Lot of people have started talking about Arsenal lately, but most of them give me a feeling they don’t know what they’re talking about.
Take Steven Gerrard’s statement - “…few would argue Arsenal has played to their FULL potential”.
Really? I bet I must be one of the “few” then. I don’t know the average age of this current squad, but I sure as hell don’t believe that Cesc, Ade, van Persie, Walcott, Denilson, Diaby etc…, will be the SAME players a few years from now as with they are at this moment in time.
There’s also been more “Once Arsenal have more injuries, they would stumble” talk. It seems to be popular among rival fans and players alike.
I just don’t get it sometimes. Injury, as far as I m concerned, is part and parcel of the game. No one can predict it. No one can say just because our team have had our share of injuries, so we will remain injury-free for the rest of the season. There is no such thing as “quota” when comes to injury.
As far as I am concerned, the chance of Arsenal players getting injured for the rest of the season will be just as good as Man U, Liverpool, Chelsea players have.
Besides, if someone firmly believes in his own team, why would he be wishing for other teams’ key players to get hurt? Personally, I won’t be hoping that Gerrard, Rooney, Ronaldo, Terry, Drogba and the like get injured. I want to see us beat them with their full strength squad, so they will be left nothing to moan about after our victory.
One great thing about the draw against Man Utd is - afterward, I didn’t see too many Gooners mention van Persie. No such talk as “HAD we had van Persie, we would have won.”. Wenger never mentioned it either. It’s almost like nobody even remembered the fact that we had our best striker missing.
Long may that continue, and let others to moan about their “injuries”.
50 Responses to “Do they know what they are talking about?”
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November 16th, 2007 at 11:59 am
I guess injuries only count when you lose. Gallas and Van Persie have each missed a bunch of games this year. Arsenal coped well. A lot of teams seem to crumble when they lose their best center back and striker. Let them moan.
November 16th, 2007 at 1:27 pm
To speak to the question: No, they don’t.
November 17th, 2007 at 12:04 pm
Hey, how come my account has expired? I was unable to do that for around a week and I had to log in with another e-mail and username.
Why can’t I log in with my old account?
Sheed
November 17th, 2007 at 12:10 pm
F**k them, they are all afraid from us and jealous at the same time so they have nothing to do than moan.
ALWAYS OUTNUMBERED, NEVER OUTGUNNED!!!!!
November 17th, 2007 at 12:12 pm
“I was unable to do that” - I meant to log in. lol
November 17th, 2007 at 1:21 pm
Yup Sheed_36, happened to me as well.
and from what u can see there have not been much comments lately, i bet everyone else soon will have to reappear with a new identity! we are facing an identitiy crisis here at AA! : )
November 17th, 2007 at 3:31 pm
He He thats fixed now…some problem with the application I guess
… oh and yes they dont know what they are talking about. The moment man starts to talk about others , you know that he is more concerned about the others than himself. AW has been guilty of it as well in the past, but as of now they can’t believe that all their multi million pound buys might not be enough to stop Arsenal from achieving something great this time.
Oh and on a sidenote…Israel are winning in Tel-Aviv .. looks like the “Golden Generation” has yet another chance to underachieve at Euro 2008 if things stay the same. On a positive side Arsenal wont be blamed for England’s failure to reach the finals
November 17th, 2007 at 3:57 pm
Exactly LDE, I wish England go on and win the Euro 2008, and leave Arsenal alone.
November 17th, 2007 at 8:41 pm
And that’s not the only reason why I want England to qualify. If they don’t qualify, all the big clubs would have rested players for the start of the next season and we will have tired legs because we don’t have England Internationals in our squad and that would be disadvantage. Let’s hope they qualify.
November 17th, 2007 at 9:25 pm
Me thinks Gerrard does petition too much. His excuse for why England is playing so poorly is also weighted as a slant towards Arsenal.
Everyone will say what they will about Arsenal and I say bullocks to them just keep talking.
November 17th, 2007 at 10:42 pm
I said soon after England’s loss in Russia that Russia beating Israel is by no means a given. Hell, they couldn’t even draw.
