hmm guess i iddn't look close enough at the replays. or maybe i was still furious RvP's winning goal was disallowed...again. but that would've been hard on tottenham who played well.

so jon - torres is a flop (y/n)? the team is a whole different level of scary with drogs out there.

When Drogba is at his best, as it seemed yesterday, I don't think there's a better striker in the Premier league. He was all over the park yesterday. He can play with his back to goal, provide crosses, get physical with defense, hold up play and send powerful shots on target towards the goal. What more do you need out of a centre forward?

I can see why we brought in Torres during a time when Drogba had malaria or whatever, and clearly off his best. Although he hasn't totally impressed, I'm not sure if its fair to call him a flop just yet. He's close, but it wouldn't be fair. He's definitely struggling to find his feet with us though. From watching him, it seems like he's not used to working as hard as our other attacking options to put the ball in the back of the net. During the Birmingham game, you can see Kalou working his socks off, Malouda, full backs playing like wingers, Lampard pressing forward, Drogba, everyone working. Torres comes on and he just doesn't look as lively as the rest of the squad. I don't know if this is a striker who is down on confidence or what, but he needs to work harder. This picture about sums it up:

http://d.yimg.com/a/p/sp/getty/cb/fu...birmingham.jpg

Drogz is like, 'I've been winning titles since 2004, what have you done for us? I'm taking this kick son.' In all honesty, I think Torres should have taken it; the points were secure, and he needs the tonic of scoring his first goal for the club to wake him up. His ex-Liverpool teammate Benayoun is on the bench too, why not let the two play together for a quarter of the game? Bring them on in the second half of the forthcoming West Ham match or something, and see what happens? I can't see us catching United or falling out of a Champions league spot, so what do we have to lose? Having money to spend on quality players is one thing, but when you spend as much as we did for Torres, and have yet to see the results, is frustrating. Especially when you consider Arsenal paid maybe £14 million for Nasri a few years back, and the signing looks like a bargain given what he's done for the club.

Which one was Ray? The one guy failed to realize that the game was being played to 120 rather than 115, at 118 the guy still couldn't figure out his error and at 117 said that Madrid's free kick was going to be the last kick of the ball haha..

His analogies in commentary are among the best I've heard:




With the exception of the antics of Premier League fan zone of course:

Just finished watching the Arsenal match. God dammit.

^ ...yep. and bolton's gonna be PISSED this weekend. going to be tough.

Soccer: David Hirshey presents his EPL All-Disappointing Team - ESPN

is it just me, or is david hirshey, the self proclaimed espn 'gunner', a total bandwagon arsehole fan? throwing fab and szczesny under the bus? demeaning the team every chance he gets?

what a ******* ****.

I think he's probably over-compensating.

http://smiliesftw.com/x/Bye05.gif title

miyaichi played decently for feyenoord today, but i think he's already suffering from arsenal-itis. had at least four clear on goal chances, and chose to square the pass instead.

oh sorry, did we play today?

I heard a rumor.

Honestly, I think the loss and finishing out of the top two is going to be just the push the Arsenal board needed to start pulling their heads out of their asses and make some changes. Fab is leaving this summer. Period. It'll be a miracle if we can tie Nasri up into another long term. Fab will bring $35-40 mil, and we supposedly have a $40 mil transfer budget, $80 million should be enough to shore up our defensive frailties, add another potent scorer to combine with RvP, and another world class attacking midfielder to cover Fab's loss. Fuck man we need change. BAD. I say we raid the Dutch league. Elia anyone?

Elia plays for Hamburg. ;)

I don't think we'll have a problem with Nasri, especially if Fabregas goes.

At least we don't have to get linked with every goddamned goalkeeper under the sun this summer with Szczesny's meteoric rise in stardom.

I'm not even going to speculate anymore this summer. I don't think mass exodus and buying will solve problems. We do need some experience though. To me, personally, all we really need is Chamakh to get his head out of his arse, and for a Song-esque DM cover. LB if we can find a good one.

Maybe we can sell the best striker that ever lived Danish superstar living legend Nicklas Bendtner to Barca for Messi :rofl2:

The one thing I DO think will happen though - the failure to do ANYTHING right in the last few games will push Arsene's hand to pay Bolton too much for Gary Cahill. Or maybe Everton for someone like Phil Jagielka (did anybody see that masterclass he put in against Manchester United? Dude was EVERYWHERE.)

I have heard of this Portuguese guy who plays for Benfica who is pretty good. ;)




Huge collective sigh of relief from the Bridge this weekend. Torres finally on the score sheet, and doing so quite emphatically if I may. There are now talks of a United collapse, and suggesting we might pick United's pocket and win the title again, but I'm a realist, and I really don't see that happening. I'm content to finish second if we can, retaining our Champions league spot and come back stronger next year to try to reclaim the title.

