₦airaland Forum

[quote author=~Sauron~ link=topic=362333.msg5476468#msg5476468 date=1265672802]@ Duduspace,

Keep deluding yourself.
Chelsea and Man Utd will not wait for Arsenal to close the gap.
The 2 teams are always looking for improvement and if you look behind you. . . . .Man City and Aston Villa are not too far behind.
Citeh have trounced you TWICE this season and they are one transfer window away from assembling a world-class squad.[/quote]It is no delusion, Tottenham according to y'all should have chased us out of the top 4 since 05/06 and AV has regressed since last season, City are pretenders until they prove otherwise and will be consistently found out as they were against Hull city. Barcelona were considered pretenders to the real deal Real Madrid for over a decade but we all see what is happening now. We will get there, we might only need to wait a little more. Arsene Knows, and revenge will be very sweet.

Like I said, it is never a cut and dried choice between availability of money or not, it is about how the money is best used, nobody will ever come out and tell anyone exactly how much money is available. The key word is blending our own products with purchases at "reasonable" prices where we fall short, in truth it is about time we won something but I am still a firm believer in the long term sustainability of Arsene's vision. Arsene is who he is and I believe the decision not to suddenly loosen the purse strings after keeping it tight for so long has to do with the possibility of starting on the slippery slope of continuous purchases particularly when there is still a loan to be paid.
Also Arsene does not believe in the big name or big player mentality that the team will suddenly start depending on one big name player after developing a team ethos for so long, I strongly believe it will bear fruit and very soon too, we have taken a great leap onwards from last season when we didn't compete (even though we actually had a good record in the league against the top 4 using a large number of these same players), I don't see us taking a step backwards this time a la 07/08 season for 2 reasons:

1. The talent pool is a lot bigger in terms of numbers and more matured
2. We have taken the wise decision to tie players down to long contracts

All we need to do now is keep Cesc at whatever cost (as he has earned anything he gets from the club with his loyalty and also for a young lad, he has his head screwed on tight), plug the other gaps we have identified this season with Chamack likely to come in to add to the strike force ample backup in the defensive positions (let go of Silvestre while keeping Big Sol and Gallas for at least one more season) and bring in another quality CB within the age rang of Vermaelen for competition with the young uns like Nordtveit (and Djorou also should be back by then though we'll probably have to teach him how to walk again first).

dayokanu:
That was the Man Utd squad that started against Arsenal last weekend
Edwin van der Sar-39
Patrice Evra- 28
Wes Brown-28
Da Silva Rafael-19 (Teenager)
Jonny Evans-22
Ji-Sung Park - 28
Michael Carrick-26
Luis Carlos Nani- 23
Paul Scholes 35
Darren Fletcher- 25
Wayne Rooney - 24

In both teams we have a couple of players who are 30 and above.

Most are in their mid twenties and Man Utd has a teenager

Yet they sodomised GAYYners 1-3 at Emirates

The average age of this Manure is 27 while Arsenal that played yesterday is 28. So which is the young team?

You can recalculate and point out mathematical errors

Your premise is a lie and so is your conclusion, besides you didn't calculate the avg age of your team:

Almunia: 32
Sagna: 26
Gallas: 32
Vermaelen: 23
Clichy: 24
Cesc: 22
Song: 22
Diaby: 23
Walcott: 20
Nasri: 22
Arshavin 28

I'll calculate the avg ages of the teams when I get home and update this post, and you are yet to factor in the subs. This team had 7 players out of 11 under 25 years old.

jalether:
never knew the bolded were that old

There is one inaccurate info in your post, actually 2, Vermaelen is 23/24 and not 26 and Song is 22 and not 23. now could you please compare that team to both manure and Chelsea and lets see how they stack up?
have you also taken a look at the ages of the backup/squad players? we can open a thread on it where you and I can discuss and compare player for player if you're up to the challenge. 

