PL: Norwich vs Arsenal | 28/08/04

[kanuuu]

I thought Freddie had a bad game aswell yesterday. His attempts at trying to take on other teams fullbacks are pure comedy. Head down, silly step over and head for the corner. Good assist though.

I thought freddie was crap aswell, but he still got 2 assists. Who is more effective, Freddy or Pennant?

 

[JazzG]

Yeah another brilliant performance blah blah blah and all the rest of it.

But our defence is all over the bloody place. If we play a decent team playing like we are we will concede goals, and lots of them.

Lauren had a mare yesterday. I think the red card incident unsettled him, and he never really recovered for the rest of the game. But still Huckerby ripped him apart which is not a good sign.
Im also worried about Kolo. He looks half the player he did last year, but his pace and power still is able to get him out of trouble. Hoyte did ok, and didnt give me a heart attack as Cygan does every time he goes near the ball.

As a unit I think we are just not defending. We look very dis organised. Cesc showed second half that he is infact a 17 year old. Looked lost at times without the ball.

As a unit we aren't looking as solid as we should. However with our 2 best defensive players out we have done allright. We really miss Sol right now especially with Cygan not looking confident at all, in the 2nd half of last season he was a rock and his presence just helps relax players like Cole and Kolo.

 

[kutz]

Good post Sol.

But it's not simply defensively that we looked disorganised. At times we looked quite poor around the park when under pressure. There weren't the players showing themselves for passes or making moves to shift defenders. The options weren't there and it showed with players being robbed of the ball and/or making poor passes.

Now hopefully with Paddy and Sol back this sort out the nonsense and the mental laziness will come to an end, but it is a little worrying.

Our side is young at the moment, and hopefully we won't need to test the depths of courage of our young reserves too much through injury this season. A phenomenal team, but with great young players who need to settle in. It's almost as if the team has had a growth spurt. With it, comes great new abilities, but the team has to 'grow into' its new physique. We looked a little awkward at times against Norwich.

Actually, I think that's quite a good description of some of the football on the weekend now I think about it...

Thoughts?

 

[Sammer]

What happened in the 2nd half was:

We took the foot of the attacking-gas-pedal and, unlike when Paddy and Sol are there, it created nothing but an wide-open gap for Norwich to launch one attack after the other.

Luckily, their attacks were quite harmless, but the conclusion of that symptome for me is: with Sol and Viera missing - we cannot afford to sit back...we need a minimum of attacking initiative or otherwise we will concede more goals.

 

[Gurgen]

Thank God we have a two week break before the next match, allowing Sol and Paddy to get fit.

 

[EJub]

I know it's Monday - but I have to state it -
Huckerby wasn't touched. I don't see why players don't take the piss during dead ball situations and just fall down in front of the referee to make a point.

 

[JazzG]

What happened in the 2nd half was:

We took the foot of the attacking-gas-pedal and, unlike when Paddy and Sol are there, it created nothing but an wide-open gap for Norwich to launch one attack after the other.

Luckily, their attacks were quite harmless, but the conclusion of that symptome for me is: with Sol and Viera missing - we cannot afford to sit back...we need a minimum of attacking initiative or otherwise we will concede more goals.

Just be happy we relax now after 3 or 4 goals, i remember when we used to do it when we were 1-0 up. My poor tele had so much abuse hurled it at during this time and my blood pressure was also a lot higher than it should be!

We should just keep the ball and pass it around when we are 3 or 4 up, at a slow pace to frustrate them and our players will have a nice little rest.

 

[Sammer]

My point is: this works against Norwich...but with Viera and Sol missing, we might need to keep our attacking-flow up longer than one half.

I never felt we would lose the Norwich game, so you are right about not wasting too much energy. But then again - for quite some time in the 2nd half we did not really pass the ball around too much, but rather had to face one Norwich-attack after the other.
If we had just passed the ball around, I would have no problem with that.

 

[Mark]

Although I was annoyed at how we played in the second half, at least we are scoring more goals before we sit back more. It used to be after one goal, last season it was mostly after two goals, now hopefully we try to score three before we think about defending.

 

[Gurgen]

Although I was annoyed at how we played in the second half, at least we are scoring more goals before we sit back more. It used to be after one goal, last season it was mostly after two goals, now hopefully we try to score three before we think about defending.

Agree 100%. That defending crap is what cost us vs. Chelsea in the CL.

 

[Sammer]

Although I was annoyed at how we played in the second half, at least we are scoring more goals before we sit back more. It used to be after one goal, last season it was mostly after two goals, now hopefully we try to score three before we think about defending.

Agree 100%. That defending crap is what cost us vs. Chelsea in the CL.

Agreed, Gurgen. We tend to switch in the "lethargy-modus" sometimes...which is fine for Norwich, but not for stronger teams.

 

[quattro]

i dont think there's much danger of us going "lethargy modus" against sides like chelsea. this was norwich with us 3-0 up. and even though i dont like it that we take the foot off the pedal off anyone we face, i cant say that i find it that hard to understand that they do so sometimes against the likes of... norwich when we're 3-0 up.

 

[Loylz]

i dont think there's much danger of us going "lethargy modus" against sides like chelsea. this was norwich with us 3-0 up. and even though i dont like it that we take the foot off the pedal off anyone we face, i cant say that i find it that hard to understand that they do so sometimes against the likes of... norwich when we're 3-0 up.

That's true but surely the team should try to score as many goals as possible.

 

[quattro]

surely we should... like when we went up against inter. we had it made basically when we went 2-1 up and we didn't stop there.

but i wont hold it against arsenal if we win with JUST a 4-1 scoreline against norwich at carrow road because we couldn't maintain that "killer"edge for the next 45 minutes... thats just ridiculous.

 

[Canuck]

surely we should... like when we went up against inter. we had it made basically when we went 2-1 up and we didn't stop there.

God I loved that match! It just kept getting better and better!.
Payback is a B*tch! 8)

 

[JazzG]

Although I was annoyed at how we played in the second half, at least we are scoring more goals before we sit back more. It used to be after one goal, last season it was mostly after two goals, now hopefully we try to score three before we think about defending.

Agree 100%. That defending crap is what cost us vs. Chelsea in the CL.

We simply ran out of energy in that Chelsea game. The game against the mancs took a lot out of us physically and mentally, our players simply weren't rested properly and Wenger made a mistake playing them too often but on the other hand didn't really have another choice. In the first half we were all over Chelsea but in the 2nd half just didn't have the legs anymore and had used all our energy up in the 2nd half, Chelsea with their huge squad looked fresh and took advantage. Against Liverpool the next match as well we looked tired in the first half but were able to dig deep and get the result.

Next season our attacking players MUST be well rested going into the final 3rd of the season or the same will happen again.

 

[Mark]

We simply ran out of energy in that Chelsea game. The game against the mancs took a lot out of us physically and mentally, our players simply weren't rested properly and Wenger made a mistake playing them too often but on the other hand didn't really have another choice. In the first half we were all over Chelsea but in the 2nd half just didn't have the legs anymore and had used all our energy up in the 2nd half, Chelsea with their huge squad looked fresh and took advantage. Against Liverpool the next match as well we looked tired in the first half but were able to dig deep and get the result.

Next season our attacking players MUST be well rested going into the final 3rd of the season or the same will happen again.

I agree completely. It sounds strange to say we underachieved last season, but I honestly think with a bigger squad we could've done more. We were in brilliant form but they were just so knackered. Things look better this season though, hopefully we can achieve more.

 

[quattro]

We simply ran out of energy in that Chelsea game. The game against the mancs took a lot out of us physically and mentally, our players simply weren't rested properly and Wenger made a mistake playing them too often but on the other hand didn't really have another choice.

i agree. most of the gripes at least on this page is about us going lax in the 2nd half of the norwich game. when we lost against chelsea in the cl it was not because we were lax, there's just more to it than that. chelsea WAS (and IS) a really strong side... one of the strongest in the world no matter how you look at it.

people are still going on about how we dont kill games off or how we dont finish strong? we put THREE goals over norwich in the first half. that game was DEAD in the water, and i seriously do believe that there was no way norwich could've gotten back from that. will we act this way if say, by some stroke of good fortune and footballing elegance we should put the same 3-0 1st half scoreline against chelsea? i severely doubt it. the likes of norwich and chelsea are different... very different. i know its ideal to treat every match like its the finals of the champions league attacking like there's no tomorrow, tackling for every ball, but come on... i doubt thats hardly possible for every match, and with norwich 3-0 down i dont think it would've been worth it. we will react to different situations in different ways. we sat back against norwich, we fought back against boro... this match should not be treated like "what if that were chelsea?" or some other strong european side... it doesn't connect.