Not sure if anyone has seen it yet, but the new Bayern kit has been released this past weekend:

http://image-load-balancer.worldspor...x600/23872.jpg

oh how i'm behind on the times. Still... pretty sure he could be prised on the cheap.

Oooh, the new Bayern kit does look rather nice.

was surfing around, and found a fleetwood town 11/13 new kit release?
http://www.footballshirtculture.com/...Home_Kit_1.jpg

1) i'd bang her.
2) looks like a recycled arsenal shirt. they possibly went dumpster diving this past weekend.
3) fleetwood town fc even plays in 'highbury stadium'. wow.
4) i'd bang her.

the Pollock definitely has heart, his positioning has been suspect to me at times though. But true, another keeper is not needed, he's one for the future. Chamakh for me, is a toss up. He puts balls on net, usually straight at the keeper but on the net nonetheless, but it seems like he tries to get too fancy with the ball and dispossesses entirely too much. We need someone 6'1+ with better speed and both legs.

as far as DM, Wilshere fills the role nicely as a box to box, Song goes down, then we switch positioning to accomodate Jack's style, I dont think a DM is what we need right now. Right now we have 1 proven, consistent goal scorer and thats RvP. We need someone else to pair him with up top, someone like a Berbatov, someone that can use his head and poach loose balls in the box.

People still hate on Arsha, and while a series of lackluster performances have tainted his image to the Arsenal faithful, he pulls goals out of his ass when we need em, he just needs to find consistency.

Bendy's a beast, when playing against bottom of the table teams, its time for him to go, along with Denilson, Squillaci, Almunia, and Rosicky. Gary Cahill is definitely going to be scooped up this summer, but i'm wondering still, who is going to replace Fab, Montolivo is looking more and more impressive to me. And Jagielka has always been a beast, he was the best player defensively at Everton, I honestly wouldnt mind having him in the team. And btw, I <3 Ashley Young.

Juve's away shirt:


all i can say:

BAAAAAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!! Everton ditched their shirts for a reason, lads!

holy shyt, are they sponsored by Rockstar energy?

is it not the most epic jersey you've ever seen? :roflpuke2:

I think Arsenals third kit could take a few pointers from it :tup:

http://www.sskamo.co.jp/img/goods/C/L410930-616.jpg

this is my 'home team' back from my days of living in japan.

i want this jersey but god DAMN is j-league stuff overpriced! $200 just for the jersey WTF!!!

I'm defense of the Juve strip, their original kits were pink before they adopted the iconic stripes. They've used pink a few times since for away & third kits.

That thing is wild, though.

Bayern kit ftw!

yessir, it's a very nice kit :tup:

I think Palermo's home kit is pink right? Those crazy Sicilians...



COME ON SCHALKE! Take a 3-0 aggregate lead for the second leg in England. We believe in you!

come on you...er....blues...??

COME ON SCHALKE!

Felt awkward didn't it? Hahaha

:o


daaamn neuer is putting in a SHIFT. what a display of goalkeeping!

btw - who replaced stoke city with arsenal?

...Schalke...:shakes head:

dammit schalke. teams in blue ALWAYS fail me.

*stares at jon*

I am disappoint.


Can we rely on you to beat United this weekend? If we bag 3 against Spurs we may still have a shot to keep the trophy. Better in London than in the northwest right? :tup:

^ no, you can't rely on us to do anything this weekend other than piss away points. :rofl2:

but yes, i'm firmly in the "f*ck man united, COME ON YOU BLUES" camp. and anytime anybody can bag 3 points against sp*rs...makes me a very, VERY happy gunner. :)

as predicted, Fab on the way out, I hope to god Wenger has a good replacement in mind.

Cesc Fabregas transfer news: Arsenal ready to let Barcelona and Inter Milan target Fabregas leave for £35m - report - News - MirrorFootball.co.uk

who will take the arm band? Money is on RvP.

to quote arseblogger:

Yes, yes it is, but if he goes, he goes. Huge fan of El Capitan, but with 35m in funds plus a nice transfer kitty from Silent Stan we'll be fine in rebuilding...again.

I call into question the source, and I still think there is some hope that Cesc will leave when he actually wins a trophy for the club. I can't help but think he wants to leave the club something to remember him by, and with Wenger relenting that he will buy this summer, this could be it.

Then again, same tune, different year, right?

If Inter take him for £35 million, that'd be a steal. And out of the two sides, I'd say Inter need a young, quality midfielder more than Barcelona. At 23, it's a frightening prospect pairing Fabregas with Sneijder and Eto'o at Inter. He would bring youth, creativity and more quality to Inter's starting 11 over Pandev or Cambiasso, in my opinion.

