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Thursday, December 11, 2008

Bendtner and Diaby were useless but there was a bright light


By 1970’s Gooner

What a pathetic display by nearly all the players bar Almunia, Djourou and Denilson.

Almunia made some very good saves and Djourou maintained his confident displays as of late. Denilson was everywhere hardly putting a foot wrong.

But the rest of the players selected to wear the Arsenal shirt at Porto were a disgrace.

Top of the list is that arrogant self proclaimed striker of all strikers Nicklas Bendtner.

Never once did the ball stuck to his feet. Never once did he make a meaningful pass to another teammate. Never once did he show any real interest in making a positive contribution. The only thing he got right was the headers, which usually found no one in particular.

He has really regressed as of late repeating that awful performance of his at Burnley. Who does he think he is?

I know he can play better. He has put in a very good performance against Manchester United where he ran the line alone up front. Bar that and I do not recollect any other meaningful performance he has put in for Arsenal.

I have similar feelings for Abu Diaby. He was equally bad as Bendtner and for the same reasons.

He took it upon himself to hold the ball in midfield and try and dictate play much in the same way that Patrick Vieira used to do. He, unlike Vieira, avoided passing to a team mate if he could, usually swiveled around the ball and headed into the horizon, which more often than not was a bunch of Porto players waiting for him.

He also decided that defending was not really for him so his concentration wavered during the corner kick and instead of just sticking to his man managed to lose him and thus offer a free header on a plate.

Well I have news for you Mr Diaby: You have a long way to go before you can reach those heights set by Vieira...

The others were not far away either.

Vela couldn’t hold the ball to save his life, Song deteriorated in the second half and kept passing the ball to the opponents.

Ramsey kept coming infield rather than go forward, Gallas decided to give up in the second half and kept making elementary mistakes and his mate Silvestre got caught out of position to gift them their second goal.

At least Eboue put in an indifferent performance rather than an awful one…

The only positive aspect to come out of all this is Johan Djourou’s obvious improvement.

His positioning was spot on, his heading was excellent and above all his distribution was sensible and accurate. He is fast becoming a real and viable option for one of the central defensive positions.


21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Eboue put in the perfect response to the booing by giving them more reason to boo. he was bad. just as bad as the rest

Anonymous said...

Bothered....

More neurotic fishwife hysteria from Myles Palmers gimp....

Anonymous said...

Give the kid a break - if he had no service from the midfield what do you expect Bendtner to do, he was running back for the ball as it was.

Anonymous said...

Fanner said.. previously i said we don't win trophy with Bentner, Silvestre and Denilson. I got to replace Denilson with Diaby now. Diaby slow the tempo of our game, giving away possession, dribbling like Messi these days instead of Henry. He perform a good game and bad for the next 5 games..

Anonymous said...

Why is it week after week we see and write about the same players being poor? Well the reason is that we have a bunch of very average players who make up the first team squad....

Eboue, Song, Bendtner, Diaby, Denilson .... all are cheap, ordinary, average players who would be lucky to be considered for the Birminghams/WBA of this world....they are not the sort of player that you would have if you seriously wanted to win trophies.

Wenger has been doing things on the cheap for the last 4 years and is putting all his hope that the kids coming through will get him out of the cr*p, but it is not working...all that is happening is that the kids are being dragged down by the dross.

7 defeats already this season and more to come, and no trophies, will be the result of another wasted Wneger season!

Anonymous said...

Anon 7.43pm

Can I have this weeks lottery numbers and the name of the xmas number one.

You are obviously a psychic of great talent... well either that or yet another glory hunting plastic twat?

You decide....

Kimmono said...

Spot on about most things you mentioned, but Ramsey had 3-4 shots on goal - so he should get a bit more respect for his performance on the wing.

Unknown said...

i have always been a big fan of Bendtner but over the last two months he has been nothing but a hindrance. I don't know if its confidence or skill. he can do it for the national team, but when it comes to Arsenal he is never in the right position. And when he is, he puts it wide. His play v. Burnley and Porto was awful. Great, creative players will be able to make chances for themselves even with a midfield that isn't getting them the ball. The problem with Bendtner is that he needs 6 great chances to score a goal. That could work with a team like Arsenal had 4 or 5 years ago, but now with a young team that aren't firing on all cylinders, you need one or two chances and that's it. He is up to par for arsenal right now and i would rather see Jay Simpson in or vela to play off of Adebayor or RVP. Bendtner is making Vela look like a bad player.

