With AW,nothing surprises me anymore

@Debosky

seriously, the only people I know that are interested and are as bothered enuff to read your unending epistolic debates with Duduspace is U AND DUDUSPACE himself !!!

I see nothing new in all u guys write, its simple . . . when u guys dont really have anything new to say, just resist spewing all that grammar, lest we try to read, deluding ourselves thinking we might get something unique from all the known shenanigans of the past . . . .

I would rather discuss the lifestyles of our players than discuss a dead and buried issue of why AW didnt buy a GK when it was obvious we had the resources to do so and more annoyingly, we have our 3rd and 4th GKs waiting to be unearthed as the new face of goal-tendering worldwide  

NEITHER WILL I BE CAUGHT DEAD CONTINUALLY DISCUSSING WHY FOR 13 GAMES WE HAVENT BEEN ABLE TO STOP DD . . .ITS A FAT SHAME !!! 

Abeg make I digress . . .

oko omoge, with the coming back of Bendtner, how do u see our frontline looking like, considering that AW has been reading NL of late and has decided to harken to the pleas of Duduspace, Proudly9naija t_{his guy posts almost like me} and myself  by bringing on JET . . .

Lol no be sere sere for here ooh. See presidential debate
Dudu the koko is our defense has worsened lately and please stop blaming it on our financial struggles we aint buying that ish! Our problem stems from our players not realizing their positional constraints! All our players think they can score and when they are not doing that they are busy keeping high-lines that they lack the pace or intelligence to cover in the event of a counter
We have leaked 9 goals in 7 games now and are well on course to crack 35 which is simply not good enough for a club of Arsenal's stance. While the midfielders share some of the blame its still down to our defence to keep things tight and not over-elaborate! What can a midfielder do when Fabianski bundles the ball into his own net? When Gibbs slips and falls when he is supposed to make a crucial interception. We make too many unforced errors half the time

As for JET I go like see am more often I really would like to see if he can live up to the hype cos I haven't seen much of him
Maybe he should be paired with Vela in the CC

Dr Kitaun:

@Debosky

seriously, the only people I know that are interested and are as bothered enuff to read your ending epistolic debates with Duduspace is U AND DUDUSPACE himself !!!

I know. . . .that is why I've vowed to stop writing them, before dudu came with his stories and made me go back to my sins.

Abeg make I digress . . .

oko omoge, with the coming back of Bendtner, how do u see our frontline looking like, considering that AW has been reading NL of late and has decided to harken to the pleas of Duduspace, Proudly9naija t_{his guy posts almost like me} and myself  by bringing on JET . . .

Bendtner? At least we'll have a quality option to bring on from the bench. . . . instead of bringing on Vela who only knows how to score 'champagne' goals (i.e when we've already won games). I just hope AW won't start playing him wide again, it didn't work last season and won't work now.

I personally think it was unfair throwing JET on in that fashion against Chelski, he should've been brought on in other games to build up confidence, not into the cauldron of SB when we were losing. Regardless I'm sure he learnt a few things, such as not being to eager. . . .if he kept the ball closer in one or two moves, he might've had a goalscoring opportunity against the Chavs.

Chamhakh looks like he's never gonna score except its a headed goal.

Wats wrong with the boy? He used to have some silky skills and dynamism when he first started his career although he never scored enough. His style of play was similar to Torres who also didn't score enough at Atletico. They must have been rated equally at the start of their careers but check the difference now.

Bendtner would score double the amoubt Chamhakh scores if given same playing time.

debosky:

I personally think it was unfair throwing JET on in that fashion against Chelski, he should've been brought on in other games to build up confidence, not into the cauldron of SB when we were losing. Regardless I'm sure he learnt a few things, such as not being to eager. . . .if he kept the ball closer in one or two moves, he might've had a goalscoring opportunity against the Chavs.

To be candid, I thought AW just looked at the bench and decided to hurl him on to pose aerial threats in the box.
I was surprised to see him come on though, but AW wanted the ball bombarded in the box  because up until then, we were no match for them on the ground.

