Match Reaction vs Napoli.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Another glorious fightback from another abysmal start.

I would say Koscielny MotM, though Rosicky had a good game too.

We're second in the Emirates Cup, presuming we get the advantage on alphabetical order. :pray:

[Niall_Quinn]

Embarrassing rubbish,but Kos looked sharp.

[Master Splinter]

Koscielny :bow: :bow:.

Still time for a £50m bid from Bayern. :(

Rosicky is such a wonderful player. At least he's still 24 in football years.

Podolski truly awlful.

Higuain rubbish. Pandev and Mertens outshone him. And Kos was his boss. £34m :lol:.

[She Wore A Yellow Ribbon]

sanogo :haha: :haha: :haha:

what a useless, pathetic, uninspiring piece of shit. it's a shame this isle is surrounded by water so he can't hop onto another territory. hopefully he hops into the sea.

[Ollie the Optimist]

giroud just said he is expecting a striker to join.


Giroud ITK :bow:

[Cripps_orig]

Sagna and Koscielny with the goals

Defenders pulling us out of trouble again

[Harland]

How was the atmosphere like

[milla]

Sagna and Koscielny with the goals

Defenders pulling us out of trouble again

Not defenders but Koscielny. Jenks and Per were sluggish. :coffee:

[Cripps_orig]

Not defenders but Koscielny. Jenks and Per were sluggish. :coffee:

Didn't watch it tbh

Just going by the goals

[McNamara That Ghost...]

How was the atmosphere like

Not that bad really, there were boos when we were losing of course but that's the usual situation. Didn't hear any chants of 'Spend some fucking money' like last year.

[Niall_Quinn]

Not that bad really, there were boos when we were losing of course but that's the usual situation. Didn't hear any chants of 'Spend some fucking money' like last year.

Over 12s being banned probably helped with that.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

I thought the Under12s would chant something like that tbf.

[Cripps_orig]

Any highlights around?

[PGFC]

Any highlights around?

only spuds losing 5-2 really...

[LDG]

That was dire.

But, it's pre-season dire, so that's ok.

Podolski is fat.

[milla]

That was dire.

But, it's pre-season dire, so that's ok.

Podolski is fat.

I dread to see Podolski on wide position, he has no pace or skill to play there. :coffee:

[Grebbo]

Did any of our mob play well? How did Jack do?

[Niall_Quinn]

Did any of our mob play well? How did Jack do?

Pretty crap, looks unfit.

Rosicky was fairly positive in the centre, Ramsey put in a decent shift but was played out wide, Kos looked like he's ready for the new season, Merts was okay. Sagna good when he came on.

Fabs was awful for their second goal, the rest were as careless as usual but special mention for Podolski and Walcott. They were beyond shit, Pods because he looked fat and unfit and literally nothing he did worked out and Walcott because he fucked up everything he touched bar one cross.

Wenger's tactics were hopeless as usual, we got into the game once Napoli had subbed their first, second, third and women's teams and were going with their hatchlings.

Higuain looked unfit too and was hardly in it when he came on.

[Seaman's Ponytail]

If ever there was a case for buying Fellaini it was the first half today, desperately in need of a DM. Still good comeback in second half
Mental strength :bow:

[Grebbo]

Pretty crap, looks unfit.

Rosicky was fairly positive in the centre, Ramsey put in a decent shift but was played out wide, Kos looked like he's ready for the new season, Merts was okay. Sagna good when he came on.

Fabs was awful for their second goal, the rest were as careless as usual but special mention for Podolski and Walcott. They were beyond shit, Pods because he looked fat and unfit and literally nothing he did worked out and Walcott because he fucked up everything he touched bar one cross.

Wenger's tactics were hopeless as usual, we got into the game once Napoli had subbed their first, second, third and women's teams and were going with their hatchlings.

Higuain looked unfit too and was hardly in it when he came on.

Thanks. Podolski is a very unlike Wenger player. He's not at all mobile. He sounds like he's a good guy to have around the dressing room but I don't think that's worth £90k pw in wages. I was kinda hoping we'd sell him tbh but there's a lot of dross above him which we're slowly getting rid of so maybe Podolski will have to wait until next summer.

