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Interesting performance against Newcastle as Wenger rubbishes Mata and Jadson rumours

Written by Jeff Patterson on August 14, 2011 – 9:00

The Gunning Hawk - ForumSt. James Park

Interesting performance today, and right from the off, you can tell it’s the first match of the season. Newcastle looked to defend, Arsenal looked to … pass the ball around, and the match just sort of meandered from there.

Gervinho looks to be proving my earlier assessment correct. Yet another appearance where he has looked extremely dangerous the entire game, but wasteful with his end product.

This is just his style, and if you watched many of his matches last season at Lille, you can see the same thing there as well. Still, a player who can be dangerous for 90 minutes is something Arsenal desperately need right now. Inevitably, some of those chances will turn into goals and assists.

The rest of the attack looked rather lifeless for much of the match. Given that Jack Wilshere was the only regular from the preseason missing, it was frustrating to see Arsenal struggle so. Newcastle set out to defend before attack, but let’s be honest, Arsenal will almost always face that kind of a gameplan, so using it as an excuse is very concerning.

It’s also rather disappointing to hear that Wenger has no plans to pursue Juan Mata, at least this summer. Wenger also distanced himself from any rumors that Brazilian midfielder Jadson was lined up as a replacement.

Now, I don’t know if this just Arsene throwing everyone “off the scent,” but it doesn’t feel like the case. I grant you that Mata is just one player, and rubbishing one rumor does not mean that that no players will be bought.

The frustrating element is that Juan Mata is a proven talent, and a rather big name. Without over-hyping (too late), he could almost be categorized as a “perfect signing” for Wenger. He’s a quick winger, he can pass, move and score, he’s young, and in my opinion 20 million would not be an unreasonable fee to obtain his services.

He’s a player who would be entering his prime years, already has plenty of top club experience, as well as champions league.

So, with that said, Arsene said he plans to buy, and the Arsenal board HAS said that they plan to reinvest 100% of any funds generated through sales of Nasri and Fabregas. Keep in mind that doesn’t mean all the funds will be spent this summer, however, one does hope Arsene doesn’t linger too long.

So first match in the bag, and we take a point off a defensive-minded Newcastle. It’s hard to say it’s a point won, and not 2 points lost, but we shall see where things end up.

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  • tom titly says:
    August 14, 2011 at 9:26

    hahaha he wont even buy messi if he is on the market for 20 million…

    Reply to this comment »
    • Jim says:
      August 14, 2011 at 9:50

      Wrong, he will not let the opportunity slip. He will buy Messi for 20M and flog him immediately on the market to make a big profit. Wenger has won accolade for being the best business manager in the football world. He has been selling almost all kids from the Arsenal academy, 2M here and there every year. That’s why the board grants him a job for life.

      Reply to this comment »
      • serge says:
        August 14, 2011 at 13:57

        and he is doing a great job in selling his first team players isn’t he (sarcasm),

        Reply to this comment »
  • goonerdan says:
    August 14, 2011 at 9:35

    i think a very good positive we can take out of this game is that we defended well throughout, even with 10 men, and previously we’ve seen ourselves crumble in that stage. Hats off to Chesney, Koscielny, Vermaelen especially.

    Reply to this comment »
    • Thebigcheese says:
      August 14, 2011 at 11:31

      Thats becuase Newcastle offence is shite! Wait till we play a good attacking side.

      Reply to this comment »
    • tom titly says:
      August 14, 2011 at 12:36

      there is no doubt the trio would be world class some day.. but some day ..the sti lack experience (except varmalean) we desperately need a leader that would keep us motivated until the final whistle…..

      Reply to this comment »
    • Jorg says:
      August 14, 2011 at 15:22

      Absolutely agree. And they have done something about the set pieces. They are now going into a strict battle formation. Hate to talk about ‘ifs’ but with this defecne last season would have ended differently.

