Late Drama Denies Arsenal Precious Away Win
Oct 20th, 2009 by 'holic
It is hard to know where to start after one of the strangest European ties I have seen in a long time. Straight off I have to give some respect to Ronald Koeman’s side. I doubted their ability to take the lions share of possession tonight, and for over half an hour they did just that. A pie with a particularly humble filling was being readied for the oven.
However well they knocked it around though, there was no end product and not even a sniff of a goal to show for it. On their occasional forays Arsenal looked the more likely to strike. Both Robin van Persie and Andrei Arshavin had gone close before the goal that seemed to transform the contest.
Not surprisingly the Russian and Dutchman were instrumental in setting up Cesc Fabregas for the simplest of tap-ins. The home side suddenly lost their early confidence, and surely were ripe for the taking. On home soil, Robin van Persie was unlucky not to add to his tally when Romero somehow deflected a fierce drive just over the bar without knowing a great deal about it.
Yet the second-half was to prove something of a mirror image to the first. Romero again denied van Persie from a well struck free-kick as Arsenal appeared to be putting a stranglehold on the points. However a spate of substitutions, most notably the introduction of the Italian, Pelle, gave AZ a physical presence up front for the first time.
All of a sudden some old Arsenal failings were appearing. The vulnerability to set pieces lofted into the box being the main one. Diaby, otherwise excellent, once again caused havoc in his own area and chested just over the bar. Another free-kick was diverted wide of the post with not a defender in sight. Then came the injury time sucker punch.
I have to say one thing here. Alex Song was once again outstanding tonight, mopping up all sorts of danger in front of Vermaelen and Gallas, both of whom would score highly in any measure of individual performance tonight. Sadly though it was Song who lost concentration at the final free-kick and it was his man, da Silva, who applied the finishing touch to a straightforward header down into the box. He might reasonably have expected one of his central defenders to be there covering the space in front of goal.
The scoreline was probably fair enough if considered against the ninety minutes as a whole. After half an hour I told the management a draw would be a good result. After half-time I expected us to win handsomely. There might have been a lucky outcome for the ‘holic pound if a late challenge on Carlos Vela had been rightly punished. Claims for a penalty looked a tad optimistic, however. He looked to be outside the area.
Given the luxury of half an hour of reflection it has to be said that the equaliser tonight will be forgotten if we win the return fixture at the Grove in a fortnight, and Olympiacos take at least a point in Liege. We will then be through with two games to spare. You cannot qualify quicker.
A check of the fixtures that follow those last two group stage fixtures (Chelsea at home and Liverpool away) should be sufficient motivation to get those all important three points in two weeks time.
47 Responses to “Late Drama Denies Arsenal Precious Away Win”
Is there any team that concedes more goals than us with fewer shots on goal?
It almost makes me not too worried about us leaking goals because it really can’t be too difficult to fix. Of course I hope we fix it before we lose an important game.
But we played well tonight. We defended well until that goal. We should have kept the ball a bit better in midfield.
It’s the Champions League. A point away from home is far from being a bad result.
“Diaby, otherwise excellent, once again caused havoc in his own area and chested just over the bar. ”
Blimey, how tall is this fella?
Ball ricocheted off him (Diaby).
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I wouldn’t say I’m happy, but.. erhm… happy enough.
Really strange tie but result that we have to be content with on a night when Barcelona and Liverpool both lost at home.
I respect AZ because they apparently found a way to counter Arsenal without kicking the living shit out of our players. They went for back-passing and frustrating which really worked in the beginning because when we finally got hold of the ball we always tended to rush things.
It like the perfect medicine for a “lesser” team against The Arsenal at the moment, not even going for counter-attacks but just set-pieces. It frustrates and it still gives enough chances to grab a draw, and at the same time minimizes the risk for a sending off and (of course) Arsenal counter-attacks. Most of all it doesn’t give us that as many chances to score from range as backing off and parking the bus.
Boring, but I’d still say it was a non-violent and effective way of countering us, which should earn some respect.
With that said, it was still very boring football of our opponents and it can only be good for us to meet this kind of battle plan in a tie that doesn’t matter _that_ much. Sooner or later somebody would try this against us in the league and the more experience we get with this particular tactic the better.
