"They mat take our best player's but they'll never take our passing" Has to be his speech.
"They mat take our best player's but they'll never take our passing" Has to be his speech.
No chance of top 3.Arsenal legend Robert Pires has insisted his former side can finish in the Premier League top three this season.
The Gunners have endured a mixed start to the season but ensured they remain two points behind fourth-placed Tottenham with a 1-0 win over QPR on Saturday.
And Pires, who was part of an Arsenal side which went an entire domestic season unbeaten to lift the title, believes the current crop have enough about them to finish near the summit.
“I see top three for them,” Pires told ZoneMixte.fr.
“The come-back of Wilshere will be good, Arteta has progressed. Giroud, Podolski, Cazorla have experience at a high level. Therefore, I think, and i hope, they will make great things.”
The 39-year-old also hailed Arsene Wenger’s financial philosophy, believing it will reap rewards once Uefa’s new Financial Fair Play regulations come into play.
He said: “Now, with the fair-play system, Arsenal will be one of the only clean clubs in Europe. When Arsène explains that he wants to qualify in Champions League, he knows that it is an important competition at the economical plan.
“But I understand fans and players who want to win titles. The Premier League, the Cup, even League Cup are important, because it's a means to making a celebration, therefore the words are not the same and I understand that people could be angry.”
Pires went on to dismiss suggestions that the north London club are reluctant to invest in the transfer market, citing the recent arrivals of Santi Cazorla and Olivier Giroud.
He continued: “I think Arsène can spend money. If it was not the case, Cazorla couldn't come, for example.
“Giroud is good. I ask people to be patient with him. It's not easy for Olivier, he has to score goals, in another country, with another language.
“But his second mission is to replace Robin Van Persie, so good luck!
“His relation with Belhanda in Montpellier for example, its the result of work. This kind of relation, he will have with players like Cazorla, Podolski or Walcott, because there are players who play in side and have to give him good pass.
“People have to remember that Thierry Henry didn't score when he arrived. Now he is a legend. Henry was very strong with Bergkamp, i don't know if he could become a great player without him.”
Spot on about Henry and Bergkamp. Bergkamp
WinterburnNigel Winterburn believes Arsenal will be making a mistake if they allow Theo Walcott to leave the club.
The England winger is no closer to agreeing a new contract and, with his current deal set to expire at the end of the season, is attracting interest from rivals Liverpool.
Walcott wants assurances that he will start to play through the middle as a striker and Winterburn has urged Arsene Wenger to grant him his wish and keep him at the Emirates.
“I am a bigger fan of Theo Walcott than a lot of pundits,” said the former Gunners star. “It’s showed up over the last few weeks when Theo Walcott hasn’t been around due to injury.
“When he’s come on he’s made a difference. We say about Theo Walcott that he’s not consistent enough, his crossing isn’t good enough when he plays out wide. But he is a good finisher and he has that ability to change a game.
“You need a player like that in the Arsenal team. You also need someone with pace up front as well. I hope eventually he does get that chance to play up front.
“It is a concern that the contract is still dragging out. I don’t think it is about money, I think he genuinely does want to play the majority of the game up front.
“If Arsenal say we can’t guarantee you the majority of games but we will switch you between wide right and up front, I think Theo Walcott would sign for the club.”
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Always been a fan
Nigel
No, it is all about the moolah --- that is what PHW & majority on gw say. Get with the popular mantra NIGEL“If Arsenal say we can’t guarantee you the majority of games but we will switch you between wide right and up front, I think Theo Walcott would sign for the club.”
Need to get Paul Davis on the pitch to break some jaws.Fresh from an incredible 7-5 victory over Reading, Arsenal return on Saturday to the scene of last season's 8-2 mauling by Manchester United.
Both scorelines would have given former Gunners boss George Graham nightmares and you suspect they will hardly have impressed current coach Steve Bould either - one of the grittiest members of Graham's famously stubborn Arsenal back four in the late eighties, early nineties era.
The 49-year-old former Stoke, Gunners and Sunderland centre-half Bould was brought into manager Arsene Wenger's set-up to improve a defence which was too porous last season.
Arsenal go into the game at United with the tightest defence in the league, letting in just six goals in nine Premier League games, compared with 18 at the same point last season.
They have conceded far fewer shots on goal and the number of tackles they have made has significantly increased too.
Paul Davis, who also played under Graham and chalked up 447 appearances for the Gunners, thinks the defence has gelled as centre-back Per Mertesacker continues to acclimatise to English football and the consistency of right-back Carl Jenkinson improves, although the returning Bacary Sagna is likely to feature on Saturday.
Then there is Bould's influence. Davis, a midfielder who enjoyed a 17-year career at the club, has seen a better shape to the back four and thinks it will improve as the former academy manager increases his authority as assistant manager.
"Steve will have brought some of his experiences with George [Graham] to the current team," Davis told BBC Sport. "Almost every day we did something defensive. It was repetitive and boring, but if it gets results you go with it and you can see the reasoning behind it.
"What was interesting for me is that we have seen Arsenal do zonal marking at set-pieces this season and that's something George never did. So Steve has developed his own ideas. He knows the game and he's learning all the time.
