Oct 20
Who had 2-0 in the pool? Another week, another win, as Kolo Toure and Tomas Rosicky scored 2nd-half goals as the Gunners secured all 3 points. Kolo’s been getting closer and closer to scoring recently, and he put Arsenal on top with a free kick in the 67th minute. Rosicky came off the bench to add the 2nd in the 80th minute.
Looks like it was an absolute battering, as Arsenal cracked 23 shots to Bolton’s 2.
58 Responses to “Arsenal 2 - 0 Bolton”
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October 20th, 2007 at 1:18 pm
I felt at times today I saw some bad habits from the Arsenal of old, too much passing in the box and not composed enough to put the ball on target when given the chance. However, the lads didn’t give up and kept going at it till the end, which is a great change this year from the team.
Eduardo looked a bit lost today, and gave away possession cheaply on several occasion. I know he isn’t a CAM but he didn’t seemed wanting to take on defenders at all today. Clichy on the other hand wins the MOTM for me, the came forward, tracked back, and won so many key battles to retain possession for us! I thought Kolo’s free kick was deflected in, but it actually swerved in - incredible! Glad for Rosicky to finally get a goal this season, let’s hope he stays fit!
October 20th, 2007 at 2:04 pm
The next two games will shape our season. Liverpool were lucky against Everton who deserved a draw. ManU cruised against Villa thanks to a little help from the ref. You wouldn’t bet against Arsenal at the moment, but I do think we have to improve in some areas.
Gallas was very poor today. He did not win a single header vs Davies. First game after a long time, so he should improve. Hope he remembers the 1-4 at Anfield last season.
Ade had a frustrating day and continued his poor form at 1:1s. But as long as he continues to work hard, we should be good. Eduardo needs to improve. I know it takes time to settle but Sagna has done it right away and I expected more from Eduardo.
Rosicky needs to be fit or Walcott needs to continue in his rich vein of form. We need that pace on the wings. We could do with a Bentley or Ashley Young.
October 20th, 2007 at 2:09 pm
Disagree nipuna. As far as i m concerned, the season will not be shaped until March or April.
And bentley and Young? They may look good on their teams, don’t think they are good enough for us. not even close.
October 20th, 2007 at 2:15 pm
As they say, Andez, you don’t win it in Oct, but you can lose it in Oct. If Liverpool had drawn today and lost to us, they could have lost it. We should make sure we don’t suffer defeats at Anfield and vs ManU. With RvP gone, the pressure is back on Ade to score, since Eduardo is still struggling.
As for Bentley and Young, both were highly rated by Wenger. Bentley would have been with us but for getting a little too big for himself and asking for a move. If he has waited six more months, his time would have come with Pires and Reyes leaving and Ljunberg struggling.
October 20th, 2007 at 2:27 pm
Couldn’t stand the Setanta commentators, who seemed to think Bolton where in Arsenals place in the table… another silent game for me. I was glad for the first goal just so I could turn the volume back on and second goal win to finally shut them two up.
Not a great game but a win nonetheless and another of Arsenal’s so called bogey teams bites the dust, with another clean sheet for our keeper. If Bolton actually came of their side of the pitch they might of scored but then they don’t play that kind of football… losers.
October 20th, 2007 at 2:43 pm
@nipuna: AW rates loads and loads of people including Jermaine Jenas … that should give you a fair idea of what he means when he says “I rate him ” .. it means .. “he’s not good enough to play for AFC but good enough so another top club will bid double the price as soon as I open my mouth” .. When AW rates someone he goes out and gets him before the press even know that there is a move on …. good win against Bolton though … cant help but think about the Jens gaffe against Blackburn
..
@All Admins : Are DAVID DEIN / TAKEOVER posts BANNED?? If not then could someone let me know why my post wasn’t published? Language issues or content inssues or anything else? If it was language all you needed to do was let me know..if it was content and DD is taboo .. then its sad..thats all I can say…I even sent an EMail…. no reply…appreciate a response…thank you
October 20th, 2007 at 2:53 pm
LDE, when did u write that piece? sometimes they did take some time to post it. My recent post “Messi wants to play for Wenger” was an old post I think i wrote a week ago. I got another one written even before that is nowhere to be seen! and it had nothing to do with Takeover!
October 20th, 2007 at 2:58 pm
btw, i did experience before some of my posts never published. of cos it’s not really a big deal, but i did feel a bit let down. as when u spent some time to write something, u don’t want it to be disappeared without trace. felt like wasting my time and effort.
October 20th, 2007 at 4:59 pm
Well, Bolton were an unpleasant surprise the first half, weren’t they. Organized and up to their old tricks, dishing out nasty fouls and disrupting the tempo. Our problem was that we got sucked in - Cesc’s frustration spilled over and he could easily have got a red for that little kick after he’d been booked. But, crucially, we didn’t get outmuscled.
