Brendan Rodgers

[Pablo]

That is Downing in a nutshell.

Get ball.

Look up briefly.

See defender closing you down.

Cut inside about a yard.

Defender is two yards in front of you.

Blast shot or cross against defender regardless of his proximity and other options and hope for the best.

Lose possession.

That's it.

So true

[tanner]

... Vidic is "well passed his best" and yet he's better than Agger? You're making out like Agger is a one-legged, blind carthorse. What the hell have you been drinking?

Yes... money... THAT'S the reason we couldn't sign Hummels.

What's so hard to understand? Vidic is passed his best but is still a better defender than a passed his best Agger. We're not talking quantum physics here.

[Captain Stu]

That's utters horse**** too though isn't it. The expectancy of fans like you is ridiculous. Why should the likes of arsenal and liverpool expect to win things when we're competing with squads that have cost £300m? Arsenal have qualified for the champions league every season, that's success in line with their expenditure. We should really be a top 6 side, and should be fighting for 4th place with spurs and arsenal, no more. Kenny took us to 2 cup finals last season, , and last night we were knocked out of the fa cup by a team at the bottom of league 1, conceding 3 goals. It's not progress, its piss poor. Suarez probably cost more than their entire squad. Rogers can't even get his side to defend against that.

And what exactly do you know about my expectations, oh wise and glorious one? Hmmm? Please tell me what I expect?

Qualifiying for the Champion's League is not success in any way, shape or form - it's finishing fourth in the league. That's not success, it's a stepping stone but that's not how Arsenal view it. They use it to balance the books rather than earn extra money to invest in the squad.

Kenny took us to two finals, yes and it made us finish 8th in the league because he put all the eggs in the cup final baskets and completely ****ed over any chance we had of finishing in the top six.

What's so hard to understand? Vidic is passed his best but is still a better defender than a passed his best Agger. We're not talking quantum physics here.

It's certainly not quantum physics - it's some mug (ie, you) talking utter bollocks on a forum and making himself look like a total gimp.

[Sarb]

That is Downing in a nutshell.

Get ball.

Look up briefly.

See defender closing you down.

Cut inside about a yard.

Defender is a yard in front of you.

Blast shot or cross against defender regardless of his proximity and other options and hope for the best.

Lose possession.

That's it.

It was frustrating but predictable from him. I was telling the missus what he was going to do each time he got the ball and it is exactly the way you describe it. That is all he does. Worst thing is, he probably thinks that is a 7 out of 10 performance for him

[tanner]

And what exactly do you know about my expectations, oh wise and glorious one? Hmmm? Please tell me what I expect?

Qualifiying for the Champion's League is not success in any way, shape or form - it's finishing fourth in the league. That's not success, it's a stepping stone but that's not how Arsenal view it. They use it to balance the books rather than earn extra money to invest in the squad.

Kenny took us to two finals, yes and it made us finish 8th in the league because he put all the eggs in the cup final baskets and completely ****ed over any chance we had of finishing in the top six.



It's certainly not quantum physics - it's some mug (ie, you) talking utter bollocks on a forum and making himself look like a total gimp.

And where are we now in the league?

We should be a top 6 side with a cup run losing to a top 6 side. That's realistic expectation.

[Sarb]

And what exactly do you know about my expectations, oh wise and glorious one? Hmmm? Please tell me what I expect?

Qualifiying for the Champion's League is not success in any way, shape or form - it's finishing fourth in the league. That's not success, it's a stepping stone but that's not how Arsenal view it. They use it to balance the books rather than earn extra money to invest in the squad.

Kenny took us to two finals, yes and it made us finish 8th in the league because he put all the eggs in the cup final baskets and completely ****ed over any chance we had of finishing in the top six.



It's certainly not quantum physics - it's some mug (ie, you) talking utter bollocks on a forum and making himself look like a total gimp.

[Captain Stu]

And where are we now in the league?

We should be a top 6 side with a cup run losing to a top 6 side. That's realistic expectation.

7th, three points behind Arsenal and improving in many areas, getting more to grips with a brand new system and style of play and looking to cut costs on some expensive mistakes that the previous managers have lumbered the squad with, these expensive mistakes are also part of the reason we're in the state that we are because they've prevented us from signing genuinely talented players.

Or maybe... just maybe... we're a top six side who now, because we're out of both cups, can focus on being a top six side rather than get to two cup finals and finish 8th again.

