Arsenal Pass, and Pass, and Pass Up A Big Chance.
Nov 5th, 2008 by 'holic
When the draw for the Champions League was made you would in all likelihood have been delighted if you could have guaranteed four points out of six from Fenerbahce. I certainly would, but like just about everybody else I was hoping for a point from the stronghold that is Istanbul, and expecting a victory at the Grove.
Having boldly and impressively grabbed all three points in the Turkish capital it was therefore frustrating to see those four points secured with a goal-less home draw that will doubtless be referred to elsewhere as a ‘damp squib’ on bonfire night.
Quite how this match remained free of goals will be something of a mystery after an opening half in which Robin van Persie could very easily have had a hat-trick. Sadly in the second-half he allowed himself to get caught up in a bit of a personal feud with the Uruguayan, Diego Lugano. A weak official did not help matters.
Most of you will have seen the contest so I’ll go into no greater detail other than to record my over-riding impression of the Arsenal performance. Where once Wengerball was a matter of getting the ball from defence to attack in as few complicated passes along the deck as possible, it has now become something less effective if more pleasing to those who value possession above all else.
Where once three or four astute and rapid interchanges and a pacy attacker would turn a problem at one end into a Gunners goal, we now take fifteen, or twenty, or twenty-five passes, to set-up, or fail to set-up, a scoring opportunity.
Somewhere between these two extremes lies the promised land, the Arsenal we all seek, the Arsenal that will take to the field full of belief, and restore confidence to a support that remained behind them tonight, but is becoming more nervous with each passing failure.
Nobody is hiding behind the fact that so many players were injured. The depth of the squad is being tested and young players are getting valuable experience. Let’s be honest as well. A lot of people have been critical of a number of those who were missing against Fenerbahce. The side should have been good enough to secure the points.
Rarely will an Arsenal side in the last dozen years have gone into a game with even the most devoted Gooners so fearful of the outcome as this coming Saturday. Those of us who have the good fortune to have tickets need to turn up the volume and let them know we are fully behind them.
The boys are starting to look like they need all the support they can get.
31 Responses to “Arsenal Pass, and Pass, and Pass Up A Big Chance.”
totally agree mate. all we can do as fans is get behind them as best we can and thats wat they need at the moment. everyone needs 2 make an extra effort on saturday to boost the team. they need all the support they can get
It goes from bad to worse. Unbelievable! One of our worst performances in Europe doesn`t exactly set us up for Saturday. Fenerbahce were poor and we should have taken them apart. Too many passes and not enough direct football, plus the fact that we seemed slow on the ball, without our usual zip. If Fergie realises how bad we really are at present, and loses the usual respect he shows us, we could be in for a real tonking. I`m considering giving the game a miss and spending my time getting quietly drunk in a non-football pub!
i love asnl but we are deluded….. wenger wont change…
Spend ur time in a non football club. Give me a break just get out there and roar for the arsenal. Im an irish gooner livin in London and the effort to see tonite’s game even in a London pub is hard enough. After being at the emirates last wednesday i understand the hurt but we all have to be strong!
“we are fatigued” says the manager.
me too!But I still go to work every day and give 100% for my really good salary! I’d be sacked if I gave less.
Then I come home and join holic for a glass of red.
cheers all here
Up the arsenal!
Get behind your team you slack prick
Many people who live overseas (myself included) would give anything to see the game on Saturday and cheer on the boys at the Emirates.
yeh i mean for goodness sake biscuitbum. wat sort of fan are u?? If one at all?! Thats precisely the attitude which simply does not help our beloved football club at the moment whatever you think of the set-up. We have to get fully behind the team as much as we can… simple as that.
