Humble Rex
Established Member
I too think Wenger sees Diaby as ahead of both Rosicky and Nasri centrally in a more withdrawn role.
Ian Holloway refused to get too disheartened after seeing his Blackpool side hammered at Arsenal.
The Seasiders enjoyed a dream start to life in the Premier League last Saturday as they opened with a 4-0 demolition of Wigan.
They were, however, brought crashing back to earth in their second outing as they were crushed 6-0 by a Theo Walcott-inspired Gunners outfit at Emirates Stadium.
Blackpool were never able to get going in the capital and Ian Evatt's first-half dismissal left them with a mountain to climb.
Holloway admits that the red card proved costly for his side, but felt there were positives he could take despite being comprehensively beaten.
"It was going to be a tough day for us anyway, their bench was pretty scary never mind who was on there, but I thought we started quite well," he told Sky Sports.
Harsh
"The pace of the game then caught us and the referee has made a decision which I think was harsh, to say the least. My player not only gives a penalty away, which makes it 2-0, but gets sent off as well, which I think is unbelievably harsh because I think he played the ball.
"After that it was a mountain to climb and I'm relieved it was only six, that might sound crazy but goal difference might come into it and we are only minus two now after two games."
He added: "It was always going to be difficult to apply the attack-minded philosophies we had last year when you come to a place like this. We switched the ball well, we moved it well and created at least a couple of chances early on.
"I think we lost a bit of heart when Theo Walcott scored. (Andrey) Arshavin played a brilliant one-two, I spoke about one-twos and not watching the ball but we did, and we didn't quite have that back line right.
"To then go two down and lose a man, it killed the game and I think it ruined it as a spectacle. It was not even worth watching then."
While Holloway was disappointed to see his side come unstuck in spectacular fashion, he admits that he found Arsenal's football a joy to watch at times and believes Blackpool can still take heart from the way they have started life among England's elite.
"We have done well to get three points out of six from two away games," he said.
"We have come up against one the sides that have been in the Champions League for however many years, one of the best teams around, and we got the run around, but we had to face that with 10 men.
"I have told them what we need to work on and I think we should take some sort of heart from that. I will be able to show them that if you don't get your back line right, if you are dropping when you don't need to or not in a line, you are never going to be able to cope with Arsenal.
"But I want to give them praise though. I thought Theo Walcott today was unplayable, absolutely electric, and that's great to see. He is an English lad and if he can get the end product like that he is almost unstoppable.
"I love football and I think football the way Arsenal play, it is terrific and we are going to try and do what we do and get a lot better."
Humble Rex said:I too think Wenger sees Diaby as ahead of both Rosicky and Nasri centrally in a more withdrawn role.
lagos said:Speaking of Wilshere, am I the only one who has noticed a tendency for lunging in when going for 50/50 balls? It's the second time I've noticed it where he's then gone down in the process and almost injured himself. Has he picked up bad habits from Bolton?
patrick42uk said:lagos said:Speaking of Wilshere, am I the only one who has noticed a tendency for lunging in when going for 50/50 balls? It's the second time I've noticed it where he's then gone down in the process and almost injured himself. Has he picked up bad habits from Bolton?
not really. he was exactly the same, the few times i saw him for the reserves pre_bolto. he and frimpong too put in som really blood-curdling tackles and i thought to myself "you wont get away with that in the prem". i'm more fearful of him hurting someone but luckily he has short legs which maybe reduces the risk
GaelForce22 said:I've only seen the goals from this one but it's great to see the front three from yesterday all score. We'll need a lot more goals from wide this season, hopefully easing the burden on Fabregas and Van Persie.
On Cesc, how did the crowd treat him when he came on?
Zico said:On Wilshere: it was funny to read Wenger's thoughts on the dark side of Paul Scholes because Wilshere plays a bit like and tackles exactly like the Mancunian. Every time he goes in for a tackle, I'm scared he'll injure someone. He needs to work on that and a few other things before he can become a regular. Needs more composure.
However, ugh.asajoseph said:Think I saw him kissing the badge as he came on, but was too far away to be sure.