I'll set the rules and you can ammend them if you so wish, you choose a first 11 and a backup of 7 players for chelsea and manure and I'll do the same for Arsenal, we'll then calculate an average age for these squads. Are you game? or maybe its Dayokanu I should be addressing this to?

debosky:
You need £25m for a striker better than Bendtner?? In what world?? Even Loic Remy who we are claimed to be chasing would’ve cost ‘only’ £14m, Huntelaar could’ve come if we really wanted him, heck we signed the beast on loan didn’t we??

Wenger simply stuck to his guns and got lulled by the goals we were scoring. He was FOOLISH by not buying and we DO NOT buy the rubbish about continuing to reward duds like Vela with new contracts instead of going to buy.

[b]WE WON’T GO BROKE IF WE SPEND £30m. [/b]No way in hell. Didn't we buy Arshavin and Vermaelen last year? Why not spend on quality and see the difference?

Debo, I've never watched Loic Remy but I dare say he wasn't leading the line for his country enroute to getting a world cup spot when he was 21? I know and I'm dejected with the way things have gone but I disagree that Remy would be a marked improvement over Bendtner, it is strange however that Arsene is still playing Arshavin ahead of Bentner centrally and that only suggests to me that Bendtner is not considered fully fit and he wants to bring him back gently. Arsene always had Chamack in his sights and would probably have bought him in the summer if Dudu's initial promise wasn't that good, the striker who has let us down this season unfortunately has been Eduardo, it is a damning indictment for Arshavin to have gone central with both Bendtner and RVP out. I love Dudu so much but that is the truth as Dudu was bought ready made as a 24 year old unlike Vela.

My prediction for the summer unless something happens before then is Eduardo out and Chamack in if we need to keep the squad balance or we might keep him just in case as I don't think he is one of the high earners anyway, with another year under Vela and Theo's belt the strike force wouldn't look so bad with 3 big strikers again and 2 small ones also able to play in wide positions.
We would however have to finalize the defensive side of our 4-3-3 by either sticking with Denilson or getting in someone as a backup to Song, there should ideally also be room for one more CB so we are looking at 2 buys over the summer with Chamack coming on a free.

tkb417:
hahahaha
den don tire na

You don hear say Pundit tire before? anyway, that one na dem problem not that it mattered what they thot anyway but whenever you see Tottenham fan like Gary Lineker rooting for the gunners and seeing the good things in what Arsene has done so far, you should know a paradigm shift is taking place, put the recent transfer window into that same context and make of it what you will, people are waking up to reality.
Let us see if RM can find another 150m to blow next summer like they did last season, me I dey siddon look.

dayokanu:
No wonder everyone agrees that GAYYners are demented and highly uneducated. why dont you just check the web to  find out.
Bayern built the stadium and even paid 1860 out.

You are talking like a market woman, are you trying to tell me there were no subsidies from government due to it hosting the World cup 2006? take this snippets from the wiki page on the alliance arena and you will see the government and german public's hand over it (and I'm not in anyway saying it is a bad thing only that Arsenal didn't get as much help from the british government)

On October 21, 2002 voters went to the polls to determine whether a new stadium should be built in this location and whether the city of Munich should provide the necessary infrastructure. About two thirds of the voters decided in favor of the proposition. An alternative to constructing the new arena had been a major reconstruction of the Olympic Stadium but this option had been refused by its architect Günther Behnisch.

The Swiss architect firm of Herzog & de Meuron then developed the concept of the stadium with a see-through exterior made of ETFE-foil panels, that can be lit from the inside and are self-cleaning. Construction started in the fall of 2002 and was completed by the end of April 2005.

The Fröttmaning and Marienplatz stations of the subway line U6 were expanded and improved in conjunction with the arena construction. The Fröttmaning subway station was expanded from two to four tracks, while the Marienplatz U-Bahn station was outfitted with additional pedestrian connector tunnels running parallel to the subway tracks, which lead towards the S-Bahn portion of the station, lessening congestion among passengers making connections to the Munich S-Bahn. To be able to handle the additional traffic load the Autobahn A9 was expanded to three and four lanes going each way and another exit was added to the A99 north of the arena.