Only Wenger would play a 6'4 target man who would obviously not have pace on the flanks who else is capable of such genius?
If Yao Ming played footie Wenger could play him on the flanks too if push came to shove. It would be interesting to see how we alternate between Chiamaka and Bendtner though
As for Vela that nucca is just too playful he really needs a kick up the posterior! He has the skills all he needs is the hunger of say a Tevez

Ibime:

Chamhakh looks like he's never gonna score except its a headed goal.

Wats wrong with the boy? He used to have some silky skills and dynamism when he first started his career although he never scored enough. His style of play was similar to Torres who also didn't score enough at Atletico. They must have been rated equally at the start of their careers but check the difference now.

Bendtner would score double the amoubt Chamhakh scores if given same playing time.

@Ibime
Easy on the dude.
He has 4 goals so far and has won countless penalties!
Henry(Highest scorer at Arsenal did not score until the 13th/14th match).
BTW, the only goal Chamakh has scored so far this season with his foot was voted Arsenal goal of the month in September by Arsenal fans on the website!
The work rate is phenomenal for a striker and brings other midfielders into play.
If only Clichy and Sagna could deliver good crosses down the flanks

I saw this somewhere

Ibime:

Chamhakh looks like he's never gonna score except its a headed goal.

Wats wrong with the boy? He used to have some silky skills and dynamism when he first started his career although he never scored enough. His style of play was similar to Torres who also didn't score enough at Atletico. They must have been rated equally at the start of their careers but check the difference now.

Bendtner would score double the amoubt Chamhakh scores if given same playing time.

Chamakh will start scoring with his feet soon enough. . . .when he and Fab4 get their communications on point, you'll see the results. The goal against Braga is an indication of what he can do, and we'll see more in good time.

Right now, he's using his 'basic' strengths and hasn't developed an understanding with the team yet; like HNIC said, our crossers haven't been good enough to utilise his height the best.

Bendtner lacks some pace and tends to make atrocious misses with alarming regularity. He needs to mature a bit further and I see both Bendtner and Chamakh as the 'future' of the CF position at Arsenal, knowing RVP will never be fit enough to play a full season.

To be fair bendtner was started on the right following the same pattern igwe's development. Since he moved cetral he hasn't been put back there.
I'm waiting to see what we look like having most (ok saying evryone is a bit eerm faithing it) players fit.

Chamakh, Bendtner, Nasri, Wankott, Sagna, Clichy,


Are these the guys that would win trophies for GAYYners? When you are serious about winning, let us know

Fc Drogba

Dayo google Mario Gomez and see what comes up rotlfmao. That's the Name of the oldest of the 33 trapped Chilean miners. Your striker should be working underground in South America not running on grass fields in Europe.

Who else think that a good left footed midfielder will be good to the team?

If dayokanu didn't write on Arsenal thread in a day, only GOD knows what will happen to him

debosky:

You have now modified your argument. . . . .you are a true son of your father Wenger.

We're talking defensive discipline - Villa's defence costs LESS and defends better than ours - that is the simple fact and is a disgrace for Wenger, after he singlehandedly signed every single player in the squad.

I will accept this view when you put Villa's defensive performance next to Arsenal's for that same 5 year period yu've shown me and try convincing me that Villa's defence is better, is it not the same Villa that leaked 6 goals against Newcastle we're talking about?

debosky:

The defence has gone downhill. . . . .unless Wengernomics has now usurped simple arithmetic, 31 goals conceded is WORSE than 26 conceded in 2004, and is not good enough to win the league in any year since 2002.

And which 2 clubs have been winning this league you talk about with less than 30 goals? anyone outside of Manure and Chelsea? this is the part you fail to see, they win the league because of the overall quality of their squad which they have S-P-E-N-T to build.

debosky:

Ol boy, stop trying to nit pick. . . .I never said 'year on year', that is your attempt to split hairs. . . .looking at the TREND, we are getting worse. SIMPLE. Oh I see you've admitted that.

I don't accept your point about a TREND, there is a difference between a trend and a state of things at a point in time, on last season's result the defence has been poor, but it is wrong to attach it to a 5 year mantra. Within that 5 years there has been a wide variation of defensive performances.

debosky:

What a round about way to admit that the defence is poorer. So your 'point' is that it's not been going down year after year, something no one contested in the first place. . . .dunno when you started arguing with yourself.

