Arsenal 7-3 Newcastle

danyjr wrote:Why Juventus want to go for Llorente when Ba's available for €10 million is beyond my understanding.

Uhh because Llorente is a better player,who has said that he wants to leave and is available for 7-8 million right now and on a free this summer.

danyjr wrote:Why Juventus want to go for Llorente when Ba's available for €10 million is beyond my understanding.

Because Llorente is a name and Ba despite scoring 36 goals in 66 games since arriving in England a record only bettered by Roonay and Van Persie in that time is still someone who neutrals think " meh"

I'm gobsmacked by it all personally as he's a fantastic striker who can do it all has a lot better technique than given credit for.

As for the game it was even until we fell apart in last 10 mins probably due to the fact we had 2 games in 3 days and Arsenal had Boxing Day off due to tube strikes.

I'm happy we are finally started to keep the ball and create chances but the defending was diabolical and must improve and we must buy in January.

I just wish we was passing it on the ground and attacking teams at the start and we wouldn't be in the situation right now.

Bigirimana and Marveaux were outstanding and on Bigirimana he's only 18 but he should bench Tiote IMO.

He's been fantastic in last 2 games he arguably controlled the midfield battle in both games and we fell to pieces when he went off in both games in the pursuit of a goal by subbing him off for a striker.

Bit pissed off at the defending as scoring 6 goals at OT and Emirates and getting nothing is frustrating and quite frankly embarrassing but at least we are keeping the ball a lot better and creating chances.

Not overly impressed by Marveaux if I'm honest, his corner kicks especially were ridiculously bad.

And Santon was terrible. Poor decision making all match, as a football fan it got me very frustrated. Is Jonás going to replace him once he's back from injury?

And yes, I don't agree that Llorente is a better player than Ba.

Santon was bad and has been for a few weeks but he's still by far our best fullback.

He has also been great for most of season i'm not going to kneejerk when the whole back 4 have been terribad.

Jonas is awful and i hope never gets anywhere near the line up ever again.

as for Marveaux a lot of our best play came through him and that sublime pass to Ba for the 3rd goal was enough to deserve praise.

I'm not Walcott's biggest fan, but that was a good hat trick and performance from him. Does this now mean that Wenger will not sign a striker and give Walcott the money he wants?

I have to say, I prefer Jonás to Santon.

danyjr wrote:I have to say, I prefer Jonás to Santon.

Jonas isn't even a fullback and if you think Santon played bad last night then you ain't seen nothing yet

Jonas is awful everytime i have seen him at fullback and his legs have gone anyway.

He really has nothing else to offer except maybe a Park Ji Sung role in some games.

On the wing we have better options and in midfield we have better options and at fullback only Maradona is crazy enough

Also it's not really wise to base your opinion on one game tbh.

my man is back

Walcott's Messi-esque goal.

Raptorgunner wrote:

Class act

Wenger always oozes with class

Am I the only one that thought Walcott's last goal was just good?

I mean the amount of bad defending in it was ridiculous, and Walcott fell and ended up sliding right to where the ball was again (although it should have been cleared).

It was a great chip though, I just wasn't very impressed.

CBarca wrote:Am I the only one that thought Walcott's last goal was just good?

I mean the amount of bad defending in it was ridiculous, and Walcott fell and ended up sliding right to where the ball was again (although it should have been cleared).

It was a great chip though, I just wasn't very impressed.

It wasn't that he got up, the determination in the goal was very impressive. If i'm not mistaken he also got fouled in the build up but chose to shoot instead of the penalty.

We was on the verge of collapse in last 15 mins.... some of our players just watched Walcott stroll through

Walcott still has a lot to prove IMO and besides if you look at his career we always make Walcott look like Messi when we play Arsenal.

Walcott indeed has a lot to prove. But it's also time to admit a lot of people were wrong when they called him a brainless footballer who lacked any talent

His decision-making is still poor though and it needs improvement.

He is definitely not a smart player, no matter how many goals he scores. He simply lacks creativity when he plays on the wing.

Guess you missed that pinpoint cross he put in for Giroud against Newcastle

In fact, he's so uncreative, he has more assists than Bale, Nani and Silva this season

What a brainless goomba

Lex wrote:In fact, he's so uncreative, he has more assists than Bale, Nani and Silva this season

What a brainless goomba

I'm actually going to agree with Lex on this one. Walcott has seriously stepped it up his overall game this season. In the past, he would simply beat his defender with pace and either run directly at goal or put in a robotic cross to whoever happened to be in the vicinity. This season, I've seen him continue to beat defenders, but once he does he looks for the correct pass/shot rather than relying purely on instinct. While he does not always make the correct choice, the fact that he is showing composure and an attempt to make good decisions on the break is a very positive sign for his development.

He's been in the spotlight for so long that we sometimes forget he's only 23 and may yet be developing into a mature player. I for one, think the expectations placed on him early in his career have stunted his growth. Feeling the weight of said expectations may have caused him to push too hard and attempt to do everything, resulting in some of the brainless play we have all been witness to. He may yet become a VERY good player.

That said, I'm not convinced he can be a CF. I simply don't think his hold-up play is good enough to rely on him as the focal point of an attack. He's much much better as a wide-forward, where he can keep the ball and the goal in front of him and use his pace to run in behind a defense.

Yeah, performing like he should for a few months tops half a decade of disappointment.

Henry wasn't exactly setting the world on fire at 22/23 either

danyjr wrote:Yeah, performing like he should for a few months tops half a decade of disappointment.

Actually, it could...

The process of maturing implies that you were once not what you are now. Every great player had a spell when he was "only recently performing well" after not fulfilling his potential. The thing is that the "step up" comes at different times for different players.

Whether that's the case for Theo... I don't know. I'm also not trying to compare him with the greats of the game. I'm just saying that it is incredibly harsh to completely write him off, especially when he has his level of play this season.