Post-Match - Bolton (a)

[FatTony]

We can thank Sean Davis for that win. Until he was sent off we were going to lose

I still can't quite believe we have that rangers reject in our defence. Lucas and Mascherano are simply not creative or dominant enough together and Gerrard was barely in the game until the red card.

3 points maybe, but this team is not good enough. Im afraid Lucas has to give way now as at 11 v 11 it was clear that he offered nothing to the team. I agree now, move Gerrard into CM until Aquaman is fit

Thats a bit unfair, from what I saw he had a tidy game, especially considering this was his debut in a difficult league.

He cleared a few dangerous crosses and the ball he put through for Torres in the first was superb.

I couldn't give a **** if he's a Rangers reject, he did alright and its very unfair to single him out like this considering.

[Marky]

Thats a bit unfair, from what I saw he had a tidy game, especially considering this was his debut in a difficult league.

He cleared a few dangerous crosses and the ball he put through for Torres in the first was superb.

I couldn't give a **** if he's a Rangers reject, he did alright and its very unfair to single him out like this considering.

Exactly. New club, new league, new start.
He was solid enoug today so i'm puzzled as to what your man's problem with the Greek is.

[Shaggy]

Kyrgiakos was an absolute beast in the air, doing everything expected of him - exactly what we needed. Kevin Davies won't have had many tougher games than that. He's brave, dominant and takes no prisoners. There was also one lovely curled through-ball over the top and in behind the CBs, which landed plum on Nando's foot, who should've done better. Good start.

[Reece]

They said on football first that Insua is the shortest player in the Premier League. Surely not?

[Craig_H]

Cant believe that. He's not THAT short. Surely Aaron Lennon and SWP are shorter.

[Reece]

According to Wiki he is 5' 8", whilst Lennon is 5' 5".

[Craig_H]

Well that's it then...not even a judge would argue with wiki

[shelly]

According to Wiki he is 5' 8", whilst Lennon is 5' 5".

aye, according to the lfc.tv he's 5 ft 8

pretty sure lennon is shorter than that

maybe they meant shortest defender?

[Lee]

Which full back has scored the most goals in a Premier League season? Irwin perhaps? Harte?

I reckon come the end of this season, Johnson will hold the record of most goals from a full back in a PL season.

Great save from Reina today too from Taylor's free kick. We've let in a lot of goals so far this season but Reina, as usual, has proved what a quality keeper he is. Plus his little dribble past Davies...

Good to see Riera back. Not sure I like the new 'hard man' Lucas though. He may have bulked up a little this summer but he seems rather antagonistic this season.

And yeah, when I heard them say about Insua being the smallest Premiership player I did think that surely Lennon & SWP must be there or thereabouts.

Three in three for Torres

[little dave hedgehog]

Which full back has scored the most goals in a Premier League season? Irwin perhaps? Harte?

unsworth iirc.

[-V-]

Thats a bit unfair, from what I saw he had a tidy game, especially considering this was his debut in a difficult league.

He cleared a few dangerous crosses and the ball he put through for Torres in the first was superb.

I couldn't give a **** if he's a Rangers reject, he did alright and its very unfair to single him out like this considering.

Kyrgiakos was an absolute beast in the air, doing everything expected of him - exactly what we needed. Kevin Davies won't have had many tougher games than that. He's brave, dominant and takes no prisoners. There was also one lovely curled through-ball over the top and in behind the CBs, which landed plum on Nando's foot, who should've done better. Good start.

What? He is our CB and was standing ball watching for the first goal just 2 yards away from the scorer (not the only one at fault I know but hardly a positive sign). The 2nd goal he was easily beaten in the air by Davies and resulted in another ****ty goal.

Tidy game? Brave and dominant? My arse

[DannyMan2006]

What? He is our CB and was standing ball watching for the first goal just 2 yards away from the scorer (not the only one at fault I know but hardly a positive sign). The 2nd goal he was easily beaten in the air by Davies and resulted in another ****ty goal.

Tidy game? Brave and dominant? My arse

He was very good at times, but I can't argue with that.

But he will only come up against one better player than Davies in the air, Didier Drogba and it could even be argued that even he is not as good as Davies at laying the ball off. Davies is always the acid test because he will kick, elbow, back in and pull the shirt of a defender.

The Greek will also have to learn that you don't get too much time on the ball in this league, got caught out a couple of times dallying on the ball.

[BigChief]

Tidy game? Brave and dominant? My arse

Brave: Threw himself laterally to stop a shot (from Cohen?) headed for goal. Far post header to deny Knight(?) and get a knock on the head when our other players were doing the usual shrinking violet routine.

Dominant: The number of long balls thrown at Davies we should have conceded 5. The fact we only conceded one from them had a LOT to do with Kyri constantly winning aerial battles against the very dangerous Davies.

Had a few ironing out issues, but was never caught out of position for his first game which was surprisingly good and played the pass of the season to Torres who messed up an easy opportunity.

Did you only see Match of the Day?

[DannyMan2006]

WTF

They have been instrumental in Arsenal's good start and ran the show today. If you read Arsenal fans online the general consensus is they were wrong about the pair. It's clear they've blossomed - they've both been in fine form this season, and at 21 certainly can't be dismissed as "not good enough" - similarly Lucas at 22.

A player at 15 can be dismissed as not good enough, the age of a player has nothing to do with his present ability. I've never said anywhere that Lucas and Diaby and Song will not become good players. In fact I have come out a few times on this site and said I expect Lucas to become a good player.

Lucas is a player we've all had our opinion on and I don't feel like dragging that argument back up now, FWIW I think Lucas did quite well against Bolton.

On the subject of Diaby and Song, I stand by my opinion that they are not good enough yet. If you think that midfield is good enough for Arsenal to win the league then you've got another thing coming. They are seriously lacking. Neither is concistent enough to be classed as a good player just yet and Arsenal will suffer because of that.

They and all the Arsenal team were lucky in that they played Everton and Pompey at the right time, had all the luck against Celtic - deflected goal, own goal and then the pen - and these fixtures have made them look better than they are, whilst getting their confidence up. A confident Arsenal is a good team, but that confidence will not last and they'll not stay the course as title contenders. And their weak midfield is a big factor in that.

[vonk]

I thought Insua, the Greek and Johnson were very good today. For a debut it was a good performance by him and if you look at the performance in the context of his price, it seems like job well done by Rafa. Insua has to be first choice now, I thought he and Riera linked up very well. If Insua improves his already decent crossing we are sorted in that position. Johnson.... well the quality is there for all to see. Carra is having a poor start to the season, but to be fair, his organisational qualities are second to none. If we could get a decent striking option in to give Torres a rest, I'd feel pretty good about our squad, with Aquilani, Agger and Aurelio to return.