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Hi silkyskillz

incredible scenes. Their rise up through the football league in the last couple of years has been phenomenal and they are in with a real chance of making the playoffs this year as well.

Will he have to train with the reserves, therefore reducing his value and potential of a sale?
Will he go straight back into the starting eleven and make a huge difference?
Will he be left on the bench as Mancini trys to win this bizarre mind game?
Will he get a new dog basket? WILL HE?

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/european/how-koscielny-became-prince-of-the-emirates-6917448.html

as forzaborza keeps saying, easily one of the best defenders in the premiership at the moment.

I'm pretty sure that none of them are..

Word from my Spanish mates is he's very close to Zinedine Zidane, who's now Madrid's Director of Football.

It's thought that's his favoured desination. Madrid will let Spurs get within sniffing distance then use him as a carrot to prize monkeyboy away, i'd have thought, though i'm not sure he's quite good enough for a side like Real myself.

If it doesn't work, they get Hazard, who's clearly a much superior player anyway.

but can only win 1-0. Should still get through.

Milan v Arsenal tonight (as well as Zenit v Benfica), I should enjoy these Arsenal European Cup ties while I still can amirite.

http://twitter.com/#!/michaelessien

a likeable version of Crawley?

Surprised someone's penned an article like this now and not when he was on a run of 6-8 solid games.

Didn't think much of him against Fulham...or Swansea...or Villa, to be honest, and the last time i checked Arsenal had a defensive record comparable with most bottom half sides.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tJJjjtUuRk&feature=related

cheers

i do hope they haven't jinxed the fella for tonight though.

I noticed Adebayor had a bit of a meltdown on there last night, had some very disrespectful things to say about Arsenal and their fans, then claimed he'd been hacked. Convenient. It seems alcohol had been taken. He's going to look a bit silly if Spurs don't both beat Arsenal and win the title now. Think he described himself as "one of Tottenham's greatest ever players" at one point!

especially by green-eyed Hendon fans ;) but since Graham Westley left the helm, they've probably gone up in people's opinions. They're not rolling in cash like Crawley and have put in the hard graft at non-league level (albeit for a relatively short period of time since their founding), so their success should really be commended by one and all.

actually not a troll account. 200-odd posts on there, some going way back.

Especially considering that you are paying his wages.

and posting all the time? needy isn't even the word.

stealing most of Farnborough Town's squad?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q66sbVUOx7M

...

poor form.

anyway, i thought you supported Spurs, or are they just your big league team?

that City have a long-established loyal set of players who didn't sign for a club who waved ridiculous amounts of money at hem.

players like Nasri aren't motivated by money.

Still not got over that one, pal?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTT5IAq9OaY&feature=fvwrel

No doubt in my mind. None at all. And Hazard has apparently made it quite clear that he wants to come to England (Philippe Auclair was on Talksport the other day saying he'll definitely be playing in England next season, or words to that effect). So that doesn't seem like a very well though-out plan from Real.

Just for the record, there's a bit of history going back to 1993/4 with Hendon and Stevenage involving self-publicist Victor Green and us having to be rescued from being put out of business in favour of Stevenage at the 11th hour.

Will never be a fan of Stevenage because of that, but having people like Phil Wallace and Graham Westley involved in the years since hasn't exactly helped!

on these mega-rich owners pulling the plug on their financing of clubs? PSG etc?

just how hard everyone in Scotland is laughing at Rangers?

It is very hard indeed.

In my mind Barca only seem to sign players who play consistently at their 'top level'. Bale's form seems too up and down to me.

you need to up your game, big man.

I thought you had a self-sustained balance sheet now?

He's called it... Switcharooney. Hmm.

have a league with only one potential winner? Surely this isn't a good thing?

"you've got to feel for the supporters here, they're the real victims" shite.

No they're not. The small businesses who'll go to the wall, and the people working for low wages behind the scenes are the ones it will hurt most. The majority of the supporters will still have jobs (cue a Glasgow/Scotland gag...), they'll just have a shitter football team to support.

depends on Zlatan tho, this kid has all the skillz to be the very best, but for some reason, he seems to go missing when it really counts.
that goal where he beats 8 players (some of them twice) for Ajax is probably the sweetest goal I have ever seen, mind
3-2 to the Arse over 2 legs

have cared much about who wins the title for a long time.