November 17th, 2007 at 11:20 pm
If anyone believes in conspiracy theory, let’s just say UEFA can’t afford to have a tournament without two of the world football heavy weight - England and Italy (or France).
I truly felt for Scotland. They fought so hard and against all odds to put themselves into a position that qualification was a real chance…. Well, if anyone saw that match and how “wonderful” a job the referee had done… again. Then u know what i m saying.
November 18th, 2007 at 12:59 am
Didnt see the game Andez but yeah I agree with you..conspiracy in football is there.. just like there is in politics or anything where big money is involved…the same way George Bush said there was WDM in Iraq…and now there’s nothing but everything is hush hush…No one will care that Italy cheated to get through that 2nd round against the Aussies in the WC..because it was “Italy”…so yeah I havent seen the game but if anything untoward happened I’m not in the least surprised… Hell for that matter… I’m not even so sure that the EPL is “manipulated” every year to suit ManU….no proof I know…but thats just my feeling….
November 18th, 2007 at 1:42 am
The internationals give us something to talk about.
Rosicky played the full 90 min for Czech and even scored. If I remember correctly, he has played in every international this year. What chances he will come back to Arsenal and get injured?
Eduardo played only 54 min for Croatia. Now let’s see how he performs against England after claiming that they didn’t deserve to go through and so on. Was it wise to say such things when you haven’t even broken into the first team at your club?
Bendtner scored yet again for Denmark but they lost.
Cesc played the full 90 as Spain thrashed Ljunberg’s Denmark.
France are through so hope the likes of Gallas and Sagna don’t push too much.
November 18th, 2007 at 10:28 am
First time poster here and only a fan for a year but…..I say….we’d be cunk, er, sunk, without Cesc.
Like I say….I haven’t watched Arsenal or Football for very long at all but I fell in love with the club (and the game) when I happened to live on Highbury Fields last Fall for a couple of months…
Cesc, IMO, seems to play “within” himself most of the time, attempting to break down opposing defences with his passing and only the occasional forward run when the positioning of the rest of the team is adequate to provide cover should the move not come off. He/this is the reason a tireless runner like Flamini can thrive in the side (Cesc will position himself to cover if Flim-Flam heads forward, etc.) If Cesc were to get hurt (along with the other “creators,” RVP, Hleb and Rosicky) you get a team like we had in Prague and, even if many of the potential replacements (The D boys–Diaby, Denilson, DuDu, Diarra) have the skills and are learning from Cesc & the Cystem, er, system that we play, Cesc’s vision and innate Cense, er, sense of positioning are rare commodities.
Of course, part of Cesc playing “within himself” is the ability to do so without exposing himself to injury very often (reminds me a bit of a basketball player named Jordan….) but he is young and passionate and thus he does “go for it” when the situation demands it, and the league is full of thugs and Chit, er, s**t
happens.
I think it’ll be interesting to watch the Wigan game without Cesc (suspended, 5 yellows) to see if his replacement(s) can emulate and we can provide a comfortable sense of endless attacking potential as was on display at Reading.
November 18th, 2007 at 2:35 pm
Isnt it funny we havent heard from the scum duo of Dein and Usmanov in quite a while? Just wait for us to hit a rough patch and they will come running out telling us how they will save the club. LOL:
November 18th, 2007 at 5:41 pm
What does the future hold for Fabrecas? Yesterday was a milestone for Fabrecas on the Spanish national side. He did not come off the bench but started with Xavi and ran the midfield. Fabrecas is no longer a bit part player for Spain who comes off the bench on/in the 65th or closing minutes. He has proven to be the best midfielder in England based on current form and was rightly chosen to start for Spain yesterday.
This brings much concern because I wonder how much loneger before the giants of Spain (Real Madrid and Barcelona) insist that he returns to Spain. Cesc says he is quite content in London and Arsenal is the best thing for him now. “At this point” he does not see himself leaving Arsenal, but from a development stage I cannot ignore and think that Arsenal is a jumping point/stage and training ground for a future return to his home of Spain at age 22/23. His (Cesc) value is going up everyday and eventually his agent might convince him to go back to Spain.
