Our Rivals Squad next year - Arsenal

Arsenal's poor start doesn't have anything to do with United. There are many threads discussing United form in the United forum. If you are keen to discuss it then you can absolutely mention it in one of those threads.

I don't understand why Eboue is suddenly getting so defensive about all this.
 
Arsenal's poor start doesn't have anything to do with United. There are many threads discussing United form in the United forum. If you are keen to discuss it then you can absolutely mention it in one of those threads.

I don't understand why Eboue is suddenly getting so defensive about all this.

Do you mean he isn't allowed to mention United's poor start as opposed to Arsenal's poor start? :D
 
Arsenal's poor start doesn't have anything to do with United. There are many threads discussing United form in the United forum. If you are keen to discuss it then you can absolutely mention it in one of those threads.

I don't understand why Eboue is suddenly getting so defensive about all this.

Because he's absolutely refusing to address the issue of Arsenal's appalling start, and is instead just going round saying 'well United have started poorly too'.
 
Arsenal's poor start doesn't have anything to do with United. There are many threads discussing United form in the United forum. If you are keen to discuss it then you can absolutely mention it in one of those threads.

I don't understand why Eboue is suddenly getting so defensive about all this.

I don't see how I am being defensive. If we are discussing one team that has had a slow start, I think it is fair to discuss another team at a similar level having a similarly slow start to provide context and discuss the relative merits of each team's start.
 
If we are comparing Arsenal and United it is only fair to compare the relative performances over the last 10 years.
 
I don't see how I am being defensive. If we are discussing one team that has had a slow start, I think it is fair to discuss another team at a similar level having a similarly slow start to provide context and discuss the relative merits of each team's start.

The context of United's poor start has been discussed. As of yet, you've refused to say anything about Arsenal's, apart from 'yeah but United have started poorly too'.
 
I feel like I am being misunderstood. My point was never that Arsenal are better than United. They may be, they may not be. My point was that Arsenal don't even need to be a better team from this point forward to finish above United, such are the advantages of the remaining fixtures for each side.
 
I don't see how I am being defensive. If we are discussing one team that has had a slow start, I think it is fair to discuss another team at a similar level having a similarly slow start to provide context and discuss the relative merits of each team's start.

I think you'll find United's start has been discussed(in typical Caf like depth) in various threads in the United forum. You could've discussed or compared United start to Arsenal's start if people on here were saying that United will compete for the title and Arsenal won't but as it stands, Chelsea and City are clear 1 and 2's and I expect you and us will fight for 3rd and 4th(Liverpool simply won't).

The reasons behind United's awful start were as follows- Injuries, 5-3-2, loss of confidence in players after Moyes and late strengthening in the transfer market(and Rojo's WP issues) which have been discussed in their relevant threads.

Furthermore, there is a bit of a surprise regarding how Arsenal have looked considering they signed Sanchez, Ozil was to finally show his true form in second season and the extra confidence after that FA Cup win.
 
I really don't see the problem with Eboue comparing Arsenal to us in that way. We'd all do the exact same thing ourselves.
 
Its become their go to. Rather then address Arsenal's terrible start (2 wins in 8 games) they just deflect straight to United. Completely disregarding the completely different circumstances, and the fact that if we win tomorrow we'll have won double the amount of games they've managed so far.

Arsenal should finish ahead of us this season, quite comfortably too. Right now, they're (predictably) making an absolute balls of it.
What a bizarre thing to brag about 8 games into a season.

Because he's absolutely refusing to address the issue of Arsenal's appalling start, and is instead just going round saying 'well United have started poorly too'.
Jesus, get a grip. Maybe this is why he doesn't want to discuss it, because of the absurd hyperbole. I'm just waiting for people to start mentioning ''bottling'' now, don't think I've seen a discussion on here about Arsenal without that word being thrown in.

I'll address our ''appalling'' start, shall I?

Palace - Poor performance but got the 3 points.
Everton - Bad start to the game (not helped by the officiating) but did well to come back. A draw is a decent result to get at Goodison park.
Leicester - Poor result. Striker and CB depth called into question. But with the way Leicester have been raising their game against the better opponents this could be a tricky fixture for other challengers too
Man City - Probably should have got the win, but a draw is by no means terrible
Aston Villa - Good performance
Tottenham - Not a great result, but considering it's a local derby where anything can happen a draw is disappointing but not the end of the world
Chelsea - With the way Chelsea have started and Mourinho's record against Wenger this was to be expected. Not many teams will take anything away from SB this season
Hull - The only really terrible result so far imo, mainly down to the performance

Not sure how that constitutes appalling, I'd say meh is a much better descriptor.
 
