Hull City V Arsenal [ Saturday 17 Jan;17:30;Setanta Sports]

[patrick42uk]

In defense of Clichy, he put in about 3 decent crosses yesterday so hopefully its something he's working on. Along with his concentration.

 

[Nela]

I'm so happy about the form RvP is showing. He's really stepped up. He's looking more and more like a leader too.

And Nasri's performance was also very encouraging. He usually fades at away games, but he is now finding some consistency. He could be huge for us in the future. Sometimes I still get the feeling that he doesn't want to risk taking people on and then takes an easier option. But with time and confidence there can only be more to come from him.

I actually like Bendtner on the right wing?! Wouldn't mind giving him a start there instead of Eboue to see how he performs.

 

[go49oner]

Great to know no one has noticed Diaby, it means his doings decent job in middle.

 

[_scorpion_]

it was a penalty. ridiculous, unnecessary and clumsy tackle by that incompetent djourou. next rio ferdinand my ass. pathetic defending.

piss poor match against a s**t side. only good thing about today was bendtner and nasri. the rest was pretty musch useless.

Summed it up perfectly.

Could someone please explain to me exactly what it is that is 'useless' about 3 points? Cheers.

The performance (other than Nasri & Bendtner) was junk. The result (gaining 3 points) is always great.

We've played better & lost, but that doesnt take away from the fact that the performance was ****.

 

[entropy13]

Could someone please explain to me exactly what it is that is 'useless' about 3 points? Cheers.

The performance (other than Nasri & Bendtner) was junk. The result (gaining 3 points) is always great.

We've played better & lost, but that doesnt take away from the fact that the performance was s**t.

Which doesn't take away from the fact that we won even with that kind of performance.

Which most here in A-M doesn't recognize it seems. When other teams do it, it is noted as "a professional response considering their performance", "a sign of being able to grind out results regardless of how they've played", but when it's Arsenal "we've played s**t and we got lucky that we won", "we didn't play well but we won because the other team played much worse than us". :roll:

 

[kamikaze80]

right, but at some point, you have to start playing well. no team wins anything by playing **** all season but grinding out results. again, you have to have a proactive outlook rather than a retrospective one where we got the result, so therefore everything is ok, when it obviously isnt.

 

[Asterix]

Kami, I tihnk part of our problem still is that we're only playing to the levle of the opposition. We've shown we're capable of beating the big teams, but when we come up against the "lesser" teams we don't put in the same performance.

That's due to experience and mentality, and it can be learnt. The trouble, as well know, is that we keep losing key players each summer and not replacing them, so we have another re-building or transition season. It sucks Chef's salty ones, but we can't do much about it except hope we keep grinding out some wins until Walcott and Cesc are back.

 

[Lancelot]

Great to know no one has noticed Diaby, it means his doings decent job in middle.

I thought he did well. Didn't seem to hold on to the ball for too long and often released it quickly and accurately to keep our passing flow going; the fact that I remember him tracking back once or twice and winning the ball back is also a plus to his overall performance on the day.

EDIT: @KY; check your PM, mate.

 

[KY]

whos the chick this time lancy?

 

[General]

Great to know no one has noticed Diaby, it means his doings decent job in middle.

This is what Kilbane said after the game

“They seem to like the physical battle now and that probably couldn’t be said of Arsenal two or three years ago,” Kevin Kilbane, the Hull defender, said. “They have that as well as the ability to pass you off the park.”

I feel one of the reasons for this is Diaby's presence in the middle. People can slate him all they want but you gotta admit that physically, he's hard to manoeuvre. The midfield battle was a non-contest even if he and Denilson hardly produced a scintillating performance.

 

[hackajack]

I think it was down to JD smacking Manucho in the mince. Although he might have given away the pen I think that did us no harm whatsoever.

 

[Captain]

There was a good period either side of the break where we were winning all of the 50/50s and both Denilson and Diaby contributed to that. It was good to see as just over a month ago I would think we would have lost alot of those.

 

[RocktheCasbah]

If Saturday's game did anything, and I thought Robin, Samir and Ade all played well- whilst Nic put in another useful cameo, surely it proved the lie that Eboue provides Arsenal with anything that goes towards winning a game.

Seriously, every time he got the ball he lost it, he can't pass, he can't dribble- why is he seen as a better prospect for the right side of midfield than a couple of young bucks dying to make names for themselves. You've either got it or you haven't.

And Eboue does not have it.

 

[General]

Ade did well but there was a moment in the second half when he started pissing me, prancing around and doing ****all. It was as if he scored so job done. It reminded me of the Newcastle game last season. Robin and Nasri made the difference but I thought Diaby and Denilson did well too by keeping the shape in the middle when we were under the cosh. Hull were forced wide for the most part and with better concentration from Clichy we would’ve walked away with a clean sheet.

As for Eboue – I keep saying he’s psychologically damaged and is starting to play with less and less purpose with blind alley runs to boot.

 

[RocktheCasbah]

I think he's always been pyschologically damaged- maybe that explains the tiger suit... ;-)

 

[CrazyInLoveWithArsenal]

Eboue is gone in the summer me thinks...

 

[kamikaze80]

fair point, general, but notice he said we werent up for the physical battle 2-3 years ago. i think flamini and sagna had a big impact on toughening up our first 11 and changing our mindset. van persie, too, is a tough kid. we'd do well to rid the squad of the weak. we all know who they are.

 

[Meatwad]

this isn't the first time he's played against arsenal in the past 2-3 years. 2-3 years ago we were at our absoulte low point in that area, doesn't mean he feels we were tough enough last season or even earlier this season. this particular performance got his attention.

 

[Gurgen]

Diaby played well and it's easy to see the physical advantage of having him there instead of Cesc.

 

[outlaw_member]

I think Cesc and Diaby will start alongside each other next season, barring any injuries, or unexpected turn of events.