Arsenal(FA Cup Semi Final) Post Match Thread

Need some strength, some guile, some nous with bite. And some height. We look vulnerable on every set piece, and lost the game with one today. Technique and ability to pass and move is excellent, but when the going gets tough, we have too few players to rely on, too little quality to replace the players who are either not up to it, or simply not performing.

In a world class squad, no-one is safe because there is always a ready replacement. We are about 14 or 15 deep, at best, even when everyone is fit, and we need to bring in some big, strong quality. England isn't Spain. Crouch has made a career of it, Benteke beat Liverpool today and the likes of Gomez, Benzema and Lewandowski...and even Llorente at Swansea...prove the worth of some height and strength. I won't even mention the Swedish Swamp dweller! Strong spine with creative wingers and at least two world class strikers. Maybe with Jesus and Sergio, we have those, but it would be nice to have another, different alternative. Unal in the squad next season???

Onwards and upwards...the future is Blue!
 
chaddblue said:
Thought the ref had a great game for you and had a major influence on Arsenal sponsored by Emirates reaching the fa cup final sponsored by Emirates
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Arsenal, FA cup and Referees all are sponsored by Emirates......

An Arsenal side who have been pretty poor for the past 5-6 seasons have managed to get to 3 FA cup finals in the last 4 seasons, funny that eh?
 
Pep got a lot wrong yesterday for me, Navas at right back is shite and you never start Bravo in any game you want to win. Fernando and delph coming on together was soul destroying and killed our chances then. Don't be tactically inept then try gee the crowd up as if they're the problem. Clueless yesterday. Last 5 minutes we are in the accendency in normal time and we are strolling about happy to go to extra time. We play like wankers as if we are 4-0 up no matter what score it is and we lack urgency. We have zero idea when we get to the final third and with our manager and striking options that's very scary.

Pep needs a huge season next year if he is to make up for this one.
 
ChicagoBlue said:
Need some strength, some guile, some nous with bite. And some height. We look vulnerable on every set piece, and lost the game with one today. Technique and ability to pass and move is excellent, but when the going gets tough, we have too few players to rely on, too little quality to replace the players who are either not up to it, or simply not performing.

In a world class squad, no-one is safe because there is always a ready replacement. We are about 14 or 15 deep, at best, even when everyone is fit, and we need to bring in some big, strong quality. England isn't Spain. Crouch has made a career of it, Benteke beat Liverpool today and the likes of Gomez, Benzema and Lewandowski...and even Llorente at Swansea...prove the worth of some height and strength. I won't even mention the Swedish Swamp dweller! Strong spine with creative wingers and at least two world class strikers. Maybe with Jesus and Sergio, we have those, but it would be nice to have another, different alternative. Unal in the squad next season???

Onwards and upwards...the future is Blue!
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Unfortunately Unal cant come because he still doesnt qualify for a work permit....but you are right, when i saw the bench after Sterling came on so early - what options did we have in terms of creating a different dynamic, the answer was not alot
 
We dominate games against the top teams yet fail to win most. I've been scratching my head all season as to why.
Yesterday, confirmed my opinion that, more often we prefer to keep possession rather than quickly counter attack. When we do counter attack we score much more frequently than from slow build up play - for example Aguero's goal yesterday (ball delivered early and our player gets a chance without having to beat two or more players).
Chances when we slowly build up generally have a much higher difficulty level with one if not two defenders trying to close down our player. We have on occasion also knocked the ball over the top of the opposition defence for a "Traditional English" foot race - especially in Europe.
At the start of the season we had a better balance and as a result won 10 on the spin. Pep clearly wants the possession route - yet with the players we have the counter attack works far better and does not allow clearly corrupt match officials to put us down. (Which is clear FA/PGMOL policy not bad luck.)
A failure to mix it up is what is costing us and Pep is seemingly too pig headed to be pragmatic on this.
Pep will only work if we have the best players in every position. If we don't get them Pep will continue to fail - and he is failing.
 
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The will to win, fight desire and strength disappeared when Mancini went, it continued under pellers and has continued this season. It can't be pellers or pep that instil this "weakness"of mindset. It's in the club and in the players mentality. Something is not right. Pep should have been angry with the officials and the team for losing and being out muscled by piss weak arsenal. But we don't seem to be arsed.

But also I can't work it out though, who is giving the players instructions not to fight at the end of games. Yesterday we needed to score at the end, kompany even went upfront yet we pass it around from side to side instead of getting it forward and putting them under pressure. This has happened in multiple games this season when we need to score and we continue to pass it around like a walking football five a side team.
 
