[SiKkBaSs]

Originally Posted by Mud

When VP is injured?? TH14 would end up having to play 2/3 of the season!

I hope you're wrong from his return, onwards.

Let's not concentrate on the negatives boy's.

"We've only got one Song"

Also..."He's five foot four,
He's five foot fooooour,
We've got Arshavin,
F**k Adebayor!"

[Captain Chaos]

Originally Posted by Mud

When VP is injured?? TH14 would end up having to play 2/3 of the season!

Originally Posted by MEGA

Valid point of course.

No no, VP stands for Van Persie, not Valid Point.

[lolololol]

Originally Posted by Captain Chaos

There's always one who has to post on a subject-specific thread to try and troll... but usually it's a better effort than that.

Ok mate i'm sorry, you are going to beat Barca and win the league easily.

Feel better ?

Oh yes and Henry now trying to get back some credibility after mugging off the whole of Ireland the cheating frog !

All joking aside even if you do win the league you aint the best team - you have been spanked home and away by the best teams in the league - it has been a stange season and it is only the inability of other teams to maintain a gap that has let you lot back in, so in essence fair play to ya !

Now if you could field more than one english player at a time that would be great - I like Wengers approach to blooding his youngsters, its just a shame that none of em are english ! A great credit to English football.

You aint going to win anything this year and if you do I will happily come back and eat my words.

You do however have a great stadium, just a shame you brought the library from Highbury with ya lol !

PS. I think Arshavin said it all recently.

[Captain Chaos]

LOL ok you went away for a few days and thought about a better one. Well done!

Maybe you're right, maybe we need to spend £600m over 7 years and try to buy ourselves some class and some trophies - and fail entirely on the first one of those...or not thanks. And there was a difference of ONE between English players in the starting line-ups of those two teams this week, so I'll ignore the fact that you're preaching ethics - English football hasn't been English football for about 10-15 years..

But there. Won't go into a debate, don't think that was why Sonny started the thread and certainly wasn't why I posted on it. Cup winners can get lucky, I'll agree on that, we would have been in 2006 in the ECL most certainly (mostly in getting there, cos we played well on the night). League winners aren't 'lucky' over 38 games in my book though. Unless there's a long-term definition of it...maybe opportunist? Dunno. Ultimately though, if Chelsea and Man Utd both beat us (and whilst the scorelines of both games were incredibly flattering, beat us well they did) but don't win it, it shows that they can't maintain their form which in turn shows they aren't worthy winners. Luck would struggle to play a significant part in 57 hours of football IMO.

All of which is conjecture, because I can't see us finishing anywhere other than second or third, and it's difficult to see past the red machine at the top. But then maybe that's where luck may come into it...in which case I'll take it.

[themetz]

It's quiz time... absolutely no googling allowed.

If you want to play PM your answer today.

What's the full name of Arsenals last ground?

[lolololol]

Originally Posted by Captain Chaos

LOL ok you went away for a few days and thought about a better one. Well done!

Maybe you're right, maybe we need to spend £600m over 7 years and try to buy ourselves some class and some trophies - and fail entirely on the first one of those...or not thanks. And there was a difference of ONE between English players in the starting line-ups of those two teams this week, so I'll ignore the fact that you're preaching ethics - English football hasn't been English football for about 10-15 years..

But there. Won't go into a debate, don't think that was why Sonny started the thread and certainly wasn't why I posted on it. Cup winners can get lucky, I'll agree on that, we would have been in 2006 in the ECL most certainly (mostly in getting there, cos we played well on the night). League winners aren't 'lucky' over 38 games in my book though. Unless there's a long-term definition of it...maybe opportunist? Dunno. Ultimately though, if Chelsea and Man Utd both beat us (and whilst the scorelines of both games were incredibly flattering, beat us well they did) but don't win it, it shows that they can't maintain their form which in turn shows they aren't worthy winners. Luck would struggle to play a significant part in 57 hours of football IMO.

All of which is conjecture, because I can't see us finishing anywhere other than second or third, and it's difficult to see past the red machine at the top. But then maybe that's where luck may come into it...in which case I'll take it.

Nothing wrong with a healthy debate under a thread of this title pal !

