CL: Thun vs Arsenal | 22/11/05

[thierrys_girl]

Just watched the match, god we were lucky. It was an uninspired performance but we got what wanted, the 3 points and 1st position sewn up. The youngsters did well, I was impressed with Eboue he did well in the place of Lauren as did Song next to Flamini.

 

[Mbaki Mutahaba]

Freddie was just awful today really... Reyes did well in my opionin..i noticed today..he never held on tothe ball for long or even tried to beat players..that much. He kept realisiong it one time to RvP, Henry, Freddie..sometimes it worked sometimes it didn't but he did well going forward. Loved how he tracks back though really give him props for that.

 

[Zico]

My take home points:

1) A little worrisome that it appears the 2nd most influential player on the team this season is an 18 year old midfield general. Even yesterday, after he came on, I thought Fabregas played with purpose and gave us a little extra going forward. Before that, there was nothing coming out of midfield, just hard grafting by masters Flamini and the impressive Song.

2) Henry didn't seem interested in playing but looked even more upset to be substituted. Not the attitude we need from the captain, but we'll forgive him just this once against an unknown team on a bitter Swiss evening.

3) Lauren should be left back. He gave us attacking presence once he came on and looked as good as he does on his regular flank.

4) I love Reyes to bits and admire his hard work particulary in the early part of the season. But something tells me we might be better off cashing in on this kid and using that money towards strengthening our club elsewhere. I just don't feel that you can teach a footballer communication and anticipation. He completely lacks these abilities.

 

[Mbaki Mutahaba]

I love Reyes to bits and admire his hard work particulary in the early part of the season. But something tells me we might be better off cashing in on this kid and using that money towards strengthening our club elsewhere. I just don't feel that you can teach a footballer communication and anticipation. He completely lacks these abilities.

I think you should look at the number of passes he provided in this game. And how much he was involved in the play. compared to Freddie who was playing the same position on the right with a full back Ebou supporting him.
I think Reyes was by far one of our better players and this is not justa but work rate..its how he constantly makes himself available for the ball regardless of where you put him.

 

[Viper]

the red card and the penalty were good calls, however.

I didn't want the other guy to get sent off. I noticed when we attacked Thun got their whole team behind the ball and it looked pretty difficult to score, unless someone tried a long-ranger.

 

[Zico]

I don't deny that he was involved in the play. In fact, he constantly makes himself available throughout the midfield area, and is always looking to create for himself and other players. But yesterday I saw too much
1 - Reyes has ball and opportunity to break on wing. But he stops and looks up and sends a relatively speculative ball. He's the best cross-field passer in the team, but sometimes I think he uses this option too much. A cross-field pass should be used when there is obviously a man open on the other side or in instances where the defense is bunching up on one side.

2 - give and gos. Often just don't work with this bloke. He seems to get his timing wrong.

3 - last night more than most he seemed to just run into defenders. Maybe he thinks he can just go through them. Give him a Nobel prize if he manages it.

I just feel that for all his individual brilliance, Reyes has not fully integrated into the attack. Two years after his arrival, that is a worrying sign.

 

[invisibleman18]

very poor performance i thought. but good result so its all good in the end.

thun can feel very hard done by in my opinion. the "offside goal" was clearly miles onside, and the supposedly offside player never touched it anyway. terrible defending off that set piece (yes, set piece again). noone went for the ball or went with the man and Almunia was in no-man's land. i wonder what you people think about having players on the posts. as a goalkeeper myself, i will always have a defender on my far post for that type of inswinging free kick from that sort of angle angle. id like to think i can cover my near post but if something like that one thun took happens or someone gets a good flick on, im gonna be struggling to get there due to not really being the tallest, so always feel more comfortable with a defender on that far post and i can never understand why more goalkeepers dont do it in the premiership and CL etc. it would have stopped that goal today for a start, and had david james done it against france off Zidane's free kick, we would not have lost. almunia's first reaction was to go towards the ball expecting the thun player to get a touch but cos he missed it (or got a very very faint nick on the ball) there was no cover at the back post.
anyone else think a defender on the far post off that type of free kick is useful, or do you feel it would be a waste of a defensive player?

