FA Cup | Man Utd vs Arsenal | Sat Mar 12th, 17:15 | ITV 1

[Y va marquer]

Keeping possession, all the passing and the patient build up that ultimately goes nowhere - in a way it absolves players of responsibility as they are doing what they've been instructed to do even though it is ineffective.
It's why some people have said Diaby and Denilson had decent games yesterday when clearly they did not as neither showed any ambition or ability to threaten going forward.

 

[General]

The thing with missing these clear cut chances is that we are always at our most vulnerable when we attack. We lose momentum very quickly and both of United’s goals came from scenarios where we were on top and players suddenly dropped off. Whiles our players are busy replaying the missed goal scoring opportunity in their heads we are getting sucker punched at the back. United's game plan itself was textbook stuff and lo and behold we played right into their hands. Hook, line and sinker spring to mind.

 

[celestis]

Yva reason I absolve Diaby and Denilson is the fact well - they don't have the ability to give a final ball or create in the final third . We did have enough posession through them that RVP ,Nasri,Wilshere and Arshavin should have been a lot more dangerous .

 

[SA Gunner]

The question we should be asking ourselves is why. Why do our players seem determined to dwell on the ball when it fails time after time or gift the opposition the ball and then be caught out. Surely, our players are intelligent enough to see that the situation calls for a dynamic change in approach as opposed to the brainless following of pre game orders especially when its proven not to work.

Its amazing that with all the footage and analysis available to the team do we make the same mistakes over and over. I refuse to believe its a situation of players just being that stupid or a manager that blind.

 

[Y va marquer]

I agree with what you say Celestis, there is little evidence that either Diaby or Denilson have the ability to deliver that ball in the final third but by dwelling on it as long as they did in midfield they allowed United to just sit back and defend in numbers without ever being under pressure.

By the time Nasri, van Persie, Arshavin got the ball in the final third they were running into brick walls.

 

[celestis]

That is a good point Yva. We need Ramsey to play thats for sure .

 

[Goonereagle]

We're predicatable. Everyone knows, when we get the ball we're gonna try and pass it around them on the edge, so they just get player after player behind the ball.

We need to sign some direct players. Our counter attacking has slowed quite significantly, we allow players to back. We used to break, run with the ball to half way, play it out (mainly) left, then a pass or two later there'd be a shot/goal.

It works for Barca because they have players with perfect passing, control and movement, plus Messi who can skin 2 or three players taking them out of the game. They're so lively in the final third whereas we are slow.

I'd like to see Ramsey feature more, so to Gibbs.

 

[AshburtonGhost]

Better off-ball movement from our players and some decent early passes into space when we win the ball would make the world of difference. The perfect example is Nasri - his excellent mid-season form came about because he started moving effectively off the ball and looking to get on the end of moves. Now, we're seeing the old Nasri, the one who dwells on the ball and contributes very little overall. All of this **** is a consequence of the way we play these days, we just don't have the cattle to execute it properly.

 

[brady_style]

Better off-ball movement from our players and some decent early passes into space when we win the ball would make the world of difference. The perfect example is Nasri - his excellent mid-season form came about because he started moving effectively off the ball and looking to get on the end of moves. Now, we're seeing the old Nasri, the one who dwells on the ball and contributes very little overall. All of this **** is a consequence of the way we play these days, we just don't have the cattle to execute it properly.

You're right.

The lack of movement in forward positions throughout the team is incredibly bad.

We just have too many mediocre players in our squad.

This mediocrity is compounded by a lack of fight in a serious number of our players.

It's so easy to get chances against us, we are so bad at putting the man on the ball under pressure.

 

[yuvken]

there is little evidence that either Diaby or Denilson have the ability to deliver that ball in the final third but by dwelling on it as long as they did in midfield they allowed United to just sit back and defend in numbers without ever being under pressure.
By the time Nasri, van Persie, Arshavin got the ball in the final third they were running into brick walls.

Think also that the front 3 were not exactly expecting a lot to begin with (cesc and Song absent), plus tired and a bit low after the Barca game - not a lot of motivation to run like crazy, is there? It's not a great excuse for the forwards, but it was something we knew before the game. Regretting now that we didn't start Ramsey is poor form, IMO, as he should have been there already for the sunderland game (where we actually regretted the same things, and blamed DDR, who were actually not poor - they just gave what they have).
About the front 3: Robin was poor in the first half, but played better in the end. Arsha was poor in the second half. I don't really see why Nasri is getting so much stick: he played reasonably well and put much effort on both ends.

