Fulham 1 - 0 Arsenal: At Least the Spuds Lost…

Fulham 1 - 0 Arsenal: At Least the Spuds Lost…

Postby rvtheace » Sun Aug 24, 2008 10:24 am

Sadly, Tottenham's defeat to Sunderland is the only consolation Gunners fans can take after a dismal performance at Fulham. In their first away match of the season, Arsenal continued their spluttering start to the seaon with a defeat.

With a huge midfield contingent at the treatment table, Arsenal started the match with Denilson and Eboue in midfield. Robin van Persie and Kolo Toure were restored to starting positions. The match was played at a flat pace from the kickoff, with neither side producing anything spectacular. Arsenal dominated possession, but found it hard to get past a midfield expertly marshaled by Danny Murphy. Most of their attacks were launched down the flanks through Clichy and Sagna. Nasri caught the eye on several occasions by spinning and speeding past defenders on the left wing - he looks like a quality addition to the squad.

Ade managed to rattle a post with a header while RvP missed a golden opportunity after some good work by Walcott and Nasri. We were made to pay for our misses by Fulham's towering Hangeland when he powered past Gallas to get on the end of a Bullard corner.

The second half brought no improvement, and Denilson went from bad to worse, passing the ball almost exclusively to Fulham players. Bizarrely, he was not replaced throughout the entire match. It's hard to imagine that Ramsey or Wilshere could have done worse. Thankfully, Cesc should be back for the next match, and we can look forward to a very different Arsenal then.

The fault was not all Denilson's though. RvP produced some shocking free kicks from dangerous positions, and Theo had another ineffectual performance. On the bright side, Eboue did what he could by making some useful charges towards the end and Song had a great cameo, showing both good defense and spraying some accurate passes.

It is almost a certainty now that someone new will be joining Arsenal's midfield before the close of the transfer window, and it just remains to be seen who this long awaiting signing is. We need have no doubts that this WILL be our worst game of the season. Once we take care of Twente, Newcastle should get a taste of the real Arsenal. I hope.
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Re: Fulham 1 - 0 Arsenal: At Least the Spuds Lost…

Postby SE13 » Sun Aug 24, 2008 10:30 am

Excellent stuff. Just a shame that there are no real positives to take from the game.
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Re: Fulham 1 - 0 Arsenal: At Least the Spuds Lost…

Postby arseman » Sun Aug 24, 2008 10:42 am

Nice report

We could still be ahead of Manure if they fail to beat Pompey, so that could be another positive....
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Re: Fulham 1 - 0 Arsenal: At Least the Spuds Lost…

Postby Git » Sun Aug 24, 2008 10:54 am

Nicely done mate.
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Re: Fulham 1 - 0 Arsenal: At Least the Spuds Lost…

Postby Reverend Gooner » Sun Aug 24, 2008 12:28 pm

Nice report mate, shame about the performance.

Although the performance was unnacceptable i would add that Fulham away is not an easy game. They have beaten the top 4 teams at home at least 4 or 5 times in the last few seasons, they are like Boro and know how to do it at home.
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Re: Fulham 1 - 0 Arsenal: At Least the Spuds Lost…

Postby Arsenal_4_Life » Sun Aug 24, 2008 1:15 pm

absaloutely shocking, im so disapointed. not really sure why eboue was put in to centre mid but to be fair he probaby did a bit better than denilson. i thought nasri played quite well, probably our best player, other than adebayors header he was pretty poor, along with van persie. all in all a very upsetting day. except for the spurs game which made me smile.
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Re: Fulham 1 - 0 Arsenal: At Least the Spuds Lost…

Postby GunnGunn » Sun Aug 24, 2008 1:22 pm

Nasri and Sagna were our best players on the day, and when Song came on he totally changed the game for us, i don't know why Eboue or Denilson wern't hauled off at half time for him to come on, maybe because AW is using him in defence now :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

No positives to take really, Fulham were superb and up for it, they made some superb coups in the summer and any more performances like that and they won't be going down anytime soon.
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Re: Fulham 1 - 0 Arsenal: At Least the Spuds Lost…

Postby Cheese » Sun Aug 24, 2008 5:29 pm

Good stuff mate..couldn't bring myself to read the papers this morning but yours was good.
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Re: Fulham 1 - 0 Arsenal: At Least the Spuds Lost…

Postby sithlordwebb72 » Mon Aug 25, 2008 8:05 pm

gunngunn wrote:Nasri and Sagna were our best players on the day, and when Song came on he totally changed the game for us, i don't know why Eboue or Denilson wern't hauled off at half time for him to come on, maybe because AW is using him in defence now :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

No positives to take really, Fulham were superb and up for it, they made some superb coups in the summer and any more performances like that and they won't be going down anytime soon.


i agree great report but i would dispute Fulham were superb. they were simply less dreadful than us. haha.
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Re: Fulham 1 - 0 Arsenal: At Least the Spuds Lost…

Postby dialsquare » Tue Aug 26, 2008 7:52 am

Reverend Gooner wrote:Nice report mate, shame about the performance.

Although the performance was unnacceptable i would add that Fulham away is not an easy game. They have beaten the top 4 teams at home at least 4 or 5 times in the last few seasons, they are like Boro and know how to do it at home.



They said on the box that they had only beaten a gib four team once in the last thirteen.

How Denilson stayed on the pitch is beyond me. Whats the point in playing walcott then having a centre midfield that is incapable of finding him. So he gets taken off!?!?!
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Re: Fulham 1 - 0 Arsenal: At Least the Spuds Lost…

Postby Reverend Gooner » Tue Aug 26, 2008 1:45 pm

dialsquare wrote:
Reverend Gooner wrote:Nice report mate, shame about the performance.

Although the performance was unnacceptable i would add that Fulham away is not an easy game. They have beaten the top 4 teams at home at least 4 or 5 times in the last few seasons, they are like Boro and know how to do it at home.



They said on the box that they had only beaten a gib four team once in the last thirteen.

How Denilson stayed on the pitch is beyond me. Whats the point in playing walcott then having a centre midfield that is incapable of finding him. So he gets taken off!?!?!


Yes but i imagine 8 of those were last season.

I distinctly remember them beating Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool at least twice and us too in the last 5 or so years. I also remember some draws in that time too (at home that is). They are tough to beat at home (apart from last season).
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Re: Fulham 1 - 0 Arsenal: At Least the Spuds Lost…

Postby arsenal till i die » Tue Aug 26, 2008 7:03 pm

Reverend Gooner wrote:
dialsquare wrote:
Reverend Gooner wrote:Nice report mate, shame about the performance.

Although the performance was unnacceptable i would add that Fulham away is not an easy game. They have beaten the top 4 teams at home at least 4 or 5 times in the last few seasons, they are like Boro and know how to do it at home.



They said on the box that they had only beaten a gib four team once in the last thirteen.

How Denilson stayed on the pitch is beyond me. Whats the point in playing walcott then having a centre midfield that is incapable of finding him. So he gets taken off!?!?!


Yes but i imagine 8 of those were last season.

I distinctly remember them beating Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool at least twice and us too in the last 5 or so years. I also remember some draws in that time too (at home that is). They are tough to beat at home (apart from last season).


Yes but our team is 2 times better than Fulham unlike Chelski, Man U & Lpool's teams when they lost to Fulham & in that case we don't have an excuse! :doh:
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