Football (Soccer)

[Oriphus]

Gio van Bronckhorst - LMAO - now if Arsene manages that - that will be the sell of the century lol. Yeah, I think that Davids is 31, but i also think that, like Keane, he still has a lot to offer a big club. Seriously, with the diets that footballers are on today, they have the ability to play top level football well into their mid 30's. I hope he signs for 4 years at United, we'll probably only keep him for 2 or 3 unless he is amazing, but it would be nice to see him coming beause of the star he is and the fact he is a freebie

Those quotes from the website are quite funny. I like the rivalry between the two, its good for football and good for the clubs. Each keeps on pushing to out-do the other. I ask you something seriously....Do you think that Arsenal have the ability and the Squad to do as well as they did this year? Was this year more of a fluke, as i do remember on a lot more than one occasion, Arsenal scraping a draw or a win that wasnt deserved (though im aware thats a sign of a good football team). I for one think that Arsenal have exceeded everyones expectations this year, that many of their fans will be disappointed when United win the League, the Champions League and the FA Cup, and give Chelsea the League Cup

Come on now lol - Henry is a striker, he migrated from the winger role a long time ago. Ok - granted he does come from deep very often, but i will always see him as the main striker at Arsenal, no matter who they sign. Arsenal need a goal poacher, since they have the providing striker already. We have a goal poacher (RvN) and a provider (Saha) now so i have high expectations for us. If we get Alan Smith and/or Rooney (which i dont think we will since Everton are saying £40 million lol - id be annoyed if we spent anywhere near that on him) or another striker, we will have the ability to change the front pair during a match to bring about a difference. Thats why we were so good in the 1999 treble winning season. CL final, bring of Cole and York, stick on Sheringham and Solskjaer - 2 goals in 10minutes. Thats what we need.

Who's the reliable source by the way?? would be handy to have a source like that lol - maybe you could share

[MPS]

oh yeah, 1999 CL final... the best ever. what a finish!

[Oriphus]

Yeah - amazing match - I was ****ting bricks and nearly crying until Teddy scored the first and then Ole came in and scored 2mins later. Poor Oliver Kahn lol - ah well

[admin]

I don't think Arsenal, or any other team, will achieve an unbeaten season again for a long time. Despite what the media says, I think Arsenal played fairly average this season. This season wasn't about flair football (although there were times that we were simply unstoppable), but about grit and determination. I think it's something like 8 or 10 games (including both Chelsea and Liverpool games!!) where we won after going behind first - on one hand, you could say that a truly good team wouldn't have conceded the first goal, but on the other hand, only a determined team would come out winners in the end. I think we played much better in 2002/03, but weren't as determined. I think Wenger and the players wanted to prove a point after losing the league last season.

I always wondered what our usual flair plus some determination and bottle would do for us. We say flair in 02/03, we saw determination in 03/04 - perhaps we'll see both next season.

Arsene will never get a goal poacher, because that's against his philosophy. His philosophy is to have the mirrored players on both left and right, and hence, he wants someone that will play like Henry.

Henry is most effective when he drifts into the wings, and then slices back into the box. He can either take on all the defenders and score, or he can look for the killer pass to Pires, Ljungberg or the other striker. He never stays in the box for long (and his headers are appaling), and while he has a good long range shot, he rarely takes them. What Wenger wants is for Reyes or to a less degree, van Persie, to become the other striker, Henry's clone on the right hand side, or both strikers can switch sides like all of our players do. Wenger has said that a target man, a goal poacher, would not suit Arsenal's game, since we don't cross the ball in the air that much, and if we had someone like that, we would just end up lobbing the ball always to the target man, which makes it really easy to defend against.

[MPS]

do you remeber bayern's reaction? Kahn destroyed, Jancker sitting and crying, Matthaeus not believing his eyes from the bench, and Kuffour totally besides himself... what a pretty sight

but we got very lucky back then - scholl hit the post earlier and jancker overhead-kicked the bar <- a few inches in the other way and it could have been 3-0 to bayern.

but it wasn't

history was made @ nou camp.

try to top that porto & monaco

[MPS]

and i see monaco lifting the cup tonight (2-1 is my bet).
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*M*M*M*O****O*N*N*N*A***A*C***** O****O*
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*M***M*O****O*N***N*A***A*C***** O****O*
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[Oriphus]

Unfortunately Porto won tonight, i was looking forward to Monaco winning and Fernando Morientes signing off in style for them - what a player he has been. Real Madrid have their heads stuck somewhere up their arses to sell someone of such talent when they are undoubtledly ****ed in their own campaigns. I guess Chelsea will add his name to the list they have (Lets see how many players we can buy list) lol.

And....do Chelsea have a new manager - all will be revealed on Friday i believe - i hope not as a fan of football as a whole, i see it as grossly unfair to sack a man that has brought Chelsea to its best position since 1950 something. What an idiot Kenyan and Roman will be if they do. Go on Claudio.....we (the footballing world) love you

[Oriphus]

Some good thoughts on the Arsenal situation Admin, you know your team

[MPS]

yea, shame monaco didnt win, but nevertheless they are worthy of admiraion in this season - so many problems in the club, ie financial, and still CL final.
porto won fairly - they were the better team yesterday,. pity giuly had to come off so soon.

morientes will get wasted in chelsea, he will be forgotten i think, the same happens if u move to ac milan - where's rivaldo now?

rainieri or not, i dont give a damn who chelsea's coach is.

now, what's with trezeguet's move? and barca really seem to change thisgs this summer

[Oriphus]

Yeah Guilly is no doubt a star for Monaco, if he wasnt injured id think that the result couldve been different. Porto played much better defensively than Monaco, but i felt Monaco were unlucky not to have scored. THey had a good few chances, but the final delivery or shot was pretty poor....

[Oriphus]

Yeah Roy Keane and Ireland

[admin]

My vote for the best newspaper article title and sub-title ever:

"Wenger wants Kaka: ARSENE WENGER wants a Kaka up the Arsenal"

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2002390000-2004242332,00.html

It would be great if it was true, but this story is a load of kaka

[Oriphus]

lol - there is no chance of Arsenal getting Kaka - Mulan signed him for atleast 5 years because he has so much raw talent - he's gonna be a real superstar i think. The title is hilarious lol

Looks like Boro are looking to sign Patrick Kleivert from Barca....be interesting that one.....Boro are also looking at Wiltord at the min. And Bronckhorst is happy he is now signed with Barca...

[admin]

I think everyone is happy that van Bronckhorst is happy, because he is not a bad player, just a player that doesn't really fit into Arsenal's plans anymore. He was injured at a time when he could have broken through to the team, and others took his place (notably Clichy). He sounds like he's found himself a good team.

The same could be said of Kanu, or Wiltord probably.

So, what's the opinion on Alan Smith?

[Oriphus]

Look like Chelsea are on the verge of a new manager:

http://www.skysports.com/skysports/article/0,,7-1137456,00.html