Barclays Premier League

[Kralik]

On Tuesday afternoon, Arsenal Football Club released the following statement:

"Tomas Rosicky yesterday underwent routine revision surgery in Germany. The operation went as planned and Tomas will now spend at least a few weeks convalescing in Germany. Thereafter he will follow a tailored rehabilitation progamme devised by our medical team."

Everyone at Arsenal Football Club would like to wish Tomas the best of luck with his recovery.

[Kralik]

Great night for us in Carling cup yesterday.. Simpson scored 2 clinical goals but the pick of the goals was the Vela one. I love this kid more than Bendtner. He reminds me of Bergkamp and Henry.. at such a young age he has amazing talent and potential.. he can dribble like henry and that goal was almost like what Bergkamp used to do. Amazing!

Sooo.. Spurs face Liverpool tonight.. Revenge night for Liverpool?? or maybe Rafa has bigger things on his mind than Carling Cup..

[rajputwarrior]

Great night for us in Carling cup yesterday.. Simpson scored 2 clinical goals but the pick of the goals was the Vela one. I love this kid more than Bendtner. He reminds me of Bergkamp and Henry.. at such a young age he has amazing talent and potential.. he can dribble like henry and that goal was almost like what Bergkamp used to do. Amazing!

Sooo.. Spurs face Liverpool tonight.. Revenge night for Liverpool?? or maybe Rafa has bigger things on his mind than Carling Cup..

i can't see any of the big guys for 'pool playing today. And that was a good game by the young gunners, they have a lot of talent coming up. Wasn't their average age on the field like 19 1/2 years? That's incredible.

[Martyn]

Great night for us in Carling cup yesterday.. Simpson scored 2 clinical goals but the pick of the goals was the Vela one. I love this kid more than Bendtner. He reminds me of Bergkamp and Henry.. at such a young age he has amazing talent and potential.. he can dribble like henry and that goal was almost like what Bergkamp used to do. Amazing!

Sooo.. Spurs face Liverpool tonight.. Revenge night for Liverpool?? or maybe Rafa has bigger things on his mind than Carling Cup..

Vela is already everything Bendtner could and should be. I'm not much of a fan of young Nic.

[Rappy Veteran]

Tottenham are playing nice football!

[Martyn]

Tottenham are playing nice football!

They are.

Worst performance by a Liverpool side I have seen for a while, just no effort at all by most of the players. Its only the League Cup, but the fringe players should at least be having a go.

Still, we have been 3-0 down at half time before and I think everyone knows what happened then ;)

[Rappy Veteran]

Wowsers 4-2 this game is insane, one thing is for sure you get your moneys worth out of spurs.

[ViZioN]

Oh for crying out loud. Heurelho Gomes - you are useless.

Best quote of the night! :D

He is useless though...I don't think he will be there come January

[Rappy Veteran]

Best quote of the night! :D

He is useless though...I don't think he will be there come January

Don't worry Gomes has gone now...on a stretcher!

[ViZioN]

Don't worry Gomes has gone now...on a stretcher!

Not quite the way I wanted him to go lol but I suppose the result is the same...

[Rappy Veteran]

Good win for Spurs! Harry working the magic again that guy is a genius!

Edit: gregbob is going to be happy...wait no he isn't :p

Edited November 12, 2008 by rappeh

[rajputwarrior]

Premier League takeover broker Keith Harris believes Liverpool could go into financial meltdown in January and might be forced to sell up.

Empics

Anfield: Might be in financial trouble

Harris, who has masterminded deals for Chelsea, Aston Villa, Hull City, West Ham United and Manchester City and is currently seeking buyers for Newcastle United and Everton, claims that the Reds could be severely affected by the global credit crunch.

Bickering Liverpool owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett have two months to pay back a reported ?350million worth of debt and with refinancing packages and new financial stakeholders getting harder and harder to find the Merseyside club might have to offload star players to pay off the debt.

The worse case scenario would be for the banks to consider repossessing the club if the payments cannot be met.

"The one that worries me is Liverpool," said Harris. "Liverpool's debt is due in January, with maybe a six-month extension."

"The two banks which are the principal lenders - the Royal Bank of Scotland and Wachovia - are two of those that have suffered. Whether they want to lend it again or not, they may not be able to."

Harris, chairman of Seymour Pierce investment bank and a former Football League chairman, has also admitted that Everton and Newcastle are no closer to finding a buyer.

"It has never been more difficult to find buyers," explained Harris.

"It's no longer a question of price negotiation - it's should we? People are wondering if now is the time to spend."

