₦airaland Forum

With the number of soapy teams entering the FA Cup, I posit there should be a CHAMPIONS LEAGUE H2H for the top dawgs. . .

The more you dilute the quality of the league, the more Lalaboiy and other no-hopers chop awoof points against Gat2Lose and Sir ElPee.

Anyhoo, all i know is I'm winning, again!

Wetin be Kingdom of Doom?

GET IN!!!

190-the-clown:
Didn't watch d match
Who was our best footballer today

Torres!!!

That alone tells you all you need to know about how the game went

Though Koln aren't exactly world beaters, Cazorla, Gervinho, Poldi, Giroud, Theo, Ox and even Arshavin all looked sharp and hungry.

There's a lot of quality options in attack this year with or without RvP.

Let the good times roll!

Wow! Arshavin still has an explosive burst of pace. Gervinho shoulda buried that first-time. . .

Gervinho's acceleration in tight spaces is superhuman. . .

Diaby, the black Zidane!!!

Gervinho's acceleration in tight spaces is superhuman. . .

The return of the prodigal son!!!

And he scores another brilliant goalll!!!!

Gervinho finally looking more like the player we signed from Lille. He's been really sharp pre-season.

HT

Podolskiii!!!

Brilliant. Created it, finished it!

Mannone, wtfwt?

Ox gtfu!

Why do Chelsea always struggle to get their front four on the ball?

Poldi, spot on!

GOAAALLLLL!!!!!

coogar: what was the score line before arsenal had a man sent off? what was the score line before united had a man sent off? after how many mins did arsenal cop their red card in comparison to man utd?

you would be very biased to put united and arsenal on the same pedestal - it ain't about listing names on paper, it's about getting the best out of the squad players at one's disposal. ji sung park is an average player but fergie manages to get a world class performance from him! walcott is a decent player but wenger rarely gets him to play to his normal capacity - in most cases, walcott underperforms - there lies the difference!

calculate the difference in points after 38 league games since 06/07 between man utd and arsenal - let's leave trophies out of it so we can have a sound argument!



i am sure arsenal have never played their strongest team against united since wenger's arrival with all these spineless excuses. what about the day rafael and fabio played your boys off the park at old trafford? a match you also admitted united shouldn't have won as arsenal had the better team on the night?

carzola, giroud and podolski cannot be better than their predecessors(hleb, cesc and adebayor/eduardo)!!!

You're missing the point like a Shaq free throw. . . I'm not saying Arsenal and United ARE going to be neck n neck on the table come May, obviously United are favorites to finish ahead of Arsenal. What I'm contesting is the notion Arsenal CANNOT compete with United this year, as the quality of both squads are on about the same level right now, and moronic RvP/Arsenal = Rooney/Everton analogies.

Of course whether or not the squad can live up to potential is another matter.

debosky: Does RVP have to be a LB for there to be a comparison? The whole premise, in case you missed it, was the idea that we sell 'key players' every summer. Clichy was one of 3 players sold last season, compared to the impending sale of RVP this season. If you don't understand this basic premise, stop now and return to skewering meat in the kitchen.

After tying yourself in tortuous knots with idiotic comments like "Clichy has far more potential than RvP", you now want to flip the argument by saying the "premise" is based on whether or not Arsenal shoulda sold Clichy? Did I ever make any comment about this? Debosky, you are a fugging disgrace!

I keep asking you to "PAY ATTENTION" and you keep failing. In case YOU missed it, the catalyst for the argument was your moronic comment about Clichy having "far more potential" than RvP, NOT whether Arsenal shoulda kept Clichy or not. "PAY ATTENTION".

My argument relates to re-signing a player versus selling him on. If a player has already peaked, it makes sense to sell that player on, instead of retaining him, compared to selling one that has yet to attain his peak.

Selling Clichy made less sense, especially considering his age, fitness record and the paltry fee we received for him (similar to what we got for the North London Messi aka Vela).

See stupidity in 3D. . . First of all, how did you arrive at the conclusion RvP has peaked and Clichy hasn't? In case you've been living under a rock, Clichy's best season of his career was 4-5 years ago while RvP has shown steady improvement basically every season since he arrived.

Let's even assume this is true, how does it make more sense to sell your best player simply because "he's peaked" and keep your worst XI player because he "might" improve?

So, say we also assume Rooney has peaked and Ashley Young hasn't, it makes more sense for United to sell Rooney than Ashley Young because Ashley Young might improve and Rooney won't? It makes more sense for Barcelona to sell Messi than Cuenca, correct? This is the most ret[color=#000000]ar[/color]ded argument I've heard this millennium.

coogar: city beat a 10-man united side....that's a freak result.
united murdered an 11-man arsenal side without
rio/vidic/berbatov/valencia/scholes/carrick/rafael/fletcher, etc.... there's no simply no excuse for the debacle. even when you had a full squad in the return leg @ the emirates, united carried the day. add that to the day united mauled arsenal with 8 defenders with rafael/fabio as wingers and your argument falls flat in the face!

