Bolton Wanderers vs. Arsenal - Saturday - March 29 - 3 p.m

[Pádraig]

Back to yesterday, did anybody mention Clichy's second brain fart in as many months?

What was he doing waiting for the Bolton attacker to close him down at the corner flag in the closing minutes of the game? Goodness, the kid needs a long rest or he should get therapy to help him focus.

Well, that pass to Flams who was surrounded by 3 Bolton players which eventually led them to Taylor's second goal is a good shout too.

His willingness to play cute around our box when opposition players are swarming our half is really itching it up my neck.

Flamini, who looked over his left shoulder didn't see any Bolton player near him (as they were all on his right) and then he called for the ball.

But Clichy should still be able to take the right option as he saw everything from his position and Fabregas was even telling him to play the safe and easy ball to Gallas.

 

[awooga83]

It happens on occasion to players who play with their heads up; Cesc and Hleb for instance get caught like that numerous times in a game but obviously they aren't near our goal at the time.

The positional thing is true but he really has to not be taking those type of risks. If he can pass it out fair enough but if he gets stuck then his first job is to defend the goal so he should be getting rid of those balls thats 3 times he has done that and twice it cost us a goal.

 

[Captain]

Yep, that's fair enough and is part of his learning curve but at the same time he has started many counters for us this season through the same thing, breaking 30-40 yards at a time.

Sometimes you just have to take the good with the bad.

 

[tactica442]

But Clichy should still be able to take the right option as he saw everything from his position and Fabregas was even telling him to play the safe and easy ball to Gallas.

Arsenal often start buildup from the back and teams like Bolton know that well. Last season Eboue and Hleb were doing similar things but luckily they didn't get caught on the scoreline (but I remember Eboue got caught once). The team made similar mistake away to Newcastle when Eduardo was pushed and his passes went stray into another Newcastle player. I can't see Wenger would ask his players to play safe in this kind of situation. He prefers letting the players to learn from their both successes and mistakes in this kind of building-up-from-the-back method.

My guess on this quick buildup from the back is based on two things. First, the players must have the technical ability to playing the ball through immediate and numerical pressure in the zone. Arsenal's back four can do that (maybe not that consistently). Second, the speed of both the Arsenal runners and the ball being pushed forward must quicker than the opposition players in the nearby zone. Well, Arsenal do have the players can do that.

On Clichy's share in both conceded goals, I found the first one was more blameable. Had Clichy paced up and given immediate pressure on Steisson, that cross might have never come into the box. However, the ways Kolo marking Taylor in the first goal and Gallas' lazy block on Taylor's second goal were very lousy and not champion like.

 

[Clrnc]

i don't blame clichy at all for both goals. flamini was more of at fault for the 2nd one. the first was toure's and then almunia failed to save it.

some interesting point to note.
arsenal always had the captain to decide the sleeves to wear. yesterday i saw a few of them folding their long sleeves up. is that disrespectful to the captain or is it allowed?

secondly, our set pieces are getting more effective. this season we have scored quite alot from set piece and generally look more dangerous at corners than previous seasons. and i like the way we always have a man running at the back post, aka senderos against milan and gallas yesterday. and bolton have no man on the line, like chelsea...

and thirdly, it was interesting that it was the first time wenger use only 1 man on the line. it was always 2 in the past.

 

[arsenalfc0719]

Despite Bolton's and Diaby's best efforts to kick us out of the tittle race were still very much in it.

That must have been one of our greatest comebacks.

 

[_scorpion_]

You know, as bad as things were, I think that today was one of our best offensive performances in months. We had good movement and aggression but the passes weren't always perfect.

After two months of non-stop long ball to Ade it was a pleasure to see and while he may not get many plaudits for today, I think Bendtner was excellent in the way that he dovetailed with RvP. His game seems so much more natural then Ade's even though the latter is obviously a better all-round player right now.

Agree with that. It was the first match where i found myself thinking that Bendtner could prove to be a top quality player with more game time.

It is a shame he does not have Ade's pace because that is what he is missing in his game and you can't coach that.

 

[qs]

Back to yesterday, did anybody mention Clichy's second brain fart in as many months?

What was he doing waiting for the Bolton attacker to close him down at the corner flag in the closing minutes of the game? Goodness, the kid needs a long rest or he should get therapy to help him focus.

He did fine, got it too Flamini who had plenty of space to clear it.

 

[nidza7]

He lost the ball for as I remember,only no concequences this time.

 

[dutchMasta]

Yeah, he switched off and it was stolen, but nothing came of it thank god.

 

[banduan]

Back to yesterday, did anybody mention Clichy's second brain fart in as many months?

What was he doing waiting for the Bolton attacker to close him down at the corner flag in the closing minutes of the game? Goodness, the kid needs a long rest or he should get therapy to help him focus.

He did fine, got it too Flamini who had plenty of space to clear it.

No, Flams had two men on him that he didn't know about but Clichy did. He was facing goal and it was really hard to clear from there. In hindsight, Flams shoulda sent it out for a corner but then when Clichy hadn't done so, Flams was never gonna do it.

What I'm annoyed with is the way we take our defensive throw ins, and deal with the opponents. We always let oursleves get pressured and we never pressure them in return.

 

[marco]

Back to yesterday, did anybody mention Clichy's second brain fart in as many months?

What was he doing waiting for the Bolton attacker to close him down at the corner flag in the closing minutes of the game? Goodness, the kid needs a long rest or he should get therapy to help him focus.

He did fine, got it too Flamini who had plenty of space to clear it.

yep i thought that was flamini's fault too!!!

 

[Captain]

Flamini perhaps could have reacted quicker but there were one or maybe two better options on for Clichy. **** happens sometimes and he has been immense this season so I can allow his small dip over the last month or so.

 

[dublingunner]

Yep, that's fair enough and is part of his learning curve but at the same time he has started many counters for us this season through the same thing, breaking 30-40 yards at a time.

Sometimes you just have to take the good with the bad.

Exactly. We know Wenger encourages his players to express themselves and play the ball from all areas of the pitch. When Clichy dummies somebody and starts a counter it's all good, when he makes a mistake (still relatively rare) it can be a bad mistake.