For clarity sake, this was the statement I disputed

[Quote]The CL campaign was an exception, [b]the overall trend [/b]is downwards and worsening.[/quote]

How that equates to an argument that the defence as it is now is better than that of the invincibles could only have come from your imagination or a stubborn refusal to reflect on what you read because I know as a fact that you don't lack the ability to.

debosky:

So all the years where the CHAMPIONS have conceded less than 30 goals 04/05, 05/06, 07/08, 08/09. . . .are all those 'one-offs' too? Or is Arsenal competing with itself alone for the league? The best defence wins the league, we don't have it = we have gotten worse. SIMPLE.

Can you tell me which teams have won the league in those years again? FYI only two teams, you will make a lot of sense when one of the Villas of this world who you claim are better than us win it. Those clubs have S-P-E-N-T and do not owe their winning to the defence alone.

debosky:

Stop going round in circles - about 5 posts ago, I demonstrated that Cech, Evra, Vidic, Alex and so on were NOT expensive buys. Arsenal could EASILY afford to buy those, but Wenger instead refuses to spend. If you have money and refuse to spend, whose fault is that?

As individual buys, they might not be, but their success comes from the overall strength of the clubs in which they play, case in point, Gallas won trophies with Chelsea but was part of a defence that conceeded a lot of goals at Arsenal because the overall strength of the squad is not as good and that boils down to how much was spent in getting other quality players. Another case in question, Vidic was in a defence regularly leaking goals when paired with Evans but Rio returns and now they are looking like they can't be scored against.

And I don't agree with that your EASILY statement that you make so lightly, at the time most of those players you mention were bought, Arsenal was agressively paying down their loan while selling off the remnants of the invincibles both to keep the wage bill in check as well as to make money from tranfers to keep the club above debt waters.

debosky:

Wenger has FAILED to coach a good defensive side in 5 years. . . arguably even longer (when he bought ready made defenders). Instead of doing what he did then (buying ready made defenders) he refuses and the team stagnates.

If you have anything to counter the latter statement, post it succinctly, I tire rapidly for these epistles

I don't need to, the statement in itself is backed up only with an accumulation of distorted statistics lumped together with unrelated facts which when examined closely have no modicum of matter as to form even the simplest of basis for such an outlandish conclusion.

A trend is what is you get when you attempt to fit a line to a data set. . . try plotting the arsenal goals conceded on a graph and add a trend line and see what it gives you. That is something that can't be argued about - the facts speak for themselves.

It doesn't take a genius to realise overall strength is what matters. . . . .this has been my repeated point for ages - Wenger's refusal to replace the GK with quality results in an abysmal drop in our overall strength defensively. But again, you reject that claiming we can't afford a GK or have higher priorities.

According to Dudu, Arsenal's defence is good enough, and any flaws are because we can't afford to buy better players. The sides who finish below us (with lower wage bills) but have better defensive records need to win the league before we recognise they are better defensively and could teach Wenger a thing or two about defending. The obvious flaws in Wenger's coaching ability vis a vis a number of other coaches in the league with far less resources don't exist to Dudu, because the only ones to win the league have spent more money. I agree 100%.

The only skewed result in the trend is 03/04. The trend hasn't changed since 2001 except for that blip.

You can blame it on Arsenals extra concentration to go unbeaten in 03/04, and you can also blame the fear factor of other teams in that season.

Ibime:

The only skewed result in the trend is 03/04. The trend hasn't changed since 2001 except for that blip.

You can blame it on Arsenals extra concentration to go unbeaten in 03/04, and you can also blame the fear factor of other teams in that season.

Tankyu oga mathematician. . . . .but then again, Dudu doesn't believe that we have stagnated/worsened defensively while others have improved.

Forgive me he does. . . .according to him that improvement is ONLY because others have S-P-E-N-T more than Arsenal and not because of Wenger's ubiquitous defensive failings.

debosky:

Tankyu oga mathematician. . . . .but then again, Dudu doesn't believe that we have stagnated/worsened defensively while others have improved.

