A bogger and proud of it. Right in the middle of the country side.
I donât really care if youâre tired of it or not. I think its a sad indictment on a supposedly learned and forward thinking country to have so many people engrossed by the happenings in a money driven, false competition that is the EPL.
And the notion that a lad from Leitrim/Waterford/Dublin/where ever can take satisfaction and be happy or sad on the back of a team in the North West of England beating another team from the North West of England defies logic.
[quote=âMonkey Allenâ]I felt Ronaldo could have cost United the game yesterday.When Arsenal were attacking down the right on a few occassions near the end,Ronaldo was loitering on the half way line and giving Hoyte loads of space. A decent full back could have taken advantage. I know Ferguson has given up on asking him to chase back, and rightly so if the result is 35+ goals, but just for theose last few mins he could have helped out his team defensively.
The title is Uniteds now alright and there can be no arguments. They have been the best team all season and if the squad is kept together they will be Fergusons best ever team. As an Arsenal fan, I can acknowledge that we are still one or two players/years behind but that is no shame considering the financial constraints on Wenger since 2004.
Juhniallio, Criticising Wenger for not playing the injured Almunia and Denilson and the out of his depth Senderos was one of the weirdest criticisms I have seen of Wenger. Virtually everyone in the media was giving Wenger stick for his faith in senderos so your opinion is definitely original.[/quote]
Didnât know Almunia or Denilson were injured Monkey, but I stick by criticising him for playing a fella who rarely ever plays, let alone at centre half, there for what he was calling a make or break game. Song was shown up a few times throughout the game. Senderos has been at the club for years, plenty of time to have fucked him out and got a half decent centre half in if he didnât like him. Heâs had faith in Senderos for ages but bottles playing him in a big game. And what manager gives a shit what the media says?
Completely forgot in my last post that I should have been posting about Utd surely having the league in the bag. Chelsea have won a fair few one nil where the other team had the odd chance near the end to nick it, and it finally happened. Didnât see the game and presume Chelsea were the better side but one nil is never enough. Anyway, that shit doesnât matter. Utd have built a really good young side over the last couple of years and play great attacking football most days. They thoroughly deserve the league this year. Did all the big teams on the way as well, too. Great day.
Juhniallio, Wenger actually played Senderos in a big game against Liverpool last Tuesday night. Check out the goals conceded, Senderos got destroyed. I agree that Wenger should have got rid of him some time ago but accusing Wenger of bottling playing Senderos in a big game is ridiculous. He has played in a lot of big games this season. He was dropped because of how bad he was, not because of a lack of bottle in Wenger.
Song has played centre half in the Carling cup and was excellent there against Blackburn. He is not the answer to the defensive problems but itâs not as if wenger just moved him there as an experiment. The options were limited, Djorou is only returning from injury but Song looked better than him in the few appearances anyway.
Finally, I didnât say anything about Wenger listening to the media. I said that everybody elseâs opinion on Senderos was different to yours. Nearly all the media and most people I have spoken to have the opinion that Senderos isnât good enough to play at that level but you were slagging off Wenger for not picking him. I just thought it was strange that a Man united fan was the one person who felt Senderos should have played.
Juhniallio - you are criticising Wenger for leaving out a player who was shit is his previous game on the grounds of âbottling itâ? Well I have seen it all now.
Do you know what I think - I would have more faith in Benitez if Liverpool played Voronin next week instead of Torres against Chelsea. No one could accuse Rafa of bottling it there or listening to the media.
Clown.
Monkey - by all acccounts Wenger had money to spend last season, definitely at Christmas anyway. But he refused. Yes he deserves credit for getting them into the Top Four and winning leagues with the lack of money he spent. But he needs to put his neck on the line and buy big now. He canât hide behind the no money thing anymoreâŚ
I think that is effectively what you are saying anywayâŚ
Farmer, My opinion differs slightly. I believe he didnât have money to spend last Summer but after selling Henry he did well to bring in Sagna and Eduardo.
January is not the best time to buy but he definitely should have bought a centre half. Having said that, Iâm not convinced he got have got anyone of real quality during the window, there arenât too many like Vidic out there.
However, i agree with you that he canât hide behind it from now on as it seems he has money to spend this summer. If they dont improve the centre of defence, goalkeeper and centre of midfield then Wenger should be questioned. I just canât understand the criticism of him in the last week for falling short against a great United team in the league when most pundits had predicted they would finish outside the top 4 before the season started.
Yeah - they did well this season. The ridiculousness of the mediaâs comments towards them is summed up by DunphyâŚ
Start of the season - Nothing without Henry. Wonât get anywhere.
Three months in - Brilliant decision to sell Henry. One of the best teams in Europe.
Last week - Wenger has lost the plot causing Arsenal to throw the league and Champions League away.
