Printable View
Why persist with Elneny, Maitland Niles and Kolsaianec in the back 3
Thought Per was just a one off performance if the cup final and not to be relied upon for 38 games.
Can't just keep it simple...has to always try and be fkin clever about. You can't do that for some positions
Fkin Elneny :banghead:
Just because there are two other centre halves doesn't mean you can take the p iss
I doubt Elneny will ever play there in a real game.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tony C
"Real game". What is the point of these games if not to give players who won't get many chances to see if they can fit in the team and do something? Chambers? Holding maybe?
Instead we play Elneny, who is on his way out, out of position and we play guys like Ospina (instead of Emiliano) who hasn't gone because he can't get an offer. What on earth is the point?
Fitness, obviously, you spasticQuote:
Originally Posted by Mo Britain less Europe
Jew know why the Irishers hate jew?Quote:
Originally Posted by Monty92
I can't work it out.
ahead of a player who is staying? Do you know anything at all about football?Quote:
Originally Posted by Monty92
Perhaps Elneny is not on his way out. Who knows. Funny old game etc.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mo Britain less Europe
In general, and I mean no disrespect, working yourself into a state of anger regarding the tactical nuances of team selections within the Emirates Cup reflects poorly on you, not Wenger.
All he said was that the joos are good at taking care of their financial interests. :shrug:Quote:
Originally Posted by Sir C
Oh, and there was the holocaust denial, of course.
Yes, the minor issue of the Holocaust denial...Quote:
Originally Posted by Burney
It's not just the Emirates...it's been the entire team pre season.
Would have like a bit more commitment to the back 3 after it served it so well in the last few games last season.
Not having a recognised defence for the first game last season came back to haunt us and I hope we're not doing it again
I would suggest maybe waiting and seeing what 11 the French puts out next weekend at Wembley.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tony C
Players like Mustafi, Holding and Chambers have only just returned to training with the group having been given extended holidays due to summer football, throwing them straight into weekend games may well have been seen as physically counterproductive, perhaps even ill advised.
People just need to relax a little, no game the club has played since the Cup Final matters one jot, it simply a case of proving or improving fitness. Different players need different things.
:hehe: Yes, he seems quite the lad that writer. The Holocaust denying article was extraordinary. How on earth that got past an editor is impossible to discern.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sir C
He steamed into single mothers a few years back, caused a stink at the time.Quote:
Originally Posted by Burney
I've steamed into a number of single mothers in my time :-(Quote:
Originally Posted by SWv2
One had great fat sausage fingers and did stink.
Wenger also seems to think that putting young players in defensive positions for meaningless games helps to improve the defensive side of their game. I can see that with younger players, not so much with Elneny.Quote:
Originally Posted by SWv2
He will be flirting with the idea that some of his existing full backs and midfielders could become centre back options in a three. He has a little history with this sort of optimism that has led to some alarming statements such as 'Gilberto is a great centre back'. I believe the same phrase was used about Justin Hoyte.
Anyway....we have good centre backs. This is not something to worry about at all.
I'm still amazed that Feltz is still employed by the BBC. Where does she appear?Quote:
Originally Posted by SWv2
Gilberto started his career as a centre-half. On this basis, coupled with his obvious intelligence as a footballer, I would imagine he could have made a decent defender as long as the system suited.Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter
Your ignorance in this respect is of little surprise really, it is a football based topic of course which we both know and have acknowledged for quite a while now is not your strongest point.
He does talk a lot of nonsense all the same, that much I will give you.
Wenger out!
He also played there a number of times for us and was ****. That is what made the phrase rather strange. But I take your point.Quote:
Originally Posted by SWv2
I am still giving serious thought to taking a dislike to you. I shall keep you posted.