Forgive me he does. . . .according to him that improvement is ONLY because others have S-P-E-N-T more than Arsenal and not because of Wenger's ubiquitous defensive failings.

I don't see how you assume Ibime's statements backs up your assumption, from his statement one can only infer  that 2003/204 was a one off and I've stated that much. In the past season, our defense was piss poor, if it turns out that way again this season, I'll agree with you that we are on a downward trend. anyway have you read this?

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=831079&sec=england&cc=5739

Remember what I said about sugar daddies? they are now an endangered species according to Liverpool's board

@Duduspace

why do you like using other clubs' misery to ratify ur stand ?

u should be using successes of bigger clubs, not hoping they will stutter, its never gonna get u far, u know ?

If Liverpool were to get relegated today, it still will not justify our own failings, we are in the EPL to be the best not do some freaking H2H with select clubs

I read somewhere A40 wrote MIKEL BOSSED SONG IN MF . . .na the same match we watch so ? abi no be Mikel dem subtitute for that match ?

Arsenal cant afford to sub Song except he is on a yellow, but Chelsea can afford not to list Mikel at all

Dr Kitaun:


I read somewhere A40 wrote MIKEL BOSSED SONG IN MF . . .na the same match we watch so ? abi no be Mikel dem subtitute for that match ?

Arsenal cant afford to sub Song except he is on a yellow, but Chelsea can afford not to list Mikel at all

Hahahaha no need to argue just ask around! I am not even a Mikel fan but he sonned Song in that match mehn. There is no one that paid attention to that match that woulda argued differently

As at when Mikel was subbed. Chelsea where 2 goals to the good! no?

Chelsea can afford to not list Mikel?? Since Carlo came on board can you remember the last time a fit Mikel did not start? He has become more or less indispensable in that team

Mikel came off injured in that game.

duduspace:

I don't see how you assume Ibime's statements backs up your assumption, from his statement one can only infer  that 2003/204 was a one off and I've stated that much. In the past season, our defense was piss poor, if it turns out that way again this season, I'll agree with you that we are on a downward trend.

You've proved how much of a joker you are. . . 5 SEASONS don't show a trend, but 6 magically will?  Besides, what assumptions did I make? Did I invent the goals conceded never being below 31 since 04? Did I invent the fact that Utd, Chelski and Villa performed better defensively than us last season? 

Give it up Dudu, you have no case - the trend is DOWNWARDS, with an increasing  average no of goals conceded per season. You can plot it on Excel and add a trend line - figures don't lie.

Dr Kitaun:

If Liverpool were to get relegated today, it still will not justify our own failings, we are in the EPL to be the best not do some freaking H2H with select clubs 

No way. . . .Dudu feels we should simply make profit and hope we can drag everyone down to our level, who cares about being the best in the EPL as long as you can make excuses for it? 

Arsenal isa team in transition, when the job is finished we will become the toast of EPL. If you cast your mind back to about 8 years ago the mighty Barca was even struggling to qualify for Champions league. We will get there

But to get there we need at least a decent goalie because I believe we have the worst goalie out of the top 5 teams in the EPL. Some times I think Almunia is an impostor. Maybe his fulltime job is a window fitter or something that has no correlation with football because of his school boy error.

Dr Kitaun:

@Duduspace

why do you like using other clubs' misery to ratify your stand ?

u should be using successes of bigger clubs, not hoping they will stutter, its never gonna get u far, u know ?

If Liverpool were to get relegated today, it still will not justify our own failings, we are in the EPL to be the best not do some freaking H2H with select clubs

Thanks for asking Doki, I hold this opinion because I believe its all about cause and effect, I have always stated that I don't envy Chelsea and Manure's trophies, not because I don't like trophies but because I feel the cost of this trophy laden peroid is too high, I might have held a different opinion if for example it was Arsenal which was purchased by Abramovic with access to such free funds(though I doubt it very much).