Anonymous said...

although vela didnt do much he was forced to play out on the left should have played through the middle bendtner once again proved he isnt good enough to lead the line at arsenal we need 2 or 3 in and 3 or 4 out in the jan window eboue bendtner gallas out green upson in at least west ham aint got any money we need to spend or risk a season out of the champions lge next year cos villa are pushing us

Anonymous said...

shitbag support we seem to have attracted in the past few years.

Anonymous said...

I honestly don't the supporters have changed that much, I think its just that more and more people are getting increasingly angry with Wenger's approach to management. It seems to work along the lines of I'm right, everybody else is wrong.

Continuing to play Bendtner on his own up front when he has proved he cannot do it is plain idiotic. Making the same mistake of not putting out a half decent side in a champions league match so we have no chance of topping the group is idiotic.

Signing nobody when you lose two very important players is idiotic. People aren't glory supporters in the main part. People are angry and upset because Arsenal aren't trying to win anything.

I cannot say that Wenger has actively tried to win something since we went the season unbeaten. He has not spent a penny in the transfer market (net wise) in three years. People can bang on about youngsters and whatever else but it should never be down to a 16 year old to come on and save the team.

Bendtner has taken a lot of stick when he should be still behind an experienced striker who can help him develop his game. Who has Wilshire got to look up to? Walcott is hardly experienced and who is second choice? Eboue. The guy is a cunt.

Wenger has got this very, very badly wrong but the problem is, he will never admit it. Because of this he has to be fired.

Anonymous said...

I dont think it was idiotic to rest a load of 1st teamers given our injury list and the fact it will hardly matter where we finished in the CL group given the teams that finished 1st and 2nd.

I would take an understrength team losing to Porto if it means we beat Boro on saturday!

Wenger has become increasingly stubborn, even benitez has relented in his constant tinkering, but Wenger does seem hell bent on trying to prove he can win shit with his policy, even tho, to me, it was plain obvious we needed to strenthen at the effin midfield... and as for signing Silvestre??? What the fuck was that all about?

Bendtner HAS played well on his own upfront, its just that lately, he's been fooking shite!

Anonymous said...

I have to say I completely disagree about Bendtner, I feel he is only a second striker and is completely ineffective used in any other manner.

With regards to resting the first team I think it was a bad idea. Last year he arrogantly thought we could win with an awful team and we got AC Milan. Now we got through the tie but it meant throwing the FA Cup and such a demoralising defeat went some way to preventing us winning the league.

Now this year is different, we are fighting for fourth but I think the same policy will be applied to the FA Cup when realistically it is our only slight chance of silverware. If we do incur a good beating against a good team again this year it could mean a higher consequence in the form of a year out of the champions league.

Anonymous said...

I dont think we are fighting for 4th.

And I don't go along with this constant negativity either. We need to strengthen come january, but not to make sure we finish 4th. Shit, we oughta be setting our sights a bit higher than that.

I have a few issues with some of Wengers decisions, but, I'd rather be positive at least until after a game!

Startin with Boro. Now if we lose to them, then fookin hell!

Anonymous said...

But we had a game yesterday and were completely outplayed and were disgustingly poor. It isn't being negative for the sake of it, we have a very bad team. There is simply no other way of putting it.

In this team we have three maybe four players who would get into the other top four teams, Fabregas, Sagna, Clichy and Van Persie. Liverpool would take all four, it could be argued that Man Utd and Chelsea would only need Fabregas.

Sure we have other players who may one day be world class but if our apparent ambition it to finish higher than fourth then our team is woefully short of talent. I also fail to understand the fan who has seen Wenger for four years fail to sign the players he needs to compete successfully in the premiership and champions league yet still believes he will sort the mess out in January.

If he buys anyone over the age of 17 I will be surprised, let alone if he actually purchases the players we need to mount a sustained challenge on silverware this season.

It's a harsh thing but some fans seem to have seen so much negativity surrounding the club of late that they have ignored the genuine problems that are directly in front of them. When we weren't winning trophies it could be said that we play the best football, nobody can tell me honestly that we even gain this moral victory anymore.

