Football (Soccer)

[Lindvall]

Haven't you guys heard about swedish football???
If you are to visit sweden, watch a game when Hammarby or Djurgården plays!!!!

But I have to say that Arsenal rocks in the English leauge (Man utd leads but anyway

[Oriphus]

Yeah, i've watched the odd swedish game before, its not bad, but reall not on the same par as the other big European countries in terms of players. There is a big 6ft 8" player from Sweden that plays in one of the teams in the Swedish league. Anyone ever watch the French League, how boring is it?? lol

Well, United and Arsenal, and Liverpool progressed to the 4th round of the FA Cup. Can anyone tell me what channel DFS (the German sports channel) is on SKY Digital UK?? I really would love to tune it in so i can watch all the Man United matches. Cheers

[admin]

Arsenal have had some great Swedish players in the past and present, Anders Limpar, and of course Freddie Ljungberg. Our reserver 'keeper, Rami Shaaban also hails from Sweden, and we signed him from Djurgerdens (although he was only their second choice 'keeper at the time).

I've always been curious about Freddie Ljungberg's reputation in Sweden - it seems he gets lots of unfair criticism sometimes for the way he plays in the national team.

[Oriphus]

Hey Admin, unlucky today, 1-0 up for a good 75mins and then a draw. Do you see the premiership title slipping away from you now after another convincing victory by United to leave us with 49 points, 4 ahead of you. Chelsea down with 42 points i believe. lol - a great two days of football. Go on Liverpool, well done and well done to Everton

[admin]

Actually, it's just a three point gap, but again the "me not watching the game live on TV, because every station was showing the stupid Chelsea/Liverpool game" curse struck again. I need satellite TV ...

Still, we're now better than last season when we lost to Everton.

I would be careful to declare so soon that the "premiership title is slipping away" - that's the mistake we made last season, and I just can't get over the feeling that Manchester United are going to make the same mistake this season

(last season, we also won lots of games, drew only a few games, and lost a few more than we should, although still top of the league at this stage)

Still unbeaten though

[Oriphus]

How many goals has Arsenal conceded this season so far? You may have conceded 1 less goal than us, but our goal difference is 26 and yours is only 23. Also, 7 draws from 19 isnt to hot, though you havent lost i suppose. W've drawn 1 lost 3 which i think is a bit poor also. However, with 16 wins im happy enough. I hope we only get maybe 1 more draw or loss the whole season and then the trophy is ours again. What a premiership record that would be. Im hoping that we do well in the CL also. Atleast get to the Semi final or Final.

It still looks very likely that we will sign the PSV striker Arjen Rubben and we are still interested in Christian Vieri, who it has to be noted, has been off form recently.

[admin]

I think we conceded something like 43 goals last season, which was just unacceptable. Scoring has never been our problem (although we've not really been playing up to our usual standards for most of the season), so it's good to have a defensive record that beats that of United (don't you always have the best defensive record almost every season?). We're certainly going the right direction, and once we start to hit top form (usually around February, early March), things will start to get tighter.

The draws are a little bit worrying, but we played Everton and lost last season (damn Rooney), so at least we're improving in this aspect. We beat Blackburn, who we also lost to last season, drew with you lot when we lost last season.

The decisive game, as always, will be United at Highbury. If we can win that one, then winning the league might be possible.

[Oriphus]

I think Arsenal have done quite well when they are playing badly by scraping out 1-0 victories. Those are the most important ones to win when u play badly. United usually have the best defensive record in the premiership. this season is not one of our better ones, with two own goals from Gary Neville and one from Wes Brown on his first game back. But, i do like to think of it as a rock solid defense. I think that Rio Ferdinand is a better defender than Silvestre, he is generally soo solid. I really think we will miss him when his ban starts. Wes Brown will be nice to have though.

United are on the verge of signing Liam Miller from celtic, though he wont actually come to united unitl the summer. We are also on the verge of signing Arjen Rubben from PSV. I dont know what the story is with Christian Vieri.

Do you know where Rivaldo is likely to go this season. it would be great to see him at Old Traffor, if only for a season or two. Speaking of Brazilians, young Kleberson is improving quite a lot. he has a lot of skill and a very powerful shot. Im looking forward to that. Darren Fletcher is alsocoming along great. Scholes is so solid as well. Its quite a strong squad. I only hope we strengthen it with one or two top class players, not a few middle of the range ones or promising young ones.

[admin]

I think Rivaldo will choose the best team in England, and that has to be Spurs

But seriously, there's a chance that he will go back to Brazil, but Liverpool will probably get him.

In terms of Arsenal signings, a dream signing would be Trezeguet, since he and Henry already have a partnership on the French national team. We've also been linked with Samuel Eto'o from Mallorca - I know you watch Spanish football a lot, so what do you think of Eto'o? We might not want him though because of the African Nations Cup that most of the African players have to take part in.

There was a rumour a few days ago that Alan Smith will be joining us, but after the tunnel fight during the FA cup game, I don't think that's going to happen.

There's also Kluivert, who has repeatedly said that he will be joining Arsenal, almost as many times as he has said that he will be staying

Then there's Defoe, Angel, Van Persie, Maris Verpakovskis (Latvia), José Antonio Reyes ...

Notice all of our linked transfers are for strikers, which has to be Wenger's top priority right now (with Kanu gone to the African Nations Cup, Bergkamp injured/retiring, Wiltord leaving, Aliadiere not ready ...).

But knowing Wenger, we probably won't get anyone ...

[Oriphus]

Aliadiere is getting pretty close to being ready for first team action on a more permanent basis. He is a very promising young player. Yeah, i've noticed that most of Arsenal's links for transfers are forwards. Arsenal need someone who is a pure poacher. RVN is a poacher as well as having a lot of skill out and about in the field. The king of poaching goals has to be Raul. Arsenal need someone like that to play along side Henry, then Henry can play as a left winger more often, where i think he is very good.

Samuel Eto'o Fils (his full name lol) is a very good player. However, according to Mallorca's website he isnt linked with Arsenal but with Chelsea, though Arsenal say differently. I suppose everyone is linked with Chelsea these days. If you go to www.soccer-spain.com and go to transfers you will see that he is linked with chelsea and in brackets beside it, it says:

"Big clubs chasing him, including Man U, Arsenal and Barça. Fee around €30 Mio. "

He is a really good striker. At the minute i think he is the 4th best striker in the Spanish league with around 12 goals. He is ahead of people like Fernando Torres, Diego tristian, Luque, Kleivert, Riquelme who are all top class strikers. He is behind the top three or Ronaldo, Raul and Mista, which is to be expected.

I dont think Arsenal can afford that to be honest. United could, but Arsenal i think have priorities with stadium etc. Also linked is Henry with Real Madrid. Arsenal apparently turned down a €30 Million bid for Henry from Chelsea.

Spurs the best team in England LMAO lol

Why do you think that Rivaldo would go to Liverpool. I know there is a chance of him going to Sau Paulo or Corinthians or another Brazilian team (like Arsenal in Brazil), but i cant see him going to liverpool. I could see him coing to Man United for a season then heading back to Brazil. Who;s to know, however, he is an excellent tallent.

[admin]

Arsenal have purchased poachers before, but it doesn't really suit the way we play (since we tend to pass the ball into the box, rather than crosses and such). We need someone that can play inside and outside of the box, but will spend most of the time inside and providing pressure on the opposition.

Half of Eto'o's contract is owned by Real Madrid, and they want to include him in some kind of Henry deal. But why get rid of one of your best strikers (and someone that actually wants to stay), to get someone unproven in the Premiership?