Almost as if just dropping a player in there for one game here and there might not represent the true ability of the player if given a long run. Incidentally, apart from the Blackburn debacle where he came off the bench after about 20 minutes to replace Martin Keown in a defence that also included Cygan and van Bronkhurst, when else do you think he played centre half for us?Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter
Complete wrong 'un.Quote:
Originally Posted by Luis Anaconda
Pretty sure he played there against Spurs once. May not have started the game there.Quote:
Originally Posted by Luis Anaconda
The thing is, he wasn't a great centre back. I think Wenger was trying to gloss over the fact that we were lacking cover in that area, or at least attempting to deflect the conversation away from spending money. My point was that isn't what is happening now- we have loads of options for the back three- Koscielny, Mustafi, Holding, Per, and then Chambers, Gabriel, Monreal, the new lad.
Not all great, but plenty to be going on with. Holding must be due a run in the side after his end to last season.
Away to Spurs in the game we won 3-1 on that strike from Cesc and the flick and volley from Adebayor. We were awful at the back that day and had Spurs (Bent and maybe Berbatov?) been more clinical we might have lost 6-3.Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter
Seven sisters road was an interesting experience post match :yikes:
Well, quite. Surely everyone knows that it was his very inconsistency at centre back that led to his then manager, Carlos Alberto Parreira, moving him into midfield in the first place.Quote:
Originally Posted by SWv2
Excellent, thank you. And in an otherwise 'settled' back four I note. :DQuote:
Originally Posted by World's End Stella
You're a big unit, no problem to you.Quote:
Originally Posted by World's End Stella
I watched that game in a Cork pub with my United supporting cousin and a Blackburn fan - it hurtQuote:
Originally Posted by SWv2
I watched the game at Newcastle with Bergkamp's famous goal in a pub in Cork. It was hugely entertaining watching a pub load of united fans trying to convince themselves it was a fluke.Quote:
Originally Posted by Luis Anaconda
:clap: You are still basing it on startlingly little evidence. And even if it was a settled back four, dropping a player in is hardly going to helpQuote:
Originally Posted by Peter
Of course. Just basing it on the evidence I have. And was just answering your question.Quote:
Originally Posted by Luis Anaconda
Also.....hate to be picky but dropping in the player in question is a necessity if you are going to play him there. Surely dropping a 'great centre back' in is going to help? Just to note that 'settled' back four included Clichy and Toure.... hence the inverted commas. It also had Almunia behind it.... I'm not going there.
Anyway....... the original point was that we don't need to sign a centre back or convert a midfielder. We have loads of options already and are arguably better covered than we have ever been (Since George Graham left). Nobody needs to worry about a bit of experimentation in friendlies.
That said, Maitland-Niles is clearly a **** centre back :p
I quite agree we don't need a centre back :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter
Kind of hoping chambers doesn't leave. I think there is a decent player in there, particularly in a back three.Quote:
Originally Posted by Luis Anaconda
I think the back three trend is at least in part a response to the lack of quality centre backs around. We are pretty lucky with the quality of ours.
I think there's enough decent ones about, but we're just not nurturing them right anymore. Exhibit A: John Stones, but it's not actually his fault; when he sashays the ball out from the back, everyone is so busy applauding that they forget to ask "Very good, but can he actually defend."Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter
Still very young but a decent player in there for sure.Quote:
Originally Posted by redgunamo
All about systems of course, systems and team mates, systems and team mates and defensive units, and of course midfield cover.
I would expect Stones, and indeed City as a whole, do be a lot better this term.
And United who have bought well.
And Chelsea, who have bought very well.
Hard to tell. Part of it is coaching. I don't know how well Holding was coached as a youth player. Perhaps it was that coaching that means he is currently better prepared than Chambers, or maybe its because he had played a couple of years of first team football in the Championship. Maybe both.Quote:
Originally Posted by redgunamo
I wouldn't have thought Pep would be the ideal choice as mentor for a defender.
https://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net...20060828224102Quote:
Originally Posted by SWv2
Yes, that's right. Also players as a whole group, I should have said. They've been having the same discussion in the cricket all week.Quote:
Originally Posted by SWv2
First team experience, no doubt. @GNev says the thing that most readied him to play for Manchester United was playing Lancashire club cricket as a teenager; you are playing with and against tough, well-seasoned, implacable men who only want to win, and when you drop a catch or give your wicket away, they don't care that you're just a young kid.Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter