EPL: Arsenal vs Liverpool - 30/01/13 KO: 19:45 SS2

[Rain Dance]

WTF was that defending for both goals... Per and TV needs to be benched

 

[MDGoonah41]

ive watched that clip 100 times. vermaelen's flail is amazing. its like the puppeteer pulled the string on him

 

[RUS arsenal]

He might be an overweight useless clown at this point but when we signed him and until his injury in Athens, he was pretty good and was even discussed as a starter ahead of Gibbs at one point. So let's not knock the signing itself, it is not Wenger's fault he decided to spend his summer on a fast-food tour.

he was never good, never. He was just better then gibbs was at that point and not to mention that gibbs was also injured for parts of the season last. He was never solid defensively, he was better going forwards but he was NEVER good, not as a left back

He was never good defensively, I agree in that regard, but at that point he defended decently enough where he could make up for it with his attacking contributions. Now he is just bad all around, but the signing itself was pretty good.

 

[Rain Dance]

How about the chances where Liverpool gets a free kick and no one bothered to jump?

Luckily Scz did well

 

[jmsmtthw28]

Our defense is all individual mistakes
For the first goal Sagna slips, Vermaelen fails to clear the ball then Ramsey fails to clear it and in the end Mertesacker fails to block the shot
For the second goal Mertesacker simply sticks a leg out and then doesn't track back, Santos tries to get back but fails and then Liverpool get lucky with the rebound.

Its almost opposite to what we had at the start of the season, we went from being very strong defensively and poor offensively to being very poor defensively and strong offensively

A lot of it is due to good players being very average this season, Sagna usually very reliable has been terrible, Kos one of the best CBs last season has been out of form, Vermaelen who was a revelation has been hot and cold all season and Mertesacker who started the season so brightly is slowly going back into his shell. Gibbs was our only defender who was making a name for himself but he's injured and we are stuck with Santos

We need to find our first choice CB soon this shifting and changing at the back has not worked, Jenkinson need to be our first choice RB and we need to sign a real CDM who can protect this fragile back four

 

[Vinci]

A couple of true gems by Mr. Wenger:

The squad is top, top level for me and I think we have to learn to trust these players and keep faith in them.

The two goals we have conceded today have shown that we were nervous from the start at the back, but overall we have shown great quality and tremendous spirit.


How the hell are the players going to improve if Wenger defends them no matter what. They must be think that it's alright to start off **** as long as they show tremendous spirit. It will happen over and over.

 

[Invincible]

Only a Wenger defence could make Jordan Henderson look like ****ing Messi.

 

[WengerFaithful]

Shamfoookingbolic - what a joke of a defence. I have said it before how many games are we going to only play for one half of the match - shambles preperation.

And Santos he can go **** Right Off - how can he call himself a professional footballer. Slow Fat, Heartless shambolic performance.

Even the 'Come Back' if you can call it that couldn't stop me fuming after the match ended - the flash back for their first goal - 4 mistakes in the one move - I would hardly see that on a Sunday with my kid at his match.

Then you have SzehMessi acting the prick showing no cop on knowing the defence was in a bad place mentally.

That defence and attitude to defending is a plague and thier is no cure in sight.

 

[DiamondGooner]

A couple of true gems by Mr. Wenger:

The squad is top, top level for me and I think we have to learn to trust these players and keep faith in them.

The two goals we have conceded today have shown that we were nervous from the start at the back, but overall we have shown great quality and tremendous spirit.

.

In other words were not signing any one.

 

[Bigbludfire]

i'd really like to know as well, does anyone know who was it(our scout or otherwise) who recommended that we sign santos? I remember it being squeak bum deadline day time when we signed him but surely, with a scouting network as extensive as ours, with the amount we paid for him, surely the other options would've been better.. I completely understand that we'll never sign the likes of alaba, cole, coentrao but it is mind boggling to think that a club of our stature would've signed someone like santos.

Mano Menezes had this to say about dropping our cheery Brazilian left-back(/left-winger/central midfielder/trequartista/other things) from his squad

The problem with Andre Santos is tactical. He turned my hair grey when we were still at Corinthians.

 

[Bossa]

Wilshere and Cazorla in the midfield three will never work. It would be best if we play Cazorla on the wing.

 

[DiamondGooner]

Wilshere and Cazorla in the midfield three will never work. It would be best if we play Cazorla on the wing.

That's what I think, Cazorla to me looks better when he drifts inside from wide, Wilshere should play CAM with two more physical players backing him up.

But this is where the imbalance is because how do you play the front 3?

Personally if I was choosing I'd go with Podolski or Theo up front with the other wide with Cazorla, those are our best players with Wilshere in CAM backed up by probably Diaby and Arteta or hopefully a new CDM signing.

 

[infineon]

Wenger won't play anyone but Giroud upfront until he's proven Giroud is the white Henry and Poldi and Walcott are wingers and not strikers.

 

[DiamondGooner]

Wenger won't play anyone but Giroud upfront until he's proven Giroud is the white Henry and Poldi and Walcott are wingers and not strikers.

Very true and it's a shame because a front three of Cazorla, Podolski and Theo could be very exciting, all in tandem speed wise and play wise, Podolski and Cazorla have already shown they work well together with Theo running off that play could be good .... but as you say we'll probably never find out.

 

[MDGoonah41]

we should play the magic rectangle with arteta and a new CM deep, wilshere and cazorla in front of them and then podolski and walcott up front.

 

[Bossa]

Been saying for a while that this would be our most balanced lineup

Walcott/Giroud
Podolski Wilshere Cazorla
Diaby Arteta
Gibbs CB CB Sagna
Szczesny

 

[mo50]

Wenger won't play anyone but Giroud upfront until he's proven Giroud is the white Henry and Poldi and Walcott are wingers and not strikers.

Giroud has been scoring consistently over the last few games, we'd be foolish to drop him. Walcott has also been on an excellent run of goals playing off the right, so that's not where change is needed.

Our best midfield performances have come when Diaby has played. We need the guy in there.

 

[redwhiteAustrian]

We need Diaby, yep, and that's kind of sad, given his injury record. It's not that we didn't know that before, that's what makes it outright ridiculous.

At the back we have to start Kos, though. It can't carry on like that.

For now, I'm for Jenks-Merte-Kos-Verms at the back, maybe that makes us more solid, even though a bit predictable in attack in terms of wing-play.

 

[Mastadon]

That goal is like a synchronized series of f**k ups. To be fair to Ramsey I don't think he could have done much the ball was heading behind him and he was running past it.

 

[RUS arsenal]

Wenger won't play anyone but Giroud upfront until he's proven Giroud is the white Henry and Poldi and Walcott are wingers and not strikers.

Very true and it's a shame because a front three of Cazorla, Podolski and Theo could be very exciting, all in tandem speed wise and play wise, Podolski and Cazorla have already shown they work well together with Theo running off that play could be good .... but as you say we'll probably never find out.

It is a shame that we are scoring all these goals? Why break something that's working at the moment? Attack is not where our problems currently lie.