:(

This current Milan side, whilst better than the side Spurs longballed their way past last season, and though doing well in Serie A, are more than beatable. Arsenal will score tonight and do enough in the second leg.

I really think it's wide open this year. Even sides like Barca and Bayern aren't as strong as they have been. Still think it will be either one of those two or Madrid, probably the latter, but Arsenal could get as far as the semis, i think, which probably says a lot about this year's competition.

Whilst nearly winning something might not silence the Wenger Out brigade, a run would quell the club coffers a bit, and might even mean they don't lose another of their best players.

They'll certainly get further than Chelsea, who i think will go out to Napoli. Being the best English team in Europe for a couple of weeks would be a big enough achievement for some of their supporters.

manbearpig this'd this.

Napoli havetoo much power and pace on the counter for the hapless Luiz and co to deal with. AVB gone within a fortnight. Hiddink back in

http://m.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2011/feb/15/arsenal-johan-djourou?cat=football&type=article

Personally, Barca are still the favourites for me. Madrid would be second. I think both United and City would have had a great chance of getting to the final had they not fluffed the group stage.

Josh McEachran: https://twitter.com/#!/JMcEachran20 - He's pretty dull though just talks about Nandos like most footballers.

And David Luiz: https://twitter.com/#!/DavidLuiz_4 - his twitter is pure gold. Just says geezers a lot and occassionally posts incredible photos like this one: http://yfrog.com/nzuhpvrj

Then theres Mata,https://twitter.com/#!/juanmata10 - who just seems like a cool guy. After that its all youth or fringe players like Bertrand, Lucas Piazon and Van Aanholt

His technique, passing and patience just aren’t good enough.

http://yfrog.com/nvrmlkej , You get Ramires' braces, Alex looking happy before being brutally shunned into the resrerves, and John Terry just being a yob. Lovely.

In October he said he'd grow his fro until his first goal of the season...

and there's absolutely no way their negoatiators and Levy could ever find a compromise seeing as they'd want to pay about £16m and he'd be after something approaching £585bn.

At least Real will be willing to splash serious cash, possibly as much as £30m.

Who's even the Barca left back these days?

the old guys :'D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQiht9qwpQc&feature=related

Though it's expected to be Jordi Alba next season.

John Terry RUINS foreign teammates photographs. Soon it will be their wives.

not sure about that decision.

will mean you can move Vermaelen inside and drop one/both of the hooky centre-halves.

Shame City couldn't get through really.

Feel dirty

obviously he's a left back so thats something, i just get the feeling he's going to break his arm in the first 5 mins.

BNP.

but when it's basically just a load of bollocks, you should probably keep it to yourself.

Much for the same reasons. He's too direct, and i'm not sure he's a clever enough player.

That's not to say they might not change their system a bit over the next season or two, especially as Guardiola may not be there.

If he went to Barca, i could only see him being shunted back to full-back, whereas Madrid are more direct, have more orthadox strikers and he'd be more use in an advanced wide role.

There was always that danger given we got such a strong group. Possibly the strongest in the history of the competition.

You should lighten up a bit, i was being positive about Arsenal's chances.

I've had him on twitter for ages. He used to do a blog about city called The Lonesome Death of Roy Carroll

is the equivalent of you always predicting City to lose.

but I'm sure Barca would go to £40m for him. They might as well; it's not like they need to spread the cash to improve every part of their squad. It's like when you're playing Football Manager and your squad is more or less perfect but there's just one specific player you want to take it that extra inch. You spend what it takes. And a player to do on the left what Alves does on the right is the one thing they've long been missing. There isn't a player in the world who would fit the role as well as Bale. And I imagine he appreciates that, so if he leaves, he'll want to go to Barca. It's the one club he'll be able to completely fulfil his potential. It'll be like playing against Maicon every week.

Seems a bit silly to say he'd turn down Real, but I don't think he has the ego for it. Real Madrid, in its current form, isn't really a club for players who want to play football, is it. Changing managers every two seasons; never any clearly defined style of play. He'll set his heart on Barcelona and he'll get his way.

