EPL | Chelsea vs Arsenal| 04/02/17 | 12:30 K/O (GMT)

[Sapient Hawk]

Had a family function an hour before kickoff and instructed everyone to institute a media blackout so I can watch it in solitude when I got home.

In hindsight, it would've been less painful had I asked one of my Chelsea supporting mates to provide me with a live play-by-play.

We'll go on to beat Hull but it's a hollow win as it'll help in our bid for top 4 whilst we let the title slip away in defeat yet again. To say this is disheartening is an understatement.

 

[coolaa]

To sum it up, Wenger got his picking wrong again. against teams who r physical, and when cazorla and Xhaka out, you need steel in midfield, games like this should drop Özil and play Sanchez as AM. also when we have welbeck, Perez, Walcott and ox available as wingers, we can afford to have giroud to start, because we have the wingers to fast break. And it is always wrong to have two short CB, you always need one CB who can dominate in the air, at the moment Holding is the only tradition CB(strong, height, not too slow like Per.) that we have who can do it.

We really should have started yesterday

Cech
Bellerin Holding Kos Monreal(or Gibbs)
Coquelin
Walcott Sanchez iwobi Welbeck
Giroud

ospina Gabriel mustafi Gibbs ox Perez Özil

If holding was in the game, no way Costa can won headers against him and would not lead to alonso 's goal.

With the pace of Walcott and welbeck, Chelsea wing backs cannot push up high to attack at wills. Then put on ox and Perez with their dribbling skills for Walcott and welbeck in second half when the opponent's defenders have tired legs.

Sanchez just has that energy and skills to win the balls in midfield, release to our wingers quickly and join the attack in the box again.

With Giroud in the box, he will always be a threat in the air, so our 2 full backs do not always have to push high and can just cross in, Dun think Luiz or Cahill can out jump Giroud.

Coquelin can just sit deep, and iwobi can hold the ball in midfield, perhaps second best to Carzola and Sanchez.

We definitely have the players to beat cheslea. It was only the stubborn Wenger always have to stick with one game plan, he is just tactically inept.

And Özil... He is only good in friendly games or when he is supported by 10 warriors, which we do not have.

 

[Hyruga]

I think Chelsea is a better side mentally, physically and in the technical and tactical aspects as well.

Even if Giroud play, people would still slay him by saying he can't score enough goals and Chelsea would still win or draw. Then people would ask why not put sanchez upfront?

The problem is most players are not combative enough. Eg walcott, Özil and no matter how you tweak the tactics, Chelsea is just a more superior team this season.

 

[Kroket]

At the end of the day, you can't turn up at Stamford Bridge this season with a midfield three of Coquelin, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Iwobi and expect to get away with it. Maybe it would have gone better if we had a more tactically astute manager but the gulf in quality in the middle of the park was enormous yesterday.

For all his obvious flaws and age-related decline, this team still looks like disjointed trash without Cazorla trying to pull the strings in midfield.

 

[Rimaal]

At the end of the day, you can't turn up at Stamford Bridge this season with a midfield three of Coquelin, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Iwobi and expect to get away with it. Maybe it would have gone better if we had a more tactically astute manager but the gulf in quality in the middle of the park was enormous yesterday.

For all his obvious flaws and age-related decline, this team still looks like disjointed trash without Cazorla trying to pull the strings in midfield.

Wenger is the one who decided to plunk for Xhaka instead of Kante, & Vardy instread of Kante.

If we were deficient in midfield, the blame lies with Wenger.

 

[Kroket]

Wenger is the one who decided to plunk for Xhaka instead of Kante, & Vardy instread of Kante.

If we were deficient in midfield, the blame lies with Wenger.

No disagreement from me there.

 

[bingobob]

You pissed?

I was.

 

[The_Playmaker]

Why is it always about personnel. Are people literally blind when watching Chelsea and the way Conte manages. Regardless of whether we had Ox and Iwobi in midfield, if they were instructed properly and if the team played with a defensive strategy they could still have made the difference.

A simple instruction like Ox your man is Kante when you don't have the ball for the entire game, Iwobi your man is Matic. Make sure you are on them as soon as they get the ball. Coquelin your job is to be marking nobody and pick up the players who float in front of the back four and cover if ox or Iwobi lose their man. FRONT THREE push up on their back three and stop the ball getting to their wing backs. Full backs push up on their wing backs and stop the ball getting to their wingers. Kos and MustafI be physical with Costa. The risk you take is allowing Hazard and Pedro to float. But if you are tactically astute, they wouldn't even get the ball.