Of course, I can criticize things here and there, but ‘holics blog is not the place to do that. I’m an Arsenal fan first and foremost. We got a point away from home, we kept our unbeaten run, we got three more games to sew this up and fucking hell, we had an injury list that could probably take on and win Liverpool in the Carling Cup.
Far from fully happy but hey, let’s all grab a drink or two, relax and look forward to us beating West Ham with the likes of Bendts and Rosicky back (I’m guessing) and hopefully even Nasri on the bench.
Keep the faith everyone and keep supporting the team and each other!
/Toby
Same old,same old whenever we meet a half decent side in europe we are in trouble.This game epitomises for me why we will never win a trophy with this team,complacency and lack off urgency and a down right arrogance and laziness,They Are not hte DOGS BOLLOCKS they are a team with no back bone and folds as soon as decent team shows them up.They havnt won zilch and been showed up several times and still they think they can be allowed to be complacent,rubbish guys.
Toby, anyone who explains themselves as well as you can criticise all they like. I’ve always had time for people who don’t always share my view here if they are reasoned. The ones who come on here and just abuse manager and players aike without any good argument are the ones who get my goat.
I must confess to a certain frustration myself tonight, but given the way we have played over so many weeks now I am not going to chuck my toys out of the pram over one minor setback.
…and as if by magic, look what appears…
Danish: You make it sound like we lost 3-0. We drew away from home. We cannot win every game and it would be absurd for anyone to think so ergo if you are going to have a hissy fit (how is Gallas-Vermaelan-Song-Cesc-Van Persie not a great backbone?) every time we draw you must not be capable of supporting any football team happily.
Barca lost today, at home, to relative minnows. You want lack of urgency, see Liverpool. We are on an unbeaten run, top of our European league and considering the timing of when we play Liverpool are still very much in the running in all competitions.
Yeah Toby that is a very good write-up sir.
whenever we meet a half decent side in europe we are in trouble
Like, erm, Real Madrid you mean? Or, erm, AC Milan? No, Inter Milan? Bollocks, Juventus then? No, fuck it, Villareal? Shit, no, Roma?
Stuff it, you win π
Danish, did you eat some dogs bollocks in your steak pie tonight? Sounds like you have a severe dose of indigestdignation going on there. And that’s never a good thing, as Snail, or even Mrs Snail, will tell you.
Holic, its hard to add much to your posts. You summed the whole thing up very nicely and your almost completely aligned with the way I saw it. You gave Mr Diaby a higher rating than I would have done, but otherwise your good to go.
Frankly, if the game had finished one second before their equaliser, I don’t think there would have been one whisper of criticism. Arsenal never got into top gear, appeared never to need to really. Had it been one nil to The Arsenal, we’d be complimenting them for being a clever bunch of lads, conserving their energy for the Hammers on Sunday. The final punch was indeed a sucker. Will it change the outcome of the group? No. Arsenal will qualify on top.
Now, where’s my dogs bollocks, kidney and guinness pie, wife? Time’s a wastin’.
Until Sunday, ‘Holics.
This is definitively our season, it has to be. We looked uninvolved, we’re playing without grit all along and that attitude would have left us defeated last year. This year we get a draw and only because the referee went blind when Carlos “Magic” Vela was fouled in the area. Our players need to be reminded that determination is the way to get what we all want and the lesson had been received without any damaging consequences. On to West Ham now, we absolutely need to win that one.
It’s been a most interesting night. The small teams are being much more competitive all over Europe. It looks like anyone could win the CL this year if it wasn’t for us….
More seriously, we’re witnessing the sunset falling over a great club. Now it looks very likely that Pool will not make it to the CL’s quarterfinals this season and will be very lucky if they clinch a Europa Cup spot in May (but they won’t). With the financial strain already on the club and the feuds between owners and with the manager all the ingredients for a liverpudlian nuclear winter are there. Let’s just hope they can delay it one more game…
And of all our young prodigies Vela is our best hope for the future. Every time we see him the kid is pure class!
could have won, should have won. But that’s life. I can’t remember Vito had to make one important safe before the goal. So we did hod them off our goal well enough, for 92 minutes.
