Greenlizard0 Weekend Football Thread ** spoilers ** [1st - 2nd September 2012]
- Thread starter Robbo
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Jamie Redknapp's love for him is a bit on the extreme side though dont you think?
Caporegime
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Yep so far City, us, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Spurs have all shown that they're far from without their flaws.
Soldato
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Arsenal haven't conceded a goal yet, thats one problem they don't have.
laughs - who is most likely to end up highest , Stoke / Liverpool or Sunderland - Arsenal havent exactly faced a team that are renowned for scoring a lot of goals (with the amount of misses Liverpool had last season , and a lot of new players)
they can only play the teams in front of them - as the saying goes - but its not THAT much of a challange either
Arsenals defence=Steve Bould
Hes made a huge impact already in the first 3 games, sure we havent scored a lot so far only 2 goals but no goals conceded in the first 3 games is pretty good compared to last year where we conceded 10 goals in our first 3 games mainly due to that thumping from Utd.
Still early days but im liking what i am seeing defensively from Arsenal, just need more goals from Pod and Giroud especially.
Hes made a huge impact already in the first 3 games, sure we havent scored a lot so far only 2 goals but no goals conceded in the first 3 games is pretty good compared to last year where we conceded 10 goals in our first 3 games mainly due to that thumping from Utd.
Still early days but im liking what i am seeing defensively from Arsenal, just need more goals from Pod and Giroud especially.
FrankJH it isn't easy to keep clean sheets at the Brittania and Anfield. Not to say we've turned the corner and we won't concede a goal all season, but there has been a subtle improvement imo. But we'll see where we are after a few injuries, a few tough games etc
Caporegime
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Sunderland, Stoke, Liverpool vs Newcastle, Liverpool Utd. Sorry but comparing the first three games to the first three games from last year blind with no context and insisting Bould has done something is mental.
We did concede more goals in those three specific games last year, but we also got 7 points from them last year, this year we got 5. We also, not that anyone bothered to notice conceded against Stoke, Walters being offside is neither here nor there, had he stood half a yard back he would still have been able to score then with no problem it was poor defending at one of the only times they really pushed forward.
Against liverpool they had more shots and basically those same chances for any other team even in this league, Arsenal would have conceded a couple of goals, against some teams we'd have been thrashed, with most ref's Mertesacker would have conceded a penalty and been sent off, Gibb's can't defend to save his life. Poor performance from Liverpool doesn't equal great defensive performance from us.
You could make a case for a massive change if Arsenal had gone there, dominated Suarez/Sterling and they'd only managed to create 1 or 2 half chances, but they created chance after chance after chance, and a handful of brilliant chances. Great defence, lol.
We did concede more goals in those three specific games last year, but we also got 7 points from them last year, this year we got 5. We also, not that anyone bothered to notice conceded against Stoke, Walters being offside is neither here nor there, had he stood half a yard back he would still have been able to score then with no problem it was poor defending at one of the only times they really pushed forward.
Against liverpool they had more shots and basically those same chances for any other team even in this league, Arsenal would have conceded a couple of goals, against some teams we'd have been thrashed, with most ref's Mertesacker would have conceded a penalty and been sent off, Gibb's can't defend to save his life. Poor performance from Liverpool doesn't equal great defensive performance from us.
You could make a case for a massive change if Arsenal had gone there, dominated Suarez/Sterling and they'd only managed to create 1 or 2 half chances, but they created chance after chance after chance, and a handful of brilliant chances. Great defence, lol.
I'm inclined to agree with DM here about our defense.
We have so far played against 3 teams who are either not playing very well or known to have quality in attacking football.
It will be far more of a test later this month against Chelsea and City (and arguably Saints seeing as they have put 2 past each of the Manchester clubs), if we manage clean sheets against them or at least a solid defensive performance then I will more than happily jump on the SB bandwagon
I'm staying positive here though we are at least hearing positive noise from the Arsenal camp which can only mean confidence is building which hopefully translates into good performances throughout the team.
On a side note DM. I know you are pretty vocal about your hate on Diaby. What did you think of his performance yesterday? I thought the Motd highlights made him look very good butch watching the match I thought he was alright, not too much more.
Caporegime
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Same on Diaby, if people remember I actually used to like Diaby, he was a better winger when he started because like Gervinho he had that ability to hold onto the ball when really he shouldn't have been able to and drive forwards. ULtimately what makes Diaby suck is, he doesn't do a damn thing with said ball, like so many of our other players. First half, he won the ball just inside our half, ran down the wing, crossed for Giroud..... it sailed miles over and past Giroud and a dangerous break with a poweful header in the box turned to nothing.
Song/Diaby, even Denilson can look good against Stoke, but Diaby will score to against Pompie, then he'll score one against Utd.... just in the wrong net.
What a player does with time, space, little pressure is one thing, what they do in a tough game is another. Diaby in a relatively easy game didn't help defensively, did not bad in the middle third but did nothing in the 1st/final third of the pitch, and ultimately a good player needs to be able to do something useful in one of them. A defender needs to be good at the back an attack needs to provide something upfront. Diaby didn't really do anything.
Liverpool created chance after chance and I can't remember Diaby making a tonne of blocks, tackles, working hard to close down or really doing much of anything useful. He's an attacking player with no ability to pass/cross/shoot in the final third, making him basically useless.
People have already started saying Joe Allen, 95% pass completion, woo, he's great. But ultimately in most games he's sitting deeper, under little to no pressure, being given the ball and playing it out to the winger.. my gran could do that job. 11 effective players who are actually good is better than one who can do one thing well but nothing else, Diaby can run with the ball pretty good, but otherwise is dead weight. Also, the pundits might want to see if he can start more than 10 games in a season before declaring him the next big thing.
Song/Diaby, even Denilson can look good against Stoke, but Diaby will score to against Pompie, then he'll score one against Utd.... just in the wrong net.
What a player does with time, space, little pressure is one thing, what they do in a tough game is another. Diaby in a relatively easy game didn't help defensively, did not bad in the middle third but did nothing in the 1st/final third of the pitch, and ultimately a good player needs to be able to do something useful in one of them. A defender needs to be good at the back an attack needs to provide something upfront. Diaby didn't really do anything.
Liverpool created chance after chance and I can't remember Diaby making a tonne of blocks, tackles, working hard to close down or really doing much of anything useful. He's an attacking player with no ability to pass/cross/shoot in the final third, making him basically useless.
People have already started saying Joe Allen, 95% pass completion, woo, he's great. But ultimately in most games he's sitting deeper, under little to no pressure, being given the ball and playing it out to the winger.. my gran could do that job. 11 effective players who are actually good is better than one who can do one thing well but nothing else, Diaby can run with the ball pretty good, but otherwise is dead weight. Also, the pundits might want to see if he can start more than 10 games in a season before declaring him the next big thing.
I wasnt meaning to say it was easy at those places - but you have to see my point too, Liverpool arent exactly on their best form (and havent been for a while), and Britania hmmm very physical team but they dont score a lot either against the top sides.
Now if Arsenal dont concede against Chelsea/City or even one of the better midtable teams like Fulham then their defence will definitely have improved, right now its too early to call
touchline bans rarely mean anything these days.