[Cripps_orig]

Arsène Wenger spoke to the media after the Napoli game. Here is a transcript of the press conference:

on the match…
It was a good game overall. It had a good pace against a good side. Napoli is a good side. They finished second in the league in Italy last year. They are very good at counter-attacking. I feel overall during the 90 minutes that we played very well going forward. It took us some time to adjust defensively. It was as well a mental test because we were 2-0 down against such a good team to come back to 2-2. It was very interesting for us.

on talking openly about transfers…
I don’t understand this kind of thinking and I wouldn't like to talk openly about negotiations because that is not my target in the press conference. I can just repeat what I said yesterday: until the 31st, which is one month in front of us, we will work very hard to strengthen our squad without naming any specific names because I don’t believe that will make negotiations easier. After that you can make all kinds of thinking about the prices of the players.

on transfer negotiations…
When you want to buy any player you need the agreement of the club and the agreement of the player and you need to agree a price. So you need three agreements. It is like you go to your neighbour and say: 'I want to buy your house, so get out tomorrow morning.' He will not be necessarily happy about it.
We have to focus on the players that we have. We are not drawn too much into the stories. But I can understand that they are interesting for people who love football, but it is not the most important in the game.
We will treat every transfer with the rules we have always followed and in a fair, respectful way. That is our club. Other clubs do it differently and that is their problem. But we are completely faithful to the values we think are important here.

on winning the title…
I am confident. Why should I sit here and say to you that we can absolutely not win the title with the players we have?

on his team's performance…
I think our defence in the second half played very well. Defensively in the first half we gave too much distance to their players, we marked them from too big a distance and we shortened up a little bit in the second half. Our distances between the lines was shorter and we played higher up and overall we did very well on that.

on Gonzalo Higuain…
What can you do if every player I don't buy scores a goal and suddenly it is a disaster? They do not have to stop to play because they go somewhere else. Higuain is a good player. If he had scored today, he would have scored today and it wouldn't have changed my mind.

on players possibly leaving…
Gervinho we are at the moment close to an agreement with a club where he should go. Bendtner we are nowhere. At the moment he is completely here. Chamakh might go somewhere, it will be decided in the next 48 hours. [They are] permanent moves.

on Napoli…
I think they are a very good side. Very well organised. I like what they did in midfield. You could see that this team plays for a few years together. Hamsik was especially dominant in the first half. They gave us big problems there. Overall they are compact, united and a very well-organised team that is very good.

on extending Bacary Sagna's contract…
We will try to extend Bacary Sagna but we are not close to an agreement.

on making a bid for Luis Suarez…
I never said we have made a bid to Liverpool, now I can tell you we have made one, so at least that is some information. All the rest, I would like to keep to us. If we progress in that situation, we will inform you. At the moment, that is where we are.


Wengers post match comments

[Ollie the Optimist]

If ever there was a case for buying Fellaini it was the first half today, desperately in need of a DM. Still good comeback in second half
Mental strength :bow:

fellaini while being a good player isnt really a DM. hes always attacking. if we need a DM, he isnt the answer unless we continue to use Arteta there as DM too like last season

[Cripps_orig]

Fellaini sees himself as a DM.

[Niall_Quinn]

on players possibly leaving…
Gervinho we are at the moment close to an agreement with a club where he should go. Bendtner we are nowhere. At the moment he is completely here. Chamakh might go somewhere, it will be decided in the next 48 hours. [They are] permanent moves.

This is as close as you'll get to Wenger telling a player to fuck off. "At the moment he is completely here." :haha:

[GP]

fellaini while being a good player isnt really a DM. hes always attacking. if we need a DM, he isnt the answer unless we continue to use Arteta there as DM too like last season

Happy with Arteta there. He's been excellent.

[Ollie the Optimist]

This is as close as you'll get to Wenger telling a player to fuck off. "At the moment he is completely here." :haha:

surely there is nothing stopping us making him clean the toilets in the stadium everyday. if he wont fuck off, at least he can do something useful

[She Wore A Yellow Ribbon]

If ever there was a case for buying Fellaini it was the first half today, desperately in need of a DM. Still good comeback in second half
Mental strength :bow:

http://thumbs.fussball-infoservice.de/62/fbfc0ec80fab86d081a54802f95f8d.jpg?t=ed7d01c93d58a 536cea515a8dee3eb5401202631&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.as.com%2Frecorte%2F20081022dasd asftb_62%2FC280%2FIes%2F20081022dasdasftb_62.jpg

[Niall_Quinn]

http://thumbs.fussball-infoservice.de/62/fbfc0ec80fab86d081a54802f95f8d.jpg?t=ed7d01c93d58a 536cea515a8dee3eb5401202631&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.as.com%2Frecorte%2F20081022dasd asftb_62%2FC280%2FIes%2F20081022dasdasftb_62.jpg

He will be like a new signing, in 2015

[AKBapologist]

Only saw the highlights but hope girouds form lasts. Jenks needs to get wise fast, and I'd rather have Chesney in goal than flappy. Holy crap

[Cripps_orig]

Seen the goals.