 

[HollandGooner]

Its a ****ing shame that Wenger always had poor excuses just like the United Fa Cup exit has comed cause we have lost against Barcelona **** off really. blame the players not defend them wich he always does

 

[Invincible]

Credit to the away gooners who once again were absolutely brilliant. Just watched the game again and they were about the only positive from the night. They did the club proud.

Shame on the wankers in yellow who couldn't bother going over and showing their appreciation at the end, no applause either from the substituted players as they went off.

If they had half of the passion and dedication of the 5,000 who made the long trip up north last night, we wouldn't be out of 3 competitions in the space of 2 weeks.

 

[Tourbillion]

Agreed, Invincible. It's time to rid this club of its toxic waste.

 

[OohtobeaGoonerGal]

I heard that one or two did stay near the end to thank the fans, I think it was Nasri and someone else.

Oh plus the Mirror must've been watching a different match

 

[yuvken]

Congrats, Oohtobe! well deserved!

 

[Gonner_88]

Boy what an experience I had yesterday. I was at the game and we really have an amazing away support. We were singing. chanting, dissing (EVRA all game long. Best experience as an Arsenal fan and I hope I'll have many more opportunities to go away with the Gooners. The only problem was I got back home 4am - not good

On the game: we had plenty of opportunities to score goals but we didn't take our chances and as a result were punished. United scored two goals which were very preventable. We were lacking width and time after time we kept cutting back inside - we were too predictable.

Oh well, we've got the league and I'm hopeful of us winning that but we need to get our confidence back.

 

[outlaw_member]

Completely agree, our strength turned out to be our weakness, we were let down by our attack so really where do we go from here ?

It's embarrassing. We pride ourselves on our attacking football, yet Ferguson's tactics only exploit that very strength of ours. I think it's damning that Wenger can't even refine our game to overcome these issues, an aspect of management he is supposed to be highly skilled at.

The thing with missing these clear cut chances is that we are always at our most vulnerable when we attack. We lose momentum very quickly and both of United’s goals came from scenarios where we were on top and players suddenly dropped off. Whiles our players are busy replaying the missed goal scoring opportunity in their heads we are getting sucker punched at the back. United's game plan itself was textbook stuff and lo and behold we played right into their hands. Hook, line and sinker spring to mind.

Their strategy is to simply attack us when we are most vulnerable. That is usually when we've exerted physical and mental energy executing 20 odd passes, making countless runs to create triangles, whilst focusing hard on trying to carve out an opportunity. When the attack doesn't result in a goal, they quickly initiate a counter-attack when half of our team is still ruing the missed chance and is far from being positionally set. This is exactly why we look so disorganised and make so many individual errors, as we are being attacked when we least want them to. This problem has little to do with the quality of our defenders, and everything to do with how we attack.

Better off-ball movement from our players and some decent early passes into space when we win the ball would make the world of difference. The perfect example is Nasri - his excellent mid-season form came about because he started moving effectively off the ball and looking to get on the end of moves. Now, we're seeing the old Nasri, the one who dwells on the ball and contributes very little overall. All of this **** is a consequence of the way we play these days, we just don't have the cattle to execute it properly.

On days like yesterday, our lack of structural discipline and balance comes to the fore. Too many players who want the ball to feet, and not enough players who want to make the run. Three of our main four attackers, Arshavin, Nasri and van Persie are all creators, and they revert back to their natural instincts when presented with a difficult situation. It might seem fluid to see Nasri pick up the ball in a position next to Wilshere, but that only serves to cease any threat we had down the left. Our fullbacks are rubbish offensively, so we can't even allow our wide forwards to come inside without paying for a lack of width. There was a moment yesterday when Nasri had the ball just prior to entering the final third, van Persie then dropped deep and stood alongside him asking for a side pass. We had two of our front three in a deep position, so who for crying out loud was going to act as the target?

