FA: Arsenal vs Blackburn Rovers | 17/02/07

[Timleaf]

Only teams that lack self worth play solely for the result. If football were just about the result we would all sit at home watching teletext.

Seriously, if people cant see the difference between how Blackburn played and how we played in the 2005 cup final I don't think you'll ever get it.

 

[Mostarac]

we didn't camp eleven in our own half and not even try to pass the ball until the 80th minute. Never happened and if you think it did you should watch that game again.

We were outplayed like never before that day and spent most of the match in our own penalty area, we were lucky even to get to the penalties with 0-0 then.

 

[Alfonso]

Well Blackburn have never been this tradionally great footballnig side, so i dont know where this shock of them playing defensive has come from. You also have to remember, they were only last playing in Germany on Wed night, and had a lot of players injured for today.

No one complained when we beat United in the Cup in 2005. And trust me we were awful that day, and played such negative tactics.

we didn't camp eleven in our own half and not even try to pass the ball until the 80th minute. Never happened and if you think it did you should watch that game again.

No, but compared to how we usually play the game it was appaling. You have to look at it in relative terms.

That 2005 FA Cup final was strange, i was happy that we won of course, but not estatic as i usually am when we win a trophy, because deep down i knew Man Utd were the better side and we won through sheer luck and some good defending/goalkeeping.

 

[entropy13]

No, but compared to how we usually play the game it was appaling. You have to look at it in relative terms.

That 2005 FA Cup final was strange, i was happy that we won of course, but not estatic as i usually am when we win a trophy, because deep down i knew Man Utd were the better side and we won through sheer luck and some good defending/goalkeeping.

That Final really reminds me of another Final, this time in 2006, when one team was robbed of the trophy by another through sheer luck in penalties...

 

[kel varnsen]

i was too diplomatic earlier. this was a ****ing disgrace of a football match. we were piss poor. no movement off the ball, no drive or accuracy in our passing game and we lacked agression and urgency. piss ****ing poor. i'd like to, in particular, point to our midfield, which was abysmal. cesc was poor. flamini mediocre as usual and our winger offered absolutely nothing. i really hated our midfield today. they were a disgrace. shambolic!

 

[celestis]

Midfield was all the things Kel described , I don't know whether if it was because of a lack of movement up field but it also does not help when you have Theo and Freddie Flanking you . One is a kid just starting his career and the other is struggling in the position he is in. It's fine playing Freddie on one side and Hleb , Rosicky or even Aladiere on the other side , the side is actually balanced as Freddie does offer goals , but with both Theo and Freddie it leave Fab with too much to do .

 

[morpho]

Cant argue with that Kel, though i feel that on any other day this performance would be enough to secure a victory. Add a ref that was absolutely rubbish (both ways) this was probably the worst football match I've seen for years.

 

[Clrnc]

No, but compared to how we usually play the game it was appaling. You have to look at it in relative terms.

That 2005 FA Cup final was strange, i was happy that we won of course, but not estatic as i usually am when we win a trophy, because deep down i knew Man Utd were the better side and we won through sheer luck and some good defending/goalkeeping.

That Final really reminds me of another Final, this time in 2006, when one team was robbed of the trophy by another through sheer luck in penalties...

totally agree with alfonso tbh. we won that day, but i think most of us were just happy deep down our hearts, no estatic celebrations. after all we won by luck and not real quality. and that gives manure fans the right to say blabalba they were better etc.

 

[_scorpion_]

It is starting to look like Rocisky is a MUST in our starting 11.

He just makes things happen.

Flamini....God bless him, but he is a sub. Needs 4-5 touches every single time - it's just way too many to be an Arsenal football player.

Very poor match from us and we will now pay for it with further fixture congestion.

 

[Mbaki Mutahaba]

The diff btwn the LM/RM of yesterday and the one against bolton was obvious. Walcot/Freddie relied a lot on beating their markers. If they had done that successfully it would have probably caused more damage but they realy struggled. Hleb/Roscky combination is never about beating their marker but cutting inside and releasing. They are not the orthodox wingers and i think Arsenal strives more with those kinda of wingers. They might never cross the ball but their ball skils/vision allows other players to be involved in the build up. Freddie/Walcot's style can involve our other players but once they beat their MAN. It made it very difficult for our CMs (cesc/flamini) and our strikers to be involved..

 

[Mbaki Mutahaba]

It is starting to look like Rocisky is a MUST in our starting 11.

He just makes things happen.

Flamini....God bless him, but he is a sub. Needs 4-5 touches every single time - it's just way too many to be an Arsenal football player.

Very poor match from us and we will now pay for it with further fixture congestion.

I think Flamini had a good game..one of our better players today. WAs involved so much in the game.though nothig much came of his involvement.but he probably touched the ball more than cesc

 

[Rohit]

i was too diplomatic earlier. this was a f****g disgrace of a football match. we were piss poor. no movement off the ball, no drive or accuracy in our passing game and we lacked agression and urgency. piss f****g poor. i'd like to, in particular, point to our midfield, which was abysmal. cesc was poor. flamini mediocre as usual and our winger offered absolutely nothing. i really hated our midfield today. they were a disgrace. shambolic!