Arsenal have had to compete unfairly in terms of spending so allow me to rejoice when the people who didn't follow our route fall in to misfortune(after all they are the same set of people who have made fun of us for being Ijebus in the past and will continue to do so until we win something).

Like you rightly point out, Liverpool getting relegated will not justify our failings but it is a clear indication that there is a lot we are doing right which is being taken for granted. I see more people jumping on the bandwagon of unsustainable spending than pointing out the pitfalls of such financial irresponsibility so when they make examples of our failures for not spending, it is only right that someone points out the failures of such a system, it is the same reason why I will point out Manure's losses when they point out our 5 years without trophies, a lot of our fans are unhappy with our lack of silverware but a lot of their fans are also unhappy with their financial state.

I ratify our stand only on one basis, which is that it is a sustainable way of achieving success. I strongly believe Arsenal would have won something without the heavy financial spending of Manure and Chelsea (surely you can't stay that long so close to success yet fail only at the last hurdle as we do), I even agree to some extent that we probably could have won something if we'd gone all out to win something at all costs despite their spending within that period but I'm not so sure it would have been the best option for our long term future.

I choose not to believe (like some people I know) that:

1. The board is not interested in winning trophies (when even a primary school pupil knows there is no better way to improve your brand than to win).

2. That Arsene is a masochist who only wants to set himself up to fail at the last hurdle every season, while gloating over how much money he has left like Mallam Audu when he knows fully well the money is not his to spend.

3. That people who have a recent proud heritage of winning have suddenly decided that being in the top 4 is a trophy in itself without a careful evaluation of the situation in which they now find themselves.

I choose rather to believe that when you see royalty putting on sackclothes, you should know that things are not right in the kingdom.

Dayo google Mario Gomez and see what comes up rotlfmao. That's the Name of the oldest of the 33 trapped Chilean miners. Your striker should be working underground in South America not running on grass fields in Europe.

I think in simple terms, if Arsenal had Terry, Vidic, Cole and Bosingwa, we will still concede loads of goals. Defensively, we are poor not due to lack of quality players but whoever is handling that aspect of our team is deficient.Simple.

^ in other words, Monsieur Wenger is at fault

In other words Assanal is genetically useless and doomed
No wonder the fans commit suicide in droves
A combination of hopeless fans, brainless manager, useless management can only give rise to a TROPhYLESS club

debosky:

You've proved how much of a joker you are. . . 5 SEASONS don't show a trend, but 6 magically will?  Besides, what assumptions did I make? Did I invent the goals conceded never being below 31 since 04? Did I invent the fact that Utd, Chelski and Villa performed better defensively than us last season? 

The five seasons data you have put up there do not show any trend, I accept last season was bad and this season has bee effy so far and if that continues will show a trend (at least for these past 2 years). To lump all that together as 5 years is what I question. The data yu've supplied don't indicate any trend cest finis?

debosky:

Give it up Dudu, you have no case - the trend is DOWNWARDS, with an increasing  average no of goals conceded per season. You can plot it on Excel and add a trend line - figures don't lie.

Don't try any data magomago there, if the performance of 2004 was better than last seasons, whatever line you plot to link the 2 will be downwards, only thing is it hasn't been consistently downwards but has a lot of zig zags along the way so cannot be said to show a trend. I've also pointed out to you that 2004 was unique, in the 2 seasons before that the least variance of our goals conceeded to 2004's result is a massive +10 so how our 2004 result can be taken as an average level of performance from which a downward sloping trend has begun beats me. Try that with the Iya Oloja's Debo.

debosky:

No way. . . .Dudu feels we should simply make profit and hope we can drag everyone down to our level, who cares about being the best in the EPL as long as you can make excuses for it? 

Not at all, I think we should run the club sustainably and then watch as those who don't drop like flies (e.g Liverpool) or modify their modus operandi (e.g Chelsea). And there is no level we're dragging anyone to as a lot of clubs would aspire to be in our shoes, even with all the grumbling and complaints (which are at times justified) we've been consistently top 8 in europe and that is no mean feat. We're trailblazers Debo about how to run a club sustainably and still be successful (though that is yet to come fully), even Europe realizes our way is the best so they came up with the Financial Fair play rules.