You all know what the score was so I won't remind you

You all know what the score was so I won't remind you

Postby Rockin' Robin » Sun Jan 31, 2010 7:12 pm

We lost 3-1 in a match I had been anticipating for a while and I was bitterly disappointed. I won't go into too much detail with the goals, first one credit to Nani for two great bits of skill, good cross but Almunia acted as Man United's striker and pushed the ball into his own net. Granted Park was lurking at the back post, but, to be fair this is with hindsight, if he had completely left the cross which he probably was never going to do anything about and paid more attention to the player at the back post, we might not have conceded, but as I said this is all with hindsight.

Second goal was a great counter-attack but again we should have done better, mainly Denilson, who I have stuck up for recently as he's been out of position, but not this time. Doesn't matter what position you're playing, when arguably the most in-form player is sprinting into space that he's spotted, the advisable thing to do would be to sprint as well, clever huh? Not Denilson, he even seemed to slow his pace and just let Rooney finish (well).

Second half they scored pretty early on, another counter attack and Clichy was the only one with a chance of stopping them from scoring, but he had to stop Rooney, Nani and Park. Park was in possession and Clichy was caught in two minds as most people would have been in his situation, which allowed Park space to run into and slot home.

Vermaelen scored on 80 minutes and I was desperate for us to score again but it wasn't so. It was good technique in the finish, quite acrobatic, but it took a deflection and without that it wouldn't have gone in probably. Bendtner, Walcott and Eboue came on, but none of them could help us score another and it finished 3-1.

Now, onto more detail. My hit-list:

Almunia - Seemed to do his best to gift Nani a goal not once but twice, the first time with their goal and the second time when a pass came back to him and he decided to scuff it straight to Nani who was completely on his own and should have scored really. I would say drop him, but who for?!

Arshavin - Probably my second favourite player but he missed three or four chances in the first half that I expected him to bury, each and every one of them. It's hard to blame him because of how much I like him, but those missed chances were a huge part in us not getting at least a point if not all three.

Giggs - Took his sweet motherf***ing time every time he trotted over (and I mean trotted) to take a corner, each time was about 40 seconds, no hyperbole, wasted, especially when he decided after delaying play for 15 seconds that Nani would be better suited to taking the corner.

Park - Also wasted time, when he was being substituted. Walked off the pitch carelessly which added to my anger and frustration whilst watching the game.

Denilson - While the first goal was creditted to the man at fault, Almunia, the second goal might as well have been too for all the space Denilson allowed Rooney. In games like these, hell, in all games, Denilson should be busting a gut to get there ahead of the opposition player, but no. He slowed his pace.

Rest of the team - They didn't pick up the slack.

So, at least we can look forward to our next couple of ga-.... what's that? Oh. We're playing Chelsea and Liverpool. Forget about looking forward then, more like dreading if we play like we did. Talk about the fixture list kicking us when we're down.
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Re: You all know what the score was so I won't remind you

Postby Inchpräctice » Mon Feb 01, 2010 3:33 am

I was also looking forward to this game because we didn't deserve to lose at Old Toilet and we were the better team. This was our chance to set the record straight.
When it came up on the screen I thought their line up looked shit. Nothing to be scared of in that at all.
Only one regular starter in their entire back four and a midfield of Scholes, Carrick and Fletcher, hardly anything to fear....

Yet we were so poor that we handed it to them on a plate. After our Chelsea defeat the boss talked about a lack of maturity because every time we conceded the entire squad rushed forward to equalise and then obviously conceded again on the counter.
We've learnt f**k all from that though and not only repeated it at Everton for Peinar's goal but completed the hatrick again tonight.
People are picking on Almunia and Denilson but it's just too easy for me. The whole team were poor and the entire approach was wrong.
Yes those two players made individual errors but so did Arshavin and Nasri and no-one's calling for them to be sold. :rolleyes:

Just because Arshavin scored four crackers at Anfield it doesn't make him untouchable. He selfishly wasted 3 opportunities in the first 20 minutes when other players were standing in space waiting for the easy tap-in.
When AW talked about "...massive individual errors" after the game he was including Arshavin in that, trust me.
We didn't play as a team, they did.

We were all desperate for Song to start this game because he was our player of the season before the ACON started but where was he? Instead of protecting the back four from counter attacks he was last seen dribbling through the Manure penalty box like he was f***ing Maradona.
Both CBs played well but both went forward too much to join the attack leaving us exposed to counter attacks. It was Gallas's failed attempt to dribble in the Manure box that led to the second goal.
Also, where was our captain in all of this? Isn't it his job to make sure we keep our shape and don't get dragged out of position? Lack of leadership again.
For the second goal it was all Denilson's fault apparently. Not really, watch it again. There are FIVE Arsenal players rushing back and inadvertently running in a circle formation leaving a MASSIVE gap in the middle for Rooney to run into. Why do they not track him or notice him? Because every last one of them is looking at the ball. Caught ball-watching again. Schoolboy error.

The third goal is almost a carbon copy of the Everton goal (as pointed out by MOTD 2) i.e. caused by keeping too high a line and not leaving enough defenders covering at the back.
Clichy was the only man back because the rest of the back four had pissed off upfield to try and score a goal. When will these kids work out that you don't have to flood the penalty box with players just to score a goal?
The 1-0-9 formation doesn't work. In fact you can often end up with too many players in the area and they get in each others way, just like Rosicky and Ramsey in the Villa game.

So why else were we so piss-poor today?
Sagna, Vermaelen and Arshavin were playing with injuries and Nasri, Theo, Denilson, Bendtner, Rosicky and Clichy are all returning from injury earlier than we would've liked and aren't match sharp yet.
Do these excuses make it any less embarassing? Not really.



Oops that seems to have turned into quite a long rant....
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Re: You all know what the score was so I won't remind you

Postby Gunner Down Under » Mon Feb 01, 2010 4:48 am

Good report even though I can't be bothered to watch it.

Last paragraph, so true.
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Re: You all know what the score was so I won't remind you

Postby Classy » Wed Feb 03, 2010 5:10 pm

Great article Sam, and I agree with everyhing you said.
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Re: You all know what the score was so I won't remind you

Postby gzagee » Wed Feb 03, 2010 5:13 pm

I'm sure it's a great report. I won't read it cos I just want to put that game to bed...

My apologies.
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