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EPL | 23/8/08 | Fulham vs. Arsenal, Craven Cottage (17:30 BST)

4K views 157 replies 35 participants last post by  Tunis4life 
#1 ·
Craven Cottage is the next venue of the marathon race to the Premier League Championship and despite the press and TV pundits moaning about the performance against WBA, the most important thing at this stage of the season is the points and not the way in which the team manages to get them. Funnily enough, you would think that since these people are the ones who say that Arsenal can only win playing one style that they would be heaping praise, but I guess Arsene can never please them.

With Fabregas not expected to be available until the Twente game, and Rosicky still unavailable, the creative play coming from midfield will mostly be coming from Nasri. Judiging from his debut, he seems comfortable having that weight on his shoulders though and against a team that cannot really defend well I can see him being the main danger in creating chances for others.

With Cameroon out of the Olympics, it will also be interesting to see if Wenger will stick to playing Eboue in the middle next to Denilson, or whether Song will be employed there with Eboue moving onto the right or to the bench.

I’m hoping Adebayor gets his game together because Fulham aren’t the best defensively and he will get chances to score. Also, I’m hoping Theo manages to show more in his game because he has played really bad in his last two games and he shouldn’t really considering he has been playing for nearly six weeks now.

Am I the only one who expects more injury news since the players will be on international duy this week?
 
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#2 · (Edited)
Well, this is the second of ten must-win games. Chelsea and United have raised the bar to a level where anyone aspiring to compete with them simply can not drop points against the lower teams. West Brom, Fulham, Newcastle, Blackburn, Bolton, Hull, Sunderland, Everton, West Ham, Spurs and Stoke is a fairly comfortable set of fixtures to kick off the season... at the bare minimum you're looking at 9 wins and 1 draw as what can be considered satisfactory - those are teams that Arsenal should be beating. It's also a chance to take an early lead in the table and profit from Chelsea, United and Liverpool facing each other during that period.

Arsenal vs Fulham line-up - Almunia; Sagna, Toure, Gallas, Clichy; Walcott, Eboue, Denilson, Nasri; v.Persie, Adebayor.
 
#3 ·
I'm hoping for a 1-2 or a 1-3 as I feel Fulham will score against us. It's an away game so you would be hoping they would open up a little and attack us, that way the job is much easier.

Denilson and Nasri for stand-out performances again and I don't mind Eboue starting in the middle again till we have the new signing and Fab back.
 
#24 ·
I'm hoping for a 1-2 or a 1-3 as I feel Fulham will score against us. It's an away game so you would be hoping they would open up a little and attack us, that way the job is much easier.

Denilson and Nasri for stand-out performances again and I don't mind Eboue starting in the middle again till we have the new signing and Fab back.
We struggled against West Brom with this idiot on the pitch and you think we can do better away with him? I am sure Song will be playing in that position. Otherwise mantain the Gallas Djorou CB and slot Kolo there instead of stupid Eboue.

My problem with Eboue as mentioned earlier is NOT lack of ability but rather inability to concentrate for more than 30seconds. He makes a good run dribbles past thre players then shoots horribly wide, misplaces a pass or simply leaves the ball behind. Kolo for the DM with Denilson moving foward more so now that Nasri may be out.

------------------------Alminium-----------------------------
--Sagna-----Gallas----------------Djorou---------Clichy
-------------------Song/Kolo-------------------------
---Vela------------Denilson-------------------Nasri/
---------------RVP/Walcott--------Ade---------------

RVP needs to be fit first otherwise he comes in as a sub with Bendtner. Walcott comming in as a sub could be good as well. I guess Eboue will still play whatever the case.
 
#5 ·
It will be a tough game,
specially Fulham lost their last game so they will try to get a positive result,
,,,
in my opinion Ade. should be sub. and play Rvp alongside Bendtner

Almunia
sagna-gallas-Toure-Clishy
Theo-Eboue-Denilson-Nasri
Rvp
Bendtner
,,,
i hope we won 2-1 or 3-1
and i don`t care whether we played well or no ,
the important thing is to get the 3 points
,,,
we will really miss Cesc
 
#8 ·
Question, Bendtner was far worse than Adebayor on Saturday, Bendtner was completely invisible, so why start him?
 
#9 ·
Here's a point of discussion.

When has Bendtner ever shown anything against a team of at least mid-table ability or higher? Specifically, when he starts. I can't recall Bendtner ever really doing much of anything other than jumping for offensive headers off a goal kick when he starts. The rest of his game largely consists of doing bugger all. He is an impact substitute.