Upfront was a bit of a patience-tester too with Adebayor have one of of his swinging a bango in a dairy farm days, and Eduardo still trying to find his role. He should be attacking the 6-yard box at every break - I lost count of cutback crosses that went begging across the face of goal.
That said, Bolton sat so deep, it was a bit like last year as tried to unpick the lock. This year, though we do use the flanks and send in crosses with more purpose. And of course we shoot from distance - love the Kolo thunderbolt. At last one goes in!
The plus points were we rallied and upped the tempo in the second half. Eboue was taken off, getting rid of his dying swan antics, and Walcott came up trumps, showing a bit of strength in the area to send in the cross for Rosicky.
I’m optimistic about the season. But realisic too. Our defence and keeper weren’t remotely tested today, so this game offered no real indication if this team really has the stuff to go all the way till May.
With Man U. up to speed and Chelsea back to grinding out wins, our top of the table honeymoon ends next week with the games against Liverpool and ManUre. Fingers crossed.
October 20th, 2007 at 5:01 pm
nice win. we are putting in the 3 points and for each of these wins the kids are learning a great deal. am impressed and surprised by walcott. thumbs up to him. that is the thing with young players….they can suddenly improve exponentially at any time….that is why wenger loves them.
anyway, our strikers without RvP look goalshy and lacking confidence JUST as i had predicted would happen.
fabregas, rosicky, hleb, walcott, diaby, toure will ALL need to continue this goalscoring trend till the strikers regain confidence.
our next two PL games will be the ultimate benchmarks. if we get 4 points from the two games….then it is definitely a title race we are in.
October 20th, 2007 at 6:46 pm
Nice three points.
Hleb man of the match out of the players that started the game. Say that because Walcott was brilliant again when coming on and Rosicky was his usual majestic self. However Alex was slithery genius in a more central position and prompted from deep all day long. The great thing about him is that you still feel he plays with the handbrake on. When he lifts it he will be unstoppable.
I still worry about Flamini’s lack of mobility in central midfield and his inability to feed decisive passes into our playmakers. He seems to have regressed back into the player who just passes the ball sideways all the time. We will need more than that to beat Man United and I really hope Diarra stakes a claim. He has more swagger than Flamini and we will need that to confuse United who will easily contain us if we play like we are playing at the moment. The problem is they will compound that by nicking a goal or two as well.
Liverpool is first though and anything can happen in that game.
October 20th, 2007 at 10:27 pm
Take the 3 points and run.
After an absolutely dreadful first half (why not? - playing between international weeks and a CL match with big opposition to come later), the play got better, and we scored a fortunate goal (Toure on a free kick through a forest of legs!!) which eased the stress quite a bit. And, Theo’s assist for the second was a thing of beauty.
To be honest though, Bolton was awful (no shots on goal), and the only danger was coming away with only one point, which would have been a real shame.
The negatives were there for sure, but it was the right match for a bit of a snoozer win - nothing to really take too seriously from this game as a hint of things to come.
I’m looking forward to the Anfield challenge.
October 20th, 2007 at 10:59 pm
i think we should play 4-5-1 at anfield with gilberto taking eduardo’s place and adebayor alone uptop.
the aim should be to replicate our game from last year away at Man U.
hopefully crouch doesnt destroy gallas again and our worst result should be 1-1 up there.
October 20th, 2007 at 11:52 pm
I’ve now seen the importance of Gilberto in games like this. First of all we were somewhat handicapped on corners both in attack and defense without Gilberto. He’s the best header of the ball and I hope he comes in to replace Flamini against Liverpool. If not they could snatch a win since they like to cross a lot. Remember the 4-1. Gallas and Toure were completely outdone by crouch.
And second, need Gilberto simply because he’s better than Flamini. I don’t think the next two games are worthy testing grounds for Diarra. We can’t risk it.
October 21st, 2007 at 12:39 am
why dont u guys still get it? wenger does not play flamini because he is the best CM (he is possibly the worst technically)…. he plays him because he is the best FIT (so far) to fabregas. and wenger is revolving his entire game around cesc.
fabregas needs someone who does a dog’s work….that immediately rules out diaby, denilson and gilberto. diarra is possibly the longterm solution … but flamini wont be dropped till a sizeable form drop.
October 21st, 2007 at 1:40 am
I saw Villa vs ManU. ManU have no strikers. Lots of midfielders and half-strikers. Y’day, it was Scholes, Anderson, Giggs, Nani, Tevez and Rooney. Ronaldo came on later. No defensive midfielder whatsoever. Our styles are a little in contrast right now. We have no pace and width except from full backs. They are all pace and width in midfield and up front. It’s kind of ironic that we have the youngest squad but not much pace in attack. If we hold a high line against them, I think we will suffer. Again, I feel we will need Gilberto.