as for good performances, eboue was encouraging going forward , but needs more work defensively, thus enhancing some people's opinion that really he is a winger, not a full back. song wasnt bad but his passing is decidedly average to say the least while cygan didnt do anything majorly wrong (so guess he had a good game for him)
overall, rather boring game i thought.
and i dont think it was really a penalty. bit suprising pires got to take it after missing his last 2 (well missing 1 and buggering up that other with henry), thought it should have been van persie.

 

[RocktheCasbah]

RocktheCasbah, go to the pub and watch it.

Went to QPR with my sister instead.

And God, it was bad! Certainly puts some of the whingeing that goes on here into perspective.

 

[PolishGooner]

What is wrong with Wenger? he says he got a faith in youths but even when we have a promotion in hand, he selects Henry, Ljungberg and Pires. Where were Lupoli, Quincy and Bendtner?

 

[Army of Me]

he wanted to win the group before the ajax game, you cant blame him.

 

[MK5]

What is wrong with Wenger? he says he got a faith in youths but even when we have a promotion in hand, he selects Henry, Ljungberg and Pires. Where were Lupoli, Quincy and Bendtner?

They'll probably play against Ajax instead.

 

[RocktheCasbah]

Exactly, time enough for Lupoli and Bendtner etc against Ajax... the first time we'll even have the option of doing this in the CL. I know the performance was poor, but it was a bloody cold night and the bottom line is we won.

 

[MK5]

A couple of points,

Although 5 wins out of 5 is a great we shouldn't get too carried away as I don't think we could have asked for an easier group.

Reyes takes too much time on the ball and makes things too complicated for himself but that's also down too that he doesn't have enough options. The days when we had players flying into open spaces and gave the player on the ball 2 or 3 options all the time seems to be long gone.

I believe almost anyone in the squad could do a better job than Cygan at left back but hopefully AW only started with him there again because he wanted to give Lauren a rest.

Song didn’t set the world alight but looked a lot better than I’ve seen him play for the reserves this season.

With one player sent off, 2 goals disallowed and a penalty against them in the last couple of minutes of the game Thun got every right to feel hard done by. It would have been a nice gesture if AW had pointed this out after the game, me thinks.

 

[Legend#1]

It didn't help our preperation that the plane was delayed and they got to Switzerland 3 hours late.. and are having to stay overnight because they can't get out of Switzerland until this morning.

 

[RocktheCasbah]

Good thing we played last night then, and not tonight.

 

[ccc]

and i dont think it was really a penalty. bit suprising pires got to take it after missing his last 2 (well missing 1 and buggering up that other with henry), thought it should have been van persie.

I simply don't understand why you guys complaint on pires' penalty even if he scored. he missed only 2 penalty for arsenal including the 2nd in city game which TT should take part of responsiblity for that .

 

[yoinkster]

i wonder what you people think about having players on the posts.

i wouldnt do that because youre asking for trouble, with a man on the post, the opposition can put a man in front of the goalie and be onside, he'll then be completely unsighted and won't be anywhere near as effective.

 

[RocktheCasbah]

But yoinkster- how many times have Ash or Freddie bailed us out by being on the post?

 

[hellolo]

What is wrong with Wenger? he says he got a faith in youths but even when we have a promotion in hand, he selects Henry, Ljungberg and Pires. Where were Lupoli, Quincy and Bendtner?

This is real life not football manager

 

[yoinkster]

But yoinkster- how many times have Ash or Freddie bailed us out by being on the post?

if you have a specific tactic of a man running to the post and not worrying about marking anyone then i guess that would probably work.
I can remember a couple of post clearances but they are mainly from corners, where you definately should have two men on the posts.