LC: Liverpool vs Arsenal | 09/01/06

[sparky44]

How about baptista just behind the front two strikers? Basically he can get the goals/get into the positions that hleb/rosicky dont seem to. Worth a thought.

 

[IBL]

so no one has a pic of the digital read out with the score reading

Liverpool 3
Arsenal 6

? I need to annoy some scouser wannabees

http://editorial.gettyimages.com/source ... 6688&cdi=0

awesome, thanks mate

 

[lee1001]

http://sport.independent.co.uk/football ... 140288.ece

"Arsenal having managed to score nine times from 11 goal attempts over the two ties."

Thats pretty impressive.

 

[kamikaze80]

that said, i think he could sstill leave because wenger would prefer his wingers to be more agile and more mobile and quicker. also, his overall game isnt up to par and we dont know how long that could take to fix itself.

we'll see though. it all depends on madrid. we wont pay the 15 million they want. his goals are a good incentive to try to incorporate him into this team and wenger did chase him for a full summer.

imo, wenger chased him as a cesc alternative/vieira replacement, the theory being wenger would get him to learn to tackle and press high up the pitch with his massive physique, contributing goals on the resulting counterattacks when he can make those runs into space that he likes so much.

when the transfer fell through, wenger bought diaby for the same role. diaby doesnt have the same finishing ability, but is more agile and a better dribbler. both need to add tackling and possession abilities to their game to be effective cesc alternative/vieira replacements. but now that diaby is here and returning to match fitness, i'm not sure what wenger is thinking.

i believe he was leaning towards letting baptista go. he said he was leaning a certain direction and baptista wasnt getting playing time. maybe thats too simplistic. not sure if this result changes things - it might change things more for ali than baptista, you know wenger loves the creator of goals more than the scorer.

 

[RC8]

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2002 ... 40,00.html

The Sun truly are a joke:

"Baptista has been anything but a fixture since arriving in a swap loan deal for Juan Antonio Reyes."

Juan?

Although the opening sentence put a smile on my face:

"Maybe Arsène Wenger will consider sending Arsenal’s ladies team up next to make a game of it."

Hopefully Baptista will be played more often as a forward, so that he can be as clinical as he has been recently.

We earned a semi-final against Sp**s, and I have to say, although it is very likely that we will lose at the Lane, hopefully we'll batter them at home right, left and centre, and will show them who is the pride of North London.

 

[jaguars4ever]

that said, i think he could sstill leave because wenger would prefer his wingers to be more agile and more mobile and quicker. also, his overall game isnt up to par and we dont know how long that could take to fix itself.

we'll see though. it all depends on madrid. we wont pay the 15 million they want. his goals are a good incentive to try to incorporate him into this team and wenger did chase him for a full summer.

imo, wenger chased him as a cesc alternative/vieira replacement, the theory being wenger would get him to learn to tackle and press high up the pitch with his massive physique, contributing goals on the resulting counterattacks when he can make those runs into space that he likes so much.

when the transfer fell through, wenger bought diaby for the same role. diaby doesnt have the same finishing ability, but is more agile and a better dribbler. both need to add tackling and possession abilities to their game to be effective cesc alternative/vieira replacements. but now that diaby is here and returning to match fitness, i'm not sure what wenger is thinking.

i believe he was leaning towards letting baptista go. he said he was leaning a certain direction and baptista wasnt getting playing time. maybe thats too simplistic. not sure if this result changes things - it might change things more for ali than baptista, you know wenger loves the creator of goals more than the scorer.

Le Boss will never get rid of Ali unless Ali demands to go - he's Arsène's illegitimate son you know!

As for The Beast, he's probably a little full after feasting on hapless scousers, so he's going retreat to his kennel for now. But we'll be sure to unleash him on Saturday. :wink:

 

[gstew]

Statistics can be used to support practically any position, but the one stat that I wholeheartedly believe in is shooting accuracy.

I don't have a link right now, but I was reading shooting accuracy statistics 1.5 years ago when that unbelievably long and frustrating Beast thread was providing us all with entertainment. For the previous year Arsenal was one of the top Prermiership teams in shooting accuracy (% of shots on target). Our most accurate shooter was Henry. 61% of his shots hit the target. If I remember correctly this led the league (of course with the qualifier of a minimum # of shots). What absolutely amazed me about Baptista was the fact that he had a 70% accuracy rate in Spain that year.....far better than any other player in Spain or England. On that alone I was excited to get him. Everyone seems to want us to shoot more. I want us to shoot more accurately. We would have about 6-9 more points in the league right now if our shooting accuracy had just been mediocre earlier this season.

I think that we all saw an example tonight of Baptista's accuracy. His 1st and 3rd goals were perfectly placed and his tap-ins were confidently struck low and down the middle, providing almost no opportunity to miss even if he mishit them.

