PL | North London Derby (Home) | Saturday, 10th of February at 12:30 (GMT) | BT Sport

[CaseUteinberger]

My input because I can't revisit the forum again today.

• I thought Bellerin was very good. I thought Monreal was OK.
• Kos and Mustafi were very shaky. Kos didn't lead or take control and Kane was able to bully them in the second half, get in-between them and nobody took control defending crosses
• Cech made some good saves but was shaky on the ball. Offers encouragement to the other team when they see your keeper is pissing about with the ball
• Wilshere had good moments but was slightly off the pace having been ill recently. Xhaka/Elneny are clearly not good enough. Elneny can't do the Darren Fletcher job (that he used to do against us for United). He doesn't have the aggression, strength or leg power. And he doesn't offer a lot on the ball. Xhaka was Xhaka. Completely out of his depth further up the field. He's not sharp enough or quick enough on and off the ball to play further up or as a box to box
• Özil was pretty poor for his standards but he was out on the right
• Mhki let the occasion get to him. It was a bit like when Mourinho pulled him off against City in the derby. He was poor. Had a chance in the first half to play it across goal and Auba would have had a tap in but got it badly wrong.
• Auba was on the shoulder and had good movement but got caught offside a couple of times. Always dangerous with his pace but doesn't offer much in the build up
• Iwobi was very poor when he came on. Doesn't seem to be quite getting it at the moment in terms of the level he needs to be at when he's called upon.
• Lacazette should have done a lot better with both chances. The volley wasn't easy, but he should have at least kept it down and got it closer. Even if he volleyed that into the ground it might have gone in. Second chance, he should have buried that. Nearly identical to the City game but he didn't have any confidence in himself for either chance.

First half I thought was good disciplined display, and it was important not to concede early. Second half was a joke. Sp**s came out and wanted it more. We came out half asleep, not prepared and that goal was coming, they just had more intensity.

It's clear now there wasn't enough legs in today's line-up. Özil, Xhaka, Wilshere, Mhki, Elneny....they don't have enough pace, acceleration or power. IMO today, Alexis and Walcott on either wing, with Cazorla/Coquelin in the middle is a much more balanced team to compete but oh well that team's gone now. We still need a couple of attacking midfielders for either side I think or one that can play out wide on both sides, a top defender as well as a DM and another central midfielder to hopefully replace Xhaka/Elneny.

Good post. Agree with it from start to finish!

 

[CaseUteinberger]

You can't be serious with this..

Sorry, was typing too fast... Should read "will not give us".

 

[krengon]

I think I see it now, low and hard just to the right of Loris and I don't think he get's down quickly enough. What Laca did was aim for far corner with the inside of his foot. The curl then took it wide.

The way I see it, it was really poor keeping from Lloris where any shot at target would have most likely resulted in a goal. Think Lacazette went for the right option, but the finish was off.

 

[krengon]

Sorry, was typing too fast... Should read "will not give us".

nah I mean you always want to win trophies. No guarantee in the future, win as much as you can, even if it's not the trophies you ideally want..

A europe league win would result in a european trophy(which we are lacking in) and cl qualification, that's worth a lot.

 

[CaseUteinberger]

we bought 2 50m+ players and refuse to play to their strengths it is stupid

Isn't that our normal MOD?

 

[A_G]

I remember a few weeks ago he was trying to chip keepers, confidence must be shattered. He's at that 'please just get it on target' stage. Starting to affect his finishing in front of goal.

Spot on with the comment about just getting it on target, the best example imo was his miss against Chelsea last month:

He had his head down, eyes fixed on the ball the entire time. Telltale sign of a lack of confidence, just wanted to get a good contact on his weaker foot and keep it on target, unfortunately it ended up being a regulation save for Courtois. If he'd got his head up he would have seen the keeper going down immediately, making the chip to the far corner an option or just smashing it near post like Alexis v Sp**s at the Emirates. This was a particular shame because he turned brilliantly to create the chance for himself, but failed at the most important moment.

He tried to chip the keeper against Newcastle and made a mess of it, when a simple strike would have done the trick. Think that was the big one for him, he's been snatching at chances ever since.

 

[Makingtrax]

We probably do have better players but like you said the mental side of things has lifted them above us.

They know they usually outplay us, they know Kane can score anyone. We on the other hand probably knew going in that they would physically have us, our defenders were probably scared of Kane scoring and I think we’ve made such a habit of conceding that our guys have lost something defensively.

They didn't out play us in the last game. It was a fairly emphatic win for us.

The first half in this game was pretty even as well.

Overall, taking the two games against Sp**s I'd be pretty happy with that. There's a lot more to be worried about, like loses to Bournmouth and Swansea etc.

 

[freeglennhelder2]

Özil & Miki were absolute trash for the entire game.

 

[Makingtrax]

Watching a replay of the second half, Xhaka looks out of his depth with the intensity of the EPL. To be honest we did better in 2015/16 even with Flamini playing in there. He protected the defence better.

