CL: Arsenal vs CSKA Moscow | 01/11/06

[Mbaki Mutahaba]

this was an unbelievably frustrating day. i saw the game on TV and have to say the stadium sounded amazing. i can only imagine what being there must have been like. the midfield play was intricate and determined. cesc played his heart out but the finishing... it was just bloody disgusting, really. the positive i'm taking is that we definitely know that henry and co. can finish with the best of them. we just have to chalk this one to bad luck. its the only explanation. henry, rosicky, cesc and van persie havent turned into s***e players overnight. its just not possible. lets stay positive and supportive. you have to expect that the boys will feed on this in the coming games. i've never seen such a supremely frustrating yet impressive performance in my life. it must be what united felt like when we beat them in the cup final.

We were just piss poor against Manure that day. Believe me it wasn't that their football was brilliant. Today, we really curved these guys up at will. It was amazing..i kept screaming to myself with every missed goal..and all the way till the end I still though we were going to nick..it..God can't be that cruel.

 

[sesquioxide]

I started watching the game form the second half onwards, and we were just brilliant, from the highlights i can only imagine how we were during the first half from the highlights.

One thing i noticed is that Gilberto wasn't going forward enough to help draw some defenders away from Rosicky, Cesc and company, just goes to show us how much we miss a guy like Vieira ....

Yes, we were brilliant in the first half. Too bad you couldn't have watched our game about the 30 minute mark. Our play was absolutely fantastic.

But I have to disagree with you that we ought to have any "defensive midfielder" more aggressive than Gilberto in going forward. One aspect about Fabregas (which I love) is that he often commits to attacks quickly and decisively. (I think it would make for a wonderful statement the percentage of the time he is in the opposition penalty box, but I don't have that.) If Gilberto did not sit back then we would be in a world of trouble everytime we lose the ball in the opposition's half. And Gilberto did enough today, I think, in the attack. He nicely sets up Henry in the 16th minute and in the second half he made a very nice header. He gives in the attack as Fabregas gives to the defense and this is how it should stay.

The man to draw defenders away from Fabregas and Rosicky would actually be Adebayor, since he never stops running around and defenders (e.g. Manchester United) often have trouble following him and then cover for the other players. This is something that van Persie (despite his obvious ball skills) never seem to me to be able to replicate. It actually does give me a lot of confidence were Henry to be injured for us to have a van Persie and Adebayor partnership (which if I remember correctly got a lot of praise in the one game it is tested this season in Zagreb), but that's an entirely different discussion altogether.

 

[_scorpion_]

A very frustrating match to watch because you could see the chances being carved out but the finishing was very poor.

I still cannot believe the Rosicky and Cesc misses, but that is football and both had very strong games with Rosicky possibly the best on feild.

I agree that we seemed to carve more holes when Gilberto surged upfeild to join the attack. He seemed to drag a few defenders out or in some cases lose his marker.

In any case, I have watched football for the best part of 25 years and I have never seen a match like that.

It was as if the ball could not physically get through the goal line.

If we can put the finishing touch on the chances carved out, we will go a long long way.

One thing that stood out for me in this match which i can say was an 'improvement' on the Everton and Villa matches, was the variety in attack.

All of a sudden we were seeing some decent crosses from the RB and LB positions added to our normal intricate style of passing. Not to mention early released balls from deep.

We need to continue this sort of variation to be more successful against stubborn teams that just want to defend.

 

[morpho]

We need to continue this sort of variation to be more successful against stubborn teams that just want to defend.

Exactly. I was so happy to see our off ball movement today and our variation, instead of just banging our head to the wall, was stunning. I feel very sorry for our players who didnt get any reward for playing like this, but they are professionals and i dont think it will matter too much. If they can go from this match with their heads high, all I can say is poor poor West Ham...

 

[kel varnsen]

We need to continue this sort of variation to be more successful against stubborn teams that just want to defend.

Exactly. I was so happy to see our off ball movement today and our variation, instead of just banging our head to the wall, was stunning. I feel very sorry for our players who didnt get any reward for playing like this, but they are professionals and i dont think it will matter too much. If they can go from this match with their heads high, all I can say is poor poor West Ham...

may sound like a broken record, but the movement off the ball was terrific yesterday. one time in the second half when henry got the ball on the outside of the box, cesc, hleb and rosicky all stormed into the box, trying to make a run in behind the defenders. same thing happened over and over; once we got the ball into the final third of the pitch, players took more responsibility and tried to get away from their defender. that is something that we clearly lacked against everton; runs into the box.

 

[nidza7]

I`m unbeleivably frustrated with the draw.


Just hope we get all wright when we play HSV.

 

[11vanpersie]

too right, i feel the stadium last night was getting behind the players but they still couldnt hit the back of the net! Rosicky, well what can we say about THAT miss! i dont think i have ever sighed so much at a football match!

saying that there was a few good points although there nothing really that we can take out of the game! are they?

