Easy to think that way. But a fit Nasri at Arsenal would be starting. He may push a player out of position somehwere on the pitch to allow that. Happens allover the world every week. Some players having to play a different role, it's only natural.

Nasri leaving opened up a spot in midfield for another which opens a spot for another, the cycle just conintues.

Nasri left and his spot was taken by Gervinho, simple really. Frimpong is nowhere near involved in any of that, because quite simply, Frimpong doesn't play on the left wing or behind the striker like Nasri would

As for a fit Nasri starting, it all depends on which Nasri you're talking about. If you're talking about the Nasri from the first half of last season I'd agree he would start no worries. But if it's the Nasri from the 2nd half of last season and the 2 years before that well then I'd have Gervinho or Ramsey over that Nasri every day of the week.



Edited by sydneycroatia58: 30/11/2011 12:17:45 PM

Not going to comment on Gervinho because everyone knows how bad I think he is. Raamsey, yes on his day can start every game. But Nasri was a hero for you guys. You guys loved him and him playing well would start over those two each time at the moment.

Nasri can play in the middle, having Fabregas there didn't help. See one player forcing another to a different role.

Yeah like I mentioned earlier, the only real negative is the result, but even that's not a big deal. I mean even Squillaci had a great game ffs :lol:

FrimCoq got their chances because Fabregas is gone and Wilshere is injured.

I thought City were quite wasteful going foward though. Several times they tried to put a player through for a chance but we easily intercepted a lot of those poor passes. While it was a good defensive display, City weren't as sharp as they can be.

Go on about how Nasri and Frimpong are different players, then compare Frimpong and Coquelin to Fabregas? :lol: Frimpong and Coquelin have had their chances because of Jack's injury as you said and Song's suspension at the start of the season.

One disappointing thing about the City game is that if it weren't for 2 fucking world class saves from Pantimillion we'd be in a Carling Cup Semi-Final, but meh, would rather focus on the league this season tbh.

:lol:

What team were you expecting to be put out this morning? In fact I'm glad he put out the team he did and rested most of our first XI. They needed the rest. If he had played our strongest team people would've been complaining about the players needing a rest. Why exactly did we really need to beat this morning? All it would've meant is another 2 matches in an already packed January. It may not be such a bad thing to avoid that.

As for seriously needing results. That is just lol worthy. In the 11 matches since the loss against Sp*rs we've won 8, drawn 2 and lost 1. Those results aren't to bad.

Why qualify for the CL if you don't plan to win it...? and I mean PLAN.

[size=6]Praise for Theo Walcott long overdue[/size]

Arsenal fans have fewer player-specific chants than last season. They liked singing about Cesc Fabregas, of course, and Samir Nasri had a nice song to the tune of "Give It Up" by KC and the Sunshine Band, which will be revived for Tuesday's Carling Cup tie with Manchester City -- albeit with somewhat ruder lyrics. Robin van Persie's still a fan favorite and gets a nice chorus of his name, but there's only so many times you can sing "We've only got one song" before spoiling the joke.

The chant that got the most airtime during Saturday's home draw with Fulham was the simple, bellowed "Theo, Theo." Hardly the most nuanced chant, but that might be appropriate for hardly the most nuanced of players. Theo Walcott, as every English football fan will tell you, is about pace and little else.

Yet Walcott has become a terrific player over the course of 2011. His positioning is more varied; he links brilliantly with van Persie, surely the player of the calendar year; and only David Silva, Nani and Ashley Young have recorded more assists. Not bad for a player frequently criticized for a lack of an end product.

Walcott has always had the pace, but he has learned how to use it better. For the first few minutes against Fulham, he employed his speed to try to get in behind the defense. As soon as van Persie dropped deep between the lines, Walcott was on his way before the first pass had even reached the Dutchman. If Fulham left back John Arne Riise switched off for a second, Walcott was long gone. Had van Persie played the ball right to Walcott rather than left to the offside Andrei Arshavin in the first half, Arsenal wouldn't have had such a difficult afternoon.

But Walcott can do that only so often. There comes a point at which the opposition defends so deep that such a ball in behind is impossible -- the angle of the pass is too straight, and too likely to trickle through to the goalkeeper rather than slide into Walcott's path. A couple of years ago, Walcott spent entire games trying to encourage those through balls. It became predictable, Walcott too reliant upon that killer pass. "When I was younger, my teammates would kick it behind the defense and I'd run onto it and score," he told Arsenal Magazine last year. "It's not that easy anymore."

It certainly isn't. Now, Walcott's positioning is varied. Rather than incessantly going in behind (or making the run, stopping when the pass wasn't played immediately and then getting the ball when stationed next to the opposition left back), he drops off more, then speeds past an opponent with the ball. He did that brilliantly against Norwich's Marc Tierney for van Persie's equalizer in Arsenal's previous match.

Alternatively, because opponents are so keen to stand off and deny him space in behind, Walcott gets space for a cross. He has become adept at this skill -- Thomas Vermaelen's headed equalizer against Fulham came from one of his crosses; van Persie had a good headed chance from another; and Aaron Ramsey blazed over the crossbar when he should have hammered the ball into the net. Everything went down Arsenal's right, which reflected well on Walcott, especially because Arsenal didn't have any overlapping runs from right back, with Bacary Sagna injured and Johan Djourou not comfortable motoring forward.

It has taken a while for Walcott to become an all-round attacking threat. Perhaps, for a player frequently derided for his lack of footballing intelligence, he took a while to adjust to Arsene Wenger's methods. Wenger doesn't specifically instruct players; he puts them in environments during training that are intended for players to come to conclusions themselves. It's why he's so keen on playing five-a-side, for example.

"Five-a-side confronts the player with constant decision-making," Wenger told FourFourTwo. "When you receive the ball, you are faced with dozens of options. Your brain acts like a computer: It realizes it has been faced with this situation before and tries to come up with the right answer."

Van Persie explains Wenger's approach to correcting attacking moves. "I made a couple of little mistakes in a game," van Persie said. "He told me that a top player doesn't do those actions … it was up to me to find my answers. I was finding my own answers and that's how he helped me big-time." Van Persie is a player you can rely upon to find his own conclusions. For Walcott, it has taken longer.

Maybe that's why he had such trouble when given specific tasks by Fabio Capello ahead of last summer's World Cup. "I made a run inside from my position out wide on the right. Suddenly Mr. Capello started screaming at me at the top of his voice," Walcott recalls in his autobiography. "Training stopped and everyone stared at their feet and looked embarrassed. 'Theo,' he was yelling. 'I will kill you if you come inside like that again!'" Yet other players in England's training camp described the instructions as "simple," and to anyone who watched England under Capello in the buildup to 2010, it was obvious that he wanted his right winger to stay wide. Walcott just wasn't used to following orders.

His omission from that tournament spurred him on. "I just wanted to come back and prove people wrong, to make sure it didn't happen again," he said -- and he's now forcing opponents to alter their tactics to stop him. After Saturday's game, Fulham manager Martin Jol recalled the first half. "Walcott got a one-versus-one three times," he said. "You don't want that, and we tried to correct it." When Walcott got the ball in the second half, Fulham tried to double up against him, often with Dickson Etuhu. Gaps appeared elsewhere.

Walcott's still not perfect. He needs to arrive quicker at the far post when the ball is on the left to improve his goal-scoring tally, and he was partly responsible for the goal Arsenal conceded Saturday, when Riise broke past him.

But there seems a strange reluctance to accept that Walcott has become a fine footballer. A hat trick against Blackpool last season resulted in a "Match of the Day" montage that evening, demonstrating why he has "no football brain." After terrorizing Ashley Cole in Arsenal's 5-3 win at Stamford Bridge last month, one report read, "Credit where credit is due. Walcott was excellent."

Why so hesitant and forced? "Credit where credit is due" is hardly how you would praise or congratulate someone if the enthusiasm was genuine. It's not as if the performance was a one-off, either. Walcott's form has been good since he outwitted Cole in their previous meeting last Christmas.

Maybe the World Cup call-up in 2006 was the worst thing that could have happened to him; maybe he's a victim of a culture in which many are desperate for players to fail. Whatever the reasons for the negativity, Walcott is now a very good footballer, and it's time for him to get the recognition he deserves.

Michael Cox is a freelance writer for ESPN.com. He also runs zonalmarking.net.
http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/news/_/id/7293799/theo-walcott-deserves-more-recognition-being-excellent-footballer-michael-cox

[size=6]Szczesny - I'll grow my hair like Tomaszewski[/size]

Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny has promised to copy the famous hair-style of a legendary Polish No 1 if his country get England in Friday's Euro 2012 draw.

In 1973, Sir Alf Ramsey's side failed to reach the World Cup Finals after a magnificent performance by Jan Tomaszewski in the deciding qualifying game at Wembley. The long-haired keeper had been ridiculed pre-match but his dazzling performance rebuffed a side that had won the tournament seven years earlier and were highly-rated at Mexico 1970.

Now Szczesny is the Polish national keeper and, not only is he looking forward to Friday's draw, he may change his looks on the back of it.

"I told the lads I'm going to grow long hair if we draw England," he said. "It would be fantastic. You might remember the goalkeeper who played against England in 1973. You should all remember him. So I'll grow the long hair and try to do the job as well as he did. I might have to wear a wig because there won't be enough time to grow it.

"This competition is massive because we are hosting it [with Ukraine]. The draw is big because we aren't the favourites and it will make a big impact on how we are going to do. I can't wait for it to start."
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/szczesny-i-ll-grow-my-hair-like-tomaszewski

[size=6]Koscielny - I’ve worked on my physical side[/size]


By Joe Brewin

Laurent Koscielny believes improvements on the physical side of his game have helped him become a better defender in England.

The French international is enjoying an outstanding campaign at the heart of the Arsenal defence and has won his first senior France cap since becoming a mainstay in Arsène Wenger’s side.

Koscielny, who joined the Club from Ligue 1 outfit Lorient last summer, admits he has had to work hard to adjust to the requirements of the Premier League.

“I think for a defender it is the best championship,” he told Arsenal Player. “I have had a bit of time now to be strong and get to know this league.

“Now I feel good on and off the pitch and I try to put the effort into being a good defender.

“You don't have to play differently here, you just have to work on the physical side. It's very different to France or Spain and the strikers are very strong. I've worked a lot to do that.”

Koscielny has been forced to demonstrate his versatility in recent weeks, featuring at right-back in matches against Norwich and Borussia Dortmund. Although the 26-year-old says he is happy to fulfill any role for the team, he admits he is not a specialist in his temporary role.

“I try to do the defensive work,” he said. “It is a little difficult to help Theo though because he is too quick! I try to give the best I can, and that's it. I can get forward once or twice a game.

“I try to do the job seriously but I hope Bacary or Carl come back quickly.”
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/koscielny-i-ve-worked-on-my-physical-streng