I'm a toffee, ffs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yv46nGqU0vQ&feature=player_embedded

Should go without saying. I thought it had.

Sounds pretty serious. Could end up missing an entire year of football. Let's all just make jokes about it though.

Not much choice there.

https://twitter.com/#!/TomHuddlestone6/status/169731592321892352

HAHAHAHAHAHA!

What do you mean? They're 10 points clear at the top of La Liga as top scorers. I think they play football very well.

...anyone know of good prices on Arsenal winning the CL? Or reaching the final? Could be worth a punt if they're at 25/1 or longer.

Maybe go for a walk or something.

but 16s on beaten finalists might be worth a fiver. All they need to do is avoid Real. Any English side could beat Barca, providing the away leg's first and they know how to defend (hmmmm). Lots of ifs and buts.

Last 16 - Evens
QF - 9/4
SF - 5/1
Final - 16/1
Winner - 22/1

amirite?

great bants.

I never really bought in to the idea of a Pav/GDS strikefore anyways.

1) No. I genuinely think Arsenal will score tonight, and then i'd fancy them to beat Milan on their own patch.

2) Looked into this for Jordan recently. I've predicted we'll lose 6 of 25 games this season. No worries.

If they have a similar knock-out stage trajectory to United last year they may also be able to fluke their way to the final before getting humped by someone from Spain.

With Wilshere possible back for the QF's, it's really not too daft a bet.

They're still a team of individuals, certainly in an attacking sense, and probably will be for the foreseeable future, purely because of the way the club is run. If Gareth goes to Real, he'll win things, sure, because he'll be playing with a load of other great players, but I don't think he'll improve as a footballer or enjoy the actual playing of football any more than he would at any other club. Same goes for anyone else who joins Real. imo

on twitter. Shocking stuff.

There's more solid/public evidence of him committing a public order offence than there is for Terry, for example ...

Leeds then? Or maybe even Wolves?

I reckon Leeds too.

Would have thought that rules Clark out

Bit surprising. Even if they're not top at the moment despite all the money spent they still look pretty set for automatic promotion...

That's a surprise

http://www.imgnook.com/HJ3Hwo.gif

CONTROVERSIAL SHOUT

a big heavy sigh from me.

They've got the money for him to buy a completely new squad every year too, as he loves doing.

If they want someone who's finished, they'll presumably go for Curbishley.

Justagooner ,,,no my definition of a great team would be one whop does it domestically and in europe,,just to clarify tthe vincibles did not do it in europe :)
- Dave1978

that club needs automatic promotion, as they clearly can't win the playoffs. Yet again nowhere near winning the league even with 3 appearances in playoffs since getting in the league 6 years ago, the best striker outside of the prem chipping in 20-30 goals a season.

40 millions games unbeaten ffs.

as he's a complete tool.

can see neil warnock returning to huddersfield to replace him.

That's encouraging, isn't it? 1-0.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/feb/15/forgotten-story-17-november-1993

I know which i'd prefer.

take away roberts and rhodes they are distinctly average.

as for "nice football", they got completely outpassed and outplayed by BIG HOOFBALL BULLIES sheffield wednesday at hillsborough. that said, they're still the best opposition side i've seen at hillsborough this year, though our dear neighbours might well surpass them in eleven days time.

OUR TECHNICAL LEVEL IS POOR
BURTON CAN'T COME SOON ENOUGH

I bet Henry Winter won't take any notice of this result. He loves spouting things like the above

I noticed he wasn't in the squad yesterday. Injured or dropped already?

We'll go on getting bad results... getting bad results... getting bad results...

It'll be my first ever trip to Wembley.

I think it'll be the first cup final that pretty much everyone in Britain will want us to lose - which, given that we're against Cardiff, is quite something.

It's the final few jumps, from U-16 to U-18 to first team football that have been the difficult bits.

we ought to play to our strengths, get Wazza in there, and Scotty, and Mazza, and Becks, and Bobbo, and Skipper...let these precious foreign ponies know they've been in a REAL game.

he did reasonably well against yeovil - i'd much rather he started ahead of prutton on saturday if he's well enough to play

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-17040447

phwoar

It's not like we've won a Euro U17 Championship or been runners up in a Euro U21 Championship or anything lately.