Los Angeles Galaxy owner Philip Anschutz was linked by a number of newspapers with a possible bid for Newcastle as part of a US consortia but the owner of AEG denied the reports on Wednesday.

"Neither AEG nor anyone affiliated with the organisation are in negotiations or are contemplating the purchase of Newcastle United Football Club," the billionaire said in a statement.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id...and&cc=5901

And wow i hope the mess with the owners get solved soon... If they wait until their loan is due bad things could happen to the team. I don't want to lose players.

[Kralik]

:p Chelsea and Liverpool both crashed!!

I didnt watch the Chelsea game but I did happen to catch Spurs-Liverpool..

My observations:

1) Chelsea, Liverpool, Man Utd all played some players that are in their best 11 and still had problems.. (Man U won 1-0 from QPR on a penalty!! Chelsea got beaten Burnley of all teams.. and here i was upset about us losing to Stoke City..lol.. and Liverpool lost to Spurs.. AGAIN :p)

2) Spurs also played many of their best 11 BUT they wanted to play and win.. they wanted to prove something.. much like Arsenal :pacifier:

3) Seemed as if some Liverpool players were out there as a punishment for something.. there was no effort at all..

4) Seemed to me like Liverpool lacked motivation.. did Rafa really want to win this match? I don't know what he said to them before the game but it seemed they were out there just for the sake of being there and it looked like the manager didn't fire them up properly.

5) Arsenal has the best youngsters in the country

6) Arsenal has the best second lineup in the country :D

[Martyn]

:p Chelsea and Liverpool both crashed!!

I didnt watch the Chelsea game but I did happen to catch Spurs-Liverpool..

My observations:

1) Chelsea, Liverpool, Man Utd all played some players that are in their best 11 and still had problems..

Agger and Torres are both coming back from long term injuries and were only played for match fitness.

But you are right about the players not looking arsed.

[FaRSightxc2]

Heh heh, two wins in two weeks over 'pool.

Was not looking forward to this one last night, but what a game! Very good Spurs performance, despite some terrible 'keeping. That said, hope Gomes is ok, took a nasty knock there.

[Martyn]

Good win for Liverpool today. Should have been about 6-4, mad game!

[FaRSightxc2]

Run had to end somewhere :laugh:

MOTM Zamora - played excellently all game. They look a good, organised side, Fulham; battled hard, good work rate, very solid looking defence. Their (think he is Norwegian??) defender was excellent too.

[Martyn]

I have to say as well, Arsenal are the funniest team ever.

[Kralik]

I have to say as well, Arsenal are the funniest team ever.

I missed the game today.. just got back and checked the score on Skysports website.. :x

[rajputwarrior]

good job boys... and kralik.. or any other gunner fans, explain to me what the hell is wrong with your team? Cause i don't get it.

[Rappy Veteran]

Maybe they should of stuck with the team in the week?

Awesome goal by Welbeck today from Utd, another star maybe there for the future.

[Farstrider]

I am not sure if there are many Villa supporters here, but I am sure everyone here will agree that Saturdays result has got our season back on track again! We has two really bad results prior to this. (The Newcastle performance was so bad it was embarrassing!) So all in all: A fantastic result. :D

[FaRSightxc2]

good job boys... and kralik.. or any other gunner fans, explain to me what the hell is wrong with your team? Cause i don't get it.

Very definitely not a gooner, but the problem as I see it is pretty simple.

First things first they lack any kind of mettle in the middle. There is no Viera type player to take hold of the game by the scruff of the neck, win balls and physically control possession. Fiberglass may well be one of the best passers of the ball and best play-makers in the world, but will not play the physical, ball-winning game that is often required in the league. It is all very well being able to play pretty, entertaining football when you have possession, but if you have no one to break it down when you don't, you are looking for trouble.

The other big three have players who can play just as much 'pretty' football as Arsenal, but also have players who are better at mixing it up. Man Utd always play with a DM/solid CM and have Scholes, Hargreaves, Park and Fletcher who are all more physical than Fabrigas, backed up by two of the strongest most dominant centre-backs in the league in Rio and Vidic. Chelsea have Mikel, Lampard and Deco, backed up by Terry and Carvaliho, again a lot physically stronger than anything Arsnal have to offer. Liverpool are slightly weaker through the middle, but have Gerrard who performs a lot of the physical work. The rest of the successful teams in the league have their strong figures too: Barry, Bullard, Osman, Diarra, Ireland....all players that have a high work rate and strong physical presence, despite not being the prettiest footballers. As a Tottenham fan, we are in a similar boat to Arsenal, and this is one of the problems that has blighted us in the last year or so: the lack of a dominant player in the middle of the park. Zokora/Huddlestone + Jenas is not enough, just like Fibreglass and Denilson are not enough for the Goons.