You've won 2 of your opening 8 games. That's terrible.
 
You've won 2 of your opening 8 games. That's terrible.

It's kind of taking things out of context though when they've hardly lost any games. Not that they've had a good start by any means - they've had a fairly poor one all things considered - but they've also had some tough fixtures, especially compared to us, and haven't lost a lot either.
 
It's kind of taking things out of context though when they've hardly lost any games. Not that they've had a good start by any means - they've had a fairly poor one all things considered - but they've also had some tough fixtures, especially compared to us, and haven't lost a lot either.

They're already 11 points behind the leaders, after 8 games. This was supposed to be the dawn of a new age for Arsenal, their FA cup win opening the door to more glory. The purchase of Sanchez, the emergence of the 'real' Ozil. Right now, I just see the same old Arsenal. A good team that will finish in the top 4, and possibly reach a few cup finals here and there.

And despite this, seemingly all their fans want to do is hide behind the 'well United have started poorly as well' excuse. The two things are not connected. Why can their fans not address the question of their poor start, without bringing United into it?
 
It's kind of taking things out of context though when they've hardly lost any games. Not that they've had a good start by any means - they've had a fairly poor one all things considered - but they've also had some tough fixtures, especially compared to us, and haven't lost a lot either.

Surely they have a different criteria to be judged on though? Liverpool lost Suarez and Man Utd had to 'start again' with a new manager. Taking the illustration further, Liverpool couldn't attract decent players like Sanchez because he wanted to go to Arsenal plus they had their only other decent player out injured (Sturridge) nearly all season.

Yet Liverpool and Utd sit ahead of Arsenal after 8 games. When neither deserves to be up there either to be honest. Utd had a p**s easy fixture list up to now but Liverpool have faced Southampton, Everton, City and Tottenham.

Its a weird start to the season but surely it will begin to settle down soon?
 
You cannot just mention the results though. Taking into account performances, we are getting better. This is a different team to the one that started the season. Arsenal and Liverpool do not look like improving. We would have lost that Everton game at the start of the season. Liverpool have been gash in almost every game, perhaps apart from the Tottenham one. Arsenal will continue to drop points because they didn't get in a CB and DM. I can see us beating everyone at home, bar Chelsea and City. I cannot say the same for Liverpool and Arsenal.
 
Fair assumption on perceived improvements. Utd do look on a mini-roll at the moment but you could have done without the international break coming in the way. Arsenal get fatigued after international breaks but I can see them also going on a mini-good run. They have all the components (new and old) and structure in place.

I'll leave Liverpool out of this now as we know where that de-railer will head.
 
You've won 2 of your opening 8 games. That's terrible.
So you complain that no Arsenal fan is analysing Arsenal's start. Then after one does, you ignore the whole post and just carry on posting the same nonsense that no Arsenal fan is addressing our poor start.

That's terrible.
 
It's a complement that United are compared to Arsenal this season, it basically shows when our club gets a new manager we are on the level of Arsenal for his first season. Of course when that manager enters his second season we will be comparable to City or Chelsea.

It is nice to see Arsenal fans on here acknowledge they are an inferior club to both City and Chelsea and soon will be once more to United.

I would even be interested in entering into an agreement where they become our feeder club, it's not like Wenger has any plans to challenge for the title, he loves the battle for fourth, it gives him a thrill.
 
Would be interesting to know a proper assessment of Arsenal season so far without mentioning United and without going game 2 game. From the outside I see 13 games in all competitions with 4 wins, 6 draws and 3 losses but I would like a deeper look into how they have played overall,who has done well & who hasn't and is top 4 the target again and stuff
 
It's a complement that United are compared to Arsenal this season, it basically shows when our club gets a new manager we are on the level of Arsenal for his first season. Of course when that manager enters his second season we will be comparable to City or Chelsea.

It is nice to see Arsenal fans on here acknowledge they are an inferior club to both City and Chelsea and soon will be once more to United.

I would even be interested in entering into an agreement where they become our feeder club, it's not like Wenger has any plans to challenge for the title, he loves the battle for fourth, it gives him a thrill.
Jesus Christ :lol:.
 
How can you expect a proper assessment without looking each game individually?

I mean rather than saying we played this team where a draw was ok and stuff, I wanted an overall assessment of how the team has shaped up. Which areas you think have improved from last season and any areas you have gone backwards in.
 
