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CL: Arsenal vs PSV Eindhoven | 14/09/04

JazzG

Established Member
patrick42uk said:
christ i'v just imagined drawing chelsea valencia or milan in the cl and playing them at home. not only would they put in a better defensive performance than psv did today with their 10 men behind the ball, they have the firepower upfront to punish any mistakes ala inter. i seriously hope we make the most of the games against relatively easy teams in rosenborg and panathanaikos to gain some self-confidence in our creativity at home.

Exactly, if we play like that again stronger teams will punish us so badly. Teams will play like this against us and we will have to deal with it.

It is nothing to do with our ability though, I think it is all down to our lack of confidence in Europe which was VERY evident in the 2nd half and something which needs to be addressed or this time next year we will be sitting here wondering again if we are good enough and can we do it.
 

Beany

ITK
Trusted ⭐

Country: England
Chill out guys; this time last year we got tonked 3-1 by Inter so it's a step in the right direction; also, PSV arte the only real competition fpr first place in this group so a victory is welcome.

We played well enough, without really taking off, against a team who only came to life in the last ten minutes and which otherwise had no ambition up front even when trailing.
Obviously, we will have to produce much better performances to challenge Barca, Chel$ki et al but we can leave that to February 05. No one ever won this competition in September.
 

velimir85

Active Member
Ok,I guess Arsenal didn't play very well in the second half.But I had the chance to see PSV in two games,one live(they played FC Red Star Belgrade in the qualifying round),and they are MORE THAN ABLE to punish defensive errors,so don't be too scared about other teams.Their players,especially Beasly,are fast and able - excellent for counter attacks...Every player they have is in his country national team - so don't underestimate them too much,beating them wasn't so easy.
 

JazzG

Established Member
Tonked 3-0 actually ;)

What I'm upset about is it seems to be the same ol things are happening to us in Europe, happened in the past as well so I can't just say yeah we will be allright later on. We need to improve and hopefully that scare at the end will shake some sense into our players or we will pay the price for it later on.

I still think we have the potential to do well but only if we improve by quite abit.
 

beanz

Well-Known Member
henry's girl said:
I think ppl need to chill cos Wenger wnt be complaining much. we got the points need.
btw, r'ber we cld have played well and lost but it didnt happen, so take the points and go to bed :)
Well said HG, that's exactly what I'm doing, g'night all :p
 

Mark

Established Member
I am pleased with the result. We normally would've lost or drawn that game in a disappointing manner. Let's face it, it's our first European game for a while so we we're not quite as comfortable as we will be, I'm sure. To grind out a result like that is something we have failed to do in the past so it's good that we are learning.
 

lee1001

Established Member
Don't underestimate the role of Gus Hiddink tonight.
Look what he did with a very poor South Korean side?? He is a superb tactician.

With players like Cocu and Van Bommel in midfield it was always going to be a battle. I think the reason why we dropped in the 2nd half was because Vieira (short of match practise) was less influential in the middle of the park allowing V Bommel and Cocu to control the game.

However i do agree with Jazz. 2nd hald we were very poor and looked very nervous defending the 1 goal lead. I think the team are two used to being 2-3 goals up and crusing. I think we will learn a lot from tonight. A reality check if you like.

As for people suggesting Pires should play on the right in the future (i've seen that conversation a lot in the last few months in this forum). I think we can finaly put that idea to rest.

MOTM goes to Gilberto. Really battled tonight and did us proud.
honourable mention goes to Lauren. Defended very well, had his man in his pocket all night. I also though Reyes was good, kept running and his off the ball running was superb, just didn't happen for him in front of goal. Should of done better when he weas released on the left hand side and failed to cut it back for 2-3 Arsenal players who had arrived in the box.

Did anybody feel sorry for Cygan when Cole had a go at him in the second half?
The look on his face was like a naughty child who had been told off.
I feel sorry for him and no wonder he wanted the move to Lyon in the summer. He is continously critisized by the media and fans. The highbury faithful barely clap when the teams are announced. Im not his biggest fan, but i do feel sorry for him. He knows most people think he's ****, but every week he comes out and gives 100%. Well Pascal, some of us appreciate your commitment. I salute you!!
 

AFCG7

Established Member
Well those of us who expected it to be easy and a walkover for us have seen reality. I always thought we would struggle with a half fit Vieira and a five man defensive midfield.
Teams coming to Highbury to defend will more often than not succeed when the game is played at this level.
That we secured the 3 points is vital.. but the way we did it was disappointing.
 

Serip

Active Member
Not a brilliant match, from the players and the supporters alike (only the clockend gooners were singing, I felt almost embaressed to be at the game). I'm happy with the three points but I have to agree somewhat with Jazz, the second half was awful and in the last 10 minutes or so, our boys were ****ting themselves. They were completely bricking it and giving away stupid balls, allowing decent attacks to get broken up and you know why? They realised they couldn't score a second and just didn't know what the hell to do with the ball.

Gilberto, PV4, Ashley and Ralph did not play well at all, it was ****ing painful to watch. Pires was not brilliant but he wrongly had a goal disallowed and Alex got the last touch for the goal that did stand so he more than played his part considering he was out of position. The PSV defenders were constantly attatched to Henry like they wanted a shag out of him both on and off the ball, i'm surprised the ref didn't clamp down on it as it got so blatant as part of their defensive lockdown. Cygan was our best player I thought as he did nothing exceptional but at least didn't make any errors and give away stupid balls. He has proven to everyone that last seasons' good performances weren't flukes and as defensive cover goes, you can't get much better.

