Pittsburgh Gooners - Latest Comments

Re: Spaniards Save the Day

TheRealHeffer — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 10:01:30 -0000

Must keep the faith my friend. With Arsenal the past years - no game is easy and it will defintely be a grind. Start Rosicky.

Re: Spaniards Save the Day

@Ozman51 — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 23:05:38 -0000

Leary, not going to be an easy game at all and could define the month.

Re: Spaniards Save the Day

@Ozman51 — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 23:04:33 -0000

Chelsea is within 3 points after the weekend regardless of Spurs at West Ham. Yes without a doubt top 4 is in the realm is possibilities.

Re: Spaniards Save the Day

Ian Matthew Smith — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 21:08:40 -0000

They need to improve a lot still but they just need to take it a game at a time at this point

Re: Spaniards Save the Day

Big_T11 — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 16:56:26 -0000

Nicely written, do you think they have a true shot to qualify for champions league?

Re: Spaniards Save the Day

@Ozman51 — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 17:53:43 -0000

An ugly win is three points. We sure can't be that ugly next Sunday at White Hart Lane.

Re: Spaniards Save the Day

TheRealHeffer — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 17:53:03 -0000

Can't wait for Tottenham.

Re: Spaniards Save the Day

TheRealHeffer — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 17:52:37 -0000

A win is a win. We;ll take the points. Nice overview

Re: The Gunners in the Hot Seat

@Ozman51 — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 21:48:32 -0000

We have the person we need to win the crosses, Giroud. We crossed nearly 4 times as much as we usually do vs Blackburn. The problem is the crosses were generally poor and the only person in the box was Giroud. That's going to work about 1% of the time.

Re: The Gunners in the Hot Seat

@Ozman51 — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 17:35:56 -0000

We don't have the crossers which is why we don't do it much. I think Giroud is a solid cross finisher. The problem is he is consistently the only man in the box and is covered by three people.

Re: The Gunners in the Hot Seat

OutForAThrow — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 17:34:26 -0000

But when teams are willing to cede possession and defend for ninety minutes, I worry we don't have the personnel to cross balls into the box and win headers or the technical skills in the middle of the park to pick the lock.

Re: Wenger War Must Stop Splitting Supporters

@Ozman51 — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 17:21:01 -0000

Desire is part of it IMO but there are structural issues from both a team management (Korenke/Board/Wenger) and a coaching (Wenger) perspective. We continue to put a team out there that seems unprepared for specific opponents. Blackburn parked the bus on us from go. We had no solution nor alternative approach to it. There have been reports on two occasions on Wenger shutting down Bould's defensive focused training and leaving physios in charge of training sessions instead.

I want to see a team that wants to win. I think there are 5 or 6 guys that genuinely have that desire. The problem is what do we do on days when guys get down or frustrated? On the pitch leadership, pitch management and team prep are big time problems. Then there is just a decline in quality overall. This is a good team. I have no fear of relegation. However I have no hope that this current side will challenge for anything. The lack of quality also means no one is pushing for positions. Wenger has his top 11 pretty solid and there is not a whole lot of competition for those spots. No motivation to excel turns into no drive on the pitch to win.

Re: Wenger War Must Stop Splitting Supporters

Ian Matthew Smith — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 17:14:56 -0000

I agree, fans, media, etc. are too quick to point fingers. There's not necessarily a problem and solution we just need to see a team that wants to win and has a desire to be the best it can be.

Re: The Gunners in the Hot Seat

@Ozman51 — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 17:10:02 -0000

The solution is to not use a five man rotation and just run at it like we do. The solution is to make teams think we might actually attempt to score on the break more than twice a game.

Re: The Gunners in the Hot Seat

OutForAThrow — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 17:08:13 -0000

Breaking down setups like that has been a problem for so long that I'm not even sure of a solution.

Re: The Gunners in the Hot Seat

@Ozman51 — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 16:59:24 -0000

didn’t understand the criticism either. Squad chosen was very capable of winning 4-nil. The problem was approach. We never got behind them, never made an 8 and sometimes 10 man defensive scheme stretch.
That is partially players but also largely due to a lack of pitch influence from management.

Re: The Gunners in the Hot Seat

OutForAThrow — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 10:13:19 -0000

I'm not particularly sure why anyone is saying that Wenger fielded a weaker team on Saturday. Rosicky, Arteta and Diaby are all first team players. Giroud is our starting striker and the backline only saw Sagna rested. Granted, Gervinho and Ox are squad players but they have made 44 combined appearances for the first team this season.

Against the lower league opposition in a match three days before a Champions League fixture, you have to expect rotation and I don't really think the XI against Blackburn was particularly weak. The team just wasn't too interested in scoring.

I suspect, had Wenger sent out Jack, Santi, and Theo from the beginning (even if we won the match) everyone would be moaning about squad depth because the players weren't rested for Champions League. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Re: Arsenal Holds Strong For Needed Three Points

@Ozman51 — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 11:24:19 -0000

Yup, tho they still have a much tougher go in their remaining 12 than we do.

Re: Arsenal Holds Strong For Needed Three Points

TheRealHeffer — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 00:09:43 -0000

Nicely written. That match with Tottenham is looming to be huge.

Re: Arsenal Holds Strong For Needed Three Points

mgooner9 — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 22:45:57 -0000

A gritty, well-deserved road victory. Against Sunderland, like against Stoke last week, it's good to see the Gunners dig deep and win some hard-fought battles.

Re: Arsenal Holds Strong For Needed Three Points

@Ozman51 — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 21:49:38 -0000

We were discussing the captaincy of Jack Wilshere today. I don't see a need to rush it. He's a leader as is. Vermaelen has done nothing to deserve to lose it. Either a move of Vermaelen or him outright taking the armband off and deciding to give it to Jack is the only way this happens short term. Still Wilshere if given the armband today would only be the 3rd youngest captain in Arsenal history behind Adams and Cesc.

Re: Arsenal Holds Strong For Needed Three Points

@Ozman51 — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 21:41:45 -0000

Was a good win. A lot more physical than I expected. Wilshere is only injured "for a few days" to paraphrase Wenger which lets me breath a sigh of relief. A two weeks rested Podolski for Blackburn is a good thing as well. Prior to today he or Santi had either scored or assisted on 71% of Arsenal goals (all comps) this year.

Re: Arsenal Holds Strong For Needed Three Points

OutForAThrow — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 21:35:25 -0000

Good stuff. I'm encouraged to see this team grind out wins in a way that they didn't the past couple of seasons. It seems like the squad is becoming more and more Jack's team in that his passion and determination has a way of infecting the whole team. Makes you excited for the future.

Re: Arsenal Holds Strong For Needed Three Points

Pete Krum — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 20:26:56 -0000

Well done

Re: The Current State of Our Arsenal

mgooner9 — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 17:02:59 -0000

Great article! Very nice to picture Captain Jack with the silverware that will (eventually) come our way. Also, the "pregnant-looking" description of Arshavin was spot-on.