Second of all, they really are missing a fit striker. On their day, Adebyor, Van Persie and debatably Eduardo are fantastic strikers who will score a lot of goals. However, they are also very much players who will not play to their peak week-in week-out, and are blighted by injuries. There is no Henry, backed up by Bergkamp. These are two of the best premierleague strikers ever and were Arsenals bread-and-butter. Without them, they have flair, but no one you can rely on to score that crucial goal. They are also missing a decent 'keeper. Almunia is useless, and does not even begin to compare to Chec, Rena or Van der Sar. Arsenal have never really replaced Seaman, their rock at the back, and even Lehman - who had his own problems - had a degree of solidarity, and certainly commanded his area better than Almunia.

There is also an argument that the pure arrogance of the Arsenal players leads to complacency. They think they can go to Stoke and wow them with their footballing skill, and send them running for cover. But it is simply not enough. Stoke have prided themselves on dogged performances, organisation and a real desire to scrap, and there is not one player in the Arsenal squad that can rise to this challenge, except perhaps - on his day - Toure, who has had injury problems of his own. The best example is in the game against Tottenham. Arsenal should have ran away with that one, and were 4-2 up with 5 mins to go. Then some show-boating by Cliche led to him losing possession and getting punished. Huddlestone and Modric then exploited the lack of a strong player in the middle of the park, winning a couple of balls in the air, leading to Lennons finish. It shouldn't have happened, and you can garentee Man UTD or Chelsea would not have dropped the ball on that one.

Wenger is without doubt an excellent manager. He can pick a player with talent, is excellent at developing youth and some of his signings have been second to non. However, looking forward, Arsenal fans should worry about his philosophy. Arsene seems so intent 'on playing football' that he forgets that other teams can play it too, and just because you can pass crisply along the ground, doesn't mean you won't get punished by a physically strong team from a set piece - alla Bolton or Stoke. On their day, Arsenal can beat any of the top sides in the world, play the silkiest football and be a great side to watch: they 'play football'. But Arsene seems so intent on playing skillful youth, that he neglects to consider the other side of the game. Arsenal got taught a lesson by Stoke and today by Villa, not because their players are less skillful, but because there is a physicality, a drive and a solidity to these teams that Arsenal simply don't have.

In Stoke's team there was only one player below 6ft. Villa have Barry, Reo-Coker and Laursen. Solid players to complement their attacking prowess of Agbonlahor and Ashley Young. Put simply, a balance needs to be struck between skill and finesse; and strength and physicality. Although Arsenal are the kings of pretty football, they simply cannot cope in a scrap, and that is their greatest problem. Arsenal are also left very open at times by their inability to be content with what they have. Sure, push for an extra goal, but when you are leading with little time on the clock, it is time to slow the play down, control possession and be selective about playing the ball forward. Manchester UTD are experts at this, and you rarely see them throwing away a lead of any variety. Arsenal are unable to do this, and this often leaves them open to concede late goals.

Edited November 16, 2008 by FaRSightxc2

[Kralik]

good job boys... and kralik.. or any other gunner fans, explain to me what the hell is wrong with your team? Cause i don't get it.

I believe you happened to catch my following post last week..

No Arsenal fans writing here? Reason: We are all gutted at how bad we are playing and how it is getting worse every game. So we are watching the game and Arsenal is 2 goals down to Stoke of all teams.. and my friend (a Chelsea fan) asks me an evil grin.. "Who's Stoke playing against?" (As if he didn't know).. "Arsenal".. I said in a bearly audible voice.. "I think".. I couldn't bring myself to belief that it is really Arsenal.. 72% possesion, a man sent off for stupidity and lossing the game!? "Where is my Arsenal?" I said to myself.....

If you happened to miss it Rajpoot it's currently on page 27.. a sad story but true story that we were hoping to leave behind us after last week..

Very definitely not a gooner, but the problem as I see it is pretty simple..

Can't believe I'm agreeing with a Spurs fans abt Arsenal not cutting it AT THE MOMENT.. but spot on FaRSightxc2..

The problem is.. we need experienced and physically strong players, who can%

Edited November 16, 2008 by Kralik

[NightCrawler.]

Very definitely not a gooner, but the problem as I see it is pretty simple.

