PL: Arsenal vs Blackburn Rovers | 26/11/05

[USArsenal]

seems to me that the main consesus here is that Jose has the ability, talent, the speed, but lacks the consistency so far and doesnt stay on his feet very well... honestly, this souns a LOT like what people were saying about a certain other winger who plays for ManUre (and one that now, after 3 years in the English game, is being touted as one of the better wingers in the world).. his name is Christiano Ronaldo... anyone else see the similarity in criticism?

 

[Tony Montana]

I don't know, the talent is there, we've seen it, but he just doesn't seem able to produce... I bit someone's head off last year who had the temerity to suggest van Persie was a better prospect then Reyes, well if I could remember who that person was, I'd be apologising right now, tbbosa maybe?

you done it to a bunch of people.

*Hangs head*

Sorry all... ops:

The question in mind is still this- what future does Reyes have at this club really? He's had enough games on the left to prove that he is the definitve answer out there, and he has not done it- so do we keep waiting and hoping or cut and run? Shame Arsenal seem to have already answered that question this summer.

Aaaaaaaaaarh. Poor RocktheCasbah. :cry:

It's funny because I didn't want Van Persie to come to this club because I thought we had too many forwards or we just didn't need him. I believed he wasn't going to be good at all. I thought buying Reyes was amazing and he's good as the beginning of last season showed and in parts the beginning of this season but in the long term I see Van Persie as the better prospect. He could be a new Dennis Bergkamp.

The problem is, we can't judge people too quickly. What if Van Persie just becomes whack in the coming years and all this is just fluke? I doubt that very much but the whole point is, let's not go overboard yet, we have to see how the season goes.

And speaking of this current season, it's the results that matter the most whether we are second or not. The fluidity comes second to trophies and results always I'm afraid. We've got Bolton next and we MUST win if we are to stand a chance of winning the league (which we don't at the moment to be fair). The scoreline flattered us but seeing as we are not top of the league does the fluidity really matter if we are winning games in the 'transition period'?

While I think that we should not go overboard about players, our fans should do just that in the stands at Highbury. The atmosphere was again bordering on the ridiculous and the fact that people left early for both halves just goes to show how complacent those lucky people are to see teams like Arsenal.

 

[kel varnsen]

Maybe it was extreme, but he was so poor yesterday, I couldn't believe it. He ran the game against Fulham earlier this season, contributed assists against Thun and Everton, but as Rocky has always maintained he spends far too much time on his arse. Arsenal can't afford any passengers right now, and we had three of them playing yesterday. Reyes, I have to say, was one of them.

like i said yesterday, the biggest problem is that there really is no room for a traditional left winger here. i lost count on how many times reyes and henry were stepping on each others toes out on the left side. sure, it might work once in a while, but in the long run, there really is no room for both reyes and henry on the left. in addition, cygan provided no help at all for reyes.

put reyes on the right side or up front.

 

[patrick42uk]

if you consider our wide options i.e. freddie, pires, reyes, hleb, i think reyes would be fourth choice. if wenger picked his best everytime, the regular two, IMO, would be freddie and hleb. leaving pires out of the team helps his game. leaving reyes out of the team destroys his confidence.

i dont think wenger will though. reyes will get a lot of games that he doesnt deserve this year. the hope is that he takes advantage. we'v been hoping reyes improves for so long now, but it always seems like we are back to square one with him.

 

[sabret00the]

I don't follow that really, I think Reyes probably needs to know he's number one, rather than feel he has competition.

if that's the case then we don't need him, though having an assist machine is great an all, him needing to be the boss's favourite doens't work for me.

 

[sabret00the]

Maybe it was extreme, but he was so poor yesterday, I couldn't believe it. He ran the game against Fulham earlier this season, contributed assists against Thun and Everton, but as Rocky has always maintained he spends far too much time on his arse. Arsenal can't afford any passengers right now, and we had three of them playing yesterday. Reyes, I have to say, was one of them.

like i said yesterday, the biggest problem is that there really is no room for a traditional left winger here. i lost count on how many times reyes and henry were stepping on each others toes out on the left side. sure, it might work once in a while, but in the long run, there really is no room for both reyes and henry on the left. in addition, cygan provided no help at all for reyes.

put reyes on the right side or up front.

hopefully we'll get to test this theory on tuesday, if we put Reyes on the left with a more orthadox striker up front then we'll be able to see for once and for all. but i fear that's just another excuse.

