Arsenal Thread 2013/14

[afc16]

I think Arsenal will be in all the way to the last day of the season. I can see a cracking finish with Us, Chelsea and Arsenal all with a shot at the title on the last day.

The champions league is going to play a big part I think. In 2008 United and Chelsea were both top 3 sides in Europe and went all the way to the final. It allowed for Arsenal to sneak up on them and almost win the league. If Eduardo had not broken his leg, Gallas had his break down and Arsenal collapsed they could have and probably should have snuck the league. Whoever, goes the furthest in the CL will probably lose out. This could be Chelsea, because they have the best chance of going through.

thats one way of looking at it.

the reality is that we were always there for most of the season. i certainly don't remember suddenly sneaking up on anyone, as that seems to imply that other teams were better for the majority of the season and we had a small purple patch which propelled us up.

in nov the table was

1 (1) Arsenal 13 10 3 0 29 10 19 33
2 (2) Man U 14 9 3 2 23 7 16 30
3 (3) M.City 14 9 2 3 18 14 4 29
4 (4) Chelsea 14 8 4 2 21 9 12 28

in dec after 20 games we were also top. in jan we were 2nd only on GD. and in feb we were 3 points clear at the top.

we also played some of the best football i've ever seen us play.

we had a midfield of fabregas/rosicky/flamini/hleb all playing at their best.

we had adebayor/rvp/eduardo. eduardo was one of the top strikers in Europe at that point in terms of form. he really was a deadly striker, 1 chance 1 goal.

your definitely right about one thing though, we collapsed after the eduardo injury in the b'ham game. if it hadn't have been for that i really think we would have won the league that season. not only did we loose eduardo, it also had a bad effect on the team.

we weren't in the right frame of mind after that moment, and clichy's last min dithering cost us 3 points and the momentum.

 

[supercrystal7]

I think Arsenal will be in all the way to the last day of the season. I can see a cracking finish with Us, Chelsea and Arsenal all with a shot at the title on the last day.

The champions league is going to play a big part I think. In 2008 United and Chelsea were both top 3 sides in Europe and went all the way to the final. It allowed for Arsenal to sneak up on them and almost win the league. If Eduardo had not broken his leg, Gallas had his break down and Arsenal collapsed they could have and probably should have snuck the league. Whoever, goes the furthest in the CL will probably lose out. This could be Chelsea, because they have the best chance of going through.

thats one way of looking at it.

the reality is that we were always there for most of the season. i certainly don't remember suddenly sneaking up on anyone, as that seems to imply that other teams were better for the majority of the season and we had a small purple patch which propelled us up.

in nov the table was

1 (1) Arsenal 13 10 3 0 29 10 19 33
2 (2) Man U 14 9 3 2 23 7 16 30
3 (3) M.City 14 9 2 3 18 14 4 29
4 (4) Chelsea 14 8 4 2 21 9 12 28

in dec after 20 games we were also top. in jan we were 2nd only on GD. and in feb we were 3 points clear at the top.

we also played some of the best football i've ever seen us play.

we had a midfield of fabregas/rosicky/flamini/hleb all playing at their best.

we had adebayor/rvp/eduardo. eduardo was one of the top strikers in Europe at that point in terms of form. he really was a deadly striker, 1 chance 1 goal.

your definitely right about one thing though, we collapsed after the eduardo injury in the b'ham game. if it hadn't have been for that i really think we would have won the league that season. not only did we loose eduardo, it also had a bad effect on the team.

we weren't in the right frame of mind after that moment, and clichy's last min dithering cost us 3 points and the momentum.

I think you snuck up on teams in the sense United and Chelsea were better teams and expected to win the league.
This is all off memory, but I remember looking at your fixtures and you had very winnable games.

Looked up the fixtures and after the Birmingham game you went on to draw against Wigan, Villa and Middlesborough before losing to Chelsea. Those 3 points out of 12 really killed your season. After that you lost a great player ever year and were never really good enough to challenge again until this season.

 

[afc16]

The champions league is going to play a big part I think. In 2008 United and Chelsea were both top 3 sides in Europe and went all the way to the final. It allowed for Arsenal to sneak up on them and almost win the league. If Eduardo had not broken his leg, Gallas had his break down and Arsenal collapsed they could have and probably should have snuck the league. Whoever, goes the furthest in the CL will probably lose out. This could be Chelsea, because they have the best chance of going through.

thats one way of looking at it.

the reality is that we were always there for most of the season. i certainly don't remember suddenly sneaking up on anyone, as that seems to imply that other teams were better for the majority of the season and we had a small purple patch which propelled us up.

in nov the table was

1 (1) Arsenal 13 10 3 0 29 10 19 33
2 (2) Man U 14 9 3 2 23 7 16 30
3 (3) M.City 14 9 2 3 18 14 4 29
4 (4) Chelsea 14 8 4 2 21 9 12 28

in dec after 20 games we were also top. in jan we were 2nd only on GD. and in feb we were 3 points clear at the top.

we also played some of the best football i've ever seen us play.

we had a midfield of fabregas/rosicky/flamini/hleb all playing at their best.

we had adebayor/rvp/eduardo. eduardo was one of the top strikers in Europe at that point in terms of form. he really was a deadly striker, 1 chance 1 goal.

your definitely right about one thing though, we collapsed after the eduardo injury in the b'ham game. if it hadn't have been for that i really think we would have won the league that season. not only did we loose eduardo, it also had a bad effect on the team.

we weren't in the right frame of mind after that moment, and clichy's last min dithering cost us 3 points and the momentum.

