I think the situation we're in with the unhappy players is absolutely brilliant. At this point in time they may be angereed and what not, but when we lose a game (if ever), or drop a couple points these players will be waiting to prove their value to the squad. It's all healthy competition and only injects those waiting with a hunger to succeed when their chance arrives.
Now i am justified in my thread as Flamini messed up for the first goal, not mostly from ability but EXPERIENCE. Also Gilberto done a wonderful challenge on Gerrard which started of the Bendtner chance. He needs to play against Man Utd although im pretty sure he wont.
Oh shut up. Honestly. He made ONE mistake. ONE mistake this season, moving out of a bloody wall. Gilberto let one of Liverpool's players run clear on goal within minutes of coming on. People don't get dropped for one mistake. Stop being stupid.
I should probably explain what i mean, as i like Flamini, but i really think we need Bert for this weeks match. His experience will be invaluable against the Mancs. But Skizz, you must admit Flamini at times seemed like a chicken missing its head against Liverpool.
Did I ask insane questions like this when I had more free time??? To quote about 6 million people: "Don't fix what ain't broke"
Woah, Gilberto was awesome tonight and deserved man of the match but they gave it to Eduardo who also had a good game, then again who didnt have a good game?
Flamini was pants against Liverpool. Just because Scousers only managed to score one goal off of the 4 dangerous chances he gifted them (giving away the ball leading to the free kick off of which they scored, pulling out of the wall leading to the goal, mis-hitting a clearance leading to a save, and giving away the ball leading to another save) does not mean that we should ignore the quality of his play and not be proactive. Gilberto looks in the better form atm and always was the better player. It is time to bring him back into the team.
A bit sad to see Gilberto marginalized to the extent he has been. And him not getting (or not wanting to take) the captain's armband today speaks volumes. I'm guessing AW may have decided he's reached the end of his usefulness. He's just turned 31 which is basically AARP zone if you work for Wenger. Plus there are a lot of midfielder options these days, even if they don't quite have his experience. Bert doesn't complain much publicly, but you gotta figure he's royally pissed off... Gallas was given the regular captaincy... Bert's never gotten back his starting role this year. To me it seems like a pretty big gamble to allow him to be so disgruntled and possibly walk away in January when we could go deep into 4 competitions this year. If we have bad luck injury-wise, seems he'd be missed. I'd probably try to keep him happy enough & on-board enough to play a constructive part in that. The next few days/weeks may be very interesting & revealing.
I'm still not convinced that Flamini is better than Gilberto. And it seems odd that Flamini is the one being favored when he's the one out of contract at the end of the year. It seems like we could be facing another Edu/Vieira situation with two of our top midfielders leaving around the same time.
Just because, as it has been said, Arsene possesses the best footballing mind on the planet and, therefore, generally "knows", that doesn't mean that we as fans have no right to express our opinions. Thus, I've never been really impressed with Flamini--he's just a hustling squad player, a sort of Ray Parlour for the 21st century. No way he's in Gilberto's league as a holding midfielder. He was pretty crappy against Liverpool, too. Insofar as he's hampering the development of Diaby/Diarra/Denilson, players who are far more skilled and athletic than he is, by taking a starting spot, that can't be good for team morale behind the scenes. Who the hell was the captain today, if not Gilberto?? He's practically 10 years older than the rest of the players! That speaks volumes, no doubt, about the apparent rift between Gilberto and Wenger.
What are you saying?? That Flamini is going to blow out his knee in 2008-09 when he signs a big contract with, say, Athletico Madrid??
I wouldnt read too much into Gilberto not being captain as i remember at the start of the season Wenger & Gilberto discussed the captaincy being awarded to Gallas. Gilberto came out saying he was fine with it and requested not to be involved in captaincy anymore.....He went on to say the only thing he was cheesed off about was about how he find out.
Gilberto didn't say he didn't want to be involved, he just said he was surprised to be overlooked for it. Anyway Wenger was asked in the post-match interview why Gilberto wasn't captain, and I quote: Whether or not he's given up his vice-captaincy I'm not too sure, but either way that's a good gesture.
I thought Toure was vice-Captain this season. Gilberto seems to be a team guy and I'd like to see him stick around. Unfortunately, we have a lot of midfield talent at the moment.
how can we all say that Flamini was crap against Pool *even tho I thought it as well*... Gerrard did not have the best game statistically, and Liverpool were never able to keep possession or even counter... Flamini had a big hand in that...
Exactly. Fabregas was responsible for the first two. And oh my god, he mishit a clearance. Tell me who has never done that in their time in professional football!!
So I just got to hear Wenger's post-match comments on Gilberto, Fabianksi, captaincy... to hear his own words... and tone. I'd have to say that he sounded geniune that there is no problem w/ Gilberto, other than that he'd like to play more. If so, it's an amazing testimony to Gilberto that he would be able to check his ego at the door to that extent. To play & lead so well for the team yesterday... even though the captaincy was first given to him (in recent years) and now seems taken away. Or else AW's just doing a fantastic job of pretending there's no problem, so as to keep it all private. Or Bert is fuming inside and just not letting that show. Kinda hard to know with him. Anyway, let's move on and just see how things play out. Coming into this busy time, and expecting some level of new injuiries, it stands to reason that he'll have more chance to contribute.
For the foul leading to the free kick: http://www.indianpad.com/story/130950 0:06- As you can see the run of play leading up to the foul on Gerrard, begins when Flamini takes a heavy touch while trying to turn up the field as he's receiving the ball in a dangerous area- leading to Gerrard jacking Flamini, then Kuyt, then Torres, then Gerrard shot on goal, then Almunia save, then Torres getting the rebound and chipping the ball toward Fabregas, who takes a heavy touch forward off of his thigh, leaving the ball for a storming Alonso who he takes down. So yeah, Fabregas is the one directly responsible for the foul but it was Flamini who put Arsenal in the situation to begin with. So they're both at fault, imo. For the free kick itself: http://www.fcfootballblog.com/liverpool-0-0-arsenal-report-and-highlights/ 0:06- I think this is the best angle. Fabregas reads that Gerrard is going to take the kick and opts to charge him. As Fabregas leaves, Kuyt, who is at the end of the wall, then makes a run across the face of the wall, Flamini slides over to replace the gap Kuyt leaves behind, and in doing so creates the gap which Gerrard fires through. I agree that Fabregas should not have charged in that situation particularly as Almunia was screaming at him not to, but at least Almunia knew that this was what he was going to do and could make an adjustment. Imo, what Flamini did was worse as he left a position that Almunia could not cover for a position that he could cover and he did so in a panic move.