CC - Arsenal v Wigan Athletic - Tue 30 Nov - 7:45 pm | ATVO

[Anzac]

Interesting starting lineup - could have played as anything from a 442-424-4222-4231-4411.

How did it execute in general play = were the widemen starting from level with the CMs & did RVP play from the hole or did he look to get forward off Nik as well as dropping to link, and did he drop as deep to the CMs?

Very interesting that AW went to a 2 CM midfield & 2 strikers = probably for the 1st time since 08/09.

 

[celestis]

Just saw a bit of the match - I thought Vela did quite well , sure he missed a few ...... but his movement on and off the ball looked great linked up play really well as well.

lol was under the impression he had a stinker reading the comments on here .

 

[albakos]

Klaus, did Fergie steal your hat

 

[est]

I think it looked like a 4-2-3-1 with van Persie in the 'hole'. Defensively it often turned into a 4-4-2, though.

 

[yuvken]

Reading what it looked like from those who were there, it seems the difference is not so big. With the exception of Vela, I agreed with everything Ricky said (and even with some of what he said about vela: his movement was good, some passes did work; but he did *** up many others, and he really should have done better finishing).
I do agree essentially with all impressed by DJ, but sometimes I think it is slightly exaggerated. We played a horrible team last night, who really didn't try much. Yet he was robbed at one point off the ball in a way and position that, against better opposition, could easily have seen us punished.
As for the formation and Robin: it was probably a good idea in the context of yesterday, but, at least with vela-Ben-Theo around him, I wouldn't even consider this against a real opposition. Anzac said this could have been anything from 442, 424, 4231, 4411 - and it really was that. Robin is a great no 10, but who ever thinks this is the cesc role sees it very different from me. In fact when Robin did drop so deep to connect, I thought we were looking very poor. We were missing a proper AM for much of it, And I just can't see us play like this in "real games".
Having said all that, when we are playing against the "bus" (or chasing the game), this could be useful, particularly if we play with better people around VP: Chamakh for Ben, and Nasri-Shava for vela-Theo (though I'm saying it with a heavy heart for Theo: one thing VP will surely do very well is find the ways to release an on-form Theo).
I was happy, though, to see AW dare a bit and try something different. When he does this next time, I just hope it is Song and Jack (or song-cesc; if cesc can stay in the middle at all).

 

[Gunner_JT]

Looking at the delivery to the own goal, Walcott often hits a ball with superb technique and that was definitely one of them. For me that's exactly where you want it and the trajectory of it was spot on for a flick on into the net. It didn't come off our player, but same result. We should have Theo swinging crosses in from that side more often.

 

[redanddread]

Just saw a bit of the match - I thought Vela did quite well , sure he missed a few ...... but his movement on and off the ball looked great linked up play really well as well.

lol was under the impression he had a stinker reading the comments on here .

He missed a fewer good chances but that could be put down to rustiness, however, his general play was very encouraging. He showed glimpses of the player he might become. Difficult to see where his next start is going to come from though, at least not until the FA Cup 3rd round and the Carling Cup semi in January. I might be tempted to play him as an alternative to Theo as an iverted winger on the right. His defensive play needs to improve though.

 

[redanddread]

Looking at the delivery to the own goal, Walcott often hits a ball with superb technique and that was definitely one of them. For me that's exactly where you want it and the trajectory of it was spot on for a flick on into the net. It didn't come off our player, but same result. We should have Theo swinging crosses in from that side more often.

His first couple of corners were excellent - good pace, swerve, height & placement. He seems to be able to generate good power from set pieces without looking to blast it.

 

[redanddread]

Gibbs has been fantastic

Man of the match maybe. Always there where needed. Lad has some stamina, he is constantly an option in attack while able to get back

Wasn't greatly tested at the back I thought.

Who was, apart from Eboue on the right for a while. Wigan had very little offensive intent tonight.

 

[celestis]

Just saw a bit of the match - I thought Vela did quite well , sure he missed a few ...... but his movement on and off the ball looked great linked up play really well as well.

lol was under the impression he had a stinker reading the comments on here .

He missed a fewer good chances but that could be put down to rustiness, however, his general play was very encouraging. He showed glimpses of the player he might become. Difficult to see where his next start is going to come from though, at least not until the FA Cup 3rd round and the Carling Cup semi in January. I might be tempted to play him as an alternative to Theo as an iverted winger on the right. His defensive play needs to improve though.

