i have time for chamakh because i think his first half of the season is more like the contribution (and improve from there) we can expect from him next season. i don't have time for bendtner, i hate bad first touches and his is dreadful. it doesn't mix with our game. his best skill is actually crossing the ball.

almunia, denilson, rosicky and bendtner have to be first 4 out the door this summer and they should fetch good money too.

oh and even though he didn't play today, eboue needs to go as well.

Hi everyone. A-M has crashed unsurpisingly, everyone rushing at once only after a dramatic result that affects us negatively, compared to a result that was great (eg. Barca).A bit sad really.

I'm sure we will beat them at home, their fans will be over the moon to visit our stadium, the money will help them aswell. Their manager promised to take the players to Las Vegas if they won/took it to a replay. They got their wish.

oh and i like the look of miquel, damn fine and composed performance. i won't knock him too much for the goal because that was at least 90% gibbs and almunia.

Think people are a being a bit harsh on Miquel/Gibbs. That was decent bit of power and footwork from the Orient player; it was all Almunia.

But the whole of our attack were awful bar Shavva and even if they're reserves, that's not acceptable. We lacked any directness which was in part due to the lack of creativity in our midfield and also due to the fact the Chamakh still seems to think he's going to get AIDS if he steps into the penalty area. As awful as Bendtner was today, he did try provide a bit more directness, just everything else about his game was a shocker.

Caustic humour aside, I always feel we're going to struggle for goals when Chamakh starts unless we have two good wingers either side of him and I think that is indicative of our predicament with Chamakh: he's far too reliant on others for a CF. But yeah, I accept he wasn't the only one to blame, I just get so frustrated seeing him dally around on the pitch doing bugger all.

Miquel played well for the majority of the game.
Shame that he was involved in the defensive blip that led to the goal.

Wenger looking relaxed and not entirely gutted in post match interview.
As has been pointed out the effect of the fixture congestion issue will be lessened by the fact that we'll probably play our second string again for the replay.

On the plus side no injuries, Cesc and co got to rest and will be fresh for Stoke.

Think Miquel did well. Him and Gibbs should collectively have done better for their goal though.

Almunia. How poor was he for their goal?! Most importantly - he was captain once again. Made me so angry! Kept thinking of it every time I saw him. It really doesn´t help that you are angry even before a ball has been kicked.

just checked the score after being out, normal service resumed after our midweek heroics by drawing with another lower leagued opposition team 😃

One more match to add to the schedule, starting to add up.

OohtobeaGoonerGal wrote:

Hi everyone. A-M has crashed unsurpisingly, everyone rushing at once only after a dramatic result that affects us negatively, compared to a result that was great (eg. Barca).A bit sad really.

I'm sure we will beat them at home, their fans will be over the moon to visit our stadium, the money will help them aswell. Their manager promised to take the players to Las Vegas if they won/took it to a replay. They got their wish.

Welcome sweetheart. I've missed you.

Klaus wrote:
flobaba wrote:

Lol. Who still thinks this our second string would make top 10 in the premier league?

Given the benefit of playing regularly? Probably. That's always the biggest problem when you swap too many players. It doesn't matter how good they are individually if they haven't played in a long time. It accounts for even less if they've never played together before.

This match was never going to be easy, Orient or not, when we rested so many players. I'm just disappointed that we didn't keep the clean sheet.

I don't think so. I think most of them are inadequate in all aspects of the game. I'm thankful we had the likes of Sagna and Song (even on one of his poorest/sloppiest games this season) out there- they gave us much more than Diaby and Eboue would have. Arshavin doesn't belong with them, and to my mind, he was the best player on the pitch today. They will struggle badly even if they played week in week out. The dearth in creativity, attacking incisiveness and defensive strength will be even more obvious against teams in the premier league.

Appropriate upgrade on your avi otf!

It crossed my mind at half time that an Almunia special was a possibility.

He wasn't solely to blame for conceding the goal but he played his part, though I've seen him make worse mistakes.

This second string just has no penetration in the final third. No one has that instinct, power or pace to really make runs at the right moment and when playing against two banks of four, that means that our chances are only ever going to come from the odd Arshavin counter.

Sad really, just a real disjointed and lacklustre performance.

was almunia at fault for the goal? i questioned why chesney should sit - GK's don't need the rest, almunia has no future here, and chesney is far better than the spaniard.

More I see Wilshere the more I see the limitations in Denilsons game.

kamikaze wrote:

was almunia at fault for the goal? i questioned why chesney should sit - GK's don't need the rest, almunia has no future here, and chesney is far better than the spaniard.

The shot was more or less in the centre of the goal.

I had no problems with the team we picked today, apart from Almunia. As you say - keepers don't need rests and Almunia will be moved on in the summer... so why is he playing?

To keep him happy? To increase his price? Whatever the reason, the negatives outweigh the positives. Who knows, if Ches had played today we could be in the quarters.

Absolutely. Fucking useless player.

Almunia should be shot. How many times do he have to cost us? what the fuck

As much as we were uncreative today, we dominated possession and to lose to an Almunia shocker is a nightmare I'd started to forget. Such an average 'keeper - at least it's our 3rd choice making that mistake though now!

@ otf

Was thinking the same thing. Wilshere is better at what Denilson supposedly does and has more to his game to boot. I've given up on him, simply see no place for him and whilst he's still in our squad, Song really isn't under any pressure for his spot; hope Coquelin is able to displace him when he gets back.

I can understand why Wengie plays Almunia. If something were to happen to Sneezey it is not a bad idea to have Almunia play a game every now and then.
BUT, the captain´s armband?! I never liked it, but now it feels even worse. As a club we deserve better.

As for Denilson; Saw enough from pre season to be convinced that Frimpong is a better fit to our squad, and will push Denny even further down the pecking order when he is up to speed.

This result is more annoying than anything else.

But when things like this happen I think of what could have happened, how bad it could have been. Imagine if the score had been 0-0 when they scored? We'd be out, humiliated after a great week. Every mention of our Barca win would talk about how we were put out by Leyton Orient in the FA Cup. Your non-gooner friends, the media and anyone who takes a remote intrest in football would be laughing at us.

See, it doesn't seem so bad now does it?

A replay is annoying, nothing more.

oh how i wish Arshavin would have scored that goal where he hit the post.. would have put the game away (literally a minute before they scored)

pathetic display from a team of "international" players.. i dont care if they play together normally or not, surely they play together in training?

meh.. adding another fixture into a severely crowded fixture list.. not good