God

So as to not fill up the thread Narc created i'd figured i'd start a new thread as this is something i feel strongly about. With several Arsenal fans on the site, hopefully some of you will contribute aswell as the non Arsenal fans.

Almunia
Sagna
Gallas
Toure
Clichy
Walcott
Denilson
Fabregas
Nasir
Adebayor
Van Persie

On paper, that team should be able to beat most teams in the Premier League. Why the hell cant it? It's hardly lacking in expierance anymore, with the exception of Denilson & Nasri they have all played in the first team for quite some time. This is Denilson's first season as a regular & he has done pretty well so i will let him off the hook. Nasir is a new signing & has been injured already so he also gets off the hook. The rest however, dont.

Manuel Almunia has shown on several occasions that he is good enough to be in the team. The only problem is, his attention span seems to go AWOL at bad times. When you play in goal for Arsenal you have to expect that sometimes, you wont have that much to do. It doesnt mean you can lose focus.

Sagna was easily player of the yea last season. He's only back in the team fully for a few weeks now so i wont be too hard on him. Besides that, i think his biggest problem is Walcott in front of him. Walcott will go forward all day long. That means Sagna cant go too far forward because there is no Walcott to cover for him. When Lauren went forward, Ljungberg stayed in midfield to cover just in case & vice versa. Sagna & Walcott for whatever reason dont seem to be able to pick up on that idea.

Its the same problem on the left side. Nasri goes forward but doesnt track back as much as he should which at times leaves Clichy in no-mans land as he has joined in an attack which has just broken down. As fast as Clichy is, he isnt going to be able to get back in position in time after every failed attack.

Gallas & Toure i just cant figure out. Two of the best defenders in the country yet for some reason they struggle to form a good partner ship. I have seen many calls for one of them to be dropped which i dont agree with. So long as they can work together they dont need to always be on the same page. The problem comes from in front of them. Gilberto was as solid as a wall in front of the back two. Flamini while not as static would race back to help out if & when he was needed. Denilson isnt at that stage yet. Once he gets that ability to a higher level i think the problem in the centre of defence will sort itself out.

Fabregas, when he is on form is the best in the world. This season however his head doesnt seem to be in it. Gallas, as captain, should be the one to get his head in it during the matches. Fabregas would not have got away with his current performances had Vieira still been around.

Adebayor i only have one thing to say about. Prove your worth the money. He has gotten his huge new contract now show us you actually want to succed. Two years ago you would not have thought it but he is our most dangerous striker. He just seems to miss a hell of a lot of chance. Has Henry or Bergkamp or whoever gotten the ammount of chances Adebayor gets, they would have scored twice they amount they did. Also, Wenger needs to sit him down with a black board & some different colored chalks & explain the offside rule to him.

There have been uncountable amount of calls for Van Persie to be dropped & at times i'd agree. But, the fact is he is the most likely to go on a scoring streak. His maturity can also be called into question. As frustrating as it is to lose to a team like Stoke, shoving the keeper to the ground when he has the ball in his hands is asking for a red card & quite frankly i knew what was coming when he did it.

So, as you can see, we have a few problems in the team. Nothing that cant be fixed before we are out of the title race, but something needs to happen fast or we will have to start talking about next season. Eduardo is due back soon, hopefully he can pick up some of te slack & start finishing some of the billions of chances we get in most games. I'll be suprised if Rosicky actually plays in a run of games this season.

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Gallas

It's the defence that's letting us down, we are leaking way too many goals and after the loss to Stoke today, our title challenge is gone in my opinion.

Mikk

Seriously, this to me is pointless moaning, so what if your having a slightly shaky run, your still Arsenal and still considered a top 4 club.

I've always hated this kind of thing when a club like Arsenal have a slightly bad run its like its the end of the world.

Your still going to be in the premiership next season and will be for ages.


The only problem if there is one appears to be your captain, he's nowhere near wearing that armband as he doesn't appear to captain his team or provide them with any fire, he's certainly no viera.

Once Gallas becomes a leader of the team only then will you be producing some of the form you have in recent years.


However, wait until your in a relegation battle and then you'll see how difficult things can get.

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Bigpapa42

I would agree if this was a "Oh my god we lost a match or two and the sky is falling" type post. It isn't. Its an attempted analysis and discussion of why Arsenal are not playing as well as they should be.

The reality is that expectations are different for different clubs in any league. A club that expects to compete for titles obviously has different expectations than one a club just trying to survive. Does that mean the supporters of the club expecting to compete for titles can't wonder why things aren't going to plan? It doesn't really matter what the expectations are, but supporters are going to try figure out why when the side is performing below that.

Kimura

The same thing thats happening with Arsenal, is happening with Roma in Serie A. Roma 'situation tho, is way more serious, as they are fighting for relegation right now.

It's hard to point out the exact reason why they have lost 3 games already, but I dont think they are playing all that bad seriously. The biggest problem imo is Adebayor actually. Last year he would finish most of his chances, while this year, even tho he has scored 5 goals, he is missing way too many chances. Also Hleb and Flamini leaving the team this year, must be hurting them a little.

But honestly, I still think is way too early to get worried.

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Do you have a reason not to give The Half Boy your vote for the Hall of Fame?

Do You???

I sure don't!!!!!

Dr. Proxy

Stoke > Arsenal

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Bigpapa42

That's okay. Because Tottenham > Liverpool, and at least Stoke are a hell of a lot higher on the table.

Dr. Proxy

How the hell did you know that im a liverpool fan
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And Id rather get beat by a side such as tottenham rather than stoke tbh.

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Bigpapa42

It was just a guess, actually. And most times I would agree with that assessment. But at this point...

Stoke City - 13th
Tottenham - 20th

Its tough to say that Stoke are a better side than Sperz when you actually look at the quality in their respective squads. But the table disagrees...

Dr. Proxy

Its only early yet, in a couple of months the table will show who is better than who.

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