Official Arsenal FC Thread

I think Vermaelen has been shit this season. Over the course of the last 3 seasons his play has declined in my opinion. Two years ago he was a beast, last season he was up and down and this season he has been shit. Logically it doesn't make sense to give him, Santi, or anyone other than Sagna or Theo a new deal because most of the team is currently on at least 3 years remaining. The new today is excellent for the club, but I still think we need to add to the team because overall the team is not a top 4 team in terms of quality.

We got Bayern.

The only positive we could take from that is we didn't get screwed and get Barcelona and we also avoided the 2nd best team imo (Dortmund)

If we had what drew or won against Schalke, we would be up against Galatasary

Hoping we sign Moussa Sissoko and a quality winger this transfer window. Sissoko should be relatively cheap, and we have shit width.

So you're basically agreeing with the fact Vermaelen's crap now Jones? I don't think he had any real quality, he's covered most of it up by goals and has always been a big game bottler.

Thomas 'false 9' Vermaelen.

I'm optimistic about the Bayern tie. We definitely need to buy in January if we want to beat them for certain because with the current team and our tendency to get injuries I don't see us beating them otherwise.

Carlos Jenkinson wrote:So you're basically agreeing with the fact Vermaelen's crap now Jones? I don't think he had any real quality, he's covered most of it up by goals and has always been a big game bottler.

I'm not agreeing he's crap, but I did admit a couple days ago that he's certainly not been his best and hasn't performed well at all, apart from a few good games. I do believe he has good qualities, I even remember in his debut season people were comparing him to Vidic in years to come, I don't think you get that comparison if you don't have any qualities.

But this debate has been going on for days , let's just end it here shall we?

Just think about how far your defense has come in the past 3 years if you are complaining about Vermalean

AriseForLife wrote:I'm optimistic about the Bayern tie. We definitely need to buy in January if we want to beat them for certain because with the current team and our tendency to get injuries I don't see us beating them otherwise.

Need to buy very very well to beat Bayern. Bayern again have a good chance of going all the way.

Childish Logic wrote:

AriseForLife wrote:I'm optimistic about the Bayern tie. We definitely need to buy in January if we want to beat them for certain because with the current team and our tendency to get injuries I don't see us beating them otherwise.

Need to buy very very well to beat Bayern. Bayern again have a good chance of going all the way.

Weighing it up, considering injuries and suspensions, I think we can hold our own in defence and midfield even without buying, it'll be in attack where we pale in comparison.

We need Vermaelen to pick up form and Koscielny and Diaby to get fit again. If they play van Buyten we should start Theo down the middle, if it's Martinez then Giroud.

But I really hope we buy a quality winger although it'll be hard to find one which can play in the CL, then we'll have a chance.

wellz wrote:Just think about how far your defense has come in the past 3 years if you are complaining about Vermalean

Not sure if you mean we've gone worse or better

Would any of you take Bastos? Haven't seen him for a while so no idea if he's any good still.

Watched him against PSG and he was poor, looks to have gone downhill since his debut season for Lyon. Tbf that was the only game I've watched him play this season, but he wouldn't improve on what we've got at all. Not sure if Lyon have been playing 3 at the back, but he was playing LWB.

Yea but I mean as a proper winger, guessing he's a poor LB.

arsenalap11 wrote:

Childish Logic wrote:

Need to buy very very well to beat Bayern. Bayern again have a good chance of going all the way.

Weighing it up, considering injuries and suspensions, I think we can hold our own in defence and midfield even without buying, it'll be in attack where we pale in comparison.

We need Vermaelen to pick up form and Koscielny and Diaby to get fit again. If they play van Buyten we should start Theo down the middle, if it's Martinez then Giroud.

But I really hope we buy a quality winger although it'll be hard to find one which can play in the CL, then we'll have a chance.

How on earth will Arteta manage to keep up with Kroos and Schweinsteiger while providing cover on the left to help deal with Robben? Not to be rude or anything, but you do not have the defensive qualities in that squad to manage to deal with the likes of them. Especially not with Robben cutting in, Gomez holding up one of your defenders and Schweinsteiger coming into the box from midfield. You need someone in the middle that can actually do the defensive job, Arteta although a fine player is not really cut out for that in my opinion.

Laurencio wrote:

arsenalap11 wrote:

Weighing it up, considering injuries and suspensions, I think we can hold our own in defence and midfield even without buying, it'll be in attack where we pale in comparison.

We need Vermaelen to pick up form and Koscielny and Diaby to get fit again. If they play van Buyten we should start Theo down the middle, if it's Martinez then Giroud.

But I really hope we buy a quality winger although it'll be hard to find one which can play in the CL, then we'll have a chance.

How on earth will Arteta manage to keep up with Kroos and Schweinsteiger while providing cover on the left to help deal with Robben? Not to be rude or anything, but you do not have the defensive qualities in that squad to manage to deal with the likes of them. Especially not with Robben cutting in, Gomez holding up one of your defenders and Schweinsteiger coming into the box from midfield. You need someone in the middle that can actually do the defensive job, Arteta although a fine player is not really cut out for that in my opinion.

