The problem with what you have said PISKIE smacks of bias; if a player doesn't lay into us then they give a balanced insight, but if they do lay into us they are out of touch. Vieira was Wenger's very first buy and he lays into us, not as tactlessly as Merson but he says the same things pretty much, is he out of touch ?
Not at all. I'm happy to listen to criticism if I think it's accurate and I respect Vieira's views. I just think some ex players like Merson and Robson talk a lot of bollocks.
Dont really like Robson, but he was spot on when he talked about our defensive strategy being the issue - not the players.
Well that I would agree with. Despite his poisonous commentary about us. I do think that our defensive strategy has been the issue, namely a lack of shield for the back four, leaving them far too exposed.
LAck of a defensive shield yes, but the biggest issue is that our defenders do not defend as a unit. Watch the goals against WB. Robson's analysis was insightful on them - Vermaelen making rookie erros, Santos charging out of position. They are not disciplined enough, and do not seem to know (or care) whether to drop deep or press.
Well, I'm a long term advocate of a defensive coach at Arsenal as you know. I'm hoping that Bould will instill some defensive discipline into the first team.
I think some things will inevitabley change, simply because of a difference in style. But Pat Rice was a defender and a very vocal coach, but to be honest, I don't know much about his defensive coaching strategy. I'm hoping Bould will bring some more discipline, largely because he's been responsible for managing the whole team a youth level, although at the moment, it is all a bit of an unknown.
The youth team play in more or less the same way as the reserves and first team - including some very very poor defending. I watch as much of the youth games as possible. The recent game vs Coventry is an example, 2-0 up, looking easy, then switch off and make awful errors in defence and end up drawing 2-2. Its been a consistent issue for our reserves also. Bould is applying Wengers strategy to the Youth team, he is not creating his own style. I am not sure what he is going to do differently.
Really? Where have the club admitted to doctoring the figures? Go ahead, provide the link, because I already can tell your full of ****.
The club did not 'doctor' the figures, they just announced the amount of tickets sold at the end of every game. Which was a bit daft because it did not tell how many people actually went to the game, thankfully they stopped doing that now.
Actually when did they do that, I seem to recall a certain Mafia-connected Russian owner doctoring a lot of figures
Yeah, I knew that was the case, but that's still not a loss for Arsenal which is what the Chelsea girl didn't get, because Arsenal still made money, but those fans didn't turn up, for example I missed like 5 home games this season as I was out of the country, my chair was empty, but Arsenal still made money as I'm a season ticket holder so it wouldn't have mattered. Now if we had empty seats due to no purchasing, then we can start talking. Anyways, for most of the end of the season, the stadium was routinely fully sold out, unlike in the early and middle stage of the season. And with us getting third spot, and an optimism for better, I expect we will be selling out the stadium come next season.
You have a very strange way of interpreting what he wrote....I didnt see that at all. I got that Mers didnt know much about Arsenal these days - not that Piskie was claiming to know more. I think this is very similar to the way in which certain areas of the press (I am not saying that you, Jayram, are the press, merely using this as an example) distort what people say to make their own headlines - I take all punditry with a pinch of salt, they have all got their own agenda. I am all for open and honest exchanges of view - but dont trust something that is merely based on what some pundit has said. Mind you, I do agree about Robson - especially as he was a very loyal player in his day.
# Sorry - I somehow did not get the whole thread before I posted this....if I appear to be jumping in rather late...
You've hit the nail on the head about Jayram mate He gets upset because I pull him up for talking ****e, so he resorts to making stuff up to try and get back at me Sad, but true.