      Reply to this comment »
  • JOEL says:
    August 14, 2011 at 9:39

    Against a fairly toothless Newcastle side we looked comfortable defensively but poor going forward.Arsenal had little cutting edge and even less end product.A fairly limp continuation of the form displayed at the end of last season.Obviously Rosicky cannot fulfill Cesc’s role,Rambo still has much to learn and the the Manager’s blind faith in the abilities of a progressively arrogant Song is certainly misplaced.Surely,Scott Parker could fulfill this role in a far more capable fashion.There is no doubt that Song should have been red carded and seems more interested in his appearance than carrying out his defensive duties efficiently and properly.Even before his stamp on Barton he had carelessly tripped most of Newcastle’s midfield over-as his habit!-resulting in another needless early booking-as is his habit! I am convinced that part of Arsenal’s defensive problem over the past year,or so,has been amplified by their D-midfielders’ (Song,Denilson,Diaby) inability to protect the back line especially when the opposition “counter-attack)Unfortunately Mr Wenger “doesn’t see it”-In the same way as he doesn’t:-
    1)Pre-empt the departures of important team members by accepting that they are going to leave and looking for suitable replacements in time.
    2)Understand that Arsenal lack any form of leadership on the field and need experienced players to galvanise the younger members of the team.
    3)Need an EPL ready Centre back to play alongside Vermaelen rather than the mistake-prone Konscielny;the more mistake-prone Djourou;or the incompetent Scillacci!
    4)Have a back-up Centre Forward capable of scoring 10 plus goals a Season as back-up to or alongside RVP.
    If this side are either in the PL top 5 or still in the Champions League come the end of the Year,then I will be very surprised!

    Reply to this comment »
    • kelly says:
      August 14, 2011 at 9:56

      gervinho is just giving what you get 4 10m from a 23+ yr old player these days. wenger needs to get over it at this point in time a top forward/attacking midfielder goes 4 20m upwards n anything btn 15-20m is a bargain.so he can continue dithering hoping the days when vieira used to cost 5m n henry/bergkamp 4 10m will come back.
      fact is 10m will only get you gervinhos n chamacks n they continue to be inconsistent,wasteful n average.

      Reply to this comment »
      • Kiku Ssekatawa says:
        August 14, 2011 at 12:50

        If performance was related to money, Shevchenko, Veron, Wright-Phillips [at Chelsea], Berbatov, Torres [at Chelsea] Robbie Keane [at Liverpool], would have been the best players in the league. I think it is about making the best choice of players for your team that works, not the amount of money one is bought for.

        Reply to this comment »
      • rvpking says:
        August 14, 2011 at 15:01

        right !! , please explain to me how hernandez at man utd is 6 million , and looks absolutely class. If you believe a player can only be class if you spend 15 or 20 million plus you should support man city . plus gervinho has played his first proper game for us . bit early for judgement i think . Im sure he will be a class act. nasri was also under 15 mil and again brilliant

        Reply to this comment »
      • santori says:
        August 15, 2011 at 6:24

        Remember of course that it took one Dennis Bergkamp a good 12 games to break his duck when you write off Gervinho so quickly.;)

        Reply to this comment »
      • santori says:
        August 15, 2011 at 7:03

        Bergkamp whom you mentioned took a good 12 games before he broke his duck.;)

        Reply to this comment »
    • slugboy says:
      August 14, 2011 at 10:19

      You’re wrong about song. Arguably our best player. He cuts out so much midfield pkay by the opposition. He was silly to do what he did yesterday, but can you imagine being on the same pitch as barton? He has wound up a lot of players over the years (not to mention his team mates, managers, members of the public….the list goes on).

      Reply to this comment »
      • Kiku Ssekatawa says:
        August 14, 2011 at 12:38

        Absolutely right! Song was the reason Tiote’s presence was not as massive as it was in the 4-4 draw. He may have been a little careless in his challenges, but his defensive contribution in an Arsenal team is unrivalled. I actually rate him the best in that position in the league. Essien of three years ago would be better. Besides, no one in that position in the league does the job with better finesse than the Cameroonian!

        Reply to this comment »
        • santori says:
          August 15, 2011 at 6:26

          Actually we were dominant during the 4-4 draw right until the time Diaby lost it.

          Which goes to show but for the psychological issue, Diaby and company were doing just fine.