I know plenty of Arsenal season ticket holders (are you one ?) and they say they need more English players. I agree you dont need to spend £600m as you have a great youth policy but all of the AFC fans I know say you do need to buy some class - 1 x upfront to support V Persie and definately a center mid hardman. You cant argue that Chelsea and Man Utd have more english players (I include Giggs / Fletcher but you know what I mean) and have been much more successful than you recently.

If you win nothing again this season - how many years will that be ? I know you should of course support your club but lets be honest a great club like Arsenal must be wiining something within 6 years ??? Maybe im jumping the gun as we have 7 games left - so good luck !

[Captain Chaos]

Oddly, I find your middle paragraph precisely 50/50 agree/disagree. I'll explain....

I have a few 'issues' with the state of the game at the moment (me being the all-knowing oracle in my own living room, of course), and one of them is domestic players. In actual fact, when you have a look, Arsenal have a raft of domestic players in or around the first team squad - it's just that they're so young. They're young becuase if you want to buy anyone English over about 16 who knows what a ball looks like it's going to cost you 8 figures these days. Ramsey and Walcott alone cost almost £25m and they're both squad players and will be for at least another season if they 'click' tomorrow.

English clubs point at the likes of Arsenal and whine about the lack of English players, then when Wenger says 'OK then how much for that kid who's been in the Championship for 5 minutes' they say '£5286759 billion pounds please' and then go running to the newspapers with their flappy mouths when he buys a world cup winning French international for £7.5m instead.

The problem exists, but not at Arsenal, or indeed at Chelsea. Go look at Hull's squad. Or Portsmouth's (while it's still there). Or Wigan's. There's the problem - second-rate poo signed on CWP contracts cos it's cheap. That is what is killing the talent train, not the elite clubs. The latter would be buying it from the former if it worked - as per the aforementioned players who Cardiff and Southampton made good money from.

That said, and on the other side, probably nobody is as vocal as me about Arsenal's need to buy players. Not panic-buy, but buy 2 or 3 major names over the next season or so. Arsene Wenger probably forgot more about football last night in his sleep than I will ever know (OK maybe not, but I do defer to his far greater knowledge), but statements like "If I buy xxxxx then I kill yyyyy and zzzzz because they don't get a game" boil my puke. It makes me want to say "OK. And? They either step up or get gone, surely? Either way problem solved right?".

He tried to keep Flamini, who is now once again invisible as a player (as he was before Wenger bought him), yet it 'would have killed' Song's emergence this season. Inconsistency, one of my favourites. He didn't want to buy Huntelaar because we had players as good. Really? Who then? One player, RvP, and he'll be lucky to hit double figures in games now. What he needs to buy is the thing that bought success in the 90s, and the invincibles season shortly after - a backbone. 3 out of those 4 positions, reinforced with top-quality players, and this season may have been very much about looking over the shoulder than chasing the two frontrunners.

That Chelsea and Man Utd have been more successful of late is down to one fact and one interpretation. Fact: They have both spent massively and bought 'ready' players on the whole, and as such that experience has rewarded them as it always would/will in the hands of good managers. Interpretation: To do what Arsenal have done, with the players they've had, speaks more success than maybe any other club in the world over the last 5/6/7 years. I genuinely believe that, even though I'd much rather be winning things. And I'd suggest it's the one EPL club who at the same time didn't look at Portsmouth's predicament this year and think 'oops we'd better check our bank account'...

PS: Sorry, that's a novel for a reply, but you opened the door to a very large room...

[MEGA]

Originally Posted by Captain Chaos

No no, VP stands for Van Persie, not Valid Point.

What the hell are you on Dan. I know that. Or am I missing some sarcasm here?

[MEGA]

ps. Always assumed we'd finish second this season. And barca at home? sure we can win it. I have a sneaky suspision (and a small bet) on that one. But then, will be get slaughtered at the Nou Camp? Its a definite possibility...

[SiKkBaSs]

We just fucked ourselves.

(deadly serious)

[MEGA]

FFS

[Hotcoupe]

Originally Posted by SiKkBaSs

We just fucked ourselves.

(deadly serious)

Indeed, if the Gooners can't despatch Birmingham I don't fancy their chances against Barca!

Chelski were clearly on steroids today , however Utd should go top later.