One other thing 2. I’m sick and tired of everyone getting on Denilsons back. Hes not Flamini but how many other people r?!? Its not his fault hes a similar player 2 cesc and the gaffer is picking them both together. The guy is trying his best and theres nothing more we can ask of him. I actually think hes massively underated. Hes only 20 and is playing beyond his years. Whenever Ive seen him play he gives it his all, hardly ever gives the ball away and does his best to put his foot in and do his bit defensively which will only improve as he gets older and 2 me is already showing signs of improvement. He also has his fair share of goals and assists this season so get off his back! Keep going Denilson and your talent and work rate will prove your critics wrong! Potential to be serious world-class material at 25mill+ in a few years
Not sure what kind of strategy we will play against man ure, but over confidence by united may just play into our hands. My it be Vela’s coming of age game and lets cheer the lads to victory.
i couldnt see the macth last night (channels not available in pak which broadcasted it live here!!!!) one thing how was the performance of ramsey and vela (he came at 59 min..lot of time to show)….can we c him playing in saturday match…..
lastly “Biscuitbum”… I have a dream tht one day i’ll be watching game at emirates!!!!! i dint know abt how much it cost to u but it certainly goes into 6 figure in pak currency if i ever wish to visit england (btw i am saving for it)…..dont be do pacimist abt outcome….i’ll sitting at home wearing arsenal shirt for this specific game….COME ON YOU REDS
yes.. absolutely right.. we just not finishing well .. and times.. our build up play takes forever.. rvp had a good game.. but if only he had finished better.. we could have been cruising along last night.. defence was lookin good mostly.. wud have liked to see fabianski tested a lot more.. just to see if he can be upto it if he is needed this season.. maybe he would if he gets more matches.. not so confident abt almunia..
denilson.. played well.. but maybe yes.. a lil out of position for a defensive midfielder.. we need som1 strong in that position.. it would be interesting to see diaby in that position.. and see what kind of an impact he can make .. esp on fabrigas.. maybe we need more options to play wide as well.. so that diaby can be used in the middle..
im tensed about satuday.. i just cant see where the goals are gona come from.. it wud be great if vela clicks.. something i just cant understand is.. why players like adebayor and bendtner come out of their position dropping wide.. or dropping deep into the middle.. to assist the build up play.. shouldn they be gettin into positions where they could take chances on goal.. each time they come out .. isnt our build gettin delayed more and more.. and our options are gettin more limited ..
we need to get behind our team …
In india we get the live weekday matches at 1.30 a.m. Means I was awake till 3.30 a.m. Ditto with spurs match. Most often after such a match i can’t sleep. Frustration. Irritation. Anger. And next day to office. With a doubly swollen face.
silvester is a doubt 4 the man u game so we are likely to see djourou.I couldn’t watch the second half,so how did Vela play?
I don’t think our forwards move enough or draw the play as well as they could. One point last night was Clichy who came forward, won the ball back and took it towards the corner of the penalty area. We had two forwards in the box, both who were content to stand at the back stick. No-one came towards Clichy and he had no options. Another potential quick break broke down and by the time support had arrived from our midfield, the opposition had got more bodies back as well.
There is a strange ‘lazyness’ about our play at the moment. No one seems to want to come for the ball, they are static and expect it to their feet, which is not ideal when your opponents are quick at closing down the spaces.
We are 85% there, but there seems o be a lack of desire to work. That said, I though Ramsey showed some good hunger for the ball in the first 30 minutes.
Anyway, I am worried about Saturday not because I think we will lose, but because I think we wont compete. We’ll see.
A stong coffee please ‘holic.
Vela looked bright, pacy and had some good touches, but worringly he lacked support and much of what he did came to nothing.
Lets just be stronger and get behind our time; there is no better time than now to show our love and loyalty to our team and our manager. COME YOU GUNNERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ARSENAL ARSENAL ARSENAL!!!
BISCUIT BUM, CAN YOU SALE ME YOUR SATURDAY TICKET? I WILL BE GREATFUL MATE!!!!
Wot about 4-2-3-1 on sat. Back 4 whoever’s fit! Song an diaby both holding, vela, cesc an theo with bendy up front? Would hopefully give cesc a bit of room to hopefully look motivated
fans also need to show the famous mental strength and get behind the team no matter what
We will do well on sat.
Am glad for the clean sheet above all else.
there are no easy games in BPL or the CL — a point in any CL match w/o conceding a goal is good; and credit to Fenerbahce for their defending … except the free header that RVP got in 2nd half from Clichy’s cross the rest were SAVED/DEFENDED by the Fener keeper or defender … also it never felt like Arsenal will concede a goal and that’s a huge plus if you’re indeed a gunner .