@HNIC

Most of the pundits are actually changing in recent times, possibly because of the way the transfer window went and Pompey's imminent demise, I think they are warming up to Arsene's ideas and are actually starting to respect his sticking to his guns when everyone else kept on with the buy big mantra, even RM are not lookin like winning anything with all their Galactico regime (and even with our shrewed dealings, we are yet to be beaten 4-0 by a club out of the Premiership like RM got beaten by a team in the spanish 3rd division despite spending up to 150m in a single window) Even Graeme Souness and Jamie Redknapp were not as cynical as they usually are after the chelsea defeat.

presido1:
TBK
I understand your stand. Its only trophy that can convince you. We have been hearing those sermon from Debo for the past donkey yrs now he has seen that no light is at the end of the tunnel with AW's style. Duduspace will soon come to reality. Preston is too far from London and no big club in preston so the tauting he receives from other tittle contenders is minimal. He can leave with it for the mean time.

its actually worse up here becos there are virtually no other arsenal supporters and yu've got Burnley, Blackburn and mostly Manure fans up here. its just about a 30-45 minute drive to Manchester. I can't recall when last I saw an Arsenal shirt up here and people are queueing up to question me everytime we lose. They've been gentle today though.

tkb417:
duh! i might as well wait till 2025 for me to be convinced of your bigger picture story

dont worry, ill be convinced whenever u win somthin. Just let your gaffer ensure it doesnt happen a decade from now

If you're willing to wait that long that is fine, I believe it will happen earlier than that but the season isn't over yet and all hope is not lost yet. We can still win it but we will cross that river when we get to it.

HNIC:
Are you by any chance suggesting the Arsenal will go the way of the teams you mentioned
It can't happen!

Don't mind the guy, Portsmouth fans were celebrating winning FA cup only 2 seasons ago, now they are fighting a twin headed monster of relegation and administration. Ask the fans which they would have preferred and I know the answer to expect.

tkb417:
[/b]
can u share with us/me this your bigger picture and pls dont forget to add the premise behind the bigger picture

Read my earlier post and you have it, besides I wasn't talking to a non gooner so you might not understand. I don't have anything to convince you of until we win. Kapisch?

Sorry HNIC, not all fans are toeing that line and I dare say that the fans making all the noise on the blogs et al are not really the ones shelling out the money to go watch Arsenal at the stadium. Besides no one has been ordered to watch Arsenal at gunpoint have they? Every fan is frustrated but even in the midst of the frustration, some are still able to see the bigger picture.
I will still go into every game against Chelsea believing we can beat them based on what I saw yesterday, cut out the mistakes, and I dare say we played better yesterday, its been a while I've been able to say that when we played against Chelsea. Diaby/Cesc/Song was much better than Ballack/Mickel/Lampard yesterday, infact for most of the 2nd half it was like Chelsea was playing a 4-5-1 yet we still cut through them time and time again with movement.

HNIC:
@Presido1
How about minding your own damn business??
Why not let citeh win first!
was it not the same Citeh that Hull outplayed and outthought last saturday?who brought in Paddy to come and save the game?? ;DTruth be told,i can imagine what would happen if
Arsenal wins the next three games(really possible)
and manure and chelsea drop points(really possible)
Another song will be sung. . . . .
Just watch out!
I love football fans.
We all are as fickle as PHCN!

Took the words outta my mouth about Presido1, I try to see the bigger picture and everyone else is seeing the good in the Arsenal way but our own fans are getting tired out of frustration. I did want this team to win something this season to shut the naysayers up for good, all it takes is for them to win something and then they will go on and on and it would all have been possible due to Arsene and the board's foresight. I don't think we can win anything again this season, but I still wouldn't bet against this team as the quality is there and all that remains is a few bits and bobs.

Chamack is coming to us on a free in the summer:
[Quote]
TRANSFER NEWS
[size=14pt]Chamakh hoping to seal Arsenal switch[/size]

Bordeaux striker Marouane Chamakh has confirmed he wants to join Arsenal on a free transfer in the summer.
Marouane Chamakh

Chamakh has confirmed he wants to join Arsenal
Chamakh, 26, is out of contract in June and has already signalled his intention to move to England, but Liverpool are also thought to have been in contact and some reports had suggested a deal was already tied up.