          It did not of course help that we were down to 10 and Djourou had come off with Squillaci in his place.:D

          Reply to this comment »
    • Kiku Ssekatawa says:
      August 14, 2011 at 11:38

      I’m surprised that you can call Koscielny mistake prone when he was our best center-back last season!! Apart form the hype of English players, I sincerely don’t think that any of the English central defenders who have linked with Arsenal is more talented than Koscielny, no chance! By the way, hoiw many errors did Laurent make to be branded so, or, can you remind me of any in yesterday’s game? Jack Wilshere earned great praise for his efforts against Barca last season and no one, not even you, say anything against Koscielny, who for me should have been MOM for pocketing Messi and Villa, prompting the Barca coach to substitute the Spaniard for Keita. Don’t you remember that?

      No player, not even the best in this world has not made a mistake in a football game, but that doesn’t take the class away from them, just because of a single mistake! I admit that his mix-up with Szczesny in the Carling Cup final dented our chances of winning something, but I’ve seen world class players make similar, or even worse mistakes. Have you not seen Cech, Van Der Saar, Ferdinand, Terry, Gary Neville, Maldini, Cannavaro, Casillas make serial mistakes? In preseason alone, the Vermaelen-Koscielny partnership has conceded ONLY one goal-that freakish OG by Jenkinson against Cologne. Do you want to say that if a player like Dann/Cahill came to Arsenal, he would just make his way into the starting XI by usurping the Frenchman? Make no mistake, because the Frenchman is definitely a better player!!!!

      Reply to this comment »
      • santori says:
        August 15, 2011 at 6:29

        Koscielny and Djourou in general are reasonably good. Paired next to Squillaci is when they look decidedly por and panicky. In fact you can pair TV next to Squillaci and he automatically becmes a much ‘poorer’ player.

        We need a solid senior Cback, one with both experience and talent. Alex at Chelsea is available for 7.5m quid (which is what Juventus is rumoured to be willing to pay)

        Reply to this comment »
  • Aussie Jack says:
    August 14, 2011 at 9:56

    I`ll just feel a sense of relief when I read on Arsenal.com that Fabregas is on a plane and Nasri is on a bus (or in his Massarati) travelling north.

    Reply to this comment »
  • Arsenal forever says:
    August 14, 2011 at 10:10

    The thing that he said about having a player since their were around 18 or 19 of age and expect their commitment when they are about 23-24 like fabregas, will not happen to arsenal if they never win anything.

    You can’t expect people to follow one person’s ambition, and forgone others. Wenger try to build a squad through a different direction by employing the youngsters. I used to think that this was a genius idea.

    but we all have to admit that it has not been working to our favour for the past few years. especially with the emerge of rich owner like mancity.

    wenger wants commitment from his youngsters, but for how long? they cannot wait that long, people have ambition and target too in their lives.

    I reckon if we have won premiere league title years ago, Thierry henry would not gone, now fabregas and nasri, and guess what, next year and the following year somebody else would go for the same old reason…. “they want to win something”… if players think they have better chance or winning something elswhere plus more salary, why not….

    You cannot say at every end of the season that we are so close, why don’t just win it instead. We are one of the best club in Europe, if not best midfield players in premier league, supposedly we have good CB and DM last season, we could have won something or may be 2 thropies…

    To me, wenger has change a lot since he take over arsenal, he become so proud of himself of being the best person who can run arsenal. I agree in the business side, but he forget one thing as a football manager, to win something!!!

    he is now become a very self centered arrogant bloke. he does not like to hear people saying.. “We’ve told you so..” any person can see what we are lacking in our team, that was before fab and nasri situation…..

    we can only hope for miracle to happen…that wenger want to listen to peoples’ opinions. for the best of our beloved ARSENAL FC…..

    Reply to this comment »
    • A.M says:
      August 14, 2011 at 14:28

      Totally agree mate. Very honest comment

      Reply to this comment »
  • SEEDICK says:
    August 14, 2011 at 10:25

    so we srarted badly n v soon wll b out of the champions league. this tuesday well see arsenal crumbling to pieces , since wll nt b playing the champions league, no great players wll b willing to join., the end of wnger is v nrear

    Reply to this comment »
    • frog says:
      August 14, 2011 at 20:56

      what? if you cant spell, the blog world isn’t for you.

