The Official Arsenal Gunners 2002/03 thread

[Rocco Jones]

Well Hilly has his Liverpool player of the year thing and now BigFooty gooners have their own official thread.

This is the place to talk all things Arsenal FC. I know of a few BigFooty gooners (windyhill, Dipper, localyokel, Dan26) and I hope they can contribute to this potentially sensational thread.

For too long this board has been dominated with Man U and Liverpool talk, it's about time we start talking about teams that actually win trophies.

 

[ACV]

You can another to the list of Arsenal fans who frequent this site (although not posting particularly often).

What do you guys think of the squad for next year?

Personally, until a few days ago i was a bit worried that we were going to repeat the mistakes of of last time we won the double in that the squad had actually weakened rather than strengthened. But the additions of Carini and Gilberto Silva have more than appeased me (although i don't know about having Carini after the events of last November, looked a good keeper though). Was a bit supprised that we got rid of Wright though.

Whose the main threat going to come from? I reackon that it will come from Liverpool, unfortunatly. Although i still think that they will have to stop playing boring long balls like last year if they want to win it. Not really worried about Man U, even with Rio i still think that they are at least 2 defenders short, unless they have something up their sleve that we dont know about. Although having said that, if they manage to get Crespo as is being rumoured then they may be a bit frightening going forward.

But all in all i still think that we have the best squad in the Premiership and if we play the way we did last season we wont be beaten. Looking forward to it.

 

[Dipper]

The first thing I will say is that once again our manager has shown himself king of the transfer market.

We manage to buy a world cup winning Brazilian midfielder for £4.5million (the guy played every minute of Brazil's games) whilst a club like Boro are willing to pay £5m for George Boateng a workman like player in the same position.You can even compare it with Man U's £30m for Rio.

As regards our biggest threat for next season, I doon't see it being Liverpool at all as far as I'm concerned it's Man U & us all the way for the title.Our season will resolve around how quickly & how well Pires & Freddy come back from injury & whether the froggie are up for it after the wc, also is Cygan any good?

Hopefully the youth players are ready for some first team action this season particularly Volz,Pennant,Alidiere,Thomas,Juan if theyare then we can have another good season

 

[Shinboners]

Originally posted by DIPPER
The first thing I will say is that once again our manager has shown himself king of the transfer market.

I'd pretty much agree with that - Wenger seems to have the knack of picking up good quality players for not very much. It's almost as if he looks for the "rough diamonds", gives them a bit of a polish, and you wonder how other clubs missed out on them.

Our season will resolve around how quickly & how well Pires & Freddy come back from injury & whether the froggie are up for it after the wc, also is Cygan any good?

I don't think the World Cup will be as much of an issue as in previous years and plenty of the teams that had players from the likes of Arsenal and Manchester United got eliminated pretty early.

The other issue for Arsenal is whether they'll be able to manage the squad well enough to make a joint assault on the Premiership and European Cup - that is, win both.

I reckon it will be another very tight season, but Arsenal should finish either 1st or 2nd.

 

[hilly]

The team to beat IMO

 

[Rocco Jones]

Arsene really showed his quality picking up Gilberto Silva at that price. 4.5 mil pounds for a 25 yo that played in every minute of a world cup winning campaign, bargain.

Carini is just a master signing. We need a quality number 2 goalie for a year and we have got one for nothing. If things work out we will pay what he is worth and have a god goalie, at worst we paid nothing for a quality number 2.

Cygan will be intresting, filling in Tony Adams shoes will be extremely difficult. Dipper you asked about Cygan, well here is what I know. He was playing in France's 2nd division not too long ago. He has really made his impact late in his, having a very good CL last year by all reports. Maybe he'll be a bit like Keown and peak in his 30's.

 

[windyhill]

Shhhhh, no-one is talking about Arsenal, just how I like it.......did not lose away from home, simply outstanding.

 

[King_Henry]

Don't worry boys,

I will kick another bag of goals for you...

T. Henry

 

[Tyson J- Curry]

Arsenal wont win it

Cheers!

Go Dees!!
Tyson

 

[Dipper]

Originally posted by Rocco Jones
Arsene really showed his quality picking up Gilberto Silva at that price. 4.5 mil pounds for a 25 yo that played in every minute of a world cup winning campaign, bargain.

Carini is just a master signing. We need a quality number 2 goalie for a year and we have got one for nothing. If things work out we will pay what he is worth and have a god goalie, at worst we paid nothing for a quality number 2.

Cygan will be intresting, filling in Tony Adams shoes will be extremely difficult. Dipper you asked about Cygan, well here is what I know. He was playing in France's 2nd division not too long ago. He has really made his impact late in his, having a very good CL last year by all reports. Maybe he'll be a bit like Keown and peak in his 30's.

