Portsmouth Vs Arsenal | Premiership 26/12/07

[Inchpräctice]

nobody said he was "great" but he gives us, some raw direct football which is a good contrast to the silksters. He was nearly the only one who drove into their box, plus at least he took shots, if you dont shoot you dont score, plus his tracking back was crucial today one more than a couple of occasions

I agree that he is more direct than some other players but to be fair his directness hasn't caused anyone many problems in the last few games.
In some ways he was more dangerous as a RB when he bombed on and put beautiful crosses into the box.
He's not a terrible player but I can understand why some fans are wondering if we could do better in that position.
Whether that means buying a natural RW player or using a different member of the squad (Diaby, Denilson etc.) it doesn't matter. You can't help thinking that someone else might be more dangerous in the final third.

[Fabrestuta]

Whether you like Eboue or not is irrelevant, we have a good enough team that we don't have to play bloody 4-5-1. I never want to slate Ade because he always works hard, but he is useless as a lone striker.

[SuperDumbassman]

Fordy's post..

Dude, you're pretty much on "Repeat" in most of your posts in this section, lots of them seem to involve Adebayor and Eboue..there's no need to bag them out at all. They're both great players, and most people would kill to be half as good as either of them.

[absolutely_fabregas]

i

nobody said he was "great" but he gives us, some raw direct football which is a good contrast to the silksters. He was nearly the only one who drove into their box, plus at least he took shots, if you dont shoot you dont score, plus his tracking back was crucial today one more than a couple of occasions

I agree that he is more direct than some other players but to be fair his directness hasn't caused anyone many problems in the last few games.
In some ways he was more dangerous as a RB when he bombed on and put beautiful crosses into the box.
He's not a terrible player but I can understand why some fans are wondering if we could do better in that position.
Whether that means buying a natural RW player or using a different member of the squad (Diaby, Denilson etc.) it doesn't matter. You can't help thinking that someone else might be more dangerous in the final third.

yeah thats true,im not denying that he pisses me off sometimes, but i think he isnt as useless as some make out.

ps in the 1st half when they were 2 on 2 half way line, eboue forced benjani i think or someone wide, and if he didnt they were one pace away from a goal, great defending

[Fordy]

Fordy's post..

Dude, you're pretty much on "Repeat" in most of your posts in this section, lots of them seem to involve Adebayor and Eboue..there's no need to bag them out at all. They're both great players, and most people would kill to be half as good as either of them.

First of all i did not mention ade once in this thread so your wrong there , do i like him no but i have not mentioned him today at all as for eboue i have mentioned him twice so so that going on is it , no its not.

Also it is my view which i will post as many times as i see fit just as every on else does

[SuperDumbassman]

Fordy's post..

Dude, you're pretty much on "Repeat" in most of your posts in this section, lots of them seem to involve Adebayor and Eboue..there's no need to bag them out at all. They're both great players, and most people would kill to be half as good as either of them.

First of all i did not mention ade once in this thread so your wrong there , do i like him no but i have not mentioned him today at all as for eboue i have mentioned him twice so so that going on is it , no its not.

Also it is my view which i will post as many times as i see fit just as every on else does

Hmm... "learn to read", i said in this 'section', not individual thread. I know deep down you really love Ade and Eboue..

[Fabrestuta]

Its Christmas, peace on Earth and good will to all men and all that.

Ade is average unless he has a strike partner, then he looks world class, and Eboues theatrics are so embarrassing its no wonder Gooners hate him, even if he does good things at times.

[absolutely_fabregas]

Its Christmas, peace on Earth and good will to all men and all that.

Ade is average unless he has a strike partner, then he looks world class, and Eboues theatrics are so embarrassing its no wonder Gooners hate him, even if he does good things at times.

amen

[Fordy]

I just don't like dirty players no mater what team they play for or what strip they wear i can handle a bit of diving but some of his tackles are shocking.

and more to the point Arsenal could get a much better player to fill his position

[absolutely_fabregas]

i wouldnt say eboue was a dirty player, but lets not talk about that just now


hope everyone is having a good boxing day(bar the result)

my tip: get drunk and forget about it

[gooner_peter]

we were so poor today.
ade couldn't get in the game and fabregas was way below par.
the only person that done ok was tomas rosicky.

wenger should've put on bendtner earlier. he changed the game when he came on.
we need to play alot better on saturday otherwise we will lose to everton.

[Trina]

my tip: get drunk and forget about it

ok, if I must

[rodney]

I am f***ing furious with that result, as although we weren't at our best today we had two great chances at the end that should not have been missed. I thought Wenger got it completely wrong today and a large part of today's result should be placed at his feet. We should have gone 4-4-2 with Bendtner given a start up front, especially after the goal against the yids. Even though throughout the game the formation just wasn't working, as it was clear for all to see it was far too crowded in the middle of the pitch due to Pompey playing five in midfield as well. It took him until the 79th minute to bring Bendtner on and he made more of an impact in 11 minutes than Ade in 79 minutes.

The first half was very uneventful. Pompey had a couple of efforts from Kranjcar and Benjani I think it was, but nothing that really troubled us. They lined up too be hard to break down and strong in the centre with Muntari and Diop. Kanu was proving a handful up front and credit to him he held the ball up well and Ade could learn a thing or too from him. He created space superbly for himself and was very calm and composed on the ball. However, Pompey didn't look to support him enough and will come away from this match far happier with the point than us. Rosicky had a good chance and I really wish he would shoot more. For the Czech's he has scored some cracking goals and just doesn't seem to shoot from distance enough. I thought that the game was there for the taking in the second half and although Pompey had the ability to create a chance, we should have gone onto win this.

The second half reminded me of so many away performances over the last couple of years and it pissed me off no f***ing end. I don't know why footballers do it sometimes. You're paid god knows how much money and you can't pass a ball 10 f***ing yards. It is bloody shocking that a professional footballer can f**k up his passing so many times during one game. There isn't a complaint about one single player, but the team in general. The worst of the lot was Kolo Toure (I know I've just contradicted myself, but he was the stand out awful passer). What pisses me off about Kolo is that he gives the ball away so many times by lumping the ball up field to Ade. No one else in the team does this and it's a tactic that Chelsea use with Drogba. You have Cesc Fabregas, Rosicky, Hleb, Sagna and Clichy who can all run with the ball, or pass it just give it to them. Wenger, or even Gallas needs to have a word with him as it just can't continue.

Pompey had a really good chance after some shocking decision making from Clichy, who tried to play Benjani offside instead of following him. Almunia did well to put him off and Clichy got back to complete the job, but it could so easily have been different had it been someone with better composure in front of goal. That was the best it got from Pompey and we from there took the game to them. Rosicky came close with a shot at the near post, but he should have cut in on his right foot. Then Gallas had a great chance, but as he controlled the ball his feet went and he sliced the ball agonisingsly over. Had he not slipped I am sure it would have been in the back of the net and I thought that was our best chance gone. I was wrong though as Rosicky had an even better one. Bendtner created something out of nothing by running at the Pompey defence, he played the ball accross and Rosicky put a wonderful chance wide. It was the sort of chance that Ronaldo for United, fatty for Chelsea and Gerrard for Liverpool would have scored. It would have sent us back to the top of the league and I am so disappointed that Rosicky didn't put it in.

Will also add that Ade was f***ing shocking today. I again feel that Wenger's tactics really didn't help in, but that is no excuse for shit control of the ball and ridiculous passing. When he goes out to the left and leaves us with no one in the middle he has to do more with the ball. The problem is he is not Thierry, he can't take 2-3 men on and find the bottom corner. When we're playing one up front he needs to stay in the middle and only go out wide on the left when we've got a second striker on, as Hleb isn't going to get into the box.

We've lost top spot and now have a very difficult game against Everton on Saturday which is now a must win. We need to win that game badly and we need Robin back it's worth the risk and maybe give players like Diarra and Bendtner a game as well to freshen things up. Wenger has to go back to 4-4-2 and we've got to take the game to Everton as they've been in brilliant form. A bad day as although the other top 4 have all slipped up at Pompey we should have won today.

[She_Gunner_Wales]

Good post, Rodders, if a little harsh.
We cant win them all.

Tbh that must have been one of the most frustrating games ive watched this season, Pompey did nothing but defend exception of when Benjani got through & luckily for us missing a virtual open goal....id be calling him a Piloc, if i were a pompey supporter, they packed out midfield & didnt allow us to play our style of game & it looks like that could send out a message to other clubs.

There were more cock-ups by other players than there were by Eboue today, and at least he didnt spend half the game on the deck, got a couple of good crosses in but no-one getting there fast enough to be on the end of them....on a lighter note i had to laugh when he went down on his knees in a praying fashion, knowing he was going to get a booking.

I have a feeling this is our seasonal dip, last weekends game against the yids wasnt that convincing, let hope its over in time to face Everton, who wont be no walkover.

Whats pissing me off now is the fact Utd are now top, (waits for the mancs to appear on here) BUT we cant win them all & many clubs would love to be in our position, those dirty mancs will slip up again at some point.

No good news about Robin yet either, in the post match interview Wenger said he dont know when he will be back.

All the same:
Keep the Faith Gooners, 1pt is better than none.

[gooner_peter]

1pt is better than none.

this makes no sense.
i'd rather be no points behind then none lol