Wigan V Arsenal | Premier League 22/12/2012

[GSK_AFC]

I like Roberto Martinez. He's only taking the positives out of the game in his interview. If we don't get anybody big, I wouldn't mind seeing him as a future Arsenal manager.

[Pudpop]

We've been calling for ugly wins.... and this is why. Bad performance but we can at least sleep easy.

Walcott ineffectual. Poldi showing why he should be in the centre (invisible on the left, plays well when drifting in[Reading])

Ox was good when he kept it simple.

Sagna average, Gibbs terrible.

CBs brilliant, except Mert's lapse with the Kone chance.

Ches good.

Cazorla invisible.

Arteta average, Jack only slightly better.

Rambo and Coq average.

Could've used Giroud today. They were bare on the wings and we had crossing opportunities. Also I think Walcott would've torn them apart had he played wide.

Also, back ahead of the Spuds where we belong

[Angelito]

I'd still stick with this same eleven but Walcott was tepid today. Cazorla was useless. Chamberlain looked better, but he has been sooooo poor this season. Arteta was okay but he brings the deal always. He wasn't the sharpest. Wilshere was amazing. And, Mertesacker >>>>>>>> Vermaelen. Not even close.

And, noticed again? Ramsey isn't starting anymore, so now we've started winning too. :p

The only positive thing is we win the match. Just that.

That's the only positive aspect needed, so I'll take 38 such victories over "we played our way," football. You win trophies because of the points--not because of sexy football. I know you know it. Just stating.

[ThereIsBearCüm]

I like Roberto Martinez. He's only taking the positives out of the game in his interview. If we don't get anybody big, I wouldn't mind seeing him as a future Arsenal manager.

He was constantly calming down his players too when they had that period around when Di Santo went off with the earring.

[Pudpop]

I like Roberto Martinez. He's only taking the positives out of the game in his interview. If we don't get anybody big, I wouldn't mind seeing him as a future Arsenal manager.

He was constantly calming down his players too when they had that period around when Di Santo went off with the earring.

Also saw that McCarthy couldn't play CB so changed after 2 minutes, instead of 60 minutes. Not afraid to play offensively against us as well.

[yosifun]

I'd still stick with this same eleven but Walcott was tepid today.

Would be interesting to see the same 11 with Ox on the left, Poldi in the middle and Walcott on the right.

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[Trina]

The centre backs were immense today... pity Sagna and especially Gibbs left them very exposed.
Midfield never really got going, not many chances, not much movement.
Chambo was great, Podolski was average and Walcott was very poor and took a dive (IMO) for the penalty. Absolutely disgusting from him. Our worst player on the pitch today and he wants more money than any of his team mates. Chuck his cheating on top of that and I am bitterly ashamed to admit he's one of ours today.

I get so much shit from my chap about Theo. Ever since he took the dive in the Leeds game and then admitted it after!

I was really pleased with Wilshere today, took a few knocks too which nothing was done about. Got kneed in the neck then the tackle on his ankles just before HT. The guy wasn't even attempting to go for the ball.

[ThereIsBearCüm]

Yeah, half the tackles on Wilshere were far worse than the one he got booked for.

[billie86]

went watching the game today and it was a poor performance it has to be said, podolski did nothing, ramsey touched the ball about 2 times after he came on (was a poor decision by wenger imo to take off ox as he was our most dangerous player), walcott didn't do much but in his defence he got no service at all and more or less every ball to him was a 50/50 at head height between him and a CB which he is obviously going to lose out on. The whole team seemed to lack any urgency today and there was no pressure being applied to any of the wigan players, we were lucky to come away with a win as imo wigan were the better team. Need to improve as per is what i would take from this game, also do not take any game as a given, we seemed to think we had won this one befere the first whistle.

[billie86]

The centre backs were immense today... pity Sagna and especially Gibbs left them very exposed.
Midfield never really got going, not many chances, not much movement.
Chambo was great, Podolski was average and Walcott was very poor and took a dive (IMO) for the penalty. Absolutely disgusting from him. Our worst player on the pitch today and he wants more money than any of his team mates. Chuck his cheating on top of that and I am bitterly ashamed to admit he's one of ours today.

nah thats not fair to him today, i was at the game and made a point of watching his performance and he was decent. Fact is the service to him was terrible today, he is on for his pace but he got 1 ball over the top for him to chase in the whole match that i can remember. For some reason most of the passes that came to walcott today were at head height, we know that is not what he wants, we were playing like we had giroud on the field. If we continue to play this way then i agree walcott will be useless upfront, he is not going to win flicks ons and then run onto them himself. If walcott is up top we need to realise he has pace to burn. So yeh we need to use walcott correctly or not bother imo, ideally he would suit a 4-4-2 playing with a giroud style striker but we know thats not going to happen whilst wenger is here. Imo our worst player today was podolski, very very lazy performance. The other thing about todays performance was that not 1 player gave 100%, the ox was probably the closest to doing so though. Verms and merts were comfortable but dealt with most things well, especially verm his awareness and his ability to be in the right place at the right time to cut out crosses and passes was spot on today.

[GunnGunn]

My thoughts on the game...

Chez was good in goal, has looked unbeatable in the last few games. Mertesacker and Vermaelen were decent, the line was far too high however and we were regularly exploited, Bould would never have allowed a high line like that so i think its safe to assume Wenger has him well and truly under the thumb. Sagna still looks rusty and was out of position a lot which is so odd for him. Gibbs to my mind was absolutely excellent, he has easily been our most consistent player this season.

In midfield, Wilshere was good, took it and gave it back, he lacks pace though so its annoys me seeing him trying to go on those Vieira/Diaby esc runs, he has the burst but he can't sustain it, save it for getting yourself out of trouble or around the oppo box please Jacky boy Arteta was tidy and he showed balls for the penalty, he does his job with the minimum of fuss, good player to have. Cazorla was involved in everything good as usual, even on an off day like today he still gets more of the ball than any other player.

Up front, Oxo was good on the right, what he needs is to keep his place in the team, its already very very obvious that he is a better winger than Walcott could ever hope to be, so we need to keep him there. Walcott was quiet and we are not playing to his strengths at all, we need to just start lobbing balls over to him regularly. His movement in the box was good but he needs to be more ruthless, he also won us a pen, i still think we have seen enough to suggest we should keep playing him up front, hasn't done any worse than Giroud. Podolski was dangerous in the first half but very quiet in the second.

Kudos to Wigan for a good defensive performance.

[Arsenal Tone]

^ agree with all of that

[elovic]

Hey hey! 3rd place in the table! CRISIS WHO!!!

[Arsenal~Fanatic]

Missed the game today. Was a very busy today for me. Just came back. 3 away points is great news. Just read Wigan should have got a stone wall penalty. Will go through the thread later and try and catch some highlights. Everton have also won a tough away tie at West Ham. Chelsea have a couple of games in hand Scum drew their game against Stoke. Looks like it is going to be a massive slugfest for the third and fourth places in the league. Surprisingly West Brom still hanging on to the coat tails of CL battlers.

[FourSix]

Not the best performance but we got the win. Theo through the middle on his own against 3 CBs was never going to work especially when he looks out of place starting through the middle against 2 CBs. Playing with a 3 man attack, he should be on the right and he's done well for the past 2 seasons, hopefully when Giroud is back we go back to Theo on the right, Giroud in the middle and Podolski on the left.