Arsenal post match thread

[Tueart1976]

The moment you realise that this isn't us attacking and it's actually us trying to defend...

Unbelievable... I see Kolarov is doing his usual jog back!!

 

[Blue Smarties]

Still it's okay to have that kind of belief right? Or do we all have to be morose bastards for the rest of the season walking around the forum with a metaphorical bottom lips stuck out whilst raging about what a huge disappointment the whole thing is!

Well he is a huge disappointment isn't he? He's done fuck all for us in the longterm. Won the league with Mancini's squad and ruined our defence.

 

[Gorton_Tubster]

Watched the game last night, read a few comments on here, mostly negative. Probably gonna get moaned at for this cos there is nothing as grumpy as a city fan at the moment!!! City outplayed Arsenal over the whole game, our stats were better, we finished probably aat least the last half hour totally on top.

We were strong, we though to the end, again, they had like two chances and two goals (Seeing this time and again), our finishing wasnt good. This was at their ground and tbh Arsenal were lucky to win it.

I know which team I would rather be going into the last stretch

It isnt alll doom aand gloom, in fact there isnt reallly any doom and gloom, except over the heads of some city fans

 

[pete1970]

Watched the game last night, read a few comments on here, mostly negative. Probably gonna get moaned at for this cos there is nothing as grumpy as a city fan at the moment!!! City outplayed Arsenal over the whole game, our stats were better, we finished probably aat least the last half hour totally on top.

We were strong, we though to the end, again, they had like two chances and two goals (Seeing this time and again), our finishing wasnt good. This was at their ground and tbh Arsenal were lucky to win it.

I know which team I would rather be going into the last stretch

It isnt alll doom aand gloom, in fact there isnt reallly any doom and gloom, except over the heads of some city fans

A pint of whatever you are on please

 

[poh]

Fuck me, but there's some over the top posts this morning. Knew there would be, but it makes for depressing reading. And I'm not a happy clapper, so don't bother to say it.



Down, but not despondent. Arsenal are four points ahead of us at the halfway point of the season. What's four points, at this stage, in the general scheme of things? Not a lot. And they have to come to our place. We'll see. There's work to do, and things are serious. Nothing is decided.

Some people on here — more than a few, in fact — expected us to be spanked. We were not spanked. Not at all. Let's just be big enough to concede that we were beaten by the better team, on the night.

But the weird thing is that Swansea battered our defence more than Arsenal did, and Joe had to pull out a number of world class stops against them, which, by and large, he didn't have to do except in the second half, just the once. We were defending really well for nearly all of the first half, doing something that we haven't seen for weeks. Not that Otamendi and Mangala were playing particularly well for that first half. They didn't have to. They had almost nothing to do, because they were being given terrific protection by the men in front of them — Ferny, Silva, Delph (by God, the work he put in! Silva as well, he ran his socks off). Even Yaya was putting in a shift, until his legs started to go in the second half. The stats say that Arsenal had two shots in the first half. Two. Ok, both of them goals, and that's obviously unacceptable. But the plain fact is that, apart from those two shots — one a world-class strike by Walcott, I've always rated that man, and a well worked move that Giroud finished well — Arsenal were hardly threatening. The two goals came out of a clear blue sky. That's the first half that I saw, anyway.

And if KDB puts that ball over for Merlin early in the match, as he should, rather than taking a shot from a difficult angle, that could be a different prospect altogether.

Yaya's goal. Stupendous. That's what the man does. Although, alas, he does it all too rarely for us now. He was the only man on the pitch, on either side, who can score a goal like that. And after that goal, Arsenal were clearly bricking it.

But — and it is a big but — of our fourteen attemps, none of them seriously troubled Cech. Even the goal didn't 'trouble' him, in a sense. It was in, he knew it, he didn't even move.

That's the worrying stat. For all our possession — superior numerically, as were the corners, as were the attempts — we produced almost no clear-cut chances. That's got to change, and soon.

This may sound as though it flies in the face of the evidence, and the scoreline, but the signs I saw were that we're on our way back. Merlin's gradually getting up to speed, Sergio of course always takes two or three matches to get up to it. KDB was looking a bit more like his normal frisky self, up for it, taking chances, after the rest which he so badly needed.

Leicester are starting to worry me, though. We've now put ourselves in a position where we have to get a result there. If they were to go nine points ahead, that would be a pretty frightening gap. A mate of mine who's an Everton fan, but whose judgement I trust, told me that there were periods when Everton were battering them on Saturday. I didn't see any of that match, so I can't judge.

Sunderland first, then, and on to them. This is the turning point. One way or the other.

Well say mate,we can and will turn this around.

 

[Lancet Fluke]

That game was a fuck up from the manager due to champions league games and injuries. If you have a look at the past champions they have all struggled whilst the group stages are in motion. The difference is as soon as they can concentrate on the league then they get the business done. We are only 6 points off the top so the question is why are you so negative? we should be supporting the team.