      Reply to this comment »
      • Chris says:
        August 14, 2011 at 21:00

        Let us decide who is welcome and who is not on our blog.

        Thank you.

        Reply to this comment »
        • frog says:
          August 14, 2011 at 22:35

          chris, you guys run a great blog and we all know that. the thing is this, you moderate the ever loving h**l out of everything said and thats fine. i understand that and i appreciate it. the thing is, and i can only speak for myself and not any of the other regular here, i take way more offence to the terrible spelling and lack of any sort of decent grammar than I would any sort of “F-word or C-word”.

          As far as im concerned, there is nothing more irritating than reading a well thought out article published by TGH, scrolling down and reading numerous well thought out and articulated comments by contributing readers and then, BAM, all the greatness of TGH is destroyed by some poster who is to lazy to type the (d) or this (ds), or even make any sort of effort to put a proper sentence together. Not to mention the ones who cant even spell our players NAMES!!

          Now i know you will just say ” just skip those posts”, but you cant. it interrupts the entire flow of the page. I guess what im trying to say is this: I wish you guys at TGH would put the same effort into moderating these ridiculous, grammar offensive mindless posts as you do in moderating every time someone says “poo poo” or w#nk#r. i feel it would only make this a better site for every one (bar the illiterates).

          Reply to this comment »
          • Chris says:
            August 14, 2011 at 22:52

            The article is one thing, the opinion of those who post a comment in the comments section is another. I cannot remove specific posts just because the grammar is not of a certain quality and that’s because maybe the poster has a writing problem.

            After all, there is a place where what we’re discussing is not an issue and you know where it is :)

            Reply to this comment »
            • santori says:
              August 15, 2011 at 6:33

              Not quite sure why you’d think we started poorly.

              A draw against the Bar Codes with us down to 10 men is not bad considering :

              1) We were bereft of most of our senior set up in the middle
              2) The last time we were down to 10 against Newcastle, we shipped 4.

              Bearing that in mind, I thought we were at least conscientious at the back.

              Just lacked a bit of quality with our releases going forward, plus front men weren’t sharp.

              Reply to this comment »
  • Emmanuel Crixore says:
    August 14, 2011 at 10:29

    Come what may,Arsene wenger will always live to experience disgrace from all Arsenal fans if he insisted that he will never replace both cesc and nasri with a top quality mildfielders.this makes us realise that this so called Arsene is really suffering from psychological disorder because he has turned to be one of the useless and most disgraced coach in premiership,if he did not but at least 3players in this coming week then we fans will boo him and the players throughout this season because this is the highest point we will derive from tough and physical match like this…….shame on you wenger with your own self interest attitude.

    Reply to this comment »
    • goonerdan says:
      August 14, 2011 at 10:42

      shut the hell up, don’t put me in that circle of ‘we the fans will boo the players’ because I certainly won’t, I don’t see how that will help in anyone.. throughout the season you say, so if we beat the yids, you’re going to boo? Jog on you mug, be ashamed of yourself.

      Reply to this comment »
      • Thebigcheese says:
        August 14, 2011 at 11:41

        Goonerdan you aint got a scooby, Wenger has messed this team right up with shite management. The true loyal away fans who live and breath Arsenal football club were booing Wenger yesterday which tells me something is wrong. Stop deluding yourself mate

        Reply to this comment »
    • rvpking says:
      August 14, 2011 at 15:06

      ridiculous thing to say . You boo all on your own or with the other groups of miserable fans that try there best to bring the club down further with there lack of support. dont include me. i will cheer with the other SUPPORTERS

      Reply to this comment »
  • Victor oritseje says:
    August 14, 2011 at 10:50

    In one of wenger accessment as regard transfer fee, he said der ar 2 sets of players now, d ones dat ar goin 4 bt 1M-10M nd 20M nd above which means super quality players goes 4 20M nd above nd wenger don’t want to xceed 15M. This means wenger cannot buy a super quality dat he has promised d fans. P-L-E-A-S-E AFC board sack wenger b4 arsenal is relegated.

    Reply to this comment »
  • Reality Bytes says:
    August 14, 2011 at 11:16

    Arsene

    For the love of God please buy two players this week, three if you are really in a good frame of mind after acquiring the first.

