Mourinho :lol:
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Mourinho :lol:
wow can this get any worse?
Transfers
Injuries
Suspensions
Own Goals
Red cards
Only at Arsenal :smokesmirk:
It's just not that we had bad luck but that's what you get when you're stupid. Gervinho/Song last week. Frimpong this week. Poor discipline
Not a bandwagon-er, but if we're going to have so many injuries for umpteenth time, questions gonna be asked.
Nasri was our best attacking player. Frimpong is a great talent but like Song, prone to madness. Need M'Vila!
Arsenal may have to struggle to even hold on to the top 4 this season...Liverpool look promising :)
AFC missed Song, Gervinho, Wilshere, Koscielny(early in first half), Djourou(back up to Kosc), Gibbs, Traore (backup LB to Gibbs), Rosicky(backup to Wilshere), Diaby (backup to Song).
Suspensions are down to unprofessional ways/reaction. Rest all injuries we're so used to at AFC. Bring back Colin Lewin please!
David Silva :clap:...great to watch him...he is the best player in BPL after 2 rounds..a treat to watch him.. a complete midfielder...what vision he has :bow:..surely City will give Utd and Chelsea a run for their money especially after Nasri..cant wait to see good quality football..surely better than cricket now a days :D
Always. Always better than Cricket.
They have OMFG spine now City: Hart-Kompany-Yaya-Silva-Aguero. One of the best in the world.
yes Kid...good to see Mancini trying to differ from other Italian Managers who refuse to change their traditional tactics...in for a hell of a season..:D
Nice comfortable home win against a side that looked jaded in the 1st match of their season. Young, Smalling, Jones and Rooney were outstanding while Nani, Cleverley and Evans were good too, Welbeck wasn't having the best of matches until he scored but that goal seemed to change things for him. He can become a top striker if he can improve on keeping the ball and staying more in the box. That leaves us with the curious case of Dimitiar Berbatov :confused2: What this season holds for him will become clear after deadline day but do we want him to be our 4th striker? What about Owen then? Macheda would probably go on another loan.
A lit more on the defense, Jones is 19 and could well be the next Terry (mobile version). Lot of United fans think Jones can play a versatile role like John O'Shea, I agree, but the same can be said about Smalling too. That boy looks class and eases out in whatever position we play him (fast becoming my favourite player) :thumbsup: De Gea has settled much better now and his performance reflected that, Spurs wanted to test him with long range shots but after a point it became silly.
Arsenal up next, not sure what to expect from them. I know they are hit by lot of Injuries, suspensions, departures and a CL qualification to boot but what better motivation than to play against the current champions to prove their mettle. Hope we get to see some good football at the end :)
What a night. SZCZ with a 25 million save :D
CL Draw
A: Bayern Munich, Villareal, Man City, Napoli
B: Inter Milan, CSKA Moscow, Lille, Trabzonspor
C: Manchester United, Benfica, FC Basel, Otelul Galati
D: Real Madrid, Lyon, Ajax, Dinamo Zagreb
E: Chelsea, Valencia, Bayer Leverkusen, Genk
F: Arsenal, Marseille, Olympiakos, Dortmund
G: FC Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk, Zenit St Petersburg, Apoel
H: Barcelona, AC Milan, Bate, Viktoria Plzen
Group A is the group of death, we get a relatively easy group. Arsenal vs Dortmund is going to be fantastic :thumbsup:
yes..relatively easy groups for all biggies..group A matches gonna be gr8 :)
Europa league,here we come :thumbsup:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/b...er-city-cringe
Sums up city :lol2:
The club which plays Joy Division during Matchdays should have more class! :)
Think Pool look shoe-in for 4th spot ATM.
I'm told Miyaichi/Afobe are injured. So we're going to get Ozyakup, Sunu among others in the bench. Sagna is reportedly sick. Kosc/Verm both remain doubtful. Possible lineup could be:
--------------Scz
Jenko-Djou-Miquel-Traore
-----------Le Coq
------Ramsey---Rosicky
Theo-----RVP--------Arsha
Note of caution:
Miquel/Le Coq baptism of fire could go either way. Both have talent, but I fear throwing 'em to deep end could undermine their progress.
Traore/Jenko(latter I rate) will suffer, much like that 4-0 few years back in FA cup
Ramsey looks knackered after playing 4 games in 11 days. His 5th in 15 days!
Theo would be invisible vs Evra.
Arsha is a liability in defense, but could turn up for a bright moment or two in attack I hope. But with Smalling, he has his work cut out.
RVP could suffer with no service/support. And even if he gets that one chance, he might sky it to the stands or fail to control it.
Overall I predict an easy win for United. And hope we get no injuries/suspensions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joy_Division
Though even Old trafford have used Joy Division (there's also a Giggs chant from Love will tear us apart) & New Order. OTOH City playing 'em makes more sense as the band's members including the legendary Ian Curtis were City fans.
City also got Oasis. All classic music legends from Manchester support City, yet they've become into a 'plastic club' which is far from lovely & poetic imagery these artists would have fostered of. In other words, City's sky blue has turned into copper sulphate :lol2:
Oh thanks, City are a plastic club indeed, probably the only club I've grown to hate more every other season. Sunderland feels like a 2nd United team to me because of our former players and manager. What is your feeling towards City with so many of your players going there? (I know some of them are deadwood).
btw still not convinced about the jinx part :p
City :shock:
Szcz , Koscielny, Djourou, Jenkinson, Traore, Rosicky, Ramsey, Coquelin, Walcott, RVP, Arshavin
We are in for a spanking :oops2:
Nice :D
.............