 

[nidza7]

"The crowd was great. What is funny is that the crowd was great, the team was great, and the result was bad. "

Arsène.Says all really.

 

[Double_H]

We need to continue this sort of variation to be more successful against stubborn teams that just want to defend.

Exactly. I was so happy to see our off ball movement today and our variation, instead of just banging our head to the wall, was stunning. I feel very sorry for our players who didnt get any reward for playing like this, but they are professionals and i dont think it will matter too much. If they can go from this match with their heads high, all I can say is poor poor West Ham...

may sound like a broken record, but the movement off the ball was terrific yesterday. one time in the second half when henry got the ball on the outside of the box, cesc, hleb and rosicky all stormed into the box, trying to make a run in behind the defenders. same thing happened over and over; once we got the ball into the final third of the pitch, players took more responsibility and tried to get away from their defender. that is something that we clearly lacked against everton; runs into the box.

thats True Kel ..i remeber time and times agian when we need to score a goal no one is in the Box but yesterday i think arsen told them to go inside the Box more often

only Henry is the one who doesnt bother to move his ass when ever somonoe gets the ball

you always sees Fab ,Ros or Hleb waits for Henry to make a run when the are inside outside the box but henry stops he wants the ball where he stands.
hope arsen talks to him about that

 

[Gurgen]

http://www.eurosport.com/football/uefa-champions-league/2006-2007/sport_sto999203.shtml

Wenger's comments. Did he really mean it? "The best performance since CL." Very very hard to agree to. He'd better send for that shrnk from last season. Or has Keown already left?

Tbh, our performance tonight was exceptional. We did absolutely everything but score. If we scored from half the chances we had, we could've been at least 2-0.

I agree, and yet it's not entirely unlogical that we didn't score.

I don't want to sound like a broken record, but due to that unholy formation we play our best chances fall to players who aren't goalscorers, like Fabregas and Rosicky. Our best finisher, and the greatest striker on earth, is a lamppost/provider.

 

[cubbz_th14]

"The crowd was great. What is funny is that the crowd was great, the team was great, and the result was bad. "

Arsène.Says all really.

personally, i don't think that the crowd was 'great', it was OK, much better than the other 6 games I've been to this season. as usual there were long periods of silence but you cant really blame the crowd after a dozen missed opportunities. luckily i could stand throughout the game without any 'tourist' asking me to sit down !

very disappointing result, however, not all is lost, and we must get a result against hamburg.

 

[marco]

im not unduly concerned about it as we were excellent.
the margin between victory and drawing is so fine i i feel that we are so close to getting it right.

 

[Arnie]

was annoyed because i had a chance to go to the game at the final hour, but had work!!

If i was at the game, i would of pulled my hair out, but it's encouraging we created those chances, because it's impossible for Thierry, Rosicky and cesc to miss those ones again if they tried!!

 

[The_byrne]

im not unduly concerned about it as we were excellent.
the margin between victory and drawing is so fine i i feel that we are so close to getting it right.

exactly. It's not like we aren't making any chances. I can see us pissing all over west ham at the weekend, as they will be overconfident and at home, so will come out at us

 

[Jkreffer]

The atmosphere has always been good where I sit. However, yesterday I learnt that I sit right above the RedAction area so that may be why.

As far as the result goes, it is frustrating, but then as Wenger said, it isn't as if we are playing badly. I would be more concerned if we weren't creating the chances. I suppose the manner of our dominance and another clean sheet is something to take from the game.

 

[JazzG]

I agree, and yet it's not entirely unlogical that we didn't score.

I don't want to sound like a broken record, but due to that unholy formation we play our best chances fall to players who aren't goalscorers, like Fabregas and Rosicky. Our best finisher, and the greatest striker on earth, is a lamppost/provider.

Our best chances were open goals with the Fabregas and Rosicky misses. I don't care what formation you play but the Arsenal ladies would of put those chances away! They were easy chances and there just is no excuse for missing those chances.

 

[Arnie]

Whenever we have won trophies, we have had goal scorers from midfield, personally i expect fabregas and rosicky to chip in more goals due to their advanced position on the pitch. Last night was just unlucky though.

 

[Gooner T]

last night was unlucky. i dont hink anyone can say that the style of play or formation was at fault. We just missed too many SITTERS, not chances, but sitters.

 

[Shadow Moses]

So no one is worried that we will finish second and face a European giant in the 2nd round and get knocked out?

To be the best you have to... well you get the point.

 

[Jkreffer]

I think that the whole finishing first or second is irrelevant anyway. I mean last year we won our group comfortably, but still ended up playing Real Madrid and Juventus.

This year could be a similar story. I mean, Barcalona look like they could finish second and that wouldn't exactly be an easy tie. It is all down to luck of the draw in the end.