To be fair I meant our defence compared with their defence and midfield compared to theirs rather than our defence coping with their attack.

Szczesny < Neuer
Sagna < Lahm (Both good mind)
Koscielny > van Buyten/Martinez if he plays CB
Vermaelen > Dante
Gibbs = Alaba (Gibbs has been quality)
Diaby/Arteta < Schweinsteiger
Wilshere = Kroos
Cazorla > Muller

But yea in terms of our defence coping with their attack we'll be in trouble, likewise if we sign a quality attacker hopefully we can cause them some problems.

Hopefully we'll have Koscielny and Diaby back, that should help a lot with coping with the movement of Robben/Ribery.

Vermaelen is not better than Dante.

Theo Filippo wrote:Vermaelen is not better than Dante.

As of right now, no, but hopefully by the time the game comes around he'll pick up form.

Even if he picks up form he's still inferior, Dante has played every Bundesliga game for Bayern this season and they have the best defensive record in Europe only conceding 7 goals it's clear that he's no mug.

Theo Filippo wrote:Even if he picks up form he's still inferior, Dante has played every Bundesliga game for Bayern this season and they have the best defensive record in Europe only conceding 7 goals it's clear that he's no mug.

Yea i've watched him a couple times this season, he isn't bad at all but i'd say there are more reasons why they've got a good defensive record then just him obviously.

They're keeping possession very well this season, better then we are which helps there defence quite a bit.

It's pointless comparing player by player. It doesn't matter who Arsenal have in defence, they'd still concede these silly goals. I remember hearing about a stat that Arsenal are one of the clubs with the highest number of individual mistakes leading to a goal in the league. And this has been the case for a long time now.

Yrael wrote:It's pointless comparing player by player. It doesn't matter who Arsenal have in defence, they'd still concede these silly goals. I remember hearing about a stat that Arsenal are one of the clubs with the highest number of individual mistakes leading to a goal in the league. And this has been the case for a long time now.

Yea it's pointless in a way, although it shows that we do have the quality to match them in some departments.

And yea fair enough but we have the 4th best defence in the league stat wise, 1 behind Chelsea and as you say a lot of them are due to silly individual mistakes. Ideally Koscielny will replace Vermaelen, but if he does replace Mertesacker then hopefully our offside trap will improve slightly as Mertesacker tends to fall back a few yards behind the rest of the defence.

Not only that but Szczesny has just come back to fitness, Sagna is also just getting back to full fitness as is Gibbs.

arsenalap11 wrote:

Laurencio wrote:



How on earth will Arteta manage to keep up with Kroos and Schweinsteiger while providing cover on the left to help deal with Robben? Not to be rude or anything, but you do not have the defensive qualities in that squad to manage to deal with the likes of them. Especially not with Robben cutting in, Gomez holding up one of your defenders and Schweinsteiger coming into the box from midfield. You need someone in the middle that can actually do the defensive job, Arteta although a fine player is not really cut out for that in my opinion.

To be fair I meant our defence compared with their defence and midfield compared to theirs rather than our defence coping with their attack.

Szczesny < Neuer
Sagna < Lahm (Both good mind)
Koscielny > van Buyten/Martinez if he plays CB
Vermaelen > Dante
Gibbs = Alaba (Gibbs has been quality)
Diaby/Arteta < Schweinsteiger
Wilshere = Kroos
Cazorla > Muller

But yea in terms of our defence coping with their attack we'll be in trouble, likewise if we sign a quality attacker hopefully we can cause them some problems.

Hopefully we'll have Koscielny and Diaby back, that should help a lot with coping with the movement of Robben/Ribery.

I don't think it's worth comparing the team, the team isn't shit it just doesn't play Wengerball and needs proper width. They're a consistent team but not like a great like Juventus, Barcelona or Madrid. Muller sort of epitomises that, a decent technical player but he plays like a machine. If wing play is stopped which it obviously won't be then they could be dealt with attacking wise

What I would say though is

Sagna = Lahm considering Lahm destroys Sagna in every attacking department but Sagna's like a 3rd CB
Dante > Vermaelen quite easily
Wilshere > Kroos
Schweisteiger isn't that special either

A prime Gerrard would have made a mockery of Schweinsteiger

Wilshere > Kroos

AndItsKoren! wrote:Wilshere > Kroos

Explain why not then you stupid cunt

Wilshere is Iniesta in disguise.

We're going to fucking destroy Wigan. Time to climb that fucking table.

Phadunkin Donuts wrote:We're going to fucking destroy Wigan. Time to climb that fucking table.

?!?

We always struggle vs Wigan. I'm sure we lost at home to them last year, wasn't that the game Filipo put money on Arsenal

and being 2-0 up and losing 3-2 with about 10 mins to go.

My first ever bet, put £30 on it.