QFT
What the **** is with those long balls from Cesc,Toure,Senderos,Ljunberg ?

What are we striving to achieve with those,it's good to mix it up and it's good to be more direct when we really need to but not in a game like yesterdays.Henry can't flick the ball on,Aliadere can't,so what is the point ?

Rather play it on the wings and get crosses which give us more of a chance.We have had 4 90 minute draws in our last 5 games if i am not wrong.Something is really wrong and it's not down to any particular individual.

 

[Mbaki Mutahaba]

i was too diplomatic earlier. this was a f****g disgrace of a football match. we were piss poor. no movement off the ball, no drive or accuracy in our passing game and we lacked agression and urgency. piss f****g poor. i'd like to, in particular, point to our midfield, which was abysmal. cesc was poor. flamini mediocre as usual and our winger offered absolutely nothing. i really hated our midfield today. they were a disgrace. shambolic!

QFT
What the f**k is with those long balls from Cesc,Toure,Senderos,Ljunberg ?

What are we striving to achieve with those,it's good to mix it up and it's good to be more direct when we really need to but not in a game like yesterdays.Henry can't flick the ball on,Aliadere can't,so what is the point ?

Rather play it on the wings and get crosses which give us more of a chance.We have had 4 90 minute draws in our last 5 games if i am not wrong.Something is really wrong and it's not down to any particular individual.

We did play it in the wings..quite a lot of times but our wingers could not manage to beat their markers to cross. U know how many balls walcot/freddie lost ..that was part of the effort to go out on wings..it wasn't working. In the middle it was f*ing congested...so long balls become an option...and of course when rosciky/clichy came in..we started making more inroads from the flanks...and also the cutting in...

 

[famous no 10]

It is starting to look like Rocisky is a MUST in our starting 11.

He just makes things happen.

Flamini....God bless him, but he is a sub. Needs 4-5 touches every single time - it's just way too many to be an Arsenal football player.

Very poor match from us and we will now pay for it with further fixture congestion.

I think Flamini had a good game..one of our better players today. WAs involved so much in the game.though nothig much came of his involvement.but he probably touched the ball more than cesc

Really? I thought he did absolutely nothing, and I'm not one of his biggest critics...Cesc, as you said, did equally f**k all...in fact, if Blackburn had bothered to play football, they may have had a good chance of beating us.

 

[Captain]

we didn't camp eleven in our own half and not even try to pass the ball until the 80th minute. Never happened and if you think it did you should watch that game again.

We were outplayed like never before that day and spent most of the match in our own penalty area, we were lucky even to get to the penalties with 0-0 then.

And therein lies the difference. We didn't pin Blackburn back, they refused to leave their own half.

That isn't even tactical, that's just rubbish. Our own performance on the day has nothing to do with it and really the sorts of excuses that are being passed around are similar to the nonsense that 'small tems' should be allowed to do whatever they want from the pundits last week.

 

[Beany]

It was a very poor game but you know, if the ref had givan a blatatnt penalty, or if Henry or Hoyte had scored at the end, we'd be chalking it down to expereience.

It was poor selection by Wenger and showed that contrary to the recent hype we can't put out 2 or three completely different teams, each as good as the other.

 

[Viper]

We were missing the 'spark' from our wingers.

They provided nothing.

As soon as Rosicky came on you could notice the HUGE difference between himself and Ljungberg or between himself and Walcott.

 

[Viper]

It is starting to look like Rocisky is a MUST in our starting 11.

He just makes things happen.

Flamini....God bless him, but he is a sub. Needs 4-5 touches every single time - it's just way too many to be an Arsenal football player.

Very poor match from us and we will now pay for it with further fixture congestion.

I think Flamini had a good game..one of our better players today. WAs involved so much in the game.though nothig much came of his involvement.but he probably touched the ball more than cesc

Really? I thought he did absolutely nothing, and I'm not one of his biggest critics...Cesc, as you said, did equally f**k all...in fact, if Blackburn had bothered to play football, they may have had a good chance of beating us.

Or may have actually given us chances to exploit spaces left by them.

The pendulum swings both ways.

 

[Captain]

We were missing the 'spark' from our wingers.

They provided nothing.

As soon as Rosicky came on you could notice the HUGE difference between himself and Ljungberg or between himself and Walcott.

Walcott was changing games as a sub less then five months ago.

 

[Viper]

We were missing the 'spark' from our wingers.

They provided nothing.

As soon as Rosicky came on you could notice the HUGE difference between himself and Ljungberg or between himself and Walcott.

Walcott was changing games as a sub less then five months ago.

During the match Walcott didn't offer anything.

Warnock had him in his back pocket all day long.