Agreed. 2 seasons ago, we had one striker all season named RvP and a much weaker midfield . . . 37 goals in 30 Premier League games, 5 in the CL, 2 in the FA cup. Incidentally, purchased by Wenger for 2.75M pounds in 2004 . . . Next topic?
Just noticed that we are behind Everton on goal difference. I assumed we were ahead but we are +18 while they are +22 with their game in hand. Need to stuff some teams.
Santi is so skillful it's fun to watch and when he gets his head up he can pick a nice pass too. I'm not quite sold on his style for the prem though. He tries to beat his man as a priority and often misses what few runs we actually make. Most teams are throwing 2-3 defenders at him these days w/o Ramsey, Wilshere and Ozil. Give him any space or put one man on him and you're toast though. Gunner is right, he needs some better players around him. Not sure if I agree, he's had only 10 starts in the league his season and I'd wager most of those he was pulled off after 70 mins. I like what he brings...he's got what 13 goals in 16 starts. We really miss theo (like every other season), no substitute for speed on the wing in the prem. As far as Giroud goes, he's had a bad stretch since his drama, but he's not the trash that some are making it sound like. What's he got 20 goals and a handful of assists? He should get another 2-3 by the end. I think most of us would have taken 22 goals and 7-8 assists from Giroud when the season started. THe problem is his backups have 2 goals between them...no rotation, no competition and little experience on the bench at striker. Again, it's not so much the quality of the squad, it's the depth...same story for 7 years really.
not sure if you guys listen to talksport radio but Adrian Durham is discussing diving in the prem and his argument is that Jarvis should have died last night...this guys is such a tool, if that was one of our players who had dived he would have been calling down fire and brimstone on those "diving foreighners"
That's true. Sagna definitely fouled the guy as slight as it was and refs only award penalties of you go down. It's almost like diving is the players way of saying I want the penalty/fk instead of the advantage. Like on fifa when I see the ref play advantage and I let the other team touch the ball do I get the fk
he's not doesnt contribute enough defensively to justify a spot. If we had the team to play 442, he would work doe.
Bit extreme, no? Also, had Jarvis gone down, I wouldn't consider it a dive. We were fortunate he was focused on the ball though, because that should have been a penalty.
Sanogo deserves to start the next game due to his great performance against Wigan (he was the most threatful player on the pitch, had more shots than the entire team iirc). It's almost unbearable to see Giroud playing in an Arsenal shirt.
Just because he scored 1 goal and 1 assist doesn't change the fact that he has been horrible for quite some time now. There shouldn't be any fickleness
Regarding Jarvis and Sagna colliding, everyone seems to agree that: 1) it was a foul 2) had he gone down, a penalty would have been given. But I think we all know point number 2 is nowhere near that simple. Suppose Jarvis oversells the contact in his attempt to go down and it looks slightly more theatrical than realistic, does he still warrant the penalty in the court of public opinion??? What about the Ref's interpretation at that point? I don't know about Kevin Friend, but Howard Webb would see through that crap. Hell, Mike Dean probably books him for diving!
I think in that situation, the ref would be reluctant to give a PK to a player running away from goal.
I don't think he can create for himself and without Ramsey and Ozil now, he has a more difficult time. I think he is pretty good. Not elite, but pretty darn good.
That comparison is not even in the same universe. A better one would be Bony or Michu or Ba and I'd pick him over those three.
Fair enough criticism, but that seems to be the argument against every single LFW we've played in recent memory. Solution? I don't really watch Germany much, does he not defend at all for them or is he just SS? Would you rather santi play there? Iirc, he's even worse at defending on the left. Ya, sonogo was threatening, but how many goals does he have for us? Refresh my memory. He also had several good chances in that game and missed them in the same way that Giroud has of late. We can't put all the blame on Giroud...he never was and probably never is going to be a 30 goal a season striker. Why are you people expecting that? He is performing at a level I'd expect for how much he is payed and how much he cost. Everyone wants something for nothing. Point your blame to management for not bringing in a decent backup or another striker for competition. Bendy and sonogo...what a joke.
This summation is why diving is so maddening. It looks to me that Jarvis felt the contact, intended to keep going, realized that he had gone too far to fall down and therefore had to continue. Players like Suarez are constantly kicking the ball, waiting for any contact at all, and then falling down. Jarvis wasn't looking to fall, stayed on his feet because he could and therefore got nothing. We live in a day and age where contact in the box = penalty, when we know half of the challenges resulting in a "fall" which occur in the area would never make a strong man in his 20s fall over anywhere else. It's a kind of cynical gamesmanship that's a little embarrassing, even when Arsenal players do it.
You definition of horrible must be different than mine when you are comparing a guy who has scored 20 goals against a player that has scored ZERO.
C'MON PALACE!!! They are currently leading Everton 0-1 at the break!!! I read that we're behind Everton on goal difference, let's hope this lead gets well padded in the second half at Goodison Park!!!
3-2to a Palace right now. Side note. I love our squad. I was harsh on Sanogo on Saturday and admitted as such. I support this squad and these players. I like all of them, I think they give everything they have. Something that couldn't be said a few seasons ago. These guys seem to like each other, the fans and the shirt, they give everything. Even when there is nothing to give. With injuries some of them have been pushed past exhaustion (Giroud!). They completely bottled it in 4 games, but I still love this squad. Get behind them! I don't care if we finish fifth. If we do, it happened. A year out won't kill us, look at Liverpool. Fourth is also fine. But definitely win the FA Cup and support the squad. My apologies to Sanogo supporters,on Saturday. I bit the negative bug. It is swallowed and gone, now COYG!
For now, order is restored. And in other news -- the overall collapse of MC and Chelsea is possibly worse than ours. A month ago you would've said it's theirs to lose -- but they are practically handing it to Liverpool.