Financially, we can't compete with United or Chelsea (even if we don't have the stadium to worry about, unless we want to turn ourselves into Leeds and borrow money to buy players). But we can compete with Newcastle and Liverpool currently, since the board has already indicated that there is money (probably around 10 to 15 million range) to buy a new striker, if Wenger needs to do so. But Wenger has said (in a recent press conference) that he has a target, but that target is unable/unwilling to move just yet - no one knows who the target is.

As for Rivaldo, if he comes to England, then the only team that may want/need him would be Liverpool. They can afford his wages, and the recent Chelsea match aside, Houllier is under pressure to do something to lift the team. I don't think United will buy such an old player, simply because you don't really need him (and he hasn't shown much lately to suggest he may be of help).

Today is our first of four games (five if you count the ladies team, and more if replays are needed) against Middlesbrough this month - that should be fun

[Oriphus]

Yeah, you can close in on us today, but chances are we will win on sunday again so it will go back to the way it was. I hope Chelsea get another draw or defeat. One more of those in the next few matches and the title goes back to a two horse race, which i think it may well be already.

What Arsenal really needs is someone who can play the role Paul Scholes plays for United. Gets in and aroudn the box when needed and has amazing vision and outfield skills. You'll find it hard to find someone as good as this, but u do need it.

I was thinking of an ideal squad of say 25 or so players. Who would be in it. You list a squad as well, just to see if we are loyal to the player sat our own clubs or whether we would include more form others. Here's Mine

Keepers: Iker Casillas Fernández Tim Howard

Defenders: Gary Neville, Rio Ferdinand, Carlos Puyol, Alessandro Nesta, Mikael "Tweetie Pie" Silvestre, Roberto Carlos

Midfielders: Roy Keane, Paul Scholes, Kleberson, José MarÃa Gutiérrez Hernández (Guti H.), Steven Gerard, Ryan giggs, Damian Duff, Claudio Makalele, Zinadene Zidane, Pavel Nedved, Denilson De Oliveira, JoaquÃn Sánchez RodrÃguez, Frank lampard,

Forwards: Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Thiery Henry , Robinho Ronaldo, Ole Gunner Solskjaer, Raul ,

Now imagine you were the manager of that team of players. What a team of palyers that would be. The only decision the manager would have to make would be who to paly. However, a team like that would never work since they are all top class players and would always want to paly every game. If i was to choose a starting 11 it would be difficult, but here it is.

1. Iker Casillas Fernández

2. Roberto Carlos
3. Alessandro Nesta / Rio Ferdinand
4. Carlos Puyol
5. Gary Neville

6. Denilson De Oliveira / Damien Duff
7. Roy Keane / Zinadene Zidane
8. Paul Scholes / Frank Lampard
9. Pavel Nedved / JoaquÃn Sánchez RodrÃguez

10. Ruud Van Nistelroy / Ronaldo
11. Theiry Henry / Raul

the players after the / would be players i would substitute the starting palyers with. They would be second choice players but i would play them when i was resting others.

What a bloody team that would be. Imagine its the last day of the saeon. Man United are lining up with that team to play Chelsea. Who would be ****ting themselves something shocking. That team would be virtually undefeatable, bar a bad day. Ph....i'll keep on dreamin.......

[Oriphus]

Alright Alright, 4-1 is a good victory. Enough said already

[admin]

On paper, it looked like a good game. If you look at the goals though :

1. Penalty
2. Deflected in (own goal)
3. An unfortunate assist from a Boro defender
4. Off the post

Their goal was a penalty as well.

But these strange goals aside, from watching the game, Arsenal should have won by more.

So that's 15-1 in the last 5 games against Middlesbrough - 3 more games this month

(although I can see Boro turning things around a bit, especially in the league cup games).

I am also predicting that Manchester United will beat Newcastle quite handsomely, although I wish it will be the other way around.

[Oriphus]

Your prediction was wrong. I was a bit annoyed at the way so many balls were just hoofed forward up the field. At times the flow of the team was great, but too many times they gave it away to easily. The heat is back on lol