re: Arsenal Football Club 2011-2012 Season Thread

In the words of Saul Goodman: "That's what the kids call, 'EPIC FAIL.'"

/hangs head in shame
/walks away

looks up his bundesliga highlights on youtube...

Hits the woodwork well. Perfect fit!

I'll take this efficiency.

edit: That's 71 out of 80 passes completed.

quote:

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Ramsey and Rosicky both out Tuesday.

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Awesome.

Ramsey is the only guy besides Chesney who has played every minute of each game so far. Hopefully it's just a small knock and he'll get a well deserved rest.

Excited for tomorrow. We got our new signings, and then of course Song and Gervinho will be available too. Refreshing to actually have options.

Seems like Gervinho and Song are the only two non-defenders who are locks to start. That is nice compared to what we had a couple of weeks ago. If I had to guess, I'd say Wenger will go with a more defensive minded midfield of Arteta-Song-Frimpong. Would be cool to see Park get a start. Of all our signings he intrigues me the most.

quote:

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Wenger rates Coquelin over Frimpong

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I'm guessing you meant this the other way around. And I agree. Frimpong just doesn't seem ready yet. Plays out of control at times, tries too hard to make a great pass. Coquelin is the more mature player. Coquelin is better positionally and more efficient. He doesn't seem like he is a great passer, but he plays within himself much better. Against a team like Dortmund who can counter so quickly, cheap giveaways will have to be avoided. Frimpong can't play as poorly as he did Saturday if we want to get a result from the match.

Yeah I meant Frimpong over Coquelin. It's a weird situation at that DM spot, as Eastmond was the first of the three to make a first team appearance for Arsenal. Obviously he is out of favor now, but maybe the competition there is closer than we think.

Frimpong is so good at winning the ball, and despite his aggressiveness, he doesn't seem to get turned goalside. He'll either win the tackle or foul the ball carrier. He's a lot like Makelele in that regard, and that's exactly who he should emulate.

For the love of all that is holy we don't need another African midfielder who wants to emulate Essien. Essien has never been a purely defensive midfielder, as his offensive game is good. Song tries emulating him, and fails because he isn't the same type of athlete.

Song at his best is when he anchors the midfield by himself, never going to far upfield unless he's covered. I thought he was at his best in the first half of the 09/10 season, when we played the 4-1-4-1. Now that we play a double pivot, it seems like Song just does whatever he wants. Frimpong can't anchor the midfield like Song does because he doesn't have Song's passing ability, nor does he have Song's ability to hold possession in tight areas.

I think that a Frimpong-Coquelin combination would be tremendous in midfield in time. That might be overkill, but we will have to grind out results more than ever, and Coquelin provides the positional sense we've lacked since Gilberto. Frimpong and Coquelin have to become better passers though, as that is the area I think Wenger focuses.

The best thing is seeing some of the tremendous talent in the academy get time in the first team. We need to find some solid squad players in the academy so we can focus on buying more expensive players.

Dortmund is a really good counterattacking team but they do try to keep the ball as well. The difference between Dortmund and Bayern is that Bayern tends to hold the ball in midfield longer while Dortmund is always looking to get into the opposing team's penalty area. I think it will be a fantastic match to watch.