Match Reaction vs Tottenham (home, FA Cup).

[Syn]

It has been encouraging we easily we've managed to cope with injuries so far. At the start when we had no wingers with Podolski, Walcott and Cazorla out, we still got a great run of wins going. At that point it seemed like we'd be screwed if Ramsey got injured. Now Ramsey and Ozil - probably our two best players - are out, we're still managing. The lucky (but not really) part is that none of Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny and Szczesny have been out for long. An injury there, and the defensive record that has been our only advantage over the other teams could be under threat.

[Özim]

I can understand why you think like that.

For me he is a player who is at his best as a deep lying midfielder. And I still think its a shame he hasn't had a genuine chance to continue in that role. I still can't get his performance against Barcelona out of my mind.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP_pCG9Cmio

If you watch everything he does from that deep lying central midfield role, it is an astonishing performance. Totally complete performance. Shame he got injured and didn't get a chance to build on that performance in that role.

Having pace to be able to suddenly win the ball from a deep position and accelerate through the midfield from deep is a brilliant skill which only few people have. There are very few players who can be deep lying midfielders like that. Toni Kroos comes to mind even though he starts further forward, he always drops deep to play from there. Arteta is great at that, but even he doesn't have that ability to burst forward through like Jack does.

A player who played like that for Dortmund and Czech team was Rosicky. Mind you in Dortmund he played all over the park and there's a reason he was L'il Mozart. But for the Czech team when he was younger, the undisputed leader was Nedved. So Rosicky played as the deepest midfielder in a diamond. And despite being slight, he was brilliant. And it was his ability to control the ball, accelerate suddenly and reading of the game that allowed that.

I understand the frustration with Jack but I think if you watch that performance which was against three centre mids at the peak of their powers, there are very very very few players who could play like that in the game. And that's what I keep thinking gives me hope that he will develop.

The problem is most players throughout their career have one of these stand out matches where they run the game, this season he's been more miss than hit for me, he's given possession away a lot and not really done that much in the attacking area of the field either, you see the occasional dribble and occasional decent pass but they are few and far between.

There's a lot of talent in our midfield, we can now throw in Gnabry who was absolutely brilliant yesterday and gives us another dimension to our play, sure he's still learning but what I love was the pace he injected in our play, too often with the likes of Wilshere the attacking play is so slow it's painful, to have a thrusting midfielder like him is a big bonus IMO. Rosicky also loves to drive forward and by playing a pacier game we also maximise Ozil's strengths (and Cazorla also seems comfortable breaking forward quickly).

Then we have Ramsey who's been great this season and bagged a fair few goals the the preferred defensive midfielders Arteta and Flamini and I start to question where Wilshere fits in other than being just a squad player at the moment (especially when Ox-Chamberlain comes back as he's another with bags of talent). He needs to develop his game and fast because he's getting left behind IMO and being made to look more and more ordinary by those around him.

If he is to play as defensive midfielder, he'll need to up his game considerably and improve his tackling, stop giving away simple pases and be far more disciplined, I see little evidence that he's doing that at the moment.

Thus far I don't see much development, of course he'll always get a break from the people desperately wanting to see an Englishman break through and succeed, by personally I don't care about that, I prefer a player to break through who makes our play better and more exciting to watch, from what I saw from Gnabry he could be that player, for me our play was much more like the play of 8 years ago which I'm all for.

[Dein-machine]

If Theo's Ok for Villa we could play him up top with Ozil in No 10 roll. I know he drifts wide but we would get more out of him being central & with players getting beyond their full backs for him to feed. We can play Santi & Gnabbers in wider positions with Arteta & Rambo/Rosciky in CM. Very attack minded & we will murder a poor Villa defence.

[mkkreuk]

great thread, if only for the bitterness:

http://www.glory-glory.co.uk/showthr...rs-and-arsenal

[Darknight02]

great thread, if only for the bitterness:

http://www.glory-glory.co.uk/showthr...rs-and-arsenal

That is the funniest thread I have read.

What's really clear reading through this is just how much those insufferable degenerates all rate Wenger. Deep down, you can see the respect they have for his absolute quality!

Best quotes so far for me

"FFS even Frimpong hates Spurs and he's only made 8 appearances"

"Wenger said to Ozil in the summer: "I have Chesney in goal, Gibbs and Sagna at FB, Arteta, Wilshere and Ramsay in the middle with you, Giroud up front, and Walcott wide...and I want you to come and help us win the league".

If I was Ozil, I'd have thought, "Who the hell are those guys?? Never heard of any of them!" And yet Wenger sold him on the idea and is now delivering. How the hell did he make that sale? Wenger really is a special one, no doubt about it."

HAHAHAHA

[She Wore A Yellow Ribbon]

They sold their best chance of overtaking us when they got rid of Redknapp. Laugh all you want but it's true.

You read through that thread and you see a lot of Spurs fans talking about a mentality block when playing us or other big teams. With Redknapp that block disappeared. They used to come to the Emirates and play without fear. In fact, it was us who thought 'fucks sake we have Spurs next week'. He took them up another level.

They got rid of him and gave up on his project, causing massive upheaval once again. So many of those fans in that thread say we are better because we gave Wenger time and believed in his philosophy. Well Spurs bit the hand that fed them with Harry, he took over a team battling relegation and got them into the top 4 like they wanted.

Thank god Levy is a trigger happy cunt.

[footloose, the wanderer]

2 thoughts after reading the Spurs piss&moan deviation

1) For most players, I'd suggest when thinking about the 2 clubs - Arsenal is a destination, WHL - ok that'll be ok for now

2) Going to Arsenal means for the most part that you've "bought into" the Wenger/Arsenal philosophy - going to WHL means accepting mediocrity for Levys cash

[Transplanted Gooner]

[Transplanted Gooner]

[Grebbo]

Theo should copywright that