Should have had a clear penalty but that’s also a part of life.
It was the CL and when you see the results tonight we can feel rather good.
I wouldn’t like to be a beach ball in the Liverpool area.
Blogs are a fascinating social experiment. Danish Gooner has been roaming for years on almost all Arsenal blogs (and there are so many of them!) spouting the same negative senseless rants again and again, universally drawing contempt and ire on himself and yet everytime there is a bump on the road here he is again.
Of course he won’t reply because he’s already hopped on to the next blog to copy/paste his tripe. But DG I am dying to know what makes you so bitter. What’s the point of calling yourself a gooner and get so excited every time we don’t win to the point that you have to tell the whole 50 Arsenal blogs over and over? I read way too many blogs and there are quite a few nutters among us commenters but you belong to the top. Is that your way of achieving something in life?
“Itβs been a most interesting night. The small teams are being much more competitive all over Europe. ”
Maybe Platini was/is right. The playing field certainly is starting to level again, or at least not look out of reach for all but a handful of clubs.
Also tonight may have been the sunset falling over 1 club but tomorrow will be another! Milan look in a worse state than Liverpool, and that is really saying something. Shucks to both of them though, you run your club badly, it’ll come back to haunt you.
Would Flamini and Hleb get in todays team ahead of Song and Denilson? I’ve lost track, is Flamini getting in Milan’s team, playing for France?
Well people I am far from happy and I am going to chuck some toys about. Like everyone who frequents this fine establishment I am an Arsenal fan first and foremost. But I am going to critise.
In my opinion we hardly got out of first gear. We were lack luster at the weekend. We were even more lethargic this evening. AZ kept the ball and passed it very nicely at times. But they posed no threat whatsoever. The impression I was given is that the players soon realised that and just sat back and waited for the inevitable Arsenal goal rush to ensue. However, poor balls in the final third and a general lack of inventiveness resulted in fewer chances than there should have been. For me, we were neither sharp in front of goal nor clinical enough. How many times did Cesc hit free kicks into the box straight at the keeper???? I lost count.
Then, the same old story. Big lump comes on followed by big balls and we are all over the place. We nearly conceded minutes earlier with a similar long ball effort. Then the goal. I am not hugely bothered by the fact that we lost the first header. I am only marginally bothered by the fact that we were defending far too deep. What does bother me is that there were there AZ players making runs for the second ball and not one was tracked. Unlucky for Song that he happened to be in shot as the eventual scorer ran passed him but as I said, could have been anyone 1 from 3.
For me we have one big problem that we need to address. The back 4 look very solid. Song has come on leaps and bounds in the holding role. But everyone else in midfield plays in a very forward role. Watch next time and see how teams break against us. You have the back 4 doing their jobs. Song then appears just in front of them to add extra bite and cover. And then what???? There is a massive gap where all that all the attack minded midfield players have left. It is something we need to address.
The other really frustrating thing for me is the fact that the free kick they scored with came from an Arsenal off side. How the fuck can we be offside from a big clearance with 45 seconds remaining???? Schoolboy error.
I hate coming on here and moaning but I am getting really frustrated. I see a side that is full of real talent. Top quality players and I really do believe they have the ability to go on and win things. Not just this season but for many season to come. But we are being undone by really silly errors and one day it will really cost us. For me it is time just to wake up a little bit. If we are a bit more disciplined we will end up taking all 3 points from a game like that. That, in my humble opinion is the difference from sides that are nearly there and those that end up with trophies. The frustrating thing for me is that I honestly believe we are not that far away.
Keep the faith.
Sorry, one last thing. Interesting to see AW stick with Vito in goal. I wonder if we will have another Lehman Almunia situation again???
Annoying setback though it may be, it is an away draw in Europe against the Dutch champions. Not what I wanted or what I expected having lead for so long, however I do think this will be forgotten come the latter stages of this competition. Right now I hope the players use this result as a wake up call ahead of derbies on both sides of the kids v Liverpool (and hopefully Samir’s return) before AZ come to the Grove. For the reasons you’ve given above ‘holic, and other result permitting, it is essential we put qualification to bed asap.