KUN_a said:
Upon reflection, without the dodgy calls and with more clinical finishing, we win the game. As frustrating as that is, there's plenty of positives to take from that.
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There are really no positives. We would have won that game if the officials had applied the same rules to both teams. When a linesman can magically judge a ball is out when he is 10 yards behind the flight of the ball you know something is very wrong. Every big game this season has seen the same pattern of officiating. I can't take any positives from that. It is absolutely destroying any enjoyment.
 
york away to this! said:
Radio five merely reporting arsenals magnificent comeback to win the game...
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Of course they would it is the old order being re established and uppity little CIty being put back into our place. They must be gutted the dippers lost yesterday as if they had won and the rags beat us on Thursday they would be favorites to get the dippers and rags in the top four.
 
We got bullied out of a game of football, by Arsenal! Not Chelsea with Matic and Kante, not Spurs with Dembele and Wanyama, nor the rags with A&E, Rojo and Herrera kicking anything that moves, but Arsenal? Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ramsey, Sanchez, and OZIL. We were just lucky that they left bruiser Walcott on the bench......
 
nellyonthewing said:
Sterling should hang his head in shame. What a platform to showcase your skills and he hides. Offload him in the Summer as just another waste of £50 Million .
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My oh my this is either a WUM or an unbelievably embarrassing statement. Hes been very good this year, still room for much improvement though. You need to either try better for a bite or lay off the glue my friend.
 
You can blame refs all you want but yesterday, Arsenal were fitter, stronger and wanted it more
 
Tom_mcfc said:
Pep got a lot wrong yesterday for me,
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Ah, he never does fail to disappoint you, eh Tom?

Navas at right back is shite
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Didn't do an awful lot wrong yesterday at all. Won more aerials than any other defender on the park, had a higher pass accuracy than anyone on the park but Leroy Sane, made two key passes leading to goal scoring opportunities. Had a great game.

Sorry it doesn't fit your agenda.

and you never start Bravo in any game you want to win.
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Bravo didn't do an awful lot wrong either, was not at fault for either goal. But sure, Pep sabotaged the team's performance by playing Bravo.

Fernando and delph coming on together was soul destroying and killed our chances then.
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Except it didn't. We attempted 7 shots, three of which were tap-ins that should have been goals (Delph's, for example) had three corners and two free kicks within 40 yards of goal in just 18 minutes post substitutions.

Don't be tactically inept then try gee the crowd up as if they're the problem.
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Except that never actually happens.

Clueless yesterday.
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Imagine if our wrongly disallowed goal was given. Despite the so called "clueless" decisions by Pep, you actually wouldn't be here. You would be waiting for the next slip-up, perhaps against the rags, to get stuck in again. But still, you wouldn't be here now. That would have been nice.

Pep needs a huge season next year if he is to make up for this one.
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Of all the bullshit statements I've seen in here, this one takes the biscuit.

You don't decide whether Pep needs a huge season to "make up". You aren't actually owed anything. The only people who are are our wonderful owners, without whom we'd be looking down at Fat Sam in the dugout, and if they are happy with Pep (and with a pending extension, it seems they are) then what you have to say is irrelevant.
 
Akiva said:
Ah, he never does fail to disappoint you, eh Tom?



Didn't do an awful lot wrong yesterday at all. Won more aerials than any other defender on the park, had a higher pass accuracy than anyone on the park but Leroy Sane, made two key passes leading to goal scoring opportunities. Had a great game.

Sorry it doesn't fit your agenda.



Bravo didn't do an awful lot wrong either, was not at fault for either goal. But sure, Pep sabotaged the team's performance by playing Bravo.



Except it didn't. We attempted 7 shots, three of which were tap-ins that should have been goals (Delph's, for example) had three corners and two free kicks within 40 yards of goal in just 18 minutes post substitutions.



Except that never actually happens.



Imagine if our wrongly disallowed goal was given. Despite the so called "clueless" decisions by Pep, you actually wouldn't be here. You would be waiting for the next slip-up, perhaps against the rags, to get stuck in again. But still, you wouldn't be here now. That would have been nice.



Of all the bullshit statements I've seen in here, this one takes the biscuit.

You don't decide whether Pep needs a huge season to "make up". You aren't actually owed anything. The only people who are are our wonderful owners, without whom we'd be looking down at Fat Sam in the dugout, and if they are happy with Pep (and with a pending extension, it seems they are) then what you have to say is irrelevant.
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Great post.