It ain't over yet, there's only 3/4 points innit

[SiKkBaSs]

Originally Posted by MEGA

FFS

Almunia piece of sh^%

Have put up with that c^^^ for a while now and his s%^& kicking.


Officially hate him now, shames Arsenal fans week in week out..

[SiKkBaSs]

Originally Posted by Hotcoupe

Indeed, if the Gooners can't despatch Birmingham I don't fancy their chances against Barca!

Chelski were clearly on steroids today , however Utd should go top later.

It ain't over yet, there's only 3/4 points innit

Ian Chelsea drew here and so did Man U. But that's irrelevant since they beat us both times.

Ruined my Saturday.

There's no doubt the boys will notch it up for the Barca game now though.

[willhollin]

[Hotcoupe]

Originally Posted by SiKkBaSs

Ian Chelsea drew here and so did Man U. But that's irrelevant since they beat us both times.

Ruined my Saturday.

There's no doubt the boys will notch it up for the Barca game now though.

True Sunny, but this late in the season they need to be winning these games.
There is little between the top three, one bad game for Chelski or Utd and the Gooners could still do it.

I'm happy with 4th, if they pull it off that will be the best for yeeeeaaars

[SiKkBaSs]

Originally Posted by Hotcoupe

True Sunny, but this late in the season they need to be winning these games.
There is little between the top three, one bad game for Chelski or Utd and the Gooners could still do it.

I'm happy with 4th, if they pull it off that will be the best for yeeeeaaars

2nd at best this year IMO. Believe me I'm as enthusiastic a gooner as you'll get but I just feel the competition don't fack up as much as we do. I mean going up 1-0 with 9 mins to go contending for the league title and getting beat with a shite bit of play is just NOT good enough.

(believe me I want all of the above to be wrong)

[themetz]

Originally Posted by themetz

It's quiz time... absolutely no googling allowed.

If you want to play PM your answer today.

What's the full name of Arsenals last ground?

none taken that no one wanted to play my quiz. i guess it's cos none of you really know the answer

[Irnbrukid]

Think the title is a gonner (no pun intended) for Arsenal this year think the ManU v Chelsea game will decide who the winner is.

[Captain Chaos]

Still think it was a good point today against a team that have done well at home - it's just difficult to swallow when you're into the last minute and all Butterfingers has to do is spoon the fkin thing over the bar....

Still, my 2nd-or-3rd theory holds true, in Wenger's position I'd be looking to see what happens next week, pray for a win for one of the two, and then look to hold position above the loser to pinch second. There's still a lonnnng way to go though, and we've been a lot further back more than once and reeled it in inside 6 games.

Gonna be a good finish for the first time in a while. 4th place is looking like a battle over who wants to lose it most, too! Neutral or not, this is what it's about, fight to the finish.

[Captain Chaos]

Originally Posted by themetz

none taken that no one wanted to play my quiz. i guess it's cos none of you really know the answer

Well it depends if you mean the last ground name, in which case it was Ashburton Grove before they called it Emirates, or the last actual ground which was Arsenal Stadium. Oui?

[lolololol]

Originally Posted by Captain Chaos

Still think it was a good point today against a team that have done well at home - it's just difficult to swallow when you're into the last minute and all Butterfingers has to do is spoon the fkin thing over the bar....

Still, my 2nd-or-3rd theory holds true, in Wenger's position I'd be looking to see what happens next week, pray for a win for one of the two, and then look to hold position above the loser to pinch second. There's still a lonnnng way to go though, and we've been a lot further back more than once and reeled it in inside 6 games.

Gonna be a good finish for the first time in a while. 4th place is looking like a battle over who wants to lose it most, too! Neutral or not, this is what it's about, fight to the finish.

It was a good point, Birmingham are a good team with a bit of spirit emerging in their play. In addition I thought they were good for the point - fair comment ?

It is definately a case of what comes around, goes around, Arsenal have won quite a few games within the last 5 minutes (Hull comes to mind immediately).

I think Arsenal have overacheived this year and have gone beyond expectation with most of the AFC fans I know anyways. I still cant see you guys winning it even if 4 or 3 points are dropped by CFC or MAN U at next weeks game.

Its a shame you have drawn Barca in the CPL as I would of fancied you guys for making the final if you coud of avoided them.

Pivotal day was this Saturday I think.!