However, Arsenal remain long-term admirers and Chamakh has suggested he hopes to announce a move to Emirates Stadium in the near future.

"My future? Well, I hold all the cards," he said. "I have no reason to be under pressure but, every day passing by, I am a little less a Bordeaux player.

"My choice is to join a Premier League club and, if I could choose, I will go to Arsenal. Bordeaux have brought me so much. I will soon clearly state things so the club can prepare to find my replacement peacefully.'[/quote]Now lets get Szczesney back from his Brentford loan to take up the gloves at the end of the season and we have that dominating side we've always wanted.  Gooner for life.

By the way, did anyone catch the feature on Szczesney on the BBC "Late kick off show" on saturday? a brilliant GK we've got on our hands there.

debosky:
Wenger's stubbornness and incredulous lies have gotten us into this mess. Who can believe in his right senses that there was NO STRIKER who could've remedied the situation?  
Those two positions have cost us without a doubt. No striker to hurt the big teams and a goal keeper who can't keep out shots against the best players.
People should lay off Arshavin - he is speaking his mind and wants the team to WIN. It's a pity that too many of our players are content just to be along for the ride and crash out before the end year after year.
Did Arshavin tell Clichy and Vermaelen to get their wires crossed and not defend properly? Did Arshavin tell Clichy to rush off the line or tell Song to let go of Drogba??
What use is being 'sustainable' when you NEED a player, HAVE CASH but REFUSE to buy??

I agree with most of what you say expect these,

1. I don't believe that Arsene is lying, things are never really that clear cut simple, he obviously wanted to make a deal for a striker within his budgetary rules and Chamack's recent utterances confirm all I need to know.

2. Arshavin is talking too much and might be justifiably set for the exit door soon if he doesn't match up with performances, Arsene is not an autocrat in Fergie's mould, he allows players to say their minds but each person should know what not to say to the press, some things are best kept to the dressing room.

3. Arshavin has always been a bit lazy but gets excused due to his quality, Andy Gray did a review of the first goal yesterday and the chain of events leading to the goal started with Arshavin not marking Carvalho despite all the pointing and shouting that Clichy and Cesc were doing. If you ask me, I think his early performances have gotten into his head, he has however gotten so much quality and wants to give his all in the final third so he might be one of those players you've just got to handle, human beings never all behave the same.

4. The question is not about having cash, it is about how much is budgeted, what player exactly is available, what you are willing to pay for the player and if the player would be an improvement over what you already have. To be honest any player who would be appreciably better than Bendtner won't be available for less than 25m in the window, consider that to getting Chamack for free in the summer and its a no brainer, He had obviously identified his targets but couldn't do a deal in January, though I expected he put in a late bid for Chamack after the manure loss.

We are looking good to be honest, gotten all our players on long contracts so the core of the team is set and close to peaking, some folks complain about these players getting long contracts but they would turn around and crucify Arsene if we were to lose any of them like happened with Flamini whom Wenger never wanted to lose and which set us back a great deal. We keep the core of this team and get backup in the relevant departments and we have a squad that will not only win things but dominate. This squad showed their strength in coming back from 11 points to top the table, and despite the loss to Chelsea they put in a creditable performance despite the result, like I told a friend losing to Chelsea this season was exactly like losing to Hull/Stoke last season (that was the extent of our domination and fight) they might still give us a pleasant surprise before the season runs out, but I've always been looking more to next season.

[quote author=A-40 link=topic=362333.msg5469959#msg5469959 date=1265598745]@Duduspace
Ol boy we heard that last season, the season before e.t.c. Do you realize Arsenal has not celebrated a trophy since this forum was created? His Youth Policy is a scam! Riddled with contradictions or the likes of Silvestre & Campbell doing at Arsenal. What has this youth policy won us? A great deal of those players in the youth system are still far from Arsenal quality and may not be in another half a decade