I also saw Liverpool win at Everton. Y’day they didn’t use width too much, but Rafa will remember last season’s game. I wouldn’t be surprised if he starts with Crouch and Torres/Kuyt. Surely he will use Pennant and Benayoun/Babel to exploit the wings and cross the ball a lot. It will be a different challenge for our defence to cope with balls in the air. If we play like y’day, we will suffer. Again, I feel we will need Gilberto.
Two key games, two different kinds of opposition. I know Wenger doesn’t concentrate too much on the opposition and insists on our playing style. It should be interesting.
October 21st, 2007 at 4:06 am
@Andez: Ya I agree…does feel a bit bad if you take so much time to write something and then someone doesnt post it at all and many posts after that get posted. Anyway I’ll write again sometime
.. guts or stupidity by Rafa to sub Gerrard BTW?? .. paid off I guess but Pool got lucky …seriously lucky …don’t feel like writing more… must be that damn international break … I should be okay by the Liverpool game… 
October 21st, 2007 at 4:09 am
In fact, the Botlon match, if I observed it right, we had shifted to 4-5-1 during the match. Eduardo moved to the left, with Hleb operated behind Adebayor in a free role.
Against Liverpool, I agree with Fred we should play 4-5-1. Important thing is to keep possession, as long as we control the possession, Liverpool will struggle.
I don’t believe Liverpool will start Crouch. But I hope they do. As Crouch, having played so little games this season, clearly lack of match fitness. And if they try to hit us with pace going with quick winger it would even suit us more. As that means their midfield would not be able to control possession as well and resolve to long ball game.
As mentioned, if they let us to dictate the possession, we will eat them alive.
Controling possession is the main strength of this current Arsenal side. It not only help us on attack, but ease our defence’s burden significantly. As opponent cannot possibly attack us when they don’t have the ball.
October 21st, 2007 at 6:21 am
In the first half we were jaded. Just back from the international break and it was tough but we clicked into gear in the second half. Wenger swithced Hleb and Eduardo at the half and we had a bit more purpose going forward. I thought Eduardo was coming into the game when he got substituted. Maybe next time.
The major point was Wenger making his substitutions early. A couple years back, Wenger wouldn’t have made that change until the 75-80 minute mark when they have too little time to make an impact. This season he’s been making those changes at about the hour mark. Big up to Wenger.
With van Persie being out, Kolo is our only freekick option. Fortunately for us it worked out. I think that’s the first one he’s actually scored. I saw him hit a few in the last AFCON and was like wow as I didn’t know he could do that. He never even tried it for Arsenal until the Barcelona game.
Fred, Rosicky scored a goal. That’s three on the season. While it wasn’t the game winner, it settled the game. Just like last year against Bolton, he ghosted in front of the defender. That’s intelligent movement and a good finish. Gotta love that.
Ade’s a beast but he’s got to finish those break away chances. Against a good team we’re going to need those goals. He’s got to work on those in training. He’s bigger, faster, and stronger than most CB’s and they hate dealing with him. His pace stretches defenses vertically and his chest trap is the coldest I’ve seen lately. He seems to be looking for another smash like he scored against Spurs but he needs to look to just put the ball on target past the keeper. But he’s absolutely vital to our team right now.
October 21st, 2007 at 10:40 am
Good to finally get a win against Bolton…without Big Sam they really don’t look like they are going to stay in the EPL.
About Arsenal..first half looked a bit out of sorts..with bolton sticking to their game plan…but the second half especially with the introduction of Rosicky and Walcott changed things around.
Good to see Toure finally get one in from long range…had almost given up on any of his free kicks going in
….everytime he tried that..it would just keep missing the goal…but nice to see him on the scoresheet
Regarding the players..Eboue was extremly poor….i think he’s the only Arsenal youngster who seems to have gone downhill…mebbe its too early to write him off..but i hope he does improve…absolutely loved him with those darting runs from the back couple of years back..but all that seems to have disappeared at the moment.
Adebayor lacked the finishing touch…but i can excuse him..since he created a lot of those chances himself…he seems to have improved his first touch and control this season as compared to the last season….just the final touch for goal…and he will be a absolute gem for Arsenal.
Walcott was superb with his assist..and showed that he had improved..but waiting for the right moment before he released the ball….earlier in the season he used to get in those positions and then somehow manage to lose the ball.
Too bad we’ve lost RVP for a month…but hope the others step up for the big games coming up.
Cheers,
October 21st, 2007 at 11:43 am
Been a while. Glad to be back. I hung out insidearsenal during our down time. Decent group there.
Bolton and Derby can’t get relegated quick enough. Sunderland had more of a go than Bolton. Gartside trashed Allardyce when he left but where is Bolton now without Big Sam, eh.
Bolton was a ‘trap’ game that failed. Liverpool/Manchester United are the games that will tell you, me and the footballing world if we are going to be serious contenders in May.
