Arsenal players at Olympic games 2012

Samuelj29060 wrote:Podolski & Mertesacker starting for Germany against Switzerland.

Any link to watch that match? anyone?

missed 1st half whats going on? :vagi: 3-1 down

Dutch XI vs Bulgaria: Krul; Van der Wiel, Heitinga, Mathijsen, Willems; Nd Jong, Van Bommel; Van Persie, Sneijder, Van der Vaart; Huntelaar.

Edit:Better quality

Round-Up

Denmark 1-3 Brazil

Bendtner played the whole game for Denmark and scored a late consolation. ( http://bit.ly/JCifly )

Poland 1-0 Slovakia

Szczesny played the whole game for Poland and kept a clean sheet.

Switzerland 5-3 Germany

Mertesacker played the whole game for Germany. Podolski played 60 minutes for Germany. Djourou appeared from the bench in the 92nd minute.

Holland 1-2 Bulgaria

Van Persie played the whole game for Holland scoring a fine goal. ( http://bit.ly/KUFs25 )

Mertesacker had a pretty poor game earlier. Caught ball watching for Switzerland's second and outjumped for their fourth. Looked off the pace, which is to be expected, really.

Walcott and Chamberlain both came on as subs for England and did okay, given the rather functional way in which we were playing tonight.

REWB wrote:mertesacker is going to ruin us next season, i am 100% confident of this. we need a defender asap to be 3rd choice.

LOL, calm down man, first game back and a friendly game. I like Mert he stays back not like our other CB strikers.

Mertesacker certainly isn't to everyones tastes. He's a contradiction; tall but not good in the air, a defender but isn't particular strong, and is a better tackler/interceptor than he is aerially. He's a weird defender. It's easy to see why people may not rate him.

merts is an experienced german international...if he doesnt play well for us blame it on the system simple...

bloodless wrote:merts is an experienced german international...if he doesnt play well for us blame it on the system simple...

Mert KNOWS WHAT HIS EFFIN JOB IS. And its not to score EFFING GOALS or DRIBBLE IN THE OPPOSITION THIRD.

FFS! I am absolutely SICK AND TIRED of the flak he gets here. If you can't see his contribution, atleast refrain from slagging him after every match.

His contributions are there for everyone to see. The experience and calmness he brought to the backline earlier in the season is why we didn't get humped sideways after that confidence killing 8-2 mauling.

He isn't fast or aerial, but he is the best we have in terms of experience and ability to read a game. I don't see Verm or Kos, despite all their awesomeness, reading the game the way he does. For a third choice, he is much better than what we have had over the years.

I don't see how he gets no time to settle into top level PL football and is expected to be the best defender in the league ffs.

/Rant.




EDIT: Sorry I lost it there. But after a season full of seeing him get blamed for poor performances, when he isn't the only one to be blamed.. The problem is the way we play - so much emphasis on attack that even Verm made silly errors towards end of the season.. Our DM has the most assists this season ffs.. Who is covering back? Shortcomings of a system are reflected upon as individual failings in so many occasions that its not even funny anymore..

He has been out for like 2 months, can't expect him to come back and dominate. Kos and Vermaelen are will be our 1st choice pair next season with Per 3rd and Djourou 4th.

Sri. Tell it like it is.

Mertesacker will most probably start for the favorites of Euro 2012 Germany, and he's not good enough as a 3rd choice at Arsenal

He was not even that bad - his teammates let him down, not his fault that Schmelzer can't mark his man and Hummels.... oh dear Hummels is even worse than Vermaelen at being out of position, he's like the whole time in attack.

I mean this is like blaming Koscielny for Thomas "I can't stay in my position" Vermaelen and Kieran "I am the best dribbler and don't care about defending" Gibbs for their mistakes.

heyyy Urban !what's wrong with u my alb.m8 -how da hell u could say that 4Gibboss-He's better than mertz.miles away lol ...Well sincerely Mertesacker was very poor ystrd but i don't blame him as much (even though he's not that good enought in general) !BUT i'm "surprised neg." about Podoski also (totally out)!hmmm does he knows that he's an ASN player now

I'm actually a fan of Mertesacker, which may come as a surprise. I think he certainly deserves the chance of a second season, which he will get anyway. Has great experience which can be useful throughout a season. Suffered nasty injury in Feb and yesterday's game against Swiss was only his first app since then. Needs time to recover match fitness during Euros. Though, unsure he will start for Germany after yesterday's showing. Maybe expect GER defence of Howedes Hummels Badstuber Lahm? We'll see.

