Birmingham vs Arsenal | EPL | Sat 27th March 3:00/15:00

[Anzac]

Benitez was clearly interfering with play - for f**k's sake the defender who should have been in Philips' face, think it was Sagna, had eyes only for Benitez who was making a striker's movement as the ball came in from the right of the area.

It's not as if he was off by the corner flag jogging gently back to his half.

Sorry buddy - disagree.

Benitez was ahead of the play & from the time Diaby missed the header & Phillips gathered the ball on the edge of the area. I think Sagna was marking him from the off & Song went forward to challenge Phillips, and then both he & Diaby followed the ball & left Phillips unmarked. Sagna was sitting on top of Benitez but had him covered as Benitez was goalside. Sagna was watching Benitez & didn't see Phillips unmarked on the edge of the area because he was looking the other way to keep an eye on Benitez. I don't think Sagna knew Phillips was there until they both got to the ball at about the same time, as his positioning was all about Benitez.

Just didn't see a cross field camera shot to know exactly, but I did note that Clichy was quite deep on the other side when the ball came across towards his flank, and I suspect that he was playing Benitez onside initially.

 

[Anzac]

But that is the problem, our tactics require the presence of mind to make these decisions quickly, and if they can't do it, the instructions must change.

I don't think we have any tactical instructions other than our general style of playing. Any changes are primarily about shape and primary roles, rather than anything akin to a more specific game plan IMO.

 

[General]

Anzac, what do you disagree with? That Benitez was interferring with play? His presence clearly caused some bother and the flag should've gone up.

Regarding Almunia - I think it's disappointing how he was reluctant to come off his lines all game and then the only time he should've stayed on his line he came flying out. I just remembered that he made another terrible clearance with his left foot. I guess the one good thing to come out of this is that it once again reminds Wenger of the underlying issues and any thoughts of retaining him as number due to recent good form should be banished.

 

[marco]

saturday was painful dont know the last time was so dejected.
its monday morning and still couldnt give a **** about barcalona on wednesday night.
we deserve to lose the league on goal difference- our finishing is truly and utterly shocking.. though nothing can beat the spanish waiter in goal.

 

[est]

I rewatched the incident a few times from MotD and I still can't understand why the Diaby goal was ruled out? :?

John Motson says 'Diaby knocked his man off the ball, before he had the shot' but Diaby got to the ball first! :roll:

 

[Captain]

The Nasri chance was incredible....he squared a pass blind with only the GK to beat. I just can't get my head around that.

It is crazy. And if Arshavin had somehow been there to collect it (unsurprisingly) we'd all be assuming Nasri knew the pass was on.

The shot was definitely going to be difficult for Nasri though, he was being closed down fast.

I think when Nasri first looks up he sees one defender coming towards him and Arshavin running beside him, looks like the second defender is in a blind spot and this is what informed his decision to attempt a square pass (which I believe he fluffed).

 

[Jose_Reyes_2005]

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.birminghammail.net/birmingham-sport/birmingham-city-fc/birmingham-city-fc-news/2010/03/29/birmingham-city-alex-mcleish-reveals-why-he-celebrated-so-much-against-arsenal-97319-26129717/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.birminghammail.net/birmingha ... -26129717/</a>" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"I felt when Fabregas came back on the field of play after treatment, they got an unfair advantage.

:|

 

[est]

 

[progman07]

http://www.birminghammail.net/birmingham-sport/birmingham-city-fc/birmingham-city-fc-news/2010/03/29/birmingham-city-alex-mcleish-reveals-why-he-celebrated-so-much-against-arsenal-97319-26129717/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"I felt when Fabregas came back on the field of play after treatment, they got an unfair advantage.

:|

You forgot to copy paste the rest of the quote:

"Our players were all in a set position on the field and adjusting to the ball and where the other Arsenal players were.

"Fabregas came ghosting on on the left-hand side, which I thought wasn't right because it gave them an advantage. If somebody had picked him out he would have been clean in on goal."

It makes more sense with these additional words, doesn't it?

 

[TomasCR]

I thought it was the other way around. Cesc was never the same player as soon as he came back. I'm still of the opinion that he should have got himself out of the pitch for a fresh and fit Nasri, who could have done a lot more than a half injured Cesc. He's a quality player but it's hard to know what makes him think he'll be anyhow helpful while playing with a knock on his knee.

 

[Jose_Reyes_2005]

http://www.birminghammail.net/birmingham-sport/birmingham-city-fc/birmingham-city-fc-news/2010/03/29/birmingham-city-alex-mcleish-reveals-why-he-celebrated-so-much-against-arsenal-97319-26129717/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"I felt when Fabregas came back on the field of play after treatment, they got an unfair advantage.

:|

You forgot to copy paste the rest of the quote:

"Our players were all in a set position on the field and adjusting to the ball and where the other Arsenal players were.

"Fabregas came ghosting on on the left-hand side, which I thought wasn't right because it gave them an advantage. If somebody had picked him out he would have been clean in on goal."

It makes more sense with these additional words, doesn't it?

Not really.

