Anyway, enough about cheating Bale, it's not going to be a problem for the PL for much longer. This thread is about our very solid victory in Instanbul which looks like it's set us up for a route into the group stages. Fererbache were pretty poor, but let's not forget that Man Utd and Chelsea have both lost here in recent seasons. It was a very good result for us, especially losing Kos so early in the game and we kept a clean sheet
We have to remember that few teams will give our central midfielders such an easy ride. Fenerbache had no attacking thrust from midfield, no passing ability, no skill in the final third. Without Arteta we are still in dire straits against any team with attacking midfielders. Fulham will be very difficult.
Agreed. Meireles was awful last night and our MF were allowed to dictate the play. It will be a different story against Fulham and the Spuds, but hopefully by the latter game, we will have bought some reinforcements. I think Wenger is definitely in for a MF player as he'd said that we're missing three international midfielders, so it's obviously an area for attention before the window closes.
Spot on, the game against Fulham will be a lot more difficult. They also have a fair few useful players playing for them, that can do damage to us.
So is the implication here that Meireles didn't try or something? We are away from home, in a hostile atmosphere, have Wilshere playing much deeper than he would like, a makeshift CB and Cazorla barely match-fit, and we still can't bring ourselves to praise our team for a good performance and not allowing the other team to play. It's a bit sad really, we are all so hostile to our players lately - No matter who you blame, it isn't their fault.
Where has PISKIE been hostile to any of our players and where has he blamed anyone ? Whether you choose to admit it or not Meireles was ****ing awful last night.
The polarization of views on this board will continue for a long time into this season and parties to both views will still have their say and try to justify their positions. I'm afraid I'm sitting on the fence at the moment, confused by what I believe should be happening and what I am seeing happening. However the old saying still gives me hope: "You are only as good as your last game"
I'm sorry, I wasn't really getting at Piskie, I think he has been bullied into this kind of comment, by the negativity around at present. Meireles did not have a good game, but he is a pretty good player. Part of the reason he did not play well, was that he was given no time or space at all by Ramsey and Wilshere when he got the ball, and he was chasing shadows all game, when he hadn't. I just hate it when we don't give credit to our team when they do play well, and somehow imply that the other team were awful just by co-incidence. Before the game, everyone was saying what a difficult game it was going to be. Couple of hours later, it was an easy game and they were awful. Teams don't play badly out of choice, they get beaten. In Meireles' case he was badly beaten.
If you really think that ginger haired hippy **** has been bullied by anyone here then you obviously don't know him.
What in ****ing blazes are you going on about? Meireles was crap last night. It's precisely because he's usually a rock in MF that I'm pointing out that he had an ineffective game. Taking nothing away from Arsenal, we played well and got our just rewards. If you'd read my comments on the match thread you'd have seen that. I'm not pandering to the ****ing doom mongers by detracting from our teams' performance at all and there's no way those negative ****s will 'bully' me into slagging off the team, because I simply don't agree with the ****e spouted about our players. What I'm saying is that because Meireles was crap, it allowed us to dominate the MF and keep Fenerbache on the back foot. You don't need to be a AKWB or a AWBOK or whatever the **** the labels are. It's simply an observation of a football match. And my hair is blonde, with a shade of brown. Cym is old and his eyesight is failing so he can't see colours properly
Yeah that's it Strawberry Blonde, but I have got a ginger beard. It's the ****ing viking marauders in my family that did it. Nordic genes. I also carry a Norse horn and a bow and arrow