Great morale boosting win against Chelsea....really felt like a massive lift for the players and fans but honestly don't remember beating one of the top sides and playing that bad at the back (last year away to Man City we were pretty shocking a still won 3-0) We were awful, really awful but overall have started to slowly start playing with my style and effectiveness. Largely down to RVP but Ramsey, Arteta and Gervinhio have been adding more the the team. The key to finishing in the top 4 has been the same issues we've had for season after season; (1) Defence Kos has found some consistency and although I don't trust him like TV he deserves to be first choice right now. But we can't expect them both to stay fit for the rest of the season so we have to hope Mertsaker improves and fast. He will never have speed or skill but for such a tall and experienced player he wins far too few headers and is positionally awful. I hope that's just being new to league and settling in process. Wenger won't sign another CB in January as we also have Djourou and Squillaci (2) Who can cover RVP? Can't ask anymore of the guy but we need to have a better 2nd choice to cover for him. Chamakh is done for whatever reason he cant deliver for us, Park is average from what we've seen, so we MUST sign a decent forward in January. Look down the league and see that most other sides in the league have better 2nd 3rd or even 4th choice strikers than our back ups
"my style and effectiveness" - that made me laugh I assume you meant "more style and effectiveness" - still put a smile on my face! 1) Kosc and TV are quality and definitely good enough to be our starting choice CB's - i'm very happy we have the two of them. Mert is being unfairly critisized due to his performance at Chelsea where arguably he could of stopped two of there goals. You say he is aweful positionaly but usualy this is one of his big strengths, he can read the game well and positions himself to make the right challenge - this was missing against Chelsea but with lack of pace this is how he has made a name for himself. Personally i think he is a great choice for a back-up CB and my only concern is if injuries result in 2 of these 3 players being otu at once and Djourou/Squil having to play a bigger role. I'd like to see Vertonghen brought in to create more depth and cover at the back but TV/Kosc/Mert are all good enough imo for a top 4 team. 2) Obviously RVP is a big positive in our team and unless your City you probably only have one striker of this quality in your squad. I think he will have an amazing season and finish top goal scorer tbh, but should he be injured or need rest on a frequent basis then lets look at our options: Chamakh is a good player, he isn't a prolific goal scorer but brings others into the game, defends well at set pieces, creates a plan B by being an aeriel threat and if you look at his first half a season with us people were questioning whether RVP would get his starting 11 place back or have to fight for it. He is a player who thrives with confidence and works hard for the team but needs a string of games to get back to this level - good squad player but if we need to rely on him as our CF then the wing forwards will have to pull inside a little more and look for goals. Park has looked good from what i've seen of him and is the captain of his national side - i'm hoping we get to see more of him to see what he is capable of. Walcott and Gervinho can both also play down the centre if needed - and i think would be if Chamakh wasn't doing enough. Next season we will also have Campbell who is a real talent, but for now i think our options are not the greatest but are worthy of top 4. I'd love to see us bring in a real top quality striker to give RVP competition but i think we should wait and see what Park can do before we go out and spend. Overall i think we are in a very strong position to get 4th and think we will be back in the top 4 within our next handful of games. The team is not nearly as bad as some would have you believe and i'm fairly confident about the season ahead.
The problem in both cases is no real quality player be it vertongen or a striker will join Arsenal as a back-up. No way. I think Bendtner was as good as it realistically gets for a back-up upfront and he left because he wanted to play. Same with defense.
Vertonghen i think would get a decent bit of playing time as our back-line is constantly changing about and he can cover at DM also. I agree with the sriker position it will be difficult to have someone come in and have to sit on the bench but if they were of good enough quality i guess you would rotate with RVP or they would play occasionaly in a 4-4-2 - but good point for the striker position.
I hate articles like this, Mert is rubbish (ridiculous), and Parkis average, he has only played 2 games and scored in 1!!The author is a fool.
Out of interest what do you mean by "breaking the top 4"? If you mean breaking "into" the top 4, then I'd just like to point out we haven't finished outside the top four since before they invented sliced bread
I'm going to side with Topgun on this. These articles rubbishing our players are so nonsensical. The comparison between Bale and Walcott being a case in point. Walcott is clearly the better player in terms of statistics and performance, in any way imaginable, Yet popular wisdom would have you think that Bale is better. Metersacker is another. his record at the international level would suggest that he is a better player than Terry or Rio. In the game his performance was vastly better than Terry, yet, after the game, he is the one being questioned? If he was bad then clearly Terry should never play for Chelsea again! And finally Santos and Cole. Cole is made to look like a schoolboy by Walcott and Santos scores a goal, and plays a virtually faultless second half, yet, Santos is the one who isn't good enough? Give me a break! And don't write this garbage if you expect me to take you seriously.
Your viewpoint is in contradiction to the players who gave Bale the PFA award and the top clubs of Europe who want to sign Bale (no mention of them being interested in Walcott) As for breaking the top 4, really it is a case of finishing 3rd/4th between Chelsea, Spurs and Arsenal (Liverpool have no chance). I hate to say this but Chelsea under Abramovich partly represent all that is wrong with football so I hope you beat them for the final CL place
All Abramovich Chelsea wrongs now pale in comparison to ManCity and their new owners, so i think berating Roman now is so yesterday . And I think Liverpool actually have a chance.
I think this is just a case of you being closer to the Bale rumours. We have heard that plenty of clubs want Theo and we (Arsenal) are supposed to be worried about him signing a new contract. He is on the same schedule as RVP. Also please note I was NOT giving a viewpoint. I was saying that Walcott was statistically better than Bale, which is a matter of fact. It was the voters for the PFA awards that decided that Bale was better based on subjective opinion, even if he was not as effective. I think it is very early days to write people in or out of the top 4. I don't think too many people see Newcastle finishing there, but they are solidly in right now. Conversely there is no reason that a club much lower down couldn't pull themselves up.
Do you really think that statistics on goals and assists can be used to compare one player who usually plays a semi-defensive role in a 442 and another who is an attacker in a 433?
Last season's league stats: Chris Brunt: 4 goals, 11 assists. Xavi: 3 goals, 7 assists. Chris Brunt wins!