Was hoping he'd improve but his positioning , tackling and more importantly his concentration is suspect. It's no coincidence that since he's been here our defensive performance has dropped.

Ramsey too is still a problem. We cannot keep him fit. Come the summer we really need a CB, goalie and DM. But DM is the most crucial.

 

[Mo Britain]

Have a look at the league table. We are 6th five points behind Chelsea that have one game in hand. Unless they go in free fall we are going to struggle to make top five.

Plus what use are trophies now? They will not give us any extra points this or any other season.

Yes, Tottenham are are s**t club, but they are still sitting seven points ahead of us and just bossed us mightily. Make this all the worse and not better!

What use are trophies? It's what we play for! Remember all the jokes about the "Fourth Place Trophy"? Why did people find it so funny (or choose to)? Because it isn't a trophy!

Unless this Sp**s team wins a trophy, probably unless they win a MAJOR trophy - these days a euphemism for the PL or the CL - no-one except a few ****s up the Seven Sisters Road will remember if they finished seven or twenty points ahead of us. It's irrelevant. You might get the likes of Bournemouth (justly) proud of ending up 10th because it's their highest finish ever but, seriously, 7th or 6th? 50 points or 53? That's not the stuff of which football memories are made of.

But our three recent cup wins will be there in the record books....

 

[Makingtrax]

What use are trophies? It's what we play for! Remember all the jokes about the "Fourth Place Trophy"? Why did people find it so funny (or choose to)? Because it isn't a trophy!

Unless this Sp**s team wins a trophy, probably unless they win a MAJOR trophy - these days a euphemism for the PL or the CL - no-one except a few ****s up the Seven Sisters Road will remember if they finished seven or twenty points ahead of us. It's irrelevant. You might get the likes of Bournemouth (justly) proud of ending up 10th because it's their highest finish ever but, seriously, 7th or 6th? 50 points or 53? That's not the stuff of which football memories are made of.

But our three recent cup wins will be there in the record books....

The same posters who mocked the '4th place trophy', are now bigging up top 4 and mocking our real trophies.

All part of the changing anti Wenger narrative.

 

[Makingtrax]

Wenger to win the League Cup and EL Cup, and next year the Champions League. He can retire with a full house then.

 

[infinium]

There's something about the way we play now which makes me think that Wenger no longer trusts his squad. We have seen how much trust he can have in his players over the years. He loves to just let them go out and play. There's definitely more of an attempt to do "tactics" these days and you wonder whether that comes from a lack of trust rather than Wenger trying to be smarter as a coach.

 

[Makingtrax]

Lehmann is working with Cech. Should be shaking his hand for the saves and cuffing his ear for the crazy dribbling antics . . . again.

 

[rich 1990]

Football's about trophies at the end of the day and I'd be happy to win the Europa and/or League cup as I haven't seen us win either a European trophy or the league up.

Top 4 is not the issue here really. It's the fact we've gone from in the Top 4, hoping to challenge for the title to being 6th and hoping to get in the top 4. We knew Wenger wasn't taking us anywhere but now the results of that are beginning to show in the table.

 

[rich 1990]

There's something about the way we play now which makes me think that Wenger no longer trusts his squad. We have seen how much trust he can have in his players over the years. He loves to just let them go out and play. There's definitely more of an attempt to do "tactics" these days and you wonder whether that comes from a lack of trust rather than Wenger trying to be smarter as a coach.

Or the squad not trusting Wenger.

 

[ArtetaCognition]

Wenger to win the League Cup and EL Cup, and next year the Champions League. He can retire with a full house then.

Never lose your sense of humour.

 

[goonerwarsh]

They didn't out play us in the last game. It was a fairly emphatic win for us.

The first half in this game was pretty even as well.

Overall, taking the two games against Sp**s I'd be pretty happy with that. There's a lot more to be worried about, like loses to Bournmouth and Swansea etc.

I half get where you’re coming from here, however I think when you witness such lack of intensity and the way we were so badly bullied in that second half. That for me raises serious questions about the character of a team and it’s clear both from this game and the relative league positions and some of their wins and performances that they are being coached far better than we are on nowhere near the budget.

I was watching them last week against Liverpool. They went a goal down straight away, at Anfield, backs against the wall and all that. The way they came out in the second half and bossed Liverpool similar to how they bossed is today was impressive - Liverpool were literally clinging on at home. They’ve beasted United, Real Madrid, Liverpool, Dortmund and had a field day toying with us today. I don’t know if he’s pumping his players full of drugs or something but they just look far fitter, stronger and better prepared than us. When they grabbed that goal today, we completely lost our heads. They approach these games like they’re better than the opposition, we look like we have an inferiority complex. It’s not the first time I’ve seen us physically dominated by them. I will give you we were better at the Emirates this year though.

 

[infinium]

Or the squad not trusting Wenger.

You cannot really say that with respect the two new players. Why did they sign if they thought little of Wenger?

 

[carlito'sway]

That's pretty classless mate.

That was such an asinine thing to say. Ban worthy.