Santon and Ben Arfa.

Completely agree on both players. Santon was excellent. Solid defensively and a real threat going forward.

Ben Arfa (when Wilkins criticised) looked like he was running it into the left hand corner when he was dispossessed. Someone should've made the run into that space for him so he didn't have to do it alone, preferably Ameobi who was no doubt stood in an offside position with his hands on his hips. Ameobi and Best are so static. I'd rather see Lovenkrands start than BOTH of them (by that I mean Best or Ameobi alongside Lovenkrands, rather than Best and Ameobi, who I think should never start together) just because his movement is more intelligent.

 

Always liked the Best Lover partnership that we had going on in some games last season.

 

Ben Arfa was brilliant as was Santon. Agree 100%. Them 2 are players that should be playing for Real Madrid lol - can't believe we have them

People who say Benny keeps losing it - I think that is because he is looking for somebody to make a run or get in the box and nobody is there. If Ba was in the side he would pass or cross it more because he would make himself available. Shola doesn't do that.

Everything that was good attacking today came through him. Some lush runs and through balls. Class!

 

Same here, a long ball loss of possession seems to be acceptable but am attempt at actual creativity gets moaned at?

wtf

 

Was impressed with Ben Arfa's workrate today. At one point, he chased a player back to our touchline and a guy near me yelled '****ing hell! Ben Arfa's defending!'

Also, he is bloody fast! Caught up with Wright-Phillips on a couple of occasions when no-one else could.

 

In the last few matches Santon has occasionally got caught out of position and we've been lucky Colo has been there to cover. I get the feeling that if it were Raylor or Simpson instead we'd be being a bit harder on him. However he's only had a few starts and I'm sure he'll sort this out when he integrates into the team. And going forward and tackling he's easily our best full back already!

 

I think that points out the key difference, Santon recognises when he can risk getting caught out of position. Too often Raylor wouldn't recognise when there wasn't anyone covering him and would get caught out. Santon I find picks and chooses his spots better and knows when Colo will be able to cover for him. Not to mention Santon I think has the pace and ability to recover and last-ditch defend better than Raylor can.

 

A long ball loss of possession is very, very, VERY much not considered acceptable.
And to be quite frank, Benny running into brick walls =/= creativity. Creativity is setting people up, knowing when to play the pass and when to dribble. Which Benny will get, with time, but until then it's unhelpful to watch him hold onto possession when he should just release it.

 

I got pissed off at the crowd at times. We were patiently passing the ball around for a few minutes and they just started going nuts at the players. They complain about hoofball then complain about possession/passing football

 

Santon was absolute world class today. Going forward he looked lethal and even had a good run into the box. Defending wise he was pretty much faultless and he very much looks to be another brilliant signing.

Guthrie was excellent, doing the unsung hero's work of running the midfield with relative ease. Got stuck in, passed well and showed some nice technique.

Ben Arfa? Looked really threatening but often pulled an Obertan - running at too many players trying to do too much. But with Ben Arfa it sometimes comes off. With Ober you know it will be an inevitable useless backpass.

And Best's goal was fantastic. Really could do well for us if he gets a bit fitter.

 

I agree with the general message you're sending, but as some have said, in a few instances he'd make an attacking run, appear to be looking for a pass, and then there's nobody for him to release it to. Sometimes yes, he does run himself into a wall, but I think he'd be complemented by strikers who make smarter and more aggressive runs - with players ahead of him like Shola, he doesn't get left with many options.

 

Santon was outstanding today, top class performance all round.

 

Which is why we need another striker for sure. Shola was utterly, utterly **** today. No dispute there.

 

I'm certainly not making excuses for Hatem, because I think a great player should be able to play well alongside anyone, but I do think he's the kind of player who needs to be surrounded by class players to get the best out of him.

 

This x100000000!

When you're having a bad spell there's nothing wrong with passing the ball around the defence to slow the tempo and get the team back into its stride. Some of our fans are morons.

 

I reckon there should be a test on the website every time you try to buy tickets in the bottom tier. If you can't accurately explain the offside rule and give a brief outline of catenaccio, you have to sit in level 7.

 

With Gutierrez drifting into the centre, him and Ben Arfa seemed to have that connection which helped link each others play together. Only happened on a few occasions but it was effective and got us playing. Hopefully we get a second striker who has the ability to keep the football flowing and that should ultimately bring the best out of Ben Arfa. Erdinc please......or I may get slated but maybe Chamakh? Has a bit of flair, decent finisher and can run behind the defence.

 

Arsenal fans dont rate Chamakh in the slightest, I'd avoid him. He's at the ACON as well.

 

Definitely not, all you can do is get to Alaska.

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im lost .....