It's not the referee's obligation to tell the Birmingham players when he'll let Cesc come back on. Its never happened before and it never will.

 

[asajoseph]

Most deflated I've felt after an Arsenal game all season.

Could stomach the spankings from Utd and Chelsea, because I never expected anything from those games, and never expected to be anywhere near the top come this stage of the season, but to see us throw away points in such a stupid manner is unbelievably gutting.

A lot of fingers can be pointed, both at the players and at the manager for letting that one slip away, but it doesn't change the fact that this was an unbelievably galling way to give away so much initiative in the title-race.

 

[Burnwinter]

Benitez was clearly interfering with play - for f**k's sake the defender who should have been in Philips' face, think it was Sagna, had eyes only for Benitez who was making a striker's movement as the ball came in from the right of the area.

It's not as if he was off by the corner flag jogging gently back to his half.

Sorry buddy - disagree.

Benitez was ahead of the play & from the time Diaby missed the header & Phillips gathered the ball on the edge of the area. I think Sagna was marking him from the off & Song went forward to challenge Phillips, and then both he & Diaby followed the ball & left Phillips unmarked. Sagna was sitting on top of Benitez but had him covered as Benitez was goalside. Sagna was watching Benitez & didn't see Phillips unmarked on the edge of the area because he was looking the other way to keep an eye on Benitez. I don't think Sagna knew Phillips was there until they both got to the ball at about the same time, as his positioning was all about Benitez.

Huh? Isn't that exactly what I said?

the defender who should have been in Philips' face, think it was Sagna, had eyes only for Benitez

Yu could argue that Sagna should've been focused on Philips instead as Philips wasn't in an offside position.

But I would've thought that given Benitez' proximity to the play and the situation as a whole, that Benitez would be regarded as interfering. In which case the flag should've gone up.

Anyway. It wasn't and that happens.

 

[asajoseph]

Generally speaking, I think the Premiership should make a clear rule that any player in the box is automatically desingated as 'interfering with play'. How is a defender or a keeper supposed to be sure if a player is offside or not in the split second they have to make a decision without being remotely distracted?

Unfortunately, that rule doesn't exist.

 

[Burnwinter]

That would be a pretty decent rule of thumb asajoseph.

Given the standard of refereeing on offside, it seems unreasonable to expect defenders to ignore any player in a position to score or assist.

"Not interfering with play" should be a very exceptional circumstance because being lenient on it just expands the grey areas of the offside law.

 

[Burnwinter]

I think when Nasri first looks up he sees one defender coming towards him and Arshavin running beside him, looks like the second defender is in a blind spot and this is what informed his decision to attempt a square pass (which I believe he fluffed).

Could be. I'm encouraged by the idea he actually knew someone was there to be honest.

 

[wellington]

But that is the problem, our tactics require the presence of mind to make these decisions quickly, and if they can't do it, the instructions must change.

I don't think we have any tactical instructions other than our general style of playing. Any changes are primarily about shape and primary roles, rather than anything akin to a more specific game plan IMO.

Hey Anzac, I know you think that, and it's an interesting philosophical debate because if we're the only team adopting this approach there must be some thinking behind it. So what do you base your view on? Is it how we play? Or interviews from Wenger and/or players?

 

[irishgunnerz]

I feel sick this morning.

What a bottle job that was.

How in any way, shape or form did we "bottle it"?

We were playing without our two starting centrebacks, our defensive midfielder, and our best forward - the spine of our team so to speak - and yet we come out second half, at a ground where the home team has only been beaten twice all season, and not for 7 months, and we play them off the park. Camped in their own defensive third, and no hope of getting out. We create chances galore, and Nasri scores one of them, we're on our way to a great 1-nil win, not letting them near our goal after we scored, then one lumped freekick 100+ yards from our goal, and they score - thanks to a mistake of biblical proportions by that aberration of goalkeeper.

We did not bottle anything.

Good post. Really the draw was a creditable result given Brum's home record and the win we should have had would've been outstanding.

Agreed - its just hard, nay, impossible, to keep in perspective given the circumstances.

Diaby's goal being ruled offside for god alone knows what, a potential winner scored with only minutes to go, a quite scorable chance just moments after to kill the game then conceding a goal to a quite franky horrednous individual error. Frankly I thought we played quite well, but at this end of the season, as encouraging as it is to see the team perform well, its the three points that matter...and we didnt get them

 

[James]

Generally speaking, I think the Premiership should make a clear rule that any player in the box is automatically desingated as 'interfering with play'. How is a defender or a keeper supposed to be sure if a player is offside or not in the split second they have to make a decision without being remotely distracted?

Unfortunately, that rule doesn't exist.

This is what has really pissed me off. There was a similar incident for us, where it didn't stop the linesman up the other end flagging Bendtner offside from a set piece when he didn't touch the ball. Seems they don't know the rules themselves.

 

[Burnwinter]

The "interfering with play" exception to offside is a classic example of legislation that's easy to pass, hard to articulate and impossible to implement fairly on the ground.

Linesmen can't even get the basic offside law right and that's practically an absolute.