Shakhtar Donetsk Vs Arsenal | Champions league 03/11/10

[Arsenal Tone]

I usually totally agree with you Lucifer. I just think tonight isn't that big a deal. Wenger underestimated our opponents and put out a weak side. We will qualify anyway!

[starmandb]

Frightenin thing is, the scoreline could be so much worse. No offence to Shaktar, but if we're (as we like to believe) a team capable of challengin for the English domestic title and the European Champions League, how is it feasible we play like fairies, get bullied, get beaten to every 2nd ball and get monumentally outplayed by Shakthar Donetsk? Like I say, no offence to em, but there's far better teams left in the competition, we all know that. They've had over 10 attempts at goal, scored 2 and looked far the better side. Why? Because we don't know how and I suspect even like defendin as a unit, as a team. Players just run where they bleedin well want, no thought of anythin, no coverin.
And I have to say, Clichy for that 2nd goal was utterly dreadful. It's a disgrace that a player, a supposed full back on more money than he ever deserves to be, can be so inept, so naive and so weak. Wenger gave Wilshere his chance in the side even when Wilshere had more competiton but it's paid dividends. He's got to get and try to keep Gibbs fit and give him the same chance.
Interested to see how Bendtner performs 2nd half. Cos he just looks the same old Bendtner to me. Built like a brick house, but can't hold up or protect the ball, can't bring others in to play, wayward first touch and about as sharp as sloth.

Not lookin forward to this.

barcelona lost 3-2 at home to shakhter donetsk in 08/09 and went on to do the treble

Life is full of strange incidents and events. What one was stranger? Barca losin at home to Shakhtar or Barca winnin the treble? Barca losin to Shaktar. That's the only comparison we've got to that Barca team. My mind isn't even capable of dreamin that our squad could win any sort of treble.

my mind does little else....last time i looked we were fighting on 4 fronts...why stop at a treble?

[StLGooner]

Well that was shit didn't even look like they cared to be there, kind of seen it coming though. Hopefully we bounce right back.

[lucifer82]

I usually totally agree with you Lucifer. I just think tonight isn't that big a deal. Wenger underestimated our opponents and put out a weak side. We will qualify anyway!

Haha. Cheers, pal. Just readin Wenger's post match stuff and about our "lack of maturity". Well, he fed Eastmond to the lions. I don't think the boy had a stinker, he just didn't get to grips with it really. Clichy on the other hand. The excuses have run out. Sick of the sight of him ballsin up.

It's not the biggest of deals, no. But I don't like losin and more than anythin in that manner. Wenger's sayin now if we got a draw tonight, we'd be through. Although I don't advocate playin for draws, what's wrong with playin the percentages, especially with a weakend team? I mean, after goin 1 up, we'd got the lead, we should be dictatin the game a bit better with a bit more calm. Instead there's the likes of Clichy maki his trademark aimless run up the left to offer absolutely nothin and then 10 seconds later be caught out on the break.

I can accept defeats, but I hate watchin us gettin hammered, when if we just altered our play a bit we could help ourselves a whole lot more.

[mel4]

watch this space...

.. in less than 2 weeks, Clichy will make statements like "we have to be solid to win the league'', ''we are all focused on winning the league'', ''every member of the team must be committed as I am. I have always said that Arsenal is my club and I am fully committed''..

Gibbs, why ar thou always injured?

[starmandb]

sansom,o,leary,woodcock,dixon,keown,cole,parlour,lauren,henry,ljungberg,adams,silvinho,pires,lehmann,toure,gilberto
all failed to win in the former ussr.
nobody would question there winning mentality.
it was a tough night and a disjointed performance but lets not go overboard with the doom and gloom

[Bristol_Gunner]

Felt that Rosicky should have stepped up tonight didn't especially as captain. Just felt like a token armband there.

[Inchpräctice]

More disappointed with the performance with the result, we were poor and couldn't be decisive in the final third.
Never looked that dangerous in our counter attacks (apart from the one goal) and Bendy and Theo looked rusty overall.
Still, this is why they were started in a game of lesser importance - they both need games.
Looked to me like Nasri went missing again and Clichy should know by now that he can't take risks that close to his own goal.
It's becoming a real weakness of his.

Felt that Rosicky should have stepped up tonight didn't especially as captain. Just felt like a token armband there.

Without Cesc you need Nasri or Rosicky (or even Jack) to provide the creative spark. Jack's assist for Theo was superb but that was about it from him on that front.
Nasri didn't create much and Rosicky was just marked out of the game. There were several occasions when Tomas was the only one trying to create space and trying to find a penetrative through ball but they were all over him.
You have to admit that Shaktar defended really well all game and limited us to half chances most of the time.

Eastmond and Djourou were sloppy and kept giving the ball away which doesn't help.
Nice to see JET get a brief run-out though.

[mg86]

I don't understand the uproar lucifer when a team is forced to play their third string in several positions. Our full strength squad would have raped this team.

[golfinguy]

More disappointed with the performance with the result, we were poor and couldn't be decisive in the final third.
Never looked that dangerous in our counter attacks (apart from the one goal) and Bendy and Theo looked rusty overall.
Still, this is why they were started in a game of lesser importance - they both need games.
Looked to me like Nasri went missing again and Clichy should know by now that he can't take risks that close to his own goal.
It's becoming a real weakness of his.

Felt that Rosicky should have stepped up tonight didn't especially as captain. Just felt like a token armband there.

Without Cesc you need Nasri or Rosicky (or even Jack) to provide the creative spark. Jack's assist for Theo was superb but that was about it from him on that front.
Nasri didn't create much and Rosicky was just marked out of the game. There were several occasions when Tomas was the only one trying to create space and trying to find a penetrative through ball but they were all over him.
You have to admit that Shaktar defended really well all game and limited us to half chances most of the time.

Eastmond and Djourou were sloppy and kept giving the ball away which doesn't help.
Nice to see JET get a brief run-out though.

That's an apt assessment.

Eastmond wasn't terrible, but was obviously not ready for such pressure. Before the game started I wanted JET making the start not Eastmond. Nasri/Rosicky/Wilshere in the midfield with JET up from with Walcott and Bendtner would have been much better IMO.

Djourou gave away possession far too often.

Clichy made a monumental, inexcusable mistake.

Shaktar did mark us rather well, we did not have the space we normally would. But that's where the 'complacency' description comes in. I have to think that if this was Real we would have created more space thinking it was necessary. With Shaktar it appeared we didn't think such effort was necessary and it bit us. No reason for Wenger not to get them on track at halftime though.

[CynicalGooner]

A Nasri, Jack, Rosicky midfield would not have worked, anyone with two brain cells to rub together knows that. You need at least one proper holding player, which Eastmond is, despite being out of his depth. Anyway considering both Nasri and Rosicky were poor last night it would have been even worse.

[Gunner Down Under]

I watched the first 10 minutes of this game but not the rest, got Walcott's goal

We were working well and pressuring Shakhtar out of the game but I suppose that changed after we scored?

[starmandb]

spurs must have picked up a few new fans this week as i have heard said how can you lose to shakter donetsk.
there fandom obviously doesnt stretch back to last february
shakter donetsk 2 spurs 0
i guess that explains why white hart lane was 6 thousand below capacity for the return when they went out.
great fans them spurs fans though
funny how we sold out against shakter weeks ago but our fans are fickle librarians?
even when we played shakter at highbury 10 years ago wehad 35,000
i guess they were too busy getting a 0-0 draw at brentford to realise there was a place called donetsk

[golfinguy]

A Nasri, Jack, Rosicky midfield would not have worked, anyone with two brain cells to rub together knows that. You need at least one proper holding player, which Eastmond is, despite being out of his depth. Anyway considering both Nasri and Rosicky were poor last night it would have been even worse.

Eastmond > Wilshere ???? I prefer my brain cells.

[CynicalGooner]

A Nasri, Jack, Rosicky midfield would not have worked, anyone with two brain cells to rub together knows that. You need at least one proper holding player, which Eastmond is, despite being out of his depth. Anyway considering both Nasri and Rosicky were poor last night it would have been even worse.

Eastmond > Wilshere ???? I prefer my brain cells.

Yet you clearly do not understand football. Stick to home runs & touch downs maybe?