Bendtner, really, has done approximately nothing to warrant getting a start in this team. If we're being honest, from what he's shown in the last year, he doesn't have what it takes to lead this club as a front line striker.
 
#6 ·
if we are going to be genuine title contenders this will be a walk in the park.. if we struggle then we got no hope.
 
#11 ·
Bendtner deserves his chance in the team. You can not just drop him after 1 match. He needs a consistent run. He wasn't bad vs. WBA...decent linkup play with Nasri and Clichy in the 1st half.
In fact, Adebayor was worse the whole match. Van Persie needs to come off the bench and look much sharper than he has done.

Give him 4 more matches...and if he doesn't deliver, then bring him back to the bench.
 
#12 · (Edited)
He's had a few runs and not been the messiah as some people predict. And he was terrible against WBA. He did **** all, which is far worse that doing something badly. Cos then at least you did something.

And 4 match run? No way, these are 4 matches we have to win. So do I want a 20 year old who has scored... 15 goals at most for Arsenal leading the line forcing someone with nearly on 50 on the bench? That's plain stupid. Bendtner has proved nothing, didely squat, and with the van Persie's seemingly non-existent physical capabilities and an attacking injury list of epic proportions we are not in a position to drop someone who scored 30 goals for us last season for someone who scored 9.

Yes, Bendtner may play, but that'd be at the sacrifice of van Persie who doesn't look sharp at all and in all honesty I have no faith in him physically, he'll just get bloody injured.
 
#14 ·
He meant his Arsenal career...Ade is on 47 goals. He is our no.1 forward and rightly so, he's the only one physically dependable and scores plenty of goals. He has made another solid start to the season, goals against Real Madrid, Ajax, Twente... he'll only get better and better.
 
#15 ·
He meant his Arsenal career...Ade is on 47 goals. He is our no.1 forward and rightly so, he's the only one physically dependable and scores plenty of goals. He has made another solid start to the season, goals against Real Madrid, Ajax, Twente... he'll only get better and better.
2 of those games were meaningless. I don't think it's time to drop him or anything, it's way too early, but the WBA performance was pretty woeful, so he needs to step it up.
 
#16 ·
They were meaningless for sure, but it shows that he still means business. Yes, his performance against WBA wasn't up to scratch, but Theo and Bendtner were worse. Bendtner is physically imposing but needs to show more touches of class, at the moment he hasn't done anything to warrant taking Adebayor's place. Remember that Ade is only 24, he'll improve this season for sure.
 
#17 ·
I think it is funny that people actually dislike Adebayor so much they are willing for him to sit on the bench and Bendtner take his place. Bendtner is no way near good enough right now to take Adebayor's place. What has Bendtner done in comparison to what Adebayor did last season? It would have to take Adebayor playing poorly for an extended amount of time before I would ever consider Bendtner taking his place.
 
#20 ·
...because the match was delicately balanced at 1-0 with the three points far from guaranteed. I am sure Wilshere and Vela would have got a run out had we been 4-0 up at half-time as expected, but our wastefulness kept the youngsters on the bench.

In other news - PARIS, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Arsenal midfielder Samir Nasri has been ruled out for France's friendly against Sweden due to a right thigh strain, the French Football Federation said on Tuesday. He is now a doubt for the Fulham game.
 
#21 ·
...because the match was delicately balanced at 1-0 with the three points far from guaranteed. I am sure Wilshere and Vela would have got a run out had we been 4-0 up at half-time as expected, but our wastefulness kept the youngsters on the bench.

In other news - PARIS, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Arsenal midfielder Samir Nasri has been ruled out for France's friendly against Sweden due to a right thigh strain, the French Football Federation said on Tuesday. He is now a doubt for the Fulham game.
FvCK LIFE
 
#27 ·
What a freaking joke, Nasri has made over 30 league appearances the last 3 years, he even had 30 starts last year despite having meningitis and then he comes here and immediately starts getting hurt, what the hell are we doing wrong?

Anyone averse to RvP starting on the wing if Nasri is out?
 
#28 ·
----------Almunia-------------
------------------------------
Sagna--Gallas--Djourou--Clichy
------------------------------
----------Eboue--------------
Walcott-----Denilson------Vela
------------------------------
--------van Persie------------
------------Adebayor---------

Subs: Ramsey, Bendtner, Wilshere, Toure, Song, Traore, Fabianski
 
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