Fred’s point is well taken. Flamini’s play allows Fabregas to play higher up the pitch and drives our attack better. Even Sagna avoids the circumstance of Fabregas covering for Eboue when he played RB. Speaking of Eboue, I’m not feeling the impact of Eboue/Sagna. In fact, I’d feel that Eboue’s attacking has declined since he’s been moved into an ‘attacking’ position. Bizarre. That’s why he’s always the first one substituted.
Walcott like many Arsenal players is growing up before our eyes. I watched him in the U21’s against Montenegro. Not impressed. But its not his fault. Those future England senior squad wannabees don’t know how to compliment his runs. Plus his coach has him tied to the sideline with a ball and chain. No imagination. The assist for the Rosicky goal was impressive because Walcott showed strenght in holding off Gardner. And finally, we got an end product from Walcott’s pace.
Bolton had two shots. I don’t remember two shots. They really had two shots. That’s amazing. Old Archie thought they had a ‘good’ effort. Kevin Nolan wasn’t smiling at the end was he. Almunia needs to give Arsenal a refund on last week’s salary. Lehmann’s thinking: ‘damn, I could have been in there for that easy clean sheet’. After Fulham, I would’nt be so sure Lehmann and that’s why you deserve to be on the bench. I’m sorry, you don’t even make the bench anymore do you.
Liverpool without Torres are not convincing. I watched Southhampton v. Coventry and there were so many given away balls, that I thought Sissoko was making a guest appearance. Hyppia lack of pace is a weak point in the Liverpool back. We will get a chance to judge Babel, the one who got ‘away’. Ironic if he scores. People may think he’s fast and he may think he’s fast but Pennant will not trouble Clichy. Under the category of be careful of what you wish for is Gerrard’s ineffectiveness playing centrally.
Roy Keane has got to be the most entertaining manager in the EPL right now. I appreciate his brutal honesty. He admits to making mistakes with Sunderland. What mistake is his biggest you might ask. He didn’t look at, keep this under your hat now: foreign players. Oh, he said the “F” word. His squad are full of local lads he’s known or played with (i.e. denizens of the British isles) and guess what, they’re shite on the big stage. Now he’s got to get a foreign scouting network going before the January window. Pssst, Roy: its Youtube, for all your scouting needs.
October 21st, 2007 at 11:53 am
I told you guys Eboue couldn’t play that righ midfield role. The Inter Milan game in the pre-season had me fooled and I actually apologized. Well I’m taking my damned apology back.
October 21st, 2007 at 12:12 pm
Too early to tell Josh. The thing is Eboue hasn’t been playing much lately, and he’s a bit rusty. Same case as Eduardo. He didn’t really impress against Bolton, but that doesn’t mean he can’t play as striker!
on the other hand though, i m not very happy with Eboue’s lack of effort. As a midfielder, he gotta works harder than that.
October 21st, 2007 at 1:01 pm
I think Eboue and Bendtner are going soon. I dont think Wenger is impressed with either of them. First Eboue shows a lot of promise then starts decreasing rapidly and Bendtner has a runny mouth.
Walcott is Wenger’s pet project so he will take up Bendtners 4th choice striker position. While a new winger will come in for Eboue.
I also think Flamini wont get a contract extension - and his contract ends this summer. Too many of Wenger’s pet projects need time.
October 21st, 2007 at 1:03 pm
Am thinking Van der Vaart is not CL or UEFA cup tied….so maybe we can get him in January. His price might be a sticking point though.
October 21st, 2007 at 1:05 pm
Ditto to joshuad in #19 and Wayne in #20! Wenger won the points with his timing and Eboue is useless. It even looked like he walked off the pitch without shaking Walcott and Rosicky’s hands. That’s poor teammanship on a team that is all about it at the moment. I Also agree with the fact that Flamini is out there because of his work rate and relationship with cesc. And he is acting the enforcer somewhat, which is fantastic. Great game, great season, keep it going against pool and manfester!
Also, RVP should be back by the December/January logjam. That’s good news.
October 21st, 2007 at 1:42 pm
Agree with Fred. One of Gilberto/Flamini is likely to leave. Eboue too. If Bendtner leaves, it will be the Bentley way - not because of a lack of talent but because of a loud mouth and lack of patience.
October 21st, 2007 at 1:50 pm
No way Bendtner is leaving!! Are u kidding me?! This kid got a MASSIVE MASSIVE potential. He’s not a Bentley nor Pennant pretenders, Bendtner is for REAL. Sure the kid got an attitude, but if we bring in Van der Varrat or whoever else it would be the same. Nobody likes to stay on the bench. Not if he’s a good player at least.
AW would be crazy to let Bendtner goes. IMO He’s the “next BIG thing”.
October 21st, 2007 at 3:40 pm
Agree with Bendtner assesment, Andez- his attitude is the downside with loans- he knows he’d be playing every game with Birmingham.. The kids is 19 and is hungry to play. If we lock up advancing in the CL, he will get minutes there plus the Carling Cup and possibly the festive season. It is a tough time now but I hope he will be happier come February.
