WTF would you want Gilberto there instead of Senderos ?? Dear god, some people amaze me. Look, Gilberto's a DCM, he can play at CB because he's a very good player, despite dozens of people calling for his head a couple of seasons ago, but it's not his best position, (exactly like Senderos at RB ) and he got caught out on several occasions last night. We do not want to have to pull Gilberto out of the midfield to play at CB unless we really have to, and selling Senderos would make that more likely. ARRGGHH!
No one picked up Alex? That looks like Diaby to me. I have no idea why Djourou wasnt' played last night, i can only assume Wenger didn't feel that he was match fit.
i know your not blaming Diaby but for everyone else Alex was like 84 feet in the air. unstoppable. our defenseive problems? for staters playing Toure and Gallas at CB would help, but injuries at LB and RB have prevented that. btw Sendros would have eaten alive by the quick and the fast (= Faran and Kone) if he started (in place of Gilberto)
Though I'd like to fix that problem, sure, I don't think it is our overall worry (not that you said it was). I don't have champs league stats at hand, but in the premiership, we have let in 23 and scored 50. ManU let in 19 scored 66, Chelsea let in 19, scored 50, Liverpool let in 20, scored 44. So, give or take a few goals let in or scored, we are, of course, where we should be in terms of numbers. But what sucks is that we let these goals in when we've dominated a game, taken four times as many shots, and had clear, beautiful chances squandered. For the second year in a row, I feel that it is our offence that has let us down. Though the scoring numbers are the same as, say Chelsea, we have 4-0 winnings over Reading, or 6-whatever Liverpool (carling cup, I know, different goal totals), but we go down 1-0 to Sheffield. Sure we shouldn't have let that goal in, but we certainly certainly should have scored at least one ourselves. When the goals go in against us, we end up seeing that for an opponent's two or four shots, a goal goes in. We have 14 such moments, and an extra pass is made, a shot shanked wide, a crazy mix-up where Aliadiere and Baptista try to shoot the ball through each other....
No Miles, ofcourse I'd rather have Senderos there. I just feel that in an emergency Gilberto can fill that role. But I guess you're right. If Senderos does go and we don't replace him with a purchase then that would mean Gilberto going to CB more often than we like.
Wow! Maybe I got that wrong but it looked like Alex made a run in the box to get to that ball which no one seemed to pick up. Impressive leaps by both of them.
BTW, how do you guys rate quaresma? I know he's labeled a poor man's ronaldo and all that crap, but IMO if he went to Arsenal Arsene would really clean up his game. Solid alternative to Ribery, who might go to bayern from what I hear.
i really rate quaresma and if he came here he would improve even more. ronaldo would probably turn out a poor mans quaresma in my opinion.
Spend Money. For once let's sign sign a defender who is confident in his ability. Someone like Alex or Onyewu could really take names in the back for us.
I love the Gooch, but are you really suggesting he would be an improvement over Kolo Toure and William Gallas?
I love Onyewu as much as the next guy – probably more, actually – but he's an unproven quantity. I'm not going to go so far to say that he is better than any CB we have on our team... Senderos or otherwise.
It's interesting, I always had heard that there was something sort of hazy and mysterious, and maybe even underhanded about the relationship between Chelski, PSV and Alex, but the quotes from Koeman after the match made it sound like it was just a plain ol' loan.
The Abidal rumor is back... with a vengance!!! Reportedly available for 10m. We've heard the rumor of interest in Abidal before (right before this season) but then we got Gallas. It's somewhat believable, if only because he's French.
uhh... yes It would be nice to see him play sometime. Look, I'm not a gooch aficionado or anything. I just think that we need a defender with some primacy.
You have a link to those Koeman quotes? Not trying to be a smartarse but I've never heard that it was a loan.
Here yoss, I read it yesterday post-match: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/a/arsenal/6421475.stm PSV coach Ronald Koeman - who sent Liverpool and Manchester United crashing out of the Champions League last season, was elated and paid tribute to the performance of Alex. He said: "He's one of the best central defenders there is and it's incredible he plays for a team like PSV. "He's Chelsea's player and PSV rent him from Chelsea because he's still not allowed to play in England. "We're proud he plays for us but know it won't be for much longer. "He can play against Chelsea in the next round because he's at PSV until the end of the season. "After that we'll talk to Chelsea about his situation. It was an agreement with Chelsea that he stays with us for the season. "I think Chelsea will be very happy Alex scored tonight."
Who do we need to buy and sell. For next season who do we need to buy and sell, in other word whats the missing bit of the puzzle. I hate lossing, so something has got to give, in the transfer window. Selling: Senderos, Aliadere. Buying: Woodgate, Gale, Eto'o, and a attacking winger, and the GK Igor ????? from Russia.