You can't win every game by 3 or 4 goals but PSV should NEVER have been in a position in which they could have stolen a draw. We are lucky that they couldn't put away the few chances that they had during the second half. The thing that worried me was that is wasn't a case of PSV playing better in the second half, it was just us being ****!
 

Loylz

Established Member
Trusted ⭐
velimir85 said:
Greetings from Serbia for fellow Arsenal fans!
I'm glad for a new victory,but unfortunately i couldn't see the game (our TV broadcasted Celtic-Barcelona),so I would be glad if someoune could give me a short review of how Arsenal played.
Hope I don't interrupt the discussion :eek:ops:
Match Report
 

afrodizzy

Active Member
I salute Cygan also, I hated it when Ashley let that ball pass him without even making an effort to retrieve it & then the look he gave Cygan, its awful to do that to a grown intelligent man who gives his all game in game out albeit without equaling the same solid performance of Sol Cambell.
 

RocktheCasbah

Established Member
Heheh, just goes to show eh, Serip thought Gilberto was crap and Cygan our best player... didn't look like that to me!

3 points when playing poorly is not to be sneezed at. We will improve
 

quattro

Well-Known Member
i think the first five matches this season have spoiled us. we weren't splendid today but we did enough to get three points (then again, we won 4-1 against norwich and people were STILL complaining that we weren't doing good enough... geez). last year we tried at this same time in the competition we tried too hard to be splendid and got whacked by one of the most humiliating scorelines we've ever seen in our own backyard.

clean sheet, home win. will do me any day of the week. and enough of the "if that were a higher quality side" comparisons... every game is different.
 

_scorpion_

Established Member
In cup competitions, the important thing is collecting the points and qualifying....if we win every match 1-nil, id take it in a heart beat.When we get to knockout stages, you are forced to be more adventerous.

I think teams playing against us realise this and will grind out thier games against us in the group stages.

1-nil is an excellent result.....

On another note, sure we the undefeadted english champions, but you cant expect teams from other countries to quiver at the thought of this....in fact, they'd be out to prove they are better than the rest of the english sides.
 

tox

Active Member
This certainly wasn't the best arsenal game i have ever been too. We didn't look great but didn't look bad either. PSV didn't get many chances and we did seem to lack something upfront. Henry looked dangerous when ever he had the ball but everyone else was below par. We have 3 points from an average performance. In past years that probably would have ended as a draw.
 

JazzG

Established Member
So lets ignore the fact we played poor in the 2nd half and should of conceded a goal and only had 1 point and only focus on the fact we won. Thats what people have done in the past in the CL then wondered why we always screw up.

We should be happy we got the points but if we play like that with the lack of concentration all over the pitch we will NOT get far and our team will never be recognized as great until we win this CL, I can't bare to watch my side self-destruct every year in this competition but can't understand why they don't learn from their mistakes.
 

efurze

Active Member
I didn't get to see the match, but even given the negative reports I really don't think it's time to hit the panic button just yet. Sol is infinitely better than Cygan, Vieira lacks fitness (no coincidence, I think, that we broke down late), and we're coming off an international break (remember that we also played poorly 3 days ago).

It certainly won't do to continue struggling against 2nd-rate opposition, but I think there's every reason to believe we won't. Don't start to worry until another group game goes the same way.
 

Blankety Blank

emoji merchant
Was There a Game 2nite? :lol:

I was like most concerned with the 2nd half performance. Def had shades of Chelski last yr & numerous other edgy episodes in the CL. I think its a tricky problem 2 solve. A mental thing, the players must be ACUTELY aware of their previous failings in the comp & it adds some extra pressure to these games. No doubt getting wacked at home at the same stage last yr also makes them concerned about over commiting & maybe results in a tryin to protect what they have mentality. Maybe even endorsed by Arsène?I feel its a balance thing & hopefully we will 'find' the gameplan that works in the CL & b able 2 execute it.
For everybody whos feelin a lttle down a win is a WIN!
1-0 to the arsenal :wink: Just like old times well almost :lol:
3 points & something to build on thats the important thing, anybody swap it for the situation after 3 games last yr? thought not :lol:
hopefully this result will at least take a bit of pressure off the boys & confidence will be built over the next few games in this competition.
The Knockout Stages though is the place where the cauldron will really start to Steam.
Further disscusions will ensue down the line about that tho.
So take the result & be happy this evening & sleep fairly well please, Coz the rollercoaster has only just Begun!
 

leongsh

Well-Known Member
Watched the match this morning (2:30am in Malaysia).

Liked the patient approach in the 1st half and got ahead on an own goal. I initially thought Paddy scored but he did not celebrate like he scored and immediate replays show the own goal.

2nd half, the defense was going to sleep :evil: - especially Pascal Cygan :evil:

The energy levels were definitely down and the team scraped through in the end.

1-0 to the Arsenal - my favourite Arsenal song is back...

It's better than losing ;D

EDIT: Spelling error.
 

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