    1. A CESC replacement. Suggest Sneider from Inter would be a solid candidate, World
    class, a proven winner, a great playmaker and goal scorer. He wants a move and his
    team needs money even after selling ETO this past week. Lots of experience which is
    just what our young team needs to help them grow and develop. Moreover he is a
    leader which again is precisely what our team needs. Yes he will cost money but he is
    worth the investment… Money, we have lots of after the Cesc and Samir sales and as
    you know players with the experience and skills that Cesc and Sneider have are few
    and far between. You will piss off ManU, which is always nice and, really delight your
    fans and players with the quality of this player signing.

    2. A World Class CB to give us strength and better depth at this position. Two options
    Vertongan ( the country partner of our own Verma) a versatile player who can play CB,
    Fullback and holding midfielder. Experienced, a proven performer and not to expensive
    ($ 10 – 12million).

    The other option and certainly the best World Class CB on the market is Mereseker, the
    6 ft 6 inch German all star. Lots of experience at both club and country levels, a proven
    performer. He wants to come and play for us which is a huge plus and again, a quality
    player like this would give both your critics and your team a huge boost of excitement
    and confidence. Do these moves quickly this week and it could spell the difference in
    the upcoming championship tie..

    If you have the money available, acquiring another proven striker to support RVP would be a fabulous idea but I dont want you to lose your focus on your key objectives, the CB and the replacement for CESC in the midfield. THIS WEEK PLEASE… Watch the positive impact it will make on your team and your fans Arsene…

    UP GUNNERS…….

    Reply to this comment »
    • santori says:
      August 15, 2011 at 6:38

      We don’t even need to spend that sort of money to make the current team more solid.

      1) Midfield. Montolivo. In can play deep lying playmaker and as DM. In last season with Fiorentina and refusing to sign an extension. Very negotiable price particularly if we throw Rosicky their way.

      2) CBack – Alex. Juventus are on the hunt for him and Chelsea are rumoured to be willing to let go for 7.5m quid. Plenty of winning experience, good at set pieces and a powerful shot which will come in handy for set pieces.

      Super quality really doesn’t have to mean ridiculous prices.

      Reply to this comment »
  • jeffreyMani says:
    August 14, 2011 at 12:08

    How many more years do we have to walk with our heads down??? All this guys around us are breaking banks! Are we he only ones who see the obvious problem with the team?? Is Wenger blind o somethin?

    Reply to this comment »
  • Kiku Ssekatawa says:
    August 14, 2011 at 12:30

    For me, Mata, good as he is, cannot be the ‘perfect signing’ for us, unfortunately! He’s a winger-a left winger, and Arsenal now has too many wingers. As long as Walcott is fit, he will play on the right and Gervinho/Arshavin on the left. Wenger has predicted Miyaichi to take the Premier League by storm and I don’t think he will do that by sitting on the bench. He could end up playing 20-25 games, or even more depending on performance. Who knew that Wilshere would play that much? Don’t forget there is even Chamberlain and Lansbury whom Wenger promised some playing time, so buying Mata would not be ideal, that’s why Wenger ruled out getting him. He had set his sights on him because he was not sure Miyaichi would get a work permit, and his confirmation as a player who eligible to play in England all but ended Mata’s proposed arrival.

    If you have noticed, in all pre-season games, Arsenal’s goals have come from the wings, apart from the game against Hangzhou.
    The midfield has been terribly short of creativity since last season when Cesc was injured.When Nasri was drafted into the middle to replace the injured Cesc, we only saw him score, and when didn’t, Arsenal didn’t, since he is not creative enough. From yesterday’s game, nothing came out of central midfield, leaving Van Persie isolated and frustrated. It is for this reason therefore that Wenger should go for a central midfielder/playmaker in the Cesc mould and not a winger.One of Jadson, Marvin Martin, Yoann Gourcuff, Ricardo Montolivo, Javi Martinez, Wesley Snijder, Ganso, Hernanes, Mourtinho would be a lot more sensible than a winger. Arsenal does not need the “can also play here/there” player, we need a player naturally made to play C/Midfield and that is definitely NOT him! Wenger is right, we don’t need Mata!