Regarding Saturday , if we can sort out the right flank (Walcott available ? or Vela left and Nasri on right flank) , we can win on Saturday [provided the ref doesnt score for the red cunts].
KG,
India.
What a dickhead that biscuitbum is hey? reminds me a bit of those MAN * fans! Vocal when they are winning, anonymous when they are losing! Not go to the game?!?! whats wrong with you? ‘Holic block that user please?
Back to the game. Not the worst result, given our recent performances. Cesc had a shocker, but we are garenteed it wont happen when we play those cunts on saturday!
How about Ramsey huh? looked very comfortable and like he belongs…
Neway, thats all behind us… looking forward to Saturday….
COME ON YOU GUNNERS!!!!!!!!
Have a drink on me, ‘holic 😉
Woah boys! I didn`t think you would take me too literally. I expect to be there cheering us on as usual. I`ll save that pub for the evening.
Too late Biscuitbum – these boys have marked your card. It doesn’t pay to lace your drink with irony…
Unless that drink is irony bru.
Oh.
I’ll have a pint of Pedigree please ‘holic.
Good post Holic and I agree with the Snail post at 13. We seem to lack real sharpness at the moment. It was not that many years ago that I remember Andy Gray saying that we were so dangerous on the break that the opposition had to defend even when they had a corner. I sit at the end we were attacking in the second half. The amount of times we broke and virtually no one else followed up was unreal. Players from midfield should be busting a gut to get into the box. They came to defend. I got slightly bored looking at someone look up trying to find a red shirt in the box, only to be confronted with 7 lime green shirts and only one Arsenal shirt. That was very frustrating. Not quite sure why that is.
Fabregas and Nasri, by their standards I thought were poor last night. Cesc just looks tired to me and in need of rest. Was impressed with Ramsey. Thought he looked excellent. Showed good skill and composure on the ball. Denilson also improves game by game. It would have been a bold decision but I would have taken Cesc off lat night and moved Diaby into the middle. He worked well in that position over there.
One final point. Is there anyway us Gooners can start getting in touch with some of these radio stations and other media outlets. I am bored stiff of listening to mindless twats who should no better basically saying that Arsenal are shit, the fans are shit, the players are shit and that Arsene is shit. Talk Sport this morning with that twat Brazil was embarrassing. I am bored stiff of people saying we should have bought, Wenger should go, the players are not up for it etc etc. Correct, this is not the best spell we have ever been in. I fully agree. But reality check people. We have lost one in six. We are 4th in the league, we are top of our Champions League group and still with a lot left to play for. We have weaknesses but we have not become a bad side overnight. If Delap had not hacked Theo down, if Shawcross and not gone in on Ade’s ankle with his studs showing and him being 2 feet out of play, both would have been available for the game last night. They just may have made the difference. So lets get behind the team. Lets get on air and make sure they all know we are behind AW and lets move on.
Onwards and upwards……
Fantastic stuff Steve, thanks.
Just read on the BBC web site. Crowd at Shite Fart Lane tonight was 16,295. What a fucking joke. What the fuck do they want a 60,000 seater stadium for?????? Apparantly, if you were in the ground half hour before kick off they actually read your name out at half time!!!!!! Cheered me up no end that has.
*Barges in* Those stupid arses aint working today….. think I’ll stay here!
What Hazza said.
Pint of cider please barman.
Rum and coke ta.
Not that it matters, but the BBC website’s not saying the attendance at the shitpit last night was over 32000 – can anyone confirm, as there’s some prime mocking to be done with the spuds at work.
Cheers.
Great comments Steve. Completely agree with all you say. I’m all for constructive criticism of our team when things are not going well but I’ve stopped listening to Talksport for all the nonsense I hear. The radio station has no bounds in saying absolutely *anything* to get more listeners. The anti-Arsenal brigade are in full swing at the mo, so I’d prefer to switch back on when they’ve piped down a bit.
On the other hand, I have thought about giving it back a bit so might well pick up the phone and go for it.
I stopped listening to TalkShite about a year ago Don, and I do not miss it at all. Don’t go back, even when they have ‘piped down a bit’. it is cheap radio, paid for by the punters who are suckered into calling in to abuse presenters who are professional tosspots.