Arsenal Run the Numbers
12
Arsenal have 12 injuries after Saturday’s match: Eduardo (thigh), Abou Diaby (calf), Nicklas Bendtner (groin), Theo Walcott (hamstring), Robin Van Persie (ankle), Gael Clichy (back), Kieran Gibbs (foot), Johan Djourou (knee), Tomas Rosicky (groin), Emmanuel Eboue (leg), Armand Traore and William Gallas (both hamstring).
Talking about the injuries, Arsene Wenger said
Yes, at the moment it is our worst season for injuries. What happens is that we have injuries in the same area. Last year it was defensively, this year it is up front. It is true that we pick up more injuries than the other big teams, you cannot deny that. We cannot say there is no reason for that but we have not found it. It’s very difficult to find a common denominator to all our injuries.
It’s not just one thing, it’s 4: the size (height) of the team, their age, their foreign-ness, and Arsenal’s style of play.
First, we have a young and relatively small team. Wenger has said many times that young players sometimes have problems as their ligaments and such stretch to accommodate the physical demands of the Premier League. So, we pick up injuries that way.
Young players also have a sense of invulnerability and need to prove themselves to get into their national sides. That’s why a guy like van Persie doesn’t feign injury ahead of a pointless international friendly and guys like Michael Essien can just simply fail to show up before their country’s match.
We also pick up injuries because we’re, on average, smaller than other teams. When Chef Huddlestone or Michael Ballsack go into a challenge on someone like Denilson, the chances are that the smaller player will come out injured.
Finally, it’s a well known fact that refs allow Arsenal to get more kicks than other teams. This is down to a combination of xenophobia and our style of play. You can bet your ass that if Eduardo was the England number 10 the refs wouldn’t let guys like Tiny Taylor break his leg. Moreover, refs also manage Arsenal matches differently than others. They tend to allow less technical teams to get away with harder, more persistent fouling, because they feel that if they called the game evenly, Arsenal would have too much advantage.
It’s no coincidence that Arsenal were a hard tackling team who weren’t so injury prone when we had 3+ English internationals starting every match.
The simple solution is to have a few more Englishmen in the side.
100
Arshavin got his 100th career goal on Saturday but he’s staying humble and saying that he sees himself more as the off striker than the center forward. Well, duh, but Arsenal don’t play a 4-4-2 and we don’t have the luxury of playing anyone else up there, at least until January.
So, you’ll have to do.
5
Supposed Arsenal January target Edin Dzeko has played 5 Champions League matches, which makes him cup-tied for the Champions League and thus officially ruled out of Arsene Wenger’s January pursuit:
But let’s not dream too much in January that we can find a world-class player – that is what is needed to strengthen our team – who is not cup-tied in the Champions League and who is free. You need a good Father Christmas for that!
I’m not exactly sure what he means by “free.” Is he hoping to find someone on a free transfer? Or does he mean “free” as in “free to move for the price that I am willing to pay?” My guess is the latter.
3
I found three players who fit at least two of the main criteria in a simple search ahead of Saturday’s match: Stefan Kießling, Eren Derdiyok, and Kevin Kuranyi. Others have mooted Carlton Cole here and that story seems to have been picked up by the British press corpse. Hugo Rodallega is another name that I have seen linked out of Wigan after his statement that if a bigger club came in for him he would leave. Did I say 3? I meant 5, five guys who are world class, big, not cup-tied, and possibly available.
That said, we don’t actually know about their availability until Wenger picks up the damn phone and demands their services.
1
The random number generator did its thing and frequent poster, Patrick Hogan, is the winner. Congrats!
Comments
Does the Europe League tie players too? Cause, I’d throw in Benfica’s Oscar Tacuara Cardozo:-). Just search for his recent hat-trick. I love Rodallega, but I see him more as a wide player, not CF.
@Yan, no as long as 1) no team fielded the player in any Champions League match that season and 2) that player is the only exception.
