Arsenal Banter Archive April 02 2015

02 Apr 2015 22:27:42
I Think it's unfair to compare sanchez and Rooney. Sanchez is more fluent in english for starters

{Ed025's Note - love that saint..

02 Apr 2015 23:07:00
He's also got his own hair on his head.

{Ed025's Note - and is not intimate with coffin dodgers.. :)

03 Apr 2015 00:55:27
I'm sure there's a nailed/coffin joke in there somewhere but frankly I can't be bothered

03 Apr 2015 15:41:14
You've nailed that one

03 Apr 2015 21:21:15
Rooney put his nail in that coffin dodger

{Ed025's Note - i thought you could not be bothered saint?..have you been watching nanna love on channel 5 mate?.. :)

04 Apr 2015 09:56:46
Love it guys

02 Apr 2015 16:27:27
Where's 337?

And please don't say between 336 and 338, lol.

02 Apr 2015 18:27:53
Two infront of 335 :-D

02 Apr 2015 18:54:04
Nice Reet, lol

02 Apr 2015 23:04:42
17th floor of the hilton hotel, 4th door on your left:)

02 Apr 2015 23:34:46
Maybe he really did go apoplectic about that post from Chris18 and got banned! Lol. :-)

03 Apr 2015 00:57:31
All I know is he's years behind 442

04 Apr 2015 10:00:16
I'm here don't worry! Just been very busy, the garden furniture season is upon us and apparently I have to do some work now!

It's nice to be missed though (a tear runs down cheek)

02 Apr 2015 16:06:14
Forget the fa cup Saturday is Liverpool's cup final, lose and its night night champions league football but win and its game on again.
I think it will be a cracking game with two teams who are at their best going forward

02 Apr 2015 16:47:55
Win and we (almost) knock Liverpool out of the CL running.

Lose and its still wide open.

Draw is not a disaster for us.

02 Apr 2015 18:05:44
A match I would love to win, asit would virtually make it impossible for Liverpool to catch us and could give Blackburn a chanc in the FA Cup replay.I also can't stand Brenda.

{Ed025's Note - join the club robbie mate.. :)

02 Apr 2015 18:20:11
95% of the time I'm convinced the bloke is a total idiot and wonder why Liverpool ever employed him but then every now and then when there's no microphone insight it looks like Liverpool may be back on track under him.

02 Apr 2015 19:25:40
I'm with Gunner 62 on this i think Rodgers is a total idiot.I hope yous win at the weekend it puts Liverpool way behind and let's us have a personal battle for third

{Ed025's Note - only one winner there MB im afraid, you are already punching above your weight fella and realistically should be about 7th, you do have a realistic chance of 4th though, and i would much prefer your lot to the pool getting it mate..

02 Apr 2015 20:22:22
Ed,

You are becoming more and more like an honourary Gooner each passing day :-)

{Ed025's Note - you could be right dags...or i could just dislike liverpool and united with a passion mate.. :)

02 Apr 2015 21:23:52
I'm with you on utd Ed, id takd the horrid 4th place trophy one more time if it ment they finished 5th.
Obviusly I'd prefer 2nd and them 7th of course as long as were in the champions league and they still got to be in the Thursday night league me happy

02 Apr 2015 21:40:17
Dags is right eds. Your after some southern comfort it's blatent

{Ed025's Note - you know me so well diarby mate..

02 Apr 2015 21:50:31
That's probably it Ed :-)

02 Apr 2015 12:38:49
The more I think about it Sanchez is a lot like Rooney. Can be a formidable player, especially in an environment like the Prem. Rooney is better suited to no. 9 than Sanchez and has a worse disciplinary record, but Sanchez really gets stuck in to win the ball, shows a lot of self-belief and an incredible desire to win games. They're both pretty selfish with the ball in the final third too.
Biggest concern is that, based on his recent form (i.e. dip in form), Sanchez is a lot like Rooney because he thrives when the rest of the team plays poorly but has a quieter run when the team soars. Generally been the case for Rooney except when he played alongside Ronaldo. Let's hope Alexis breaks that starting this weekend and proves he can add to the fine tally of goals once again - just alongside an in-form front line...

02 Apr 2015 13:10:02
To be fair Sanchez carried us in 2014 without him we would still be hoping to hoping to get into the top 4 by May, his form has dipped by his own very high standards but other's would love his current form to be theirs.
His work rate and passion have raised everyone's expectations of each other but most importantly he's raised Arsene's expectations of the whole squad.