Anonymous said...

The team is inconsistent. For some reason, they have simply failed to turn up for games that with the required motivation, application and hard work they would have won. Why that is? I have no effin idea.

The team aint shite, you have decided it is and so nothing anyone says will change your mond.

We had a pretty sustained challenge last season and Wenger, has NOT adequately strengthened this season. Why that was only he knows. This is definitely the most problematic season in Wenger's tenure and it could go tits up and he would justifiably face the wrath of Gooners, at the END of the season, when he has asked to be judged BTW.

Then again, maybe it wouldnt be a bad thing if things did go as bad as you think they are, at least we'd see exactly who was up for the challenge and we could get rid of the fancy dans and plastic fans in one go.

Anonymous said...

One thing regarding your article.

Arsenal had three goalscoring opportunities -all three were created by Bendtner.

Anonymous said...

I thought the one positive was Wilshire. He is going to be the heart of our midfield in a few years. The kid ran everywhere, got stuck in with the challenges and made some great passes. He plays with heart which is what most of the foreign mercenaries we have miss. Keep up the good work Jackie me' Boy!

Anonymous said...

Gibbs was good when he came on. AW should give the lad a chance and not at left back but left mid.

Why does he give Bentner chance after chance to deliver crap when it was obvious to most observers that he was not good enough but then fails to give someone like Gibbs a chance when he has alwasy shown clear signs of class and an ability to handle any occasion?

Anonymous said...

we all have our own opinions and to be honest that is within our rights to do so. this team has flaws, lacks heart and consistency. But slapping the "crap" label on those playing bad is harsh.

Bendtner has been terrible this season only one good performance was against sheff utd in carling cup, but thats about it. Diaby had a mare but he can get out of some tight situations which some of our players can't. So lay off he aint as bad as you all like to label him.

This arsenal team does lack depth personally we need a winger and defensive mid as song and denilson are not the answer. Denilson has got talent but i would say more in the fabregas role, song to me will never be world class but is back-up to def mid.

To say what we need is like playing football manager i could say, hey we need jeremy toulalan and maxi rodriguez. Yet signing them two players is like clicking a mouse on the highest possible bid and them joining the gunners.

What i'm trying to say is arsene signing the players we want is a long shot but being this negative aint got change him. If he brings in a defensive mid and another well known player all negative people will be jumping for jiy praising arsene for his capture. This team with a bit of consistency can be up there fighting with the others. yes we do lack something that needs to be addressed and hopefully by wenger it will be. I'm always positive or at least try to be. i think we all need to do the same arsenal are a big club and they will show that in time. who knows wenger might bring in 2 good players and woth the return of eduardo and finally rosicky we might have a team of champions! always the optimist!

Anonymous said...

AS A GOONER MYSELF I THINK WE HAVE TO ACCEPT THE CURRENT SITUATION AND UNDERSTAND THE CHANGING ETHOS AT THIS CLUB. WENGERS PREVIOUS TEAMS WERE BIG, STRONG, ATHLETIC, EXPERIENCED WITH A HISTORY OF PLAYING TOGETHER. EACH YEAR ONLY 1 OR 2 QUALITY PLAYERS WERE BROUGHT IN E.G. PIRES, GILBERTO.

EVEN EBOUE AND SONG HAVE TALENT BUT UNLIKE IN PREVIOUS SEASONS THE GOALKEEPER, BACK FOUR AND DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDERS ARE NOT STRONG AND SOLID, HENCE THE INCONSISTENCY.

YOU CANNOT LOSE 3/4 OF YOUR STARTING MIDFIELD(FLAMINI/ROSICKY/HLEB)AND THEN EXPECT TO WIN TROPHIES WITH MAN UTD AND CHELSEA AROUND.

LOVELY FOOTBALL, CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FOOTY, 60,000 FANS AND BOOK BALANCING IS WHAT WENGER BRINGS.

WHAT EXACTLY WOULD HAPPEN IF WENGER GOT SACKED? WHO WILL ACHIEVE MORE THAN HE HAS OR WILL? THE BOARD WOULD HAVE TO BRING IN A NEW MANAGER WHO WOULD WANT A WHOLE LOAD OF CASH TO BRING IN NEW PLAYERS: THIS IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN