Thomas Vermaelen says he’s proud of the performance Arsenal put in against Man City, and even though it’s very much an outside chance, says they’ll keep going in the Premier League.
The Gunners responded to a difficult week with a big second half performance, and the captain was happy his team responded in the right way.
“I think we should be proud of the mentality we had today,” he said. “We went for the three points today but they’re a good side and you have to be aware of the counter-attack. Their goal was a bit unlucky, but as a team we played well. We need to see after if it’s one point gained or two points lost.”
Questioned about the team’s reported lack of character, Vermaelen said, “I don’t totally agree with that. In every game we’ve tried to work hard and the character and spirit has always been good.
“Of course the results in the big games haven’t been sometimes what we wanted but we showed today we can work hard and play for a result.”
And on the possibility of winning the title after Chelsea dropping points to Crystal Palace, “There’s still a few games left, the Premier League is so tough everyone can win against everybody. It’s not over yet, we still believe in it and there’s still games to play so let’s see.”
While our hopes of the title are really slim, let’s not forget that John Terry’s own goal cost Chelsea the match yesterday.
Vermealen may be proud of the collective team performance, yet here is one player who I am not proud of – Gibbs. On this website there are not many who see Gibbs as more of a liability than an asset. When he remembers he has the ability to run past players, he can be good offensively. However his tendency to drift inside too much means he isn’t’ as effective as he could be. His attitude, I.E – jogging back when the opposition counters is something he tends to do. His defensive positioning can be terrible at times as well. (I… Read more »
Well, I wish I could say I didn’t expect to get alot of thumbs down…. Keep em comin’ lads! It’s great knowing how much people seem excuse/Ignore Gibbs defensive mistakes!
Peace out
The fuck are you on? He’s been one of our most consistent players this season.
Sorry mate but Gibbs kicks ass.
It’s true dude, he’s been solid this season with the exception of the odd game. He’s still not perfect and has some development but he’s a hell of a lot better than he has been. Last season and the one before he was pretty poor but this year he’s been decent.
You put Baines/Coentrao/Marcelo against Navas and Zabaleta who love to run in behind, without having someone in front of you to track their runs, they’ll look mediocre too.
i don’t get it. Gibbs did well against Jesus navas and Zabaleta. Podolski did not help Gibbs in the early first half, maybe that caused a few problems in the wing. But after that they worked together and most of the good attacking chances came from the left wing i think.
Strange the number of thumbs down because the comments are not far from the mark. Gibbs has moments of really good play but over the season he is too inconsistent and he isn’t one of the best. Maybe over the coming seasons he will become what people seem to think he is already but lets wait and see.
Ok now to see how long it takes for the “Hidden due to poor ratings”
If we look at Tackles, Take on’s and headed duels into one, Then Gibbs win/succeed in 46%, While Sagna Win/succeed in 61%. Gibbs dont like to involve himself in aerial duels and prefer to wait until the ball is on the ground and then attempt a tackle. Gibbs have 94 attempts at tackling, against Sagna’s 64 attempts. However Sagna have been In a 144 aerial duels against Gibbs’s 85 Gibbs succeed in 46% of his tackles, while Sagna succeed in 53% of his. Gibbs win 49% of his aerial duels, While Sagna win 67% of his aerial duels. Gibbs succeed… Read more »
You get a thumbs up for the analysis. I’m not sure it tells the story of Gibbs vs Sagna but, it’s a positive to back up your claim with some knowledge.
Such a shame if we can’t hold onto vermaelen at the end of the season. Great back up. Prone to making mistakes in the past but he showed against City just how good he can be – he was the better of the Belgian centre backs yesterday without a doubt. Only issue is the captaincy, still think it should be Per’s.
And you seem to be on here for the whole thumbs down/up thing….
Just make your point, if you think it’s true you shouldn’t need anyone to validate it for you
Thumbs me up gays!
Sumptuous header there from Terry the Racist.
If we’d won against Swansea, I’d say we’d be in with a shout, but now it’s just too tough.
Where did I think we lost it? Obviously the injuries to Ramsey and Theo.
But here’s another: City, Pool, took 6 points off United. Chelsea took 4. We took 1. How the bloody hell did that happen?
Verm is still shaking off the cobwebs .. its nice to have such an awesome player as a back up to our solid centre backs… would like it if we could work all 3 of em together on a rotation basis so fatigue isnt an issue.
I hope gibbs gets a look in at the world cup!
Sorry for off-topic reply, but I just crunched the math on the rest of the season. Statistics major here.. and wanted share it. 86% chance of us getting Champions League if the last matches follow the same distribution as the first 32 rounds.
http://reidarhagen.blogspot.no/2014/03/premier-league-predictions.html
Premier League Preditions:
Winners:
Man City: 70.5%
Liverpool: 19.5%
Chelsea: 10%
Champions League:
Liverpool: 99.5%
Arsenal: 86%
Everton: 11%
Tottenham: 3%
Europa League:
Arsenal: 13.5%
Everton: 83.3%
Tottenham:80.2%
Man Utd: 24.6%
I’ve taken a slightly different approach, assigning a number of points to each team corresponding to the average a hypothetical title-contending team should get against a club of that standard, with differences for home and away. e.g. Against Man City I assign 1.5pts Home, 0.5pts Away; against Crystal Palace I assign 3pts Home, 3pts Away. I then input the actual points gained and use the ratio of actual/expected to assess where teams are after taking fixture difficulty into account, and then make predictions. I currently have Arsenal on 0.96, and the hypothetical title-contending team gains 81pts over the season, so… Read more »
Blogs, the John Terry GIF is pure gold. Made my weekend!
Good to see Verma getting some games. Injury and form has seen him get limited time. Yet he remains so professional. Hope he stays with us for more seasons to come.
Please buy a top class striker Arsene. We would be top of the league if we had one. Sort it out.
Contro,
Your comment shows that you’ve never played football at a competitive level. You don’t know what you’re talking about
Weird as it sounds, he’s the best captain we’ve had for a while.
eh?!
Actually you’re right, I was being a knob and forgetting a few previous captains. He was/is a pretty decent captain but I find it ridiculous that he still has it while he’s not first choice.
Not quite as ludicrous as Arteta being vice captain to be fair but still…
It’d have to be Mertesacker as skipper and a toss up between Rosicky and Flamini for vice captain. I’d probably go for Little Mozart but that might just be because I’m becoming worryingly obsessed with him.
Gibbs used to have positional issues.However,that has mostly not been the case this season thus emphasising the value of regular playing time and freedom from injury to a talented player’s career.It is pertinent to observe that even the usually rock-solid Sagna has suffered from lack of defensive support a few times this season especially in the so-called “big games”.Rather than blame Sagna/Jenks,Gibbs/Nacho,the real issue is the deficiency in the defensive/deep-lying midfield positions.Rather than criticise the likes of Podolski,Cazorla,Ox or Gnabry for lacking the defensive nous or work rate of the likes of Willian,Oscar and Schurrle,we should hope that Wenger goes… Read more »
Far better performance yesterday. Yes another goal conceded straight after losing possession but overall positives outweigh negatives. More of this and a trophy WILL be ours.
Vermy is a proper professional. Hope he stays.
On another note, loved Santi yesterday. He was doing his old wriggling between players and playing those outside of the foot passes again. Keep that up please. A thing of beauty. Reminds me of this when he does it (go to 1:24 into the vid to see what I mean).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsmDJgdfRDI
I also liked the fact that after Flamini scored, he ran for the ball to return it to the centre circle. showed how much he wanted to win the game as well as telling it to city. we want to fucking beat you!
Also he just signed a new contract, so more of Santi is exactly what we’re gonna get!
Well played vermalen good game ! Good to see him fit ! When kosh is fit I would like to see Wenger rotate the centerbacks more ! when we try to play a high line verm n kosh would be a better combination both with pace ! we only ever seem to change with injurys .
2nd half display in particular was first class which does beg the question, so why couldn’t we play with the same intensity and commitment at Anfield and Stamford Bridge? But with enough negativity over the last week or so I will end on a positive note. I was proud once again to be a Gooner yesterday, I don’t like not winning but I can take it when the team put the effort in like we did yesterday because the quality is there. More of the same next week please, because Everton away now becomes our most important game of the… Read more »
Is there a more glorious way for Chelsea to lose than by a John Terry goal? I’m still laughing!
Haha terry the terryble scored and defended that goal for the rest of the game like a true cunt that he is
The buzz around Arsenal tube that John Terry the total cunt was a great lift for us on the way to the game YESTERDAY . COYG
Missed the own goal bit out doh.
I don’t know why but at crucial times we always get injuries. Is it some kind of punishment? nobody knows. All we do know is that the medical staff have to sort this out, our young talent need progress.
Like Verm said, we need to keep fighting untill the end, never give up!Coyg!
Wenger has built an empire but its too big for him to cope and expectations too high. Time for a new era and experience to come in across the board. David Dean should come back and a management team to move us into 2015. If we want to compete with the best we need to have quality in every position. if we have £100m to spend in the summer lets get on with the business early and be prepared from the first game of the season. Thank you prof wenger but we need to move forward.
My favourite actor was James Dein.
Let me tell you a little story about Sp*rs and how they had a £100m to spend in the summer…
Yeah, Spurs currently demonstrating just what a difference spending £100m on players can make to your season
i did not suggest buy shit
What about all the people clamouring for Fellaini last summer and dissing Flamini? Which one was the best deal?
Here you go Contro
http://www.whoscored.com/Players/27550/Show/Kieran-Gibbs
Gibbs has been one of our best players the past couple of seasons and will continue improving. You must have never seen him play.
A reminder people, by all means disagree with someone’s opinion, vehemently even, but leave the personal abuse and name calling out of it.
Comment policy here – http://news.arseblog.com/comment-policy/
Thanks.
Gibbs is the bollocks mate, cunningly good with his left foot and precise with his tackles and interceptions. The only time he does not look good is when the winger infront of him ii not doing their job. otherwise should be even on plane to Brazil but guess we’ll leave Cashley to be embarrassed at the WC.
We’re top of this table: http://www.physioroom.com/news/english_premier_league/epl_injury_table.php
This says a lot.
Lack of character would be the Spurs. i don’t see the media making much noise about them considering how much they spent and how much the media touted AVB to be the next Special One in footy. We won’t be winning the title this season which is unfortunate (and we should have some regrets that we were unable to strengthen a critical area up front, we are not however short on depth across the team) But we will need to finish as high as possible. A 3rd place or better finish is not beyond us just as the media would… Read more »