That's semi-encouraging, I guess. How about Parrett for Yeovil? Did you notice how he did?

I didn't think.

Good luck, though. You should just about have enough firepower to beat Cardiff.

It doesn't really matter what the result was. If we had 30% possesion, put in a solid hard graft and then hit them on the break after everyone had made 7 subs each then I cant see it as being more promising than any other era in English football

Surely the issue is that not enough English players are playing regularly enough for good enough teams between their late teens and early 20s?

him and another spurs loanee, obika, were their standouts. obika in particular looked lively, pacy and took his goal very well.

Doubt he has the technique to make it higher up - he's already tried and failed in the Championship - but good to know he's enjoying himself in League One. Cheers for the info.

Here's the FA's report: http://www.thefa.com/England/mens-u16s/News/match-centre/2012/SpainvEngland/report.aspx

Paints quite a positive picture, and they do tend to be reasonably unbiased.

a) It's Cardiff
b) You'll get a euro spot, increasing the chance that Newcastle get one.
Funny how easy it is to overlook racism.

1) Okay then.

2) Needy.

Just looked at my prediction league.

Thanks for coming.

Do vast numbers of players of any nationality play regularly for top club sides at that age? At the moment we've got Sturridge, Welbeck, Walker, Caulker, Wilshere (fitness permitting), Jones, Smalling, Moses, Oxlade-Chamberlain (possibly), Henderson and Rodwell, amongst others, all aged between 19 and 22 and playing regularly for Premier League teams - most of those in the top half of the table - as well at Joe Hart at 24. And the majority aren't just making up the numbers - they're playing consistently well. How many do you want? You can't expect an entire international-class squad to emerge at the same time, although actually, in my opinion, we haven't done a bad go of it.

And Suarez! And the tshirts!

*done a bad job

Actually, on second thoughts, don't. And maybe take another holiday whilst you're at it.

And what would you have meant by "top clubs" if you had? Of the 12 players I named, 1 plays for Chelsea, 3 for Manchester United, 1 for your lot, 1 for Liverpool, 2 for Arsenal, 1 for Spurs, with another more than likely playing regularly for Spurs next season. That's 10 who could all be playing in the Champions League next season, or indeed already have played in it. Again - how many do you want?

http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/421018_299716460083495_138589062862903_747637_43120204_n.jpg

bar the shitty smears on the left breast and right thigh of the one far right.

This is the first photo that looks credulous.

Looks like a fucking tea-towel.

the sooner Arsenal's badge stops being fucking enormous the better

probably going to severely damage his spurs career, who knows about his long term in general.

Never going to claim he's the greatest player in the world, but i love him, and he was consistently improving.

99% of the people who give a shit about football but aren't Liverpool fans will relax the hatred they've surely developed in recent months ...

or was there a time, fairly recently too, when PL clubs had some kind of arrangement to not change their kits more often than every other season?

I remember the San Marino game and Bodin's penalty but didn't realise what a close shave Ireland's qualification was

i think it was an unofficial pledge to fans though, not any sort of agreement.

Dear all those who refer to more than one club as 'we': you have forfeited your right to call EITHER club 'we' tbqfh*

ThierryEnnui is another one who really needs to make his mind up (although if Darlo disappear the decision will be made for him)

*unless you play for a club different to the one you support

:(

BOSH!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2Xaoh1dbkg

Kinda hard to make out at first, but stick with it.

but this makes me terribly sad, the guy was a magnificent footballer to watch

We're undeserving our way to the Championship! Chris Powell's mad trolling half of Yorkshire, all's well in the world

Never known a player who repeatedly spooned as many shots wide as he did yet still had a reputation as "being able to hit 'em".

16 goals in almost 300 games.