The key to playing against deep seated defences is either the counter-attack, or effective play in wide areas. The moment they push players forward, we need to quickly exploit the space made available, but without Cesc and Walcott we have no counter-attack. Similarly, we need to stretch the defence when we've had prolonged possession, and try to turn it by getting in behind the opponents fullback. This relies heavily on support from our own fullback to make an overlapping run, and pick out a decisive pass. Clichy and Sagna both are just not good enough in situations where they have offensive responsibility. Offensively, those two aren't even a patch on Lauren and A.Cole.

 

[dyeruz]

Completely agree, our strength turned out to be our weakness, we were let down by our attack so really where do we go from here ?

It's embarrassing. We pride ourselves on our attacking football, yet Ferguson's tactics only exploit that very strength of ours. I think it's damning that Wenger can't even refine our game to overcome these issues, an aspect of management he is supposed to be highly skilled at.

The thing with missing these clear cut chances is that we are always at our most vulnerable when we attack. We lose momentum very quickly and both of United’s goals came from scenarios where we were on top and players suddenly dropped off. Whiles our players are busy replaying the missed goal scoring opportunity in their heads we are getting sucker punched at the back. United's game plan itself was textbook stuff and lo and behold we played right into their hands. Hook, line and sinker spring to mind.

Their strategy is to simply attack us when we are most vulnerable. That is usually when we've exerted physical and mental energy executing 20 odd passes, making countless runs to create triangles, whilst focusing hard on trying to carve out an opportunity. When the attack doesn't result in a goal, they quickly initiate a counter-attack when half of our team is still ruing the missed chance and is far from being positionally set. This is exactly why we look so disorganised and make so many individual errors, as we are being attacked when we least want them to. This problem has little to do with the quality of our defenders, and everything to do with how we attack.

Better off-ball movement from our players and some decent early passes into space when we win the ball would make the world of difference. The perfect example is Nasri - his excellent mid-season form came about because he started moving effectively off the ball and looking to get on the end of moves. Now, we're seeing the old Nasri, the one who dwells on the ball and contributes very little overall. All of this **** is a consequence of the way we play these days, we just don't have the cattle to execute it properly.

On days like yesterday, our lack of structural discipline and balance comes to the fore. Too many players who want the ball to feet, and not enough players who want to make the run. Three of our main four attackers, Arshavin, Nasri and van Persie are all creators, and they revert back to their natural instincts when presented with a difficult situation. It might seem fluid to see Nasri pick up the ball in a position next to Wilshere, but that only serves to cease any threat we had down the left. Our fullbacks are rubbish offensively, so we can't even allow our wide forwards to come inside without paying for a lack of width. There was a moment yesterday when Nasri had the ball just prior to entering the final third, van Persie then dropped deep and stood alongside him asking for a side pass. We had two of our front three in a deep position, so who for crying out loud was going to act as the target?

The key to playing against deep seated defences is either the counter-attack, or effective play in wide areas. The moment they push players forward, we need to quickly exploit the space made available, but without Cesc and Walcott we have no counter-attack. Similarly, we need to stretch the defence when we've had prolonged possession, and try to turn it by getting in behind the opponents fullback. This relies heavily on support from our own fullback to make an overlapping run, and pick out a decisive pass. Clichy and Sagna both are just not good enough in situations where they have offensive responsibility. Offensively, those two aren't even a patch on Lauren and A.Cole.

And that's a wrap!

 

[yuvken]

Three of our main four attackers, Arshavin, Nasri and van Persie are all creators, and they revert back to their natural instincts when presented with a difficult situation.

That was most evident when Chamakh went in. Robin was just coming deep too much, and was not useful at all - in fact he was slowing play in many instances. They could work well together (perhaps) if it was a 442, but this way...

The key to playing against deep seated defences is either the counter-attack, or effective play in wide areas.

we actually can play through the center, and very well too - but in this we are depending too much on cesc's presence. When he's not there, your points are much emphasized - if we keep going there, without the defense splitting ability, we really are helping our opponent. Another reason to promote Ramsey, and help him and Jack take central stage for us.

BTW, true our FB's are normally not good enough providers, but I thought some of Bac's passes yesterday were very inviting. VDS, who was phenomenal yesterday, did not try to intercept them, and they still went behind the defense=dangerous cross. Shame our attack didn't get to any of those, but the stick Bac was getting yesterday was undeserved IMO.

 

[celestis]

we are really missing Walcottt a bloke that will just make runs off the ball behind the defence over and over again .