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Meanwhile, France v Iceland tonight (8pm) in Valenciennes. M'Vila set not to start as Blanc tries midfield of Cabaye-Gourcuff-Nasri according to French media in an attacking experiment.

Koscielny set to start I'm hearing so that's great.

I absolutely agree with Sri about Mertesacker. For some reason there are particular fans on here who always like to have a scapegoat, but Merts rarely made mistakes, and more than made up for it with his defensive contributions. Most of the games in which our defence was the worst this season were ones when Per wasn't even playing, and our worst runs of form came at times when he wasn't available, so I'm struggling to understand where the evidence is to suggest that his presence will "ruin" us next season, especially given that he will be better adapted to the league. I don't regret us signing Merts one bit; I love the guy.

And it's great that Koscielny is starting tonight. Hopefully the fact that it is an experimental attacking lineup will not result in the Boss looking bad...

Eman wrote:
And it's great that Koscielny is starting tonight. Hopefully the fact that it is an experimental attacking lineup will not result in the Boss looking bad...

Cabaye is protecting Koscielny i wouldnt worry

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:

Eman wrote:
And it's great that Koscielny is starting tonight. Hopefully the fact that it is an experimental attacking lineup will not result in the Boss looking bad...

Cabaye is protecting Koscielny i wouldnt worry

**M'vila




I don't understand how Capoue didn't get a call up when he was superior to M'vila in every way this year according to French pundits and some key stats.


We've had 3 main scapegoats this year. Ramsey, Gervinho and Mertesacker. Watch them light up the EPL next year and shut everyone up. lol, they'll improve. The entire team will improve. All 3 need to adjust, Mertesacker and Gervinho to the EPL and Ramsey to consistent playing time, it is his first full season after all.

MJGunner wrote:
We've had 3 main scapegoats this year. Ramsey, Gervinho and Mertesacker. Watch them light up the EPL next year and shut everyone up. lol, they'll improve. The entire team will improve. All 3 need to adjust, Mertesacker and Gervinho to the EPL and Ramsey to consistent playing time, it is his first full season after all.

You forgot Theo. Someone want to pull up his stats for the season?

srigooner wrote:

MJGunner wrote:
We've had 3 main scapegoats this year. Ramsey, Gervinho and Mertesacker. Watch them light up the EPL next year and shut everyone up. lol, they'll improve. The entire team will improve. All 3 need to adjust, Mertesacker and Gervinho to the EPL and Ramsey to consistent playing time, it is his first full season after all.

You forgot Theo. Someone want to pull up his stats for the season?

Didn't mention him because everyone lightened up after 5-2


Theo:

11 Goals (8 in EPL) 13 Assists (11 in EPL)

Bale

12 Goals (9 in EPL) (10 assists in EPL)

Arshavin was a scapegoat too for a good while there, and so was Pat Rice. Fans tend to be more fickle when the team is losing though I guess.

And Theo

Who does everyone think will be Arsenal's standout performer at the Euros btw?

MJGunner wrote:

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:

Eman wrote:
And it's great that Koscielny is starting tonight. Hopefully the fact that it is an experimental attacking lineup will not result in the Boss looking bad...

Cabaye is protecting Koscielny i wouldnt worry

**M'vila

I meant for this game if Koscielny plays Cabaye is the deepest player in midfield because France are going with Cabaye, Nasri and Gourcuff in midfield lol.

With Menez, Benzema and Ben Arfa in attack, not sure about the defence though.

Mandanda, Debuchy, Rami, Mexes, Evra, Cabaye, Gourcuff, Nasri, Ben Arfa, Benzema,Menez.

Thats the confirmed line up not sure where Koscielny talk came from then....

Eman wrote:Who does everyone think will be Arsenal's standout performer at the Euros btw?

M'Vila.

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:

MJGunner wrote:

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:

Eman wrote:
And it's great that Koscielny is starting tonight. Hopefully the fact that it is an experimental attacking lineup will not result in the Boss looking bad...

Cabaye is protecting Koscielny i wouldnt worry

**M'vila

I meant for this game if Koscielny plays Cabaye is the deepest player in midfield because France are going with Cabaye, Nasri and Gourcuff in midfield lol.

With Menez, Benzema and Ben Arfa in attack, not sure about the defence though.

Mandanda, Debuchy, Rami, Mexes, Evra, Cabaye, Gourcuff, Nasri, Ben Arfa, Benzema,Menez.

Thats the confirmed line up not sure where Koscielny talk came from then....

Oh yeah yeah yeah, my bad. I forgot they were trying a more attacking minded approach.

Well, we'll see one Arsenal target (Gourcuff) instead of the other (M'vila).