Arsenal Banter Archive August 24 2014

24 Aug 2014 20:19:05
Would you horrible lot take Naismith?

24 Aug 2014 21:51:43
Very decent player, gives 100%, a total menace on the pitch, but benchwarmer.

Sorry Ed025.

We had the chance. He was on trial with Arsenal shortly before he left Killie for Rangers. Mustn't have impressed Le Prof

Not an improvement on Giroud.

Obviously not, Ted. Still better than Sanogo though.

25 Aug 2014 02:50:55
Don't like him at all

24 Aug 2014 19:26:56
Besiktas, Wedn.

Make or break in term's of CL footy.

Are we worried?

Also, win or lose, do you think it should impact our spending for the remainder of the transfer window?

I think we'll be ok but I'll be glad when its done and dusted and we're hopefully safely through, so yes I'm slightly worried.
I read an interesting article today entitled
NEW RESOLVE BUT THE SAME OLD PROBLEMS FOR ARSENAL, I thought that was a fair reflection of our start.
CL or not we have to resolve those problems in the next week, if we can?

I would be amazed if we went out on Wednesday, the 2nd half told me with the right players we are a good side.

At times so far it looks as though it is the first time some of the lads have played with each other, the world cup certainly seems to have knocked a few side ways

24 Aug 2014 17:38:02
Blimey. this fruit fly is competing with the Galapagos tortoise, in terms of life span or maybe it has metamorphosed into a Galapagos tortoise:-))))))

24 Aug 2014 18:23:26
Fruit flies can live for a month

Possibly the funniest, most factual and bluntest comment I've ever seen. Brilliant

24 Aug 2014 17:02:32
Bretto (Everton banter boy), you asked me where Arsenal and Everton need strengthening.

Arsenal need another dedicated Centre half.
We are close to signing (hopefully) Manolas, an experienced CH.

We need another striker, somebody to play alongside or rotate with Giroud.
I don't believe we will sign a world class striker, because than Wenger will have to drop Giroud, and I don't believe Wenger will do that.
I will remain loyal to my previous posts, Loic Remy would have been perfect.

We need, desperately, a Defensive Mid.
Somebody in the ilk of Schneiderlin or Khedira, but if reports are to be believed, neither will be leaving their respective clubs.


Everton.
For me, the best Back 4 in the Prem League.
Coleman, jags, Distin and Baines. Brilliant.
I think you have John Stones as cover, but I feel you need another.

Barry and McCarthy are very good as Defensive Mids, but I feel you are short in creative midfield, a Santo Cazorla type of player.

And I feel you need another striker, like us.
Lukaku is top draw, but I think he only scored 14 last season, not enough as your main striker.
Naismith is decent, very decent, and gives defences nightmares, but doesn't score enough goals.

Well, you did ask mate, lol.

I agree with u on both teams I would also like remy at everton unsure why neither have gone for him dagenham gunner. especially arsenal as he meant to be arsenal fan spotted at emirates. I think winston ried would be player who do well at arsenal or everton. yeh I like enough flair player maybe holbty from your arch rivals. diame be good buy for both teams as well. good luck for year hopefully both everton and arsenal can finish top 4

24 Aug 2014 23:30:49
All the best Bretto and good luck for the season.

PS, good shout on Diame.

Same to u

24 Aug 2014 16:44:38
Just want to pick up on a very very good point Banbury made earlier.

Everybody say's "give Wilshere time" but than a lot of people are moaning about Giroud.

Jack's been a first teamer for 5/6 years, Giroud about 2 years.

Somebody explain please because I'm stumped.

The same reason why Ramsey was slagged off. People's frustrations are being aimed at the player or players not performing. Rightly or wrongly, this is what fans do!

Personally, Giroud needs a second striker partner. Imagine him holding up the ball and feeding Walcott/Alexis running off him?

As for Jack, he spends the majority of the time being fouled and rolling on the floor. He needs to improve his release of the pass and his decision making. This is a huge season for the lad, moaning at his every error is hardly going to help him.

But hey, we are the same fans who reduced Emmanuel Eboue to tears with the amount of abuse and boos he was receiving.

24 Aug 2014 17:05:47
Agree Greeny.

The abuse Eboue received was a disgrace.

In all the years I have been following Arsenal, I don't think I have ever seen Arsenal supporters boo one of their own.

T'was a disgrace.

What happened to Eboue was absolutely terrible I felt desperately sorry for him it should never have happened, but how he came back from it was very very impressive.
I would never condone booing a player or a team for playing badly, for deliberately hurting an opponent or stupidly getting sent off maybe but not for a bad performance.

24 Aug 2014 17:18:15
Well said Greeny,

Because we have not won 6-0 and 5-0 playing sublime football so who can we blame.

Does no one get what Arsene may be trying to achieve with Jack, is he not being afforded the same opportunity Aaron was given and grabbed with both hands. Does it not make sense to do the same with Jack. Doesn't mean he can't be dropped if another is player better.

Aaron played on despite the hate and turned into our best midfielder but because of off field antics Jack should be given no chance and bombed right out of the club.

Arsene has said Jack CAN have a great career, so it's down to Jack but let's slaughter him and anyone else from the get go who isn't quite up to scratch in form and fitness right now.

At the end of the day it's just opinions, some just give them as though fact.

Ramsey and Wilshire have been involved in our first team since 2008, both have been out on loan.

24 Aug 2014 23:08:21
Both playing in a 6-0 cup win over Sheffield United and in Champions league games later in the year, Ramsey against Fenerbahce with Wilshere against Kiev and at that time he was 16.

Also factual but also irrelevant.

24 Aug 2014 15:56:59
Ancelotti has now said Khedira will be saying at Real Madrid. With him out the question who will be the likely signing in the DM position?

24 Aug 2014 17:12:07
I wish I knew.

Worried.

Me too Dags, we seem to be running out of options and that is not good news

24 Aug 2014 14:30:20
This is my logic, it has been touted that AW had 100m to spend this summer, We have sold TV5 for 15m, 5m for Fabrecash from chavs and 11m from vela total 31m, We have spent 67m on our 4 signings so realistically we have only spent 36m so far which was really Sanchez, given this I believe we have the funds to go and buy 2 world class stars and push for the title, Do the eds agree with this or am I just dreaming again?

{Ed002's Note - I would ignore the money - it really does not work like that.}

24 Aug 2014 11:28:21
Contd, do not forget this is everton which beat utd a couple of seasons back in an early fixture and they went on to win the title. So just relax. Ozil and Sanchez I do not think have even trained together and that's why were a bit off, Ozil has 90 mins added he is WC and can only get better.

24 Aug 2014 11:11:40
I see, by reading the posts from the past couple of days that our fans are starting to feel apprehensive about this season. I can't help but think it's partly down to the lack of any credible transfer news regarding our club. Meanwhile we are constantly reading about other teams securing, or in talks with potential signings, and this is contributing to the growing sense of frustration felt by everyone on here. Here is my opinion on the team at the moment. Sanchez has to to be given time to settle, I sometimes get the impression he is trying too hard to impress and make an impact. Ozil should be relieved of the defensive duties and moved into centre where he will be more effective. Giroud, not world class striker we all hope and pray for, but give him a partner up front and give the guy a break, it's not an easy role he plays. So far we have been poor by our standards, it's still early season, long way to go and plenty of room for improvement in all areas of pitch . Most importantly, we are picking up points in tough games that a few yrs ago we would have lost. Titles are won by teams who can get points without playing well.

24 Aug 2014 11:27:15
Good post

i agree with you its still very early days and there is still room for tinkering with the tactics but our team is slowing getting back into the groove and it won't be long till we're firing.

Sanchez just needs time I have no doubt he'll be amazing for us he's too good not to be, he just needs to settle.

24 Aug 2014 10:09:24
As of right now we are a point up on the 7 we lost the league by last season.

Aaron Ramsey is already 2 goals better than last season and still looking good.

Surprisingly Giroud can and does make a difference :-)

Fitness and form, every team remains working on that, anyone given a thought to the different regime being introduced by Shad Forsythe which is to improve our fight through the season, keep injuries to a minimum and not blow us out in month one. Something that may even bare fruit with a certain Mr Diaby.

Oh the transfer window remains open.

The most important thing is to remain in the hunt, 2 games in, we are still in the hunt.

Hopefully not many of you jumped off the bridge or remain hanging from a piece of old rope.

A really good post.

I tried posting this yesterday when we were 2-0 down.

My wife enrolled me into a bridge club - I jump next Tuesday.

24 Aug 2014 09:33:44
Hi

I would just like to take the credit for the assist for Giroud goal. After seeing him miss two chances that I think a worldie CF would have been finished, I decided to have a moan on here (the famous kiss of death) and low and behold he scored a great goal. He really did play well and showed that he is worth keeping, I would have him as a impact sub, just not leading the line as I don't think he is good enough to start but would a great option to bring on as a plan b if plan a is not working.

Leaves the question, who to play CF?

I would like to see Campbell play there on Wednesday he works hard, has pace, can dribble and finish, but got a feeling Sangoo will start as Giroud looks like he picked up a knock at the end of the game.

After Wednesday is done and dusted and we are qualified for champs lge (hopefully) we can bring in a world class CF to make us into a force (along with a dm & cb) but the question is who?
I see Welbeck has been mentioned a few times on here? Is he better then Remy? Not much of an upgrade, might as well play Wallcott CF
My preference would be Martinez of Porto or Bony this is being realistic as we also need to buy 2 other players and I think DM should be priority, we lost the middle of the park against Everton and that was with Wilkshere, Flams and Ramsey playing.

So my choice would be

Martinez
Spyider
Ried or Williams
I thinks it is important to buy a DM and CM with PL experience as we don't need another player who will take time to adjust, with the exception of Martinez as he is quality, however Bony would also tick the right boxs for me.
Also if we sign above it might be worth sending jack on loan to give him a season playing regular first team games to get back up to standard as I don't think we can carry him and wait at the moment, might also give him a kick up the backside

Thoughts

In addition eds, I have now paid my registration fee and sent in my application form for the Kool gang, it should arrive soon, so please can I have my post on banter rather then other? Pretty please?

As per my application for the kool gang it also states I need to tell a bad joke to be accepted.

How many tickles does it take to make an octopus laugh?

Ten tickles :)

{Ed025's Note - you were being considered for the cool gang, but that joke has thrown a spanner in the works so to speak mate.. :)

24 Aug 2014 16:33:58
C'mon Ed,

That joke was quite funny, lol.

Poor by my standards, but quite funny :-)

24 Aug 2014 09:25:56
Right after calming down here's my recap of yesterday.

This is going to be a damn long season if Wenger doesn't change the formation to match his personnel. This 4141/433 hybrid isn't really working.

We need to get Sanchez & Giroud playing down the middle TOGETHER. I'm a big fan of Giroud, his link up play is superb but he needs to have a runner off him. Alexis hasn't even been in position to shoot at all yet in his first 3 games, watch him for Chile at the WC in a 442, he'll score goals.

We can't expect Ozil to me a left midfielder, Ozil is arguably our best player but he isn't a midfielder, he will not defend properly. I think we're almost trying to copy Germany, Ozil being Ozil, Alexis being Müller, Giroux being Klose.

However a 433 will not work for Arsenal because you are basically playing 3 forwards, the 2 wide men may track back but they are not proper midfielders. Therefore, the 3 central midfielders have to be VERY good, especially at defending. Look at Germany in the 433 - Khedira/Schweinsteiger/Lahm, that is a very god defensive trio.

Ramsey/Jack/Flamini or Arteta just isn't good enough to play in the formation. Jack has to play behind Ramsey because Ramsey is so good going forward and at the moment Jack just offers nothing, I hope he comes good but he isn't good enough at the moment. Arsenal have so little depth behind Jack/Ramsey its scary.

Sánchez as well is basically playing an impossible position in the 4141. He's either upfront by himself which he can't do. Or he's strictly a right midfielder who needs to get back and help his RB out but also play on the last mans shoulder for Giroud to flick the ball on to, it's pretty much impossible to do.

Wouldn't mind us going 41212 (Liverpool style) With Ozil in behind Alexis and Giroud, Ozil can then drift out wide to find space if its there.

+ if Khedira accepts our wage demands please buy him Wenger. He doesn't even have to be a strict DM, leave Arteta at DM and play Khedira in Jacks defensive box to box rule please.

A good read Jonny and it seems AW is trying to please all. Get Ozil into a position where he plays best .

If Sanchez goes right what does happen to Theo?

24 Aug 2014 11:57:58
Good post Johnny

Good question Banbury, I'm a keen American football fan and a lot of them do their ACL like Theo, it can take time to get to 100%. IMO even if Theo is back in a month, he may not be 100% and starting till after Christmas. Let's consider the Theo issue when he's healthy!

24 Aug 2014 06:18:15
I've been going through all the posts and I honestly cannot read another post without commenting. You all are being far far far too negative! I mean come on for goodness sake we have a strong squad and yes we do still need a couple of additions and yes we haven't played outstanding this far this season but in my opinion to not play so well and to still not have lost a game is damn impressive.

Our players are still finding their rhythm and before too long our team will be finding too gear and cutting teams open for fun because our team is too good not to, and no I don't think we'll destroy every team in the league and go unbeaten but we will improve and start playing the we've all come to expect us to play

And lastly I cannot believe how harsh everyone is being with wilshere I swear these are the same people who were bashing Ramsey 12 months ago and look at him now. The boy is a gunner through and through and we should stick by him when he's not playing his best because I know he'll come out the other side a top class player because he's got it in him we've seen it and wenger will keep the faith. AS SHOULD WE ALL!

Could not agree more! All this negativity is so frustrating, let's be positive. COYG!

My BIG argument about yesterday is the way Wenger 'messed' with the formation and playing players out of position.

24 Aug 2014 09:32:47
fair point banbury however I think you will find that prior to the game the vast majority of us were very excited by that line up and felt it would work. however it did not and Wenger recognised that and changed things around.

24 Aug 2014 09:40:36
Good post.

But, I don't think people are being too harsh on Jack, yes he is a Gunner through and through, and we all want him to step up and prove his potential, but that doesn't mean he is untouchable.

Not me Overtake.

You thought Ozil just hug the left hand touchline?

Sanchez playing down the middle against Distin? there is no room down there for him, he needs to be much wider, Sanchez didn't have one touch in the penalty area, what does that say.

Dags

It is totally irrelevant if you are Arsenal through and through and through, look at Jenks.

MOTD highlighted Jacks problems well

If Jack was with another club and Arsene bid for him in this window would we be excited or dismayed?
I want him to be good but like you say Banbury MOTD highlighted how totally in effective he is 99% of the time

24 Aug 2014 11:34:32
i get what your saying dags and no he is not untouchable but people are singling him out as though he was by a mile the worst player on the pitch, which he wasnt. He did not have a great game but he wasnt horrendous and it is still very early days and he's still relatively young

i really hope he comes good a fit and firing jack wilshere could be so good for us and shape the course of our season

The thing I find very amusing is, the people who are saying Giroud is rubbish and should be going are saying Jack should be given time . Hmmmmmmm


Work that one out

24 Aug 2014 16:38:52
Overtaker,
I agree, but when is Jack going to become a 'game changer'?

Bambam,
Totally agree.

24 Aug 2014 05:02:50
Ok so, I wasn't able to stay up til the wee hours and watch the game here in Oz but, reading the posts, we were pretty average. I've got a few things I wanted to discuss, if I may.

Firstly, I wrote a post on here a few days back saying how we need another CF to backup Giroud or replace him in the starting lineup. Obviously, he had a good game and there have been a few comments insinuating that I'm off my rocker for suggesting Giroud be upgraded. From my point of view, Ollys performance actually backed up my point. He was an excellent impact sub, against tiring CBs. I never, ever, said he should be sold, but a better player leading the line would make us a real force. If we can't meet the demands of a Falcao or a Cavani, a quality backup is definitely required, to challenge Olly and give him a spell on occasion. For me, Bony would be perfect. He's not an automatic selection over Olly but would give a real challenge and fill the role well if and when required. He's affordable and available. I like Olly, honestly, and I think genuine competition would improve him no end.

Next, I Wanted to preach a bit of patience. People seem so foolish when they knee jerk to a poor performance. We all knew Goodison was going to a massive test. We took a point away from there, THAT IS A GOOD RESULT! I've watched many a Gunners game where we've played superbly and dropped points. I have a few cliches that really ring true here. It's a marathon, not a sprint. Form is temporary, class is permanent. You're judged by results. As it stands, we've met expectationfor me going into the start of the season. I expected to beat Palace, was worried about our trip to Turkey, nil all is fine by me. I was also worried about Everton at home, and hoped we could Nick a point. Job done for all three games.

Finally, I have to agree from what I've read, Wenger has some work to do to get the squad firing and on his own tactics. However, as knowledgeable as you all are on here. I have to think le Prof knows what he's doing. If we can see he needs to tweak a few things, then you can be assured he's noticed, plus a couple of things none of us have worked out either, probably. Have some patience, Wenger has been in the market for a DM and a ST all window and has said he wants a CB. Our lacklustre show will only have highlighted that for him. Still plenty of time in the window. Judge his signings or lack of, on September 2nd.

Sorry for the long post, as you were.

That is a good post OB

But on the bit about the le prof knowing what he was doing, he didn't yesterday and ALL pundits agreed he got it totally wrong yesterday. We just have to learn from this and as you say we would have all taken a point, I am pleased with the result just not the way we got into that position, we were so much better in the 2nd half, we are better playing the ball up to someone who can hold it up, be it Giroud or A.N.Other.

Need to focus on Wednesday night now

24 Aug 2014 11:11:10
You're right there Banbury and I think Wenger saw it too, hence the changes. I suspect there was more to the formation than just tactics, I think he was unsure on fitness levels for some players, so fiddled the lineup. It didn't work, he changed it.

24 Aug 2014 00:09:16
Not Arsenal related

Di Maria possibly off to Manchester United for 56 mill

Will this kick off other transfers