What is plainly obvious is that they need to buy players. I disagree and think that they should have bought in January. Liverpool got Skrtel. Woodgate was available as well. Maybe even Anelka?
Itâs harsh enough criticism on Wenger but I definitely donât think he deserves to be immune from it totally either. Firstly, I know they had financial constraints over the past few years what with new stadium costs but I donât believe they were under so much pressure financially that he had âno moneyâ to spend last summer. I canât be arsed looking for links but Iâm fairly sure he was spouting the same lines then as he is now, i.e. he has faith in the players he has and thinks they can win trophies without having to dip significantly into the market. Was there not talk of him having a 70m âwarchestâ but holding fire on using it?
Also, he had a few injuries, like the vast majority of teams did, and his squad was found lacking. Take the example of Sagna getting injured. He didnât have adequate right back cover (Hoyte not being up to it apparently) and so had to disrupt what was up to then a solid central partnership and bring Toure across. January can be a difficult time to sign players but itâs hardly impossible if you make the selling club a good offer and if youâve been planning the signings for a few months previous to this. Farmerâs reference Woodgate and there were other options around Europe where experienced defenders were available - Ujfalusi, Van Buyten, Simic, Simunic to name a few - and he didnât bother signing anyone. Itâs the same for a few other positions too and I donât really have any sympathy for them or him. Fair play for their stylish play but they only have themselves to blame for ending up trophyless.
âAnd the notion that a lad from Leitrim/Waterford/Dublin/where ever can take satisfaction and be happy or sad on the back of a team in the North West of England beating another team from the North West of England defies logic.â
Appendage, supporting a particular football team hardly defies logic. people from all over the world support teams in different sports in different countries, but if you say it defies logic then it must be true. you might not feel anything towards these clubs. so what? to be honest i really couldnt give a fook what you think. there is a very easy way for you to avoid this issue by simply avoiding threads such as this.
[quote=âstevie Gâ]âAnd the notion that a lad from Leitrim/Waterford/Dublin/where ever can take satisfaction and be happy or sad on the back of a team in the North West of England beating another team from the North West of England defies logic.â
Appendage, supporting a particular football team hardly defies logic. people from all over the world support teams in different sports in different countries, but if you say it defies logic then it must be true. you might not feel anything towards these clubs. so what? to be honest i really couldnt give a fook what you think. there is a very easy way for you to avoid this issue by simply avoiding threads such as this.[/quote]
Thanks for telling me that you donât give a fook what I think, implying that clearly you gave enough of a fook to spend some of your life typing a response.
I read these threads coz Iâm broadly interested in sport, and for all its bull shit the EPL can be very entertaining.
Fair play to Appendage on his last few posts. Iâm sure it gives Brits a great sense of pride to pay rip off prices for tickets to watch their local team with no actual local players playing and very often no actual British players playing. Yeah right!
The only thing worse then the above is the idiot Irish who like to think they hate the British yet they spend hundreds of Euro a year on EPL jerseys because the sponsorship deals changes so much, much to the relief of the companies (I mean football teams).
Sometimes it gets worse (especially in working class areas of Irish cities), you get barstoolers who will sing IRA songs before an EPL game but they would stab somebody if they dared get in the way of the telly while the great English game is on!
Sometimes it gets worse (especially in working class areas of Irish cities), you get barstoolers who will sing IRA songs before an EPL game but they would stab somebody if they dared get in the way of the telly while the great English game is on![/quote]
Think I may have posted this before but worked in a factory for 6 months in a recognised republican hot spot - yet it was brimful of Sinn Fein badge carrying Liverpool, United, Chelsea and Arsenal supporters. There was an irony in it some where but being thick I couldnât see it.
Thank Christ for the SPL - the bastion of all things Irish.
On Wenger: somewhere in the middle like Farmer and Bandage I suppose. Heâs done very well and his coaching is clearly excellent and heâs generally an astute tactician. He could and should have done better in the transfer market though. Almunia was never good enough, no reason for that to change. They could easily have picked up a very decent centre half for reasonable money in January but decided not to.
Heâll need to seriously strengthen the squad in the summer. And he needs to be looking for something a bit more solid for his team at this stage. In past years you could easily see him just pursuing someone like Modric and good as he is heâs not what Arsenal need.
You all make me sick. Except for Stevie G. He knows the score and as a great man, aka Eamon Dunphy, once said, âHeâs a class act, a rebel and he stands up to bullys.â
Those of you with a problem with anyone supporting a team from anywhere other than their own town/city etc should really take a look at themselves and stop acting inbred.
No, I agree with a lot of what ye are saying and that Wenger shouldnât be immune from criticism, everyone knows his blind spot was the centre half position. Should have strengthened here at beginning of the season, never mind January. Thinking Gilberto Silva could fill in there was strange and then not buying when it became clear that wasnât an option was careless.
