The Arsenal FC thread

Hybrid · May 11, 2009

Bibu07 said: ↑

Finished Chelsea 4 Arsenal 1, does this mean we(blues) stay 3rd? Or still can fall into 4th?
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Nah, Chelsea have 3rd place officially sealed because of this win.

Bibu07 said: ↑

Any chance of you stopping Unt from winning next week(I mean Utd to lose)? So livers can get a chance to bag it?
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United play Wigan before they play us. If they beat the Latics (which is pretty much a given) then they win the title.

Hybrid · May 11, 2009

A decent read, I thought:

Wenger Loses His Grip On Reality As Chelsea Crush Arsenal

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/article6261038.ece

Such is ArsÃ¨ne Wenger’s endless optimism that he sees the heaviest of grey skies as a dark shade of blue, but after this second humiliating home defeat in five days even the Arsenal manager must sense the storm clouds gathering over the club. If not, then the loud booing that rang around the half-empty Emirates Stadium after the final whistle will surely have altered even his sunny disposition.

The world as viewed by Wenger must be a beautiful place in which to live, because he sees no problems, only solutions. To him, the recession is probably a good thing that forces us all to go back to basics, swine flu should be welcomed for advancing the cause of vegetarianism and MikaÃ«l Silvestre remains a top-class central defender. Then again, even Wenger’s optimism has its limits.

In keeping with the Frenchman’s relentless positivity it is almost possible to view Arsenal’s heaviest home defeat since 1977 as a good thing, if only for revealing the extent of rebuilding required before they are capable of challenging for trophies again. All of Arsenal’s biggest faults were in evidence, with a combination of woeful finishing and comical defending enabling Chelsea to stroll to their biggest victory in this part of North London since 1960 and secure a top-three finish in the Premier League.

The first step to recovery in any failing enterprise is an honest recognition of your faults, however, which has never been a Wenger strength, as was demonstrated by his postmatch analysis. He was once mocked for being myopic, but his condition is now gripped by delusion.

“It was not a 4-1 defeat today,” Wenger said. “You can be very positive or very negative. It’s a major disappointment to lose 4-1, but going forward we had a very interesting game and created plenty of chances. That was never a 4-1 game.

“We should have been 2-0 up before they scored. We made a mistake and were one down, but we missed seven or eight clear-cut chances and every mistake we made was punished because we were playing a team of quality. Three months ago everybody said we’d finish tenth and they’d have been happy to have finished fourth.”

In his programme notes Wenger had been even more indulgent, describing the two early goals his side conceded against Manchester United last week as an “accident” that should be disregarded, and arguing that Arsenal showed themselves to be equals to the champions over the two legs. Such a claim was eye-catching in print and was made to look utterly ludicrous out on the pitch, as the home side imploded.

Arsenal did start the stronger, as Wenger had claimed, with Theo Walcott missing four good chances in the first 20 minutes, but then proceeded to self-destruct in a manner that only they can.

Accident-prone does not even come close to describing recent defensive efforts of a side that have conceded 11 goals in three matches against Liverpool, United and Chelsea.

Many of Arsenal’s problems stem from the knee injury that ended William Gallas’s season against Villarreal last month, not least because it facilitated the return of Silvestre to the side. The French defender was culpable for Chelsea’s first two goals, being outjumped by Alex at a free kick controversially won by Didier Drogba and failing to close down Nicolas Anelka after he had skipped past Samir Nasri, although Lukasz Fabianski should have done better with his shot.

Chelsea’s third was the kind of aberration that seems only to happen to teams that are struggling, with Kolo TourÃ© diverting Ashley Cole’s cross into his own net, while they were also hopelessly exposed for the fourth as Florent Malouda tapped in after Anelka had hit the post. Wenger must sign an experienced central defender as a matter of urgency this summer, particularly as TourÃ© remains unsettled, although the same situation faced him last summer and all he came up with was Silvestre.

“At the moment I don’t know what funds will be available,” Wenger said. “I will be told by the club. I believe we need to continue to improve. Things are not as doom and gloom as everybody wants to make it after a defeat.

“We play in a strong league with opponents who are top quality. We have to continue to improve, but the areas where it is right. It’s not about quantity of money, necessarily. You wouldn’t like to come out and say we’ll buy four defenders. I feel we have quality defenders. It’s more a question of balance.”

To linger so long on Arsenal’s deficiencies is an injustice to Chelsea, who demonstrated impressive resilience to respond to their own Champions League exit by sealing qualification for next season’s group stage. Drogba was a menace for the right reasons, Malouda continued his recent upsurge in form and it is difficult to see them failing to provide Guus Hiddink with the silverware his outstanding work as interim manager clearly merits by winning the FA Cup.

It is equally hard to envisage a trophy of any description ending up in the hands of Arsenal, whose best hope of success lies with their women’s team, who claimed another title yesterday. The four years that have passed since the men’s last triumph is testing fans’ patience, although Wenger risked being accused of rudeness when he snapped that “everybody is free to leave the stadium when he wants” in response to a query about the mass walkout.

Not even Wenger can look on the bright side all of the time.
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MatthewJay · May 11, 2009

Where do you get all these articles?

Hybrid · May 11, 2009

Former Arsenal player Lee Dixon reckons that Arsenal should get rid of Emmanuel Adebayor and buy Yaya Toure.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/arsenal/article6256310.ece

Hybrid · May 11, 2009

Theo said: ↑

Where do you get all these articles?
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/gossip_and_transfers/default.stm

That site has all the transfer rumours and other news... and then off-site links are posted up there. They're basically all British newspapers though.

Hybrid · May 11, 2009

Happier Times:

September 28, 1996: Wenger appointed Arsenal manager. The Frenchman makes an immediate impact at Highbury, as this 3-1 victory over Tottenham in November '96 shows.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Dodia-bRlc

May 1998: Wenger wins his first trophies at Arsenal, collecting the FA Cup and Premier League double in his second season in charge.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyf0A-rCVA8

2002: A flurry of summer signings transform Arsenal as Wenger leads them to his second domestic double, beating Chelsea in the FA Cup Final.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caedsA431ps&feature=related

2003: Arsenal defend the FA Cup by beating Southampton.
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=6930028

2004: The year for which Wenger will always be remembered. Arsenal remain unbeaten throughout the Premier League campaign and are dubbed “The Invincibles”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PJOn31H5BU&feature=related

2005: Arsenal's most recent trophy comes courtesy of a shoot-out victory over Manchester United in the FA Cup Final.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3aley1x1lo&feature=related

MASTERS · May 12, 2009

is yaya youre kolos brother? and where is he playing?

SuperNova · May 12, 2009

sports_fan39 said: ↑

is yaya youre kolos brother? and where is he playing?
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Yes, and Barcelona

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