Who cares if you played with three men? The only relevant detail is whether or not it was a legit red card, which it was. Arsenal also had a man sent off. No matter how you try to twist it, losing 6-1 in your own backyard to your local rivals was the worst result of the season by a mile

You mean the return leg where all Arsenal's fullacks were injured? Cazorla, Podolski and Giroud were Arsenal players last season?

with the departures of gibson, ji sung park and mickey owen, it's imperative to fill up the vacuum those players left! it's not about listing names as components - its about how those components make up a functioning unit otherwise stoke fc have no business beating arsenal!

Of course the players must function as a unit, but you need the "players" first. Otherwise I'd like to see Stoke FC win the league.

debosky: Clichy has won a title and an FA Cup with Arsenal. He's finished in the EPL team of the season. Importantly, he was chased by the title winning Citeh, clearly indicating his potential, which he delivered on with a title winning defensive performance. Your comparison with Eastmond is silly at best.



Everything - Clichy's past performances were better than his replacements' current performances. Therefore, if the so called weakest link is better than his replacements, there's nothing to rejoice about in his departure from an Arsenal perspective as his departure made the team weaker. It proves we should have kept him, even with his so called weakest link status, as Clichy still had room to improve, as displayed by his performances for Citeh.

Contrast this with RVP who has perhaps given his best performance ever for Arsenal in 2011/12. You re-sign players based on future potential.

Sorry to say but you're talking absolute nonsense barely worthy of a reply.

What does Clichy's replacement have to do with RvP? Is RvP a left back?

"PAY ATTENTION".

How does the worst player in a team have "FAR MORE POTENTIAL" than the best player in the LEAGUE? You're nonsense argument is "he's perhaps given his best performance ever". What part of your anatomy did you pull that out from? Does RvP even need to be anywhere near his best to better Clichy?

My friend, go siddon for corner with "dunce" hat!

coogar: it's also neck and neck when the score-line was 8-2 last season with united even having a younger age difference than arsenal on the night! it's not about names, ritchboy - it's about getting the very best out of what you have got! calculate the difference in points between arsenal and man utd since 2005/6 season and get back to me.....neck and neck my white arse!

8-2 vs injury/suspension ravaged Arsenal? I already knew you'd resort to freak resulsts. Just as you'd have us believe City/United squads were neck n neck when you got smashed 6-1 in ur backyard, innit?

If it's not about names, why waste 13-17m on Kagawa when you coulda signed Ibime or Chamotex for free?

debosky: He has more future potential - he isn't as injury prone and could have EASILY Played another 5 years for Arsenal.

Craig Eastmond can play another 10 years for Arsenal that means he has more potential than Arteta? Romelu Lukaku has more potential than Messi, no?

The claim of being 'universally' the weakest link is best looked at in the context of his subsequent performances and the performances of those who took over from him. Have Gibbs and Santos not been worse defensively?

What do Gibbs' and Santos' performance in 2012 have to do with Clichy's performance in previous years? Pay attention.

Interesting to note that this 'universal' weak link went on to play 28 league games for the league champions with the best defence in the league.

What makes it interesting?

I don't think he'll do one, and even if he does, he won't be forgiven nada - the Rooney that was forgiven had helped Utd win league titles and European cups. This Dutch boy doesn't even begin to compare.

What am I supposed to say to this?

Add the caveat 'on paper'. We've made these comparisons before and I'm sure if we check the NL archives we'll find similar posts from you hell boy.

Of course on paper. Where else, on fire?

chamotex: Rafael stinking the whole joint up at Wembley. Smh

I get the feeling we'll be hearing this phrase a lot this year

debosky: I didn't say RVP wasn't a key player, his future potential to continue being a key player is what I questioned. You re-sign players based on future benefit not on past achievement alone. Cesc, Nasri and Clichy have far more future potential, which is the difference I was trying to point out to you.

If not for nikki I would've carried on. . . .but in the spirit of victoria concordia crescit, I will set aside the RVP yarns for now.

Any news on where we can watch the FC Koln game? I've heard rumours they'll be delayed on TV so I'm considering signing up to Arsenal.com (against my better judgement).

Clichy has/had "far more potential" than RvP?

Simply because he's a few years younger? The same Clichy that was universally acclaimed as the weakest link in the Arsenal team now has "more potential" than the strongest link in the same team?

Seriously Debo, your comments are approaching 1025-level daftness, all in the name of RvP bashing.