As for winning the UCL i can only laugh in Awilo Longomba cos Barca, Man U, Chelsea would beat that team with ease. The fact that no one is giving us a chance shows us how low we have sunk. 6-8 years ago who born the maga to write us off? I no know the jazz e dey use wey make u no see say this Wenger no get any plan for Arsenal[/quote]I totally understand what you mean, but when you go against the usual rule people play by you do need a gestation period for your policy to bear fruit. The funny thing is, now that the fans are getting tired, the media who were the first to make this lack of trophy thingy an issue are the ones now beginning to applaud Arsene as they now see that the "Money fixes everything" mantra has its own pitfalls. Did y'all see the way this last window went with a whimper? even manure who bought Smalling are allowing him to stay with Fulham till the end of the season (don't want to attribute it to Money as not to cause an argument with Sauron at present)  

It is much credit to Arsene that we have been able to be near or thereabouts all through this period on what was a shoestring budget compared to those we were competing with, now when you see your policy about to turn the corner and begin bearing fruit is not the time to jettison it. Arsene could have opted like Tottenham to play his first team in any of the cup competitions but its all credit to him he stuck to his guns, y'all forget that Diaby, Cesc, Clichy, Song et al all cut their teeth in the Carling cup competition? why then shouldn't the young ones coming behind get the same opportunity? Building an assembly line takes time but once it starts producing, it goes on and on.

What people need to realise is that from 2004 thereabouts, there was a total shift in the way Arsenal went about their team building, it is all credit to Arsene that he got his priority right in ensuring that we never sacrificed our UCL qualification during this period, other teams who toed the same part of building new stadia (Valencia and Ajax) I can tell you had less success (Unlike the Nazis who got their government to do it for them) and no matter what anyone says about trophies, it is a fact that top 4 qualification at present is better than winning either the FA or Carling cups monetary wise.

Tarry a little longer folks, we are on the verge of vindication, in 2002/03 Arsene said he could build a team that could go unbeaten and he was derided for it only for his team to do it the following year, this year he said he had a team that could win the premiership but it is looking unlikely at present even though the team did compete but I will put my money where my mouth is next season if we are able to retain Cesc (which I'm sure Arsene would pull all the stops to do) and get that RVP backup. Everything else is set for this team which I actually expect to be even better next season while each passing year reduces the quality of the Chelsea team or can anyone honestly say that Deco/Ballack are any better than Diaby/Song at present? Yesterday's game reminded me of the games we lost to teams like Hull and Stoke last season, where we outplayed the opponent but were unable to score.

I still totally trust in Arsene and the team and I believe this team will come good. I've not even totally given up on this season just yet though it is not likely. Most peeps never gave us any chance for this season anyway, with players coming back and a less challenging fixture list I expect results to improve but an opportunity for this team to make a reputation for themselves has just passed by, lets see how far we go in the UCL, we could go ahead to win it.
I respect the fact that Arsene is stickin to his youth policy, with each passing time this squad gets stronger and I was mostly looking forward to next season anyway, our good start gave much cause for optimism but everything has suddenly gone downhill. I only hope we don't lose Cesc in the immediate and then take so many steps backwards.
Arsene and the board are not going to throw 30m or any such amounts on any one player, I think that much is clear now, if we can keep the squad and then add that quality striker in the summer then we should be set for next season, we are getting back to 07/08 levels but with better strength in depth.

follypimpi:


Cesc will defo leave us come Summer,AA23 might as well those dudes r worldclass players not fit for a senseless coach that repeats same mistake season over season,I hope Fab4 cops injury in our next game as well as Gallas,so we can @least fight for our usual spot u guessed it 3rd/4th.

While I agree Cesc has given his all with a good attitude, i can't say the same for Arshavin as his attitude stinks at present. I do believe Arsene got the team makeup wrong particularly on the physical side. Nasri started well but seemed to lose his way in the 2nd half.

debosky:
When I spoke last week, it was a case of 'defending' Denilson.
Two people killed us in today's game - Clichy and Song.
Clichy MADLY left the post he was supposed to be defending and ran into the middle of the penalty box. . . .to do what?  
Song let DD leave him and have a free shot at goal - what did you expect?