I think Fabrecas will be successful wherever he goes; however, I feel sorry for Antonio Reyes. I think Antonio would be a current consideration for the Spanish national side if he had stayed in England at Arsenal. He was lured in a hoax to Real Madrid, used (even after winning La Liga 2007 for Real), and shown the door. I think playing in England added edge to Reyes game. Maybe Cesc ponders the perils of returning to Spain after seeing the decline of Reyes and I might even say Henry.
Let’s hope the future is good for Arsenal.
David, the Arsenal fan
November 18th, 2007 at 6:04 pm
I believe Cesc will be here with Arsenal at least until AW’s current contract expires. Simply because he’s THE “man” here at Arsenal.
He doesn’t need to look far than having a look at Henry. At Arsenal, Titi was the “man”, he demanded the ball, and his teammtes would give that to him. But watching a few Barca matches, some of his Barca teammates kinda like ignored his exitence on the pitch. Apart from Ronaldinho, few saw Henry as their first option when they passed the ball. Of cos Henry needs to put on a brave face facing the media. deep inside though I doubt he’s very happy at Barcelona.
In short, Henry is still a superstar, but there are plenty of superstars at Barcelona.
Same will happen to Cesc if he decides to move in the near future. If I were him, i would not be so dumb to leave now. Afterall, how many 20-yr-old finds themselves as the “main man” at his club, and a major club in Euro as well.
In years to come, I see Cesc will have a better career than C.Ronaldo. As Cesc’s game is very much on his head and his superb technic. Ronaldo, on the other hand, relies a lot on his pace. Take away his pace, he would be half a player. While Cesc never got pace anyway.
Another thing is, a player relies on pace is more phroned to injury. As they tend to run with the ball, and it’s far easy to suffer an injury or risk an dangerous tackle coming ur way while u running full pace with the ball. While Cesc is primary a passer, defenders tend to back off than flying in with a tackle on a passer.
As for Reyes, i think his game got found out. Surely he got talent, but he got no brain. His poor decision making would not get him going very far, wherever he play. Reminds me a bit of that dribbling king Denilson (ex-Betis man).
November 18th, 2007 at 10:14 pm
good point!!! We will see what happens.
November 18th, 2007 at 11:15 pm
True, at Barca they wont make him the center of play or build play around him. And that wont suit Fabregas’ game.
I dont think he will go till 2012.
November 19th, 2007 at 8:24 pm
What do we know about a Flamini injury. Domenech’s decription of the injury is BS. Now we’ll be in deep doodoo if we have to go back to relying the ‘passive’ wall of Gilberto. Also Diaby has an injury. Suddenly our MF (minus the suspended Fabregas) going into Wigan is looking a little dodgy. Wigan will be up for with new man Bruce at the helm. Everyone will be looking to impress him. Remember Aston Villa beating ManU last year after the arrival of Martin O’Neill.
On a positive note, Rosicky has begged out of Wednesday game. We’ll also look forward to whatever RVP can contribute in his first game back. Walcott looking and sounding like someone either stole his teddy bear or lit a fire under his ass. It’s about time he finally gets it.
Oh please, oh please let England qualify. Arsenal will be left in peace until the next crisis of national team confidence. Northern Ireland and Scotland have more passion and commitment from players who are not weighed down by their bank balances.
November 19th, 2007 at 9:06 pm
i am also not looking forward to gilberto to be honest. i said it during the summer - he had the very few interceptions, covered the least ground of our midfielders and made even fewer tackles than fabregas. some said he “harries” the opposition and is good in the air. well am not really into that.
i hope wenger starts diarra now. its about time.
November 19th, 2007 at 9:13 pm
I’ll chip in with a few words on Reyes’ behalf. I think he was a great talent with great pace - remember how he tore apart ManUre in the 3-1 Charity Shield game? He had excellent technique too, scoring some tricky beauties, like that cross the goal low shot in the rain in a 4-0 against Charlton.