Think he went 100 shots without scoring once.

and he's so good they named him jay-jay

anyway huddlestone wasn't really about the shooting, more the effortless midfield passing range and general mastery of spreading play

like Paul Scholes; made two Hollywood passes per game, pinged another seven straight to the keeper.

than the straight through-ball, though he could do that too

anyway, I'm only going by my own recollections - much as you could presumably recall all of Gareth Barry's lethal through-balls

standing in the centre circle and just rotating his body in different directions.

count the long passes. tell me how many found their mark and how many sailed to Cech or out of play.

Scholes is a terrific short passer, but his long passing's always been mixed. people tend to forget the unsueccessful balls so long as he gets one Hollywood pass in per game.

not just a dig at Scholes. Beckham was the same, and Gerrard was/is.

some mouthwatering passes and strikes, but ultimately he just wasn't consistently good enough for us, especially considering where we are now. He's probably 5th/6th choice CM and i'd imagine he'll be moving on should he recover sufficiently from this setback to somewhere where he'd be higher up the pecking order.

about the opposition's dirty tactics, anti-football and general thuggery yet?

seems to be standard practice when mk dons lose. we've done a great job of riling him this year.

His side were dominating before and after his defender headbutted our striker, got sent off and conceded a penalty (we also got another one a minute later after a 35-yard shot hit the bar and caused a scramble) - the thing is, our striker had apparently just had a little kick at the defender which the referee didn't see :D

The Sheffield derby next week...should be theatre of the highest proportions

Between the ages of 19 and 22, he just hasn't been consistent enough.

Apparently they should have had a penalty at the end. Bollocks :')

Robinson sounds like a strange semi-literate facsimile of Steve Bruce in almost every way

170-odd games a 'regular' until beyond his 24th birthday. You're right, you really need 500 games before consistency can be judged...

Maybe a lie down as well, Z.

In his pomp his cross field wonder balls were absurdly accurate on the regular.

Short passes are much, much easier than long passes, of course quite a few long passes are unsuccessful.

the most delusional manager in football.

as for the sheffield derby - they're in good form, we're out of form (jermaine johnson aside), so it wouldn't surprise me if we sneaked a 1-0 win.

chesterfield away this weekend should be interesting - they're hitting a little bit of form and we are their cup final (for some reason they see us as their big derby). we'll have reda, bostock and lowe back for that hopefully!

They're four points off the promotion places and yet the chairman claims "we still have an opportunity to achieve promotion" as a reason why someone else should be given a go. Yeah, I remember Coventry trying that one not too long ago.

I know the Midlands stops and the North begins but

We should have played them last week but they (and everyone else) froze - if you could get the short bald one sent off that'd be nice, he's their only good player

We play Stevenage at home on the 25th, entry is a fiver. Revenge will be fucking sweet (you may not think they're pushovers and with good reason, but I feel another lucky 1-0 in the offing!!!)

http://experimental361.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/football-league-attack-and-defence-110212.png

amazing :'''')

lol @ nottingham forest

Erm, yay? At least our defence is edging towards resilient...

i mean, i know people like to persevere with the McDons bollocks, but he's quite a good manager, is he not?

and his teams play decent football

but he's strangely and quietly psychotic, like a L1 AVB

makes one 'Hollywood pass' a game and the rest are unsuccessful? Alright then

Across 5 and a half years. It's not that many, really. And more pertinently, he's only ever played more than 30 Premier League games in a season once, such have been his problems with injury. More than 22 twice. In the one season he did manage more than 30 games though, we qualified for the Champions League. With him right at the heart of the team, we finished 4th. So it should have been all set up for him to really kick on last year, but of course, he's barely played since.

And you know... Don't dismiss the significance of age in itself. People always say, for example, that centre-backs tend to peak around their late 20s; no one ever says they tend to peak after 200 games.

they remind me a bit of doncaster under o'driscoll. great passing side but a little lightweight.

as a manager he's done very well so far, but he is incredibly graceless and charmless, and he gets easily riled.

you may not have usurped QPR and Sunderland to the signing of Player of the Year in waiting Scott 'Scotty' Parker.

Do squads only need 3 central midfielders now? If he'd stayed fit, Jake Livermore would be on loan at Wolves.

not sure about the defence stat, surely that's more about being lucky/ having a decent defender than being a resilient defence

Maybe goals conceded relative to the % of time the ball is in your final third? But even then I guess it doesn't acknowledge defences who get the ball away quickly or cut the ball out higher up the pitch...