Don't worry, he'll soon do a Rooney-esque u-turn and all will be forgiven!

Abeg, I don't see a big enough gulf in Arsenal/United squad at the moment to suggest Arsenal can't rival United this year.

Rooney-RvP
Welbeck-Podolski
Hernandez-Giroud
Nani-Cazorla
Valencia-Gervinho
Young-Walcott
Kagawa-Wilshere
Scholes-Arteta
Carrick-Song
Cleverley-Rosicky
Anderson-Diaby
Rafael-Sagna
Rio-Koscielny
Vidic-Vermaelen
Evra-Gibbs
De Gea-Szczesny

etc

It's neck n neck, Debo/Coogar are just taking the piss as usual. Only City's squad can stand out.

coogar: never knew rooney died of meningitis and chicharito moved to esperance of tunisia!

But Fergie reckons Rooney is best used in the hole and Danny is better than Chicharito and Berbatov. . .

dayokanu: Luis Gustavo over Song, Sven bender over Song those 2 for a start. Not to mention Anatoly Tymoschuk

LOL

coogar: i hope van persie moves elsewhere....we don't need his services.

This seems to be the general consensus among United fans. . . But if Danny Welbeck is your first choice striker, surely you could use a Van Persie!

debosky: The issue is more than £20m in our accounts. . . . It's trying to prove a point that is daft. He wants to leave and we don't have an endless supply of money.

It's not daft if it helps keep players(modest) in the future. You think this is the last time something like this could happen?

Why are you so sure keeping him is tantamount to losing 20m? What if he stays, extends his deal, has another great season, and gets sold to Madrid next summer for 40m?

We are already a selling club. Selling a 29 year old with a year left on his deal is a wise move and can never make you a selling club.

Selling the best player in the league is a wise move? You have a fascinating description of the word "wise"!

It's selling players reaching their peak like Clichy, Nasri and Cesc that make us a selling club

Clichy?

not an injury prone 29 year old.

But he hasn't been injured for eons and copped more minutes than all his peers last season. . .

Bold statements are made by selling and buying to restock, not burning £20m in the name of proving a point.

You mean Podolski and Giroud?

I maintain Wenger is often penny wise and pound foolish, but I don't question the rationale of selling injury prone players pushing 30, especially in a season where we've bought 3 25+ year old players hopefully approaching their peak.

I'm not saying don't sell him, I'm saying don't sell him to Man Utd, unless they're willing to pay over the odds. He can fuckoff to Juve or Amazulu if the money is right.

Sell him I say. You don't disrespect the club in that manner and continue wearing the club colours. There are principles even above winning - like respect for what Arsenal FC stands for.

Amongst these "principles" should be "Don't sell your best player to your biggest rivals", no?

IZUKWU: For arsenal selling van persie is not good at all. Everything is not about money,if he doesn't want to play then he should train with the reserves and we allow his contract run down,so that no player repeats that rubbish next year. You don't keep selling your best players each season to your stronger opponents and you are talking of wanting to win the league. How will you claim to be a big club. Selling him will be writting in stone that arsenal is a selling club/feeder team to the bigger teams ,it will affect our reputation and possible the calibre of players that will want to come to us in the future. We should not mature players and then sell them. We still have some rough gems in our pack like ox, wilshere, ryo . We should not sell. We should use this ,to make a bold statement that we are not a breeding ground for any darn fucking team.

Preach!

debosky: ^^

Pride?

We need hard nosed pragmatism and a healthy dose of reality. Selling RVP to Utd will not be the difference between Arsenal winning the title or coming second for example.

If they offer £20m I say sell - anything less, tell them to Bleep off (which is what we seem to be saying(. Pride is not selling some injury-prone Dutchman for £20m.

If someone wanted to bid for Jack Wilshere for example, then pride would matter.

The same "hard nosed pragmatism and a healthy dose of reality" that is making Arsenal a laughing stock?

You have to look at the bigger picture here. 20m more in Arsenal's bank account hardly changes anything. Making an example/statement with the RvP situation could. As someone who frequently accuses Wenger of being penny wise pound foolish I'd expect you to understand.

Did you read Iniesta's interview describing Song as a "prodigy" These days any player/manager can freely discuss contracted Arsenal players cos they're under the impression they're "up for grabs", this has to stop.

Selling RvP to United will be a total disgrace! I'd like to think a some pride is worth more to them than 20m. . . I say bid 750k for Rooney a la Sylvestre

Song Arteta

Walcott Wilshere Cazorla

RVP

==========

Frimpong Diaby

Ox Rosicky Gervinho

Giroud

==========

Coq LANS

Arshavin Rambo Ryo

Poldi

==========

Nico Henderson

Pinky Eisfeld Park

Chamakh