By my reckoning we have had one genuinely convincing league performance in the last 14 weeks and in terms of our away form we have 2 points from the last five matches (same record as Villa who are possibly the worst Prem team I have seen in about five or six seasons). So excuse me for taking your "it's pretty much our last hard away game so I'm expecting to kick on from here" with a pinch of salt, especially as our next away game is against a team who are 6 points ahead of us. You shouldn't mistake genuine concerns regarding our performances and form for lack of support or are you suggesting that support is now merely a measurement of a person's optimism/delusion? If Kompany gets fit immediately, stays fit and brings some vague semblance of organisation to the defensive side of our game then we may have a chance of "kicking on" but if not, I see absolutely nothing at present to suggest we look like putting the kind of run of away form together that should be expected from a squad of our quality.

 

[jimmygrimblesboots]

Watched the game last night, read a few comments on here, mostly negative. Probably gonna get moaned at for this cos there is nothing as grumpy as a city fan at the moment!!! City outplayed Arsenal over the whole game, our stats were better, we finished probably aat least the last half hour totally on top.

We were strong, we though to the end, again, they had like two chances and two goals (Seeing this time and again), our finishing wasnt good. This was at their ground and tbh Arsenal were lucky to win it.

I know which team I would rather be going into the last stretch

It isnt alll doom aand gloom, in fact there isnt reallly any doom and gloom, except over the heads of some city fans

excellent post , for all the manic depressives on here ring 116 123 immediately

 

[mad4city]

Watched the game last night, read a few comments on here, mostly negative. Probably gonna get moaned at for this cos there is nothing as grumpy as a city fan at the moment!!! City outplayed Arsenal over the whole game, our stats were better, we finished probably aat least the last half hour totally on top.

We were strong, we though to the end, again, they had like two chances and two goals (Seeing this time and again), our finishing wasnt good. This was at their ground and tbh Arsenal were lucky to win it.

I know which team I would rather be going into the last stretch

It isnt alll doom aand gloom, in fact there isnt reallly any doom and gloom, except over the heads of some city fans

Overall, you're right but our defence has been frightening at times. Teams are getting in behind our full backs and a lack of cover is panicking our centre backs.
Our midfield needs definition. By that I mean Yaya is not a defensive mid and we are a lot better with him in a forward role. Do we drop Silva for him to play there, though!?
Our attack needs a fourth striker. Aguero is injured a lot. Bony is still underwhelming (although greatly improved) and Kelechi, whilst promising, often looks lost when he plays. Long term, is it really ideal next year to play without a striker after the two lads go to the ACON and Sergio gets another muscle injury?

So there's bags of room for improvement. As much as we should have won last night, we didn't.
The good news is our problems are obvious and fixable. The bad news is Pelligrini is transfixed by his vision of his big team football and simply won't fix them.

 

[cibaman]

Watched the game last night, read a few comments on here, mostly negative. Probably gonna get moaned at for this cos there is nothing as grumpy as a city fan at the moment!!! City outplayed Arsenal over the whole game, our stats were better, we finished probably aat least the last half hour totally on top.

We were strong, we though to the end, again, they had like two chances and two goals (Seeing this time and again), our finishing wasnt good. This was at their ground and tbh Arsenal were lucky to win it.

I know which team I would rather be going into the last stretch

It isnt alll doom aand gloom, in fact there isnt reallly any doom and gloom, except over the heads of some city fans

Mostly agree, but there is some doom and gloom. Our defence just doesn't inspire confidence. The return of Kompany should help, but collectively we do not defend well. That's unlikely to change anytime soon and will mean that we will continue to drop points in games where we outplay the opposition.

 

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

Getting tired of excuses. So many times we've been beaten this season or drawn games we should have won. We have to make it happen. And it was almost annoying to see that last 15 minutes. What about the rest of the game? Do the players really want to win enough? Hunger was definitely an issue last season. This season Kompany looked like he was intent on making up for last season where his attitude was poor (in my opinion). Without him we have no leadership.

I think we have not done this at all this season for any string of games, home or away. If we get on the front foot early with teams sitting back, we get the possession but squander half chances that other teams seem to put away; if we don't get on the front foot and allow teams onto the edge of our box we concede even against teams with little firepower. The only time we seem to have any real motivation to make something happen is like last night for the last quarter of an hour, and well-organised teams will always see out the dying minutes. We have played our best invariably when we have been chasing a game for the last ten. I can't see why we don't adopt that style from the kick off. I noticed in the last game, it seemed to be half way through the first half before we had made a serious attempt on goal, and I'm thinking that Sergio isn't getting any kind of decent service. Too much sparring. Take a look at the video of the season when we whipped MANUre 4-1 at the Etihad - the speed of play was breathtaking. We also seem to want the ball into people's feet rather than into space for them to run onto. And do we have any stats for our players' movement when they haven't got the ball? We're a shadow of the side, attacking wise, we once were!