Yes, he had trouble adjusting to the league’s rough and tumble pace, but I think he just had the stuffing knocked out of him after the Neville Brothers did their scumbag tapdance all over him at Old Trafford. He - and the team - were not the same after that defeat.
Also, let’s not underestimate the intimidation factor of Henry’s disapproval. Reyes retreated thereafter and stopped using his pace to the same degree. He lost the mental battle and I guess lost heart, so he wound up pining for tapas and sunshine. It’s a shame. If you could cross Ray Parlour’s gung-ho attitude with Reyes’ pace and skill, you would have the ideal winger. Theo, take note!
November 19th, 2007 at 11:10 pm
I’m not too worried about our midfield for Wigan, we have lots ot depth there; but it will be interesting to see who starts.
And I also think Reyes was just in an unfortunate situation. I was as frustrated as anyone with his decision making and tumbling, but I also remember some superb skills and panache. What would you think of swpping Eboue and our 4-5-1 for Reyes and 4-4-2, i.e. Flamini, Cesc, Hleb, Rosicky, Reyes and Ade?
November 20th, 2007 at 3:37 am
One more thing to remember about Reyes’s time at Arsenal is the whole Luis Aragones racism episode re: Henry. I think that ruined everything that followed between the two players. By irrevocably pissing off the main man in the team, because you didn’t want to spoil your national team place, it kind of left poor old Reyes figuratively and literally out in the cold… which was reflected in his play.
November 20th, 2007 at 5:19 am
The worst sceniro is for Eduardo of all the ppl to score the winner against England…… then it’s definitely Arsenal KILLS England again!
November 20th, 2007 at 5:49 am
Gilberto won’t be expected to play on Saturday as he has a game for Brazil on Wednesday night (Thursday morning in England) and won’t be back in England until probably Friday. I’m expecting Diarra to play.
Concerning Reyes, I’ve always been a big fan. I agree with all the points except the one where the Neville brothers kicking him being very significant. The Aragones thing was the major factor as it happened before the game with Manure. Before that episode, Reyes was on fire. Because of Aragones, Reyes was isolated in the dressing room but that was only the beginning. The factor that truly broke Reyes’ heart was Wenger dropping him to the bench for the Barcelona game. In fact, it proved to be his last game for Arsenal.
Fabregas got a lot of credit that season and rightfully so but Reyes was just as good as Fabregas. Teams just didn’t match up well against Reyes, especially in Europe. He was dominant against Real Madrid and Jonathan Zebina hasn’t even been called up for France since getting used by Reyes. Jose had been stellar and Ljunberg exceptionally poor all season so it’s easy to understand his disappointment at being dropped in favor of the Swede. Jose’s a big game player and would have dominated Oleguer and we could have won that game, even with ten men if we had Jose’s presence on the left side. If Jose had played then Belletti, who got the game winner, probably wouldn’t have even played.
November 20th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
but if Reyes is really that good, why Real Madrid didn’t keep him and no other major club bidded for him in the summer when AW made him available for sale, now he ended up at Atl. Madrid?
November 20th, 2007 at 7:37 pm
No other major club? He was begging to go back to Spain and let’s see which big teams they got there.
1. Barca - they don’t need him, Dinho, Henry, Eto’o, Messi and even Iniesta play in that position
2. Real Madrid - They wanted to keep him but for a lower price, so Wenger rejected them
3. Valencia - they got Silva and Vicente
So his only choice was Atletico, and maybe Sevilla, but I don’t know if they showed an interest in him.
November 20th, 2007 at 8:56 pm
i’d like to think a good player clubs would die for his signature, and they would often settle for inflated price than asking for a discount.
Take Henry, did Barca really needed him? They bought him anyway.
Take Figo, Zidane, Ronaldo the likes, despite a ridaculous price tag, Real Madrid were more than happy to pay for it. Surely never heard them asking for a discount.
November 20th, 2007 at 9:27 pm
You are right there, but also you can’t put him in that category. They are all out of this world.