"He's still relatively young working at this level, so he's probably still finding his way to talk to players because he's been working with younger players up until this point and it's a different game altogether.
"It's not as easy as people think; the team is full of internationals, and you have to prove to them you know what you're doing."
However, had the fixture come around sooner, Gunners fans might have approached it with more confidence as recent form has slipped after defeats by Norwich and Schalke.
They conceded just two goals in their first five games, which included a 2-0 victory at Liverpool and a 1-1 draw at champions Manchester City. But then Chelsea exposed flaws in the defence at the Emirates, winning 2-1, and although a win at West Ham restored belief, the picture since the international break has been more worrying.
On Saturday they also face former striker Robin van Persie, who has scored nine goals this season in an ultra-attacking United team, and will be one of the threats Arsenal face at Old Trafford.
One of Van Persie's more impressive traits since moving to Old Trafford has been his link-up play with Wayne Rooney.
Both men are inclined to drop deeper into space to receive the ball, with the Dutchman also adept at drifting into the inside left position. When Van Persie does so, it is Rooney who is often waiting to get on the end of his deliveries.
On the right-hand side, meanwhile, Antonio Valencia has set up Van Persie for goals in his last two league games and will be relishing the prospect of facing Santos, who Davis sees as a "weakness" in the Gunners defence.Davis says Arsenal need to become a more balanced team in order to provide support for each other in key areas like these.
And while the return of Jack Wilshere to the Arsenal midfield could help free the attack-minded Spaniard Santi Cazorla, the England international's ability to provide cover for the back four could be more crucial against United's multi-faceted forward line.
"I feel you do need at least one defending type of midfielder to protect the back players and we haven't really got that in the Arsenal midfield," Davis added.
"Wilshere is quite a forward-thinking player and I know Mikel Arteta is sat in front of the back four and dictating the play, but he's not known for his defensive skills. Those things matter over the course of the season.
"There has been some improvement but maybe we need some new personnel in there to be a more solid unit. Chelsea, for example, have the likes of Ramires and John Mikel Obi, and [Arsenal midfielder] Abou Diaby has been a big miss since he was injured."
But as Wenger has alluded to, there are also concerns in the creative engine room as opposition teams look to block one of Arsenal's main supply lines.
"Arsenal's good form this season has coincided with Cazorla being in command of games," Davis said.
"But Chelsea, particularly, played well against him, and I think they managed to stifle him. Schalke did too. If he isn't ticking, the team hasn't been attacking that well."
Addressing those areas of concern will be crucial to Arsenal getting a positive result at Old Trafford and help erase the memories from last season.
Lets hope soFormer Arsenal star Mikael Silvestre believes Jack Wilshere’s return to fitness can inspire the club to Capital One Cup glory.
The England star spent 14 months on the sidelines with knee and ankle injuries but made an impressive come back as he played 63 minutes in the Gunners’ 1-0 win over QPR.
And following their dramatic 7-5 victory over Reading, which saw them progress to the last eight of the League Cup, their former defender believes the club’s seven-year trophy drought could be about to end.
Silvestre told the Weekend Sports Breakfast: “I think Arsenal have got a chance in the Capital One Cup. They came back fantastically against Reading, so they can go on in this competition.
“Only Chelsea are the other big gun left in the competition, so they might end up in the final of the League Cup.
“It’s been difficult for Arsenal after losing Robin Van Persie and Alex Song. Also, you have Abou Diaby who is injured at the moment.
“You have to count on Jack Wilshere to bring some magic but there is a lot of weight on his shoulders, he’s still young.”
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Might as well give it a go and get that good feeling back.Originally Posted by Ach
Last edited by Olivier's xmas twist; 04-11-2012 at 12:37 PM.
Yeah i dont know what that means
And im arguably the best in the world at trying to find out what you are trying to say
Dont blame Santos for the first goal at all but the shirt swapping thing was patheticRay Parlour has described Andre Santos' decision to swap shirts with Robin van Persie at the interval of Manchester United's 2-1 win over Arsenal on Saturday as a "joke."
The Brazilian has come under fire for a poor display at Old Trafford, where the left-back failed to deal with the movement of Rafael and Antonio Valencia throughout the game.
And the former Arsenal midfielder believes Santos should have been concentrating more on the game, and less on securing Van Persie's shirt - especially considering the forward scored after just three minutes.
Questioned by The Sun on Santos' action, Parlour said: "That's a joke. I wouldn't have that. At half-time? He should be concentrating on his game and he was having a nightmare."
The £5.6 million signing from Fenerbache has struggled to hold down a regular place in Arsene Wenger's starting line-up since joining in 2011, and did his future chances no favours as he struggled throughout.
Parlour suggested the 29-year-old should not be played in defence again as he was unable to maintain defensive discipline, which ultimately cost Arsenal: "He can't play in a back four as he gets caught out of position all the time."
Santos' tactical intelligence was questioned as early as the third minute, when he failed to pick up the run of compatriot Rafael, whose cross ultimately found its way to Van Persie and the back of the net.
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