EPL – West Brom vs Arsenal - 3:00 - 13/05/12 - A.Player

[Anzac]

As for today's performance, we were diabolical. We have one person to thank for our win today and that's Fulop.

This.

 

[kopzilla]

What a final league day all round...mind blowing stuff.

I couldn't believe the last min winner for City Vs QPR. It was a hilarious cruel blow to the ManUre fans.

We somehow got over the finish line in rather unconvincing fashion and won our 1st PL match of the season without Arteta.

We got the job done in the end but could have easily thrown it away.

 

[Hunta]

I thought Jenkinson did okay. His main strength is obviously his crossing, which in fairness was pretty good all game, but defensively he was a bit shakey yes.

I actually though Santos was BY FAR the worst of the 2 FBs this game. Sure, he scored, but defensively he might as well not have been on the pitch.

No. Jenkinson was terrible, a lot worse than Santos. For a defender he actually can't tackle, he puts his arms all over attackers even when they're in the box and plays some ridiculous balls back to the GK, he almost scored another OG like he did against Cologne.

Desperately needs a loan out.

 

[dysphoria]

Anyone else think Jenkinson was pretty awful today?

Think he gets cut a lot of leeway on this forum because he's a gooner and we all want him to do well. Imo he's an absolutely calamitous defender as of right now. Had his arms all over the west brom players every time they got into our box and could have easily given a couple of penalties away had they gone down.

Granted he's still young and has some potential (and apparently is the last off the training pitch which is a positive sign), but I really don't think he's anywhere near being good enough for regular games if we have serious ambitions of winning anything next year. With Sagna having undergone 2 leg breaks that's a real issue.

he was very poor and yes, he gets more leeway then others just because he's a gooner himself. Problem is, he just isn't ready, not now and when you consider how far behind sagna's level he is, its very worrying, west brom was one thing, considering sagna's massive injury, surely jenkinson will play more games for us next season, he might do ok against some of the average teams in the UCL where their pace and strength isn't that great but in the league and against top teams, he will constantly get found out.

Also, playing him behind the likes of theo or ox will only make things much much worse, jenkinson is only decent going forwards to put in a cross but if our wide players don't work extra hard to track back and help him out, he isn't the sort of player who is capable of dealing with difficult 1 v 1s himself, nevermind the fact that he's nowhere near as good in the air as sagna is.

 

[awooga83]

We lost one of our truly world class players in Cesc. We lost in Nasri, a player I personally believe was starting to come into his own. As a result, our season start was in turmoil; we lost 4 of the opening 7 games (I think), we fell woefully behind 4th and Spuds. Yet, we clawed our way up the table on the back of some great to not so pretty football. Then, at the end although we fluffed chances to solidify our hard-earned position, we ultimately we came through. Pretty? No. Job done? Yes.

Have we gained much ground on the top, top teams (all two of them) in the league? Looking just at the final standings you'd have to say, no, we have not. Have we improved? Not that I argued this per se, but in some sense and under the circumstances, yes, we have. Sure, we need more going forward, whether that be fit players, additional players, or natural improvement, but despite having our squad gutted just before the season started and having such poor early results we stayed strong.

So, to claim to look at how this season started and finished only to dismiss it all as useless trivia and/or as merely a desperate ploy to show that we've improved not only diminishes the good job we did in the most trying of circumstances it also betrays a certain mindset with which I will never find common ground.

well you may feel we have improved I disagree. The point I was trying to make is it is great we finished in the top 3 that is the basic thing we should be targeting. But 2 points does not mean much between seasons as there will always be a variation. So what else OS to be gained by saying we are 2 points better off without Cesc and Nasri. If it isn't to claim we are better.

If it is to say they are not the be all and end all, my point was that isn't the issue. It was that last year for big chunks we were challenging for a trophy. Without them we never were, merely surviving. The end of both seasons was a bit of a horror show and is why we ended up were we did. But it doesn't constitute an improvement in my view.

 

[fabo]

Superb tackle.

Have to look back at that whole move but my initial thought was that Gibbs was out of position, hence the need to make a last-ditch tackle.

Some criminal positioning from Santos throughout the game aswell. I think we can do so much better at left-back.

 

[Hunta]

Benayoun should have been marking him but let him go, it was their RB.

 

[Glovegun]

I wouldn't make too many harsh judgements based on this game alone. The team were right out of form heading into the match so I don't think many of us were expecting top-draw performances. No-one really looked that good and in honesty we got quite a bit of luck to win the game.

Jenkinson will improve, but he's suffered from the lack of alternatives in the squad this season. The guy was on loan at Welling United in the Conference South not so long ago, and then he had to mark Nani at Old Trafford and Gareth Bale at White Hart Lane. It's a wonder he didn't completely collapse mentally. Same goes for Ramsey, Theo and a few others - they've had to play when they really shouldn't have.

 

[Armor for Sleep]

I'd have to see it again to make sure but i thought Gibbs was way too central before the pass which is why he had to make a last ditch tackle. Also the first touch was a bit heavy.

But other than that...great tackle

 

[fabo]

Hmmm, yeah it seems you're right. Although I don't see the need for Gibbs to go so far infield but Yossi should have tracked him.

Looking at Santos' movement for WBA's first goal, bloody hell. Woeful.

 

[TheLoneFalcon]

I'm so ****ing happy! :cry:

Funny how Benny scored for West Ham against Spuds all those years ago and has scored for us now to pip the Spuds on the last day. Fantastic signing.

