Arsenal v Everton Saturday 09/01/10 15:00 ATVO

[Burnwinter]

I have a growing fear we're going to get horribly burned by our rubber forward line and our high defensive line in the Champions League this season. We leak goals at home to mediocre opposition which is poison to our chances.

 

[Double_H]

i still think its the EPL way of playing football aginst us ...park the bus . and kick the players .

I hope we play Barca in the Final

 

[sesquioxide]

i still think its the EPL way of playing football aginst us ...park the bus . and kick the players .

I hope we play Barca in the Final

I think we are just defensively very vulnerable. We have conceded more than a goal per game in the league this season, even worse than last season, which was worse than the season before. I don't see how we can improve on our Champions League performances the last seasons being this vulnerable.

In the league, the other teams have done enough damage to themselves for us to catch up. But we keep failing to capitalize. It is all very disappointing.

 

[Wokich]

Something I noticed on Pienar's goal was something I remember Clichy doing.

When we're on an offensive corner we always see Vermaelen and Gallas move up. Sagna usually seems to take up a position on the offensive side of the ball, but seems to be in a spot to fight for a clearing header from the defense.

Clichy seems to take up the deep position. Playing like a sweeper until the center halves get back from their attempt to win the header. It was that lack of sweeper that allowed Pienar to run the length of the pitch like that. Has anyone told Traore that he needs to pick up that position?

 

[banduan]

our full backs interchange while maintaining the same roles.

So yes, during corners and free kicks they should definitely be covering, regardless of who's taking up the job.

 

[Wokich]

He didn't. It cost us 3 points. grrrr . . .

I'm a Traore fan and think he's done a good job all in all, but that was a boneheaded play.

 

[burnsjed]

He had a shocker on Saturday, felt sorry for him, he was a total liability, Donovan must think playing in the EPL is piss easy.

 

[Klaus Daimler]

He didn't. It cost us 3 points. grrrr . . .

Two. :wink:

I agree though. Traore in particular should have been back and challenged Pienaar. Sagna got caught up-field because he was trying to play a one-two with Rosicky, but instead of giving the ball back Rosicky turned and passed it forty yards in the other direction to an Everton player.

 

[General]

Traore got sucked to the ball and vacated the position he should have been in which would have prevented Pienaar having a clear run at goal. It was Traore's mistake. Its a shame because at that point, I really thought we would win that game but you cannot have the injuries we have and not pay a price.

I'm not sure why Traore is getting the blame here. No doubt he had a nightmare game but after watching the turn of events leading to the goal I'm certain he didn't do a lot wrong (there's a free video on Arsenal.com). The two biggest culprits were Rosicky for the poor pass when we had committed several men forward and Denilson for taking forever to get back up after that tussle with Pinner, inevitably leaving us a man short. Pinner run from one end of the pitch to the other unchallenged and what Denilson did was pure pisstake. It could also be argued that had Nasri not got attracted to the ball before Cahil laid it off, he could've caught up with the goalscorer. The whole thing was laden with the kind of schoolboy errors and poor attitude we shouldn't be showing at this level. As someone said, at 1-1 we looked the most likely to go on and win it.

 

[Clrnc]

If Traore didn't close down Cahill, Cahill would have had all the time in the world to spot a pass as well.

 

[goonerwarsh]

Agreed with above, the second goal wasn't Traore's fault. Rosicky played a bad pass and Denilson was faking an injury. He was laying on the ground and looked up realised he wasn't getting anything for it and got up and started jogging back by which time it was too late. Nasri was our last player back trying to get back to make a tackle...Not good enough.

Denilson was a joke for that few minutes, they say he might be good for the Bolton game which says to me his injury wasn't serious, certainly not serious enough to collapse like he'd been shot by a sniper. That was absolutely ludicrous behaviour and we nearly lost another goal because of it.

He needs to man up

 

[Mbaki Mutahaba]

Denilson was a joke for that few minutes, they say he might be good for the Bolton game which says to me his injury wasn't serious, certainly not serious enough to collapse like he'd been shot by a sniper. That was absolutely ludicrous behaviour and we nearly lost another goal because of it.

He needs to man up

You spewing sh* mate.

 

[Wokich]

If Traore didn't close down Cahill, Cahill would have had all the time in the world to spot a pass as well.

That's fine. We don't have to shut down the play at that point, just delay it long enough to let the rest of the defense and midfield back. A two second delay and Nasri's back behind the ball.

One of the two outside backs has to be back to prevent that quick counter, it's usually been Clichy.

edit: After rewatching the goal again, it looked like Traore was back, but he allowed himself to get pulled wide and up the pitch as opposed to defending the deep middle as he was supposed to. There were others at fault, but I think if Clichy's there that ball doesn't go in.

