Sold off too many world class, experienced players and are using too many youngsters who won't be effective replacements for a good few years, if at all
Originally posted by AndyCardiff: Sold off too many world class, experienced players and are using too many youngsters who won't be effective replacements for a good few years, if at all
Who would the world class players be that we sold off then?
Pires who crocked himself straight away? I would argue we do miss him but he had the choice to stay on the same terms Bergkamp did.
Cygan (3 million daylight robbery) ? No surely not.
Jose "I dont want to play in England again" Reyes?
Bergkamp, We didnt sell him off he retired didnt he.
Or surely last and definitely least you really cant meen C**ley "I love Chelsea" Cole.
This year was always going to be hard for us. All teams struggle a bit at home in a new stadium. We have gone from having one of the narrowest pitches in the league to a great new ground. It was never going to be easy. We just havent had the experience to drag us through those games this year that others have won. For instance Everton gave Chelsea just as much trouble as they did us but they were able to find that bit extra and we werent.
Finally and not least at all, I am certain that we still have not fielded the same back 4 in two consecutive games. That cannot help at all and the problems with injuries this year have not been restricted to the defence. Chelsea have only just had some injuries and they have already dropped points, but only two outfield players in J Cole and Terry. Man U currently have um 0 players listed as injured. We have had:
Lauren, still out and yes we need his experience at the back at the moment. Our most of our clean sheets last year were when he was playing.
Freddie "Injured" Ljungberg - what makes it worse is that we have had to suffer him just getting to fitness before the inevitable each time.
Eboue.
Gallas.
Rosicky - we are REALLY missing him at the moment.
Baptista - too fat or injured, you decide.
Djouru.
Senderos.
Clichy.
Henry, hasnt been fit all season and now forced to rest - how well would Chelsea be doing without Drogbas goals or any other team for that matter?
Abu Diaby - Played brilliant just before the broken ankle, will be back next year. Was brought in as one of the more experienced players for midfield.
Hleb.
Walcott (only a couple of games and he is a sub but still).
I am not making excused before anyone says it, the rest of the squad is good enough to step in for the injured players but just maybe not experienced enough. I agree with what Andy wrote that we have missed experienced players but not the reason he gave for why.
From what I've heard there appears to be real unrest behind the scenes. Wenger's authority is being questioned and not just by Henry. Players like Hleb, RVP and Rosicky appear to be too similar. Once agin Arsenal despite playing brilliant football appear to lack that cutting edge, I don't think Adebayor is up to it (needs too many chances to score). Wenger obviously doesn't fancy Baptista, but for me he has to play and could potentially be the answer given the chance. When Henry doesn't play I can't believe Walcott is not allowed to play upfront and is instead stuck on the right where Arsenal have plenty of cover anyway. Ljunberg has not aged very well at all and has been poor for a couple of seasons now. Arsenal look destined to finish 3rd at best so may as well give the youngsters the chance to gain valuable experience for next season when I feel they will be challenging.
Ljunberg has been beset by injuries, nothing to do with age. Adebayor is coming good, Henry wasted lots of chances in his first 11 games for us. Wenger always plays young strikers on the wing first for them to gain experience, it worked for Henry even though he got stuck on the wing when Wenger left Monaco and with us playing 4-5-1 he wouldnt get a game otherwise. I havent heard anything about authority being questioned. According to the press Fergusson was suffering the same problem and was past it. The Henry incident was because he wanted to play while injured yet again which is something that Henry does too often and it doesnt do him any good. If he did it would do us a favour as Gilberto is a much better captain.
It has been a funny old season so far! Some very good results, dropping points going behind and chasing games V lesser sides , a couple of curious defeats,not getting the breaks from the officials and then stuffing spurs and finally making Ashburton Grove/the Emirates home.
Originally posted by AndyCardiff: Sold off too many world class, experienced players and are using too many youngsters who won't be effective replacements for a good few years, if at all
Who would the world class players be that we sold off then?
