Arsenal (H) | PL | Post-match Thread

Prestwich_Blue said:
I'd like to think that if the positions were reversed, and we were 2-1 up and down to 10 men, we'd be more adventurous than those tarquin twats.

But you've got to ask some fundamental questions of Pep and his staff. Do we not practice drills when teams implement a low block? Fortunately the Grealish & Stones subs paid off but all we seemed to do was pass the ball from side to side. When Savinho had the ball in the wide area, there was no one running into the space behind the full back, and he was forced to play it back inside. There's so little creativity when your midfield is Gundogan, Kovacic and Bernardo. Foden should have been on much earlier.

And how come Arsenal appear to have a plan for corners and can execute it, when it's just hit and hope from us?
Click to expand...
I agree Pep should have done better with our setup once they collapsed in to the 5-4 and had no intention of leaving the box, and said as much earlier int he thread. Dias should not have been left as out de facto playmaker, as he has never been decisive on the ball, nor is he a good passer or shooter (those are simply not his gifts). And him getting the ball more than any other player hamstrung out attack against the double parked bus.

But I somewhat disagree about the second goal.

Yes, Walker should have tracked Gabriel a bit better, and I do think Haaland should have been on the far post to try to win anything there (as well as shielded Arsenal players running in).

Ultimately, though, we were undone by tactics that we can do nothing to combat because the referees allow the Arsenal players to block off the keeper. Ederson has no recourse but to try to go to ground and convince the ref to give a free kick. He can’t charge through the players, as that will be a penalty. He can’t throw them to the side, as that will again be a penalty. He can’t run around them, as that would have the same outcome of just standing there (i.e. he’ll get nowhere near the ball).

Until the referees actually penalise the Arsenal players for employing the two or three player block off (with no intention of playing the ball), whoever is defending the corners or free kicks will be at a substantial disadvantage. No one can get higher than the keeper in the box and preventing that player from getting anywhere near the ball substantially increases the likelihood that your side will create a chance on goal.

And Arteta and co know this and capitalise on it regularly. They are not supreme corner tactic geniuses. This is one of the oldest ploys in football, it had just been recently more consistently enforced as fouls. But over the last season in to this one, Arsenal in particular have been allowed to regularly implement it without much in the way of sanction (the same could be said of many of their “tactics” we saw today).

As long as that is the state of play (or officiating), they will continue to score a lot of goals from set pieces.
 
hammocity said:
I've heard the Club are really worried about Phil's mental health, could be absolute bollocks hopefully, I'm worried for our local talisman, I'll say no more but others may have more info.
Click to expand...
Mental health,you obviously know a bit more on this but not gonna push for more information only that let’s hope Phil gets all the help he needs,if this is correct..
 
deano ou812 said:
Reading comments on the BBC hys on the game today the majority and that’s not just City fans,are calling them out over their antics today ..
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, Michael Oliver didn't seem to have full control of the match today.
How Arsenal managed to get the game stopped 3 times because one of their players sat down, mystified me ?
Why did Oliver stop the game when an Arsenal player gives down on his own accord ?
It is obviously a time-wasting tactic that helps stop the flow of the game.
Arteta and his players are absolute cowards who try every dirty tactic in the book.
Well done City for sticking at it until the ebd
 
I watched the match and felt myself get more and more angry as it progressed. The blatant use of "the dark side" of our beautiful game by Arsenal tells me football is finished unless officials clamp down on the cheating, time wasting antics of clubs like Artetas mob. I was disgusted at the tactics employed by Arsenal and they spoke volumes of their ambition to win at any costs. Justice was done when City equalised in time added on due to their time wasting and tbh another 7 minutes could/ shouldhave been added on !
 
I’m no pep but with the way Arsenal sat deep Dias was seeing 90% of the ball in that central area, our worst ball player on the pitch. Why not take a gamble and have gundo sat in there at centre half someone with an eye for a pass?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Unread Posts

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top
✖
  AdBlock Detected
Bluemoon relies on advertising to pay our hosting fees. Please support the site by disabling your ad blocking software to help keep the forum sustainable. Thanks.