02 Apr 2015 13:35:27
Otherwise known as burnout.

Wenger wanted to rest him, but didn't because Sanchez "wanted to play".

Sorry Arsene, you are the manager and you know how gruelling the English prem is.

If you wanted/needed to rest him, you should have, despite the players protestations and desire.

02 Apr 2015 15:07:38
I said this many weeks ago Dags and got shot down, why did Wenger put him on at Brighton? he has dipped in form since then

02 Apr 2015 16:22:42
Yep, I remember Bambam.

The guy needed a rest and that was the perfect time.

02 Apr 2015 16:46:02
But people said rest him against Place too where we won by an odd goal and if we'd have dropped points without him those same people would have gone mental.
Its always difficult especially when fans like in the Monaco at home are too over confident before the game saying rest this that or the other player then slaughter the manager after the game, imagine how many Monaco would have beaten weak Arsenal side by?
How many consecutive games did lampard play for Chavs? I think he holds the record, i think :-)

02 Apr 2015 12:14:15
Debuchy or Bellerini? That is the question...

02 Apr 2015 13:03:39
In the team? Debuchy. If I had to choose to have one at my club? Bellerin, no question about it

02 Apr 2015 13:34:11
Why not both? 😀. Horses for courses. It's a Good question to have. I don't think we've seen enough of debuchy in an Arsenal team to know the answer yet. Need to see a run of games to see his consistency and how he fits.

Will be Bellerin on Saturday. The lad's good, and has pace to recover when he makes a mistake. His attacking play on the ball is already about the best I've seen from any Arsenal full back for a decade. He's been excellent on set plays inside our box too, something I've noticed. At this rate he'll be a world beater in a couple of years. (Too soon? LOL! )

02 Apr 2015 13:38:04
Debuchy.

He is the complete right back and a role model for Bellerin.

02 Apr 2015 11:37:05
If reports are to be believed, Sterling has turned down £100,000 per week to stay at Liverpool. (For whatever reason).

What is happening/has happened to football?

He is just a kid, a mere teenager a few months ago, but his club, Liverpool, has to offer him huge amounts of money, just to keep him.

I'm not just talking about Sterling, but all young players in general.

Has football become just a globally marketable monstrosity, awash with money and corruption, where players have more sports cars than first team appearances?

02 Apr 2015 12:19:37
To answer your question, yes.

Also, I'm a bit offended by your use of the term 'a mere teenager'. :P We're not all bad

02 Apr 2015 12:56:56
Personally I feel all footballers start off by wanting the glory of the game but many soon become engrossed in what the game can do for them opposed to what they once believed they could do for the game.
Theo as a kid would have dreamed of scoring the winning goal in a cup final and world cup final but for me I think more bigger and better houses cars occupy his mind more than glory.
Ranaldo isn't exactly slow in coming forward in the money stakes that's for sure but he has never lost his passion for the game it self.
I very much question Theo's desire to be all he can be on the pitch but don't for a minute question his desire to have all he cab have in the bank.
At this moment in time I think Stirling has much more in Common with Ranaldo than Theo

02 Apr 2015 13:19:58
it may not be about the money, what if he joins another team like city, psg, madrid, barcelona and takes a lesser wage? would it then be said he moved for the money?

the thing is at 20, liverpool is his best bet to get regular game time and improve as a player, so if he said he wants to be the best he can be, that is where he should stay.

the fact of life is money is always the first question, does not matter if you are a nice guy or not. The current deal of 100K is what he should sign, but perhaps his agent feels he can get a better deal, and knowing football is a short career where a single injury can derail it, perhaps he is looking for the most he can get.

if i was him or he was my son, i'm 30 btw, not 75, i would say to stick with liverpool and in a few years if they can't do better or draw big players leave and get the deal you want.

would i want him at arsenal? YES.

will he be affordable? NO he will be crazy expensive for a 20 year old. besides i do not see liverpool as a team who would sell to a direct rival.

If liverpool want walcott in any deal they would have to make a compromise for sterling.

im going to say that the team he ends up with is chelsea. they will sell willian and oscar and the vast amount of loanees they have and have sufficient funds to pay him a good wage and a possible 50+ mill transfer fee. I can see hazard and sterling working well behind costa.

beyond all that i think he wants assurance that he can play as a striker, and possibly have some sort of a get out clause, and that's probably the contract hold up (im assuming as that is what i would ask for as a 20 year old kid with massive potential, who believe a bit too much in his own hype)

02 Apr 2015 13:39:54
Sorry 'The perfect goal'.

I'm a mere 48 year old if that helps, lol.

