** Official ** Season 2010/2011 Pre-Season thread

1-1 Full time

Chamakh, Koscielny, Vermaelen, Nasri and vela were great today, our attack looks solid but again, our defence is shaky and can't defend set pieces. We need to work on our crossing, especially with chamakh in the center. We also need to tell chamakh that he doesn't always have to pass, he needs to be a bit more selfish. Wilshere, Frimpong, Fabianski and rosicky all had decent games but failed to impress me, they really need to step up if they want to play regular 1st team football. We've also created some kind of attacking CB in both Vermaelen and Koscielny which is exciting but still worries me as it leaves us exposed on the counter. It's nice to see vermaelen as captain and i would prefer him over cesc.
 
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Chamakh, reminds me a lot of anelka in his early arsenal years.

Impressed, but ill reserve total judgement for the season, the ol'e bleak night in blackburn and whatnot.

Being honest though, he cracks that one, looks like being perfect foil for arsenal.
 
Yes Greenlizard, he did very well today. Looks strong and composed although we'd all obviously need to watch him a bit more.
 
Thing I like about Vermaelen and Kos is they're both combative players who will get a foot in as soon as they can instead of just sticking close to the man. Kos looks really confident on the ball and from the same mould as Vermaelen, though I think he reads the game a little better (very early call).

Chamakh looked really bright too, showed some excellent touches which I wasn't sure he had. Very promising and with an excellent work rate, looks to be the player which Arsenal have been needing for a few seasons (since Adebayor stopped trying)
 
Koscienly was fantastic today! He was strong and aggressive in the tackle and strong and decisive in the air, he reminds of vermaelen with some extra height. He looks like a great signing so far but i'll reserve my judgement untill he faces the likes of drogba and rooney.
 
Yeah both the new boys really impressed me. I would've kept Chamakh on for longer but with a game tomorrow too I can understand why he came off. Koscielny was great, I don't think he was ever caught out and he showed some good reading of the situation, I think he's the perfect compliment for Vermaelen going on their performance today. There isn't much that can be said about Fabianski going on that one game, he looked very shaky and I think he could have came out and claimed that free kick instead of letting Pato head it in, but there we go. He also looked nervous as hell when he had the ball at his feet and it always looks like the ball is stuck under him when a defender passes it back, it's like he can't get it from under his feet. There was a situation where Sagna passed it back to Fabianski and he was under pressure, he pivoted and twisted and I was sure he'd give it away and Milan would score. He's a liability in his current form and he needs a lot of match time to get any better.
 
K1LLSW1TCH said:
Yeah both the new boys really impressed me. I would've kept Chamakh on for longer but with a game tomorrow too I can understand why he came off. Koscielny was great, I don't think he was ever caught out and he showed some good reading of the situation, I think he's the perfect compliment for Vermaelen going on their performance today. There isn't much that can be said about Fabianski going on that one game, he looked very shaky and I think he could have came out and claimed that free kick instead of letting Pato head it in, but there we go. He also looked nervous as hell when he had the ball at his feet and it always looks like the ball is stuck under him when a defender passes it back, it's like he can't get it from under his feet. There was a situation where Sagna passed it back to Fabianski and he was under pressure, he pivoted and twisted and I was sure he'd give it away and Milan would score. He's a liability in his current form and he needs a lot of match time to get any better.
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What is happening with Almunia, or is he injured or frozen out?
 
HangTime said:
Here's the official Castrol speedmerchant list for the premiership (based on 2007-9 data I think):

WALCOTT 22.72 mph
CAMPBELL 22.50 mph
DROGBA 22.27 mph
TORRES 22.27 mph
ANELKA 22.05 mph
FABREGAS 22.05 mph
A COLE 22.05 mph
CLICHY 21.82 mph
ROONEY 21.82 mph
GERRARD 21.60 mph
ROBINHO 21.60 mph

Yes, that's Sol Campbell, not Frazer :)
The likes of Lennon and Agbonlahor simply couldn't live with him in a footrace, try harder boys.
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http://www.skysports.com/whoisthefastest/index.html

And there are the figures from the OPTA stats.

No3, Wayne Rooney ;)
 
bloodline76 said:
What is happening with Almunia, or is he injured or frozen out?
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Not totally sure to be honest. I didn't see him on the bench. Fabianski didn't have much to do, but the little that he did need to do was clearly nerve wracking for him. A couple of shots went just over the bar/wide and you could tell he was never anywhere near them even if they had been on target. Maybe he's amazing in practice but his nerves just get shot when he plays in front of the big crowds, or here's a better theory, he's plain crap.
 
explicit4u said:
Koscienly was fantastic today! He was strong and aggressive in the tackle and strong and decisive in the air, he reminds of vermaelen with some extra height. He looks like a great signing so far but i'll reserve my judgement untill he faces the likes of drogba and rooney.
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The problem is, will he even get any real games? Chamakh hadn't really gotten on the ball in our other preseason games, looked a bit not with it, today he looked much much better, and the team linked up pretty well in the first half, and were non existant in the last 25 minutes. Theo, a player unable to link up with anyone else at all as a lone striker was just asking to throw away the game. If RVP is starting most games, is Chamakh going to end up playing as well as Vela/Eduardo do with a sub appearance every few games and the odd cup start, or is RVP going to be played a lot less, or potentially move RVP out wide. We've got an abundance of talented strikers, not really a single out and out winger, its getting more ridiculous by the game.

Defensively the goal had Djourou and Kos infront of Pato, Djourou made a major attempt for it then seemed to pull out the way, but he misjudged it and went past where it was coming down. Kos pulled back a bit instead of staying infront of Pato and Vermaelen I don't think was marking that area but almost got in. Not really sure who was marking Pato specifically but Djourou and Kos didn't defend that ball well. Kos did look mostly impressive, though lunged at a fairly simple through ball, completely missed it, left Vermaelen struggling and Fabianski had to rush out and clear it. Good performance overall by Kos, but not brilliant and certainly a few pretty big mistakes.

Randall still doesn't look good enough, hasn't for 5 years now. Theo was entirely useless, looks bright, we pass him the ball a lot, he runs the wing a lot, his delivery is appauling, the best move was a fairly simple ball in behind for him, he ran a bit then cut it back to Arshavin, but he'd taken so long Arshavin was beyond the near post and had next to no chance while Wilshire was open far post and Nasri was clear in the middle and both were easy easy passes, Theo ALWAYS makes the wrong choice, the one proper cross he attempted he blasted across almost 10 yards ahead of everyone, he doesn't look and has no ability to actually pick out a player. He still deserves a small chance upfront with another striker alongside him, but lone striker, him, never ever going to work.

Almunia's been played in preseason, he played the last game so not surprising this went to Fab, tomorrow will probably be Almunia.

No idea why we're playing Celtic, other than being a team more likely to try and kick the crap out of us, Arsenal vs Lyon would be a far better game for the fans.
 
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drunkenmaster said:
The problem is, will he even get any real games? Chamakh hadn't really gotten on the ball in our other preseason games, looked a bit not with it, today he looked much much better, and the team linked up pretty well in the first half, and were non existant in the last 25 minutes. Theo, a player unable to link up with anyone else at all as a lone striker was just asking to throw away the game. If RVP is starting most games, is Chamakh going to end up playing as well as Vela/Eduardo do with a sub appearance every few games and the odd cup start, or is RVP going to be played a lot less, or potentially move RVP out wide. We've got an abundance of talented strikers, not really a single out and out winger, its getting more ridiculous by the game.

Defensively the goal had Djourou and Kos infront of Pato, Djourou made a major attempt for it then seemed to pull out the way, but he misjudged it and went past where it was coming down. Kos pulled back a bit instead of staying infront of Pato and Vermaelen I don't think was marking that area but almost got in. Not really sure who was marking Pato specifically but Djourou and Kos didn't defend that ball well. Kos did look mostly impressive, though lunged at a fairly simple through ball, completely missed it, left Vermaelen struggling and Fabianski had to rush out and clear it. Good performance overall by Kos, but not brilliant and certainly a few pretty big mistakes.

Randall still doesn't look good enough, hasn't for 5 years now. Theo was entirely useless, looks bright, we pass him the ball a lot, he runs the wing a lot, his delivery is appauling, the best move was a fairly simple ball in behind for him, he ran a bit then cut it back to Arshavin, but he'd taken so long Arshavin was beyond the near post and had next to no chance while Wilshire was open far post and Nasri was clear in the middle and both were easy easy passes, Theo ALWAYS makes the wrong choice, the one proper cross he attempted he blasted across almost 10 yards ahead of everyone, he doesn't look and has no ability to actually pick out a player. He still deserves a small chance upfront with another striker alongside him, but lone striker, him, never ever going to work.

Almunia's been played in preseason, he played the last game so not surprising this went to Fab, tomorrow will probably be Almunia.

No idea why we're playing Celtic, other than being a team more likely to try and kick the crap out of us, Arsenal vs Lyon would be a far better game for the fans.
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I'm sure you'll be able to counter that, by diving in the box!
 
dpbadger said:
Leeds beat wolves 3-1. Its looking good for next season.
Dave
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I watched that match on LUTV, was very impressed with the performance, i'm still a bit edgy about collins and schemicheal (cant spell that) but the rest of the new signings, especially bessone and sam seem to be fitting in perfectly!

Even after 8 subs were made and our attacking abilities were shot with somma being a dead weight we still pretty much dominated the match which i wasn't expecting, i think i can see wolves getting a bit of a battering this season in the premiership if they play like that too often!
 
craigieboy said:
I'm sure you'll be able to counter that, by diving in the box!
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Well done, at least McGeady's back, wasn't he the loudest pratt last year over the Eduardo incident, then got sent off for two dives pretty much the next week, he's a diving git, who does it all the time, and Eduardo, who did it once, gets the stick, its laughable really.
 
DM you have an incredible ability of turning a generally positive display from two new signings into the most grief-filled tale of woe, it's quite impressive :p
 
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