For example, if Bordeaux fielded Chamakh in the Europa League and West Ham fielded Carlton Cole in the Europa league and Arsenal bought both, they would have to choose one.
Also, if Bordeaux fielded Chamakh in a Champions League qualifier and then were bumped to the Europa League that one game in the qualifier is enough to cup-tie the player for both leagues.
Óscar Cardozo isn’t cup tied at all, he hasn’t played a single European Match as far as I can tell.
@Tim, I’m wrong. ESPN is spotty on leagues like the Portuguese league so I went to UEFA and he’s not only played, he’s scored, but only in the Europa League, so he’s not cup tied.
Not even up to half of the people injured are to be considered “young”
And i think its down to our shyte medical staff. Wtf.
The last 5 years same story with injuries.
And the situations with a hammy or a thigh problem is more down to our work outs I believe than our “style of play”
@David, The “workouts” theory I’ve heard many times before but I don’t buy it. On match day Arsenal outwork every other team. There is no team that demands as much on match day from their players as Arsenal. Cesc had 92 passes on Saturday, the entire Stoke midfield managed 100 passes.
Arsenal are a team of constant movement offensively and defensively. Moreover, the high line that Arsenal hold requires a lot of strong sprints by the back line which in turn causes hamstring tears.
I’m sure the workouts contribute but for me it’s the system that causes our problems.
@Tim, The demanding high line on CB is totally true. How many CBs from other teams have we seen pulling a ham when doing sprints?
@David, You don’t consider Walcott (20), Bendtner (21), Diaby (23), Traore (20), Gibbs (20), Clichy (24), and Djourou (22) to be young?
I know that Arsene has kind of skewed people’s understanding of what it means to be a young player but I consider anyone under 25 to be young which has my tally at 7.
@Tim,
Bollocks.
Chelsea, United all “outwork” the respective teams that they play. And they have “constant movement offensively and defensively”
Except ofcoarse you are saying that the passing side to side and rarely ever in the final third is the cause of our injuries.
Which ofcoarse makes absolutely no sense.
Also Clichy has been in the team regularly since 2006, and he has over 100 caps for Arsenal at 24.
I dont even want to bother about Diaby.
Your count is 7 i’ll give you 6. The total injured is 12.
Which ofcoarse you would appreciate is half.
So age as a reason is only half a reason. And “the way we play” is bollocks as well.
@David,
Balls.
You’re actually going to try to make the argument that Chelsea have as much movement as Arsenal? And then bring out that old chestnut about passing side-to-side?
Are you a Goonah?
Do you actually watch football?
Clichy is 24. That’s young and it doesn’t matter how many caps he’s had. You’re saying that his 100 caps should have prevented him from getting a stress fracture on his spine 2 years running? I’m actually saying that his 100 caps at such a young age, CAUSED the problem.
You can “give me” all you want, I’m counting 7, which ofcourse is over half and ofcourse even if you only counted 6 ofcourse you’d realize ofcourse that is more than your original statement of “Not even up to half.”
So age IS a reason, the way we play is a reason and the only bollocks here is your comment.
ofcourse.
@Tim,
Ah. I see. The usual idiotic response. Do I watch football, Am i spud? Or am i a Gooner?
*yawns*
Yes I been watching football longer than you have.
I didnt “learn the game”
I grew up with it.
The new Chelsea Diamond formation under Ancelloti leaves as much movement. And if it doesnt it is very close.
Ok forget Chelsea. Since your obviously too new to football and dont know much about it.
What about Barcelona? The supposed team that we are supposed to be copying?
How old is where Pique? Busquetes? Alves? Iniesta? Messi? Yaya Toure? This season, Last season…the season before that…and basically the last 4-5 years that Arsenal have had injuries? Did Barca not play these young players with their Movement.
what a load of hoarse shyte.
@David, Tony Cascarino has been watching football a long time and I trust his opinions as much as yours.
That said, you’re right, maybe you aren’t a casual football fan but someone who watches lots of football, but lacks basic reasoning skills. For example, comparing la Liga to the EPL?
