by Myrmedus » Sun Nov 29, 2009 8:37 pm
I think once again we were completely outgunned by Chelsea in the tactical department and lost because of that more than anything else. If you give a good eyeballing to each of the games we've played against Chelsea since the Mourinho era started you'll see a clear pattern - they always play the same way against us, and it's the same way they play against Barcelona, and we always play the same way against them; the problem is simple: their tactics are setup specifically to stifle our own. Chelsea change their tactics when they face different teams, we do not, and that's why we usually lose this fixture home and away. Wenger doesn't appear to have the same tactical flexibility that Chelsea managers have had.
Today, like any other game against Chelsea, they had 6-7 players behind the ball almost at all times, and they defended very deeply. Usually their back-line was well into the penalty area even when we had possession only half-way into their half. Why? Because it counters the way we play perfectly: we always insist on playing the game by threading balls in behind the opposition and never vary our game. How can you thread the ball behind a defensive line when there's - at most - a 10 yard gap between them and the goal? And even if you succeed Cech just sweeps it up like all good keepers do? You can't, but we still continue to try for 90 minutes anyway....
When Chelsea play like this they're almost impossible to penetrate but they're extremely vulnerable to shots from the edge of the area, be they from a flanking position or from the "D". Usually they station two players ahead of their back-line but if we actually attempted to engineer openings in front of their back-line we'd find alot more shooting opportunities and we would score eventually - you cannot allow a team to take pot-shots at your goal from the "D" continuously because they will punish you. Unfortunately our team always seems to refuse to shoot, they insist on trying to thread the ball through the eye of a needle, even when our opposition are specifically setup to quell those attempts, and 99 times out of 100 we lose possession and it amounts to nothing.
Honestly I don't expect this to change due to personnel because it's something alot more deep rooted than that. Yes, I'd say RVP could've made a difference because he's unusual for Arsenal in that he actually takes the shooting opportunities outside the area, however relying on a single player to patch up tactical weaknesses isn't a good way to go in my opinion....
I do have issues with some of the personnel to be fair (Almunia - the 3rd goal was poor) but today was largely a tactical loss.
Oh and we weren't unlucky today or on the wrong end of decisions at all. Anelka's first chance was a clear pen and we got alot of bitty decisions going our way. Yes, it could be argued Eduardo got the ball from Cech before he closed his second hand on it, meaning it was a legit tackle, but in all honesty we didn't deserve to get anything from the game. We lost because we were second best, Arsene making excuses just makes me worried that he's unable to see the weaknesses of the side and its tactics and thus won't ever fix them.
A very disappointed Gooner.
Go Cannons!!