Arsenal Post Match Thread.

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

Just a question. I seem to have mis-seen that shout on Monreal on telly. Did the ball hit his arm from the front or the back? Because what I saw was the latter. And if that's the case, then I know that the rules allow for a penalty (by God we've suffered from it ourselves), I still think the rule is daft, and I will never, ever defend it, whether it's in our favour or not. If it hit him from the front, on a rebound, that changes things quite a lot. I havne't been able to see it again, in slo-mo or anything else.

 

[bobmcfc]

I still cannot understand why Navas is playing in defence. Forget aging defenders, forget injuries. Wtf was Navas doing at right back ? Yes he's a grafter but that's about it, he's not a defender.

For me this was an experiment gone too far.

 

[m7mcfc]

Didn't watch the game I was pissed. Are we really that bad? Sometimes I have to give myself a shake and realise we are a top team now. Oh for the days of mediocrity and "We never win at home and we never win away,"

 

[blueinsa]

I still cannot understand why Navas is playing in defence. Forget aging defenders, forget injuries. Wtf was Navas doing at right back ? Yes he's a grafter but that's about it, he's not a defender.

For me this was an experiment gone too far.

He played there because Pep is absolutely desperate as his full backs are a joke right now.

 

[Saddleworth2]

Funny game. We started really well and looked like we were going to blow them away. After the incident when Kev hit the post we seemed to go into our shells. After a good start Kev's radar shut down again and some of his distribution was woeful. He really is an enigma, supremely talented but at times looks worse than ordinary. Clichy let the team down again but let's face it, there are not many options in that area. David looked a bit off colour and when he has a relatively quiet game, we often struggle. Maybe Raheem was still carrying an injury from the internationals because Yaya could have replaced Navas in the second half with Fern moving to fullback. I thought that might have given us more balance although fair play to Jesus he kept Sanchez relatively quiet and could have finished the game with at least one assist. Both teams looked leggy as the match wore on and the last 20 minutes or so were pretty flat. There is no doubt in my mind that Arsenal were there for the taking yesterday and we have to see it as an opportunity missed. What it demonstrated is thT we don't have a squad just now that is good enough to win the Premier League or the Champions league and there is much to be done in the summer which will mean a period of next season bedding in a new defence. I hope Pep extends his contract sooner rather than later as clearly 3 years will not be anywhere near sufficient for him to achieve his stated aims.

 

[Tugay One Cup]

The first half looked like a league game and the second looked like a friendly. Some of the worst passing I have season all season from our guys and some toothless performances from some of the players.

In the context of us drawing with Arsenal, it's not a poor result. However, given the actual quality of that Arsenal team and the way we gave away the lead twice, I was pretty fucking frustrated at how insipid the whole thing was.

 

[Gray]

I don't think Pep is the Messiah he was made out to be but he can not be blamed for the lack of basics the players display when crossing the white line.

Look at Yaya for example, he trotted on never broke a sweat and spent the first ten minutes passing to Arsenal. De Bruyne has been dreadful this season and, apart from the odd world class pass, he goes walk about for large portions of the game. Stirling has forgotten how to take his man on and always bottles a 50/50. Silva was innocuous yesterday and his shooting is abysmal - why doesn't he work on it in training?

You need 10 outfield players who put 100% effort in, something we do not have.

The neutral supporters must love our team though as you always get goalmouth action at both ends and 0-0 draws are few and far between.

 

[Marvin]

I don't think Pep is the Messiah he was made out to be but he can not be blamed for the lack of basics the players display when crossing the white line.

Look at Yaya for example, he trotted on never broke a sweat and spent the first ten minutes passing to Arsenal. De Bruyne has been dreadful this season and, apart from the odd world class pass, he goes walk about for large portions of the game. Stirling has forgotten how to take his man on and always bottles a 50/50. Silva was innocuous yesterday and his shooting is abysmal - why doesn't he work on it in training?

You need 10 outfield players who put 100% effort in, something we do not have.

The neutral supporters must love our team though as you always get goalmouth action at both ends and 0-0 draws are few and far between.

That game was not typical effort wise of City this season. But what I found so disappointing was the motivation to win the game away at Arsenal. Arsenal scrapped and fought whereas we approached it like an end of season game. Had we won that, we could have gone to Chelsea with a small chance of winning the title, but they didn;t seem interested. That's hard to accept. I am hoping that what we saw as laziness was just players off their game.

 

[Gordyola]

He is totally missing leaders because they perhaps don't follow his doctrine... I am starting to believe we will go nowhere under Pep as he thinks that his philosophy is the only one...

He is being found out because our league is totally unlike the ones he is used to

Found out? Please explain! With a squad that has under performed for a number of seasons he has over achieved with it this season, do you really believe that with any other manager we would be in a better place? With the previous manager we would be in serious trouble and not looking forward to a FAC semi

 

[BillyShears]

There's been a few things that have irked me with Pep. Firstly it's our lack of any actual style or ideas, we play out from the back, but we don't move or rotate, everything is sideways.

Also, this pressing system that Pep has famously used, where is it? It's absolutely none existent, and if people say we can't utilise it, then improve the players physical attributes so they can. If Yaya can't run, then employ someone who can.

Also, his lack of flexibility during games staggers me. At Bayern he bested us by changing his formation three times during a game, Boateng scored the winner to make it 1-0. At City we've not seen it, it's all very Pellegrini esq.

I think everything you allude to flows back to the lack of key components in terms of playing staff. You can't have a high pressing system with four of your back five being slow, old, and a bit shit. You can't have a high pressing midfield with two of the three regularly being over 30 year's old. You can't have tactical flexibility when your options from the bench are Fernando, Delph, Kompany, etc.

It's hard not to feel like yesterday was entirely down to the players. They came up against a brittle Arsenal team, played at high level for fifteen minutes and scored a goal, then literally just stopped playing.