Welcome back Jenkinsom.

We need a keeper.

Good finish from Sagna and great cross from Theo.

Mert and Kos for the 2nd :bow:

[JonasTC]

Only seen the extended highlights on arsenal.com, 2 rookie mistakes from 2 reserves for the napoli goals, but seemed like we dominated the match? Amazing goal from Giroud, lets hope his goal scoring continues into the premier league. Atleast, after a good pre-season, he probably got the kind of confidence a striker needs :)

Thumbs up for Wenger saying that Bendtner should fuck off and die, in a nice way >_<

[Cripps_orig]

Girouds shot was going miles wide before it hit Sagna and went in

[JonasTC]

ah okay, been working all day and just came home like an hour ago, so in my tiredness i didnt see it hit sagna :p I still think it was an amazing move, if it had when in or not :)

[Cripps_orig]

Hopefully it's given to Giroud.

As a striker, he needs goals for confidence and seeing as we aren't getting another striker in, he's all we got no matter how poor he is so him being confident would help

[-Xs-]

"I am confident. Why should I sit here and say to you that we can absolutely not win the title with the players we have?"

Because for once, just for once, we'd like you to be honest. With yourself as much as the fans....

We were miles off last year and nothing much has changed. They weren't good enough last season, barring a calamity from all the other teams round us, they won't be good enough this season either. Unless of course 'winning the title" has become some kind of euphemism for finishing 4th

[GP]

We were miles off last year and nothing much has changed.

He knows that. Obviously.

Put it this way, if your manager said in public that his staff were too shit to get the job done, how would that make you feel?

Honestly, some people...

[Özim]

Because for once, just for once, we'd like you to be honest. With yourself as much as the fans....

We were miles off last year and nothing much has changed. They weren't good enough last season, barring a calamity from all the other teams round us, they won't be good enough this season either. Unless of course 'winning the title" has become some kind of euphemism for finishing 4th

Pretty much, how many managers actually come out and say they can win the title, other than the top teams none. He's deluded IMO and genuinely believes the cr*p he comes up with, he's overhyped his team for years and it's never come to anything, maybe he should downplay expectations and take the pressure off.

Saying they're not winning the title is hardly like saying they are sh*t, it's just managing expectations.

I knew the little unbeaten run last season would lead to this, it always does, it's happened so many times before it's untrue and everytime he reacts in the same way by referring to it and using it a proof that we're a top team ready to win stuff.

[Power n Glory]

'If we improve on how we played last season, we have a chance.' That is all he has to say. It's not rocket science.

[Özim]

Wengers post match comments
This values and respect thing is a load of nonsense, we talk about respect and yet go in with an insulting £40,000,001 bid and we talk about values and yet are after a player who's been in trouble almost as much as Joey Barton and has no values.

[Ollie the Optimist]

This values and respect thing is a load of nonsense, we talk about respect and yet go in with an insulting £40,000,001 bid and we talk about values and yet are after a player who's been in trouble almost as much as Joey Barton and has no values.

forty million pounds is not insulting. ITS FORTY MILLION POUNDS FOR CHRIST SAKE

[Niall_Quinn]

forty million pounds is not insulting. ITS FORTY MILLION POUNDS FOR CHRIST SAKE

It proves we're finally prepared to spend big money, doesn't it? You see how that works?

[Özim]

forty million pounds is not insulting. ITS FORTY MILLION POUNDS FOR CHRIST SAKE
The one pound is insulting, sorry but it is and it's no wonder it irritated Liverpool.

[Niall_Quinn]

It's not about insulting Liverpool, who cares about that ultimately? Better not to do it but they were going to be pissed at the approach anyway. It's about treating the fans like cunts. A £40mill bid is completely meaningless if the selling club won't sell at that price. You could say we thought the £40mill forced a clause that required them to sell and if that's the case all it means is we don't do our homework. Now we know it's not enough, where's our £50mill bid? We're not serious about signing this player and that's why the bid is not serious.

[Ollie the Optimist]

well listening to five live today, comolli who was liverpools director of football or whatever the exact job title was, says there is a clause. therefoere 40 million is not insultiing.

[-Xs-]

He knows that. Obviously.

Put it this way, if your manager said in public that his staff were too shit to get the job done, how would that make you feel?

Honestly, some people...

Does he though?

Of course he's not going to come out saying the team is shit, nor should he. He doesn't believe that anyway but that's beside the point. How about just saying that we'd take each game as it comes rather than faux bravado about how we can win the title?