The looked like they were taking the Hull game lightly and lacked urgency for large parts of that game.

They still do that ping-pong outside the box when a good ol' shot at goal would suffice.

Lucky to get the draw. Welbeckkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk
 
As far as no Arsenal fan expected a title challenge. Just read the first few pages of this thread, people were laughed at by Arsenal fans when they said that Arsenal will finish 4th.
Can't be arsed to read back through the thread, so not sure exactly what the debate is.

Truth is, following our title run last season (that predictably fell apart in the spring), our mostly young team should have been improved with new signings over the summer, and got closer to the top of the league this season. We can never have the ability to say that the side 'has to' finish above Chelsea or City considering their spending power, but we should have been closer to them this season.

Last season's side was missing a top quality striker, and with Arteta getting on, a top quality DM for the big games. Back in July, when I wrote that post, we had signed Sanchez, Chambers, Debuchy and Ospina, with rumours of more to come. After that we only got Welbeck, and so we're very weak at DM, and low on players in defence. That said, it's a stronger squad than we had last season. We should be finishing at least 3rd, and ideally pushing City for second. Obviously that's not looking likely anymore, the start to the season's been abysmal, and it's hard to come up with any excuses why. Wenger's built a side that doesn't seem to know where it's strengths are, and can't consistently build attacks without moments of individual brilliance - watching us I feel like we have to work harder than any team to score a goal. There's enough quality in attack that the players should work it out, but it's not good enough that we still look like a pre-season side getting to know each other in October. Wenger's failed the squad this season.
Still finishing above you cnuts
 
We've been hit by appalling injuries again - Shad Forsythe was never going to be the saviour of our fitness set up. Giroud and Debuchy breaking their legs is something you can't go into a season predicting but you can give yourself sufficient cover. We left ourselves a centreback short, something no one will deny. On top of that our best player from last season, Ramsey, has been very poor and our rock in defence Mertesacker has also looked suspect. Ozil hasn't particularly kicked on but that's not so much of a change from last season.

Our biggest problem is the one we were all aware of, DM. Arteta wasn't up to it last season and he isn't getting younger. It's a big feck up to come into the season, especially given the heavy defeats to top teams last season which mostly came as a result of a lightweight midfield.

On a positive note Sanchez and Chambers have been excellent signing.
 
So you complain that no Arsenal fan is analysing Arsenal's start. Then after one does, you ignore the whole post and just carry on posting the same nonsense that no Arsenal fan is addressing our poor start.

That's terrible.

Its taken about 2 days for an Arsenal fan to finally address that point, so you can see my annoyance. Fair enough that you have actually tried to explain the issues (same goes to both posters above too). I also accept that saying its been terrible was a bit hyperbolic on my part.

My main beef has been with Eboue though, all he's done is hide behind the excuse of United starting poorly, as if that is directly related to Arsenal's start, and that did irk me.
 
Well it's frustrating to engage with ":lol: Arsenal. HILARIOUS!"

Tbf I have asked Eboue a good few times to actually talk about Arsenal, and explain your start, but he's just ignored it and gone on to dig at United again.

Fwiw, I still think you'll finish above us this season (as I predicted at the start of the season).
 
Its taken about 2 days for an Arsenal fan to finally address that point, so you can see my annoyance. Fair enough that you have actually tried to explain the issues (same goes to both posters above too). I also accept that saying its been terrible was a bit hyperbolic on my part.

My main beef has been with Eboue though, all he's done is hide behind the excuse of United starting poorly, as if that is directly related to Arsenal's start, and that did irk me.

Sorry you couldn't understand the point I was making. I tried to make it understandable to the lowest common denominator, doesn't seem to have worked. Hide behind? Honestly...
 
Sorry you couldn't understand the point I was making. I tried to make it understandable to the lowest common denominator, doesn't seem to have worked. Hide behind? Honestly...

All you've done it talk about United. Look at the above posts from your fellow Arsenal fans, they've actually spoken about your own team without needing to mention any other team at all.

Thanks for the insult btw, nice and mature.
 
I was providing context, rather than posting green smilies about how hilarious it was. It's not an insult to say it went over your head. It's just a fact.

The context that you were providing was utter tripe though. Something which I addressed numerous times, but conveniently, you kept ignoring

Let it go Sam, it's hopeless. :)

Its like going round and round in circles.

I'm out.
.
 
Arsenal used to play some decent football but not anymore. Their play is way too narrow with no width and they move the ball too slow, with lots of passing sideways