Spot on about Milan. It looks like the Prime Mobster has overgrown his toy club and without his millions they look ordinary. But at least they have no debt. If he gets out now, he will leave them in a better shape than they were when he came in and he’s made them Europe’s best team for well over a decade. And Milan can survive comfortbly mid-table for a sustained dry spell.
On the other hand Liverpool is drowning in debt, still do not have a europe elite-worthy stadium and honestly have a poor squad with only 2.5 players of quality in it. The club is entering a spiral of devaluation with the owners incapable to let go in time or invest to revert the trend. It happened to Newcastle (16th club on the 2008 rich list) and it’s happening now at Liverpool. Given the trend, anyone with a business sense will wait until the club is worth half of what is asked today.
Anyway I recommend you read the LFC forums these day. A lot of quality entertainment for free π
SteveT: What’s worse: drawing away at AZ or losing at home to Rubin Kazan? The result is certainly disapponting but I don’t think it warrants “getting really frustrated”. Re-read BTM’s comment: if the referee had seen the foul on Vela, it would have been a different result but the exact same effort form the players. Now if we have the same attitude in the home game against AZ then yes that would be frustrating. I’m pretty sure we won’t.
That said I agree with you, Song is the only midfielder bothered to defend which is why we miss Denilson despite having so many gifted midfielders.
Time for a quick bourbon. Or maybe a whisky sour. Or a Manhattan, something bitter is more appropriate tonight.
Can’t resist, it’s too much fun:
Right seriously when is the punchline to this fecking joke going to be revealed because this is really starting to take the piss?
Absoltely terrified now – can we really turn this round? The mid-field is S**t and I’m a positive person!!!!
United on Sunday is going to be a crunch tie. I’m dreading it at the moment. We could be hammered.
We were dire. We need to sort it out immediately, or we’ll be torn apart by the manc scum. And that’s something I will not handle well.
Just looked at the table. If we beat Fioritina 5-0 we can still make it.
Not our day/night for the past 4 games? No we were shocking in the second half. I can see the scum tearing us apart from sunday if we played this badly.
I’m all for not giving up on everything early, but we have now lost 4 games in a row, and don’t even look close to turning it around.
Man U will rip us apart if we play like we have the last two games. Nevermind 4-1. It’ll be 5-nill. I didnt even laugh when the ref fell over when they scored. Shocking.
I can’t remember going through a harder time as a Liverpool fan than this. Proper heavy on the head. Not sure what to do. I feel all I can do is just hope, that is all. I hope we get things right on Sunday. I’m a worried lad right now.
And this is just from the first page of the thread. I know I should not but when I remember how arrogant they were last year while they were chasing United, I just can’t stop laughing now…
“When you walk through a storm,
Hold your head up high,
And don’t be afraid of the dark.
At the end of a storm,
There’s a golden sky”
Hahahahahahahaha !
Matt,
I take your point but I am not really that bothered with what others do. I am more concerned about us. I get frustrated because I think we have made several basic errors this season and it has cost us. If we drop points to a better team then fine. But let’s be honest here. We are all being nice to AZ but if we are serious about winning this or any competition then we should be knocking sides like that into the middle of next week.
I am not really that bothered about the pen. The game should have been over and done with long before then. We can look back at hundreds of games and say what if? We have no control over the officails. We do have control over the way we perform.
I want us to be ruthless again. I want us to show the rest of Europe we really mean business. Tonight we failed to do that.
My frustration is born out of the fact that we have gifted far too many goals this season, and quite frankly it should not happen. If this was a one off then I could accept it. It is now time to eradicate these basic errors and move on.
That is why I get frustrated.
Steve: on your 2 points
1) Teams can’t be 100% all the time, 20 of our players came back from the international break, this was against a minnows team and (again!) we have a lot of injuries so the same players are always on the pitch. Bad spells are bound to happen. Last season the bad spells were littered with losses, it seems this season we’ll have to do with nervy wins and a few draws. As long as the bad spell does not last, it’s not a problem. Let’s hammer the hammers and we’ll be back on tracks.
2) As for the defense, it’s AW’s choice to have Song assuming the defensive effort. I think it will not work against good teams unless Denilson is playing alongside or possibly Nasri (to be proven). But in between injuries and the ACN we won’t see a more assured midfield until well in the second half of the season. I’m afraid we better get used to ship stupid goals until then.