Apparently he was voted French footballer of the year the season before last so he must be pretty good.He's a giant at about 6'5" which is always a good thing for English football as long as he doesn't take all day to turn round,the thing they all mentioned from his debut the other day was that he was really good on the ball giving us good distribution from the back which isn't something we've ever really had (not in my life time anyway )

As for the goalie situation I was just glad that we got rid of Wright, I was gutted when we signed him, he's a nervous goalie & I can't ever see him getting over that,Seaman's biggest strength is his calm authority which transmits itself to the whole defence they know that he won't come out for crosses he can't get & cause panic whilst Wright always seemed to me that he was liable to have a short circuit in his brain at the worst possible moment(plus he let in a very bad last minute equaliser against the Yids at White Hart Lane last season )From what I've read about Carini he's very highly rated plus we've got a season to see whether we like him & he likes us-perfect.

Hey Shinners as you've really stuck your neck out & predicted that Arsenal will finish either 1st or 2nd I'm going to be equally as adventurous & say that I believe that Man U will also finish in the top 2.

As for winning the European Cup I still keep dreaming but I'm not massively confident, although the only side out there that we should have an inferiority complex with is Real Madrid.Also I can't forget the way Deportivo ripped us apart in both games last season.Mind you I don't know if I've ever seen us play better than when we smashed Bayer Leverkusen & they made it to the final.

 

[moomba]

Originally posted by DIPPER
Hopefully the youth players are ready for some first team action this season particularly Volz,Pennant,Alidiere,Thomas,Juan if theyare then we can have another good season

Will Pennant be with Arsenal this year or will he go out on loan again? I know he played against Man City last year and the general concensus was "Very good footballer now, potentially an extremely good footballer in the future"

Moomba

 

[Dipper]

Originally posted by moomba


Will Pennant be with Arsenal this year or will he go out on loan again? I know he played against Man City last year and the general concensus was "Very good footballer now, potentially an extremely good footballer in the future"

Moomba

Probably won't be loaned out but know ones really sure.All the Arsenal fans want him to be in the squad regularly & despite winning the double last year loads of fans still moan about Wenger not giving the young players a go.

He did really well at Watford last season & they we're very keen to keep him for longer whilst he has a lot of talent I have 2 main reservations about him the first is that physically he isn't a man yet, he's pretty skinny & that'll count against him against good defenders & secondly he's a really a good old fashioned right winger who likes to get to the by line & bang in crosses, the only problem with this is that if he does that for Arsenal they'll be no one in the box to score from them.We don't really have the type of forwards that thrive on those balls & secondly as a team we play less of a crossing game than anyone else in the division.That's why we have a right footer on the left wing (Pires-Overmars before him) & a player like Freddy on the right who cuts inside all the time.
I'm still pretty excited by Pennant but I'm not sure we'll see too much of him for the 1st team next season, there's a guy called Thomas on the left wing who we loaned out to QPR last season & they were mad keen to keep him for this season & I have a feeling that he could end up being a better player than Pennant.

The whole Arsenal youth set up is thriving & the main problem is going to be keeping hold of them all as they're going to find it hard to break into the team.There's a left back Juan who's Brazilian & he's probably better than Ashley Cole already so it's looking pretty good for us.

Just the other day Tord Grip (Eriksonn's assistant for England) was saying that they've got their eye on Pennant for England which is quite something considering his lack of experience in the premiership.Mind you he should be pretty good as we payed a few million for him as a 15 year old.

 

[Shinboners]

Originally posted by DIPPER

Hey Shinners as you've really stuck your neck out & predicted that Arsenal will finish either 1st or 2nd I'm going to be equally as adventurous & say that I believe that Man U will also finish in the top 2.

This time last year, I predicted that Arsenal would finish nowhere, and after two months of the season, I said that Liverpool would run away with the title. By Christmas, I was working out my comeback lines for when people would be taking the ***** about United playing in the InterToTo Cup. So, as you can see, I'm very accurate with my predictions. Consider Arsenal to have the official Shinboners Jinx cast upon them.

 

[ACV]

Originally posted by DIPPER


I'm still pretty excited by Pennant but I'm not sure we'll see too much of him for the 1st team next season, there's a guy called Thomas on the left wing who we loaned out to QPR last season & they were mad keen to keep him for this season & I have a feeling that he could end up being a better player than Pennant.

The whole Arsenal youth set up is thriving & the main problem is going to be keeping hold of them all as they're going to find it hard to break into the team.There's a left back Juan who's Brazilian & he's probably better than Ashley Cole already so it's looking pretty good for us.

I think that Pennant will get his chance; if he is given full games then it will probably be against the weaker teams. However i can see him coming on at the end of games to try and scare the **** out of the opposition defenders when they become fatigued, at least i think that that is one way he should be utilised as he is only marginally behind Henry for the quickest at the club. I also fear that if he isn't given 1st team opportunities he may leave.

You're certainly correct in saying that the youth set up is thriving, you mentioned Thomas as a potential player and he wasn't even one of the two added to the 1st team squad in the past few days. They added Jeremie Alaidaire (spelling?) and Moritz Volz who also have huge wraps on them, so its tough to know who will progress.

As for Juan being better than Cole, have you seen him play? cause its a big call to say that he's better than Cole.

 

[SeinDude]

Originally posted by hilly
The team to beat IMO

I agree. Arsenal proved last year that they have quality and depth in their squad and will once again be right up there at the end of the season.

Can they continue their awesome form away from home this season??

Go mighty Reds!!
SeinDude

 

[Dipper]

Originally posted by ACV


I think that Pennant will get his chance; if he is given full games then it will probably be against the weaker teams. However i can see him coming on at the end of games to try and scare the **** out of the opposition defenders when they become fatigued, at least i think that that is one way he should be utilised as he is only marginally behind Henry for the quickest at the club. I also fear that if he isn't given 1st team opportunities he may leave.

You're certainly correct in saying that the youth set up is thriving, you mentioned Thomas as a potential player and he wasn't even one of the two added to the 1st team squad in the past few days. They added Jeremie Alaidaire (spelling?) and Moritz Volz who also have huge wraps on them, so its tough to know who will progress.

As for Juan being better than Cole, have you seen him play? cause its a big call to say that he's better than Cole.

I've only seen Juan once & was really impressed, maybe it's a bit strong to say that he's better than Cole, perhaps I should have said that's he's not far off & looks like he has more potetnial.You've got to remember that Cole is a converted forward & still looks shaky defensively at times & he's also pretty one footed(I still think he's a great player though) but Juan just looked like a Rolls Royce of a player he was really smooth & he gets big wraps from people that go & watch the youth side regularly.
Judging by the pre season friendlies it seems like Aliadiare is the one that Wenger is really pushing & I expect him to play a big part this season,with Dennis unable to play away games in Europe & Kanu playing like crap I reckon he will get a place on the bench in a lot of those games & play a part in the championship, in fact i reckon he is ahead of Jeffers in the pecking order now.
I'm not sure how highly AW rates Pennant, he doesn't seem too keen to give him a go & as I've said he doesn't really like wingers who hit the by line & put crosses in, although a miracle did take place last night Thierry scored with a back post header from a Wiltord cross!

 

[ACV]

Originally posted by DIPPER


I've only seen Juan once & was really impressed, maybe it's a bit strong to say that he's better than Cole, perhaps I should have said that's he's not far off & looks like he has more potetnial.You've got to remember that Cole is a converted forward & still looks shaky defensively at times & he's also pretty one footed(I still think he's a great player though) but Juan just looked like a Rolls Royce of a player he was really smooth & he gets big wraps from people that go & watch the youth side regularly.
Judging by the pre season friendlies it seems like Aliadiare is the one that Wenger is really pushing & I expect him to play a big part this season,with Dennis unable to play away games in Europe & Kanu playing like crap I reckon he will get a place on the bench in a lot of those games & play a part in the championship, in fact i reckon he is ahead of Jeffers in the pecking order now.
I'm not sure how highly AW rates Pennant, he doesn't seem too keen to give him a go & as I've said he doesn't really like wingers who hit the by line & put crosses in, although a miracle did take place last night Thierry scored with a back post header from a Wiltord cross!

There has been some suggestion that Juan could be the solution to our problem on the left side of midfield at the start of this season. Either he will play there himself or he will play the left back and Cole will push up to the wing. Having not seen Juan play i cant comment on the relative merit of either option. Can Juan play on the wing or is he exclusivly a defender?

There was a second miricle that took place last night. Wiltord scored a header from a Barrett cross. Found it somewhere and it was actually a bloody good header, very un-arsenal like. Who knows maybe we will add even more strings to our bow this season.

 

[Rocco Jones]

The mighty Gunners have just beaten Roma and Panathinaikos in a min tournament. The games went for 45 mins each.

We beat Panathinaikos 1-0 through that now famous Wiltord header and beat Roma 21, with goals from Henry and Aliadiare.

Apparently Gilberto Silva was very good in these matches.

Juan sounds like a good player. The only problem I see with him is his size, which might hurt us if he plays as a left-back.

I don't think a youngster will break into the first team in the near future. While we have Gio, Bobby Pires and Freddie out ATM, we still have Vieria, Gilberto Silva, Edu, Parlour and Wiltord to play in the various midfield spots. Edu and Wiltord can both play on the left until the three come back, so I can't see the youngsters getting further than starting on the bench ATM.

