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

[Anonymous]

I think I have seen that game four or five times already.

We always play like that in Europe - ie not very well.

I do wonder why teams in the PL dont play like that against us. Its obvious we struggle to break teams down when they play like that. Ajax did the same. Maybe Mourinho is right when he says that english teams never do well in Europe because the quality of the PL isnt very good when it comes to defending and tactics.

It is obvious that PSV had no intention of trying to win that game, but with a bit of luck they could have very easily. Did their keeper have a save to make in the second half?

Anyway 3 points is the most important thing, aswell as Campbell being back on Saturday.

 

[KingReyes]

Anyway 3 points is the most important thing, aswell as Campbell being back on Saturday.

Campbell is back this Saturday? I just read he'll be back for the Citeh game!

 

[RocktheCasbah]

Can Pascal Cygan actually jump? He is is a travesty of a footballer at times, last night looked like one of those times.

Continuing in a slightly negative vein, our fans at the game must have thought they were at an art gallery or something. As one of my mates said "F'cking hell, Highbury must be the only place you can hear players shouting during a Champions league game!"

However, I thought Gilberto was magnificent, Kolo was solid, Thierry never stopped trying nor did Reyes. The problem was Pires playing on the right, he never got to grips with it and Dennis was squeezed like a lemon.

 

[Kyla]

I feel at highbury coachs in europe out fox us, playing a compact pressing game, stifiling our play through the midfield, allowing the center backs the ball at all times. In previous campaigns our centre backs were not adpet enough or possessed with enough ability to distrubute effectively. I feel toure gives us an added dimension (with his former midfield experinces) using his dribbling ability.

However away from home we shall be fine, a stark contrast to our intital european forays. I also believe the knock out stages will suit us better

 

[bobbypires]

First 3 points, but not a great performance. But we have time to improve. last year we would lose this game.

There was confusion on tv. I thought Arsenal were 2-0 up. They didn't say anything about the disallowed goal and I was very happy (another header, eh?). But then I could see the score at Highbury (1-0). What the ****? And then I noticed the linesman disallowed the goal. It wasn't offside, man!

Gilberto was the best by far.

 

[fuzz]

Ok just my thoughts on tonight and in champs leage in general....

Last night:

I' m personally not too dissapointed considering our record at home. In previous years might have lost that game but we kept a clean sheet. Also it was our first match of this campaign and i'm sure last years terrible start was still fresh in the mind, aswell as being a little rusty.

There were some good sign though, atleast in the first half anyway. I thought Reyes looked excellent and i thought we showed good sign when attacking at times. In reallty we scored two goals (one disallowed, but...) and that's not bad against a team who are just defending.

Ofcourse int he second half we created our own problems. As the game progressed i think the team were just becoming more and more aware of keeping that one goal lead so hence the gradul deepening defence. I don' t think it's fair to say if we were playing a better side "we would have got hammered", because you match your level of play according to your opponent. If we had been playing a more difficult side in a more crucial game we would have attacked more surely and pushed into a higher gear, but we didn' t really need to so i'm happy with the win. I don't think this relatively below par performance makes us a crap team. Last year we came back from three sub level performances to thrash inter. That's what we can do when we need to.

I think we' ve all been alitle spoilt by the form we have be showing in the premiership, as we can't expect the team to perform like that everytime. I think once we confirm our qualification to the next stage the remaing group games will allow us to realx and i think it's fair to say we are an excellent cup side. The group staging just don' t suite us.

Also i agree with everyone about the pitch size hindering our performance. I alsways feel more confident when we paly aways since there usually far moe space for us to exploit. I guess if we can get to the final we will be playing at someone else's gorund, with a bigger pitch, whcih would be good.


Champions league in genreal:

When we won the PL in 97/8 everyone was slightly amaized, but by winning the PL that year we were naturaly considered man u's equals which we were, but only in the premiership. People expected us to carry that form straight into the Cl. Eventually people began to concede that we have/had not as much experiecne as man u in the cl. I mean don' t forget all the years man u were kncoked out by galatasry int he groups stages etc...

In addition to that we have excelled further in PL since and previous faillures and growing expectation are naturally heaping further pressure ont he team.

Ofcourse the team should expect this and deal with this pressure. They are proffesionals and this is pressure they have produced for themselves with their brilliance in the PL. I just wish though that in the earlier years of wengers tenure that such expectation had not been put on the team. I just wish they had been iven time to develope like man u rather than being thowrn right in the deep end of expection.

Never the less i think now the team are reaching the point of deliverance. The problem is i think the team know they should atleast get to the seni's, but it's just a matter of getting there. Once we achieve that some of the pressure i'd hope would be of. ofcoure there also may then bee added pressure of getting to the semi's. I do think though if we get there we will relax and feel we had achieved something atleast better than previous performance and that even if the team were to go out in the semi's, this year they would have atleast proved to themlseves that they are improving in europe and perhaps in one more year will win it.

Basically we need jsut to remove a little pressure of our backs. I don't think any british team has had as muc pressure as us to perform. I mean despite our poor performance's in previous years we are still rankked as one of the favourites. I think the team have to forget about the press's opinion on what they should achieve and remember that every team is entering this competiton to win and that we have no greater right to win than anyone else. We need to bring our heads of the clouds and back on to earth. Let's concentrate on each games as it comes incrementally, that's how we created thisunbeaten run and this is how we will win the CL.(I know that's a cliched tern, but i thinks it's very relavent)

I like to look at the positives of things and i thought last night's positivess was in the fact we won despite not playing our best. I also think last years defeat may be the impotous we need to go further this year. Last year we lost our first game, but this year we won it. Generally this team i think responds to faillue. We did so when man u won the league two yars ago and we came back stronger than ever last year and went unbeaten. The cruelness of the defeat to chelsea really will help i think this year.

fuzz

 

[Smartly Dressed Morris]

If we had gotten the second goal in the first half the game would have been killed and we would have been far more relaxed. Whoever you are playing at 1- 0 its never over till the whistle - dont panic guys

 

[jasonlohkh]

Overall i think our performances is good. PSV is not a poor team and Hiddink is a very good coach. We are competing against the best in Europe so we have to play intelligently.
Actually we dominated the game in the 1st half. We only ease a bit in the second half and let PSV back into the game.
The good point is that our defence is not as bad as we thought earlier

 

[Evil Dragon]

Inspirational performance by Thierry, Vieira is getting better, and a nice Solid performance by Arsenal's most slated players, Gilberto and Lauren. Which followed on from another strong performance from another heavily slated player Freddie.

Things are on the up.

ljunberg didn't play yesterday.

I meant against Fulham

 

[Blankety Blank]

Was There a Game 2nite?

problem 2 solve.

b able 2 execute it.

good analysis... but please refrain from text language... (see "Terms of Usage" found Here)

Sorry im definately old enough to know better. I guess its just a bad habit i seen to have developed with all this new fangled technology lingo

I wasnt aware of the rules & offer thanks that you brought this to my attention,
God its almost proved difficult to write this short passage without using the odd text phrase to shorten ocassional words! ops:

This once great language needs to be preserved for the good of future generations & i will endeavour to do just that.

Seriously though im not a big fan of text speak but seem to have been dragged in like so many others. I repent my sins & hope that i may come through this unfortunate disease unscathed

 

[pamilih]

Mourinho made an excellent remark that a team must be a thinking team. A successful team must be able to understand diiferent styles of play and adjust to the style of play to suit the opponent of the hour. There is no 'one style fits all' in international football despite the trend of style convergence.

This is probably the main weakness of Wenger who applies a single tested style of the EPL onto the CL.

No doubt our attacking flair has no peer in the EPL at the moment but I think we must heed what Mourinho said. The PSV game shows that the team has learnt their lessons, to my delight.

 

[Henry IV]

It was great to see Vieira coming back to near his best form. Gilberto also scrapped and battled well. It wasn't a stunning performance but it was never likely to be. The important thing was to win the game and keep a clean sheet. This time last year we were hammered by Inter so we have improved. I think PSV will be the toughest team we face in our group so it's a perfect start to the campaign. I think we can win the three home games.