Re: Eboue I have to think as time goes on he is losing his place in the squad- if things don’t improve I think he will become a squad player or be gone next summer. Taking back an apology? Too funny.. Wenger’s loyalty to a player is him allowing Eboue a shot at RM instead of riding the pine- that experiment may well last ’til ANC.
People seem to be knocking Flamini’s performances again- ashame I have not seen the full games.. I think (sadly) Gilberto is gone next summer, perhaps Flamini too though not resigning Flamini is foolish- he has value..
If Kolo is 2nd FK option after RvP then we have a problem. Can’t Rosicky do this? I don’t know..
October 21st, 2007 at 3:48 pm
Also re: Bendtner, Wenger said it himself- he plays the same position and role as Adebayor so slotting him in is a problem. Part of his problem is with only 5 subs in the EPL you need versatile players. We have a bunch of attacking midfielders so it doesn’t make sense to have Bendtner on the bench to relieve Adebayor. Hopefully he is in the squad for CL match.
October 21st, 2007 at 4:14 pm
good point steve. i always believe having 7 spots on the bench will be a good idea. perhaps they can restrict it to 2 spots must be players under age 21. that way, if a team is taking a comfortable lead, they can send on the young players and give them a chance.
basically it doesn’t have any negative effect at all having 7 bench spots, and it doesn’t cost much money.
and i strongly agree with ur accessment that Bendtner’s disadvantage is he can only player the striker role. that way makes him more difficult to get into the bench spots. but soon Adebayor will need a break, he can’t run all day, every game, all season long. Bendtner is Ade’s number 1 replacement.
October 21st, 2007 at 4:26 pm
andez: am not saying wenger wants to boot him out….i just think that bendtner has absolutely no patience to wait his turn.
and i think he will be like bentley and settle for regular football at a lower PL team. when you are 19 years old and you want to play for a top team you have to be patient - especially when you know your coach is the manager who promotes youth more than any other.
but as it is wenger simply has no patience for players with big mouths. if you are a 28/29 year old veteran moaning he might make you captain to placate you….but when you are a teenager he will simply sell you.
and please dont be surprised when it happens….i called it long time ago.
October 21st, 2007 at 4:30 pm
Ehhh…okay game - we gutted it out, and that’s fine by me. Walcott has turned it around the last few matches - very encouraging. And I always think a healthy Rosicky has match-changing potential. Anyway…
The Liverpool game is key - we need to do well next weekend. And then we face a gutsy ManU in Nov.
The thing for me is that I think December will decide our chances. If we play well over the Dec period, we will have a shot at the silverware. Period.
We play 5 AWAY league matches and 2 at HOME (Chelsea, Spurs). Not easy, as the weather gets nasty and makes injuries a higher probability.
Our title chances will be shown by February, not April - we must have already done quite well against the non-title-contenders going into the April matches against Liverpool and ManU. And we must be relatively healthy.
Just a thought.
October 21st, 2007 at 5:37 pm
Not too worried about yesterday as it was the first day back after the international break.
I agree that December is the key. Even two defeats in our next two games will keep us in the top four. In December, we play seven games and looking at each one in isolation (apart from Spurs at home!!!!), there is the potential to drop points. If we are still unbeaten at the end of December and have won four out of the seven in December, then we are really in the title hunt.
As for Eboue, did I imagine it or did he try and claim a penalty when he fell over his own legs. He rolled around on another occasion and the play had to be stopped but there appeared to be nothing wrong. I have had enough of his playacting and it looks so much worse when it seem to be all he is contributing.
October 21st, 2007 at 6:13 pm
The next two games tell me if Arsenal can win the title or not, mess them up and it’s Man Utd all the way for me.
Liverpool away is going to be tough because tactically Benitez often has the measure of Arsenal. Crouch destroyed Arsenal in the air at Anfield last season and I’m pretty sure he’ll start next week. We’ll find out how good Clichy has become and Sagna is, because they HAVE to cut the crosses out.
Flamini has done well, but for me I’d play Gilberto. He’s better in the air defensively and will be important at set pieces. I don’t really see Flamini doing a great deal to help Fabregas, I think Fabregas is continuing to mature and would be exactly the same player whoever was next to him.
I would actually play Hleb up front with Adebayor, with Rosicy and Eboue on the flanks, Eboue adds defensive steel. Eduardo and Bendtner aren’t quite there yet for such a big game.
My line up would be:
Lehmann
Sagna
Toure
Gallas
Clichy
Eboue
Gilberto
Fabregas
Rosicky
Hleb
Adebayor
If Wenger starts with Almunia, Flamini and Eduardo I think we’ll really notice their shortcomings.
By the way, how about some of you being a little more patient with the players.
How many were writing off Walcott after some bad performances?? He is still only 18. Likewise Eboue, he’s just come back from injury and is trying to accustomise to a new position - give it time. I even saw people slagging off Gallas, even though on and off he’s been injured for practically a year. This team is still young and has a lot of growing up to do.