The league is THE most important thing. Cups are nice but right now, we need to progress in the league so... quite frankly... **** the FA Cup and the League Cup. They're a luxury we can ill-afford right now.

[Sarb]

And where are we now in the league?

Do you think our league performance in the first half of the season has been as bad as 2nd half of last season? Bearing in mind the number of youngsters we have brought through. You don't see any progress in the way we are dismantling teams at home this season (usually without conceding too). Granted we haven't got the results against the top 4 or 5 sides but I think with the exception of maybe Arsenal and Utd we have performed pretty well against them without getting a result.

[Sarb]

7th, three points behind Arsenal and improving in many areas, getting more to grips with a brand new system and style of play and looking to cut costs on some expensive mistakes that the previous managers have lumbered the squad with, these expensive mistakes are also part of the reason we're in the state that we are because they've prevented us from signing genuinely talented players.

Or maybe... just maybe... we're a top six side who now, because we're out of both cups, can focus on being a top six side rather than get to two cup finals and finish 8th again.

The league is THE most important thing. Cups are nice but right now, we need to progress in the league so... quite frankly... **** the FA Cup and the League Cup. They're a luxury we can ill-afford right now.

Spot on

[tanner]

7th, three points behind Arsenal and improving in many areas, getting more to grips with a brand new system and style of play and looking to cut costs on some expensive mistakes that the previous managers have lumbered the squad with, these expensive mistakes are also part of the reason we're in the state that we are because they've prevented us from signing genuinely talented players.

Or maybe... just maybe... we're a top six side who now, because we're out of both cups, can focus on being a top six side rather than get to two cup finals and finish 8th again.

equal points with 8th, probably on less points than at the same stage last season? I'm not sure about that but very possibly.

I dont buy this getting to grips with a new style bollocks at all, its not footballers learning to play tennis ffs. Those expensive mistakes won us a cup and took us to another final losing against the european champions, finishing pretty much where we are now.

[Rich]

That is Downing in a nutshell.

Get ball.

Look up briefly.

See defender closing you down.

Cut inside about a yard.

Defender is a yard in front of you.

Blast shot or cross against defender regardless of his proximity and other options and hope for the best.

Lose possession.

That's it.

He totally bottled it again yesterday. No drive whatsoever.

[Alex]

In our last 6 home games we have scored 17 and conceded 3. That has to be some sort of cause for celebration?

[Sarb]

equal points with 8th, probably on less points than at the same stage last season? I'm not sure about that but very possibly.

I dont buy this getting to grips with a new style bollocks at all, its not footballers learning to play tennis ffs. Those expensive mistakes won us a cup and took us to another final losing against the european champions, finishing pretty much where we are now.

Still half a season to go

So you are happy having spent £120m that all we had to show for it was a League Cup (which we tried our best to lose to Cardiff). Something like 3 wins in our last 19 league games and to be fair totally the wrong team selected in the FA Cup final. You see that as a great achievement?

[Captain Stu]

I dont buy this getting to grips with a new style bollocks at all...

Well that (as many of the things you've previously said) shows you up as a bit of a mug. Footballers train day in, day out learning systems - ranging from the formation right up to how you mark at set pieces - and we've changed radically over the last few years:

1. [4-2-3-1] - sometimes counter-attacking setup under Rafa.
2. [4-4-2] - all-out attack under Kenny.
3. [4-2-3-1/4-3-3] - possession-based slow building game under Rodgers.

If you can't understand why that takes time to adjust then you honestly have no idea about football. You could take the best players in the world, put them into a new system, and it would take time to adjust. Then wake up, realise we DON'T have the best players in the world and then it becomes a little more clean as to why we're adjusting.

That's what this is - a period of adjustment. It happens when teams change managers. It happens to EVERYONE. Some adjust better than others.

At times, under Kenny, we were utterly brainless and just ran around a lot, running at people with no real plan and yes it worked at times but our new style of play has worked at times. Long term success comes from implementing that system perfectly and that might take another year or two but in that time we will see improvements as we already have done.

There'll be defeats along the way, of course there will, but there'll also be big wins, cup runs and eventually silverware.

Those expensive mistakes won us a cup and took us to another final losing against the european champions, finishing pretty much where we are now.

Did they? Did they really? Did Carroll, Downing and Carroll single-handedly carry us through the cups? Did they bollocks. Have a word with yourself.

[Pablo]

Is tanner that previously banned (multiple times) speedy gonzalez? Serious question