Dr Venkman

keep taarabt quiet and i think we'll win, hope someone can persuade tiote to eat a sandwich before the match

signing players isnt the answer

been saying to people for the last week that although he looks small i bet he's an absolute cunt to play against, tough in the tackle, quick to close you down and you know that if he nicks it off you he's gonna find a team mate with it. he should also get a special mention for applauding the fans every time he takes a corner, he obviously is really making an effort to be part of the family. i love him. of course it wouldnt be right if we were to have two outstanding cm's, so tiote's done his part and summoned the spirit of amdy faye for the first few games.

does anyone else think that having no enrique has contributed to highlighting simpsons faults somewhat? we're conceding possession more on our left flank, and much deeper, which means there's more crosses coming in from our left as a result and simpsons very average in the air, which we're seeing more of. also our lack of threat down the left means that simpsons seeing much more of the ball and having to get forward more, and not really looking the part. i feel like if we were more balanced as a team simpson could get on with being an average defender and not have the attention on him so much

i have to say that with us leaving these deals so late and all the talk there's been of us being 'unable to agree a fee' with clubs for Pieters and Cissokho, and now talk of 5m for Santon, it does look like we've been under-bidding for both the former players and now that the clubs are sick of us we've moved onto someone we would likely be able to get for less than we got for enrique. or maybe i just think the worst of the guys in charge of the money.

Can you imagine? The only flank in the league where they overlap one another horizontally across the pitch haha, doesnt sound great does it. i still think our best chance of building an attacking game is getting Jonas/Obertan on the right and Marveuax on the left, beating players and whipping balls in. ideally i'd want natural left and right footed full backs backing them up.

thought he was ok, tracked back well and always looked a threat. what does annoy me about him though is his movement. when someone else is attacking on the same flank as him he always just drops 5 yards behind them and stands there, when he really should be getting past them for the overlap. there's few things as annoying as a player with electric pace who doesnt know how to use it (Martins, Routledge)

not convinced we need a right footer at left back like, especially with Jonas ahead of him, gonna un-balance us a lot.

just seen the goals on the telly and there's some absolutely shocking defending from simpson/tiote for their chances

there's hundreds of players around europe who might be able to do it for less money, that's where we're at.

what rotten fucking luck. alan smith might get time on the pitch this season.

Yep, I've made this point before too. At every stage during a window we make excuses why it's wrong to buy now. I'm sure the papers tomorrow will have Pardew rabbiting on about "gearing up for the last day". Load of shite basically, we just don't want to spend money. The thing is we must want to spend some money or else we'd have surely just bought a cheap, shite left back and a cheap, shite striker by now. I look at Obertan and think we made the choice between him and N'Zogbia and went for the cheaper option. With the targets we've apparently got at the minute it looks like we've identified them and thought "what will the selling club be after?" and knocked £3m off it and bid. Ryan Taylor is doing an acceptable job, why spend money if we don't have to? We've scored goals, why buy a striker? That's what we're dealing with. exactly, it's the 'do everything on the cheap above everything else' attitude that's going to hold us back for as long as he's here. success despite ashley is the best we can hope for. we're fucking hopeless going forward as well like, it's embarrassing. and as it stands we're a long term injury to taylor or colo away from a relegation scrap imo.

never, prices are bad mmkay

Did he actually say that? fuck me he's lost it. JUST BUY SOME FUCKING PLAYERS MAN. Idiot. ridiculous isnt it, can see him managing us one day at this rate like he's ashley's dream. if better players aren't the answer arsene, what is? coz your tactics aren't up to much.

Not a chance. Probably you both are right but, they've not been top 7 stuff in the first 3 games. Never. and we haven't been top 6, the season's 38 games man

The downside is that Liverpool will get their CL spot. horrible isnt it.

great result. pleased for best and i hope this gives him confidence, he's not the answer though, slow and ponderous. we were slow and ponderous in general going forward, just no real conviction or cohesion to our attacking play. thought we were solid ish at the back but 3 free headers in the second half tells its own story. Tiote though, wtf is going on with him? Slow, negative and a liability. Thank god for that release clause in Cabaye's contract. Well done to Saylor who continues to prove me wrong this season. We're in desperate need of a fit and firing Ben Arfa.

Colo and Jonas will be absolute cunts this time next year

record it and fast forward everything but football, it's the only way

enough chances to win two games what is it about football managers that makes them think trotting out barely believable excuses is the way to go? i hope for his sake he's not saying that to his team because they're really not that good going forward. swansea were wide open through the middle and should have been picked off a number of times. playing a few 50 yard passes into space you could park two busses in isnt creating chances, it's fucking easy, they couldnt even do that effectively.

sounds like he needs a healthy lunch to get him going

if they're playing a back up LB stick Jonas on the right

Agree with all of that. My only hope is that Ashley, being the tight-fisted cunt we all know he is, is simply playing his stupid brinksmanship games with 4 or 5 players in the hope of saving a few hundred grand. I'm not confident at all that it'll happen though. We shouldn't be in this position. No excuses at all. there'll be plenty

i think this'll be a draw

in the same vein as what i refer to as the 'Nolan and Barton argument' if he's so proven and so reliable, why were we the best club in for him on a free? Why were Liverpool the only club in for Enrique at £6m? I think he was worth a lot more than £6m and Arsenal could definitely do with a left back. thats not really the same mate, my question was why were we the best option for him? Enrique could feasibly view Liverpool as a better option for him than Arsenal at the minute, we dont know that Arsenal were never interested, just like we dont know who was interested in Ba. surely a proven, reliable goal scorer would have better options than us when he's going for nothing? just playing devils advocate