Why does Vermaelen think he's Franz Beckenbauer?

It depends on your patterns/numbers & where you create the 'extra' man from., and the key is that the other players MUST retain their dicipline otherwise you are negating the very basis that provided you the 'extra' man scenario.
If the other players also look to join the attack as well as the 'extra' man, then you are doing little more than changing your numbers & if the opposition retain their shape then you are giving them the opportunity to create an 'extra' man once they clear your numbers,
as has been seen numerous times where we have been vulnerable to a counter attack and lacking the pace to get back in cover defence (and most recently v Norwich for Holt's goal).

That's the key IMO, Vermaelen's forward runs is not the key issue of our problem here but the discipline of our other players is more important.

There's also our ridiculously high line which can cause our defenders to be suck in too far into opposition half and creating a gap between defence line and the GK. THIS I think is the main problem.
Remember during Mertesacker was playing our line dropped back a little to compensate our non-speedy guy and as far as I can remember, we didn't suffer much from ball over the top back then.

I remember Gallas used to do that a lot as well and cost us. Vermaelen needs to stop with that crap!

http://www.voetbalkrant.com/nl/nieuws/l ... -barcelona

Some Belgian/Dutch media are linking him to...

I'm shocked, I thought Vermaelen had more class.






That shirt is a disgrace.

Playboy... Delete this picture!

God awful t-shirt Verms...

The poodle next to him doesnt look much better either.

If Barcelona come in with a bid for an Arsenal defender, it won't be for Vermaelen.

I'm not decided upon whether I'd be sad to see Vermaelen go, either.

A bid above £20m and I'd take the money if I was Wenger. Very good defender but far from irreplaceable and Mertesacker looked good when he played.

Vermaelen's got a fairly dodgy injury record as well.

There is a reason he doesn't start for Belguim and is either stuck at left back or playing second fiddle to Kompany and Vertonghen in the CB positions: he's not very good. Luckily for him, his contributions at the other end of the pitch do a good job of masking his frailties.

Maybe the reason is that he missed a season of football? Before injury he was maybe even better then Kompany, but arsenal fans love to forget all the good stuff from Vermalen just because he is in a bad form. It makes me sick that I need to defend one of our best players here... So if van Persie or Koscienly get in a bad form will I need to defend them here also? I dont know too many defenders that could defend in the system without any defensive midfielders and standing so high up the pitch, even your precious Kompany or Vertongen

well said Sir

The poodle next to him doesnt look much better either.

That's mean.

What did poodles ever do to you?

In fairness to poodles he looks more like a used floor mop.

I don't trust poodles they look and act like bimbo's but they are actually very intelligent. Always scheming how to bite or piss on you and make it look like its your fault.

I don't trust poodles they look and act like bimbo's but they are actually very intelligent. Always scheming how to bite or piss on you and make it look like its your fault.

So all poodles are basically Paris Hilton?

You think Paris Hilton is intelligent?

You think Paris Hilton is intelligent?

She is. Incredible at branding and marketing herself. The amount of money she's made from PR stunts and business adventures is staggering.

Friend of mine once talked to her very briefly, said she came off as well spoken and polite.

Yup.

You think Paris Hilton is intelligent?

She is. Incredible at branding and marketing herself. The amount of money she's made from PR stunts and business adventures is staggering.

Friend of mine once talked to her very briefly, said she came off as well spoken and polite.

Yup.

Heard something similar reportedly from Pink (spoke with Hilton re the Stupid Girls video) - to the effect that Hilton admitted that it's ALL a marketing image designed to keep her in the headlines for better or for worse so as to get the best return on her only maretable commodity = herslef.
Pink's response was that whilst she understood her reasons she couldn't do the same (no to mention she has her music).

Hilton is that good at what she does her friends have also followed suit - the Kardashians & every other MTV reality show.

You think Paris Hilton is intelligent?

She is. Incredible at branding and marketing herself. The amount of money she's made from PR stunts and business adventures is staggering.

Friend of mine once talked to her very briefly, said she came off as well spoken and polite.

Yup.

I always knew no one could be THAT dumb and ugly and make THAT much money...

But back to the original question, I think it's only out of necessity that he does that... If the attack had been capable of breaking the defenses, I think Vermaelen would have been smart enough not to take the risk of rampaging forward for the win. As it is, it became a necessary risk given ours (and more importantly, his) ambitions. Sometimes it paid off (like against newcastle) and sometimes, it doesn't. It was a necessary risk so why are we crucifying him for it? We hailed him as a hero during the newcastle game and rightly so, because he was willing to be positive and not sit back and be content.

I agree with KY and have defended Vermaelen all the way. However, the main reason why he was going forward like that last season is because of our lack of goalscoring threat and creativity up front, so now that things have changed with the additions of Podolski and Giroud will he continue playing the same way and take these risks? I have no problem if we were down and he started getting forward in the last 15 or 10 minutes but he could really leave us exposed to counter attacks if he starts bombarding forward at every opportunity so I think that Wenger and our coaching staff need to explain that to him.

Vermaelen's runs into the opposition box are fine, just look at his last minute goal against Newcastle. The problem is that when Arteta isn't there, no one has the intelligence or discipline to slot in in his place. Too often we end up with this:

---------Szczesny

----------Koscielny

------Song

Sagna - Walcott - Rosicky - Ramsey - Vermaelen - Gervinho - Gibbs

--------------Van Persie

There are several ways to rectify this issue.

Have Song improve his tackling - too often in this situation would the ball break and a player glide past Song like he wasn't there, left one on one with Koscielny.

Buy someone like M'Vila so that we have an adequate back-up for Arteta, so that when he's out, we don't lose as much defensive integrity.

Buy a new AM, so that we don't need to push 7 players forward, simply to create an opportunity.

Vermaelen's runs are an asset. The problem is deficiencies in other areas of the team mean that we're left completely exposed when he does them.

Or conversely, increase the quality of our depth, so that we can afford tactical reds.
Since this is going to happen near the end of games, it shudn't be that big a problem if we're reduced to ten men say at the 80th minute.

Our problem now is that if Song, we're left with the inexperienced Muamba, Coquelin and unpredictable Diaby, or if Koscielny is suspended and one of Vermaelen and Merts is injured, we're left with Djourou.