Really?
Re-read what I said in my article: “It’s not just one thing, it’s 4: the size (height) of the team, their age, their foreign-ness, and Arsenal’s style of play.”
You keep banging on about two of those items while completely ignoring that I said there are four items that cause the problem. This is becuse you are grasping at a simplistic, reductionist, argument that it is the fault of the medical staff.
The Barcelona example actually only solidifies my argument. They play young-ish players, they play with as much movement as Arsenal, but they are a Spanish team playing in la Liga. They are actually more protected by the refs than Arsenal could ever hope to be. Plus, they are playing in a league where leg breaking tackles like the one Tiny Taylor inflicted on Eduardo are not called “not even a yellow card” by the managers. I could go on, about how the pace of la Liga is slower (which is how Pique is so much more successful there than he was in the EPL) and so many other things make your analogy silly but I’ll stop there having, ofcourse, proved my point.
@David, You’re really going to compare La Liga to the EPL?
There’s so much space and time to operate in the Spanish league. There’s certainly not much, if any at all, John Terrys coming at you in La Liga. The defending is tamer than the EPL by a long shot. Why do you think some of the greats like Ronaldo, Zidane and Kaka didn’t come to the EPL? They knew they’d get kicked off the park if they came across a Bolton or Stoke City.
Arsnela injuries are down to the style of play, the nature of the physicality of the EPL and simply that Wenger buys fragile players. Rosicky already had a history of injuries from his time at Dortmund. We all know RVP’s history and we’re now seeing how easily Theo can break – especially when on international duty.
@Tim,
The next miopic thing that you’d type is to say that it was because of the refs.
Go on and say it. Whinge like a true Wenger disciple.
@David, well, since I typed it before, in the article, it was a sure fire bet that you’d have quickly gone back and scanned, probably with a dictionary in hand to look up big words like myopic so that you could misuse them.
The only one with a narrow view of this issue, so far, has been you.
@Tim, Old people often think that U-25 is young!
@David, Let’s not forget how successful Freddie Kanoute became once he left the EPL.
This current injury situation at Arsenal is nearly akin to that Simpsons episode where Mister Burns recruits all the major leaguers to play on the Springfield Nuclear softball team, only to have all of them, except Daryl Strawberry, have misfortune befall them. So basically, we’re left with the Springfield Nuclear footy squad at this point.
Well….I don’t think we’re gonna convince David here….
Still, I’d like to chime in with a subtlety re: the injury problem….
Younger, “unproven” players, I think, get injured more (especially in England where the lesser teams field a pack of trade school drop outs, i.e., ‘Ard Nuts) because they need to prove themselves–at their clubs and with their National teams. Does a seasoned English international with 50 caps stand in in the 5th minute vs Birmingham City and think about a quick turn (as Walcott did) or does he get out of the way of Liam Ridgewell’s overzealous idiot tackle? It’s just a single example and maybe Theo is just a crock, but the need to stay uninjured is part of the “experience” that an “experienced” player has….It’s part and parcel of AWs strategy of trying to work with younger, talented, unproven and less “experienced” players, and something that he (and we) should learn to live with.
Likewise, “proven” players are bound to be thought of that way because they’ve realized their potential during long stretches of being UN-INJURED on the pitch. By trying to buy “bargain” players, perhaps we’re also gambling on players who have plenty of potential but maybe haven’t “proven” themselves because of too many spells in the training room. And when these older player come back, they’re in the same spot as the younger (“unproven”) ones and, by the same logic, expose themselves in ways the “experienced”, “proven” and “expensive” players don’t.
17highburyterrace has the best synopsis of what is going on. You guys should read his post again. I will only add the non-englishness as another key factor to pick up harder hits on the average than most other teams. You can’t deny that. If fouls are called evenly for us vs. the Boltons of the world, style of play, etc. become advantages. Since they are not called (IMHO due mainly to foreign-ness) we get hurt. Style of play is not a factor, as long as the other team isn’t allowed to cheat/hit and get away with it.