So some criticism is justified but some of it in the last few days has been completely over the top.
I think Arsenal should be looking at the likes of Micah Richards in the summer, someone who can play full back or in the centre. Sure he would cost a lot but would be the type of big signing Arsenal need to make to send out the message that they can now compete with the rest of the big four.
Regarding Modric, I would not be surprised if Wenger went in for him should the rumoured Hleb move to Inter go through.
Havenât I done well to turn the Manchester United thread in to a discussion about Arsenal. So to bring it back, where do you United fans think ferguson will look to strengthen in the summer. I canât see him buying many players, a top class full back will probably be the main priority I guess.
[quote=âMonkey Allenâ]Juhniallio, Wenger actually played Senderos in a big game against Liverpool last Tuesday night. Check out the goals conceded, Senderos got destroyed. I agree that Wenger should have got rid of him some time ago but accusing Wenger of bottling playing Senderos in a big game is ridiculous. He has played in a lot of big games this season. He was dropped because of how bad he was, not because of a lack of bottle in Wenger.
Song has played centre half in the Carling cup and was excellent there against Blackburn. He is not the answer to the defensive problems but itâs not as if wenger just moved him there as an experiment. The options were limited, Djorou is only returning from injury but Song looked better than him in the few appearances anyway.
Finally, I didnât say anything about Wenger listening to the media. I said that everybody elseâs opinion on Senderos was different to yours. Nearly all the media and most people I have spoken to have the opinion that Senderos isnât good enough to play at that level but you were slagging off Wenger for not picking him. I just thought it was strange that a Man united fan was the one person who felt Senderos should have played.[/quote]
Senderos is certainly not up to the required level, Monkey. My point is that with the only other option being Song, Iâd expect Wenger to stick with himn no matter how bad a game he might have had previously. Song has rarely played this season and centre halves take a long enough while to be comfortable together. Throwing Song in in a make or break game smacks of just hoping for a bit of luck.
As for strengthening Utd. All Utd fans would like to see us sign a seriously good striker. Someone big physically, who is a top class finisher and wonât drop too deep(something both Rooney and Tevez like to do). He should also be lightning fast. And good in the air. And a pisces maybeâŚWe score a shit load of goals but the fear is always there that they could dry up if something happened to Ronaldo. That Angulo fella we loaned out in after the african nations looks animal but you never know. Etoâo or Drogba types. Secondly we need another centre half. Most other top teams have 4 dedicated centre halves. We have 2 with Pique as the understudy, and we look shaky when you break up Rio and Nemanja. Van der Saar is class but getting old now, so weâll be watching there, hopefully Foster turns out to be super. We also need to look for a topclass attacking right back. Neville looks to be fucked and Brown while solid defensively isnât great going forward.
[quote=âJuhniallioâ]Senderos is certainly not up to the required level, Monkey. My point is that with the only other option being Song, Iâd expect Wenger to stick with himn no matter how bad a game he might have had previously. Song has rarely played this season and centre halves take a long enough while to be comfortable together. Throwing Song in in a make or break game smacks of just hoping for a bit of luck.
As for strengthening Utd. All Utd fans would like to see us sign a seriously good striker. Someone big physically, who is a top class finisher and wonât drop too deep(something both Rooney and Tevez like to do). He should also be lightning fast. And good in the air. And a pisces maybeâŚWe score a shit load of goals but the fear is always there that they could dry up if something happened to Ronaldo. That Angulo fella we loaned out in after the african nations looks animal but you never know. Etoâo or Drogba types. Secondly we need another centre half. Most other top teams have 4 dedicated centre halves. We have 2 with Pique as the understudy, and we look shaky when you break up Rio and Nemanja. Van der Saar is class but getting old now, so weâll be watching there, hopefully Foster turns out to be super. We also need to look for a topclass attacking right back. Neville looks to be fucked and Brown while solid defensively isnât great going forward.[/quote]
On the first point, why didnât he just leave Toure and Gallas together and bring Eboue to right back. I thought Eboue was very promising at right back when he first signed and think heâs hopeless at right midfield.
My only point on your second point is that although he pulls off some top drawer saves I think Van Der Sar has looked shaky this season and is past it.
The powers that be have decided to pay out on United and pay on Ronaldo top premiership goalscorer with a 10% bonus. If this jinxs United then there will be hell to pay.
Regarding United signings this summer Alves and Villa would do nicely.
Iâd like to see Alves make it and not become another in a line of goal machines from Holland that flop. Cases in point, Kezman and Kuyt are two that spring to mind.
man, aka Eamon Dunphy, once said, âHeâs a class act, a rebel and he stands up to bullys.â