He has played very poorly this year and has appeared quite lightweight for someone his size. Eventually these two things should change. If they do Baps (and hopefully Tomas) should provide us with the shooting accuracy that we have been missing since the best days of Dennis, Freddie and Bobby.

 

[tactica442]

I am not trying to discount the youngsters' achivement in winning this game, but Dudek's goalkeeping was awful. How he allowed Baptista's freekick gone past him is really beyond me.

 

[lee1001]

Anyone have highlights with commentary from Skysports coverage? I.e. Andy Gray etc.

Thanx.

 

[morpho]

I just dont know what to make of him... I have seen his goals from spain and most of them are from crosses or like the ones he scored from Ali today... For me he seems to be a "right place at the right time" kinda player who rely too much of what his teammates does... Yes he can take a breath taking free kick sometimes, but we already have Henry and RvP to do that... His goals reminds me of the ones from horseface and even if those goals are as important as any, its just not my cup of tea...

 

[morpho]

I am not trying to discount the youngsters' achivement in winning this game, but Dudek's goalkeeping was awful. How he allowed Baptista's freekick gone past him is really beyond me.

Exactly... Even my grandmother in a wheelchair could have stoped that... Someone should have a look at his bank account to see if there was a mayor increase friday night... :roll:

 

[Biggus]

In the canteen this morning....

1st Scouser to 2nd Scouser : Are you going to yuereuope?

Biggus: Do you mean on your holidays?...did you hear to result?

 

[celestis]

I am not trying to discount the youngsters' achivement in winning this game, but Dudek's goalkeeping was awful. How he allowed Baptista's freekick gone past him is really beyond me.

Was a good free kick , it was the height and it had enough width so Dudek could not reach it . What about the shot for his hatrick ? that was pure power and placement.

Lol at people thinking they could save that.

 

[morpho]

The third shot was good no question about that, but he should never have had the ball in the first place... outrageous defending...

His free kick was not high and without width so Dudek looked like a complete clown for not saving that... if you see the replay, he actualy stops his movment just for the ball to pass him 1m to his right...

 

[celestis]

I agree that it was not top corner , but it did enough to be of awkard height and far enough away to put doubts in Dudeks mind.

The third horrible defending ,but he still had a **** load to do from 20 yards out.

 

[>YounGunner<]

baptista is an offensive midfielder. hi starting position has to be between the lines so he has that space to strike and there is space in front of him to attack.

FFS He is an out and out striker he is not a midfielder! When Real Madrid tried him there it went soo wrong and they played him upfront towards the end of the season and that was his best period for them.

Also the best part of his career came as a striker.

He just does not have the touch or passing ability to play in midfield and no we are not going to play him there just because he makes late runs.

 

[1970*Gooner]

maybe Walcott can get his first and Baps will score one...

Pigs might fly sorry but I can't see us getting anywhere near goal with this lot. Please let me be proved wrong.

LMAO

OMG :shock:

I am glad I wuz wrong ops:

 

[Meek]

as i overslept this morning i asked my sister to tape it as i would have missed the replay because i was at work. just watched the full match. awesome performace. well done particularly to ali and baptista. lets hope their form continues as well.

btw:

Following Arsenals success in reaching the Carling Cup Semi Finals, we would inform you of the following information as at the present time:

Arsenal V Manchester City originally scheduled for Tuesday 30th January 2007

Due to our Carling Cup Semi Final versus Tottenham Hotspur which will be played in week commencing Monday 29th January 2007, Arsenal V Manchester City is now postponed.
No new date is yet known.

Carling Cup Semi Finals:

Tottenham Hotspur V Arsenal at White Hart Lane

Arsenal V Tottenham Hotspur at Emirates Stadium

No confirmed details yet available.


FA Cup 4th Round:

Arsenal V Bolton Wanderers at Emirates Stadium

No confirmed details yet available

Regards

Arsenal FC

bloody Sp**s, we cant play the first leg on the 17th cos they have their 3rd round replay on that day.

 

[ronitc]

Having just watched the match a second time, I must amend my earlier opinion on Song's performance. He made a very anxious start to the game but grew in confidence during the latter stages of the first half and the second period.

I'm assuming he was playing a defensive role in the midfield and to this end he did well by using his presence to close down and tackle opposition players on the ball. He did give away some balls needlessly with stray passes and dwelling on the ball, but Gilberto is hardly exemplary in that department.

I'm not convinced by his defensive nous, and hardly any of his passes went further than 10 yards (mostly lateral) but he had a better game than I gave him credit for.

 

[Gurgen]

What a performance from that kid Aliadiere. He was absolutely magnificent. Link up play, off the ball running, finishing, all of them top class.

And what about Julio. I knew he would explode sooner or later. There was no way that someone with his record wouldn't score goals eventually.

Because of the excitement and a bad internet connection I probably missed half the game, but this was amazing stuff