ARSENAL FC, best club in england, the world and

[prodigy]

How far is Liverpool from London btw?

Actually i'm trying to save up for a visit to London sometime next year. I don't wanna do it too late, while i still have abit of money and not tied down with housing loan, car loan, wife, kids and etc. Maybe watch a game at Emirates or something. I'll be damn happy by then.

 

[Y a k u Z a]

Duke Red : Hmm,isn't Londo very far away from Liverpool? Im not too sure about that bro.

Prodigy : Well yeah,it does cost a bomb just for the ticket as well,I think it starts around RM 300 ++ ,but im not tooo sure yet though,still awaiting for confirmation on my ticket as the best match that I would be able to watch during the duration of my stay there is Arsenal vs Portsmouth and it's fully sold out,damnnnnn ittt haha

 

[prodigy]

Another defeat by Bolton. Can kiss goodbye to the EPL title this year.

It wasn't too bad a performance by Arsenal. First half was bad but they improved alot in the second. Only difference is, Bolton had the cutting edge and were able to finish the ball much better than Arsenal. It only shows you how good Anelka is. He wasn't given many chances but he took it well i must say. Arsenal created plenty but were unable to finish it. Even that, they had 3 shots that hit the post.

I wouldn't go as far as blaming the injuries that we suffer. They should have enough squad depth and this season, Henry's contribution has not exactly been the greatest. At times, he looks like a forlorn figure on the pitch. He has not been the striker that defenders fear. He doesn't run at them anymore.

If this is gonna be Arsenal's way of playing this season, i'm sorry but i doubt we're gonna win anything. We were real poor in the EPL last season, dropping points unnecessarily but we were a solid team in the CL. This year, it isn't the case though.

 

[Saga Continue]

our yearly anual defeat to bolton......and why oh why wenger pluck flamini in the middle of the park when he got somebody stronger like batista?

numbbbb

 

[munpeng]

Not a surprising result at all, Bolton has always found a way to counter our way of playing with physical approach and long balls. We were unable to win 50-50 challenge as our midfield players like Flamini, Fabregas, Ljungberg and Walcott are just too short too compete with them, and they are too good at playing aerial football.

One thing that annoys me again is our poor defence. It's a fact that we lost it due to our consistent mistakes at the back. Everton were superior because they didn't make any mistakes at the back, so did the poor Newcastle and now Bolton. How could a good team not understand that only a great defence can stop you from losing? Chelsea is a deserved champion due to their rock solid defence, and Man Utd have a strong defence all the while too. We should learn from Everton, Newcastle and Bolton first, before try thinking to compete with the bigger 2 teams, in terms of defence, that is.

The way we conceded the first goal proved that even if we were to be the champion, we don't deserve it. Champion never concede cheap goal like that. And another sign that's convincing enough is our inability to finish off chances. I don't care about hitting the crossbar 10 times because if the shot is not good enough, it will not go in easily. The header of Ljungberg and the shot of Adebayor were both tooo high, not good enough....

 

[munpeng]

I am saving this post to question the ability and the desire of Mathieu Flamini to do well or improve for the sake of Arsenal. I have been watching him closely since his mistake that led to our losing goal against West Ham, and after the game against Bolton, I am convinced that he's not going to be a star for Gunners.

He doesn't have the long legs that can win tackles, not fast/aggresive enough to win 50-50 balls, and not tall enough to care and head the ball properly. All he does is pulling your shirt, using his arm to try and put you off, just nowhere near being as good as Gilberto, and forget about comparing him with Vieira.

Yes, he did score the 1st goal against Liverpool, and it was a very, very rare goal in the 1st half! (How amazing?!). But it was due to the good build-up between Hleb and Fabregas, I will curse at him if he couldn't finish that kind of chance.

Against Bolton, his performance was just as expected. He's not the reason we lost, but I still must voice up about his inabilities to complement the way we play our football. because when we have Van Persie, Rosicky, Ljungberg, Fabregas, Hleb, Eboue or even Walcott going all out attack, we need BITE in the midfield to protect our goal, and Gilberto doing the dirty job alone is not enough, for the future or in the long run.

Never mind about his good games at left back, coz he is a midfielder.

 

[topui11]

wow.... why don't u be AW then?

we just didn't get anything done! that's all. work on the finishing. we can control the ball.. heck, we got 3 legit chance at goal but 2 hit the woodwork and 1 fine save from jaaskalainen.

finishing! that's what anelka does... he finishes us off....

 

[prodigy]

Got to say the defence need to work harder. I thought with the purchase of Gallas, it would stregthen the defence but it hasn't been the case. They kept letting in early goals and made things difficult. I don't know, maybe Senderos just isn't firing on all cylinders yet as he was out for so long.

I wouldn't go as afar as saying Flamini was the cause of our downfall. By far, he's one of the most hardworking player in the team. He does alot of running and i know he's not exactly the most talented guy but he makes it up with his industrious runs. Don't forget we have Gilberto and Fabregas in the middle and i must say both didn't really control the midfield like they normally do. Now you wish Vieira was still with us.

