Midweek Football Thread - 18th/19th
- Thread starter lemonkettaz
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Vermaelen has looked very good in his opening two competitive games, but a word of warning gents, IMO you should never judge a centrehalf on the basis of two games, you need at least half a dozen to gauge a proper opinion. Even the likes of Cygan or Swiss Tony looked very solid in a couple of matches.
Also anyone know what's happened to Diaby, has he gone AWOL or something? Just wondering because we've hired Will Smith to impersonate him.
Also anyone know what's happened to Diaby, has he gone AWOL or something? Just wondering because we've hired Will Smith to impersonate him.
Caporegime
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I'm with Jrodga. This should be Bendtners year to step up to the plate and show what he's capable of. I've no doubt that he's very skilled but he needs to start improving his workrate and he needs to start grabbing goals too.
Ps. I just turned into Joe Pesci, woohoo.
Ps. I just turned into Joe Pesci, woohoo.
Hehe
I'd love to see Diaby get a full season in with no interruptions, the guy has some special talents going forward.
Song looks to be starting where he finished off last season, very promising.
Celtic.....unlucky but they were **** **** imo, they always used to have 1 or 2 decent players but this squad looks a little ordinary.
Soldato
Won £122 tonight thanks to watford and crystal palace and to top it off leeds won, what a fantastic day for football ^_^
Would have won more if coventry had won but i guess you can't win em all
and to top it off leeds won, what a fantastic day for football ^_^Would have won more if coventry had won but i guess you can't win em all
Celtic take more fans to away games than just about anyone in the world. Whenever a big club wants a testimonial or a freindly for their players and want to fill a stadium, they give Celtic a call !
Associate
1st away win in the Prem, niiiiiice 
another good performance from us by the sounds of it, and we still got SEB, Doyle and Kightly to come back 
Associate
how many fans did celtic take to moscow in the previous qualifying round round ? they had to cancel charter flights because they couldnt fill the seats on the planes .
testimonials , ever had the feeling your being used ?
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Caporegime
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I'm with Jrodga. This should be Bendtners year to step up to the plate and show what he's capable of. I've no doubt that he's very skilled but he needs to start improving his workrate and he needs to start grabbing goals too.
Ps. I just turned into Joe Pesci, woohoo.
Up his work rate, shesh, at the weekend aswell as today he was covering his wing incredibly well running up for every attack and running ALL the way back every time he made a bunch of tackles and interceptions and backed up Sagna everytime he needed too. Later on in the game aswell Celtic had a freekick he was the deepest player in the box as the ball came in and he ran a full 40 yards at top speed to close the player who got the clearance down which gave him no time on the ball. He never stopped moving and never stopped running and not once did he fail to track back.
But again, we looked noticeably worse than at Everton, more pressure in midfield made a HUGE difference, Fabregas/Arshavin/Bendtner were doing much more defensively and as such RVP looked incredibly isolated for long long spells of the game. We got two flukey goals and I don't think had another truly dangerous shot on target, a few close and a few very tame long range shots from way outside the box. WE did force the second goal, had Caldwell not put it in it likely would have been tapped in, why, because Bendtner had run from deep in his half into and across the box and in doing so forced the mistake.
SO if Bendtner hadn't run up with the attack, keeping up with Clichy and running across the box infront of the defender he would have tapped it in, terrible work rate that lad, terrible.
This system is great against preseason teams, but the second we're up against better opposition and the frontman looked isolated frequently with no support at all.
Vermalen looks fantastic, you can judge his ability on two games, but not his temperament, we don't know how prone to mistakes, or to lashing out he might be. His positional sense is absolutely superb, tackling ability, heading, strength, calmness on the ball are all very very good. Technically he's a really really good defender, but how that holds up in higher pressure games we won't know, till it happens.
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Soldato
Woo, just bagged a ticket for tomorrow games against Stoke. Didnt think I'd be able to get to any games this season, so bonus!
Don
Three out of three for LEEDS LEEDS LEEDS!
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Caporegime
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The problem with Bendtner is that even though he did cover a lot of ground tonight, he doesn't do that frequently. Mainly because he comes on as a sub admittedly, but a lot of the times I've watched him play he just looks lazy. I also don't think that he should be playing on the wing, we've got Walcott who is much quicker down the flanks and he's not a bad finisher either. Bendtner should be a pure target man in my opinion.
