EPL – Swansea vs Arsenal – 4:00pm - 15/01/12

[DJ_Markstar]

Perhaps to drag your attention to the discussion.
Which is a quite interesting one tonight.

I'd rather be given the option than have the original purpose for my visit denied.

 

[redwhiteAustrian]

So far, they've discussed:

- Arshavin: lacks committment according to Cross, playing out of position, etc. - Walcott: someone called for his head, but Tom put him into his place, bringing up the fact of lacking a proper FB
- increase in ticket prices (someone talked about that early in the discussion, talking about how the club could justify that again)
- Cross thinks we've still good chances to finish in fourth place
- Tom bemoaned the lack of pressing from us against Swansea and questioned our overall pressing method
- Cross thinks the team still lacks more characters
- Arteta has become a vital player for us

- someone talked about parts of the away support boo-ing Arsh off on Sunday. Both John and Tom have been critical about that, but praised our away and home support which has been fantastic throughout the season despite the tough times
- talked about the relationship Henry/Wenger which is a bit like Uncle/Nephew according to Cross
- both agreed that Theo is a valuable player for us and should be kept at the club
- talked about our lack of consequent pressing in recent times, Cross brought up our 2007-08 season to back up that point
- at the end, they talked about our tactical unflexibility and our formation. Cross doesn't think we're going to change our formation soon because of the current personel we have
- Cross thinks we'll be fired up for the ManUre game and tipps us to win it. He also expects Verms and Arteta back for this.

 

[redanddread]

When I rewatched the highlights on match of the day one thing stuck out and that was whatever the faults were on both teams one major difference is that their wingers were better than ours.

Sinclair and Dyer owned Arshavin and Walcott on contribution and over all play.

Sadly once again the only time our wingers did anything good was down the middle highlighting once again square pegs in round holes.

If were gonna play 4-4-3 then we need wingers plain and simple.

I never thought I'd say it because I hate the system but seeing as though Wenger does not have the balls for 4-4-2 then we should play 4-4-1-1 and have a CF/CAM behind RVP, Walcott or Arshavin would be able to play there easily.

What I can't understand is that ever since we have switched to a 4-3-3 we have played with these "square pegs" in "round holes". We had no out and out wingers last season either.......The season before we had no centre forward.

Why does Arsène keep "plugging" away with players that do not seem ideally suited to their positions.

Due to style of play in England there are very decent wingers all over the shop.....and yet we don't have any, Gervinho aside. Dear say, one Jerome Thomas put us to the sword with West Brom last season, a good winger and an ex-Arsenal man also

 

[DiamondGooner]

^^^ Ego plus not wanting to spend money I reckon.

 

[Spork]

O.K, so I just watched the game again, and while we were absolute **** for 95% of the game, none of that would have mattered if we had players who knew ANYTHING about football in the moments leading up to Swansea scoring.

<a class="postlink" href="http://i.imgur.com/rVgtP.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://i.imgur.com/rVgtP.jpg</a>

1. Miquel
Casually jogging back, enjoying the ****ing scenery or something, completely unaware of what is happening on the ball. Either that or he doesn't care less. If he was doing his job and defending in his bloody LEFT BACK position then this goal could easily have been avoided.

2. Song
Was actually walking toward the other goal for almost a full second before realising that the ball is being passed to the player which he was meant to be darn well marking, so by the time that he turns around and Dyer pretty well already has the ball in the net.
3. Koscielny
Runs off to mark a player who already has another Arsenal player marking him

4. Mertesacker

Far too slow to react to a pass which flies straight past him, and obviously is not clear enough about who he is marking as Kos comes over to his same man and then makes both of them useless.

<a class="postlink" href="http://i.imgur.com/DWPlc.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://i.imgur.com/DWPlc.jpg</a>

1. Miquel
Should not have even bothered defending here, oh wait, HE DIDN'T BOTHER DEFENDING.
2. Rosicky?
Chased after the ball as it was being passed around him, and then as soon as it went further than two metres from him he gave up and watched the ball as it travelled toward our goal line via a few useless defenders.
3.Song.
4. RVP? (Damn crappy video quality)
I guess he has been playing a full game after spending two weeks in Dubai or what ever, but all of our players should be responsible for defending, and none of them were. (I don't really blame RVP much, just went a bit OTT with my circle work)
5. Koscielny
Easily beaten to the ball, should have been quicker when running back, if nothing else he should have taken him down outside the box. Straight red, but it wouldn't of been a goal. (Either way he would probably have got a lot of abuse). He also could have got a block in on the shot.
6. Mertesacker
Really starting to annoy me how he just puts his hand up in the air as soon as he believes it to be offside and then just sits back waiting for the ref to call it, except lately, Mert has been making the wrong calls, and then getting completely caught out, as he was here.

In the end of the day, we easily could have avoided both of these goals - and the first if Ramsey saw that both Kos and Djourou were in position to tackle, although I do understand that Dyer actually stood on Ramsey's leg (accidentally) and was then tripped due to Ramsey moving his leg, so it wasn't a penalty, but not a dive either, in my opinion.

Overall extremely sloppy play and we dropped 3 extremely important points in this game.

--

I wanted the images to be .gifs but I have no idea how to convert .mp4 to gif and upload to the internets.

 

[redwhiteAustrian]

I wanted the images to be .gifs but I have no idea how to convert .mp4 to gif and upload to the internets.

You view those .mp4 films as you usually do and once you've come to the scene you'd want to "GIF" :

- hit the stop button
- press the Print Screen -button on your keybord
- open e.g. MS paint
- insert the screenshot with CTRL+V
- save it somehwere on your machine (e.g. as .jpg)

Repeat that process as often as you like (the more screenshots you make, the more it'll look like a "film") for the whole scene, and once you've got enough screenshots:

- go to e.g. this site
- select each of your screenshots
- chosse the size and speed below
- create the GIF

That's just the complicated version, I'm sure there're programms or other far easier walkthroughs available out there.

*yeah, I'm bored at the moment.

 

[mo50]

Holy ****, is that what people have to go through to make a gif? Surely there are programs that let you take out a section of a video?

With regards to the game, I thought Szczesny's positioning was terrible for both goals. He's been on a slump for a few games now and the defending in front of him isnt helping at all.

 

[Freagle]

So far, they've discussed:

- Arshavin: lacks committment according to Cross, playing out of position, etc. - Walcott: someone called for his head, but Tom put him into his place, bringing up the fact of lacking a proper FB
- increase in ticket prices (someone talked about that early in the discussion, talking about how the club could justify that again)
- Cross thinks we've still good chances to finish in fourth place
- Tom bemoaned the lack of pressing from us against Swansea and questioned our overall pressing method
- Cross thinks the team still lacks more characters
- Arteta has become a vital player for us

- someone talked about parts of the away support boo-ing Arsh off on Sunday. Both John and Tom have been critical about that, but praised our away and home support which has been fantastic throughout the season despite the tough times
- talked about the relationship Henry/Wenger which is a bit like Uncle/Nephew according to Cross
- both agreed that Theo is a valuable player for us and should be kept at the club
- talked about our lack of consequent pressing in recent times, Cross brought up our 2007-08 season to back up that point
- at the end, they talked about our tactical unflexibility and our formation. Cross doesn't think we're going to change our formation soon because of the current personel we have
- Cross thinks we'll be fired up for the ManUre game and tipps us to win it. He also expects Verms and Arteta back for this.

Thank you for taking the time to share this. I'm always interested in other peoples opinions about our team. Much appreciated RWA.

Cross makes some good points however he fails to recognize what's truly hurting us. I'm more worried about the teams structure on the pitch then individuals not carrying out their simple tasks. As a team we are not fluid enough. Our brand of good football is non-existent in my opinion and that has to do with the manager in charge. I've said it before but I firmly believe that Arsène is at a crossroads. He doesn't know how he wants his team to play and he doesnt even trust his gut anymore. Also, he seems to me to have lost complete faith in his decision-making. The only thing we as fans are witnessing when the team go out is a bunch of clueless ponies trying to pass the ball around until RVP makes an opening. Forget being to reliant for a second, we are being too predictable is what I am worried about. Every team knows that our wingers are ineffectual and the only means to score in RVP. How hard is it to mark the guy and make life hard for him? Fortunately for us, RVP has been lethal and has been rewarding us for our poor play. When was the last time we as fans enjoyed a good football match from our crop of players? Hell, I used to bemoan the fact that we were too indirect and we used to pass our way to goal but now we can barely pass our way to RVP let alone the simple task of passing ourselfs into trouble most of the times. Cesc is a huge influence and I bet if you ask anyone, he would be the one they would wish to have stayed and not Nasri. With that said, we have played a lot of games in the past 2 to 3 years with Cesc on the sidelines and our passing game, team structure and mentality was still intact. We have players now who are scared to make a pass or make a mistake. We have a manager who seems to throw the players on the pitch with no urgency whatsoever. There is no plan or game style that Arsène is asking for, all I see is 11 men being thrown in a kitchen being asked to prepare a rich meal. What sort of meal is it? What are the ingredients? The only thing we are focusing on out of desparity is the 3 points and as good as that sounds, that is the reason why we are suffering in my opinion.

Yes we do have personnel problems but that is just digging too deep. We have problems beyond our players and beyond our strategic qualifications. Reverting back to 4-4-2 is not the ideal solution because we simply don't have the players for it. It can be argued that we don't even have the players for our current formation which is understandable but Arsène will not risk changing or upsetting the team midseason.

What really irks me is the fact that even though Arsène talks up the importance of balancing the team, we have been rather completley the opposite for years now. He can't seem to find the right balance of the team. It's either our defense, or midfield not creating chances, or strikers not scoring. We as fans have seen everything, analyzed every problem and yet Arsène remains defiant that balance is the key to every game. We have been far too inconsistent, let alone finding the right balance for our team.

 

[redwhiteAustrian]

As I've said mo, I just described the complex version of making GIFs, and I'm convinced there're easier ways to do it. :wink:

 

[Irish_Owen]

There's a website that literally does all the work for you, Mo.

 

[eye4goal]

<a class="postlink" href="http://i.imgur.com/rVgtP.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://i.imgur.com/rVgtP.jpg</a>" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
1. Miquel
Casually jogging back, enjoying the ******* scenery or something, completely unaware of what is happening on the ball. Either that or he doesn't care less. If he was doing his job and defending in his bloody LEFT BACK position then this goal could easily have been avoided.

He was out of position but that's down to Ramsey and Arshavin losing it deep in our half. Djourou should have confronted the man on the ball rather than follow the run of Sinclair for me. Agree about Song reaction being too slow

<a class="postlink" href="http://i.imgur.com/DWPlc.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://i.imgur.com/DWPlc.jpg</a>" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The biggest culprit here for me is Szczesney. Koscielny had it in control but he slows down when he sees Szczesney coming out. I thought Szczesney was in a bad position for the second goal too

 

[mistaT]

Yeah their third goal was largely on Chez....had he stayed in net there's little to no chance they would have scored from that angle.

He's slowing been catching some of what Almunia/Fabianski have.

 

[ricky1985]

The biggest culprit here for me is Szczesney. Koscielny had it in control but he slows down when he sees Szczesney coming out. I thought Szczesney was in a bad position for the second goal too

Koscielny didn't have anything under control. He completely ****ed up by letting his man run off him. That's easily his biggest weakness in my eyes, he ball watches far too often, and takes way too many gambles with offsides.

Szczesny should have been more decisive, when he decided to come, he should have come all the way or not at all, but what we have to ask ourselves is why 20 seconds after us scoring a goal was he exposed in that way in the first place? Completely unacceptable, and he had every right to be apoplectic about it.

 

[redwhiteAustrian]

I'd really love to see some sort of offside trap statistic, because it seems to me we're quite weak on that front this season.

 

[Spork]

Szc was largely at fault for at least one of the goals - I think if he was on form he would have even saved the penalty as he did come quite close, but if the defense did their job then he wouldn't have needed to make the saves.

Te whole defense is at fault for all goals.

 

[eye4goal]

It was a race between Koscielny and Grant and I think Koscielny would win the race if Szczesney stays out of it. If there's little pressure in midfield balls will be played for runners. You can't stop that

 

[fabo]

There were a catalogue of errors for the 3rd goal, but I'm not sure what Szczesny was doing on that one. He was caught in 2 minds and looked horribly out of position, flashback to Almunia vs Barcelona.

He had shown a good spell of form but has dipped again. Those weaknesses I mentioned in his thread a few months back are still prevalent in his game.

 

[DK Gooner]

There were a catalogue of errors for the 3rd goal, but I'm not sure what Szczesny was doing on that one. He was caught in 2 minds and looked horribly out of position, flashback to Almunia vs Barcelona.

He had shown a good spell of form but has dipped again. Those weaknesses I mentioned in his thread a few months back are still prevalent in his game.

Szczesny was never going to be the finished article so soon, and we must expect that he makes mistakes like this from time to time. That's why it is important that there are consistently good defenders in front of him for the next couple of seasons at least while he develops.

 

[ArseGod]

Of course, what's the point in criticizing a 20 year old keeper?

or a 21 year old attacking mid?

I dont want to blame them but Arsène isnt giving me a choice

 

[celestis]

It was everyone's fault really ,Chez coming out , he was never going to make it and then he was horribly out of position Kos for slowing down and being on the wrong side . Kos should know by now Chesney is a bit flakey when it comes to charging out and should really take charge no matter that he calls for it .