November 21st, 2007 at 6:13 am
Who, other than Real Madrid or Chelsea, would pay that type of money for players? Besides, like Sheed said, those players were already World Class and nobody has given Reyes that title.
Real Madrid would have kept him if we were interested in keeping Baptista. We were not interested in keeping Baptista and Reyes wasn’t exactly cheap.
Reyes didn’t leave because he wasn’t good enough. Hell, he put Pires on the bench. But with the media hoax and Aragones comment disrupting him in the dressing room, the only thing keeping him grounded was Wenger’s belief in him. But the Wenger snub for the Barcelona game, undermined his belief that he could have a happy future at Arsenal, so he left and refused to return.
Wenger opted for experience that game as he re-called Cole, Campbell and Ljunberg (sort of like he’s calling for England to do). The irony is that Arsenal got all the way to the final without those guys. Wenger went against consistency and the changes didn’t help as Arsenal lost the game as well as Reyes’ belief in the team.
There’s not a question in my mind that had he the desire to stay, Reyes and Arsenal would been all the better for it. Strangely enough, Wenger still hasn’t replaced Reyes. I’ve said it before that Wenger’s a scary good judge of talent. Wenger was right to want Reyes. Sometimes things just don’t work out.
November 21st, 2007 at 8:51 am
Are you Reyes’ biographer Joshuad?;^)
November 21st, 2007 at 10:33 am
Biographer, nope. I’d like to believe I’m objective. When that fails you can just put yourself in someone else’s shoes and ask how would you feel. When that fails then you just start talking out of the side of your face. Of course, the latter requires no thinking.
November 21st, 2007 at 2:18 pm
Defending my wife’s former fav. player (because he was hot). Reyes also complained about the weather in England. In the end the draw of one of his home country’s biggest club was his downfall. Stinks because he was quick and had a hell of a left foot.
November 21st, 2007 at 5:56 pm
England lost. Now let’s see if they all slag Wenger for their humiliation. They had a 2:2 draw 20 mins from time and somehow managed to blow it big time. Let’s see if Wenger is at fault again.
November 21st, 2007 at 7:45 pm
Alex Hleb is injured for around two weeks. Don’t you just love internationals.
I know Arsenal will get slagged off for England getting knocked out, but I am so glad those bunch of simpletons will not take up every sports page next summer. Also won’t have to see Shearer and Wright give their “expert analysis” in the studio before England serve up another load of dross.
What’s Steven Gerrard gonna blame it on now? He was a pile of shite again today. Never rated him anyway. All he’s good at his running on to loose balls and leathering the ball to goal.
November 21st, 2007 at 9:34 pm
When Israel beat Russia, I thought they had handed England an early X’mas gift. Afterall, at home against a team who had nothing to play for, and a draw would do, surely they couldn’t possibly blow it right?
The manner England blew it this time around is worst than Graham Taylor’s 94 side. unbelievable.
had England sustain that 2-2 scoreline, David Beckham would have had his England fairlytale continued, when it matters most, it’s always Beckham who delivered, playing at MLS or not, he’s still far more effective than SWP.
November 21st, 2007 at 11:06 pm
Easy way for England to miss: Russia beats Israel
Hard way for England to miss: Israel beats Russia and England lose to Croatia.
The latter is surely more enjoyable and makes the fall harder for the so called “golden generation” of English football, and rightly so.
I don’t care if people slag Arsenal. I hope Wenger can use it to motivate the team with a seige mentality. Tell them - look at all these people who think you are not good enough because you are not from Britian. Prove them wrong.
November 21st, 2007 at 11:52 pm
The second Croatia was a classic. Five England defenders and two Croatia attackers. Yet Eduardo threads the ball to Olic who rounds the GK.
November 22nd, 2007 at 12:59 am
@Nip: U saw the game?? U stayed awake for watching England ??
