stoke dressing room before the game?

"Come on lad's, its Arsenal. They are good but if we get among them, they are physically weak".

Outcome> They go one up after 2 mins and the game is over by half time.
Result? 0 points for us.

Fast forward one week.

" Come on lad's, its Chelsea. They are good but we need to get among them. Oh wait, they have Terry, Cahill, Ivanovic, Azpilicueta, Mikel, Fabregas, Costa and Drogba".

Outcome> Chelsea one up after 2 mins and they win the game.
Result? 3 more points than us.

Just one of our many problems. People know how to play against us and more worryingly, they like to play against us.

It does seem almost every other game highlight's a new weakness somewhere this season Dags plus the same old ones are re advertised for the watching world to see.
Mentality
Injuries
Tactics
Discipline
Lack of quality in certain areas
Even lack of desire in some players

23 Dec 2014 17:41:30
Until Wenger purchases two players of the quality of Matic as our DM and another like Hummels as a CB next to Koscielny we will continue to be looked at as easy pickings.

Injuries are playing a part but we look so lame at the moment, it would help if we replaced players like Rosicky, Coquelin and Diaby with players like Khedira, Gundogan and Gonalons who are tough tackling mids who can play in games when we need more steel.

23 Dec 2014 17:46:51
We don't have the winners mentality and we approach games atrociously

We desperately need to find a roll his sleeves up leader on the pitch and sack Bould and replace him with a loud mouthed passionate thug of a coach who plyers fear letting down and having o face at half time and again after the game.
Someone who would still be at Anfield with Mertesacker watching him do lapse
May be those two additions alone wouldn't make us champions but we'd be competitive in every single game

23 Dec 2014 18:47:05
So hard not to agree with all of the above.

Sgt. Hartman from Full Metal Jacket sounds like your man g62!

24 Dec 2014 08:34:44
Loving the Xmas spirit G62, lol.

23 Dec 2014 14:12:31
On the subject of Charlie Austin I do not believe he will be a flash in the pan. There's just something about the lad. he's a fighter and just does his job

Also higuain and tevez both grab two in the cup final. Tevez is world class one hell of a player. And higuain would of been immense for us. he's better than Giroud by miles

Austin is certainly playing out of his skin and scoring all sorts of goals against big teams.

It's a shame times have changed, he could be the next 'Ian Wright' type signing, but would we take the risk? I don't think so anymore.

23 Dec 2014 17:57:45
I rate him highly.

Give him a sniff Boxing Day and it could be curtains for us.

23 Dec 2014 17:58:56
Higuain scored 17 goals in a dirt poor league last year.

Giroud scored 16 in the prem. He's also great for hold up and linking play, much better passer and gets a handful of assist a year.

Wouldn't sign him for arsenal but he's a prem player for me. Danny ings will be in high demand too. Oldest looking England u21ever LOL.

23 Dec 2014 10:40:41
Zonal v man marking?

One thing we have to remember about arsenal is we don't have any strong players in the air. Apart from kos and giroud we are actually really poor in the air.

People will say look how skrtel got a free run, but let's be honest even if metersacker was marking him he still would've scored.

We have players in our team who are tiny. Who is santi, gibbs, sanchez, the ox. Who are they going to mark?

The problem with man marking is if you lose your man then the whole system crumbles regardless how poor the ball is. A team full of players who can't header doing man marking? Look at how we defended the 3rd goal againts stoke, we had 5 players on crouch, fail to deal with it and walters got away from his marker. It just doesn't work with our team.

Zonal has flaws but its easier to defend. To score againsts a zonal marking the run has to be perfect and the ball has to be perfect. Where man marking you just have to lose your man and you can cause havoc.

23 Dec 2014 11:45:51
Its not necessarily the system its how its implemented and how its worked on in training.

I can't think of many goals we've conceded this season that wasnt down to our own naivety or foolishness.

Like not covering the posts, not picking up the danger men in the box, both fullbacks bombing forward, only keeping 2 on halfway at set peices, wing forwards not tracking back, playing short passes out of defence etc etc.

Its been the same story for the last 5+years, and the thing is its basic stuff that's taught at the lowest level

23 Dec 2014 11:45:51
Its not necessarily the system its how its implemented and how its worked on in training.

I can't think of many goals we've conceded this season that wasnt down to our own naivety or foolishness.

Like not covering the posts, not picking up the danger men in the box, both fullbacks bombing forward, only keeping 2 on halfway at set peices, wing forwards not tracking back, playing short passes out of defence etc etc.

Its been the same story for the last 5+years, and the thing is its basic stuff that's taught at the lowest level

23 Dec 2014 12:37:48
Not covering the posts is a major problem

If you watch the goal, you can see chambers and monreal at the back post pointing at skrtel before the corner is taken. They both saw him their waiting to attack the cross, but rather than going to him or forcing someone else to, they just point away responsibility. If either of them had so much as stood in his way he wouldn't have scored. Zonal isn't all bad (im pretty sure when they compare zonal/man marking teams goals conceded is very similar), but if you're playing zonal and their best header of the ball is unmarked at the edge of the box someone still has to pick him up!

22 Dec 2014 18:06:42
Ed02 do you know which defensive midfielder arsenal are targeting at the moment? Thanx

{Ed002's Note - Nothing has changed Wajid.}