That defence needs to sit down and talk, do they communicate at all? it is a different problem each week.
I just saw the reviews of the goals by Andy Gray, Clichy got drawn out of position becos Arshavin refused to mark Carvalho and Fabregas had to leave his position, initially blamed Song for the first goal too but on a 2nd look I wouldn't blame him much as the attacker has the initiative for set pieces, the defending player will always be that little bit late, it wouldn't have been an issue if Clichy had been at the far post. On the break for the 2nd goal, Clichy did the right thing in sticking with Anelka's run but Vermaelen decided to leave Drogba alone until it was too late.
Arshavin's body language isn't good at all, he seems unable to cope when things aren't going well and I wonder why Arsene continues to play him in the center.

Arsenal for ever, despite the loss I liked what I saw on the pitch today. A pity our dip in form had to coincide with this critical run of games. I expect things to get better now but it might be too little too late. for all yu know, we might now go to the end of the season unbeaten.
Anyway, UCL still dey dere and if we meet any of Manure or the chavs I'll still go into the match believing we can win. We will end this Drogba hoodoo soon and very soon.

snowdrops:
Usually? Watch you adjectives dear.

He would be coming up against cole whos equally fast.

Yes, usually, 2 goals in 3 starts against any team is usually. The only game he didnt score against chelsea was a substitute appearance.

presido1:
Muki on a nite out in Banjul.

What do you mean? that is definitely not Muki, genuinely informed sources have recently confirmed that Muki is planning to make an appearance on the Soccer AM show as a soccerete, I have access to pics showing her practicing how to seat on the lap of Onuoha, contact me if you need to see the pics but only for genuine arsenal fans only.

jalether:
Walcott is starting , ope ooo

He usually scores against Chelsea anyway, in case yu've forgotten.

Forza Arsenal, we are winning this.
Almunia
Sagna Gallas Vermelen Clichy
Cesc Song Diaby
Walcott Arshavin Nasri.

dayokanu:
What happened to the 16 for Henry, the 30million for Adebayor Did it bring trophies? Sell Fabregas for 60milla wont still bring anything to the Emirate.
Sell Fab promote wheelchair to first team

Na you know, we are becoming an european force while the bumbling monkeys are becoming local champions.

DK, Fabregas to Barcelona is now like a scratched record. Anyway, if they bring anything above 60 million we can consider. Cesc will leave when he comes to a decision that it is time and it works out fine for all concerned.

Eastbay:
the said Akinjo Kolade shouldn't surprise any Great Ife student from 1998-99.
The wack-a$$ idiot was the sell-out student Union president with his interests first.
Selfish b.as.tar.d isn't surprising me.
If he was formely with Obasanjo,and now  is voicing support for Yar Adull, it's true to character for him.
He shows no loyalty to anyone and is a typical political love-peddler.

So you remember "Vakama" as he was called those days in Great Ife? he is a political jobber and his actions shouldn't surprise anyone. The less of such "Youths" we have in Nigeria, the better. He even conned the so called spirit filled Christian community into voting him in as Student Union president then.

[quote author=~Sauron~ link=topic=362333.msg5453516#msg5453516 date=1265374381]He just turned 22 last week. He has loads of time on his hands.

Well known ma foot. . . . .If he was known at all, it was Man Utd's interest in him since 2003 that made him famous.
Nobody buys a well known, already proven defender for £7 million. . . . .
Same amount brought Corluka and Ivanovic from the Balkans to the English league and they are nowhere near world class.
Vidic became a world class player after joining Man Utd. His debut game was a disaster as he was mauled repeatedly by Premiership forwards.
He developed rapidly playing alongside Ferdinand and the rest was history.[/quote]If that is what you want to believe, I'm game, I just couldn't resist pointing out to you that his history is totally at variance with that viewpoint. If Smalling goes on to be big, I would totally agree with you that you took a gamble but a nigh 25 year old player with such antecedent as Vidic before he came to Manure cannot be considered a gamble in any sense of the word aside from gamble in the sense that anyone of us on this forum might not live to see tomorrow.

[quote author=~Sauron~ link=topic=362333.msg5453516#msg5453516 date=1265374381]At this point, there's nothing to say Vermaelen/Gallas is BETTER than Toure/Gallas.[/quote]I'm one of those who never saw the Toure/Gallas pairing as being the problem their well known issues aside, it is the way Arsenal plays the passing game that needs to be fine tuned, particularly in the MF, change of shape when CBs go on forays and the statistics is skewed by the fact that when we did lose, it usually turned out to be heavy defeats.

