PL: Arsenal vs Middlesbrough | 09/09/06

[chandraraj]

all the three teams we played so far, played the same kind of football. they defend collectively and play frustrating football. looks like, most of the teams are going to use the same tactics against us. you can clearly see how delightful Boro's players were - as thought they have won the league. the same way as villa's players celebrated after drawing us.

so what are we going to do?

i think baptista and rosicky should be in the first eleven.

 

[the dawn raids]

funny how RvP hsan't contribuetd as much as Reyes has done in his time at arsenal yet we hurl abuse at one,

Like I mentioned before, he appears to be one of these players above criticism, but in fairness to him yesterday he wasnt the worst player, everyone looked well below par.

there are plenty of people who criticize when its due. but come on, did you see the support he and henry got yesterday? it was just sad. 9 times out of 10 when theyd get the ball theyd turn to make a move and the only play theyd have was to play it back, allowing the rest of the boro 11 to get back.

the speed of our counters is a major factor in our poor outing so far, and frankly must improve dramatically.

 

[hellolo]

funny how RvP hsan't contribuetd as much as Reyes has done in his time at arsenal yet we hurl abuse at one,

Like I mentioned before, he appears to be one of these players above criticism, but in fairness to him yesterday he wasnt the worst player, everyone looked well below par.

there are plenty of people who criticize when its due. but come on, did you see the support he and henry got yesterday? it was just sad. 9 times out of 10 when theyd get the ball theyd turn to make a move and the only play theyd have was to play it back, allowing the rest of the boro 11 to get back.

the speed of our counters is a major factor in our poor outing so far, and frankly must improve dramatically.

we couldn't really counter attack them since, Boro decided not to attack at all. There were quite a few chacnes created yesterday, just more touches taken than needed
Corners were shocking really on both sides, they weren't whipped in, just plinked in rather hopelessly

 

[Nyingmeh]

Do the passing in the middle of the park to bring defenders foward, knock off balls towards Henry. One touch is good, but how good are it's results ?

 

[Muppy]

One problem is that when opponents visit us, they see the size of the pitch and immediately they realise that if they play attacking football, they'll be ripped apart by Arsenal because there will be tons of space. Therefore they just put a bus in front of the goal.

Still our fault though, we were not clinical enough and in this kind of games its really important to take our chances. There may well be only 2-3 chances in a game and we have to take all of them.

I fear in everyone of our home games this season, opponents will deploy the counter attacking/park bus in front of goal tactic.

 

[GZA_Genius]

I'm not sure I buy into all this "the pitch is too big" and "we're not used to the Emirates" lark.

It's a football pitch, and we have better players than most other teams. We have more fans in the stadium, and so it should not be an excuse we rely on when things go badly. The longer it goes on, and players don't wake up to the true problem, the more of an issue people will make of it.

It comes down to one thing only for me. Not playing well enough.

But there is one issue with the pitch I would firstly like to raise. At Highbury, even when we are playing well, the other teams would find themselves in situations where they might score (and the lady in the crowd would scream), but the pitch DID work in our favour on these occasions because the less technical teams would often not be able to work quickly enough in limited space to take advantage. Consequently chances at Highbury were half chances for most teams. They would still play the same way, 10 men behing the ball, but that was never a problem because we would relentlessly pressure, pass, move and attack, again and again. And when a chance fell to them, they would usually mess it up. So Emirates does offer more space and time for those anti-football teams to control a ball and shoot. But it should also offer us more space to slice them apart and pressure them constantly with slick passing.

And that's my point. We have stopped doing this. The pitch size doesn't matter, and it should not stop the way we used to play happening again. Look at Man Utd, their pitch is the same as ours. Many would argue that over the years we have played similar brands of attacking football (except they are bunch of thug chavs). I hate Man Utd, but they have never changed their style. It's always been attack, agressively and fast, using width or playing though teams. And when this fails they also use long balls and pacey/strong players so they have variation. The only difference between them and us (at our best) is that they cross the ball more for headers, whereas we would use slick passing to get behind teams quickly. I don't care that we don't have the variation, because it shouldn't matter with the players we have. They should be f*cking destroying teams like Villa and Middlesborough. It's a mental thing they are using when things don' go their way. They need to get over it.

We have stopped playing the way we played best. I can remember many occasions, home or away, big pitches or small pitches, where from the moment the ball is kicked off we would attack, agressively and quickly in order to obtain an advantage when the players are at their physical peaks and not fatigued by 70 mins of football. We would win games in the first 20 or 30 mins. This has not happened so far. But I do believe it wil eventuallyl.

When the chips are down, great players will come out fighting. I have no fear of the Utd game next week. When things have not gone our way previously, from somewhere, Wenger will produce a tactical masterstroke, usually in a high profile occasion. And this should be no different. The players, and we have so many great ones, should relish the opportunity to show what they can do.

I hope they have that feeling most of us get when things are going badly, and rather than fall back on stupid excuses they should just kick the ball into the f*cking goal as hard as possible and play well for godsake!!!

No more excuses.

If the grass is too long and slows the ball, then f*cking cut it and wet it. And get on with it.

If the PA guy is a wannabee celebrity then sack him and bring in someone who is mute.

And paint the f*cking concrete someone. Football comes first, none of this other crap matters!

Sorry for the long rant, but I think I made some good points.

RIP Steve Irwin, by the way. I enjoyed watching your programs when I was younger you nutter.

 

[tactica442]

No more excuses.

If the grass is too long and slows the ball, then f*cking cut it and wet it. And get on with it.

If the PA guy is a wannabee celebrity then sack him and bring in someone who is mute.

And paint the f*cking concrete someone. Football comes first, none of this other crap matters!

Sorry for the long rant, but I think I made some good points.

RIP Steve Irwin, by the way. I enjoyed watching your programs when I was younger you nutter.

GZA I like your points, especially the last part.

 

[Shahram]

Once we make the breakthrough, we will be indestructable and destroy teams. the amount of shots we've had, the possesion (although not very good quality of possesion) is more like a 7-0 win.

Okay, we have let in a few goal at the back, but wait for the new defence to gel.