First things first they lack any kind of mettle in the middle. There is no Viera type player to take hold of the game by the scruff of the neck, win balls and physically control possession. Fiberglass may well be one of the best passers of the ball and best play-makers in the world, but will not play the physical, ball-winning game that is often required in the league. It is all very well being able to play pretty, entertaining football when you have possession, but if you have no one to break it down when you don't, you are looking for trouble.

The other big three have players who can play just as much 'pretty' football as Arsenal, but also have players who are better at mixing it up. Man Utd always play with a DM/solid CM and have Scholes, Hargreaves, Park and Fletcher who are all more physical than Fabrigas, backed up by two of the strongest most dominant centre-backs in the league in Rio and Vidic. Chelsea have Mikel, Lampard and Deco, backed up by Terry and Carvaliho, again a lot physically stronger than anything Arsnal have to offer. Liverpool are slightly weaker through the middle, but have Gerrard who performs a lot of the physical work. The rest of the successful teams in the league have their strong figures too: Barry, Bullard, Osman, Diarra, Ireland....all players that have a high work rate and strong physical presence, despite not being the prettiest footballers. As a Tottenham fan, we are in a similar boat to Arsenal, and this is one of the problems that has blighted us in the last year or so: the lack of a dominant player in the middle of the park. Zokora/Huddlestone + Jenas is not enough, just like Fibreglass and Denilson are not enough for the Goons.

Second of all, they really are missing a fit striker. On their day, Adebyor, Van Persie and debatably Eduardo are fantastic strikers who will score a lot of goals. However, they are also very much players who will not play to their peak week-in week-out, and are blighted by injuries. There is no Henry, backed up by Bergkamp. These are two of the best premierleague strikers ever and were Arsenals bread-and-butter. Without them, they have flair, but no one you can rely on to score that crucial goal. They are also missing a decent 'keeper. Almunia is useless, and does not even begin to compare to Chec, Rena or Van der Sar. Arsenal have never really replaced Seaman, their rock at the back, and even Lehman - who had his own problems - had a degree of solidarity, and certainly commanded his area better than Almunia.

There is also an argument that the pure arrogance of the Arsenal players leads to complacency. They think they can go to Stoke and wow them with their footballing skill, and send them running for cover. But it is simply not enough. Stoke have prided themselves on dogged performances, organisation and a real desire to scrap, and there is not one player in the Arsenal squad that can rise to this challenge, except perhaps - on his day - Toure, who has had injury problems of his own. The best example is in the game against Tottenham. Arsenal should have ran away with that one, and were 4-2 up with 5 mins to go. Then some show-boating by Cliche led to him losing possession and getting punished. Huddlestone and Modric then exploited the lack of a strong player in the middle of the park, winning a couple of balls in the air, leading to Lennons finish. It shouldn't have happened, and you can garentee Man UTD or Chelsea would not have dropped the ball on that one.

Wenger is without doubt an excellent manager. He can pick a player with talent, is excellent at developing youth and some of his signings have been second to non. However, looking forward, Arsenal fans should worry about his philosophy. Arsene seems so intent 'on playing football' that he forgets that other teams can play it too, and just because you can pass crisply along the ground, doesn't mean you won't get punished by a physically strong team from a set piece - alla Bolton or Stoke. On their day, Arsenal can beat any of the top sides in the world, play the silkiest football and be a great side to watch: they 'play football'. But Arsene seems so intent on playing skillful youth, that he neglects to consider the other side of the game. Arsenal got taught a lesson by Stoke and today by Villa, not because their players are less skillful, but because there is a physicality, a drive and a solidity to these teams that Arsenal simply don't have.

In Stoke's team there was only one player below 6ft. Villa have Barry, Reo-Coker and Laursen. Solid players to complement their attacking prowess of Agbonlahor and Ashley Young. Put simply, a balance needs to be struck between skill and finesse; and strength and physicality. Although Arsenal are the kings of pretty football, they simply cannot cope in a scrap, and that is their greatest problem. Arsenal are also left very open at times by their inability to be content with what they have. Sure, push for an extra goal, but when you are leading with little time on the clock, it is time to slow the play down, control possession and be selective about playing the ball forward. Manchester UTD are experts at this, and you rarely see them throwing away a lead of any variety. Arsenal are unable to do this, and this often leaves them open to concede late goals.

Yeah very true, Denilson is one of the best midfielders technically but him and Fabregas just don't work together in the middle of the park against physical teams, he's a creative player so he takes many touches on the ball and creates space for himself and others, however defensive wise he is useless. The teams mentality is also an issue.

However, like I've said many times to Arsenal fans: We will win the title this year, there's no doubt about it. And I say that with no hint of sarcasm.

Fellow gooners don't let your heads drop!