@Sex Fabregas,
“It’s not just one thing, it’s 4: the size (height) of the team, their age, their foreign-ness, and Arsenal’s style of play…
“Finally, it’s a well known fact that refs allow Arsenal to get more kicks than other teams. This is down to a combination of xenophobia and our style of play. You can bet your ass that if Eduardo was the England number 10 the refs wouldn’t let guys like Tiny Taylor break his leg. Moreover, refs also manage Arsenal matches differently than others. They tend to allow less technical teams to get away with harder, more persistent fouling, because they feel that if they called the game evenly, Arsenal would have too much advantage.
It’s no coincidence that Arsenal were a hard tackling team who weren’t so injury prone when we had 3+ English internationals starting every match.”
Did you hit your head yesterday or something?
Predictable response.
Cant count how many times when people dont have a point to make they resort to spell checking to “boost” their argument. Really oh so typical and childish. Im actually quite shocked you spell checked me this soon. Heh.
Ok lemme see. Did Clichy get hurt when he got “kicked”
How bout Rosicky? Lemme see What about Gallas? How bout Djrouru? Did Bendy Injure his groin by failure from the refs???
Oh wait wait tell me tell me did Van P get injured in the EPL as well???
Does Standard Liege play in the EPL too? Im sorry i didnt know they played in the EPL and as a result injured Gibbs again.
When Fabregas was out with a hammy against Celtic and missed the match against United…Are Celtic in the EPL as well?
As much as I like to stick around and make you look stupid…I think id rather be amused as you sift through my comment and spell check it for me.
@David, Well, like I said it’s a combination of things. You can’t seem to get that through your thick head.
ofcourse it’s been fun trying!
ofcourse is only slightly funny, you’ll have to do a lot better if you want to get into the pantheon of “cocksandwich” “middlefielder” and other such bon mots which the dull and thick headed have come on to my site and attempted to pass off as enlightend thought.
Please go back and tell us again how playing in la Liga is like playing in the EPL, everyone was enjoying that! It made your footballing pedigree and thus by proxy your arguments so convincing.
ofcourse.
@Tim,
*heavy sigh*
You obviously are quite slow to catch up fella. Wow. I didnt and never said playing in La Liga is like playing in the EPL.
I thought you’d have caught on from my previous comment(s) what im saying.
Are you aware that Barcelona players do not only play in La Liga?
They play in the CL and International Matches (Brilliant Discovery I know glad youre hearing it the first time here)
Are you suggesting that the refs have an agenda against barca as they do Arsenal in those competitions?
Because movement or no movement your point is that the refs allow ridiculous re-occurrences of fouling that infact cuz injuries and given the place (not in the EPL Genius) and the manner (not by the failure of EPL refs) to which 90% of those injuries occurred, it seems quite fair that you’re making excuses for the French Spin Doctor.
@David, you most certainly did, it’s in the false equivalence you created here:
“Ok forget Chelsea. Since your obviously too new to football and dont know much about it.
What about Barcelona? The supposed team that we are supposed to be copying?
How old is where Pique? Busquetes? Alves? Iniesta? Messi? Yaya Toure? This season, Last season…the season before that…and basically the last 4-5 years that Arsenal have had injuries? Did Barca not play these young players with their Movement.
what a load of hoarse shyte.”
Anything else or are you going to keep flogging this dead horse?
@Tim,
The hoarse is dead because you dont understand that Barcelona as a team isn’t just a team in La Liga. They played in the Champions League. Super Cup. And Will be featuring in the Clubs World Cup.
Nice to know you can copy and paste but really you dont know that La Liga and the Champions League are different and that both Arsenal and Barca play in them?
Oh dear…
@David,
Both Barca and Arsenal play in “it” It being the Champions League ofcoarse. Might as well correct my mistake since your looking for one.
@Tim, I can’t believe it, Tim! This guy came on here with a t-shirt that said “Troll”, a big sign that said “Troll” and you still fell for it!
