Arsenal Vs Man Utd |Premiership 22/01/2012

[Arsenal~Fanatic]

If people are talking about , who was responsible for the goal on the pitch i would say , Song and Vermaelen both would account for 90% while the rest of the blame lies with Arshavin. The way Valencia went around Vermaelen and Song as if they didn't exist was painful to watch. Now if you talk about off the pitch who is responsible then for sure , its Wenger 100% cos he killed the momentum we had going forward and as result we were pinned back once Ox left.

[ThereIsBearCüm]

To be fair, as great as AOC was, he was hardly doing a great job tracking back either.

yes he was? Far more than Theo or Arshavin at any rate

[Inchpräctice]

AFTER the game to justify his substitution. He mentioned nothing about it for the whole week preceding, even during his weekly Friday press conference.

Smells fishy to me either way.

Why would he publicly announce to the media that Ox had the flu?
We only find out what's wrong with players if the journalists in the press conference ask the boss, and they only ask him if the player is not named in the squad.

Personally I wouldn't have been surprised if Ox had come off after 70 minutes anyway, sickness or no sickness because whenever we give an 18 year-old a cameo appearance in an important game, they never play the full 90 unless we have no other options in that position e.g. Miquel.
It's always a case of 'play for an hour and then bring on the experienced players'.

AW gave his reasons for the substitution but the people who despise him (most people) would always rather assume that he's lying because that's their preferred stance.
To be fair to AW he did admit after the 8-2 that taking off Coquelin was a mistake so I don't know why he would deny it or make up a story this time.

Anyway, as I've already said I don't think it's realistic to focus all our attention on a substitution when there were so many other things wrong with that game that are far more of a cause for concern.
It's always easy to say what would've happened when it didn't happen. Everyone is assuming that if Ox had stayed on he would've scored and won the game for us.
Ox can't a win a game by himself and equally Arshavin can't lose a game by himself.

We lost the game for 3 reasons:

1. Manure dominated the possession in the first half and bossed most of the game.
2. They knew we were using makeshift full backs and fielded a team which exploited that to the maximum.
3. We didn't finish the gilt-edged chances that we created in the second half.

The substitutions were just a small part of the problem.

[ThatBoyNani]

To be fair, as great as AOC was, he was hardly doing a great job tracking back either.

yes he was? Far more than Theo or Arshavin at any rate

3 times (in the space of about 10 mins) in the first half, when AOC was on the right, Patrice Evra overlapped into the penalty area completely unmarked.

Arshavin DID track Valencia, just couldn't tackle him, not would you expect him to. It was a ridiculous mis-match, I'd be more worried about Song who made no real effort to stop him, and the guys who were marking Park and Welbeck, who he managed to link up with like it was a 5 aside.

[elkanofan]

AFTER the game to justify his substitution. He mentioned nothing about it for the whole week preceding, even during his weekly Friday press conference.

Smells fishy to me either way.

Why would he publicly announce to the media that Ox had the flu?
We only find out what's wrong with players if the journalists in the press conference ask the boss, and they only ask him if the player is not named in the squad.

Personally I wouldn't have been surprised if Ox had come off after 70 minutes anyway, sickness or no sickness because whenever we give an 18 year-old a cameo appearance in an important game, they never play the full 90 unless we have no other options in that position e.g. Miquel.
It's always a case of 'play for an hour and then bring on the experienced players'.

AW gave his reasons for the substitution but the people who despise him (most people) would always rather assume that he's lying because that's their preferred stance.
To be fair to AW he did admit after the 8-2 that taking off Coquelin was a mistake so I don't know why he would deny it or make up a story this time.

Anyway, as I've already said I don't think it's realistic to focus all our attention on a substitution when there were so many other things wrong with that game that are far more of a cause for concern.
It's always easy to say what would've happened when it didn't happen. Everyone is assuming that if Ox had stayed on he would've scored and won the game for us.
Ox can't a win a game by himself and equally Arshavin can't lose a game by himself.

We lost the game for 3 reasons:

1. Manure dominated the possession in the first half and bossed most of the game.
2. They knew we were using makeshift full backs and fielded a team which exploited that to the maximum.
3. We didn't finish the gilt-edged chances that we created in the second half.