 

[kutz]

We simply ran out of energy in that Chelsea game. The game against the mancs took a lot out of us physically and mentally, our players simply weren't rested properly and Wenger made a mistake playing them too often but on the other hand didn't really have another choice.

i agree. most of the gripes at least on this page is about us going lax in the 2nd half of the norwich game. when we lost against chelsea in the cl it was not because we were lax, there's just more to it than that. chelsea WAS (and IS) a really strong side... one of the strongest in the world no matter how you look at it.

people are still going on about how we dont kill games off or how we dont finish strong? we put THREE goals over norwich in the first half. that game was DEAD in the water, and i seriously do believe that there was no way norwich could've gotten back from that. will we act this way if say, by some stroke of good fortune and footballing elegance we should put the same 3-0 1st half scoreline against chelsea? i severely doubt it. the likes of norwich and chelsea are different... very different. i know its ideal to treat every match like its the finals of the champions league attacking like there's no tomorrow, tackling for every ball, but come on... i doubt thats hardly possible for every match, and with norwich 3-0 down i dont think it would've been worth it. we will react to different situations in different ways. we sat back against norwich, we fought back against boro... this match should not be treated like "what if that were chelsea?" or some other strong european side... it doesn't connect.

Yeah, this is one way to look at it, and you could think of it like that. But the problem is that if our players start thinking like that, they'll lose their edge. It's simply true. As a fan you can think like that, but as a team you can't afford to. Mentally, you can't afford to get into the mindset which says that you don't need to be 100% committed against a certain opposition. That's when you can get embarressed if you're not on your game that day.

Now I'm not saying that this will necessarily happen, but it's all about attitude. Attitude is a massive part of what wins games for Arsenal. You can't buy it, it's developed and earned. If you let it slip, it can hurt you at a bad time.

Not worried massively about the Norwich game, but just hoping that we'll continue to develop in mental strength to keep working hard the whole game through. Not necessarily physically work, but mentally.

 

[Loylz]

We simply ran out of energy in that Chelsea game. The game against the mancs took a lot out of us physically and mentally, our players simply weren't rested properly and Wenger made a mistake playing them too often but on the other hand didn't really have another choice.

i agree. most of the gripes at least on this page is about us going lax in the 2nd half of the norwich game. when we lost against chelsea in the cl it was not because we were lax, there's just more to it than that. chelsea WAS (and IS) a really strong side... one of the strongest in the world no matter how you look at it.

people are still going on about how we dont kill games off or how we dont finish strong? we put THREE goals over norwich in the first half. that game was DEAD in the water, and i seriously do believe that there was no way norwich could've gotten back from that. will we act this way if say, by some stroke of good fortune and footballing elegance we should put the same 3-0 1st half scoreline against chelsea? i severely doubt it. the likes of norwich and chelsea are different... very different. i know its ideal to treat every match like its the finals of the champions league attacking like there's no tomorrow, tackling for every ball, but come on... i doubt thats hardly possible for every match, and with norwich 3-0 down i dont think it would've been worth it. we will react to different situations in different ways. we sat back against norwich, we fought back against boro... this match should not be treated like "what if that were chelsea?" or some other strong european side... it doesn't connect.

Yeah, this is one way to look at it, and you could think of it like that. But the problem is that if our players start thinking like that, they'll lose their edge. It's simply true. As a fan you can think like that, but as a team you can't afford to. Mentally, you can't afford to get into the mindset which says that you don't need to be 100% committed against a certain opposition. That's when you can get embarressed if you're not on your game that day.

Now I'm not saying that this will necessarily happen, but it's all about attitude. Attitude is a massive part of what wins games for Arsenal. You can't buy it, it's developed and earned. If you let it slip, it can hurt you at a bad time.

Not worried massively about the Norwich game, but just hoping that we'll continue to develop in mental strength to keep working hard the whole game through. Not necessarily physically work, but mentally.

But I agree with what Quattro is saying as if we go all out every match it will seriously take its toll towards the end of the season where everything matters a lot more.