02 Apr 2015 06:45:20
I read that Monreal is being offered an improved contract and wondered what fellow gooners think of this news....

My own opinion is that is has many positive attributes, but lacks the explosive pace necessary to play at full-back for a top Premier League team.

{Ed025's Note - squad player for me robbie..

02 Apr 2015 08:06:49
Well deserved.

His time as a CB seems to have really helped him so that he is very effective against the big strong teams from the LB now too. Him a Gibbs are great tandem.

02 Apr 2015 08:14:28
Top player for me as this season has shown, probably our best defender this season. Nice to have a full back who defends first.Gibbs is becoming the squad player.

02 Apr 2015 09:24:40
gibbs for me is not a left back, more a winger. Monreal is the better defender and in such a position defense is no1.

the guy who impresses me is obviously hector bellerin, he can run the field like jordi alba, and while he is not that great at defending, he does do well, big test for him against liverpool this sat.

im wondering about luis gaya the LB from valencia do we have actual interest in him, or does madrid have a more suitable plan for him?

02 Apr 2015 09:35:05
Gibbs is not half the defender that Nacho is

02 Apr 2015 09:51:23
I like Gibbs, I know he isn't worldclass but if you play him with three defensive defenders (ie sagna or debuchy at right back) he can have that bit of extra freedom going forward and he starts to look like a really good player

02 Apr 2015 10:32:39
Gibbs is an attacking MF/winger who trys to be the LB he's asked to be because he's a very good professional but he just doesn't have the natural instinct or mentality to be a very good defender.
Could Belerin or Jenks be a right footed LB? There's been a few decent ones over the years

02 Apr 2015 10:38:25
I always feel sorry for Gibbs, who started out as a left sided midfield player, before Wenger converted him into a left back, where I have never felt he is comfortable with the defensive side of his game.

02 Apr 2015 11:19:02
For me, our best defenders have always been Dixon, Winterburn and Sagna.

They got forward when possible, without neglecting their defensive duties.

02 Apr 2015 11:26:26
Nah stop that, he's surrounded by some of the best defensive coaches in the world. He knows how to defend, he lacks the discipline needed to play the other side from a player like Bellerin.

02 Apr 2015 15:54:09
Bellerin is going to be awesome but at this point he cannot pass like Chambers let alone Monreal.

No love for Acole there Dags as a defender getting forward, and I don't blame you. Had a soft spot for Silvinho even if he didn't last long.

02 Apr 2015 07:55:27
Thanks Ed025.

{Ed025's Note - no problem robbie..

01 Apr 2015 23:20:32
3 months ago Le Coq was thinking about life beyond Arsenal and must have been wondering where he would end up next season with championship football looking his best option.
Now he's absolutely staring in the premier league and totally earned his new contract.
Theo could do worse than spend a bit of quality time with Le Coq or they could very easily be ships that pass in the season and their careers heading in completely opposite directions from here on in

02 Apr 2015 08:37:52
I was looking at photos from the recent U21 game which featured Debuchy, Wilshere, Arteta and Diaby and stood watching on the touch line was a certain Francis Coquelin.

I guess he could have been anywhere as he wasn't playing but the guy obviously has a lot about him and wants to constantly learn whatever way he can, I think if we bring in another DM that Coquelin will simply thrive on the competition.

He like you say has only had 3 months of being a first choice starter and has done himself and us no harm with his displays and will be learning every game.

At worst an extremely valuable member of our squad but potentially much more.

02 Apr 2015 08:45:20
If Theo leaves he'll earn a bigger deal though and be fine. Le coq would of just gone to an average team

02 Apr 2015 09:28:23
Theo has to run out of pace sometime, he's not getting younger, and it maybe time to cash in on him. without pace he will need to use his IQ and i'm not quite sure he has proven to make the right choices many times in advanced positions.

02 Apr 2015 09:46:07
I think the thing Le coq Ox Aaron and also Danny have in abundance is a real hunger to be the best they can possibly be even Ozil with his £42m price tag has shown a real passion and desire to improve himself and his game.
I'm not sure Theo has that any more, I'm not saying he doesn't care or want to be successful I'm just not sure he actually truly accepts how good he's not and how far he is from being remembered as anything other than the kid who went to the world cup and didn't ever quite make the grade.