 

[Gurgen]

Maybe it was extreme, but he was so poor yesterday, I couldn't believe it. He ran the game against Fulham earlier this season, contributed assists against Thun and Everton, but as Rocky has always maintained he spends far too much time on his arse. Arsenal can't afford any passengers right now, and we had three of them playing yesterday. Reyes, I have to say, was one of them.

like i said yesterday, the biggest problem is that there really is no room for a traditional left winger here. i lost count on how many times reyes and henry were stepping on each others toes out on the left side. sure, it might work once in a while, but in the long run, there really is no room for both reyes and henry on the left. in addition, cygan provided no help at all for reyes.

put reyes on the right side or up front.

Pretty much agree. Either that or change the system to fit our players, since we have no real wingers left at the moment. But that will never happen.

 

[Viper]

What a goal by Van Persie. Sheer class. We're back to second place! unless manure beat West Ham, but its currently West Ham 1 - 0 Man Utd

 

[Muppy]

After that goal, i really feel he is the next big thing in the EPL.

Anyway, I feel RVP is very underrated outside Arsenal. The people in are La Liga talking about how magical Robinho is but can he really grow into the next Pele?! I doubt so. IMHO, RVP is better than Robinho in most aspects and the amount of hype that guy receives is complete bullocks.

 

[nazo]

After that goal, i really feel he is the next big thing in the EPL.

Anyway, I feel RVP is very underrated outside Arsenal. The people in are La Liga talking about how magical Robinho is but can he really grow into the next Pele?! I doubt so. IMHO, RVP is better than Robinho in most aspects and the amount of hype that guy receives is complete bullocks.

you're right
he just does some fancy moves and they say he is the next pele
did he even score a goal yet this season eventhough he is a striker
i admit he is good but not THAT great yet
he has to control himself and use his fancy moves when they are needed
most of the times he loses the ball easily just because he didnt try the simpler way
rvp is a rising star
im sure by the end of the season he will have more than 15 goals (15-25)
and next year he is going to be a regular starter for the team (if he isnt already one after jan)
i cant wait to see how he is going to play in the WC, if he is given a chance van basten wont regret using him ...guaranteed

btw great game from kuijt (sp) scored 2 goals in feyenords 7-1 victory

 

[kamikaze80]

put reyes on the right side or up front.

wasnt reyes on the right side against fulham? the reyes/henry space theory is a good point, as was the point about reyes needing to cover for cygan. the left side wouldve looked a lot more fluid with ash overlapping.

ive always wanted to see reyes get an extended run on the right side, theory being hed be a mirror image of pires in the good ole days. cut in onto his favoured foot and score some goals, like the cracker against chelsea a while back.

of course, this begs the question of why pires never seemed to get in henrys way. but then, pires was twice the one-touch player that reyes is.

 

[Anonymous]

Pires understood the Arsenal movement.
It was bread and butter stuff.

Reyes's game is about instinct.
Not co-ordination. I don't see why Reyes can't operate on the left side.

Maybe he may need a bit of determination and self-discipline to get adjusted to it. But when you play in a team, that's needed.

And where does Freddie go btw? I don't see Freddie doing shiz on the left.

 

[kamikaze80]

sad we speak of pires in the past tense, huh?

i mostly agree with you, but freddie need not start every match. im a big fan of his, but reyes, hleb and freddie each offer unique qualities, and wenger should have the luxury of mixing and matching according to the opposition.

hopefully we'll see better movement once hleb comes back.

 

[kel varnsen]

And where does Freddie go btw? I don't see Freddie doing shiz on the left.

there's a lot of things you don't see, isn't it? freddie's favourite position is either offensive central midfielder or on the left.

 

[Canuck]

Alright, I have returned and it certainly is refreshing to see that this thread has actually fostered some serious contemplation. Got to watch the match late yesterday (8pm local) which was a refreshing change from the usual up before the sun routine. Actually got to have a couple barley pops, a puff, and enjoy it.
I don't know what all the complaining was earlier. It wasn't nearly as bad as some thought. Sure we didn't dominate the game, but that just isn't our style now with the players Wenger is fielding. We just don't dominant midfields with physical presence obviously. Don't expect us to. (plus it was never going to be easy to do that against Rovers in the first place. Credit to them, they played a pretty good game)
From the kickoff up until shortely after Cesc's goal we were looking really good. Better game from Dennis, Gilberto and Sol than we've seen recently. Bobby looked good when he had the ball, going forward with purpose and Freddie is starting to get back into the groove as well. Dennis didn't quite sit so deep for the entire time he was on. He even got onto the end of a couple passes around the box! Even noticed Gilberto got a cheeky back heel pass that suggested he's trying to break the image of him being nothing but a defensive 'wall', I think playing along side Cesc must be inspiring him a bit. Had a pretty good shot from distance in the second half too. Going forward we looked good (though still not as fluent as we've seen in the past but I know it will come with time) and fashioned some really good chances. I did find myself thinking about Reyes though. Funny I should come back to find that debate going here, since I wondered myself at one point whether there was going to be a place for him long term at Arsenal. (I know he's talented and I know he's signed on but he needs to have more final product consistently to be useful. He just can't spend all his time winning free kicks and his time as a striker hasn't been overly impressive either unfortunately.)

