UEFA Champions League/Europa League ** Spoilers ** [16/17/18 September 2014]

drunkenmaster said:
Liverpool 20 shots 4 on target to the oppositions 9 shots with 1 on target.

Dortmund 23 shots 7 on target, Arsenal 4 shots, 1 on target. I know which team I'd prefer to be.

Seriously Arsenal are incredibly lucky to not be 5 or more down. They've destroyed us, run through us like we aren't there.
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I have never seen Arsenal being so trounced before. Dortmund should have got 5 more... At least. When arsenal lost 8-whatever to man utd it felt like a less one sided game.

Arsenal couldn't get pressure on the ball whereas Dortmund were winning possession all over the pitch and it felt like each time they did they counter attacked to a scoring opportunity/
 
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Thing that bugs me is despite how little we created and despite how we were getting caught with fullbacks too far forward, the midfield caught up field, at no stage did we pull the back four in line, tighten it, stop pushing the fullbacks forward. We kept trying the Barcelona style fullbacks forward, CB's split and Arteta dropping deep often between them. Why, we suck when we do that, the fullbacks even at full strength don't offer enough going forward to be worth having them so far up the field so often.

A ridiculous number of our goals conceded come through missing fullbacks... but in games where the fullbacks produce next to nothing offensively anyway.

Arteta was shocking throughout, awful defensively and we kept again like Barca tried to play out through Arteta even though his passing was dire in this game also. Why not switch, bring the cb's tighter, push Arteta into midfield, bring Ramsey/Wilshere in line to pack that midfield and bring them a bit deeper, stop the fullbacks getting so far forward and trying to play more directly, which would actually suit faster players like Welbeck and Sanchez.

Same crap over and over, Wenger has horrible tactics against bigger teams, our fullbacks well, since CLichy left, have been woeful. Our lack of defensive cover is an issue, our lack of any truly decent defensive midfielder has been hurting us since Gilberto left FFS.

The longer term issues with the squad have been around for years and ignored, the shorter term issues like poor performance in this game weren't fixed either. There was no attempt at all to change our shape tactically, to try and shore up the defence and tighten the game. If we kept Dortmund to limited chances for 20 minutes it would change the game, we may have had a chance to push on from there, other teams do this. Something clearly not working you change tactic and then maybe change it again. You have the chance to take the momentum out of the opposition before trying again. But nothing, no change in tactics and even in the dying minutes we were conceding the same types of chances for the same reasons.

This is all about Wenger, long term he can't identify where we really need players, he isn't identifying the right players to buy any more and tactically he's been inept for years.
 
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Jokester said:
Mignolet in no mans land.
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We've had an issue with him ever since he signed. He's a keeper that doesn't like to come off his line but the way we play requires a keeper that can sweep up behind the back 4. It's clear that he's being told to try to come out more but he doesn't like doing it and as a result we're seeing more and more incidents like today when he's coming when he shouldn't and staying back when he should be coming out.

I'm more concerned with how easy our CB's are being beaten by straight balls with forwards running off their shoulder.
 
elmuzzy66. said:
manqillo hasn't looked good.
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manic111 said:
Agree, Flanno is comfortably our best right back
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Madness. Manquillo's better both defensively and going forward than Flanno despite being barely 20 years old getting his first run of games of senior football and doing so in a new side and country.

And Moreno looks like he could be absolutely top class. He's impressed mostly with his attacking play but he's great in one on one defensive situations and making last ditch tackles, like just before our 1st goal today.
 
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That's no different to any good attacking fullback but on the flip side he offers us something going forward which Flanagan doesn't and Johnson seemingly can't anymore.
 
Well that was awful, all round. No fight or passion from any of the players apart from Sanchez who at least ran around a lot. Every time we had the ball no one made space for a pass. Admittedly Dortmund played well and closed us down but even still we messed up simple passes when they were on.

Arteta is simply awful now. Welbeck is just Welbeck.

Side note on the ref, what was he wearing, almost the same colour as Arsenal shirts. On top of that lots of bizarre decisions not least Ozil's yellow.
 
manic111 said:
Manquillo's totally last ditch - he gets caught out, and gets back in with pace. He'll get caught out far too often.
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I think you're looking at this the wrong way.

Look at what Rodgers said re Moreno with City's 3rd goal. Rodgers was critical of Moreno for not pushing higher up the pitch and closing Navas down. Rodgers wants his fullbacks to be aggressive and if they're going to play like that you have to accept that from time to time teams will work their way around them and they'll get caught out. It's an occupational hazard. The fact that Manquillo (and Moreno down the left) are able to get forward but also able to recover is a huge positive. It's not by accident that the 2 fullbacks we've signed this summer both defend on the front foot, good in one on one's and have the pace and energy to recover.

As he gains a bit more experience and when we're playing better opposition, I'm sure he'll pick and choose when he needs to push forward or press high up the pitch and when he needs to sit in.
 
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