Greenlizard0 Weekend Football Thread ** spoilers ** [2 - 4th March 2013]
- Thread starter Robbo
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It was against Norwich lets remember.
tbh I'm getting a little bored of this thou shalt not criticise Kagawa brigade, if form for previous clubs is the be all and end all maybe people should lay off Torres as well then?
Meh what can i say about yesterdays defeat to Spurs, didnt think we would win in all honesty. We conceded yet again 2 stupidly, utterly stupidly soft goals...**** knows what our defenders were doing with those 2 goals.
Defensively we are an absolute mess, our midfield doesnt protect our back 4 and just like last week against Villa...again yesterday it showed just how weak our midfield is...at least with Song in there we had some protection even though he used to make silly tackles and get yellows for it.
Offensively we look dire, we lack the killer touch and i thought Giroud was yet again absolute rubbish...hes not RVP and never will be...sure hes scored a few goals for us but when it comes to games that count...he hasnt stepped up but then he hardly got any service as it was.
Arsenal as a whole are completely unbalanced...we no longer play flowing football anymore. Wilshere, Carzola and Arteta werent on the same page yesterday which seems to be happening a lot this season. Our defence?? **** all communication between them.
I dont honestly know what was more hilarious Arsenal wise yesterday, the fact that in the last 5-10mins we resorted to long ball footballm or the fact that we completely forgot to try and score a goal...WTF was that all about?? thats not our style as proven when we couldnt get a shot off :/....it was so cringeworthy watching that rubbish.
Meh with that loss, we are now 7 pts behind Spurs and unless they start dropping points...i cant see us overtaking them and neither can i see us getting 4th so it looks likely that we will miss out on CL football next season, which is what i have been saying for most of this season.
Anyhow Spurs deserved to win that game yesterday, they were the much better side both offensively and defensively.
Defensively we are an absolute mess, our midfield doesnt protect our back 4 and just like last week against Villa...again yesterday it showed just how weak our midfield is...at least with Song in there we had some protection even though he used to make silly tackles and get yellows for it.
Offensively we look dire, we lack the killer touch and i thought Giroud was yet again absolute rubbish...hes not RVP and never will be...sure hes scored a few goals for us but when it comes to games that count...he hasnt stepped up but then he hardly got any service as it was.
Arsenal as a whole are completely unbalanced...we no longer play flowing football anymore. Wilshere, Carzola and Arteta werent on the same page yesterday which seems to be happening a lot this season. Our defence?? **** all communication between them.
I dont honestly know what was more hilarious Arsenal wise yesterday, the fact that in the last 5-10mins we resorted to long ball footballm or the fact that we completely forgot to try and score a goal...WTF was that all about?? thats not our style as proven when we couldnt get a shot off :/....it was so cringeworthy watching that rubbish.
Meh with that loss, we are now 7 pts behind Spurs and unless they start dropping points...i cant see us overtaking them and neither can i see us getting 4th so it looks likely that we will miss out on CL football next season, which is what i have been saying for most of this season.
Anyhow Spurs deserved to win that game yesterday, they were the much better side both offensively and defensively.
But you were in control of the game before a lapse of concentration from Verm, it happens. The 2nd goal was just barmy, maybe it was the language barrier, i'm not sure. Giroud was feeding on scraps, not one decent opportunity for him to put it in the back of the net. To be honest, that performance just highlighted for me that you really do suffer from having to adapt with new players coming in every season. How can you expect to compete against the top sides when you players are been forced to leave..you have no identity anymore.
The stat Quinn whacked out about 17 players who have left Arsenal have now won 54 trophies between them..says it all! Selling your best players to the bigger clubs, your a feeder club. Some of the fans have got start realising your not a top 2/3 side anymore...
Arsenal need fullbacks like Spurs have imo. Play Wilshire, Carzola and Arteta in a tight triangle in the middle and have the fullbacks providing the width, but the midfielders would need to track back, and They are not minded enough, unlike Dembele/Sandro/Parker
Caporegime
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Its worth noting that Gervinho was all over Hazard stats wise, goals, assists and looked effective to some people.
Essentially a truly great player who can read movement, predict where another player will pass, and take a ball in his stride brilliantly can make a poor pass look like a good one. Another player who needs a "perfect" pass, who makes his own runs and doesn't run into space, or predict where someone will pass the ball, will struggle when the person passing to them isn't doing a great pass.
ULtimately great link up play the person receiving the ball is as important as the person passing the ball. In some teams, say Lille, you have a guy putting the ball perfectly where Gervinho needs it for a tap in, and Gervinho ends up looking good.
I'm not saying that is what Kagawa is, I haven't seen enough of him playing for Dortmund to know. A chunk of good form and great players around them can make a very average or even poor player look very effective, but generally form eventually comes back down to earth, and without a team that plays perfectly for that player, its hard to look as good.
Gervinho left his safety net of a team that worked perfectly for him and has been complete dog poo, Hazard left, and has shown moments of brilliance, true quality and is younger with more time to grow. I haven't seen an awful lot of Kagawa that suggests he's top class, but neither have I written him off as not very good. Its also rather silly to talk about it being insanely difficult to adapt from Japan, if he'd come straight from there, maybe, but via Dortmund where he had no issues, not so much.
It was Norwich, and one game, every player in the league pretty much has one great game now and then, and the majority of them do it against a poor team in poor form.
I found this table interesting shows arsenal are struggling when there playing the top 4 teams.
You needed a table to know this?
