Official English Premiere League Thread

[trueherotillman]

Go Gunners.....I know Bendtner is hurt, but please Wenger, end that experiment now.

 

[CaptTurbo]

Man City beats Cheatski on Tevez game winner!!!!

 

[CaptTurbo]

Arsenal might be currently the best team in Europe.

How did Arsenal like that butt whooping from Man City in the Carling Cup?

 

[Chaplin]

How did Arsenal like that butt whooping from Man City in the Carling Cup?

Don't be such an arse. Quoting a post from September 15th? 3 months ago? LOL

 

[MigratingOsprey]

Man City beats Cheatski on Tevez game winner!!!!

and yet Chelsea still sits at the top of the tables and has more points than any other english team in the group stage of the champions league

 

[Zeno]

Landon Donovan appears to be going on loan to Everton. How will he fit with that team? I haven't watched a lot of Everton recently.

 

[Mathew81]

Chelsea draws, ManU loses and Arsenal wins. Good results for the Gunners this weekend. 6 points back with a game in hand. Still need to get another striker in Jan.

 

[trueherotillman]

Unless their form changes drastically, I don't see the Gunners reigning in the Blues or ManU to win the Prem this year. I think we're definitely on the right track, although the RVP injury really really hurts us. Vermaelen (sp?) has been downright legit. Another top striker and replacement for Gallas (younger and more physical defender) would bridge the gap. Come on you Gunners, let's show 'em what we got.

 

[Chaplin]

Unless their form changes drastically, I don't see the Gunners reigning in the Blues or ManU to win the Prem this year. I think we're definitely on the right track, although the RVP injury really really hurts us. Vermaelen (sp?) has been downright legit. Another top striker and replacement for Gallas (younger and more physical defender) would bridge the gap. Come on you Gunners, let's show 'em what we got.

We'll almost certainly sign some kind of big striker in January, I just can't figure out who. I'd LOVE to pry Carlton Cole away from West Ham, but that probably won't happen.

 

[CardEd]

Landon Donovan appears to be going on loan to Everton. How will he fit with that team? I haven't watched a lot of Everton recently.

It's offical, Donovan is on loan to Everton.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=715009&sec=transfers&cc=5901

Hope he does well, put to rest that he can't play at the highest level in Europe

 

[Chaplin]

Man City sacked Mark Hughes today. After a win.

Never a dull moment in the EPL.

 

[gr000000vy]

Man City sacked Mark Hughes today. After a win.

Never a dull moment in the EPL.

I guess he was truly sacked when they wanted to hire Mancini on Dec 2nd right before City beat Arsenal in the CC semi... that's real class from City haha...

 

[MigratingOsprey]

Well Drogba continued his fine performance against arsenal who had their title hopes die at stamford bridge

Is it april 3rd yet?!

 

[Chaplin]

The sad part is that we played MUCH better against Chelsea than we did against Manchester United. We just couldn't get anything past the Chelsea back 4. It's games like that where you really see what not having Robin Van Persie can do to us.

Wenger is a world-class manager, but if he wants to win, he's got to stop being stubborn and open his checkbook.

 

[Mathew81]

The sad part is that we played MUCH better against Chelsea than we did against Manchester United. We just couldn't get anything past the Chelsea back 4. It's games like that where you really see what not having Robin Van Persie can do to us.

Wenger is a world-class manager, but if he wants to win, he's got to stop being stubborn and open his checkbook.

+1

With Arshavin playing up front it's too easy for the opposition to defend. They let Arsenal pass the ball around midfield and just clog the box. Crosses are useless because there's nobody there that's going to win a header and there's too much traffic to get passes through. Maybe it will improve when Bendtner gets into game shape but his game isn't very polished even when he is healthy.

They probably need a new LB too. Clichy has been terrible lately.

 

[MigratingOsprey]

cech made some nice saves as well - it seems like both chelsea and man u were content to watch arsenal move the ball around the box and then either defend a weak scoring opportunity or just intercept a pass and break the other way

I'm not too up on all the teams and their tendancies - but if that game was typical of arshavin then I think he'd be a pretty frustrating guy to watch

 

[Mathew81]

I'm not too up on all the teams and their tendancies - but if that game was typical of arshavin then I think he'd be a pretty frustrating guy to watch

Arshavin himself isn't frustrating. What's frustrating is that he's put in a position that highlights his weaknesses and takes away his strengths. He's at his best when he has some space to work and it's just not happening when he's playing a central striker role and he's surrounded by defenders. Also, he's pretty short. I think he's generously listed at 5'7". So when he's played up front any time the ball is crossed it's basically a giveaway to the other team as there is no way Andrei is winning a header against 6'+ center backs.

 

[Chaplin]

Arshavin is a poor man's Messi. Arshavin has a couple problems--he's short and he can't dribble through traffic as well as a Messi can. He also receives very little support up front because our best player constantly has to be the only guy that can run the offense (Fabregas). Arshavin does the best he can with the situation he's in. I love the guy. The guy that really frustrates me is our left winger. Sami Nasri has a ton of talent, but he can't consistently put it together.

And don't get me started on left back. What a joke that position is. And Clichy used to be good. Maybe he's still not fit, but that's no excuse for making bonehead decisions--same with Alex Song leaving a guy like Didier Drogba who gets an open goal right in front of him.

 

[Renz]

Arshavin is a poor man's Messi.

He's more like a homeless man's Messi.

 

[MigratingOsprey]

while it's nice to see donovan playing pretty well for everton and them being more competative since his arrival - it's not cool that everton went on to beat chelsea and ashley cole was injured on a play with donovan pretty much ending his premiership season

 

[Chaplin]

I never root for players to get injured, but good riddance to Cashley Cole. He's a dirty player himself.

 

[Milgod]

I never root for players to get injured, but good riddance to Cashley Cole. He's a dirty player himself.

Here here. How anyone can feel sorry for Cole is strange.

 

[Mathew81]

After losing to Chelsea, I pretty much gave up on Arsenal competing for the title. However, after last week, Arsenal is only 6 pts back of Chelsea and 5 behind United but has the easiest remaining schedule of the 3. Chelsea and United still have to play each other so there's definately going to be dropped points there. Both still have to play Liverpool as well. Arsenal is done with games against the rest of the Big 4.

Still not a great situation for Arsenal but not an impossible one either.

 

[Chaplin]

After losing to Chelsea, I pretty much gave up on Arsenal competing for the title. However, after last week, Arsenal is only 6 pts back of Chelsea and 5 behind United but has the easiest remaining schedule of the 3. Chelsea and United still have to play each other so there's definately going to be dropped points there. Both still have to play Liverpool as well. Arsenal is done with games against the rest of the Big 4.

Still not a great situation for Arsenal but not an impossible one either.

Now that Arshavin is injured, we're going to have MAJOR problems putting the ball in the back of the net. Guys like the Verminator and Gallas will have to consistently go forward to try to get a head on the ball. Outside of Fabregas, and MAYBE Nasri, we have nobody healthy that can get the ball through traffic and nobody outside of Bendtner (who I'm not particularly fond of) that is tall enough to play the ball in the air.

There's a slight chance for us, but we might just not have the personnel right now. Man, I wish Van Persie was healthy...

 

[Mathew81]

Everything I've seen says he might miss one EPL game. He's out for the CL game against Porto but might be back on the 20th against Sunderland.