This man wore pyjamas underneath his jeans to the pub the other night. That's the kind of scum we're dealing with.

We've seen a lot of wayward 25-yarders at The Valley this season, usually effected by players being rapidly closed down

Our goalie's had a good season but (last match aside) has been in no way a standout player - our defence has been titanic and teams have been desperate.

His performences with Spurs were good enough for the team/squad then but wouldn't be for where we are now if he's wanting regular first team action, and that's a sign of how much we've improved. He'd obviously fail to dislodge Modric, Parker and Sandro and tbh Livermore's blossoming into a steady DM will also count against old Tommy (much to your chagrin, i'm sure).

I like the big man, i really do, but his future lies somewhere else i reckon. Like Liverpool.

What are you talking about? Why do I give a shit who plays well and who doesn't? Technically though, Livermore isn't anywhere near as good as Huddlestone and he never will be, so they shouldn't really be occupying the same place in the squad. Livermore's competition is Parker and Sandro; Huddlestone's competition should be Modric. Which is fine. He should be happy with that, especially if we're going to be regularly competing in the Champions League and in need of greater squad depth than currently. Plus Modric can play further forward, freeing up space for Huddlestone further behind. We could pair two of Parker, Livermore and Sandro behind Modric, or in his absence, but it's not ideal; with no creative player in a deeper role, we risk isolating the front 4. And Scott Parker's not going to be around forever - he's already 31, so there's also the issue of simply having a bit of foresight.

Chelsea have actually 'conceded' fewer shots this season than they have done at the same point in the season for almost 10 years. They've 'conceded' more shots from within their own area, and as such more goals, than they have for a long while.

Team pressing is the best way to defend- a resilient defence is rarely the result of resilient defenders.

I'd say he'd be worth keeping around as a kind of Ledley King type, maybe even pay-as-you-play - Spurs have a habit of this (wasn't Woodgate another?)

...or maybe his downward trajectory will meet Charlton's upward one and my life can finally become complete

Team pressing is definitely the way of the day and it's no wonder that fitness levels have gone through the roof in recent years

Interesting stat about Chelsea too.

Won 3 (Auxerre, Plzen, BATE)
Drew 3 (Madrid, Marseille, Madrid)
Lost 6 (Arsenal, Zurich, United, Ajax, Spurs, Barca)

How are you feeling? Do you feel ok? Will you do it again? Cigarette?

Seedorf has been around FOREVER.

I, erm, love Mark Bommel too ... If anyone's listening, that is ...

I really fucking love Clarence Seedorf

Why did Spurts let that boy go?

He'd be their best player now.

I liked the look of him at Spurs, got the impression it was Boateng the person and not Boateng the footballer that held me back there.

that was incredible

our possession play has been shite though

Always looked fairly ordinary at Portsmouth.

from the half way line.

typically commanding defending from Tommy V there.

Clive: well, of course Prince Boateng has a swimsuit model girlfriend and she says he's very amorous in the bedroom.

Townsend: dunno what the fuck that means mate but it was a brillyant brillyant goal.

Top class analysis.

we'd have 3 goals by now

milan relaid the pitch on the wings on purpose so we'd be shit didn't they.

Pretty annoying

though it's not over; all Arsenal need to bring back with them is a goal.

Emmanuelson looks pretty pony too- maybe he'll score.

Arsenal look like they're gonna get a hiding here. Vermaelen has looked pretty poor.

He's a real mystery to me as a viewer of English football

Emanuelson and Robinho have both played very well.

You're off the mark, Kelly.

:DD

Got a feeling Arsenal will improve second half. They have to, really.

but Emmanuelson spooned about four passes 15 yards wide of the intended recipient within a few minutes of coming on. Maybe he's usually good, no idea myself, but I'd really struggle to see how he's played 'very well'.

Horses for courses, though.

... so not sure about his performance tonight but he is atrocious isn't he. I mean utterly, utterly abysmal. I genuinely wouldn't want him at County, and that says a lot. It makes me angry how bad he is. Over 200 Arsenal appearances and 20 England caps - how did this happen. If he goes to the Euros I'm going to put my TV on ebay as I don't think my blood pressure could take watching it.
All that said, last time I ranted like this about him he scored within five minutes (at Swansea) so some hope there for the Gooners.