Surely after the first couple of comments you should have realised that that dude was nothing more than a spud-loving Troll, and ignored him.
Back on topic: it is a fact that Arsenal’s players get more kicks and are allowed less retaliation than other teams in the EPL. This clear xenophobia is why the stupid English refs are not going to the WC. But don’t expect them to realise the fact and change their sad ways. They’ll probably just step it up a gear.
I thought EPL refs being ‘banned’ from the WC was the legacy of Graham Poll
@The Law, Way to lay it down, Mr. Law….our leader here has taken the bait (and written “your” when he meant “you’re, tsk, tsk) and David’s just having fun (albeit his own rather sordid kinda fun) with his catch….
The real question here for Arsenal supporters (and AW) is what to do about it. Do we just whine (whinge) about all these things and accept that for us to win anything in England we’ll have to overcome hurdles that other teams don’t. Or do we (as I think AW might be doing) put all our eggs in “IT” (the Champion’s League) and hope for a good draw and then some good fortune in the final? (BTW, I think the fact that the CL final is in Madrid is a huge reason they blew their cash wad in the last tranfer window–if they make it that far it will be a very hostile environment for their opponent.)
The CL is BY FAR our best hope for a trophy (and what a trophy it would be) given that we sacrifice the domestic cups (to the future?) and because of the bias/xenophobia/violent culture of the Premiership. The handling of the two Eduardo incidents (his injury and his dive) has only made this worse for us domestically. However, it should work the opposite way in the CL as those refs should want to say “up yours” to their UEFA bosses AND because we should be a bastion of light (positive football, internationalism, etc.) shining from the dark isles onto the continent. Mostly, however, we need a good draw and good luck (including on the injury front, and from the refs) and avoiding Chelsea or Barca until it’s one game (the final) in a neutral venue. But that’s just my take on things…
And by the way, aren’t there a couple of big games over the next couple of days in that competition, Juventus-Bayern, being the obvious one, what are the others?
Yah, well, lost amongst the discussion of bollocks is the lovely shirt I won. I’m going with the green ‘retro’ number.
http://www.soccerpro.com/Objectivo-Retro-Soccer-Field-T-Shirt-p9882/
I’m going to look awesome and it’s my lucky shirt debuting on Sunday against Liverpool and that diving wally Gerrard.
Want to read some funny? See what the Beeb says about the dive against Blackburn…
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/eng_prem/8391771.stm
“…a penalty shout rejected after a coming together with N’Zonzi”. Seriously? A coming together?
@Patrick, That is so freaking absurd, N,Zonzi was looking AND running away. The penalty wasn’t given but neither was the yellow card. And it was far worse than Hreiderson’s for Pompey (penalty given, but blocked, so no harm I guess.) Dives need to be rated on degree of absurdity and premeditation—Steven deserved a 10.
Congrats on the shirt, given all this talk, I might’ve gone for the Red Card design, had I won….
At least Wenger, et. al are aware of the problem and they have studied it to no avail. I have railed on this topic in the past w/ the chronic problems that Henry had at the end of his Arsenal service. He is still experiencing muscle type injuries but they seem to be minor by way of comparison. I would argue that Arsenal should bring in an outside expert to review/audit their treatment regimens.
@ctpa, I’ve heard there’s a gal from Serbia who might be available….and I believe there’s a “demonstration farm” just across the Holloway road (near the stadium) in Paradise Park where she might be able to obtain her “treatment materials….”
woah girls, can we put the handbags down?
the fact of the matter is wenger has built a team of babies and we’re paying the price. It was like multiple vision at the weekend, fabregas, arshavin, nasri, vela..the list goes on. all small skilful players.
You would think Wenger would know by now that the premier league is the most physical top flight league in europe. So build a team for it. Don’t cry about it when they get injured. What did he expect would happen? Why he is surprised about RvP getting injured. He’s always injured for gods sake. He should have bought in the summer.