It is important though, you can win against anyone and get the same points total, but you can't take 3 points away from Utd by beating Wigan, a win against a team above you is worth more. Jesus, hadn't even looked at a table since last week, we're 24 ******* points behind Utd now, 24, and that gap will only be bigger by the end of the season.
Just a few points, Song was horrendous defensively and frequently did what our team did yesterday, he was abysmal at reading the runs into the box, he never marked midfielders running into the box to score, ever, Verm isn't usually this bad and certainly wasn't in his first season with us, Song has always been like Verm was, utterly oblivious to anything not going on directly infront of him, its why he gave away so many fouls because he was always chasing the game, NEVER reading it and getting between the ball and goal.
Offensively, yes, no plan, Walcott has no penetration at all, and no fight in him at all, Santi has been useless on the wing, Podolski is one of our best players and was on the bench.
Midfield wise, Wilshire was left with a worsening Arteta and Ramsey, Arteta last season and at a few points this season was fantastic, he's had several runs of very poor form and yesterday was another one starting in the first minute. As good as Wilshire is, when both other central midfielders are playing utter turd, you have little to no chance. There was no good movement ahead of him from Santi or Walcott to get any attacking playing going and behind him a defensive whole where Areteta and Ramsey should have been doing something. Wilshire/Santi is working because you have two like minded players who have great movement who can find each other even if everyone else is playing crap, Wenger randomly destroyed the only good partnership in the team for the sake of dropping one of our best players.... Wenger is a moron.
The last minutes, the take off a fullback, play more strikers, ultra attack, no formation, no plan, no tactics system, Wenger's used it frequently before to chase games, I can remember almost no situation in which its worked. Plenty of other crap managers use that tactic, it usually ends up with 4-5 strikers, no midfielders, and everyone standing in a line with the opposition back four knocking long balls to no one.
A team who specialises in that tactic would suck at it, a team that doesn't specialise in long ball/winning headers ALWAYS suck with that tactic. I've dubbed it Wenger's panic formation, a formation I never once saw in his first 8 years in charge..... he's simply a different manager from before and almost everything is down to him.
Vermaelen used to be a top defender, the only thing that has changed in 3 seasons, is being trained by Wenger, he's gone from brilliant to woeful, including a hilariously Wenger like missed year of bad injury treatment.
Soldato
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Our longest unbeaten run this year has been 5 games. We have 10 left and ideally need to win all 10 to have any chance of finishing top 4. Ergo, we're probably not going to do it.
Spurs have four really tough games left and Chelsea have Rafa Benitez in charge. It's not over.
Not so sure we were ever in control of the game, we started out ok...kept Spurs at bay till Bale scored then i dont know, we kinda imploded because less than 10 mins later...Spurs were up 2-0. Sure Verm had a lapse in concentration and yes it does happen but with Arsenal it keeps happening game in game out. As for Giroud?? i just dont know about him, hes no RVP...has absolutely no ball control when hes trying to turn a player. We havent got anyone who can provide a decent cross either for him.
Everyone knows about the stats that Quinn pulled out, SSN a few weeks ago pulled the same stat up and yes its depressing reading that all our best player who we have shipped out have won trophies whereas we have been left behind.
I know we are not a top 2-3 side anymore and looking at the fans reactions this season, its pretty evident that even Arsenal fans are seeing our slow decline down the table.
LOL no point telling me??, im not the ****ing manager of Arsenal am i?? LOL.
Last week against Villa, it was plain as day to see how unprotected our back 4 were because our midfield werent tracking back...same thing yesterday and its freaking fustrating to see that. God knows what Wenger is teaching them defensively because i dont think Bould has much say in how our team plays defensively...unless he does and if so then he needs to change the tactics because its leaving us too far open and its one of the reasons why our defence goes all spazztastic whenever there is pressure from another team.
Anyhow 10 games in which to get into the top 4, we may have the easiest 10 game run in but you can bet your last £££'s that we wont make it easy...i can see us dropping points left right and centre. The best we can hope for is the Spurs to drop points and do their yearly implosion.
I have that feeling too, 1-1Why do I have a sick feeling we're not going to lose tonight
EDIT: Woah, so many feelings!
I wouldn't rule out Arsenal finishing top four just yet, whilst Spurs are looking good for third Chelsea have quite a tough run in and they are not exactly firing on all cylinders.
I'd love to be a fly on the wall of Abramovich's office if Chelsea finish fifth, serve him right for sacking Di Matteo imo.
I'd love to be a fly on the wall of Abramovich's office if Chelsea finish fifth, serve him right for sacking Di Matteo imo.
I guess it escaped your notice that Torres didnt change leagues and has been at his present club over twice (or is it three) as long as Kagawa even without compariing their actual age and relative experience.
Even before thinking about the relative price tags (of course someone transferred for £50m is going to get more critisizm than another player transferred for ~£15m still settling into the country / club)
Di Matteo was crap in the league though?
No it didn't escape my notice at all, just those who reckon players should be exempt of criticism because of their form for another club full stop are daft. Kagawa aint at Dortmund anymore, he's at a different club who play a different way who will play him in a different way therefore that previous form is irrelevant. No one worth taking notice off has ever wrote Kagawa off completely and said he wont come good but just like when Rooney has a bad game and someone points it out the fact that Kagawa's a new signing shouldn't make him exempt from criticism when he does the same and the fact of the matter is he's had more bad games than he has good so far.
Dunno why so many get menstrual about it?
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