This is a surprise? He wasn't supposed to be more than just on the edge of the first team this season, and it took basically 5 injuries to get him on the field in this match -- if any of Sagna, Jenks, Gibbs, Santos or Djourou can go we can rearrange the back without needing him. I think he's played right at his level of development, i.e. not bad. Have to feel ok about this one. Unlike most, I had low expectations going in, and I thought we acquitted ourselves well. We played well, they played better. Amazing what you can do with limitless resources, eh?
If you assemble a 100 million pound squad, you'd think they'd play like Barca. Watching Citeh, meh. Good thing you have lots of money sheik mansour.
i agree...with a good all round performance like the one we put in today we would have beaten most teams in the league. citeh are a different class this season tho
They'll probably win the league title this season, but that team is due to implode. When Balotelli came off, his coach said nothing to him, he didn't even look at Mancini, none of the players on the bench even acknowledged him. Their problems with him aren't secret, but I think it's the underlying problem.
No doubt about it man. Man city is definitely looking tops of the league right now but they're not at the point where I watch them play and are blown away by them. They were gnarlier when they had Tevez going full bore. I was not impressed by the win today. It really could've gone either way. They will implode Im certain of it. It really is up for grabs this season and I expect the Gunners to make a full scale turnaround on a statement season.
Oh, and I hate to agree with Fergie, but City do have the mindset of a little brother, inferior club. Nasri has man of the match? Kompany, Silva, Barry, Aguero (and maybe 2-3 other people) all had better games. Bush league shit.
Our defense had a lapse, like every defense has. They were by far our biggest asset otherwise. We couldn't hold the ball for shit in the middle of the park and couldn't find space in the final third.
Totally missed Diaby today as well as Jack. Thoroughly enjoyed our defensive performance, for the person saying Song didn't do enough against Balo either you are underestimating Balo, or not aware of his strength and skill because Song played that about as well as he could WITHOUT fouling which around here seems to be the complaint about him. Miquel should've been there to wipe up after the shot was parried. I'm not mad at all just a bit frustrated at the glaring lack of quality off the bench. When we rotate it's just guys making up the numbers. Arshavin and Chamakh are bereft of any type of confidence at this moment and should be let go for their own sake. We're in desparate need of quality to ally up top with RvP. Because today showed that guys will suffer dips in form and may need to be revivified in order to be at their best. http://twitter.com/#!/Gingers4Limpar/status/148592248248991744/photo/1
it's okay, don't bother. rasta only comes about when we lose to harp on whatever negative he can possibly locate, real or imaginary. you're best off utilising the various features of the board.
it wouldn't be much of a shout. he didn't move his arm/hand toward the ball at all. i personally was more upset about toure's takedown of ramsey in the first half and his forearm to the back of our forward on that (handball) play. i thought they could have both been legitimate shouts for penalty.
Richards' "handball" reminded me of the one called on Gallas a few years ago. I don't remember which game, but he tried to pull his hand behind his back, and the ref gave a penalty for handball. I thought it was a bullshit call then, so i can't be upset over Richards. But i do wonder if it was the same ref.
I agree that Koscielny did not have his best game. He's a quality defender, but yesterday he wasn't at his best. I'm not too disappointed about the loss. City deserved to win. They got the goal and had the best chances in the game. However, overall, I did not think we played too badly. We just made bad decisions in the final third and were not able to convert on the few times we were able to get behind them. Oh well. We're not really competiting with City anyway this season, so I don't think the loss will do too much damage. At least we showed that we can compete against a pretty stacked team away from home.
Besides the fact that he may be partially at fault for the goal, I was remarking all game about how damn good he was. He put Aguero in his pocket on a number of occasions. I thought he was our best defender by a ways yesterday, and thats just becoming the standard of his performances for us.
I agree that Kos wasn't at his A+ game but to compare him to Senderos is idiocy of the highest order. Plus you're absolutely correct, we're not competing with City. I'm more concerned with the Chavs and Spurs at the moment.
Totally agree with the bolded statement. There could have been two penalties called there. The handball would have been moderately soft, but I've seen those given. Toure's leading forearm steamroll job on Vermaelen (I think it was), on the other hand, is a stone-cold penalty. I can't believe more isn't being made of that.
He has played better. I don't think he had a bad game per se, but he misplaced quite a few passes, dove in a lot and miscleared the ball a couple of times. I still love him back there though. The way he got turned by Aguero and then tackled Aguero at half line (got the yellow for it) is exactly why he is needed. He's a true defender and a competitor. Yeah, they are polar opposites. However, I'm in the camp that thinks Wenger treated Senderos pretty badly. I don't think he was as bad as some people have made him out to be. But, I admit that I'm biased. I think Senderos is a really cool, chill guy, so I really wanted him to make a career for himself here. Oh well.
My comparison to Senderos wasn't to diss Senderos perse, just to show the high esteem I hold Kos in. As to Senderos, man I agree, can anyone with a straight face tell me that he was WORSE than Squillacci, or whatshisface from United? smh
of course he isnt worse than Squillaci, but thats not really a good standard, lol. He didnt want to play for us anymore, and good riddance. Last thing we need was mental midgets at centerback.
If it's episode I'm thinking of, it was Ramsey. And the fact that we didn't get anything out of that is Ramsey's fault, not Kolo's. If Ramsey had been little more quick-thinking and quick-acting, we could have gotten a penalty there or even a goal. As it was, no call on the penalty was the right decision. We got nuthin'.