CandyBob

From the official site:

Bearing in mind we still haven't secured fourth, what are we all taking away from the season? Recent form aside, I think its been a pretty good one. Once again Arsene has secured CL football (albeit maybe through a qualifier should the worst happen) and at times we have played some good football. The thing I have noticed this season is that the league has been tougher. You have 8 or 9 teams in the top half who are improving year on year (although Fulham seemed to have sacrificed league position for cup glory) and while you could argue that the top 3 have moved backwards looking at the games they have lost, for me its tougher. I think that in the current climate, the most important thing is that we are in the CL again. The cup competitions have been more disappointing. The FA Cup springs to mind. We rested players for the Stoke game for what was admittedly a difficult fixture pile-up, but then only took 4 points from the following 4 league games. None of this takes away from the obvious problems we have had though. I think more than a personnel problem, its been one of application. The players who have played recently have just not had the required desire. Arsene stated that since going out of the PL race, something has been missing. That's not really good enough though, especially for the travelling fans to Blackburn. We also have had something to fight for, 3rd place. I don't believe that highly payed professionals should have had the attitude they have had recently, and I think Arsene feels the same. Complaining about the treatment of Fabianski seems a bit of a smoke screen reading between the lines. Next season is pivotol for Arsene. I can't see the fans taking another trophyless year but would winning the FA Cup and not finishing in the top 4 be seen as progress? I guess the answer is that we should be doing both. The transfers will determine how ambitious the manager is for trophies next season. Sticking with the goalkeepers we have is a risk and would show a lack of ambition. As would continuing with Sylvestre as CB cover. I know a lot of people have no time for the likes of Diaby and Denilson, but I think they are good squad players and looking at the rest of the midfield options, I can't see much happening here. If Chamakh comes in then we should be set up front. I think a top Goalkeeper and CB (two if Gallas leaves) along with Chamakh would set things up nicely. I would like to see someone come into the midfield as well so that Denilson and Diaby don't have to play too many games together but I can't see Arsene making more than 2-3 transfers. Vela and Merida to go maybe regardless? Maybe Eduardo to kick-start his career? So, what are your thoughts for the season?

Goodish review: http://arstechnica.com/gaming/reviews/2010...s-alan-wake.ars

Struggled with this issue. The Game Room article seemed to drag on and I had lost interest about half way through. Similarly with the Golden Axe one which is surprising as its one of my favs. Enjoyed the Travellers Tales article though. Iain Lee. Is he on board for a certain amount of issues?

Just shocking really. Don't even blame Fabianski tbh. The whole team threw it away with a can't be arsed attitude in the 2nd half.

The top 10 are all capable of taking points off of each other. Interesting interview with Arsene there. Seems as though Almunia's number could be up and he is asking Fabianski to prove he is good enough to be number 1 next season.

Hasn't the new formation been pretty good for us though this season? We have challenged longer in the PL race (and are still not out of it). We have been winning more of the games we should be winning against the so called lesser teams. We have been found wanting against the bigger boys but looking at those games, we played very well at OT and had enough of the possesion in the other matches. We've had some hiccups like Sunderland and Spurs but so has everyone else. Its worth bearing in mind that the PL is arguably tougher this season. Maybe all Asene needs is a better plan B. We really should tie up 3rd today no excuses with the greatest of respect to Wigan and taking into account the injuries. If Arsene wants to convince us that we are indeed improving and considering there is still all to play for, the players should be up for it. It'll be interesting to see how the Diaby's and Rosicky's of the team apply themselves today after being so disappointing in the last 4-5 matches. I'll like to see a lot more bad boy from Bendtner as well. His recent goal-scoring record is impressive but he is so bloody casual a lot of the time.

Can't read the last two pages due to works filter so I'll just say aaarrrrrggggghhhhhh and apologies if I am just repeating other people!!! I was completely bemused at the end of the game. How can a team have so much possession and create nothing? How can we continue to play with a goal-keeper who continues to make school-boy errors (I believe a Reiner or a Cech would have caught and not punched)? Why are some of our players allowed to continue to make the same poor choices game after game and its not addressed? Is RvP that much better than the rest of our players to be able to have such an impact? I've always been a stauch supporter of Wenger and believed in his way of doing things. He has performed miracles in my opinion with some pretty average players and a sprinkling of world class talent, but I think we will always be in the -almost there- category unless we either get a season with a lucky run on the fitness front, or key areas are supported with better players. I wouldn't have a problem if he came out and said finances are average and this is how it is, but if he is going to talk about the team winning trophies, he needs to show that ambition a bit in the transfer market. The game showed up everything that has typified our season and needs addressing. Injuries (Verminator), schoolboy defending (Almunia, Silvertre) and a lack of players good enough in attack when we have injuries. Although Bendtner has scored some crucial goals recently, Chamakh is a much needed signing. Its possible that players like RvP and Eduardo will spend time on the sidelines again next season and we can't rely on Bendtner to produce the goods consistently. Likewise can we go another season with Al as no.1? I'm not convinced Wenger will do anything about it even though it seems the easiest position to fill. Would a Howard, Sorensen or a Green turn down the chance to play for us assuming the price is right? There are some other players that could be picked out if we analyse it. Denilson gets a lot of stick and Diaby, after a good run before the Barca games, was shocking last night. Not the priorities though probably. How good was Sol though? Still a real winner.

Chelsea have a rather annoying habit at the moment of absolutely hammering teams when they are playing well and still winning when they aren't. Its difficult to see beyond them.

Agreed about the Chelsea games but in the OT game, I thought we pretty much outplayed them and but for a freakish own goal and an RvP miss at point blank range would have gotten something from it.

Apologies for the serial posting. If you look at it, I think the thing is is that its not week in week out. I know stats can sometimes be misleading but we have only conceeded four more PL goals that Chelsea this season and seven more than Utd. A fair few of those were conceeded against only Chelsea and ManU. To a certain extent a lot of the problems we have at the back (and we have them don't get me wrong) are blown out of proportion by the scrutiny every single mistake gets.

Oh yeah. He so wants to play for us after the second leg. @Liamness Our physio was interviewed at the weekend and said our injuries were no worse on average than the rest of the PL which I disagree with. At the moment we have the whole of the spine of the team out in Gallas, Song, Fabregas, Arshavin and RvP (who may or may not be back). Thats crazy stuff. I disagree about tactical naivete a bit. The teams we have this issue with you can count on one hand and those teams do pretty much the same to other teams they play week in week out. I guess the thing here is that Arsenal are not expected to have these issues against teams like Chelsea and ManU which I also think is unfair looking at how things are at the moment.

Yeah its the kind of game that gives me butterfly's for days before followed by either euphoria or depression. The fact that its a lot more important to the league than previous NLD's makes it even worse.

I think thats something every Arsenal fan has come to realise. If we get the next 3 seasons though then its all good. There is no reason for him to leave immediately.

I think Diaby, Walcott and Eboue have shown that there is a lot more to them. At least enough to stick with it. Diaby and Theo were probably our form players before the Barca game and Eboue has looked really bright when he has been given the chance. Most of the other players are squad players and even the top teams have their share of that type of player. Traore for example is 3rd choice. I think we have to put it into some perspective as well. If we win tonight we go above the team that has beaten us home and away this season so its done little for them when you look at the season as a whole (they were extremely lucky to beat us at OT as well). The reason we are in this position is because we have been winning the games we should be winning, when in seasons past we haven't been. There has been an improvement this season which has to carry forward into next. No excuses.

It would be a crime to let him go at the moment. I'd much rather he stayed for the next 3-4 years and then go on a free than lose him now. Apart from the fact that he is our most important player, it would send the wrong message out to the rest of the squad.

This is one of the things I love about this game, more so than any other MMO imo. Grouping is obviously fun and all but the quality of the writing for the quests is so charming and to such a high quality that it can be like playing a cracking single-player RPG. I would recommend anyone plays through the Shire quests as it is just a brilliant experience. How are people finding the revamp to the lower level area's and the dumbing down as some players are calling it? I've just come back after a break and found that my new burglar has reached level 20 as he is moving into Bree after completing the Shire quests. I seem to remember most of my other characters getting to 15-16ish when moving into Bree. Looking forward to see how Lone-lands and North Downs have changed. It was slightly disappointing that a lot of the elite mobs have been made signature but its all very soloable now.

I'm not convinced we'll spend much at all in the summer. The highest outgoing will probably be a signing on fee for Chamakh and his wages. Wenger is notorious for saying he intends to buy, generally after losing a big game, and then when he has had time to think about it he will say that he will spend if the right player comes along (which nine times out of ten it invariably doesn't). I think a CB may be the only purchase, assuming Gallas leaves. Will he spend big on Hangeland though? I think with regards to goalkeepers we are in a difficult situation. We have a lot of them, and for Arsene to buy another one he is as good as telling the others that that's it. Its just not his style. I wouldn't be suprised to see Almunia still number one next season. He is under a lot of pressure next season though, maybe the most since he has been at the club. After the furor at the AGM last year I seem to remember him implying that his grand plan was coming to fruition and that he should be judged in two seasons time. This is one season gone.

When you break them down you could probably catagorise most movies with zombies in as something else. For me its more of a road/buddy movie than the two you have mentioned. I'll put it another way and say that it doesn't offer the same laughs, character development, script or atmosphere in comparison to some other movies with zombies in them. Just imho. Its alright though.

Zombies although sub genre may be better.

Watched the blu-ray the other night and it doesn't hold up at all well after a second viewing. I liked the whole top tips bit and when Woody was doing his thing it was genuinely laugh out loud but when he wasn't the rest of the film was pretty flat and the characters weak. There were moments where my attention wandered and the whole fairground section was poor second time around. Would never get bored with the For Whom the Bell Tolls intro though. Not bad and would go the the flicks to see a sequel but not a patch on the genre clasics.

Had this on disc I believe. Really cracking atmosphere. I think something like Maze War was much earlier though.

The omission of the Super Grafx version of Ghouls & Ghosts was odd seeing as it probably is the definitive version. Maybe because it was a Japanese only release?

I'd like to just feel some achievement from winning games (and realise what I did wrong when I lose). We have pretty much given up on it at home as we rarely feel anything when we beat each other. 90% of our goals scored seem to be down to complete randomness (like rebounds in the box) or nightmare AI defensive quirks. Things that you have no control over. These things seem to come in blocks during a game as well. We'll have a pretty close 30mins then suddenly 3 goals will go in for no apparent reason. Silly goals that leaves the player who scored them rubbing their head and the player on the receiving end frustrated. You see this in real football of course but not almost every game. Thats without the pressing and challenge and animation issues. 2010 feels like a step backwards (and less realistic).

Is it my imagination, or does it make it easier for you when Jayden has the fit when fighting Mad Jack if you resist taking the drug before that point?