Don’t get me wrong, Arsene will be a hero no matter what happens. But he has made mistakes. He should have bought a new keeper, a new big defender and a striker in August. He has been promising us signings for a long time now and only really delivered Vermalaen and Arshavin.
I just hope he flashes the cash and finds the missing pieces to this jigsaw in january. But i am not optimismic that will happen
@GoonerT, “Why he is surprised about RvP getting injured.”
There’s a simple reason: RvP usually gets muscular niggles. This injury is not. It is ligament damage caused by a freak challenge. Hence why he is surprised. RvP would not have got injured this season, but for this freak accident. It is not Wenger’s or RvP’s fault.
You guys MUST see this. From Brazil. Direct goal from a corner. Nutmegs the defender near post! Once in a lifetime goal! (Second goal in the video)
I think if Arsene were not too particular about buying only non cup tied forwards (which he is ofcourse), then I think Ryan Babel would be a great option. He’s talented, he’s frustrated and is looking for a move (atleast according to the newpapers), should be cheap (cheaper than what Rafa bought him for), he’s off every meaningful clubs Radar (atleast his price won’t be inflated) and I think would be a great buy. His career took an absolute nose dive thanks to that fool Rafa and I feel he would be a revelation under Arsene!!
@Akash, I agree, he’s worth investing in
@Kevin, Sorry but, I’m usually polite and such. But when such an idiotic statement such as this is made I can’t be polite.
Babel is shit. You are an ignoramus.
@Xabier, an opinion….but what are you basing his “shit” status on? His plethora of chances to impress in the shitty system of Benitez?
To my knowledge, he has continued to flourish in international duty since arriving at liverpool, a testament to the potential within.
In my opinion, I can’t call Lass a shitty player because he didn’t reach potential at Chelski and Arsenal before starring now at Real, and the same goes for not calling Klaas a shitty player when in the right team and with the right mindset and system, he most definitely has proven he can excel, though not currently (as Babel is at pool)
@Xabier, and also I must point out, the price absolutely must be right for us to move on him, there is risk involved.
Tim, you were on the right track… I think the key point here is (and Arsene clearly knows but is biting his lip for fear of reprecussion) teams know that the best way to counteract the Arsenal style is to play a rough/tough game. That means hard challenges, an erent elbow, and a random two footed lung towards Eduardo’s ankle. It is a result of this more than anything that attributes to our players getting knocked. 5-10 years ago, this wasn’t much of a problem as guys such as Adams and later Viera (among others) wouldn’t stand for it, and would be more than obliged to get you back. Alex Song has inherited some of this responsibility, but you see where its gotten him, 5 team leading yellows. Guys such as Adams and Viera were immune to the refs wraith because they had superstar status (or as Tim so elequently put it, the English #10 status) and refs would be afraid to award cards to them. Song hasn’t hit this level yet, and until he does we will continue to be pounded and continue to be carded when we retaliate.
Even Man City has become the new ‘Bolton’ as far as we’re concerned.
Tim, maybe there’s another angle that you touched on, but not strongly enough — the treatment by other managers when on international duty. How many of these injuries happened on international duty?
As for youth being the problem, by the time someone is in his early twenties, he is physically mature, if not mentally. (case in point: Theo?) I think their youth is nto the issue; that’s BS. Playing within one’s limits may be another matter. Look. What’s the average career length in the NFL or the NBA — less than 5 years? Pro sports is punishing to the body. And its the pounding received, not the age at which it is received, that is the issue — why should this rule not be true for humans playing soccer when its true for humans in other sports?
Now, it could be that Arsenal’s approach to the game is bringing down the age at which a player can no longer play the game — maybe it’s not 30 anymore, and maybe Rosicky is the case in point.
As for “free”, Wenger means a striker who fits what he wants and is free to play in the CL. Thought that was pretty clear.
In the NFL, I believe the average playing career lasts roughly 3 years.
OK, some good and funny stuff here and I thank SexFabregas for engaging with my commentary way up above, even if I couldn’t get Tim off David’s trolling hook…..