 

[Vinci]

All of those games involved the opposition pressing Chelsea hard. We started with Özil out wide and clearly didn't come with any plan of pressing which is where you can catch them out on that transition from defence to attack. I had a great view of the pitch from my seat and I couldn't believe how poor our press was. It was so easy for Chelsea to play around us because when someone pushed on to challenge one of their players there was next to no support or cover. They destroyed us on the counter and we probably got lucky that they didn't have more shots on Cech's goal.

The fact that when Alexis starts pressing he often looks back at the others and gestures them to press too, tells you all you need to know.

There is no organisation to it and there are no triggers in place like when a central defender plays a sideways pass or something, for everyone to start closing down.

 

[Hunta]

The fact that when Alexis starts pressing he often looks back at the others and gestures them to press too, tells you all you need to know.

There is no organisation to it and there are no triggers in place like when a central defender plays a sideways pass or something, for everyone to start closing down.

Both our fullbacks hogging the touch line when Chelsea were set up to counter was the worst from yesterday I think.

 

[Penn_]

Gary Neville still believes he should have got the ball, because it was just a 'little crack in the face'.


He was also ranting about him in the second half when he wasn't even on the pitch.

 

[Jasard]

Gary Neville still believes he should have got the ball, because it was just a 'little crack in the face'.


He was also ranting about him in the second half when he wasn't even on the pitch.

He also said he was probably just a bit winded... Watching it live I instantly saw he was knocked out, arms straight out, didnt try and break his fall... and these ***** pundits can't see after watching from multiple angles.

 

[razörist]

Gary Neville still believes he should have got the ball, because it was just a 'little crack in the face'.


He was also ranting about him in the second half when he wasn't even on the pitch.

That's what characterless people do. Could have acknowledged that he saw it wrong the first time, instead he kept on pilling more bullshit. That's what a broken man does, hope he gets another managing job soon.

 

[SA Gunner]

What annoys me a few hours later is that Chelsea didn't even play that well. Theyre not this fantastic unbeatable footballing Everest, like for example Barca some years back. Not even a great team imo.

The same team were down at the relegation spots last year ffs.

We gave then plenty of chances to kill us on the break but they didn't take them. We got several clear cut chances, most of them thanks to poor defending from their part.

Alas

They weren't doing much until the first goal. They desperately needed that to create the space for themselves, when we pushed for the equaliser.

Once they went ahead it became easy for them. Both the situation played into their hands and the type of blunt football that Wenger wants us to play.

 

[skip spence]

The fact that when Alexis starts pressing he often looks back at the others and gestures them to press too, tells you all you need to know.

There is no organisation to it and there are no triggers in place like when a central defender plays a sideways pass or something, for everyone to start closing down.

True this. And I feel for him. It's so frustrating when you bust a gut to close down a player, get him cornered in what you think is a 2 to 1 close to the sideline but your team-mate don't bother closing in at all making it easy for the oppo to play himself out of trouble. Özil is a prime offender here.

 

[4R5Emaniac]

Looks like you learned your lesson!

**** you too, see you after the game!

I was kidding and pulling Aevius' leg!

 

[krackpot]

True this. And I feel for him. It's so frustrating when you bust a gut to close down a player, get him cornered in what you think is a 2 to 1 close to the sideline but your team-mate don't bother closing in at all making it easy for the oppo to play himself out of trouble. Özil is a prime offender here.

he should stick to the team structure, then.

The fact that when Alexis starts pressing he often looks back at the others and gestures them to press too, tells you all you need to know.

There is no organisation to it and there are no triggers in place like when a central defender plays a sideways pass or something, for everyone to start closing down.

he's not player-manager, and neither are we setup to press.

 

[Makingtrax]

I was kidding and pulling Aevius' leg!

When I compared the Chelsea and Arsenal squads in a post a few months ago to show how much stronger theirs was in quality. You rubbished my post and said they had Alonso who you'd watched a lot and was beneath our level.

Just wondered if you'd changed your mind, because he's been very strong for some weeks now, the Bellerin foul apart.

 

[Taylor Gang Gunners]

Gary Neville still believes he should have got the ball, because it was just a 'little crack in the face'.


He was also ranting about him in the second half when he wasn't even on the pitch.

I feel horrible for calling him a bottler. I was just so angry we conceded after a positive start. Not my finest hour, I'll take the hammering for that shout and all, poor from me.

Hope he's alright. The more I watch the incident the angrier I get. Marcos Alonso has a very, very punchable face and the way he had so little regard for a fellow Spaniard (who is 10x the player btw) was shocking.

Walcott also needs to cop a bit of the blame. He watched the entire situation unfold. Watched Bellerin get clattered. I'm fed up with Theo tbh, hope he's dropped next game.

 

[skip spence]

he should stick to the team structure, then.
...
he's not player-manager, and neither are we setup to press.

Like when he won the ball high up the pitch and scored the first goal when we beat Chelsea at home? (and many other similar instances) Shouldn't have done that?