I think you snuck up on teams in the sense United and Chelsea were better teams and expected to win the league.
This is all off memory, but I remember looking at your fixtures and you had very winnable games.

Looked up the fixtures and after the Birmingham game you went on to draw against Wigan, Villa and Middlesborough before losing to Chelsea. Those 3 points out of 12 really killed your season. After that you lost a great player ever year and were never really good enough to challenge again until this season.

the players were destroyed, they watched one of their team mates have his ankle snapped in half, bone sticking out and blood everywhere. they never really recovered from that, together with the fact we lost our best striker for rest of season.

i definetly don't agree that utd and chelsea were better teams up to that point.

we were top for most of the season till that point.

we had a team that was playing the best football we've played since the invincibles. we genuinely were playing some of the best football in Europe. ill admit that we haven't played anything like that since, only this season in patches i've seen us match that.

we had a midfield of hleb/flamini/fabregas/rosicky who at that point were all at their very best, and as that was just before the pep/barca days, there really weren't many if any midfields in europe that could match that. theres a reason that barca brought hleb and milan brought flamini after that, barca after that. their performances that season individually and as a whole were outstanding.

we also had rvp/adebayor/eduardo who again were 3 top strikers. eduardo and adey were deadly that season, they were 2 of the most in form strikers in the league and europe, especially eduardo.

everything after that b'ham game is a write off, as i said at the start its difficult to pin the blame on anyone within arsenal. it would have to be clichy or gallas if i had to pick.<br /><br />-- Mon Dec 30, 2013 9:52 pm --<br /><br />talking about b'ham its funny how you can have such bad luck against a team.

they snapped eduardo's ankle in half which in my opinion contributed towards us not winning the league, they got a very lucky bounce to win the carling cup final against us which again sent us on a poor run of form which took a long time to recover from, i don't think any other team has caused me so much misery. i really hate them with a passion

 

[supercrystal7]

Your team was a strong one and this was when the Premiership was truly the best in the world. The top 4 in the Premiership were probably the top 5 in Europe alongside Barcelona.

However, as strong as you were for me United and Chelsea were strong. This is the United team that had Scholes, Hagreaves, Carrick in midfield with back up like Fletche. Cristiano Ronaldo the best player in the world, Rooney, Tevez a young promising Nani. Their defence had Evra, Ferdinand, Vidic and then they had VDS in goal. For me only the Chelsea team of 2006 was better in the Premiership.

Then you look at Chelsea, who had Cech, Terry, Carlvalho, Cole with Lampard, Esssien, Makalele and Ballack in midfield. Robben and Cole on the wings with Drogba upfront.

You may have been keeping pace with them, but they had stronger first 11s in my opinion. That was truly the golden age of the Premiership though.

 

[afc16]

Your team was a strong one and this was when the Premiership was truly the best in the world. The top 4 in the Premiership were probably the top 5 in Europe alongside Barcelona.

However, as strong as you were for me United and Chelsea were strong. This is the United team that had Scholes, Hagreaves, Carrick in midfield with back up like Fletche. Cristiano Ronaldo the best player in the world, Rooney, Tevez a young promising Nani. Their defence had Evra, Ferdinand, Vidic and then they had VDS in goal. For me only the Chelsea team of 2006 was better in the Premiership.

Then you look at Chelsea, who had Cech, Terry, Carlvalho, Cole with Lampard, Esssien, Makalele and Ballack in midfield. Robben and Cole on the wings with Drogba upfront.

You may have been keeping pace with them, but they had stronger first 11s in my opinion. That was truly the golden age of the Premiership though.

if i remember correctly though, it was in the 08/09 season that ronaldo really took off and became one of the best players in the world, in the 07/08 season he wasn't as good as he was in the following seasons.

but your right, at that time, just before pep/barca, the PL had easily the best 3/4 teams in europe. bayern and madrid were not much to talk about back then, and barca were still in the rijkard days of underperforming.

 

[supercrystal7]

Your team was a strong one and this was when the Premiership was truly the best in the world. The top 4 in the Premiership were probably the top 5 in Europe alongside Barcelona.

However, as strong as you were for me United and Chelsea were strong. This is the United team that had Scholes, Hagreaves, Carrick in midfield with back up like Fletche. Cristiano Ronaldo the best player in the world, Rooney, Tevez a young promising Nani. Their defence had Evra, Ferdinand, Vidic and then they had VDS in goal. For me only the Chelsea team of 2006 was better in the Premiership.

Then you look at Chelsea, who had Cech, Terry, Carlvalho, Cole with Lampard, Esssien, Makalele and Ballack in midfield. Robben and Cole on the wings with Drogba upfront.