Man of Honour
He's lazy, and selfish. I watched him tonight drift right up towards the front, forcing other players to either pull back, pull across or push up. They weren't moving first, he was. He also again showed signs of an attitude as well.
Aye agreed. I think Arshavin can play on the right as well so if Rosicky's fit then stick the two latter men on either wing.
Aye agreed. I think Arshavin can play on the right as well so if Rosicky's fit then stick the two latter men on either wing.
Caporegime
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[Cas];14707106 said:
Everton have a severly weakend team, and I wasn't complaining about the performances, you can win 12-0, and still have a problem that didn't cost you in that game but can in others.
I think you'll find the team that doesn't try to improve, fails, I'll think you'll find the team that ignores problems because they didn't cost you that game, will go on to fail. You have to be thick to assume a win means no one played badly and theres nothing wrong anywhere in the team at all.
The simple fact is, we very rarely threated the goal in the game, the one shot we had that went in took a ridiculous deflection, we didn't have another shot in the entire game that could have gone in, you don't think thats a slight issue?
Of course the sane thing to do is assume problems resolve themselves without being identified and that hopefully our single realistic shot on target from 35yards out that was going to be easily saved, gets a stupid deflection in every game of the year, then we'll win the title, woooo. Thats a really good plan.
Caporegime
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What utter crap, i mean, complete crap.
Against Everton he held up the ball brilliantly, it was his ability to hold the ball which drew both fouls which we scored from the freekick. He also brought the ball down, kept it, did his man and started the move that set up the first goal. IE he was MASSIVELY involved in the 3 goals that sealed the game, and by massively involved I mean that without him involved none of them would be scored.
He ALWAYS tracks back he always works hard and constant movement(greenlizard) is the BEST THING A STRIKER CAN DO. Movement of multiple players is this little thing the best strikers in the world do, it means passes open up and defenders get dragged around creating space.
Lazy, Selfish, he has 9 assists in his position in the Denmark team, selfish? not once did I see him not track back and cover runs down his wing. He ran therefore other strikers moved therefore, he's selfish?
AS for Walcott, he's a horrible winger, he can't beat his man, he has no confidence on the wing, his only good moments come when he drifts WAY up the field without the ball and runs in behind in the centre. His hatrick for England were balls given to him in the box, one touch and shoot. His goals for Arsenal were almost all the same last year, what few their were. his game since way before he came to arsenal was running in behind the defenders, he's never been good on the ball, he's never been good at passing or crossing, he doesn't need to be.
Arsenal always have injuries though, iirc we haven't been able to field our first choice XI for over 3 years now.
Bendtner shouldn't be starting for Arsenal but Wenger rates him and with the likes of Nasri, Rosicknote, Eduardo and Walcott all being out he needs to give the manager a headache. I think he's looked OK so far this season, I've always felt he has good build up play, just he snatches at shots too much.
Ultimately following the sale of Adebayor due to his height Bendtner needs to be moulded into a TM as you say, he has good link up play and can bring other players into the game. That's not really Arsenal's style though.
Was quite funny tonight, I think the only two times I remember seeing Samaras was when he was tackling/chasing back deep in his own half!
Bendtner shouldn't be starting for Arsenal but Wenger rates him and with the likes of Nasri, Rosicknote, Eduardo and Walcott all being out he needs to give the manager a headache. I think he's looked OK so far this season, I've always felt he has good build up play, just he snatches at shots too much.
Ultimately following the sale of Adebayor due to his height Bendtner needs to be moulded into a TM as you say, he has good link up play and can bring other players into the game. That's not really Arsenal's style though.
Was quite funny tonight, I think the only two times I remember seeing Samaras was when he was tackling/chasing back deep in his own half!
Caporegime
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Good points, especially regarding injuries and selection issues. Arsene has had a problem finding our starting 11 for some years. Hopefully this season though we've got decent foundations with Verm and Gallas in the centre of defence, Song doing the majority of holding and then the midfielders that we've currently got. I'd still say that we need either a proven goalscorer who can be consistent or possibly another attacking midfielder. Ramsey and Wilshire both look incredibly talented everytime I've seen them play but I think that Wenger is going to nurture them and keep them wrapped in cotton wool for the next year or so unfortunately. And Drunkenmaster, I don't think you can put Bendtner and the best strikers in the world in the same sentence, and I'm as big an Arsenal fan as any. But to be honest I don't remember many times last season when I was particularly impressed with him. In fact I'm much more impressed with Eduardo.
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