Chelsea v Arsenal - EPL - Sun 7th Feb 2010 - 16:00

[law90026]

MDGoonah.

We have our way of playing. In games such as this one we remain faithful to our style, United and Chelsea, in games such as these, change the way they usually play, and revert to a more disciplined, negative style. Currently it works for them, but it's limiting, you can only achieve so much playing with a style like that. You're basically acting as the inferior team, and hoping that the "superior" team can't open you up. The best teams are the ones that can assert themselves and their style onto their opposition. That way you are not reliant on anything but your own ability to deliver.

We are not Barcelona yet, we can't go into these games and play our football, assert ourselves fully on all different kinds of tactics and players, but with every passing attempt we get closer - more confident, more tacially savvy, and more comfortable opertaing under intense pressure. That's the positive from today, and last week, and last season, and it'll be the positive when/if we lose in the Champions League at some point this season.

Wenger has always said that this squad will dominate when they reach 23/24, now there are alot of things that have to happen for that to come to fruition, but after seeing how limited United and Chelsea are in the last 2 games, 2 of the best teams in Europe no less, I can definitely see where he's coming from.

...

I'll take a PL title + CL titles please even if we have to revert to a more "negative disciplined style" against the big teams.

I wasn't aware that there were other trophies to be won. Galactic League maybe?

 

[Zico]

This review is just about right:
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2010/feb/07/chelsea-arsenal-premier-league" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog ... ier-league</a>

"It had been apparent right from the outset that Ars­enal were disorganised, frazzled, it seemed, by the high stakes of the occasion and the superior power and clearer purpose of their opponents."

 

[MDGoonah41]

Just started re-watching it.

On the first goal, Clichy was on the post right before Malouda took it. When Drogba makes contact, Clichy was already on the other side of Almunia. Why? Song lost Drogba, so hes also to blame, but where was Clichy going? As Drogba makes contact, Clichy is standing right on top of Vermaelen, neither of them are marking a player. In fact, i count Drogba plus 1 other Chelsea player in the 6 yard area, 6 Arsenal players plus Clownmunia, yet no one on the post.

Complete lack of organization. Cesc cant believe it. Hes jumping up and down

edit --> they showed another angle. Clichy actually ran behind Almunia and in front of Nasri, who was on the near post. Seriously what went through Clichy's brain there?

 

[arsenalfc0719]

Clichy could have been trying to do the offside trap.

I've seen him come off the post like that a lot of times to do it.

I could be wrong though, haven't watched the game again.

 

[AliBabaBrewer]

CHELSEA ARSENAL

Possession - Chelsea 44% Arsenal 56%
Attempts on target - Chelsea 3 Arsenal 6
Attempts off target - Chelsea 6 Arsenal 8
Corners - Chelsea 4 Arsenal 8

Not many teams will come away from Stamford Bridge with stats like that.
Failure to take chances and naive defensive errors have killed us.

Fixed that for you

 

[MDGoonah41]

Just went to the second goal. What a horror show.

Arshavin tries to find Cesc on a give and go. Ball is deflected out, Song presses and pushes it right back to Arshavin. Arshavin dribbles past two guys but Ballack takes it from him. Mikel starts the movement floating a ball out to Lampard. Now lets count the errors

1. Diaby sees everything in front of him, but only jogs after the play

2. Clichy is closer to the ball than Lampard is, but Clichy also hesitates and just watches it

3. As Lampard crosses the half way line, its 4 (Gallas, TV, Sagna, Clichy) against three (Lampard, Anelka, Drogba). Clichy is inside Vermaelen's channel, Drogba is wide right, Anelka is between Clichy and Vermaelen.

4. Three players all follow Anelka's run, leaving Drogba in acres of space.

5. When Lampard releases the pass, Gallas amd TV are running straight back towards Clownmunia, and Clichy fonally runs toward Drogba. Anelka is now sprinting between Gallas and Sagna

6. When Drogba gets control and takes a touch, Vermaelen is a yard or two ahead of him and in position to run to the near post. Clichy is level and maybe 3 yards away.

This is the fatal error. Clichy cannot let him cut back inside there. He can see Vermaelen ahead of him taking away the byline/near post. Drogba made a basic inside cut and Clichy ran right past him.