As far as the Captain's armband, I think it goes to Vermalen or Nasri, based on the work they put in each and every match. Nasri has performed superbly for his club this season, and I think he deserves to captain his own team.





More Champions league action today, El Clasico part 3. Madrid coming in as favorites for this game, with the win in the Copa del Rey, putting 6 goals past Valencia this weekend, and playing at the Bernabeau, the momentum is clearly with the home side. But you can never rule out Barcelona, even without Iniesta. An added boost for Barcelona, Carles Puyol is returning to the starting lineup. I think Madrid may be able to eke one out today. Barcelona will probably play for a draw to keep the series neutral and attack during the second leg at Camp Nou.

Thoughts?

Dont get me wrong, I'd love to hold onto him, but I cant help but feel, judging by his quotes in the spanish press (misquoted or not) and his on field performances of late, it just seems like he isnt playing with the effortless gusto he used to have, the part of his game that I used to love. With the constant tapping up, I just think hes starting to become a detriment to the unity of the team honestly. Cesc will bring 35 Million easy, if Barca cannot afford it, Real or Inter will. With claims of 40 million to spend, coupled with what he would bring it, its close to 80 million, we can add MINIMUM of 3 WORLD CLASS players.

First things first, Verms needs a reliable RCB (someone who stays consistently healthy, Djou isnt the answer) to pair with. We need steel in the middle, STEEL. Clichy and Gibbs can get the job done on the left and Sagna is as consistent as anyone on the right, they do not need replacing. We'll also need a replacement for the spanish magic man himself, I think a Kaka + Cash from Real would be nice, although not likely to happen (although he seems a wantaway). I want Montolivo. And Phe, you might disagree, but I think Gourcuff would be an excellent addition. Hell, I'd even love a direct swap for Sneijder @ Inter, I hear they're quite keen on Fab.

Lastly, RvP has been carrying ALL of the workload up top, ALL OF IT. Since he found form, he hasnt dipped, guy has been working hard and getting bags of goals. However, IMHO, hes being overtaxed up top and needs another prolific scorer to help shoulder the burden. I honestly think someone like Gyan or Darren Bent would compliment the team (EPL experience and excellent goal poachers). I also have a huge appreciation for Ashley Young, one of the most consistent wingers i've seen in the game today.

Goalkeeper is a toss up, Pollock has been great, but we need cover for the inevitable departure of Almunia, Neuer? Stekelenberg? Buffon?

Nasri is also a good candidate for the band, I think AW might use it to lure him into another contract.

Sneijder will not be there if Fabregas goes. Inter will probably sell to Manchester United if they can get Cesc.

1. I think he's still hobbled by his hamstring injury, and the trophyless drought and his 'I want to go home' saga is wearing him down. Keep in mind that he also had no break whatsoever, aside from injury team, due to his national obligations. He's put in 300 games in the red and white at such a young age, and remains loyal and respectful to the club. But you're right, he doesn't have the same zeal about his play this season. Would love to see him next year, but it's a long shot at this point.

2. Cahill / Jagielka + defensive midfielder. We cannot put Wilshere in Song's position if our Cameroonian enforcer goes down. Wilshere is agile, tough as nails, and has the aura, but he does NOT have the size or strength to do the job right. I hate to be clichéd but we could really use a Makalele on this squad to cover our arse when Song is out. I actually DO agree with you Red, Montolivo AND Gourcuff would give us ample cover. But who would drop those inch perfect passes to RvP next year? I just don't see ANYBODY outside of Fab and the Barca XI who can do that. To lose Fabregas means we will need better wing play to get crosses in, and better strike play as well. It's no understatement that Fabregas is our lynchpin, if he goes, we have to fix a lot of things. I also worry that RvP has often praised his near telepathic connection with Cesc, without his midfield support, will he still be effective?

3. We need ONE good fox in the box - Miyaichi is too young, and is a winger anyway, but what about Wenger's vaunted 'Theo can be a central striker' theory? Let's try it. Theo has the ridiculous pace to do it. Add in a solid goal scorer in Chamakh if he recovers his confidence and we'll be fine. Would like some cover after we lose Bendtner though. I would still try to get Hazard too, as I think Arshavin actually might bolt back to Zenit.

4. Neuer is going to Bayern. Best chance would be Stekelenburg. But then Szczesny WILL leave Arsenal. I really, really don't want that. So I think no buys in the GK position.


I can't even predict a starting XI next year aside from the following:
.....................Szczesny
....Sagna.....Cahill.....Vermaelen.....Clichy (really really don't see him leaving Arsenal)
...............Song.......Wilshere
......................Nasri???
.......(???).......van Persie........(???)