Arsenal v Aston Villa. 01/03/08 3pm

[kooldawg]

Our counter attacks stopped being effective a while ago. Thats partly the reason we have failed to break down defenses because of a lack of options up front on the break or just because our mid fielders keep passing the ball straight to opposition players.

 

[Lancelot]

And it's really sad watching our counter attack isn't half as effective as villa's.

That was bound to happen though, Bojed.

Aston Villa would have suffered the same thing as we did if they were us. Counter-attacking always favours the team whose primary tactic is to defend well and make it tight at the back.

 

[outlaw_member]

outlaw_member, how old are you?

how old are you kiddo?

Old enough to know better. Older than you. Please stop arguing nothing disagreements. Getting the last word is not as important as it may first seem...

Is that words from a wise man, that I am hearing? Can you relate or something?

 

[Alfonso]

We have went from being one of the most devastating counter attacking teams in the world to being one of the most clueless in a matter of a few years. For Henry, Vieira and the others it was a natural instinct, but the players now look clueless when they are in space and on the counter. Wrong options are frequently chosen, passes are slack and players aren't making the right runs. I never expect anything of our counters these days, whereas a couple of years ago I expected a goal from almost every single one.

I think due to the massive amount of pressure on us today we couldnt really get out counter attacks going today, hence why I said we practically chocked.

 

[EMIR8_SOLDIER]

The service Adebayor got today was appalling, you cant blame everything on him today.

We need Rosicky and van Persie, we're sinking but our heads are still above the water, if those 2 come back and hit the ground running then I feel we can do it. Infact, why the negativity? Man Utd still have to play us, Liverpool and Chelsea dont they?

Grow up guys

Post of the day

Grow up guys, results are results

Theres no need explaining if and why, weve been s**t last 2 weeks but were still top. Villa deserved all 3 points but we can not win every game, this ais a team that got a result at anfield and stamford bridge
We put ourselves in this crap but lets wriggle out of it, now come on fellow gooners

Enjoy the rest of your day

If your depressed take a few days rest from football but being sulky clunges just makes this place even worse
Rubs off bad vibes onto others


UP THE ARSENAL!!!!!!!!

 

[IBL]

Just got back from the match, what an absolute horror show. Few notes:

Hleb was woeful, his passing was off and lost balls numerous times - worst player out there for us. Cesc was also poor, I'm worried at how these two are performing at the moment. Since getting his haircut Ade has become a shadow of his previous self, I dont think he had an attempt on target today and his link up play was only slightly better than Hleb's. Walcott was our only player to test their keeper and he had good phases in the game, however he needs to sort out those floating crosses...either too far or too flat.

Collectively we were all over the shop, overall Villa were the better team and gave us more problems. They were organised and their huge defenders ate up everything we threw at them. We're not showing the forms of potential champions at the moment and the most worrying aspect, we're starting to creak and we need a gigantic improvement from everyone, a fit again Robin might be that extra boost we need at this point.

On a side note - those Villa fans are absolute ****! I was sitting right next to them and the bastards sang the Eduardo song several times. I was contemplating leaving a little early because I couldnt bear to watch them celebrate a win in our backyard but I'm glad I stayed to the very end just to see their mugs.

The two positives that we can take from this game is that we didnt lose and we're still top

 

[Alfonso]

Just heard Wenger's post match interview. He said we had a hangover from the Brum game. But why a hangover? THe players shouldnt be feeling sorry for themselfs at this stage, and instead should used todays game as a '**** you' to all our critics. We had one week to get last sat game out of our system as well. So looks like dropping those two points at the death last week did more harm than I thought. Im not that pissed off with todays result, it just makes last weeks result stand out more because if we won last week im sure we would have won today as Villa wouldnt have smelt blood and we would have been more free to play our game. In effect, that last min pen last sat has cost us 4 points.

 

[stiiphunn]

Highly frustrating game today. 3 points were needed and imo a draw isn't a good result at all.
But credit to the lads for fighting till the last minutes when most of the fans had already given up.

A few -negative- thoughts on the game:
-Diaby clearly wasn't good enough today but in his defence he just got back from injury so needs a little time to get back.

-At the start of the season I mentionned on this forum that our lack of quality wingers was going to cost us this season. So far I've been proved wrong big time by the lads. But looking at today's game and at other games, you can see that something's not right. Everytime the ball gets to the wing the whole move just stops, and the opponents have time to reorganise their team.
In that regards, if I were Wenger I'd be looking for a quality right winger for next season.

-Cesc is starting to worry me. Ever since his injury he's been poor overrall. People though that was because of the 4-5-1 but switching back to 4-4-2 has not done any miracles.

On a more positive note I think Theo deserves a special mention. Not anything spectacular but did a few good things which is encouraging.

Anyway, we now have the AC Milan game and I'm really looking forward to it. I can see us coming up with a huge performance in Italy.

 

[JazzG]

We also need to make sure RocktheCasbah doesn't start any more matchday threads, he is jinxing us!