 

[Dipper]

I doubt whether AW will start with any youngsters early in the season as has been pointed out we have a lot of talented, experienced midfielders to call upon.The trouble is that most of them are happier in the central positions & so we will lack a bit of cut & thrust down the flanks, I really like Edu & he has done alright on the left wing but he's never going to beat anyone one on one, instead his main threat there seems to come from longish cross field balls to the attackers on the right as he showed a few times in the last game of the season against Everton.I also don't like seeing Parlour on the right of medfield these days, his technique & lack of pace mean that attacks often break down when he gets the ball, whilst I always think we look good when he plays in the centre of midfield.
I reckon Wtlord will pretty much play as our right midfielder until Freddy & Pires are back which is ok with me as he is better there than up front.
I reckon Silva & Viera will become our first choice central midfield & it will be reminisant of the Viera/Petit partnership of two hard working destroyers working together.I still hope that Edu can make one of the positions his own though as his extra passing skill is what we need to go a step furthur in Europe.

As for Juan & Cole playing together I'm not really sure, there was talk of doing that with silvinho & Cole before he went but I don't think AW is likely to play a fullback on the wing he's more likely to play a midfielder at full back instead (eg Lauren).

I still think that Aliadiare will regularly be on the bench possibly from the beginning of the season, especially if Jeffers is still injured,Wiltord is on the wing & Kanu is still a waste of space.

 

[Dan26]

Looking forward to the season, and hopefully another championship - lucky number 13. Maybe this is the hear we can win the Chapmions League - finally. The one elusive piece of silverware, that in my opinion a club of Arsenal's standing deserves to have. At least once anyway.

I see no reason, once Pires is back, that we can't reproduce the kind of form from last year. Hell, we didn't lose after he was injured.

I'd like to see our home record improve. To win the title you can only afford 3-5 losses, and logically most of those are on the road. The title winner usually only loses 1 or 2 game at home all season. Last year we lost 3, yet didn't lose on the road. That kind of away form won't happen again.

 

[Rocco Jones]

I was pretty impressed with the boys last night. Probably more pleased with the performance then winning the actual Shield cause I know it means little when the real stuff starts.

Great for Gilberto to score, hopefully it will make him feel at home a bit quicker. Keown was superb and looks like he has cemented his stop in the team.

I really liked the way Henry played. I think this might just have his best year this season. Don't forget he was a winger not too long ago so I think he is going to improve further with time (scary prospect for non-Gooners).

Anyone know much about Kolo Toure? I know Wenger's been a big fan of the Ivory Cost international. I also know he is pretty young and quite versatile. I'm sure Dipper will be able to give us a bio about the potential star.

 

[Dipper]

Yeah I meant to mention him on this thread earlier when we were talking about the young players who might break into the first team.
All I really know is that we bought him early on in the year & that he's played well for the reserves & that he's closer to first team action than people like Pennant.
I think he can play in defence & midfield & he's got loads of energy & is pretty athletic, I don't really know much more than that.

There was an article in the paper tiday about Arsenals youth players entitled something lkie 'Can young guns become top Gunners?' & it basically said that whilst it was unlikely that any of them will become first team regulars this season it will be interesting to see if they get a go when we have injuries & supsensions like we did last season.
The journo was saying that last year AW picked squad players like Luhzny,Stepanovs,Grimandi for the first team when we had a lot of injuries but he was saying that this eason he has to go for the youngsters as otherwise what's the point of having such a great youth set up if you never risk them, plus it'll be really hard to keep them all if they think they'll never get a game.


Everyone over here is raving about Silva & his partnership with Viera, I described it to a bloke in the pub when the game was on that 'they're gonna be a pair of beasts together in the centre of midfield just hunting down the oppositon when we haven't got the ball'He's got to be the best signing of any club this summer,my only real concern with Arsenal is on the wings until we get Freddy & Pires back, although the reports are good on Pires who's coming along nicely.Without those two we lack a bit of goalscoring & creating on the wings, I can't see Pennat getting too much of a go early in the season.

 

[windyhill]

Edu, he looks the buisness.

 

[Rocco Jones]

Here's my the team I'd have for our opening game against Brimingham City.

Seaman, Lauren, Campbell, Keown, Cole, Parlour, Vieira, Gilberto, Wiltord, Bergkamp, Henry (Carini, Cygan, Edu, Aliadiare, Toure).

 

[Dipper]

Seaman, Lauren, Campbell, Keown, Cole, Wiltord, Vieira, Gilberto, Edu, Bergkamp, Henry (Carini, Cygan, Parlour, Aliadiare, Toure).


This would probably be mine, i don't like Parlour on the wing anymore, which i'm guessing is where you're picking him.I think Edu isn't happiest out wide on the left but he can come inside a bit & hit those cross field passes that he plays so well.