.. anyway this morning when I caught the news and saw England miss out qualification I was chuckling from ear to ear… not that I care anyway… but still I’m not feeling sad at all… they probably never deserved it anyway…Had Croatia won against Macedonia… they would probably have lost today…but that loss worked against England bigtime…IMO…
@Mazza: Never rated Gerrard .. lol … gotta give u credit there for blasting an English player…always felt u were a bit English minded… still StevieG is a “blood and thunder” footballer…as someone put it soemtime ago…not the most skilful or anything..but can inspire teams bigtime with his running and attitude big time … he leads by example…no doubt….not everyone is as skilful and clever as Hleb/Rosicky…. that way Ray Parlour would never be an Arsenal legend….
November 22nd, 2007 at 1:58 am
just used the internet for the first time in 16 hours…and what do i find… england bottled it AGAIN…i wasnt even looking to hit to sports pages cos i thought england could not possibly mess up this one right?
they will definitely blame it “all” on AW. anyway let them bring it on. at least some more england fans will HOPEFULLY wake up to the real reason for their failure.
i called out the gerrard and lampard type players a LOOONG time ago. when put side by side with the likes of fabregas, hleb and even arteta they just look horrid. and they are england’s best…lol.
November 22nd, 2007 at 2:02 am
hleb out??? damn! without fabregas and hleb we are in for a less than smooth ride. thank god its at home at least.
ps: what are the odds of AW being a token english player this january?? i think those odds are falling sharply right now lol. and i doubt hoyte is going anywhere for a while … at least till we ride the summer out.
November 22nd, 2007 at 3:07 am
If we look at the wage and market value of the England squad, in comparision to Croatia and Russia….. those who claimed AW didn’t buy or play English should really have woken up. Two words to them - GET REAL!
November 22nd, 2007 at 3:15 am
btw, consider England’s goalkeeping crisis (probably the worst in their history, they are now not picking up the BEST keeper around, instead the least worst around), perhaps they should call up Almunia. From what i heard, he’s about to qualify playing for England soon.
Almunia is not the best around, still, i reckon he’s better than Robinson, Carson or James. Afterall, he’s the ony “England” goalkeeper who’s playing for a big 4 club. If he’s good enough for Arsenal, he gotta be good enough for England!
November 22nd, 2007 at 3:18 am
LDE, you can always stay awake to watch England lose.
Anyway, I didn’t stay up. Just watched the goals on the internet.
November 22nd, 2007 at 6:33 am
http://img213.imageshack.us/my.php?image=junak1au9
November 22nd, 2007 at 6:33 am
http://img213.imageshack.us/my.php?image=junak1au9.jpg
November 22nd, 2007 at 6:32 pm
England could have done with Almunia (nearly qualified by residency and more used to high pressure than the alternatives) in goal, Cole at left-back, Hoyte on the right (with Richards moved inside partnering Campbell), Bentley wide right in place of Wright-Phillips in a 4-4-2 with Walcott up front alongside Crouch as he is better than Bent and Defoe (An Arsenal reserve beats a Spurs reserve anytime). That would mean six of the first eleven would have spent some of their career at Arsenal. It is stretching things a lot (how about Pennant on the bench) but not completely far-fetched and would show that Arsenal are not malign influence on the English team that is suggested by some.
I must say I am not sorry for Gerrard, Rooney, Lampard, Ferdinand or Cole but for players like Crouch, Owen, Richards, Barry and, yes, Beckham, who all seem to care about playing for their country I do feel a measure of sympathy. Then again, I am Irish and a part of me is laughing out loud.
November 23rd, 2007 at 1:35 am
i feel sorry for Beckham as well IrishG. he’s one player who put country above his club, at least he did seem to play with more heart for England.
Big Mac blew it big time at the beginning. He’s so eager to impress the press and dropped Becks right away to make a point.
i think Beckham deep inside thought his England career was over. That helped making up his mind moving to MSL. Had it not, u bet Becks would take his international career as a major part of consideration, and probably would stay in Europe.
as for the big money move, he could always move a few years later. MSL clubs would still be going in for him anyway.
in the end, McClaren called him back, and had to fly over to US to check his fitness. It’s ridaculous. Why u dropped him at the first place?