Gooner Corner

[sayjann]

not a vintage performance by Utd by a win is a win.

4 Goals from RVN which were typical of him,all inside the box.

he has never scored a Goal for Utd from outside the area.

 

but i look with interest at the next few games,wether they be this season or next.

RVN has now scored 41 Goals in 45 European games(includes PSV)

the record is held by Di Stefano(Real Madrid)with 49 Goals in 58 games.

next up is Raul with 48 in 93 games.

will be interesting to see if RVN can beat the record of 49 Goals in fewer games.

[Steve]

With Fergie handing UEFA officials envelopes stuffed with 1,000 pound notes I suspect RVN will get his chance with the easy group you guys seem to get each year...hahaha...he'll get it and its a phenominal achievement what he's done so far. The goals weren't go down as the best goals ever but a goal is a goal. He's fairly young and I suspect will end up with 70 or 80 eventually IF Man utd don't keep going down in quality each year and make the CL.

 

Reyes stands the best chance of doing that for us. I think eventually he may get 40 or 50 CL goals when all is said and done.

 

Man Utd may end up doing better than us in Europe this year but won't win it.

 

The FA cup is the trophy they are most likely to get this year. Still can't see them catching 2 clubs. In the past they only had to catch one. And they were arguably stronger than us in the past, but not now I think and Chelsea seems to have their number as well.

 

He may be a career ending knee kicking bastard but RVN does score goals.

[check_bin_krap]

Chelsea impresses these days. It can be their year. They have a mean manager, who can bite as Ferguson and Wenger do.

 

They probably have the best squad as well, though weak in attack cause injuries + sex addict drugs/or coke. But they can recall som dudes in January I think.

 

Cheers!

[Steve]

You're right. I don't think its too far fetched to say they can do a CL/PL double. They have a deep squad. They can rest and rotate players and have enough quality on the bench to win competitions. They can play their best XI in a CL game and the next league game a few days later can play bench players with the quality to beat most PL sides.

 

My hope is we win and keep them trophyless this year and maybe next if we're lucky and Red Rom will pack up his rubles and go.

[check_bin_krap]

Well pal, you have all to play for. Its more hopeless when it comes to Leeds United. Its just a matter of time before Kevin Blackwell gets fired. He has gone out towards the board now, very unjustified. He is a part of the regime which brought Leeds down, and should never have been offered the job.

 

Has gotten some transfer funds as well, which is unusual in that division. Just blames his bosses + players he got in. Plays good players out of position. 17 year old untried central defender is played in MF (Walton) , excellent central defender at left back (Kilgallon), spent £1000,000 on an old reject from West Brom (Gregan) - got back Brian Deane who was thrown out of West Ham. Thats a player who never made it at Leeds in his last spell, now he is 36.

 

Can it get worse for my club? I want Strachan - NOW.

[check_bin_krap]

If the takeover happens, I can see Strachan coming in. But the greedy board seems to hold on - well, the deadline is coming up fast when they can't serve their debts.

 

If they play too greedy, Leeds United are in administration in January.

[Steve]

CBK, 'ol buddy, the Santini just quit the scum. 'Personal reasons' (like they suck...lol). Word is Strachan is an early choice. Don't see Strachan coming back. Yes, he's an old boy legend there but don't see it yet. If he manages again he'll do it in the PL. If Leeds looked ready for promotion I'd say there is a chance. He doesn't want the headache I think.

 

There are rumors you're looking at Pennant as well. If he doesn't cut it (and my guess is he won't) he'll want PL football.

[check_bin_krap]

Sad - I want Strachan. Hey, I said that about Santini at the start -

 

Pennant will go to a better club than us on loan, at this moment there is few prem club guys we can attract. Pennant is class BTW.

 

Cheers!

[check_bin_krap]

At this time, Pennant should be put in the first team at Arsenal and given a chance.

[Steve]

There are some things you can always count on annually. Swans coming back to Capistrano. Salmon going upstream to spawn and Arsenal having a bad October/November.

 

I didn't believe the 'crisis' stories on the backpages of the British rags...till now.

 

Before I start though, I must give credit to Palace. They outworked us. It could be argued they deserved to win the game. They came with a strategy and worked the strategy. They fought for ever loose ball and it was obvious they wanted it more when there was a challenge or a tackle. To borrow an english phrase 'we couldn't be arsed'.

 

I have been one of the people who have not been convinced of Silva. His supporters call him an 'invisible wall'. In that you don't notice him but he cuts off space and channels. Seeing how easy we were scored on, I may have to take back those words. Lots of blame to go around today. Freddie, although responsible for the assist on our sole goal (the only thing he did right all day), was abysmal in the first half. This is just a rant and I'll probably regret saying this 5 minutes after I post it, but Vieira should have f**ked off to Real Madrid, and we'd be 25 mil quid richer and playing Cesc with a better partner and have spent some of it on a proper back up center half for Sol and Kolo.

 

The weather didn't help, but Palace had to play in the same rain and muck as we did. There are two things that other clubs usually have that we so painfully lack and this game was evident of that. 1) a big target man who can play with his back to the goal at the top of the box and chest down passes and either turn a defender or lay the ball off to a winger or striker running into the right or left channel. And 2) our inability to score in the air from crosses from the wings. Palace packed the box. Our whole game is centered on the ground and we only play to each other's feet. That was not possibly today. Not enough space. Too many bodies between the passer and the intended recipient. If we had someone who could head it would have opened it up. Les Ferdinand is an example of a person who does that well. Does both things we lack well. Not saying we should buy him, he's too old. But it would be nice to have that option if we need it.

 

What upsets me most and this has happened for 2 consecutive games is we dominate possession. Our goal could have been at the half way touch line as we spend the majority of the time in their half. We finally find a way to score and we give up an equaliser so easily. Soton did it twice and now Palace. As soon as they pushed bodies forward they capitalised. Amazing. No lead is safe right now for us, not even 2 goals IMO.

 

If we don't get out of it, we'll die by a thousand cuts...or in football, a thousand cuts is too many draws. Last season, the first half of the season we were undefeated but found ourselves in 2nd place, as we had 6 draws from the first 19 games.

 

If the Man Utd game hurt us this much mentally, then I am really going to worry. It doesn't make sense really. We were outplayed at OT in the '03 season. Lost 2-0, but rebounded quickly and played well until injuries did us in, in the spring. We lose 2-0 but were not outplayed, but it was obvious we were cheated, and to me at least, its much easier to bounce back from that as you know you were not outplayed by a better team. The long undefeated streak may have something to do with it. It may have become more of a burden the longer it went on. Perhaps we should have lost to 'Boro when they were up 3-1 and be done with the streak and we'd have been better for it. Who knows. Speculation and guessing on my part. I'm trying to find answers as I'm sure Wenger is at the moment.