While a disappointing result I must say I was impressed with AZ’s style and quality of play given the size of the club and their budget. Are there any AZ players we could look at in the future…Dembele?
SteveT: the connection between Song and the rest of the team forwards is going to be Nasri or it was Denilson. Do you not see how much we miss Denilson? He is always linking up play, he was extremely important. Nasri can do that too cause unlike the amazing yet horribly frustrating oaf called Diaby, he has discipline and footballing intelligence. So Nasri can be the player to help connect Song and the offensive. Like Denilson does, but with better dribbles. (but not as good defensively)
Steve:
This team is coming leap and bounds this season.
A champion team is one that wins matches even when they play bady, Man Utd are a classic example of it.
We are getting there(Man Utd are moving away from it), like the fulham game for example. For this we need a spark, and solidness in the defence. There are atleast five players who can give that spark up ahead and produce that one moment of brilliance to win the match.
And like Matt said the solidness in the back required for this will take time and hope it does by the 2nd half. But we are quite there. Diaby’s Manu goal, Micah going past Song to put a sublime cross to put ManC ahead are worries. But hey, even Essien gifted Iniesta in last years Semis. This happens, but the freq of mistakes is declining…and declining very fast. So it’s a great sign…especially when Rio Terry Carra and Carvalho are making blunders equal or worse than this..CHEERS!!!
Patience friend and this team will be a world beater….Wenger is not an idiot…!!!
Gents, I take all your points on board. However, what I am trying to say is simply this. We make too many basic, silly mistakes that gift goals. I can hardly remember a goal this season that the oppostion has scored through their good play. This is not a one off. My fear is quite simply this, that all the hard work and great attacking play will be worth nothing as long as we continue to switch off as we did lat night.
The team is coming on leaps and bounds. We can become world beaters but we need to sort this out. I guess I am frustrated because I know we are better than those errors show. We have not been outplayed once this year but we are sometimes our own worst enemies.
Haho. Don’t agree re Nasri. He is another attack minded player and will not fill the space that causes us problems. I agree completely re Denilson. I am a big Denilson fan. Her does so much of the scruffy stuff that goes completely unnoticed until he is missing.
A few back to basics sessions on the training ground is all it will take. I just want us to stop pressing the self destruct button before it really costs us.
Keep the faith.
The thing seems to me that last season we’d be giving away 5 chances and teams would score from possibly 1, due to a lax midfield. Now we are giving away one or two and they are guaranteed to score! Now we are defending from the front, teams aren’t breaking through us as much and that is to be applauded. But yes we must figure out set pieces – we won’t stop playing ridiculously beautiful and attacking football if we spend some time in training on it! – and counter attacks. Denilson was so vital in his ‘Insivible Wall Mk. 2’ role in my opinion that he should be the 4th name on the team sheet (Cesc, RVP and Vermaelan looking slightly more important).
Matt: Ha, A+. There is little more I hate in football – well except the rapists, racists, homophobes and sexists – than fans who think with self-importance, absolute disrespect and that their teams ‘deserve’ to do well. So fuck ’em. Let ’em squirm. Every year is ‘their’ year come August and I cannot abide such arrogance (except when Real Madrid do it, because they make it fun) and it really doesn’t hurt to see them humbled a little bit. I listened to 606 yesterday for the LOLs and someone texted in saying ‘oh poor liverpool fans, try supporting ipswich’ and that is totally how I feel about supporters of big clubs who get pissy everytime something ‘bad’ happens. (This is a large reason of why I cannot be fucked with lots of Arsenal fans these days. Stay humble and our successes will be much sweeter, imo.)
There is not a great deal we can really say about last night, firstly we never looked like we clicked and played our football. Secondly I’m sorry but how many passes did AZ’k keeper received? To say that they passed the ball especially in the first half backwards better than us is ludicris and finally they got lucky to say the least and we weren’t on top form either.
These away Chapions League fixtures can be very tricky, as we already witnessed against Standard Leige, but the lads showed determination and courage in that one. We didn’t pass the ball very well against AZ, especially in the final third and giving away free kicks on offsides 45 seconds from final whistle is just plain dumb.