    Reply to this comment »
    • Jorg says:
      August 14, 2011 at 15:32

      That is correct, however any of those you have named will be difficult to get – not just a matter of money.

      Reply to this comment »
      • santori says:
        August 15, 2011 at 6:39

        Not Montolivo. He is in his last year on contract and does not want to sign an extension.

        The issue here would be our CL qualifier with Udinese. We need to have a convincing win. If we do, it will be far easier to get pen to paper.

        Reply to this comment »
  • janggun says:
    August 14, 2011 at 12:32

    slightly off topic what do you think about gibbs replacing clichy

    i thought that he had a good first match

    Reply to this comment »
    • Jorg says:
      August 14, 2011 at 15:35

      I thought he was focused and quick minded defensively, but going forward he does not always see the best postioned mate

      Reply to this comment »
      • santori says:
        August 15, 2011 at 6:41

        Good performance IMO. Of course bigger test await him shortly.

        But I’d be more worried at the moment with our Sagna back up than LB.

        Reply to this comment »
  • Gunner says:
    August 14, 2011 at 13:03

    Sneijder will never come to Arsenal because a) he’s too expensive and b) RVP and him hate eachother.
    Marvin Martin is my bet for the Cesc replacement, and I’d be very happy with that.
    Also I’m pretty sure Wenger is only looking for a back-up in central defence. He’ll stick with Koscielny-Vermaelen, and that’s fine with me. Scott Dann would be good enough as 3rd or 4th choice.
    Vertonghen and Mertesacker wouldn’t be any better than Koscielny, believe me.
    We also need a proper back-up for Song. Scott Parker would do me.

    Reply to this comment »
    • santori says:
      August 15, 2011 at 6:42

      Scott Dann is a poor choice when an Alex will cost about the same.

      Scott Parker isn’t any better than what we have even if he’d do you.:D

      Reply to this comment »
  • Jake says:
    August 14, 2011 at 13:24

    Good display by the defence. But we are to slow to get back when we loose the ball.
    The defence was left in 2v2 3v3 situations much to often at that will see us loose points in the long run..

    Btw
    Red card to Song
    Red to Barton
    Red to Gervinho

    BUT also penalty to arsenal because the ball was in play when Barton grabbed Gervinho. CLEAR PENALTY.
    You can`t tell me that manhandeling an apponent that is on the ground WHEN the ball is in play is allowed ?

    Reply to this comment »
  • hehe says:
    August 14, 2011 at 14:04

    Saying that this game was ‘interesting’ it seems that you have not watched the game. Newcastle has not even manage to shoot 1 shot at the goal, and it is not because of defence, but because Newcaslte are a relegation battle team! They have no attack at all!

    Getting a point against such a mediocre team is a disgrace. When Arsenal were really dangerous? If this is Arsenal team for this year without Cesc and Nasri, > 4th place is gauranteed, provided Liverpool have a good season!

    Now lets see a much better team will do next week!

    Reply to this comment »
    • santori says:
      August 15, 2011 at 6:44

      Relax, currently apart from United (who were as usual fortunate), neither liverpool nor Chelsea were any more convincing.

      Reply to this comment »
  • GoonerSat says:
    August 14, 2011 at 16:21

    Hello,

    Agree with the analysis, I was personally very happy with the game. Defensively we had Newcastle under complete control, plus I saw The goalie come out and clear the ball now that is a sight unseen in at least 10 months, I’ll call it confidence and believe me it will go a along way.

    Yes, then I’ll have a small go at the ref. He didn’t see the start of the incident.. its either red for both or yellow for both because whatever anyone says either action and reaction were unnecessary (he was “touched” before going down).

    Controlled the whole game, with no use as we didn’t have any from of “cutting edge”. This is where Cesc and Samir came in handy “flair”. On the plus we did good pre-season, attack-wise because we had Jack. Jack is the one that will rise up, if Samir and Cesc leave.

    Yes Newcastle is no Barcelona.. but I’m telling you all here the defense looked good.