The substitutions were just a small part of the problem.

It was still a big, big mistake to bring him off though.

Wenger will walk soon i think. This is annoying since if the crowd didn't boo, i'm sure he would had fully admited his mistake and given himself a long hard think. He knows anyway he f***ked up, OX was our best player, the guy was class, i think the whole flu thing is an excuse really, Wenger just wants to protect him. Thing is but the booing is a huge sign of disrespect! I think his love for our club has taken a huge hit, and i think he may walk soon.

[golfinguy]

I think many are making too big a deal of the substitution. Especially that w***er Piers Morgan on Goals on Sunday - my god I thought he was going to blame world hunger on that substitution. So all because of that substitution Piers says we're not going to win the league (we all knew this already), we're not going to qualify for Champions League next season (we're in 5th right now FFS, not 12th), and because of that RVP will be gone (who can say).

On the other end of the spectrum - do people really need to be reminded that its.... one damned point.

Sure it was frustrating, but so was the way we played. Sure it was easy to point a finger at Arshavin, but 2 other defenders did nothing as well. But in the end it was a difference of one point - and going into the game we were underdogs - most expected this. I really do not see the sky falling.

It is upsetting that I have to work with a f***ing ManU fan and have been hearing it all morning though

[starmandb]

I hope Wenger dies. I hate the f***ing pedophile.

grow up

[ivan itchybum]

Blaming Arshavin is laughable. He's being another scapegoat after Denilson, Bendtner et al. Was he playing in the first half when we were so poor apart from Kos and Ox? There's no excuse to how we played in the first half. Our poor FBs were certainly going to be a target by their wingers and that's exactly what happened. Predictable, really.

+1

[starmandb]

Wait for the boos on the final whistle!

Highly likely.

The irony is that after the 8-2 the away fans didn't boo they just sung their hearts out.

shame those away fans get put in a box and never go to home games is,nt it

[TheLittleMozart]

Blaming Arshavin is laughable. He's being another scapegoat after Denilson, Bendtner et al. Was he playing in the first half when we were so poor apart from Kos and Ox? There's no excuse to how we played in the first half. Our poor FBs were certainly going to be a target by their wingers and that's exactly what happened. Predictable, really.

Whilst he cant be fully blamed for the loss mate, he was terrible when he came on and really did cost us the goal with his half-arsed attempt at defending.

When he came on the pitch he only had a negetive effect on the game, Fergie even realised this and shoved Valencia to right back just so he could attack this weakness.

[starmandb]

anyone remember in 1998 when we beat united 3-0. Ljungberg scored his first goal?

Rememebr the days we used to really take it to united at home

I doubt they do, given that Ljungberg wasn't playing for us in 1998.

He was.

he,s probably getting confused with the 97/98 double season
freddy joined the following season and did score in the 98/99 3-0 win

[Inchpräctice]

Wait for the boos on the final whistle!

Highly likely.

The irony is that after the 8-2 the away fans didn't boo they just sung their hearts out.

shame those away fans get put in a box and never go to home games is,nt it

I don't understand.

[elkanofan]

anyone remember in 1998 when we beat united 3-0. Ljungberg scored his first goal?

Rememebr the days we used to really take it to united at home

I doubt they do, given that Ljungberg wasn't playing for us in 1998.

[starmandb]

Wait for the boos on the final whistle!

Highly likely.

The irony is that after the 8-2 the away fans didn't boo they just sung their hearts out.

shame those away fans get put in a box and never go to home games is,nt it

I don't understand.

mate,it drives me mad this distinction between away fans and home fans.
they are 1 of the same.
away fans have always made more noise than home fans.
its the old siege mentallity

[Inchpräctice]

Wait for the boos on the final whistle!

Highly likely.

The irony is that after the 8-2 the away fans didn't boo they just sung their hearts out.

shame those away fans get put in a box and never go to home games is,nt it

I don't understand.

mate,it drives me mad this distinction between away fans and home fans.
they are 1 of the same.
away fans have always made more noise than home fans.
its the old siege mentallity

I still don't understand.