 

[Armor for Sleep]

Hmmm, yeah it seems you're right. Although I don't see the need for Gibbs to go so far infield but Yossi should have tracked him.

Looking at Santos' movement for WBA's first goal, bloody hell. Woeful.

Vermaelen was really poor for their 2nd too. He needs to work on his positioning bigtime.

 

[outlaw_member]

Thank god we paid off Martin Fulop to make up for another awful performance from the team.

 

[outlaw_member]

I wouldn't make too many harsh judgements based on this game alone. The team were right out of form heading into the match so I don't think many of us were expecting top-draw performances. No-one really looked that good and in honesty we got quite a bit of luck to win the game.

Jenkinson will improve, but he's suffered from the lack of alternatives in the squad this season. The guy was on loan at Welling United in the Conference South not so long ago, and then he had to mark Nani at Old Trafford and Gareth Bale at White Hart Lane. It's a wonder he didn't completely collapse mentally. Same goes for Ramsey, Theo and a few others - they've had to play when they really shouldn't have.

One of the biggest questions we have as a team, that goes beyond the overall quality we encompass, is why does our form always slump in the final third of the season. You could previously argue that competing in 3 competitions, with the games coming thick and fast, took its tolls on our squad. However, additional rest and performing only once again proved to be no different. Ultimately, we can talk all we want about adding more quality to the side, but if the team is always going to dip in the final third of the season, then any improvement will ultimately be futile, as we'll never have the requisite strength to push past the finish line. There is more we need to address than merely the personnel.

 

[Anzac]

Hmmm, yeah it seems you're right. Although I don't see the need for Gibbs to go so far infield but Yossi should have tracked him.

Looking at Santos' movement for WBA's first goal, bloody hell. Woeful.

Vermaelen was really poor for their 2nd too. He needs to work on his positioning bigtime.

TV saw the danger but rather than go to Dorans he elected to hold position to try to close the path to goal, and indicated for someone else to look to pick Dorans up.

 

[Anzac]

I wouldn't make too many harsh judgements based on this game alone. The team were right out of form heading into the match so I don't think many of us were expecting top-draw performances. No-one really looked that good and in honesty we got quite a bit of luck to win the game.

Jenkinson will improve, but he's suffered from the lack of alternatives in the squad this season. The guy was on loan at Welling United in the Conference South not so long ago, and then he had to mark Nani at Old Trafford and Gareth Bale at White Hart Lane. It's a wonder he didn't completely collapse mentally. Same goes for Ramsey, Theo and a few others - they've had to play when they really shouldn't have.

One of the biggest questions we have as a team, that goes beyond the overall quality we encompass, is why does our form always slump in the final third of the season. You could previously argue that competing in 3 competitions, with the games coming thick and fast, took its tolls on our squad. However, additional rest and performing only once again proved to be no different. Ultimately, we can talk all we want about adding more quality to the side, but if the team is always going to dip in the final third of the season, then any improvement will ultimately be futile, as we'll never have the requisite strength to push past the finish line. There is more we need to address than merely the personnel.

I posted elsewhere regarding a lack of rotation.
IIRC only Aguero has played as many games this season as RVP,
whilst in the PL the likes of Shrek & most other top players at Citeh etc have only played around 34 games tops, whilst we have at least 3 players who have played more & as many again who have played around 30. So half our starting XI have played more games than the top performers at the other top clubs,
then you factor in that those same players have played in most of our CL & FA Cup games & it takes a toll when they aren't used to playing as many games normally.

 

[AnthonyG]

well you may feel we have improved I disagree. The point I was trying to make is it is great we finished in the top 3 that is the basic thing we should be targeting. But 2 points does not mean much between seasons as there will always be a variation. So what else OS to be gained by saying we are 2 points better off without Cesc and Nasri. If it isn't to claim we are better.

If it is to say they are not the be all and end all, my point was that isn't the issue. It was that last year for big chunks we were challenging for a trophy. Without them we never were, merely surviving. The end of both seasons was a bit of a horror show and is why we ended up were we did. But it doesn't constitute an improvement in my view.

My point was that despite the horrific start to the season, brought about primarily due to the sudden departures, we overcame that and nicked third. I'm well aware of our collapse at the end of last season and this season's end bears no comparison as far as I'm concerned.

So, if we can somehow avoid having the near the worst start to a season in our entire history, then there are signs for me that this team is on the right track (pending what I outlined above). Signs brought about by the fact that we finished 3rd and, to a lesser degree, 2 pts ahead of last year.

That's it really.

 

[Anzac]

So, if we can somehow avoid having the near the worst start to a season in our entire history, then there are signs for me that this team is on the right track (pending what I outlined above). Signs brought about by the fact that we finished 3rd and, to a lesser degree, 2 pts ahead of last year.

That's it really.

Despite the improvement in position and points we actually lost ground to the title winners (and 2nd).
We finished 19 points off the pace which is 1 point worse off than in 08-09 which is generally considered out worst season for some time.

 

[kenya]

As for today's performance, we were diabolical. We have one person to thank for our win today and that's Fulop.

Ya. No need to thank Benayoun for being active and for chasing everything. For putting the pressure that made the keeper panic. And for being there to take advantage when everyone else was standing. And no need to thank Kos for being where he was. For reacting fast enough even though he was well manned.
You create your own luck my friend.

 

[kopzilla]

Why did Wenger risk playing Szczesny with a shoulder problem when Fabianski was available?