And seems like such a wanker. Just thinking about him makes me quite annoyed.

even from back when we could defend.

Every time he gets near the 18 yard box he either runs into a cul-de-sac, shoots into the side netting or falls over.

Hope the arrogant little cunt concedes another three. Sorry, Arsenal fans.

Just got home. 3-0? State of that pitch

I still don't understand why you dislike him so vehemently! He always seems good fun :D

Harsh

Yes or no?

It's a no from me.

I bloody love 'em. Especially when they celebrate saves like that as well

Fine work, Clive.

Achieved fuck all? He's a very good keeper.

The knives will be out for Wenger

Of course fuck all is relative, but for me his confidence is somewhat exuberant for someone whose greatest achievement so far is usurping Almunia and Fabianski. And in the same vein of relativity, I think 'very good' is very generous- he's good, especially for someone of his age, but I'd still say most keepers in the Premier League are currently better than him.

But he's bare lols on Twitter, so everyone loves him.

you can hardly legislate for an offside goal, an unfortunate slip and djourou

"I can't wait for Mourinho to take over and to have a defence that actually defends".

You're all fucking wanking off about Henry!!! The cunt fucking left us! Don't give me any horseshit, he was captain & said he loved the club, but HE FUCKED OFF!!!!! I notice how no cunt talks about RVP anymore cos fucking henry is back! u fucking pricks. I hate new arsenal fans with a fucking passion. tossers!!!!

Sorry, only me... swear I just wrote 5 mins ago for everyone to fuck off and watch Milan go 4-0 up??? Didn't I? Ooooooh yeah, I did didn't I... oh, and it was Djohorou (who I said was our worst defender) that gave the pen away... BUT HEY, what do I know about football? YOU FUCKING CUNTS!!! Least we had more possession tho. Crack open the champagne, anotha stat in the trophy cabinet. WANKERS!!!!!!

But they've looked so open

At the start of the season, I said we'll finish prob 6th/7th, and won't win fuck all!!! All you arsenal cunts that didn't believe me & thought I was a idiot, well suck on that you pricks. I might be a fucking psycho, but I'm 1 that can see that we are absolute shit!!! 1st time ever in nearly 26 years of my life I will admit, here, on record, Tottenham are beta than us!!!

The others - lol.

CRACK OPEN THE CHAMPAGNE! ANOTHER STAT IN THE TROPHY CUPBOARD! Might have to send this guy a message and tell him how great he is.

If only his performances matched that.

There's still the race for 6th.

Arsenal just don't have many good players

A little too fruity maybe, but not wrong. This Arsenal side (much like the current Chelsea one, before any wise ass pops up) might be better than 95% of English league sides, but it is quite easily the worst I've seen in almost a decade, almost definitely the worst since they finished 13th in the league in the mid-90s. Would you fancy a side of Chelsea's/Arsenal's/Liverpool's current quality to qualify for CL football in any of the last five years or so? I wouldn't- it's almost a crime that one of them very likely will make it.

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11095/7523843/

Wh...?

I wouldn't, tbf.

They lost about four games only last month.

To the tune of wonderwall

You're absolutely right that a team that clearly isn't Champions League quality is going to stumble into 4th place simply because someone has to.

within two weeks United are going to be the only English (even British) team left in Europe.

Looks like Fabregas, Nasri and Clichy were the pieces that'll finally make the tower fall over.

