^^

Correct. I can also say Arteta was the closest to a replacement for Fabregas that was readily available for Wenger's budget at the time

ritchboy: Most of those deals woulda been done anyways. Traore left the day after the United game = Santos, obviously even Arsene isn't dumb enough to have one left back(Gibbs) in his squad. Park came cos Bendtner went to Wearside. Mertersacker came after the Cahill deal fell through which had already been on the cards for ages. Arteta I'm not so sure about.

I mostly agree - Wenger was always going to buy a LB and he'd been watching Per for ages.Arteta wasn't a panic buy in my view, it was a case of Arsenal negotiating very hard knowing his injury history and age.

Park was definitely a panic buy though, snatched midway through a Lille medical smacks of desperation, though I think he was looking for a striker replacement for Bendtner. Benayoun was also a panic loan considering how he came in.

As for Arteta being Cesc's replacement, I don't think he was ever considered as such by Arsene - if anything, Ramsey/Jack were supposed to replace Cesc with Arteta coming in to help either of the two play a more forward position.

Taking all that into consideration, the players with the biggest impact so far have been people we already had in the club - from an attacking perspective Song, Walcott and RVP, and defensively Sagna, Vermaelen, Koscielny and Sczeszny.

This isn't underplaying the role of the new buys (Arteta in particular), but instructively the 7 game winning run came about with only Arteta playing regularly out of the trio.

We could also infer that Alex's arrival made Theo realise he needed more than just speed to keep his place in the side.

Post Hoc ergo propter hoc. . . . .before it, therefore because of it.

Richie, considering Theo has so far been less productive this season than he was the last (that's saying something tho, seeing how well he's playing now), how exactly has Ox coming made him realise anything? ;

Theo Walcott was always going to getting better.

Erm Slim, ur kweshun should be directed at Debo. I'd like to give you the benefit of the doubt and blame it on the new interface but i still have to ask: did you do a Pele and mix up ur morning/evening pills?

Hahaha just saw dat. Noh velx Blaady phacking interface. . . . .blue pill is morning and pink for night right?. . .oh wait, I think Pink is twice mornin. .oh phack it

[img]http://yfrog.com/kk5rahaj:iphone[/img]

God is good

is it like everyone has deserted NLAND for a new place?

is there a new forum somewhere u guys hang out?

NL2 just seems to be non-productive!

mukina2: [img]http://yfrog.com/kk5rahaj:iphone[/img]

God is good

Modern medicine is Good.

We got another test today and this class is still empty... Where is class captain Debo?

Now that Ramshit is in the starting line-up

Ramsey has no business on this pitch.

The tactics in this first half are clearly wrong. wenger do something, we shouldnt be struggling with this team.

honourable mention to vermaelen for being made to look like a mug. As in that dribble? Is this Boolu we are playing? Smh

Whenever wenger bleeps up its always in HD technicolor.

What type of fuckery is this?

I knew arsenal will lose the moment i ramsey on the team sheet, seems wenger sees smtin in that boy that we dont...

hickory dickory fuckery!

just saw d highlights of d arsenal game.....vermaelen was directly at fault for both goals why r pple picking on poor aaron 'kiss of death' ramsey?

afrodoc: just saw d highlights of d arsenal game.....vermaelen was directly at fault for both goals why r pple picking on poor aaron 'kiss of death' ramsey?

He's bad luck

we were piss poor today...but that shouldn't get us down.REMEMBER.....YESTERDAY.TODAY.AND INFINITELY INTO THE FUTURE, TOTOHAM REMAINS A PIECE OF SHI,T CLUB!....amen

Back to earth.

The boys are allowed to have one poor game in 8...just sad that we've had so many poor games this season already.

Anyways, TV5 had a poor game. RVP also had a poor game.
I don't think we should have started Walcott or at least he should have been taken out after the first half. Taiye Taiwo would have been ripped apart by a fast winger who knows what to do with the ball at his feet. Sadly TW isn't that winger, at least not yet.

Next week we play City. Sunderland scored three goals against them today. I believe we can do same. Question is, how many will we concede?

Lets ask ourselves why Wenger changed the starting line-up that has given him 7 straight wins. The sane thing to do is let that team continue but he had to bring in his son Ramshit to spoil everything. Vermalen had a poor game but I still like his attitude and how he nullified Zamora who tried to intimidate him with his size. We could have won the game if we continued with the squad we have been using of late

I have talked about Arsene's stubborness many times on this thread and I must say even though its annoying, as Arsenal fans, we should get used to it. Every season, he seems to conjure up a player he'l torment us with and it seems its Ramsey this season. No worries.