 

[goonerwarsh]

oh bullshit I am, how often do you see players do that? I'm telling you now you would never ever see Roy Keane or Vieira pull some **** like that. He would have known before we kicked off again if he was seriously injured or not and Wenger said himself he was up like normal in the dressing room after the game.

For gods sake are you telling me couldn't have just given the ball to the next man and laid down? It was complete bollocks

 

[patrick42uk]

Traore got sucked to the ball and vacated the position he should have been in which would have prevented Pienaar having a clear run at goal. It was Traore's mistake. Its a shame because at that point, I really thought we would win that game but you cannot have the injuries we have and not pay a price.

I'm not sure why Traore is getting the blame here. No doubt he had a nightmare game but after watching the turn of events leading to the goal I'm certain he didn't do a lot wrong (there's a free video on Arsenal.com). The two biggest culprits were Rosicky for the poor pass when we had committed several men forward and Denilson for taking forever to get back up after that tussle with Pinner, inevitably leaving us a man short. Pinner run from one end of the pitch to the other unchallenged and what Denilson did was pure pisstake. It could also be argued that had Nasri not got attracted to the ball before Cahil laid it off, he could've caught up with the goalscorer. The whole thing was laden with the kind of schoolboy errors and poor attitude we shouldn't be showing at this level. As someone said, at 1-1 we looked the most likely to go on and win it.

Fact is, Traore stays where he was and the goal never happens. He was last man back and completely misread the situtation. Why does he need to close cahill? He's behind the halfway line and is not going to do anything. Not untill Traore leaves a big gaping space for Pienaar to attack. Yeah Denilson's lack of urgency annoys the hell out of me too but Traore made a big error there.

 

[qs]

It doesn't get much more pathetic than blaming that second goal on Denilson for being down injured. The same guy who moments later fell in a heap and had to be stretchered off. Anything to save ye from criticising the defence who were all absent from their own half when we conceded. What a joke.

We salivate everytime Gallas scores or bails us out or even TV but we forget everytime they push up..we are usually left vulnerable. The problem today is at 1-1 the team was playing like we are down 1-0 in a knock out competition. Now to be fair at that time when we conceded the 2nd we looked more likely to win it then they did. Our pressure was paying off as they started making some mistakes. But by pushing too far, we left ourselves vulnerable.

But we cant go on *****in about the lack of defense cover on their 2nd goal, when we know we would have been praising our defense if T.V or Gallas had sneaked a winner. Lets just accept its part of our package and i believe Wenger is 100% respnonsible for that. Its difficult to corrent individual mistakes but when the entire team is pushing forward for a corner if you are a coach and you do have it in your control to tell someone to go back. I have never seen Wenger shouting to them to stay back so it means he is willing for the team to gamble. I think this is Wenger's attitude because it really seems we usually play to either win or lose by a lot. The option of being content with a draw in the EPL doesnt seem to be on the table as far as Wenger is concerned. It clearly shows from the attitude of our players.

Once again, i am just pointing out that their 2nd goal is more or less a reflection of our entire attitude, an attitude that we as fans consciously/subconsciously support until it backfires like yesterday then we make a lot of noise.

We played like we were losing and committed too many people upfront and got sucker punched.

I've been making this point all season, even back when the centre halves were scoring loads. It was around then I realised just how often they went forward and ever since its been getting worse. Without Song there to bail them out they need to be more mature and disciplined.

 

[General]

Fact is, Traore stays where he was and the goal never happens. He was last man back and completely misread the situtation. Why does he need to close cahill? He's behind the halfway line and is not going to do anything. Not untill Traore leaves a big gaping space for Pienaar to attack. Yeah Denilson's lack of urgency annoys the hell out of me too but Traore made a big error there.

You are looking for blame where blame is minimal to non existent. Take a look at the bigger picture.

 

[Captain]

not really, Traore moved too early when Nasri was already tracking back; he could have delayed for a couple more seconds to get a better assessment of the situation (I haven't watched it twice so if I'm wrong fair enough).

 

[Wenger14]

For me Rosicky, Traore, Denilson and Sagna are to blame for the goal. I suppose there's a case for saying Nasri should have seen Traore going towards Cahill and altered his route to cover the middle as well. I also thought it was reckless of Sagna to burst forward when our cb's were already in the box. He should have held his ground, but we were going all out for the goal, so it was a risk we took.

It was just error after error. The goal could have been prevented if just 1 of them did their job.

 

[redanddread]

i still think its the EPL way of playing football aginst us ...park the bus . and kick the players .

I hope we play Barca in the Final

I think we are just defensively very vulnerable. We have conceded more than a goal per game in the league this season, even worse than last season, which was worse than the season before. I don't see how we can improve on our Champions League performances the last seasons being this vulnerable.

In the league, the other teams have done enough damage to themselves for us to catch up. But we keep failing to capitalize. It is all very disappointing.

We gained 5 pts on Chelsea since they beat us...