...and only offered me 20s for The Gunners to win the whole thing. Lousy bookies that. Saved me a fiver though.

not so much just the result, but the fact that we were that bad. whole thing seems emblematic of the fact that we're no longer good enough to mix it with the big boys domestically or in europe.

not even gonna bother talking about the performance, what is there to say? what worries me is that the last few years we may have been off the pace but we've at least given a good account of ourselves generally. this year the only reason we're not completely adrift is that chelsea and the scousers are also dreadful.

i've always tried not to be reactionary because the hysteria amongst a lot of our fans is ridiculous, but it seems like every time we look like getting back on track there's just another low point to match the last. abysmal start to the season->recovery->relegation form over january->mini recovery->this.

think our problems lie not just with personnel but with the focal points of the team. I've always defended him but walcott isn't good enough to be a leading light for a team that wants to win things. ramsey should be an option, not playing 40+ games a season for a team with any ambition. if robin stays beyond this season you'd have to question why, if i was in his shoes id leave for a club that will not only pay him more but will actually have a team to match his quality.

there's about 7 players we can begin to build a side around. szcz, vermaelen, sagna, kosc, wilshere and ox are there. rvp if by some miracle he stays. i like both arteta and song but i dont know if we'll compete for the title with a midfield made up of them and wilshere. we need another big player in there not only to provide quality but character too. we've been treading water the last few seasons and in a way i feel like treading water and trying to get 4th every year is actually hampering us from building a team capable of moving forward.

its galling, but look at spurs and the way they've built a dynamic and competitive team with a good squad behind it. we have far too many players who haven't stepped up despite years of opportunity to do so. very depressing time, don't really see how we can expect to be challenging for the big honours anytime soon.

SUCK ON THAT

they were shit for years and have only recently come good on a budget not that much smaller than ours. It'll only take a couple of big european teams to come in for Bale and Modric (or even just one of them) over the summer and their team will start to crumble like ours has over the last few years.

You can't compete over a long period of time with clubs with budgets several times bigger than yours. I don't think this gets mentioned enough when talking about arsenal tbh.

what i was getting at is that tottenham have slowly built a quality team over the last 4 years whilst we seem to be plugging holes in ours every year to retain 4th. how can you replace fabregas with ramsey and arteta and nasri with gervinho, whilst playing the same system as before and not expect a big drop in quality? its inevitable that teams are gonna go through spells of regeneration and rebuilding, i think we havent approached that as best we could have in the last 2 or 3 years maybe. we need a change in approach and emphasis and give players like wilshere the ox and van persie a genuine platform to lead from. its what wenger did a few years ago when he made the switch to 4-3-3 to get the best out of fabregas and build a team around him. we need to do that again and build a *team*. the difference between us and spurs at the moment is that every member of their 11 pulls their weight and contributes whereas i dont think you can say that for us. you can't expect us to have a team of 11 rvps, but we cant afford to have players who are relative passengers in the side and expect to really challenge the top.

this is in response to you still_here

(and some competition for his place)

he's got to be better than rosicky - has he ever done anything in an arsenal shirt when they weren't already winning 3-0 at home?

they're all mavericks and aren't to be trusted.

getting twatted 4-0 by AC Milan is emphatically better value for money than watching your team lose 1-0 to Porto, a nailed on certainty tomorrow night

http://www.rstreem.com/resources/crying.jpg

£227m in 2010/11 according to Deloitte (between Bayern & Chelsea).

The problem probably lies in a certain stubbornness by Wenger to do things "his way" and whatever spending restrictions there are at the club.

felt like a lot of English fans had based his whole career on his few performances against (at the time) top quality English teams in the CL.

Signed on deadline day, played a couple of league cup games and promptly disappeared without trace.

Good chance we'll get a bit of a going over tomorrow. We don't really know how Mancini's feeling about the Europa League. I expect to see quite a strong side, but i'm not sure we'll be going all out. I'd rest a few, were it my call - Kompany, Barry, Silva, Aguero.

We need to make sure we don't stay in the competition any longer than United. Could be a real positive in the title race, with them regularly having to chase our result.

Them by a couple of goals, possibly 3-1.

But a bit devoid of the "mystique" that some foreign players that get idolised in England have (Zidane for instance; don't take that as saying Ibra's as good as Zizou). Lacking those attributes and not really performing in the matches you alluded to has probably damaged his reputation in England.

And with Italian football not on Sky and not seen as much as Spanish football then that also doesn't help.

he's characterrific

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/9396732.stm

Still have fond memories of going mental in my living room when Crouch stuck in the winner, despite his appearing to make great attempts to shank it wide.

One of the very best things any footballer has ever said

Zlatan: Zlatan Junior.