October 21st, 2007 at 6:31 pm
Andez, it doesn’t matter if Crouch is match-fit or not. He will just stand in the six yard box and get his big head on every cross. That’s not usually his game but it’s funny how against Arsenal he suddenly finds an appetite for doing it. He will go back to being a mouse against Man United though.
Liverpool at Anfield is probably the hardest game of the season for me. They match up well against us in general and at Anfield they love to bombard us with diagonals. We will need to be ballsy and hope Rosicky does something similar to the F.A Cup game. In that game we had done practically nothing apart from his wonder strikes and that just shows how our midfield struggles to impose itself at Anfield. The Carling Cup match means nothing and will have no bearing.
I don’t think Gilberto or Flamini are the answer at Anfield. I want Diarra but it’s not gonna happen. However Gilberto sits too deep at Anfield and miscues clearances that tend to fall straight at Gerrard’s flipper feet while Flamini just gets exposed positionally all day long and commits himself too much.
I agree with Danny that Hleb should play central. We need his trickery in the midfield minefield. The dense Scouse midfield won’t have a clue how to deal with him- if he is confident. RVP’s injury gives Wenger a perfect excuse to try this formation without risking the wrath of those who call it negative. This formation will be great if we take the lead but we will struggle if Liverpool get their tails up and the Ref lets them take out players like Hleb. They will then feed on the loose ball; Liverpool’s best chance.
October 21st, 2007 at 7:03 pm
The Carling Cup defeat may not mean anything to us, but u bet it sure hell meant a great deal to Liverpool. I remember checking their message board after that match, the Reds fans went absoutely crazy. It was Anfield we are talking about. And how anyone dared to score 6 goals past them at their own backyard? It’s all about PRIDE man. No club wants to concede six goals at home, particular a club with a proud tradition like Liverpool. Hell, I can still remember Man Utd beat us 6-2 in a League Cup game long time ago. I bet many Gooners did as well. It did mean something.
And Mazza, your logic was wrong. We played 3 matches at Anfield, winning 2 and losing 1. The only defeat was a league defeat, but back then we already had virtually nothing to play for.
While the FA Cup and League Cup victory at least it’s still a trophy we were fighting for. So how can those victories means “nothing”? While the defeat means something?
With all the talks of Peter Crouch, If I remember it right, he had only had one good game against us. Other than that, when did he actually make any impact playing against us?
I wish they play Peter Crouch. So they would just throw all the long ball into the box. And let us dictate the play and possession on the ground. And we shall see what kind of football will prevail.
October 21st, 2007 at 8:17 pm
I fear Crouch more than Torres, because Arsenal’s biggest weakness is on crosses. Benitez will know how to tap into our weaknesses, he’s a very good tactical coach.
By the way, not sure if anyone’s read this:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/arsenal/article2709643.ece
Now I don’t agree with him shooting his mouth off like this, but then I also don’t understand why Wenger bought him to sit on the bench. I know the team is playing well, but if Arsenal sell Gilberto and Diarra asks to leave and all we’re left is Flamini then it would be absolutely tragic. Diarra is the future and Wenger should look to involve him as soon as possible, not wait for a defeat before putting him in.
I know it’s not very nice, but I really do hope Flamini gets injured. Not a bad injury, just a calf strain or something, something to open the door for Diarra who can then keep it slammed shut.
October 21st, 2007 at 8:38 pm
What you all seem to forget is that it’s not just about quality and skill. A lot of what goes into picking a side is about chemistry, character and consistency. Flamini may not burn the pitch with his pace or score from 20+ yards, but he plays perfectly within the squad. He knows his role and he plays it to perfection. He communicates well, feeds cesc and the wingers, and protects our superstars. He also calms down the other youngsters when they lose their calm. And when the time comes, at 55, 60 even 75 minutes, it’s not he who is getting subbed to make way for Walcott’s pace or Rosicky’s trickery. He stays on because he knows and understands the game as a whole. Watch Liverpool play and you’ll see that Gerard has to play both the role of Flamini and the role of Fabregas and he goes long stretches without even touching the ball because he doesn’t know when to play which role (he also gets subbed for no reason when he’s controlling the game, but that’s what you get with a crazy boss like Benitez!)
Back to Flamini, though. He had said he wanted to leave last year when Gilberto was in control of that position. But as we saw with Henry’s lengthy injury spell while Gilberto was captaining the squad: it’s not just about skill. You have to be able to play in the system. So, I for one hope that Flamini never sits and never gets injured, because as long as that happens we’ll have kept on winning, because Wenger has already said he’s not going to change a formula that’s producing results.
On another note, I can’t wait for Eboue to leave, for sure!
October 21st, 2007 at 9:05 pm
Kolo, along with RVP and Cesc, is on the “shortlist” for the Ballon d’Or- European Footballer of the year.