Generally i can agree that our midfield lacked the steel. We have Fabregas, Hleb, Rosicky, Walcott, Ljungberg who's probably less than 6 feet and probably can compete in the featherweight section of boxing. They're likely to lose out to aerial challenges or physical play. The way i see it, they can only compete by being tricky and driblling their way out of trouble. We can only hope Walcott starts to grow taller and bigger. Afterall, he's only 16. I started growing tall at that age.

 

[munpeng]

wow.... why don't u be AW then?

we just didn't get anything done! that's all. work on the finishing. we can control the ball.. heck, we got 3 legit chance at goal but 2 hit the woodwork and 1 fine save from jaaskalainen.

finishing! that's what anelka does... he finishes us off....

No, you are definitely a better candidate.

 

[munpeng]

Got to say the defence need to work harder. I thought with the purchase of Gallas, it would stregthen the defence but it hasn't been the case. They kept letting in early goals and made things difficult. I don't know, maybe Senderos just isn't firing on all cylinders yet as he was out for so long.

I wouldn't go as afar as saying Flamini was the cause of our downfall. By far, he's one of the most hardworking player in the team. He does alot of running and i know he's not exactly the most talented guy but he makes it up with his industrious runs. Don't forget we have Gilberto and Fabregas in the middle and i must say both didn't really control the midfield like they normally do. Now you wish Vieira was still with us.

Generally i can agree that our midfield lacked the steel. We have Fabregas, Hleb, Rosicky, Walcott, Ljungberg who's probably less than 6 feet and probably can compete in the featherweight section of boxing. They're likely to lose out to aerial challenges or physical play. The way i see it, they can only compete by being tricky and driblling their way out of trouble. We can only hope Walcott starts to grow taller and bigger. Afterall, he's only 16. I started growing tall at that age.

Yea. Flamini can be the most hardworking player on the field, but any Malaysian national can be as hardworking, but that doesn't mean any of them can play for Arsenal. In EPL, strength, pace, power are necessities, especially in defensive roles. And you can't be too short.

The lack of experience in the back four, and the lack of height has caused us dear when we deal with set pieces. The tallest guys are Gilberto, Toure, Senderos, Adebayor, Henry and Lehmann. The rest of our midfielders are really badly exposed to the aerial capabilities of Bolton. That's why we have read an article in The Star, on Allardyce knowing a good way of beating Arsenal, right?

 

[Saga Continue]

since our famous ol' guard retired i realize that we lack strenght in defence.....granted.....change of guard happen gradually with campbell, keown, dixon, luzhny can be considered as hard tackling defenders.....but back when we had our great indomitable years....i realized we seldom had clean sheets.....but that time we let go 2 goals.....its okay henry gonna pop 3 and probably ljunberg or pires gonna ad another one each and all assisted by bergkamp....so whoz fault izit...? izit the defence or our strike force......but definately we lack muscle with the lads like flamini.....if wenger put him in the middle of the park.....we already got fabregas which is ightweight......pluck flamini somemore......become feather weight already.......we got baptista.....use him......let him fit the role that gilberto used to hole......if u realize last time gilberto didnt do that much tackling when viera is around but more like plugging defensive gaps with his pace and agility.....he didnt do much shoveling either but rather herding opposition players away from goal....

haih....anyway i dont quite like the 4-5-1 formation.....i still prefer our ol 4-4-1-1....

 

[^Dreamerz^]

very true, bolton play wif physical approach..
n arsenal play wif smooth passing..
that is y, bolton are able to win arsenal.. proven, not only once..

now this premiership is a 2 horse race..

 

[munpeng]

Yea true, we didn't have much clean sheets back then even we had Keown and Adams in the center. But clean sheets are crucial, as we can see in the past, champions had not conceded more than roughly 30 goals in their winning season, including Arsenal's season in 01/02, when we had Adams and Campbell who owned their penalty box. There's also our invincible season where Campbell, Keown/Toure, Cole, and Lauren formed The Great Arsenal Wall. Chelsea had successes with Terry and Carvalho too, and Gallas helped them greatly when they didn't have a reliable left back. Man Utd is another good example of winning with formidable back four.

The point is, with a steady back four and reliable defensive midfielders, a team wouldn't worry too much about tracking back too often, while can keep possession easily up the field. And a strong defence will do the best not to concede, whenever you couldn't score early. That's the case with Arsenal, it's fine for them to pass around and play ball on the ground, but to do that successfully we cannot concede first. Once you concede first, you gonna need to score twice and face a fully motivated opponent. Therefore, we just can never concede first while we are looking for a lead. And never concede goals like the way Cahill and Faye scored.

 

[Saga Continue]

another defeat at fulham......and again flamini at the middle of the park.....

bummmeeerrrrrr

 

[Duke Red]

How far is Liverpool from London btw?

Actually i'm trying to save up for a visit to London sometime next year. I don't wanna do it too late, while i still have abit of money and not tied down with housing loan, car loan, wife, kids and etc. Maybe watch a game at Emirates or something. I'll be damn happy by then.

Don't know how far it is mate but it's ok. I'll be going to Anfield to watch the game against you lot on March 31st next year. A friend and I won tickets and we'll be there for 5d/4n. I swear I cried when I heard the news:cry_smile: