Arsenal v City (Community Shield) Post Match Thread

[Ric]

I didn't go today, or indeed to the last two Charity Shields, as I just see them as glorified friendlies which seemed to be the way City treated it. I'd rather save my money for a competitive game. Fair play to all those who did bother though. Think the club missed a trick not putting on free, or subsidised coaches, given the lack of trains.

 

[BlueAnorak]

Just back to North Yorkshire after a long day, lads looked after us at Wealdstone again before parking over at Rayners Lane. Decent day out except for the result, good support by those who turned up, shame about the 10000 empty seats but to be honest you can't blame some fans for giving it a miss, it is an expensive day out, good day with the Arsenal fans didn't see any trouble and lots of kids there for both clubs. Not a great result or performance but we all know it will be different next week and the next 9 months.

There will be 10-15,000 more empty seats next time. Fortunately I spotted was was going to happen when the tickets were sold. Frankly if the manager and team can't give a shit then nor can I.

 

[Luck95]

did anyone see the fella punch some other bloke about 88 minutes. Around block 111-112 - that was the highlight for me. also noticed another 2 city fans getting close to a scrap - not good to see.

 

[Manchester1894]

Arsenal needed to be way ahead fitness wise due to CL qualifier. We have approached the season with caution due to the exertions of players in Brazil.

From what I've seen of rivals in friendlies, we've fielded weaker players/played slowest tempo. Liverpool may have good squad players, but up front in the big games will hurt them without Suarez. Rags will rely on momentum... but I think in crucial games where Moyes may have lost, they may find a lot of frustrating draws.
Chelsea are looking good and you have to say Arsenal have confidence. Everton should be in there somewhere but expect Rags/Liverpool to fight for 4th,

 

[WeaverWonderland]

Not fussed in the slightest about the result but confused about team selection!

- if Hart is starting v Newcastle he should start today a week before the season!
- if Debuchy can start why can't Sagna? Debuchy played every France game!
- if we plan to start any of Kompany, Zaba, Fernandinho, Sagna or Demichelis next week why did they take no part today!? No chance to play any football prior to the season and ideal opportunity today.
- Boyata is crap and Rekik would have learnt a lot playing today

That is all

 

[jared]

Can't really tell if nastasic is actually a promising defender or just not very good

He is still learning and needs an older head next to him. I think he has potential, but pairing him with Boyata is a disaster. Neither of them have the experience to lead a line and it shows in their combined decision making.

Thing is if I look at him as an individual defender, I can't determine what are his strengths. Is it reading the game and intercepting plays? Tackling? Man marking? Heading?

But he is still young and there is plenty time to become better and of course play with a more experienced partner

 

[Paulmcfc2703]

I thought this thread was familiar....

<a class="postlink-local" href="http://forums.bluemoon-mcfc.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=288871&hilit=Helsinki" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">viewtopic.php?f=1&t=288871&hilit=Helsinki</a>

 

[sam-caddick]

Not fussed in the slightest about the result but confused about team selection!

- if Hart is starting v Newcastle he should start today a week before the season!
- if Debuchy can start why can't Sagna? Debuchy played every France game!
- if we plan to start any of Kompany, Zaba, Fernandinho, Sagna or Demichelis next week why did they take no part today!? No chance to play any football prior to the season and ideal opportunity today.
- Boyata is crap and Rekik would have learnt a lot playing today

That is all

It does look look like Pellegrini is being very cautious with regards to the fitness of all our players, maybe he thought we were burnt out after such a long season playing almost every three days for the most part and believes our players need a very long rest?

He is giving Sergio a three week pre-season from what I heard in his press conference the other day, that would mean Sergio having a 7 week break from an actual proper game of football.

I was surprised he didn't give a few late arrivals ten minutes or so against Arsenal, going into the Newcastle game with a lot of our key players playing no pre-season games is a little worrying.

I think we might start the season cautiously and allow ourselves to grow into it once everybody is fully fit.

 

[n_mcfc]

Didn't bother myself. Sometimes you have to just remove yourself from the football focus bubble and be realistic.

It's a friendly. In London. On a Sunday. No trains. No meaning. Half of our team weren't playing. It's a dear do.