Regarding the topic at hand….I think things make the most sense if you look at them from the perspective that AW is mostly trying to build a team that each year has a reasonable chance in the Champion’s League (and you’ve got to finish 4th in the Premiership to do so) while pursuing a responsible financial model. The long term goal is to be one of the biggest clubs in the world by attracting world wide support generating high television and merchandise revenues, not to mention filling the pricey seats in our plush and ample stadium. And then if we’re smart and sell those seats at the Emirates cheap for CC and FA cup matches (and maybe easy CL matches) who cares if we play our teenagers or never win the domestic cups or the league? (Well, the die-hard and/or local, working class, or more traditional and long term supporters might not be so happy, but sorry that’s not where the money is….)
Very Long Term we’ll be well positioned for any sort of European (or World) Super League or Cup Competition and the revenues associated with it. In our global sports culture people/sponsors want to see the highest level of competition and will pay accordingly.
Regarding the injuries….at some point the English game needs to protect it’s best players with better officiating (and maybe a more greed-oriented tax structure, not that that’s what I personally favor) or there could be a top player exodus. (Perhaps already happening?) Luckily at this point the other continental leagues are backwards in their own ways.
In the meantime, Arsenal are trying to get loads of the best kids in young, surround them with some high quality (but cheap) older, skilled players, reward them with good contracts, toughen them with a steady diet of English weather, rough football and exceedingly demanding fans, so the CL will seem easy by comparison. It’s a roll of the dice, in many respects, but what’s the alternative beyond getting bought by an Oligarch or a Sheik?
IMO, Arsene is just ahead of his time and looking at things in this manner, but, as always, what the hell do I know?
Interesting. Unfortunately our veteran team was ‘allowed’ to be kicked all over the pitch by Marquez and Puyol in 2006. Nary a card that I can recall. Barcelona didn’t play that way last year because they didn’t ‘need’ to.
@ctpa, Agreed, and that was the beginning of the real dominance of that competition by the English clubs, as if the reffing was suddenly more like what we’re/they’re used to. (And certainly many commentators seem to have noted the same, esp. that crazy guy on GolTV…Ray Hudson.) So maybe AW is blowing it and what it takes to win in England is what you need in the CL.
Hey ctpa, how come we don’t see you on youaremyarsenal.com, the site which rose from the ashes of the ArsenalAmerica discussions? The guy who put it together (MPradamacue, now goes by DAG–Da Admin Gooner) has done some good stuff including a “game day chat” feature which is pretty fun. He’s a bit too positive perhaps for some of the gloomers/realists so they tend to only post when Arsenal get beat up on, but so it goes. Check it out….
@17highburyterrace, I’ve sign up but I’ve lost my appetite for for reading the same boring repetitive dirges from the likes of stag133 and the like minded.
On the subject of Arsenal’s style, I’m tired of hearing commentators say the same BS at the end of an Arsenal move which involved some 18-20 passes. “That’s Arsenal. All style with nothing on the end of it. They try to pass the ball into the net.”
How come you never hear the same of another more direct style when it fails?
“That’s Liverpool. All long ball with nothing on the end of it. One Spaniard hoofs it up and hopes to get the other Spaniard on the end of it and if it bounces back maybe hot-shot Hamish’ll leather it in.”
Commentators need to snap out of it. There are many ways to play the game. All are legitimate and depending on the players you have available, you play the one suited to your players.
@Patrick, Arsenal are club of evil foreigners.
Luca Toni: joke.
Benjani: bigger joke.
im no to sure about hugo rodallega, i am from el paso tx, border city to mexico, so everybody over here follows the mexican league, i saw him play for atlas and necaxa for about two years and he was less then convencing, i have no idea how he has scored the goals he has for wigan. but saw enogh of him to know he is not arsenal quality!
Gignac too. Biggish lad, good player.
Demba Ba. Big Senegalese monster.
How about Adriano? He’s not cup-tied, he’s big, and he has some upside. If he doesn’t work out, he has been jettisoned before. And he’s free, if I am not mistaken.