I have nothing against Ramsey. I believe he'l turn out well (if the guys coming up don't overtake him). But at the moment, he gives away simple passes which can be really annoying, every game he plays reminds me of a certain Denilson. He wasn't at fault for any of the goals today though. Good thing is, at least its not a case of either him or Rosicky in the first 11. That would have been worse.

Chelsea and ManCity are the only 'big' teams left for us to meet before season ends so no need to panic. Plus me I feel we needed something to bring us back to earth after all the comments Ive been reading from players and coach alike in past 1 week. Only that I obviously would have prefered a draw

We could have won yesterday's game if we had an attack. RvP only had a chance at goal and we never attacked well in
all 90mins

Im sure we've learnt from yesterday's errors. We've got to move on

Meanwhile, Goal.com almost made fall off my chair laughing when I read JT has been made England's player manager for Euro 2012. Then I remembered today's the first of April

Watched the game in fits and starts y'day, not good enough as a whole.

I'm disappointed to read the same jaundiced anti-Ramsey posts here. Was Ramsey at fault for Vermaelen's multiple brain farts that cost us both goals and should've resulted in him being sent off?

People still dissing Theo despite him scoring - just what must he do before you respect his contribution? Ox came on - did he deliver anything against Taiwo?

Shocking analysis really - a player has the intelligence to move inside and score when not getting results from a defender and the comment is that he shouldn't have been started.

Seems nothing has changed - still jaundiced analysis not based on fact.

As for comments on Wenger 'changing' the starting 11 - did Ramsey not start against Everton where we won 1-0 - the last away game we won?

Bottom line - if RVP scored his great chance we'd have won this game. If Vermaelen didn't play like he forgot the rudiments of defending we'd have won as well. Two of our biggest players had off days and we lost - nothing to do with Ramsey, or Walcott - the only forward player to deliver end product.

In the cold light of day, 7 wins out of 8 is still a good run - let this be a reality check so we get our acts together for the remaining games.

RvP will not score at any chance he gets meanwhile his shot at that one-to-one situation yesterday was good but the goalie parried away.
Is it not unusual that our main targetman had only one clear attempt at goal all game long when we are supposed to have an attacking midfield?
Vermalen had a stinker yesterday but I can't say same of RvP who simply didn't get enough of the ball. I reiterate that Wenger shouldn't have started Ramshit who has only played a negligible role in our run of wins. Ramshit is not an inspiring player and we should avoid starting him especially when Tottenham and Chelsea are breathing on our neck for ECL spots.
We are back on the square with the cocks on the league table while we face Shitty in our next game.

debosky helep me ask them o! vermaelen personally converted a 1-0 win to a 2-1 loss for u guys.mind u i am no admirer of ramsey,d guy is a mid level club player.he is not d guy for arsenal

@Debosky

u talk too much crap for your own good . . .

when a player comes into a team and that team loses his winning streak, should that player not be labelled a 'JONAH'?

Use ur brain u aging agbaya, that Ramshit guy offers absolutely NOTHING to Arsenal team defensive-wise nor offensive-wise . . .plus we have people trying to recuperate e.g Muamba and Petrov, dude knows we need them alive hence he aint gonna score no goal, then why play the idiota? the only thing he does just like Denilson is score the odd goal that will all salivate about only to hear some superduper celebrity dies the next day . . . .na that one we go chop?

@Debo . .the truth is that in ur heart of hearts, u know that guy is piss-poor but u are hoping for bragging rights he comes good so you can come here to say afterall ''YOU SAID IT THAT THE GUY MUST HAVE HAD STUFF IN HIM FOR AW TO HAVE KEPT USING HIM'' . . .Wenger better be giving him playing time so he can get a good figure for him in that transfer market. . . .WE SHOULDNT BE EXPECTING TO HAVE THE LIKES OF RAMSHIT RUN OUR MIDFIELD NEXT SEASON AND EXPECT TO GET OUT OF THE DOLDRUMS . . . .

I still can't believe we lost to QPR after 7 consecutive wins. Its nothing short of a disgrace.