I don’t think we can critise the team and our manager too much here, looking at what happened to Rangers, Liverpool and Barcelona speaks volumes. I’m sure we will out play them at the Grove on 4th of November which is the day I was born, so I expect nothing else but an absolute thrashing.
I think we missed Walcott badly yesterday, his pace could have proven the missing link and Bendtner as he can hold on to the ball well and cut inside too.
Other than that we sit top of the group, another win will take us through.
Watch out for Man U and Chavs tonight, I reckon Man U will loose in Moscow and Chavs will have it tough against Atletico Madrid.
Bring on the Hammers on Sunday I think it’s more important game than the onelast night.
New dawn, new day.
Well, it’s not really dawn anymore, but I did oversleep for a bit after those lagers yesterday.
First of all I just want to clarify some small things. Holic, I didn’t mean to imply that you don’t allow people to criticize here. It’s just that I have, in this bar, found an area almost completely devoid of crap (with some exceptions…) and rather full of optimism and I’d just like to do my own bit for it to stay that way. Even when we don’t all agree on the itty bitty details the discussions is always on a very respectable level – which brings me to the second thing I’d just want to clarify – that I do not want to steal the “being an Arsenal fan” and using it as a badge for people who blindly accepts any performance. We gooners _care_ and that does sometimes result in midweek toy-tossing but we come together towards that sunday kickoff.
I really do echo some of your sentiments Steve T, most notably the one about Cescs free-kicks and corners. He is our Capt’n Fabtastic and we love him to bits, so he should be able to step down from set-piece duty for a while (Shava instead!) without any hard feelings.
In the end we never got out of first gear it’s just that, in contrast to what Danish Gooner wrote, I can’t see it as a sign of laziness. And we’ve all seen this team lazy, it’s not just what I saw. I saw them having trouble dealing with a team that did not just try to slow down the game, but rather slow it down to a halt. Again – boring tactic, but it worked.
Steve T, like you, I really hoped we would deal with it better, but since we didn’t I’m going for the “their only human” train of thoughts (this time) and chuckling at you chucking your toys with quite a lot of style! Cheers!
Oh, barman, something, anything please. And something for Mr. Samuel as well for the kind words.
On a second thought, cancel that drink (for me not for ol’ Sam!). Read through my post and found an unacceptable number of misspellings.
Lastly, reason for me to clarify little things like these are (like “being an Arsenal fan”) is because I’m intending to hang around this bar until it’s bought up and replaced with a sushi bar, so I’d rather explain how I see things like this early so we can avoid misunderstandings further down the line.
Wakes up. Reads overnight updates. Purrs contentedly regarding growing awareness of what a superb young player Denilson is. Wonders if Chris THA (The Hawking Arse) still prays over on his site that Denilson will be injured or otherwise unavailable. Goes off to another day of fun and frolics in the office.
Matt you support Liverpool and whines and then you dare accuse me off being sad and having a hissy fit.
If we are as good as Wenger always claim we are, we are obliged to turn teams like Alkmaar on their heads.I for the life off me cant remember when we smashed a great team in Europe,Forget Milan they were crap everytime we have faced a top side on their best form in Europe we have been smashed,We have lost to English sides everytime we faced them,Pool,Manure And Chelsea and the list off underachievemnt is long,losing to a dire Eindhoven side get smashed by Munchen etc,the list is endless off poor european results
Good stuff all. I wouldn’t take issue with anyone. I think we all appreciate there are issues that need addressing but also that the side cannot produce at a consistently stellar level for fifty or sixty games. We will get games like Fulham and last night, and as long as we continue to get results from them, that’s fine. I think there is a noticeable difference in application by the side in games like last night when compared to some of the well-documented disasters last season. As long as they are putting it in I am going to be behind them and upbeat about our prospects.
Oh dear. Mr Happy is back π
Patience FOLKS!!!! We’re almost there!!!!!
Dont listen to Danish Gooner!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He will come back smuggingly when The Gooners win something this year!!!!!
The thing that struck me about the game was how incredibly lackadaisical everyone seemed, playing with so little energy and urgency. We got no more than we deserved.