You may have been keeping pace with them, but they had stronger first 11s in my opinion. That was truly the golden age of the Premiership though.

if i remember correctly though, it was in the 08/09 season that ronaldo really took off and became one of the best players in the world, in the 07/08 season he wasn't as good as he was in the following seasons.

but your right, at that time, just before pep/barca, the PL had easily the best 3/4 teams in europe. bayern and madrid were not much to talk about back then, and barca were still in the rijkard days of underperforming.

Ronaldo took off in the 06/07 season and spear headed United to the title. In 07/08 he ended up winning world player of the year. 08/09 was when Messi won world player of the year.

Yes Barca were under performing and bleeding iniesta/Messi. Milan were over the hill. Madrid weren't great and either were Bayern.

 

[Mancity1980]

I think Arsenal will be in all the way to the last day of the season. I can see a cracking finish with Us, Chelsea and Arsenal all with a shot at the title on the last day.

I can't help thinking that we should be pulling away from these teams but it just has not happened yet and it is a bit worrying. We have shown in both games against these clubs that we have the better side, we just need to rack up the points to prove that!

 

[Newman Noggs]

Your team was a strong one and this was when the Premiership was truly the best in the world. The top 4 in the Premiership were probably the top 5 in Europe alongside Barcelona.

However, as strong as you were for me United and Chelsea were strong. This is the United team that had Scholes, Hagreaves, Carrick in midfield with back up like Fletche. Cristiano Ronaldo the best player in the world, Rooney, Tevez a young promising Nani. Their defence had Evra, Ferdinand, Vidic and then they had VDS in goal. For me only the Chelsea team of 2006 was better in the Premiership.

Then you look at Chelsea, who had Cech, Terry, Carlvalho, Cole with Lampard, Esssien, Makalele and Ballack in midfield. Robben and Cole on the wings with Drogba upfront.

You may have been keeping pace with them, but they had stronger first 11s in my opinion. That was truly the golden age of the Premiership though.

Truly a golden age. I wish we had been able to organically grow our team with so many home-grown players. Then, just maybe, we could have participated in such a glorious era.

 

[Exeter Blue I am here]

Your team was a strong one and this was when the Premiership was truly the best in the world. The top 4 in the Premiership were probably the top 5 in Europe alongside Barcelona.

However, as strong as you were for me United and Chelsea were strong. This is the United team that had Scholes, Hagreaves, Carrick in midfield with back up like Fletche. Cristiano Ronaldo the best player in the world, Rooney, Tevez a young promising Nani. Their defence had Evra, Ferdinand, Vidic and then they had VDS in goal. For me only the Chelsea team of 2006 was better in the Premiership.

Then you look at Chelsea, who had Cech, Terry, Carlvalho, Cole with Lampard, Esssien, Makalele and Ballack in midfield. Robben and Cole on the wings with Drogba upfront.

You may have been keeping pace with them, but they had stronger first 11s in my opinion. That was truly the golden age of the Premiership though.

Truly a golden age. I wish we had been able to organically grow our team with so many home-grown players. Then, just maybe, we could have participated in such a glorious era.

Ha ha, so true! Alas we were so poor at the time we couldn't even afford the Bosman signings that helped propel these great clubs to glory. Our academy did produce SWP and Ireland but in terms of quality they still fell some way short of some of our new found rivals' graduates like Carrick, Evra, Robben and Viera

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

Your team was a strong one and this was when the Premiership was truly the best in the world. The top 4 in the Premiership were probably the top 5 in Europe alongside Barcelona.

However, as strong as you were for me United and Chelsea were strong. This is the United team that had Scholes, Hagreaves, Carrick in midfield with back up like Fletche. Cristiano Ronaldo the best player in the world, Rooney, Tevez a young promising Nani. Their defence had Evra, Ferdinand, Vidic and then they had VDS in goal. For me only the Chelsea team of 2006 was better in the Premiership.

Then you look at Chelsea, who had Cech, Terry, Carlvalho, Cole with Lampard, Esssien, Makalele and Ballack in midfield. Robben and Cole on the wings with Drogba upfront.

You may have been keeping pace with them, but they had stronger first 11s in my opinion. That was truly the golden age of the Premiership though.

There can be no denying the quality in both those teams, especially united. Taggart's 2007/8 best xi would have taken the '99 Treble team to the cleaners imo. It was the high point of his management, quality wise.

Not sure your claim about the best 4 in the Premier League being in the top 5 in Europe though, which undermines your claim about it being the golden age for the Premier League a little. I would say collectively the top 4 English clubs are about as much of a force as they were back then, give or take, and most certainly the ridiculous assertions that were being made by some prophets of doom last summer about the decline of the Premier League were injudicious and hasty to say the least.

The bare facts are that French football isn't good enough, Serie A is utterly fucked, The collective greed of the Spanish big 2 and the increasing hegemony of Bayern means there are only seven serious contenders for the Champions League (although some are more serious than others) the majority of which are English.

I may be proved wholly incorrect, of course, but I believe that the Premier League will continue to attract the best talent for financial, infrastructure and global exposure reasons and the next five years could just as easily be referred to as the "Golden Age" for English club football.