@ Debo, honestly i don't know why you think everyone is going at Ramsey, but truth be told, why did aw have to start him in this game?
This was the same mistake that caused us that horrendous loss to milan in the san siro. No doubt, vermaleen was at fault for both goals but look at the overall play of the team and especially Ramsey who was supposedly put out there to play wide and help the full back..what did he do? He kept drifting inside and it was like we had nothing on the left side. Apart from giving away silly balls in the middle of the park(song too was guilty of that), the young man needs to move the ball quicker,he is way to slow in moving the ball and occasionally his first touch lets him down especially in critical positions(our defensive third)

C,mon men, no one is saying he wont improve but consistency is key to any improvement in ones game and at the moment ramsey is simply not that. and why was arsene going defensive with that kind of line up? For me, i kinda wonder even if AW is truly confident in this team. Why not benayoun or gerv then ramsey comes in?

One more mistake in the line up and even fourth place may be looking out of reach. Above all the team was below par but shouldn't Aw have stuck with the line up that has gathered max points in seven games?

I mean its good to freshen up thing but was there any real injury worry to that particular starting eleven..this is just pure stubbornness and an insistence on using ramsey.

The young man would still have his day, but right now we cant afford to take chances..its just seven games or so left to go.

I'm still waiting to hear what Ramsey did wrong in this game - did any of the goals come about as a result of his mistake? No

The so called better players - when they came on, did they create chances that would've won us the game? No

Please get one thing straight - I'm not saying Ramsey should have started, but no one here has given any concrete reason why he should NOT have started or any specific mistakes he made, or the good moves his replacement made. All I've heard is imaginary stories about Ramsey being 'bad luck'. The same Ramsey that wasn't bad luck against Everton. The same Ramsey that came on and helped us win against Sunderland.

Director of Defence - I hear you about protecting the LB, but which goal came as a result of not protecting the LB? The first came from midfielders and Vermaelen asleep plus Gibbs playing Taraabt onside. Second came from Gibbs pushing up to close down play and Vermaelen making a mistake. Which mistake came from Ramsey?

Instead of blaming Song, Arteta or Rozzi for being AWOL and allowing Diakite to stroll into the box to score, y'all are blaming Ramsey.

The mistakes we made include letting Song's through passes get into his head - he should've been marking Diakite not letting him stroll into the box unchallenged, he should've closed down better to prevent the ball even getting to Taraabt for the first goal.

I'm still waiting to hear the mistakes Ramsey made on Saturday, or the wonders that Gervinho and Ox made when they came on.

hannie: @Debosky

u talk too much crap for your own good . . .

when a player comes into a team and that team loses his winning streak, should that player not be labelled a 'JONAH'?

Ramsey was in the team that won against Everton - why wasn't he a 'Jonah' then? Ramsey provided the touch on Theo's cross that allowed Vermaelen to tap in for our win over Newcastle, why wasn't he a Jonah then? Ramsey scored the first goal in our 2-1 comeback against Sunderland (2nd game in the 7 game stretch) why wasn't he a Jonah then?

Use ur brain u aging agbaya, that Ramshit guy offers absolutely NOTHING to Arsenal team defensive-wise nor offensive-wise

Rubbish - Ramsey offers a lot offensively and in possession, as measured in goals and assists.

@Debo . .the truth is that in ur heart of hearts, u know that guy is piss-poor but u are hoping for bragging rights he comes good so you can come here to say afterall ''YOU SAID IT THAT THE GUY MUST HAVE HAD STUFF IN HIM FOR AW TO HAVE KEPT USING HIM'

That is not the case - I can't stand jaundiced analysis without basis. I'm still waiting for someone to point out Ramsey's mistakes to me.

dipo+:
RvP will not score at any chance he gets meanwhile his shot at that one-to-one situation yesterday was good but the goalie parried away.

So RVP has no blame for missing a gilt edged opportunity but Ramsey is blamed for what exactly?

Is it not unusual that our main targetman had only one clear attempt at goal all game long when we are supposed to have an attacking midfield?

Is Ramsey to blame for that as well? Arsenal had 13 shots on goal. . . .whether it was 'clear' or not is a matter of opinion.

I reiterate that Wenger shouldn't have started Ramshit who has only played a negligible role in our run of wins. Ramshit is not an inspiring player and we should avoid starting him especially when Tottenham and Chelsea are breathing on our neck for ECL spots.

Rubbish I say - arm chair analysts spouting opinions not based in fact. Ramsey was subbed four mins after we conceded the second goal. Why did all the saviours not manage to conjure up a chance to draw the game in the 24 mins that followed?

Instead of chasing shadows, the fact is that Arsenal have not played well away from home in general this season. That is the issue not Aaron Ramsey.