7. Clownmunia waves goodbye to it

son of a ***** its disgusting to watch

 

[MDGoonah41]

Clichy could have been trying to do the offside trap.

I've seen him come off the post like that a lot of times to do it.

I could be wrong though, haven't watched the game again.

nope because he ran right by Nasri, who was camped out on the line

 

[kamikaze80]

dont worry about defending, MD, we'll just outgun the opposition.

oh wait, when you fall behind 1-0 against a powerful team like chelsea, they sit back with 10 (grown) men and are pretty much impossible to penetrate, especially when we have no pace or power up front...

 

[marco]

same old arsenal really drogba is a different class and we have all the possesion with no real pentration and cant ****ing defend..
not even that gutted to be honest.
whoever bought that flare in today deserves a lifelong season ticket.. talk about galvanising the atmosphere.
the 5-10 mins after that flare went off was absolutely eletric in the away end.. so much so that im not even that fussed we lost.. seeing those chelsea wankers faces to our right as the flare was lit was priceless they were so **** scared it was laughable..

nice to see theo start a big game he defenitely desrevres his big chance

 

[Wenger14]

Just started re-watching it.

On the first goal, Clichy was on the post right before Malouda took it. When Drogba makes contact, Clichy was already on the other side of Almunia. Why? Song lost Drogba, so hes also to blame, but where was Clichy going? As Drogba makes contact, Clichy is standing right on top of Vermaelen, neither of them are marking a player. In fact, i count Drogba plus 1 other Chelsea player in the 6 yard area, 6 Arsenal players plus Clownmunia, yet no one on the post.

Complete lack of organization. Cesc cant believe it. Hes jumping up and down

edit --> they showed another angle. Clichy actually ran behind Almunia and in front of Nasri, who was on the near post. Seriously what went through Clichy's brain there?

What happened was Clichy spotted Carvalho unmarked in the box, he tried to get someone's attention to get someone to mark him. Cesc and Almunia heard his shouts and Cesc started going towards Carvalho, Clichy then ran into Cesc's position and then Arshavin turned up from outside the box to mark Carvalho, leaving Cesc in no man's land and no one on the back post.

Also Vermaelen was marking Terry but Diaby and Ivanovic got in his way and Terry lost him.

 

[Wenger14]

Just went to the second goal. What a horror show.

Arshavin tries to find Cesc on a give and go. Ball is deflected out, Song presses and pushes it right back to Arshavin. Arshavin dribbles past two guys but Ballack takes it from him. Mikel starts the movement floating a ball out to Lampard. Now lets count the errors

1. Diaby sees everything in front of him, but only jogs after the play

2. Clichy is closer to the ball than Lampard is, but Clichy also hesitates and just watches it

3. As Lampard crosses the half way line, its 4 (Gallas, TV, Sagna, Clichy) against three (Lampard, Anelka, Drogba). Clichy is inside Vermaelen's channel, Drogba is wide right, Anelka is between Clichy and Vermaelen.

4. Three players all follow Anelka's run, leaving Drogba in acres of space.

5. When Lampard releases the pass, Gallas amd TV are running straight back towards Clownmunia, and Clichy fonally runs toward Drogba. Anelka is now sprinting between Gallas and Sagna

6. When Drogba gets control and takes a touch, Vermaelen is a yard or two ahead of him and in position to run to the near post. Clichy is level and maybe 3 yards away.

This is the fatal error. Clichy cannot let him cut back inside there. He can see Vermaelen ahead of him taking away the byline/near post. Drogba made a basic inside cut and Clichy ran right past him.

7. Clownmunia waves goodbye to it

son of a ***** its disgusting to watch

Vermaelen should have stayed with Drogba, he switched positions with Clichy (who had the centre left covered) while Chelsea and Drogba were charging in on our goal. He made Clichy look bad there and gave Drogba that extra second he needed.

Agree with the rest.

 

[MDGoonah41]

Yeah that whole sequence was filled with errors. Shocking stuff

 

[SA Gunner]

Im sure its been mentioned before, but Ill say it again. Its just that I dont have the heart to read through the comments on this game.

First goal, Song and Vermaelen's fault.
Second goal, defence LEAVING DROGBA IN SPACE???