 

[True Gooner]

We also need to make sure RocktheCasbah doesn't start any more matchday threads, he is jinxing us!

:shock

 

[Alfonso]

Im shocked to see no one has opened up the Senderos thread today after his own goal. To be fair apart from that he was pretty soild and has been for the past few games. Wenger's got a tough decision ahead of the Milan game though if Toure is indeed back.

 

[Sammer]

Anyone noticed, that we are again one-dimensional in attack.

Where the whole team used to look for the "Henry-pass" a year ago, we are now constantly looking for Adebayor. Nobody else wants to take responsibility.

Time for RvP to come back.

 

[Mbaki Mutahaba]

And it's really sad watching our counter attack isn't half as effective as villa's.

That was bound to happen though, Bojed.

Aston Villa would have suffered the same thing as we did if they were us. Counter-attacking always favours the team whose primary tactic is to defend well and make it tight at the back.

Good Post. People forget "Counter Attack" is primarily based on the word attached. We have to be attacked and in some numbers to counter. Committing two people and losing the ball..doesn't allow counters. At the emirates unless we score first..the other teams will most likely have more threatening counter attacks than us unless they completely refuse to go up. Its the price you play for other teams thinking you can play better and more effective overall football than them.

 

[HollandGooner]

Wenger: 'We had a hangover from last week definitely'

on the performance ...
"We had a hangover from last week definitely - you could see that in the first-half. We needed to dig deep to find the pace of the game. In the second-half we were a little bit better but lacked that spark. The reason we got a point today was the desire and the refusal to lose."

on the strength of Aston Villa ...
"Aston Villa were a difficult opponent who defended very well and who were sharp on the break. I must say they are a team with very robust players and you feel always they expose your defenders to the physical challenge - in a fair way but in a way that can be dangerous for you. They take advantage of every mistake. Up front, too, they are a handful.

"I must say that I was impressed by Villa. Until the last minute they didn't give us any space, or time on the ball and they are team who are very difficult to beat."

on the title race ..
"I believe the point we gained today will have a big impact on the Premier League, and staying top helps. You know you go through a spell like that and I believe that the point gained can have vital importance.

"For the observers we will not be favourite and Manchester United will be but I believe that we are top, a point in front, have just one game all season and me maybe in a bad spell at the moment but we will bounce back and I am confident we will do it. That point today can make a big difference.

"The momentum is with Manchester United so people will say they are favourites but of course for me Arsenal are favourites."

on Adebayor not scoring ...
"We want to be successful and it is important the responsibility is shared by the players and other players score. That is why I am not worried because if the team plays well Adebayor will score again."

on getting players back ...
"At the moment we need to get our players back. We have Tomas Rosicky and Robin van Persie who are out and in the context of today you would like to have those players with you and hopefully we can get them back very quickly.

He (Van Persie) might be in squad for Tuesday but certainly won't start. We will asses him on Monday morning."

on the reported 'Eduardo' chants by Villa fans ...
"You expect better from people who come to football stadiums. It looks that intelligence and stupidity can have no limits. Unfortunately stupidity has won."

 

[GUNNERS4L1FE]

Well Just got back from the game. **** me what a frustrating afternoon. Thank you bendtner for saving my weekend.

 

[dutchMasta]

Damn, C. Davies ruptured his achilles, seems like he'll be out for a while. Arsenal games nowadays are bad news.

 

[go49oner]

Was just watching our game on MOTD and how ****ing embarrassing was it when the commentator was saying " you cant take your eyes out of this" in dying secounds of the game and the ****ing stadium is half empty.

 

[James]

Was just watching our game on MOTD and how f****g embarrassing was it when the commentator was saying " you cant take your eyes out of this" in dying secounds of the game and the f****g stadium is half empty.

Joke. It was embarrassing watching it at the time.

 

[RocktheCasbah]

on the reported 'Eduardo' chants by Villa fans ...
"You expect better from people who come to football stadiums. It looks that intelligence and stupidity can have no limits. Unfortunately stupidity has won."

Reported?

I could hear them from where I was sitting up the other end.

F'cking ****.

Our "fans" are a disgrace. People started clearing out around the 73(!) minute mark where I was. It's like they were sulking that we weren't 3-0 up.

Anyway, hope Nick's goal is a turning point in a positive fashion, we've had everything go against us since that Yoonited game.

 

[Anzac]

I turned the box off and went to bed in the last 10 mins when I saw Ade miss another header from inside the 6 yard box - so I was quite surprised when I saw the result.

We were shyte all over the park today and we didn't deserve to get anything from the match. O'Neill & Villa were hands down the better outfit, and quite frankly they dropped 2 points today not us.

At the business end of the season we are playing our worst football for the year, and the thing that p*sses me the most is that a few of us tried to raise the alarm bells during our Northern road trip prior to X-Mas - we've been shyte for some time and don't seem to be showing any consistant signs of getting it sorted.