    Transfers.. well don’t care about Mata or anyone else.. If we cash in 60+milllion on Cesc and Samir we spend it all on Sneider or someone of the sort. None of this small buy good buy “b*ll*cks”. Proven warrior the arm the canon. (probably won’t happen but should be done)

    Reply to this comment »
    • santori says:
      August 15, 2011 at 6:46

      It’s not the flair more than the ability to see passes and pick players out.

      Remember of course that we were also missing Jack.

      but Fab is fabulous at picking passes from deep.

      With the gamut of pacy options we have loaded ourselves up with, it seemed a step back to thread short passes through the middle thereby slowing the game down (with Rosicky) instead of releasing the wings quicker.

      The one good pass was from Arsharvin and interestingly from a central position which I have been arguing may suit him better because of his loss of pace out wide.

      Reply to this comment »
  • Tarik Hussein says:
    August 14, 2011 at 18:03

    At least one very encouraging point was THOMAS VERMAELEN, who was absolutely BRILLIANT. He and Djorou could make a great defence this year.

    Reply to this comment »
  • J says:
    August 14, 2011 at 18:39

    Its our first game of the season away from home with players who have come back from injuries, Rosicky and Schez our goalkepper were outstanding, so was the whole of our defence, much better on set pieces, we lacked a bit of pace and sharpness in our passes and shooting but its the first game of the season, we played well when we went down to 10 men and still drew and could have won the game, overall pretty happy, I gotta say that S Taylor for newcastle was superb yesterday I have always wanted wenger to buy him wonder what wenger thinks when he heard our chants of ’spend some “f***ing money”

    Reply to this comment »
  • Hunter says:
    August 14, 2011 at 19:14

    I’m very anxious to see what will be done to replace Cesc and Nasri. If the money isn’t spent to strengthen wi th top class players it’s surely time up for Arsene. If we have to replace him my vote is for Francesco Guidolin.

    Reply to this comment »
    • frog says:
      August 14, 2011 at 21:01

      guus hiddink

      Reply to this comment »
      • santori says:
        August 15, 2011 at 6:48

        No it needs to be someone who shares the same ehthos and can build upon what is already set up.

        Best bets for me would be Laurent Blanc or Deschamp but that would be several years down at least.

        Reply to this comment »
  • LFS GOONER says:
    August 15, 2011 at 0:55

    hahahaha. Wenger wont go away, the board will never sack him, even if he doesn’t buy replacements (and I think he won’t).

    Get real, the club (finances) are the best in the premier league, that’s their “trophies”.

    Hope they’ll care a little more on what we the fans want: finantial stability AND a couple trophies.

    Reply to this comment »
    • frog says:
      August 15, 2011 at 1:53

      im afraid youre right. all we can do is get behind the squad we have at this point.

      Reply to this comment »
  • jason says:
    August 15, 2011 at 3:17

    ahaha guys i like the positivity.

    But to be frank Newcastle didnt set out to attack that game and against better opposition things could of been much differenent.

    When you concede the most goals in the premier league by set pieces im very sorry but i cant rate the centre backs responsible.

    Not including Verm on this btw he was injured.

    Reply to this comment »
    • santori says:
      August 15, 2011 at 6:51

      Didn’t watch the game?

      We dealt reasonably well with set pieces (as we have done in pre-season)

      We lacked some quality in the middle and the front men were not switched on properly.

      Reply to this comment »
  • santori says:
    August 15, 2011 at 7:00

    Shame we let Fabregas go.

    I would have kept him for another season but I suppose Wenger has lost the morale ground with another trophiless year and Barca called his bluff by pressurising fab to absorb the extra 5m in loyalty bonus.

    Whilst I would argue that Gervinho (along with Chamberlain and Myaichi) have already replaced the outgoing Nasri, I do think we need someone who can bring more balance to our middle in lieu of Cesc.

    My pick would be Montolivo at Fiorentina, heir to Pirlo.

    He plays as a deep lying playmaker/DM which immediately covers both positions for us, plus may afford us the option of going 4-4-1-1 against teams sitting deep.

    He’s the right age @26, just entering his peak years and is a contract rebel which means there is room to negotiate, particularly as Fiorentina would be worried about depth issues and could yet find someone like Rosicky useful in the more pedestrian Calcio.

    A super signing may not have to be an expensive signing IMO..

    Reply to this comment »
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