[quote author=~Sauron~ link=topic=362333.msg5453250#msg5453250 date=1265372301]We didn't shell £12 million on Johnny Evans and he is better than any defender in Arsenal.[/quote]The jury is out on Evans, let him make it to the WC or win some sort of individual honour first and then we can talk about him, he hasn't won anything yet that Gallas hasn't won.

[quote author=~Sauron~ link=topic=362333.msg5453250#msg5453250 date=1265372301]So where are the other members of the so-called Famous Four?
Famous Four is a myth. . . . . . .They were disgraced 6-0 by Argentina in the World Cup of 2006. Conceding one goal during 10 WCQ games was because they played defensive football throughout. So Senderos is world class because he was part of the Arsenal's defence unit that conceded 0 goals in the UCL 2005/6 knock-out games? Nonsense.[/quote]You confirm my point that Vidic was already proven and well known before he came to manure and not a relatively unknown quantity like Smalling, end of story. It matters not what the other 3 members of the famous four did or did not do.

[quote author=~Sauron~ link=topic=362333.msg5453250#msg5453250 date=1265372301]Evans was magnificent. . . . .He snuffed out all the threats Arsenal threw at him.
All the chances Arshavin had was against a bumbling Wes Brown, there was never a time any Arsenal striker went past Evans during the game.
Arsenal had no threat in the Evra-Evans side of the pitch throughout. Rosicky/Sagna axis was as toothless as a twunt!!![/quote]The defence including Evans conceded a goal and was breached by Arshavin don't give the excuse about any side of the pitch he was playing on, I can also claim that all of manure's goals came through Clichy and that Rooney never went past Vermaelen can't I?

[quote author=~Sauron~ link=topic=362333.msg5452745#msg5452745 date=1265367855]The risk of signing Smalling is that he is a young English defender with bags of potential whose market value can sky-rocket in few years.
If he develops into something decent in the next two years then United woulda saved £22 million.[/quote]Exactly the same reason we have so many youngsters queueing up to break through already, only we didn't shell out 12M for them.

[quote author=~Sauron~ link=topic=362333.msg5452745#msg5452745 date=1265367855]Vidic was an unknown Serb defender Fergie paid £7 million to buy. Fergie took a huge risk signing Vidic.
The same amount was shelled on Corluka and Ivanovic and they are not world class.
Vidic became a world class defender AFTER joining Man Utd(not before).[/quote]How can this be true? when his wiki says this:

A Yugoslavian youth international, he made his senior debut on 12 October 2002 against Italy in UEFA Euro 2004 qualification. [b]Vidić was part of the Serbian and Montenegrin national team's "Famous Four" defence, alongside Mladen Krstajić, Ivica Dragutinović and Goran Gavrančić, that conceded just one goal during the ten 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification matches, [/b]setting a new record for the fewest goals conceded.

Are you trying to rewrite history? or yu're trying to convince me that Vidic joined Manure in 2005??  
a 24 year old is already made and has little left to learn my friend,its like saying Vermaelen became world class at Arsenal (when he goes on to win silverware with us) even though he joined us at a younger age than Vidic.

[quote author=~Sauron~ link=topic=362333.msg5452745#msg5452745 date=1265367855]If Evans can keep himself fit - He is a top defender.
We have watched him cage Drogba this season and he was magnificent at the Emirates.
Evans was chosen ahead of Pique - That should tell you how much SAF rates the lad.
We shall see in May.[/quote]He wasn't magnificent at all, your defence conceded a goal and was breached time and time again only Arshavin fluffed his lines. Have you ever asked yourself if Drogba was having an off day when he played against Evans? I'm certain a lot of players in the premiership can then also lay claim to having caged Drogba as I don't recall him scoring in every match?  

presido1:
Correction The poster of that pix is no Man United fan. Get your fact right before posting.

and you expect us to believe that the original pix and post did not come from a manure fan? give me a break.