Wenger - at fault for starting Walcott instead of Bendtner, when Chelsea have shown frailty in the air.
Wenger also at fault for taking off Diaby (height???) and making the team short again.

No genuine proven CF upfront which brings Vermy, Gallas forward and consequently leave us exposed.

This can be fixed in the summer Arsène, get in a proven goal scorer and some more bulk in midfield. Also if you can, change our goalie.

This can be fixed!

Oh yes, another thing... one can see the confidence of these players is not high.. the simple observation by the commentator that they take so long when in possession, passing the ball BACKWARDS of all directions when on a break (Arshavin). Allows opposition years of time to get behind the ball.

 

[Mbaki Mutahaba]

Clichy covered the angle well, Vermalen is the one that should have NOT allowed Drogba to cut inside so easily. He went to far outside by the time Drogba made the cut..he wasnt close enough to block the shot. It could have been a case of overcommitment instead of rational defending. The cut back was to be avoided at all costs. Anyway its really a communication issu. Clichy is getting a lot of stick though and some of it is unfair.

 

[gstew]

I missed the game but it seems like it was another "boys against men" was it? Not an unexpected result tbh.

No, it was not men against boys. Arsenal dominated the midfield and had more chances. Chelsea won because they finished and we did not....simple as that.

At the Emirates we were like the little brother running around and Chelsea the big brother laughing at our effort. Today at Stamford Bridge we were the better side, but Chelsea deserved the victory because they finished their chances and we didn't. When you watch the game you will see that, as compared to all of the A-M posters who are frustrated and writing opinions based on the result not the performance.

 

[gstew]

I know Song is tired, but he's been terrible since coming back from the ANC. What the f**k is up with his positioning? Every time a team break on us, he's ahead of the ball. He's a f****g DMC for f**k sake, just side back and make sure the defence is in position. Your job is to expect the attack will break down and that you'll have to save the day and reinitialise the attack, it's not to f****g join in on attacks you f****g *****.

If you thing Song is a big problem then you are clearly more out of your mind then I thought.

Agreed.....Song was heroic today. He ran his ass off, he attacked and defended and met his covering responsibilities. If an opponent gets a favorable odd man counterattack against us then it is likely that Song is at least partly at fault (Rooney for ManU, e.g.). But Song is not a defender, he is a midfielder. He must take part in attack also. It is when a defender takes a part in attack that he is responsible for covering. All four defenders were back for Chelsea's second. Song did absolutely nothing wrong for that goal. And he was excellent throughout. Sometimes I wonder what game people watch.

 

[gstew]

The sad part is that Chelsea were not performing at their best apart from Cech and Drogba. They were there for the taking.

Which game were you watching? Chelsea were a class above us today. They limited us to wayward crosses and completely cut out all our penetration through the middle. They allowed us a lot of useless possession, but they certainly looked better on defense and more impressive on attack.

Out-muscled. Out-hustled. Defeated.

Zico, our midfielders dramtically out-muscled their midfielders. It wasn't even close. Their defenders out-muscled our forwards and our defenders against their forwards was a bit of a wash.

I felt that we out-hustled them until the last 15 minutes. The real difference was they finished with quality and we did not (and their GK played well). We were the better side, but Chelsea deserved the three points. Finishing really really matters.

 

[law90026]

We were the better side? Wow.

 

[stiiphunn]

We were the better side? Wow.

What's wrong with that? We did play well. They took their chances, we didn't. This defeat is very hard to take but some of the comments on here are way OTT.

 

[gstew]

We were the better side? Wow.

I am right now watching the game again for the third time. And yes, we were certainly the better side. It is all about the finishing. I just watched Chelsea defending criminally to allow Arshavin a 1 v 1 versus Cech. Because we did not score on that play Chelsea has a great defense. They let Nasri in 1 v 1 against Cech, but Nasri's bad touch made it so that we did not score. Because no goal Chelsea has a great defense. Cesc was wide open for a free header 8 yards out. Ivanovic hit him after Cesc had actually headed the ball. But Chelsea has a great defense because Cesc missed. People shape their opinion of the play by the end result and the score.

Chelsea deserved the points because they finished. But they were certainly not the better side. Actually, they were far worse (except for Drogba, Cech and ACole who were all excellent).