How about Toure? 3 really good chances to score though sadly none converted and a couple super blocks at our end as well. Thought he was easily the best in the backline on the day. About the backline. They were under alot of pressure especially in the second but TBH I thought they dealt with it relatively well. Thank god Bellamy couldn't hit the target. Or it would have been a closer match. Some good saves from Jens but I thought WTF! When I saw him come out to challenge Bellamy and he just barely got away with it. Then he was out to far on the right as well a bit later. A bit of a reminder of some of his less illustrious moments...
All in all I thought it was a respectable performance with no major gripes.
I'm super happy that RVP is still scoring. Something that I was hoping would happen a bit earlier in the season but I'm glad he's doing it none the less.

 

[RocktheCasbah]

I'd forgotten about that Lehmann clearance, it looked scary from my seat, but it was such a casual drop of the shoulder and on he went, what was the panic eh?

Blackburn had far too many chances for my liking. A better team will surely punish us.

 

[Canuck]

They came to play. That's for sure. Agree that they had plenty of chances and a better striker would have finished them off. But they had plenty of chances that were really nothing too creative. Sol or Kolo had them covered and Jens was only really really challenged once with that long range rocket (Was it Reid or Thompson?) that he paried and one corner where he was jostled and pushed the ball over the cross bar. Sol's had the doldrums since the Spuds match but he's coming back bit by bit. Plus (as any smart manager will do) they punished Cygan over and over. We'll have to see what Wenger's reaction (if any... :roll: ) to that will be.

 

[Anonymous]

sad we speak of pires in the past tense, huh?

i mostly agree with you, but freddie need not start every match. im a big fan of his, but reyes, hleb and freddie each offer unique qualities, and wenger should have the luxury of mixing and matching according to the opposition.

hopefully we'll see better movement once hleb comes back.

Well it is only one performance, Pires has a long way to get back to normal let alone the classic Pires. Freddie needs a few games, and I just think that his overall combative skills will be needed by Arsenal. If we can't exert a true presence in the center of midfield, then we had better keep the left and right channels intact.

This whole expectation of Hleb is dangerous, I could be very wrong, but I doubt he alone is going to provide such a big lift to Arsenal's game. Every Arsenal player needs to find more gears, because they are a bit too casual, even when playing better then before.

And where does Freddie go btw? I don't see Freddie doing shiz on the left.

there's a lot of things you don't see, isn't it? freddie's favourite position is either offensive central midfielder or on the left.

Yea Kel, He's just playing on the right in his freetime.
--

Canuck, I agree with most of what I read of your post. What is promising is that Toure is getting into danger positions more. If the same would again ring true for Campbell.. then it would bring another level of danger to our otherwise, under-par corner setpieces.

 

[RocktheCasbah]

Hmmm, they had a header that glanced the post, a Pires clearance off the goal line, a Kuqi miss that he should surely have scored, and Jens seemed to make more than a couple of saves. Put it this way, he was much busier than Friedel. My enjoyment of the game yesterday was based purely in three great goals, and the piss being taken out of Savage and Dickov by various... it wasn't a nice game to watch at all. Though there is an argument that we never got out of second gear after scoring that early first goal, I guess it could be said we were comfortable. But it didn't feel like it to me. It's the first Gunners game I've come away from worried after a win for a long time.

 

[kel varnsen]

And where does Freddie go btw? I don't see Freddie doing shiz on the left.

there's a lot of things you don't see, isn't it? freddie's favourite position is either offensive central midfielder or on the left.

Yea Kel, He's just playing on the right in his freetime.
--

your point being?

you asked 'where does freddie go'. the answer is, back to his more natural position, on the left. he was converted into a right midfielder here at arsenal, but he prefers to play on the left side.