No it’s not a disaster. Liverpool and Barca lost at home, while Inter drew at home, so I don’t think gooners should be terribly upset about this. Just annoyed and a little concerned.
It’s really striking how Arsene has refused to start Almunia. Choosing an inexperienced, 3rd choice keeper for an away CL game when your #1 is available is a pretty strong statement.
I am a little concerned, however, about this record AW has with Koeman. AW still can’t beat him. And remember Koeman did beat us at home in the CL.
BTW, Eboue dived — AGAIN! AW seriously needs to have a talk with him.
“Sounds like you have a severe dose of indigestdignation going on there. And thatβs never a good thing, as Snail, or even Mrs Snail, will tell you.”
BtM, I had no idea you were a medical man, but you are quite correct here.
Snail, don’t tel me you are surprised at the depth of expertise exhibited by ‘holics? π
Evening All,
One change I would love to see that would help our defending on corners (less so on free kicks perhaps) would be to leave an attacker (AA,RvP,CV but ideally TW or AT as they are so quick) in the centre circle or out wide on the halfway line and everyone else defends as before.
I believe this would have a number of benefits:
1. it would keep two or more opposition defenders (who are usually good at heading) occupied with thoughts of a fast break and they would not go in for headers etc
2. it would mean less bodies in the box so that our goalie is less liley to be impeded getting to the ball
3. Less confusion in the box and therefore better man marking (one less Arsenal body is going to make little difference)
4. we could keep a higher line which I think we prefer
5. the opposition would have little time to set up to defend
The moment the goalie gets the ball he plays it to the man who bombs forward and either waits for support or goes for goal.
Fast breaks used to be so productive for us and although we are getting back the knack I believe the above approach would really work for us.
What do you think?
I have been an AW admirer since his Monaco days (remember Weah?) and as long as I remember his teams always had the same characteristics. He brings in unknown players and soon enough gets them to play breathtaking wengerball, the kind of football that’s like a drug. As soon as the final whistle is blown you start craving the next game. And your expectations build up, the magic of intricate passes becomes the norm and caviar football is the standard. That’s when they fall from grace, looking pedestrian. And it’s horribly infuriating, you know they can play so much better, you’ve seen it so many times, this is what you’re used to. How can they fall so low? Well actually they don’t, they just played like any other team. It’s the height of the fall that makes it so hard to take.
Contrast with United: they scrape many (most?) of their wins. United rhymes with “late goal” and “extra-time”. Once in a while they play some fast attacking football but most of the time they’re just tactically disciplined (the most italian of english clubs with Chelski) and plan to make the difference late in the game when the opposition is tiring. But they are very constant, equal. There’s vere little difference between a winning United game and a draw. If things go against them they just get over it the next game, they know that statistically it will work. And it works well for the supporters too: they can’t really complain too much, after all a draw could easily have been a win, the team always plays more or less at the same level with little variations.
In those early days I felt so let down when Monaco or Arsenal (under AW) had average games. But then I realised that even the best teams of this decade, also the most enjoyable to watch, namely the Invincibles and Barca did fall flat in a season at unexpected times. It just has to happen. And it’s always hard to take because the contrast with the previous game where they atomised some poor bastards is really stark. If it happened to the Invincibles (the team of the century) it will happen to any other attacking team. Those occasional but heavy let-downs are the price to pay for being priviledged to support a team that plays beautiful football.
The AZ game was nothing else, just the random occasional lapse.
Oh and this is definitively the best Arsenal blog. Thank you for inviting us ‘Holic!
Sorry for being so prolific today, I’ve downed an experimental Irish bourbon earlier and it does the job…
Toby, you make several very valid points. My toy chucking is just because this is not the first time we have leaked stupid goals. Citeh, The Mancs, Blackburn, Birmingham etc etc….. Cut those out and we are more than up there. And my nippers will not wake up in the morning wondering why on earth their toy collection is in such a state!!!!! Onwards and upwards.
A nice drop of 6X for me tonight holic. Just to take the edge off.
Keep the faith.
Matt and Steve, you can be as prolific as you like. Now, 6X eh? Someone knows I am not far from Wadworths and the pint will not be stale π