This forum is becoming unreadable with all these needy children spouting continuous crap.
 
The Light Was Yellow Sir said:
We got bullied out of a game of football, by Arsenal! Not Chelsea with Matic and Kante, not Spurs with Dembele and Wanyama, nor the rags with A&E, Rojo and Herrera kicking anything that moves, but Arsenal? Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ramsey, Sanchez, and OZIL. We were just lucky that they left bruiser Walcott on the bench......
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Bullied or allowed to be kicked to fuck without being penalised whilst we were pulled up regularly, the foul on Yaya for their second goal a perfect example of this.
Akiva said:
Ah, he never does fail to disappoint you, eh Tom?



Didn't do an awful lot wrong yesterday at all. Won more aerials than any other defender on the park, had a higher pass accuracy than anyone on the park but Leroy Sane, made two key passes leading to goal scoring opportunities. Had a great game.

Sorry it doesn't fit your agenda.



Bravo didn't do an awful lot wrong either, was not at fault for either goal. But sure, Pep sabotaged the team's performance by playing Bravo.



Except it didn't. We attempted 7 shots, three of which were tap-ins that should have been goals (Delph's, for example) had three corners and two free kicks within 40 yards of goal in just 18 minutes post substitutions.



Except that never actually happens.



Imagine if our wrongly disallowed goal was given. Despite the so called "clueless" decisions by Pep, you actually wouldn't be here. You would be waiting for the next slip-up, perhaps against the rags, to get stuck in again. But still, you wouldn't be here now. That would have been nice.



Of all the bullshit statements I've seen in here, this one takes the biscuit.

You don't decide whether Pep needs a huge season to "make up". You aren't actually owed anything. The only people who are are our wonderful owners, without whom we'd be looking down at Fat Sam in the dugout, and if they are happy with Pep (and with a pending extension, it seems they are) then what you have to say is irrelevant.
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Great post but probably wasted on the likes of him mate, they just won't accept were being cheated and just continually want to blame Pep for everything.
 
Doubtless we can be disappointed with not converting our good chances (again) but this morning's narrative is very much that our attack is "pedestrian" or "predictable".

Well, that pedestrian and predictable attack scored 2 legit goals, should have had a pen, hit the woodwork twice and missed two very decent chances. Not bad for a semi final against a top domestic club.
 
Is anybody really surprised that a team which continually let's you down does just that? That game was another shambolic performance from us. We don't play like a big team, we don't act like a big team and we certainly dont perform like one.
 
Alan Buster Ball said:
That is the problem mate. The club are meeting with these cheats in private and as you can see Pep and Mike Riley ain't getting on, negotiations aren't going well. Sure we might start getting better treatment resembling fairness in coming years but I'm not happy spending my money anymore to watch it. Sick of these bent bastards being central to so many fixtures this season. I go to watch my team, not them.

Bring on video refereeing.
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I feel we will get many more obvious bad decisions by the officials because video reffing is imminent.
They may have only this season to be unaccountable under pain of FA fine so are probably under instruction to get us done. If nothing else the system will make any biased or incompetent refs obvious and from what I have seen the technology uses exactly what our current playbacks show so the video ref is doubly accountable.

Video reffing seems to be a lot less disruptive than originally thought and should be up and running for the Russian Inter nationals later.
 
BlueAnorak said:
We dominate games against the top teams yet fail to win most. I've been scratching my head all season as to why.
Yesterday, confirmed my opinion that, more often we prefer to keep possession rather than quickly counter attack. When we do counter attack we score much more frequently than from slow build up play - for example Aguero's goal yesterday (ball delivered early and our player gets a chance without having to beat two or more players).
Chances when we slowly build up generally have a much higher difficulty level with one if not two defenders trying to close down our player. We have on occasion also knocked the ball over the top of the opposition defence for a "Traditional English" foot race - especially in Europe.
At the start of the season we had a better balance and as a result won 10 on the spin. Pep clearly wants the possession route - yet with the players we have the counter attack works far better and does not allow clearly corrupt match officials to put us down. (Which is clear FA/PGMOL policy not bad luck.)
A failure to mix it up is what is costing us and Pep is seemingly too pig headed to be pragmatic on this.
Pep will only work if we have the best players in every position. If we don't get them Pep will continue to fail - and he is failing.
Click to expand...

just before Aguero score my lad said pep's telling them to go long
 
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