Glad to see that he is getting some recognition.
October 21st, 2007 at 9:38 pm
I know it’s not very nice, but I really do hope Flamini gets injured. Not a bad injury, just a calf strain or something…
——-DannyT
Are you serious? I couldn’t believe my eyes when I read this. You want an Arsenal player injured? Bizarre. And shameful.
October 21st, 2007 at 9:50 pm
actually, flamini or almunia WONT be dropped till we lose. so if we dont lose i will be more than happy. i dont want him or any of our players injured i just want him “rested”.
October 21st, 2007 at 10:03 pm
the european awards are definitely more considered. no lampard or terry or thuram drivel.
October 21st, 2007 at 10:48 pm
Before we all jump on Eboue, I think it’s useful to distinguish between his theatrics (which did get us the freekick that led to Sol’s goal in Paris) and his erratic talent. The playacting is, we all agree, lame and for the most part out of character with this team. The talent is another story. He has real pace and drive, when he’s on his game. He sent in the beautiful cross for Henry’s winning header against ManUre last year.
But his shooting even from inside the box is mostly wild blasting. Not a cool finisher.
He is indicative of a sub-group within this team: the inconsistents with no blazing high points.
The Consistents are (with only a very few off days): Cesc, Kolo, Gilberto, Sagna and Flamini. You may question Flamini’s talent and creativity, but he is a rock solid workhorse.
Gallas should be here, shouldn’t he?, but one has to let the after-effects of injury recede.
The Inconsistents with redeeming high points are:
Adebayor, who goes from the sublime to the ridiculous, even falling over his own feet like a baby giraffe
VanP, who can be amazing and also drift right out a game.
Lehman, who can be a reflex wizard and then let in absolute howlers, even in the unbeaten year. Remember that goal against M’brough? Giving away a needless penalty against Sp*ds. His tantrums. This year’s first two games…
Hleb - Mr Inconsistency for two years, but is close to being promoted to the above group. Just needs to add that final clinical bite to his attacking.
Clichy - who had a couple of stinkers, but is otherwise turning into more of a driving force this year and I see him become a Consistent.
Rosicky - though first it was settling in and now it’s down to injury
Walcott - who is only 18.
The Inconsistents with no really amazing high points.
Almunia
Senderos
Diaby (okay, one screamer against Sp’ds)
Eduardo - still settling in admittedly.
Eboue - apart from a few great crosses now and then.
I guess this is all a lead-up to wondering how many Consistents you need in a team to win the title, and how we compare to other title-winning teams.
October 22nd, 2007 at 12:19 am
ANR says RvP’s injury could be quite serious. He is usually wrong, so there is hope. If it’s true, our task got even tougher.
Ade and Bendtner can play together in some games. Against Bolton, we could have done with Bendtner instead of Eduardo who was getting eased off the ball a little too easily. He would have handled the physical side a lot better.
October 22nd, 2007 at 12:26 am
i predicted before the season started that if we could get 16 or 18 out of our first 21 points that we would challenge at least till february. and the boys have certainly done this.
now i believe if we should still be in it till the turn of the year at least.
now what will really decide whether we win the PL or not will be who wenger buys in january. i firmly believe that it would be a very crucial transfer window.
if you watch the unbeaten season, you would notice how much of a positive influence reyes was. he was too fast, he was too tricky and opponents didnt know what to do with him….at least for those first months before ferguson figured that out. the team was very good and reyes basically opened up another outlet.
we will NEED an inspired buy like that again this january. preferably a fast, zippy winger or another rosicky/hleb type who scores. we must also not allow anybody to leave no matter how “unhappy” they are.
October 22nd, 2007 at 12:36 am
notice how wenger doesnt rotate anymore….this time last season when our hopes were already lost he was rotating half the team sometimes. shows he believes this could really be our year.
now all we need is that final inspired piece in the puzzle. a very rapid player with good control and preferably a good leftfoot would be awesome. would also help get our counterattack back.
October 22nd, 2007 at 12:46 am
now to end my series of comments - an hypothetical question:
question: if fabregas does leave what would wenger do or who will he buy?
answer: nothing and nobody.
he has stacked his team with CMs….and if his linchpin leaves he will simply compensate by playing 4-3-3. cos i just cant see why else he is stacking his team with ONLY CMs.
Rosicky - Diarra - Hleb
with a bench of: Diaby, Denilson, Flamini or anyother he buys.
personally, I would be very interested to see how the team below would do….from a counterattacking point of view the team would be awesome……hopefully we will see it in some league cup or fa cup games.
Fabianski
Sagna - Toure - Djorou - Clichy
Hleb - Diarra - Rosicky
Walcott - Bendtner - Eduardo
October 22nd, 2007 at 1:20 am
Surprisingly, I agree with DannyT and his lineup (other than Lehmann, who, barring some injury to Almunia before January, is pretty much through at Arsenal). However, I think that we’re likely to see that 4-4-1-1 (counting Hleb as a 2nd Striker rather than an ACM) employed in Tuesday’s CL match against Prague, rather than only at ‘Pool.