Wise choice in the end! Not arsed about losing. Not that arsed about the performance but a bit disappointed how easy it was for Arsenal.

My only worry is that we're a week away from the start of the season and half of our best XI haven't played a game. I may be wrong but I don't think this has been a 'good' pre-season for us. A lot of other World Cup players have been back with their clubs for a fortnight or so. Arsenal are up to speed now, Liverpool appear to be in good nick and both will start the season with some momentum. And we play Liverpool in two weeks. Hopefully the other lads have been on an intense fitness regime and will be at (at least) 75% for Newcastle.

 

[kun]

again it disproves the idea that we have quality in depth

boyata and nastasic were poor

clichy can be partly forgiven as he was playing way out of position...kolorov on the other hand seems to be immune from criticism but as a defender he is a liability

dzeko was again largely missing as he sometimes does

Cabellero- thought he looked ok pre season tour but thought he should have done better with the first goal (If that had been Hart people would have criticised)

milner and navas were average as is often the case

hopefully mangala will give us that strength in depth at centre half

same with sagna at rb

we badly missed the energy of ferd today

on the upside jovetic looked good as did silva in the second half and richards managed to stay on the pitch (even though he was only on for a little while its still an acheivment!!!)

Boyata's fifth choice at the moment, with 1 more to come in. Should never have to play an important game for us next season.

Kolarov was our only attacking threat in the first half, never been great defensively. But he is what he is.

Dzeko does go missing on occasion, but no team in England (or most of Europe) have the strength in depth up top as us: Aguero, Negredo, Dzeko and Jovetic.

Not much Caballero could have done with any of the goals, you're just looking to pick holes.

Navas was OK, Milner looked quite sharp IMO. They had off days, but for backups they are top notch.

boyata is 5th choice but nast is forth and he was very average as well...so that leaves us with Kompany (best CH in the world imho, MdM who improved vastly in the second half of last season but unless he is next to kompany he will get exposed.....mangala is inexperienced and unproven in the prem league (nd not even our player yet!)...basically if kompany is not there any of our other centre half pairings are significantly weaker

Kolorov's primary function is to defend - and unfortunately its his big weakness and even in a fully fit back 4 he is the weak link

dzeko goes missing and so did negrado for the whole second half of the season and he didnt look like finding his scoring touch in pre season either (plus he is out for 3 months and with Kuns unfortunate injury record recently that leaves us with the pair we had today...jovetic as i said was a huge plus but we cannt aford to carry dzeko especially at the start of the season...we need his to perform like he did at the end of last season and there is a huge question mark over his attitude for me

milner is a workhorse - nothing more

Wow, 1 defeat in a glorified friendly and you're flapping like mad.

OF COURSE our defence will be significantly weaker without Vincent, whose wouldn't? I would say that having Demichelis, Mangala, Nastasic, Boyata (+ Sagna) is very good cover for Komps. We can't have 4 or 5 Kompanys now can we?

The modern day full back is as equally required to help create openings and offer an attacking threat as they are to cover in a defensive position. Particularly in a team like ours where will have the majority of possession in the majority of games and the fullbacks will be tested less defensively, this is why Kolarov is preferred to the more defensively sound Clichy. Kolarov is IMO one of the top 3 left backs in England.

I agree that Dzeko is unpredictable, inconsistent and often absent. Which is frustrating. But his goal scoring record speaks for itself. As for Negredo, his performance in the second half of last season was a mounting combination of different things, a kind of snowball effect. Firstly, he was injured and was playing at well below 100%. Then, due to this he lost his place in the side, meaning he got less and less game time as the season closed out. This and his poor form led to a lowering of his confidence, he just needed 1 to go in and he'd have been all fired up again. Don't forget how fantastic he was in the first half of the season.

And that is super harsh on Milner, there is plenty more to his game than that. He can cross accurately, he has a good shot on him, he makes very intelligent runs and has a brilliant understanding of Silva's game, and they often link up superbly.

I think that you are reading way too much into a game which we did not take seriously at all. We have a great squad with quality, reliable backups in each position, IMO the first time since the takeover that I can say that. We have improved on last season and will only keep on improving.

Come back in May, and we'll see how good we are.