I thought his movement was excellent especiall for the first chance that RVP fashioned , you wouldn't see half our forwards anticipating the Van Persie flick .

 

[marco]

if anyone on here was doing the mexican wave last night you should be ****ing ashamed of yourselves.
its arsenal not bloody some pox international or some muppet sport like rugby.
disgraceful scenes.

p.s vela is **** and walcott continues to flatter to deceive.

 

[jerome2158]

if anyone on here was doing the mexican wave last night you should be ******* ashamed of yourselves.
its arsenal not bloody some pox international or some muppet sport like rugby.
disgraceful scenes.

p.s vela is **** and walcott continues to flatter to deceive.

I'm fairly certain it only made it through the family section.

The whole atmosphere wasn't as....decent....as usual due to the cheap tickets. 2 guys further down my row spent the majority of the match arguing about standing or sitting. And seemingly everyone else in the row arrived 10 minutes late, got up for food/bathroom every 2 minutes, then left 10 minutes early.

 

[outlaw_member]

When you see top players like Messi and Villa put in a rigorous shift the night before, it's hard to stomach one of our weakest attackers in Bendtner labouring around with little effort and no desire to press. It makes it all the more worse when he fails to control the simple of passes, and is constantly at fault for the breakdown of attacks. I'm not one to criticise his attitude, but maybe he needs to focus on his play before talking about his pipe dreams. Even van Persie was lazily jogging around without the ball, which was doing my head in.

As for the Dutchman, yesterday was precisely why I find his deployment as a CF so pointless. He is a no.10 who wants to create, whilst the CF role is for a no.9 who predominantly likes to score goals. With Cesc behind him, we have both our front two looking to create which is just too much of the same. Cesc works best with someone constantly making runs off him so that he can create, but often it's van Persie finding Cesc, instead. If van Persie wants to drop deep, use him in a position which encourages him to do that. When we play him as a CF, we end up sacrificing our potential for goals by not deploying someone who is more focused on scoring, instead of creating.

 

[yuvken]

But if cesc plays cm, and doesn't drift towards a would be no.10 himself, there should be no problem playing them both. In fact, if you play cesc with song behind VP- Chamakh with Nas and Arsha (231) or cesc-jack-song behind VP - Chamakh and one of the other two (a bit trickier, asymmetric / changing sides or 312 ), we could be very effective. All this before we even consider 442 (or 11), with Robin off Chamakh. I know there's much to say against it too, but I'm quite sure we'll see some of this soon enough. Then we'll judge by reality.

 

[Herbas]

RvP really does look well in SS/AMC position, I was thinking yesterday that maybe we could try something like this:

- - Cesc - Song - -
Nasri - - - - Arshavin
- - - RvP - - - - -
- - - - Chamakh - -

While attacking it would be like 4231 or 4222 or even 424, so we will have plenty of options upfront. Defensively, Nasri and someone of Chamakh/RvP/Shava would help back four and Cesc-Song to defend, so we shouldn't be weak defensively.
Maybe Arshavin would need to be replaced for someone who is ready to work defensively all the time (Rosicky? but I don't like him upfront) for better defensive cover.

 

[redanddread]

He missed a fewer good chances but that could be put down to rustiness, however, his general play was very encouraging. He showed glimpses of the player he might become. Difficult to see where his next start is going to come from though, at least not until the FA Cup 3rd round and the Carling Cup semi in January. I might be tempted to play him as an alternative to Theo as an iverted winger on the right. His defensive play needs to improve though.

I thought his movement was excellent especiall for the first chance that RVP fashioned , you wouldn't see half our forwards anticipating the Van Persie flick .

His pass for RVP with the outside of his boot a la Rosicky (the one that the Wigan defender handled out for a corner from which we scored) was an absolute beaut!

 

[Clrnc]

Just finished watching the first half. RVP vision for Vela's chance was amazing. Vela was very good as well. Linked well with Wilshere. Loved his otb movement. We defintely missed that recently at home.

Thought Kos and Wilshere was good as well. Time to watch the 2nd half

 

[Humble Rex]

I guess all of you who hoped for us to get Manure instead of Wigan feel more than a little bit silly now...

 

[DanDare]

Ipswich have won and Birmingham are winning near the end...

 

[redwhiteAustrian]

When will the Semi-final draw take stage?