Weekend Football Thread 17 - 19 *spoilers*

[jakeke]

And got nothing from either. The problem with Arsenal is that they don't have a quality 'get out of jail card' player, I was watching the Arsenal vs Spurs match from 03/04 on ESPN classic the other day and Arsenal were amazing then, they had Henry, Vieira and Pires who were all players who could play badly and get that winning goal, looking at Arsenal now and you don't really have that. Van Persie is the best player there but he often does what Rooney does, dropping out wide and taking himself out of the danger zone.

Diaby isn't a bad player, but I also don't think he's good enough, Denilson and Song are just poor and neither should be playing for a top player, combining all 3 is a bad move, but this has been gone over so many times that it's not really worth bringing up again in-depth. I just think that Arsenal don't have the ability to control games against busy sides anymore and they always look flustered and panicky when a team gets a goal against them.

How many Arsenal games have you seen recently besides the Man Utd one? Song is one of the best DM's in the league this season and has been one of Arsenal's top consistent performers, Denilson, I agree isn't good enough (yet?) but that's why he's behind Rosicky and Nasri for the central role.

In a few weeks when Nasri is fit, Arsenal's attacking 5 will be

Arsh - RvP - Walcott/Bender

Fabregas - Rosicky/Nasri

Which is a frightening thought for any defence. Fabregas and RvP got Arsenal 'out of jail' when they were playing poorly at Fulham a few weeks ago. The team weren't clicking and it looked like one of those afternoons, then out of nowhere Fabregas played a world class ball and RvP finished it very well. Arsenal do have those players imo and this season they're showing they have a shout in the title race (so far ..) and people would be ignorant to discard them. Still don't think we've seen the best of Arsenal this season and they're scoring for fun atm.

Also, another thing which makes me think you might not have watched that much of Arse this season is because RvP has stopped dropping wide (he did it last season quite a lot) and has turned into a very central player, it took him a few weeks to learn the role but he's on fire now.

 

[bloodninja]

I'm more curious about what happens to the little ginger kid when his liverpool supporting mates see him at school on monday

Rumour has it that he was taken into a protection program by the Evertonians...

 

[Steedie]

Was that "Now We Are Free" from the film Gladiator playing in the background at Wigan just now? While they were talking

 

[atpbx]

How is Gimp suspended again?
What a guy, he cant go five minutes without calling someone something horrible.

 

[Pigeon_Killer]

I know Don's can't discuss why people are suspended but are they allowed to say how many times they've been suspended? Poor W|mp must be pretty high up the list

 

[JohnnyG]

I know Don's can't discuss why people are suspended but are they allowed to say how many times they've been suspended? Poor W|mp must be pretty high up the list

That's not entirely true
G|mp's only had about 4 suspensions plus at least 1 permaban so he's not that high on the list really, I can think of quite a few members who've been perma'd plenty of times, a bit earlier in this thread for instance

 

[Tom84]

The same Evra who got out jumped (again) for us to concede? And Evra was useless for 18 months, til he bulked up. He's admitted as much himself. At least Dong was willing to try and help his team mates out.

Apart from the initial January - May first season period Evra has been fantastic for Manchester United proved by being named in the PL team of the season at LB in his first full season

 

[HangTime]

it wouldn't surprise me if a team won the league this year with a record number of losses.

Can't see it myself. There's a lot of quality sides and they won't all slip up in a big way. We are already 9 games into the season, including matches against rivals like Arsenal and Manchester City, and yet Manchester United have only lost a single match. The EPL has been won with 7 losses before (6 since it dropped to 20 teams).

That said if you look at the top of the table there is a relatively low number of drawn matches, so it could just happen. Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool are all yet to draw which increases the likelihood of them being able to cope with losses.

 

[DanH84]

No chance Liverpool are out of it yet, they can easily go one a run of 10+ wins on the trot. they just need to be careful that they don't get to the stage where they are relying on that too early in the season.

some bad vibes in this thread as well, what's that all about.

 

[NokkonWud]

How many Arsenal games have you seen recently besides the Man Utd one? Song is one of the best DM's in the league this season and has been one of Arsenal's top consistent performers, Denilson, I agree isn't good enough (yet?) but that's why he's behind Rosicky and Nasri for the central role.

Everton, Man Utd, Man City, Blackburn are the Premier League games I've seem Arsenal play this season.

 

[NokkonWud]

Apart from the initial January - May first season period Evra has been fantastic for Manchester United proved by being named in the PL team of the season at LB in his first full season

In his so called first "full" season, he played less games than Gabriel Heinze, unless you mean the season after that? Evra decided to not go on holiday, went training every day, bulked up and learned the history of Man Utd, from that point he's been a completely different player, much better offensively and defensively.

some bad vibes in this thread as well, what's that all about.

Some people make things personal rather than keeping the discussion post to post. I've probably been a little guilty of this in the past, but never to the standard others have. That's football though, a bad result, bad performance or a bad player getting praised regularly can bring out the worst in people.

 

[Mad old tory]

Everton, Man Utd, Man City, Blackburn are the Premier League games I've seem Arsenal play this season.

Arsenal went behind twice in the Blackburn game. Sure, Blackburn were poor in the second half but the Arsenal of previous years may have crumbled in that first half and not got back into it. They didn't and went on to absolutely stuff em.

 

[NokkonWud]

Arsenal went behind twice in the Blackburn game. Sure, Blackburn were poor in the second half but the Arsenal of previous years may have crumbled in that first half and not got back into it. They didn't and went on to absolutely stuff em.

Against a side comprised of 4 wing-backs across the back-line and no center backs. There was no size or pace to their defence that day, Arsenal played well but did so against a side that could not have been more depleted.

 

[Pigeon_Killer]

No chance Liverpool are out of it yet, they can easily go one a run of 10+ wins on the trot. they just need to be careful that they don't get to the stage where they are relying on that too early in the season.

Agree. Last season the 11 draws cost us so we can afford to lose a few more yet as long as we keep winning the games we were drawing against the poor teams last season. Still an uphill struggle but we're far from out of it yet.

 

[FrankJH]

Agree. Last season the 11 draws cost us so we can afford to lose a few more yet as long as we keep winning the games we were drawing against the poor teams last season. Still an uphill struggle but we're far from out of it yet.

I understand your arguement - but surely any point in a match (evne a match you should win) is better than no points, I dont mean in hte obvious way more from continueing run of not losing on level of team confidence

twelve points dropped already - certainly not over by any means (and 8 points behind being top) especially if you win next weekend, but its a catch 22 with Gerrard and Torres - you need them both back desperately but if they are brought back too quickly they could be out injured for a lot longer

 

[BaZ87]

Agree. Last season the 11 draws cost us so we can afford to lose a few more yet as long as we keep winning the games we were drawing against the poor teams last season. Still an uphill struggle but we're far from out of it yet.

At the moment, that run of 7+ wins (that we're going to need) looks some way off.

We look like Arsenal from the start of last season right now, totally spineless. Carra and Skrtel's form compared with the start of last season is shocking and we've been without Masch in either body or mind constantly this season. We keep hearing how that we're a 2 man team, we can't score without the etc and that we miss Alonso (which clearly hasn't helped) but it's at them back that's the real worry. Hopefully Masch has now regained his focus (he certainly appeared to have vs Cheslea and the sub appearance yesterday) and the return of Agger will give Carra and Skrtel a kick up the arse, we'll regain a bit of the solidity that we've shown over the years under Rafa.

I said a couple of weeks ago that our next 6-7 fixtures will go along way to determining the course of our season and 2 defeats later, the next few matches are huge (Utd and City at home and Everton away in there).

 

[Loki]

Agree. Last season the 11 draws cost us so we can afford to lose a few more yet as long as we keep winning the games we were drawing against the poor teams last season. Still an uphill struggle but we're far from out of it yet.

Watched MoTD this Morning and I think Captain Cliche (Hansen) hit the nail on the head. You can't win the title by October but you certainly can loose it by then.

It's easy to be critical of Liverpool given they are one of the 'top 4' and they have lost 4 games already so they are an easy target. It's also easy to turn this into an anti Benitez argument but are the the frailties of the squad coming home to haunt Benitez. Regardless of the boardroom squabbles there are still some question marks over some of his acquisitions. The book must stop with him for team selection. Never can I remember Liverpool playing such a negative 5 at the back policy to try and contain an inform Darren Bent and Kenwynn Jones. Good strikers in form they are, world class they are not. Liverpool fans can wax lyrical about Glen Johnsons attacking exploits but he still needs to master the finer art of defending. It raises the question again about Benitez's transfer policy if Johnson is an un-necessary luxury given the supposed lack of funds at his disposal.

Carragher looked like he had one of his better games of the season yesterday but he's probably entering into his last 12-18 months of being able to play at the top of his game week in week out Sat-Weds-Sat. Skrtel and Agger just look to inconsistent to either play with Carragher or play together.

It also shown yesterday that as a team, they are over reliant on Torres and Gerrard. Who steps upto the plate when either or are Injured, Out of Form or suspended.

The problem Liverpool have is that this situation with Torres could get worse. By the end of the world cup campaign he will have 3 summers with very little rest, so will these niggling injuries become more persistent ?

I agree that Liverpool are not out of it yet, not by a long shot. Beating us next weekend would be a massive confidence boost for you lot. That said I think where the prem will be won and lost this year will be in the midfield battles and I really can't see beyond Chelsea for the long haul, despite their loss yesterday.

 

[el_dazza]

That's not entirely true
G|mp's only had about 4 suspensions plus at least 1 permaban so he's not that high on the list really, I can think of quite a few members who've been perma'd plenty of times, a bit earlier in this thread for instance

I'm not going to say a word about the Chelsea game then

 

[DanH84]

Chelsea are just starting to get some results that some of their performances earlier this season merited. Good going forward but soft at the back.

 

[Liefrich]

Gee Villa, Spurs City are "capable" of going 11 wins on the trot, but they won't and they won't win the title. Liverpool cannot just turn their form on at a flick of a switch and expect go on a run like the end of last season when the pressure was off.

Even if Pool beat United next weekend it means little, you beat us twice last year and failed to win anything. Lose next week however and it could possibly be the end of your title push, teams will stop fearing you and instead of trying to contain will attack your shaky defence.

The title will go to either United or Chelsea, neither are playing breathtaking football but both have the squad, experience and expertise of winning titles whilst juggling other competitions.