Arsenal FA Cup SF Post-Match Thread

[Blue Pete]

Collectively not right and / because some individuals had poor games.

KDB couldn't find a blue shirt with most of his passing. Gundogan and Mahrez slow the ball too much. Jesus hardly touched it. Spanish Dave couldnt find options was Sterling even on the pitch(?).

We'll win the next one comfortably. This game sums up our problems in the league, we've had too many games this season where the attack has failed to produce when the opposition gets behind the ball.

Pep will never play a Dzeko type, or change the fundamentals of how we play and let's not forget that has won us titles, cups, a treble and the highest points total in history. So to say that's what we need is wrong.

 

[Aussie!]

Arteta saw Pep coming really.

First half they were 3-4-3. Pressing our defence high and man marking Silva and KDB so it forced the ball out to the flanks. We're playing inverted wingers and they packed the defence so our only attack was really to take a long time to build up down the outside of the wings, waiting for Walker and Mendy to run up and down. When crosses came in nothing fell for us or we were guilty of taking too many touches.

Second half we switched to more of a 4-4-2 shape with Sterling central and connecting midfield to Jesus. We were trying to pass through a congested centre because the wing play hadn't worked. Looked more threatening but they defended well, you csn see they'll fight for Arteta.

Finally towards the end we started playing like Dzeko was on the pitch even though all our forwards were smaller than all 3 of Arsenal's centre backs. I'd say about 20 - 30 lofted crosses and about 20-30 headers won unchallenged by David Luiz.

Arsenal deserved to win. They nullified our plan A and for a squad with our range and depth, we had no effective plan B.

Thanks.

If anyone was to beat (and win the cup) I'd be happy for Arteta to do it.

 

[BlueAnorak]

After watching that turgid team performance and inept management performance, I am at a loss as to where the current team and Pep can take City.
A major rebuild is required.
There isn't a cat in hells chance of the current team winning the CL this season.
Pep has never hung around to attempt such a thing. I'd love to see him try with us, but I'm not sure he will.

 

[vin]

Collectively not right and / because some individuals had poor games.

KDB couldn't find a blue shirt with most of his passing. Gundogan and Mahrez slow the ball too much. Jesus hardly touched it. Spanish Dave couldnt find options was Sterling even on the pitch(?).

We'll win the next one comfortably. This game sums up our problems in the league, we've had too many games this season where the attack has failed to produce when the opposition gets behind the ball.

Pep will never play a Dzeko type, or change the fundamentals of how we play and let's not forget that has won us titles, cups, a treble and the highest points total in history. So to say that's what we need is wrong.

He loved Lewandowski so not too sure I agree on the Dzeko point tbh.

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

Within the first 10 minutes you could see the pattern of play yet we continued to bang our head against the wall.

The shortcomings in this game for me sum up our season.

1. Left footer on the right wing and right footer on the left wing, not for me. I don't mind switching to that to try something different but this is the approach 90% of the time.
2. Despite his legendary status and what he might have done in the last couple of games Silva is one season too many this year.
3. Gundo and Mendy, simply not good enough. Arsenal, like several other sides, worked out they can effectively leave Mendy out wide as all he does is smash crosses into, and mainly over, the penalty area. Teams double up on us on the right side as our attack has more finesse on that side. I think we see it as having more space on the left so target more of our attacks down that route. Gundo lacks any pace and his positional sense is baffling which are two problems you can't afford with our style of play.
4. Rhodri, jury still out on that one. Same with Cancello - not sure why we signed him. Plenty of talk on here initially that he could play either side but have we tried him on the left.
5. Foden needs a run in the team in one position rather than throwing him on to cover whoever has been taken off.
6. The centre half problem, I'll leave it at that.
7. What's gone wrong with Bernardo?
8. I understand rotation but for me it's too many too often.

This may sound like a knee jerk reaction to a couple of bad games but it sums the season up. As has been said many times on here you strengthen when at the top as it's a lot harder to do when the problems start arising.

The fact that Rodri isn’t playing in a semi final tells me that Pep shares your concerns.

 

[blue b4 the moon]

Awful first half, a little better in the second, if any of Kev's free kick, Sterlings shot or when it hit him in the face had gone in we'd have won.

Arse will not be beating the winners of the other semi so better hope Chelsea turn up.

I'm struggling to find anyone who put a performance in maybe Kyle but yet again the usual suspects stood out as 'never good enough'.

Pep didn't seem to animated from the bench which was strange.

Overall, if Carlsberg did week long pub crawls we've had a great session but the last pint was as flat as a witches tit.

 

[BlueAnorak]

Arteta saw Pep coming really.

First half they were 3-4-3. Pressing our defence high and man marking Silva and KDB so it forced the ball out to the flanks. We're playing inverted wingers and they packed the defence so our only attack was really to take a long time to build up down the outside of the wings, waiting for Walker and Mendy to run up and down. When crosses came in nothing fell for us or we were guilty of taking too many touches.

Second half we switched to more of a 4-4-2 shape with Sterling central and connecting midfield to Jesus. We were trying to pass through a congested centre because the wing play hadn't worked. Looked more threatening but they defended well, you csn see they'll fight for Arteta.

Finally towards the end we started playing like Dzeko was on the pitch even though all our forwards were smaller than all 3 of Arsenal's centre backs. I'd say about 20 - 30 lofted crosses and about 20-30 headers won unchallenged by David Luiz.

Arsenal deserved to win. They nullified our plan A and for a squad with our range and depth, we had no effective plan B.

Great post.

 

[argyle]

Looked liked the Mancini Wigan game where the team just didnt want to play for him.

 

[Eds]

Lots of Knee jerks? We've lost double figures numbers of games this season pal.

You think the club are happy about that?

Never said they weren’t but there are, as usual, a lot of people who need to give their heads a wobble. I can’t remember the last time KDB played so badly but he is still world class. Couple of weeks ago when we beat the dippers with the exact same starting 11 everyone was saying how wonderful we were. It’s just unfortunate that instead of one or two players having a bad game pretty much the whole side did, Emerson and David apart. Second in the league, one trophy won, semi final and still in CL is something most fans would say is a decent season. We have no divine right to win every game and if we think like that as fans we become like the rags or dippers

 

[Saddleworth2]

What don’t you agree with mate? Arsenal,as I said,knew how they were going to play and did it perfectly as far as they are concerned - credit to them. I don’t feel like we were dominated though we were just out thought.

Thing is mate, I don’t think with Pep we will ever be dominated. We will always have a fair share of the ball whoever we play. We are increasingly getting out thought though. Maybe I misread your post but I got the impression you thought the defeats were all down to us.