A m a z i n g
G a m e !
Final Score: Manchester United 8 - 2 Arsenal
A day of celebrations for all Man Utd fans :happydance:
We were terrible. Our away fans were brilliant.
Rock bottom for the club. Even more than that 6-1 loss ten years back. But only way is up from here.
Ashley Young is some signing :notworthy: So very happy for this young United team :redjump: Top of the table :cheer:
Djou is a good defender. Koscielny is a great defender. But they make mistakes. Vermaelen is a brilliant defender. But he gets injured a lot. I don't rate Cahill that highly. But he'd improve us in backup strength, no question. But I'd have thought someone as good as M'Vila would cover 2 positions. Or Vertongnen for that matter.
Jenko/Traore, both rookies, as backup RB/LB isn't good enough for the club. Even though I think they might have a future in the club in long term. In fact, Gibbs himself isn't ready just yet. Sagna is the only solid FB in the club.
Also I never quite understood taking Coq off when we were 3-1 down. No DM & lost the shape totally. I'd think buying a good DM is a good idea. Song & Frimpong both could be off to ANC. We might be having similar humiliation again this season.
We need to be astute in buying. So buying hybrid players like M'Vila, Vertongnen, etc is a good step.
Yeah heard lot of praise for M'Vila, sure would suit you guys. Vermaelen is class but I dont rate Djourou that much, has been found wanting more often then producing good performances. oh btw some mongs are calling for AW to quit already :banghead:
It was 12 years ago. The intriguing fact that a Club was named Arsenal and the manager named Arsene that drew my attention to football in Sports Pages of English broadsheets. Admittedly, I had not much choice since football occupied 98.324 % of the sports pages, which are the only ones I read in a newspaper, even now. So, some article or the other would have got my attention and drawn me in. But it so happens this was the one. It took me more than 3 years to confirm that club wasnt named Arsenal after its manager. In between, I read a lot of sports pages on football, and atleast, for the duration I was in London, became a fan.
Naturally, Arsenal was a club that I had a soft-corner for because of above-mentioned reasons. It also helped that the manager held his job for the last 12 years continuing to keep my intrigue alive. With this result, I guess the end of his era is near. And this is not much of a tribute, but this is all I can manage with my knowledge of football. Have peanuts, Git and co.
In Corporate world, he'd knighted as he had cleared 70% of stadium debt while keeping the team competitive.
People will go on about his failings (when it's the board's failings, the medical teams' failings, etc). But his hands are tied.
This season, we lost two key players. And in this particular game, lost players due to injuries & suspensions. We are not Utd, City or Chelsea to have 30m signings on the bench. Nevermind 'em, our entire first team costs way less than Pool/Spurs.
------------------
Roberto Martinez reminded Hansen & Dixon on MOTD 2 of the context of the game.
a) suspensions/injuries/transfers together had practically changed the entire XI
b) playing a midweek game away & having played 4 games in 11 days, it takes steam off any player. No wonder some looked knackered. And to play another 5th game in 15 days needs a stronger bench strength than what we have.
c) To have made it through an important game on Wednesday, 5 changes made to that side with more young players. It would obviously disrupt the flow of the team.
d) United OTOH had unchanged XI from Spurs game & had a week's rest. And having to play at home again, they were in rhythm & had no adjustment to make. This is exactly similar to India thrashing by England after the latter are well set, having beaten SL without much adjustments to make while India had to do a back-to-back away tour with injuries.
Yes, we might be thrashed, but I'd not be quick to write off everything. This is a humiliating defeat, but even the most arrogant Arsenal fans would have predicted a 3/4 goal defeat.
All controllable aspects of the game went wrong. Arsene shouldn't have taken off Coquelin at 3-1. He brought on AOC when the team controlled midfield & pulled off saves from De Gea. Arshavin was totally out of gas by first 60 minutes, not Coquelin (despite his mistake on Young's curler for 2nd goal). Also, the defending on both free kicks were absolutely controllable. I used to like Cashley in this aspect. He used to voluntarily come to the line. Covering the far post. Some players (like Rosicky) didn't even care to put their body on the line. Not one players rushed to put a block in. And once 4-1, most teams would settle. But with AOC introduction, the shape was more of a 4-2-4, a pretty suicidal formation against Wigan, nevermind Man United! The ensuing nightmare was all too predictable.
The international break couldn't have come at a better time. It'd be good to have 4-5 players back by then. Though Song, Gervinho, Jenko will all be suspended, Frimpong, Sagna & Park Chu-young should all feature.
I did think of the similarities with the England-India series, git. But given how England works, this might be Arsene's final Life, dont you think?
Have to add that the media are having a field day with their xenophobic diatribe on Wenger. Desperately clinging on hopes of having Wenger walk away. To 'em, it'd be tantamount to having the French surrender again.
Tasteless euphemism in making analogies to dead corpse & a naked old man shows there's nothing more deplorable than the British press in history of mankind.