Pires who crocked himself straight away? I would argue we do miss him but he had the choice to stay on the same terms Bergkamp did.
Cygan (3 million daylight robbery) ? No surely not.
Jose "I dont want to play in England again" Reyes?
Bergkamp, We didnt sell him off he retired didnt he.
Or surely last and definitely least you really cant meen C**ley "I love Chelsea" Cole.
Yep Wenger really dropped the ball there .
OK, perhaps not too many, a bad turn of phrase, but the 'V' word springs to mind
Originally posted by zeds: Wenger obviously doesn't fancy Baptista, but for me he has to play and could potentially be the answer given the chance.
The thing is, if a manager doesn't fancy a player, then no matter how good he is, he just won't get a game. This has happened before at other clubs with other players
OK, perhaps not too many, a bad turn of phrase, but the 'V' word springs to mind
But yet again he chose to leave not the other way around. We had had enough of his will he stay or go every summer. He is back to his best but he was playing as if his heart wasnt in it in our last season, so its do you pay over the odds to keep a disgruntled captain or give the kid a chance. Plus the player that replaced him (Diaby) is injured. Fabregas has shown he can already best him in our Champions league game last year, maybe he was having an off day but i dont think so.
As for Baptista, he has been at the pies, he is overweight and not fit. Or he was the last quote i saw from Wenger when he was quoted as saying that. I keep reading about how he is being denied a chance but it is December and he hasnt managed pre-season fitness yet!
Originally posted by CaptVimes: As for Baptista, he has been at the pies, he is overweight and not fit. Or he was the last quote i saw from Wenger when he was quoted as saying that. I keep reading about how he is being denied a chance but it is December and he hasnt managed pre-season fitness yet!
I don't think he's any fatter than he was at Real or before then at Sevilla when Arsene was willing to splash out £12m or so on him. He's naturally heavy-set. The only thing I can think is that perhaps the training regimes at Real were so poor before Capello that he's struggling for fitness, but still as you say its December No doubt about it though I've seen him on top form and he's a far better player than Adebayor will ever be, just needs a little faith.
Originally posted by CaptVimes: As for Baptista, he has been at the pies, he is overweight and not fit. Or he was the last quote i saw from Wenger when he was quoted as saying that. I keep reading about how he is being denied a chance but it is December and he hasnt managed pre-season fitness yet!
I don't think he's any fatter than he was at Real or before then at Sevilla when Arsene was willing to splash out £12m or so on him. He's naturally heavy-set. The only thing I can think is that perhaps the training regimes at Real were so poor before Capello that he's struggling for fitness, but still as you say its December No doubt about it though I've seen him on top form and he's a far better player than Adebayor will ever be, just needs a little faith.
There was an article before our first games in the guardian i think saying that he looked very unfit and out of sorts and so didnt expect him to play in the first games. I think it was just prior to our european qualifier. Personally I believe him and from what i have seen of him so far this season and the state Real let Ronaldo get into (he didnt start the season either did he) he is getting there but not yet and it was set back by an injury. Yes I know he is thick set, that is obvious to everyone .
Adebayor is 21, I cant believe people writting him off so easily. He may not make it but we wont know and he shows promise to me. By the way at 21 Henry was rotting in Juventus's reserves and Drogba was in the French 2nd Division.
You suggest that Henry was rotting in Juve reserves at 21 (they don't have reserves but anyway). But Henry was considered a big talent from a very young age, afterall Juve did fork out over £10m for him and he was a regular member of the French squad. I know Adebayor is young and hey he might prove me wrong but I can never see him developing into a major player for Arsenal, while it is right to say that at a similar age Drogba et al were in the lower leagues etc, but another point to bear in mind is that its pretty much a 2-way street with player development and coversely there are also plenty of players that get breaks early on in their careers but don't realise their potential and go in the opposite direction.