Even though introducing Gilberto into the side for the CL game could slightly upset team dynamics, our previous CL results this season have taken some of the pressure off of this game, so it might just be the perfect time to re-integrate Gilberto into the system. That said, if Gilberto plays on Tuesday, he certainly couldn’t be truly match fit, so the likelyhood of him playing the full 90 would be slim.
He would probably get subbed for Flamini, but if he were subbed off by Diarra, it could really throw the future of the holding midfielder position up into the air.
If he doesn’t play on or before the Man U match, Gilberto will be sold in January full stop, which means, with Lehmann also going, that Kolo would be the only “Invincible” left standing in the red & white. Go figure.
On another topic, big ups to our old friends Pires & Cygan @ Villareal for taking the game to those hypocrites at Barca (inc. Henry & old boy Sylvinho) and dispatching their depleted side with ease.
October 22nd, 2007 at 1:32 am
Fred, interesting point about signing Reyes in the winter of the invincible season. But note that Reyes was not signed to strengthen the invincible team. Reyes was a long term target and just that the transfer came to fruit in the middle of that season.
But I do agree that we may need another player. My main concern remains goals. Hleb will not score many when he is on the wings and Rosicky will be injured most of the time. Cesc will need to keep his run going and Ade too if RvP is out for long. Goals will determine our season. I am very interested in seeing who will score at Anfield and at home vs ManU.
October 22nd, 2007 at 5:44 am
“i predicted before the season started that if we could get 16 or 18 out of our first 21 points that we would challenge at least till february. and the boys have certainly done this.”
Yeah I remember that as well Fred. Back then I did honestly agree with u. As I too felt a good start is a must if we were going to have a good season. Giving that we had basically out of the title race within 2 or 3 months the past 2 seasons.
but i never really believed we could have achieved that 16 or 18 points out of 21 targets. I would have settled for a little less.
So in every sense, I m very happy of where we are right now. Despite some rivals fans keep reminding us that our “season hasn’t started” (because we haven’t played the big sides).
Yeah right, if our season hadn’t started, and we already had 25 league points, I would take that anytime!
October 22nd, 2007 at 7:14 am
I remember LDE saying that we should get 25 pts in 10 games and I remarked that it would be championship winning stuff if we did that. Guess what, we reached 25 points in 9 games.
October 22nd, 2007 at 11:25 am
Happy Birthday Arsene Wenger!!!
October 22nd, 2007 at 11:31 am
yeah, no matter what sides you are playing 25 out of 27 is championship style rate. the quality of the sides doesnt even matter because if we draw against all the top 4 and beat all the “weaker” sides we will win the league by over 10 points.
the question is can we continue to beat these smaller teams. i hope so.
u know if we beat liverpool at anfield … the psychologic blow of losing at home to a direct rival would probably end their chances in the PL.
if we then beat ManU that could possibly open up a 8 point gap by november (after the game at hand)….that would be real comfort zone.
but then that is really getting ahead of ourselves.
am getting quite excited about the PL and quite apprehensive too lol.
October 22nd, 2007 at 11:32 am
pires has a thing for beating barca……on hindsight he might not have been the best to take off against barca in that final….especially with ljunberg and hleb still on the pitch. ah, well all that is past now.
happy birthday wenger!
October 22nd, 2007 at 12:26 pm
Has anyone seen this? Looks awesome, but it will probably cost equivalent to a home mortgage payment: http://www.o2blueroom.co.uk/Football/ArsenalOpus/
October 22nd, 2007 at 2:49 pm
Re: RockyMtnArsenal #49. -If he doesn’t play on or before the Man U match, Gilberto will be sold in January full stop, which means, with Lehmann also going, that Kolo would be the only “Invincible” left standing in the red & white. Go figure.-
To quote DannyT, “I will eat my hat” if Gilberto is sold this winter. It is not Wenger’s style- too disrespectful to sell Gilberto in January. Flamini more likely to go because of the contract ending but no other reason. Having so many above average players will show from Dec. onward.
macmac123 #44- I like the analysis. Re: Eboue we are all looking for the return of form from 1H ‘06- he will get his run of games this year but if his quality doesn’t show he won’t feature often again. Diaby is young, he has great feet and I have been wowed by his dribbling ability- it is a rare skill these days and greatly prized by Wenger and others. Don’t want to get into another Senderos thread..
October 22nd, 2007 at 10:12 pm
Re: GunningSteve #57- To quote DannyT, “I will eat my hat” if Gilberto is sold this winter. It is not Wenger’s style- too disrespectful to sell Gilberto in January.
Okay, we’ll see. I would’ve thought so too, but for the rather ignoble way the change in captaincy was handled this summer. Plus, I don’t think he’s cup tied for the CL this year.