PL: West Bromwich Albion vs Arsenal | 02/05/05

[whoztheman]

we are a completely different team without henry.

Vieira blasting the ball from midfield..2 or 3 times. he was more of a box to box player yesterday, playing around the penalty area. that never happens around henry!
more long balls into the box.
when henry plays the rest of the team automatically pass the ball to henry. without him they pass the ball to whoever is in the better position.
less fancy football.

 

[_scorpion_]

To be honest i'm enjoying the ugly football.

I'm enjoying watching RVP and Reyes lead the attack and watching Fabregas make a fist of the RM position.

I'm also enjoying watching Senderos play ......take a bow Arsène Wenger!

This reminds me of a period of matches we had during the unbeaten run when we seemed to stop playing fluently, but we still managed wins. I hope it continues.

On a side note, I wish Edu would stay....i cannot believe we are letting him walk.....

 

[KingReyes]

That was a good win, I really enjoyed the way we were patient, moved the ball around trying to find space to move the ball into. WBA played a 5-4-1 formation with everyone behind the ball and they ran their socks off but you could see that eventually they were going to tire out and we would get a few good chances. Defensively we were very solid, our passing in the midfield at times was sloppy but that was expected with West Brom having 6 or 7 players in the midfield. Sometimes people don't notice how hard it is for the likes of Vieira who's hassled all the time by 2 or 3 players during a whole game but he did well again tonight and is playing his best football of the season.

RVP's chance was well taken, his first touch is absolute class. he had to be quick when he got the pass from Reyes and the first touch and then shot were quality. Reyes should have passed to Cole with that chance, you can understand Cole's frustration. Reyes doesn't need to tried too hard at times. Instead of playing the simple pass he tends to go for glory and ends up failing.

 

[Gurgen]

Great result and another great goal from RvP. That's why I'm still at a loss to explain why Wenger took him off.
Now here's a young player who's had a pretty frustrating game so far. Then he scores a goal and puts Reyes through on goal. What is his reward a minute later? The bench. Anyone who saw RvP's 'please God don't let it be me'-face when the sign went up will agree. I am really stupified by this Wenger policy to take players off just as they are starting to enjoy themselves.

And Reyes could use some finishing practise. I had to laugh as he dribbled past everyone only to shoot at a defender

That said, Phil was immense yesterday and my MoM. Completely faultless for the first time.

 

[Aussie]

Well we got three points.

RVP put in another good display.

We got to send a team down.

What more could you want.

 

[kanuuu]

He is a much better passer, and is better in the air defnsivly and attacking. His positioning is just as good. In a team built around scoring goals, he has a much harder job than the Chelsea clone

Hmm i'm not so sure he's a better passer than Makelele, Gilberto tends to give the ball away quite a lot whereas Makelele normally keeps possession.

 

[Kum_Arsenal]

precious 3 points.

a hard-fought win for Arsenal.

 

[leongsh]

i remember when we were winning games 5-4, 5-3 e.t.c someone made the comment that he wished we could grind out results (chelsea fever at its height!).

I believe that was me I prefer the team to be winning with 2-0/3-1 scorelines playing a controlled game well within their capabilities rather than one where there's a heart-stopping game with 5-3 (against Middlesborough at Highbury) or 5-4 (against Tottenham at White Hart Lane) scorelines. Additional goals to increase the goal difference is a bonus. What is more important is to get the win/3 points secured from each match with minimal effort as the season is long.

we are doing that now, but there are people still disgruntled. sometimes i feel people use the disguise of 'support' as an excuse to moan

I'm happy with last night's (this morning for me) battling performance against a relegation-threatened team determined to fight for their EPL life - West Bromiwich Albion crammed the midfield and defence.

 

[mayoud]

This game did not bode well for us. The WBA moderate midfield and defence had us pinned back against the outskirts of their lines for most of the match and our lack of penetration can be measured by the fact that Arsenal did not win one corner for the whole of the match. Yes we scored twice but one of them was after Robson had thrown on 3 strikers at the last knockings, the Cup Final outlook is not good.

 

[sabret00the]

Great result and another great goal from RvP. That's why I'm still at a loss to explain why Wenger took him off.
Now here's a young player who's had a pretty frustrating game so far. Then he scores a goal and puts Reyes through on goal. What is his reward a minute later? The bench. Anyone who saw RvP's 'please God don't let it be me'-face when the sign went up will agree. I am really stupified by this Wenger policy to take players off just as they are starting to enjoy themselves.

i think it was another case fo making up his mind before the game, in all honesty as much as i've spent the day dogging Cesc, he was more interested in the game and physicality of it than Pires despite his inability to stay wide, so i would've brought on Edu for Pires and if i had to take off a striker i would've taken off Reyes for Ali and brought of RVP for ovation purposes closer to the whistle.

 

[yihyng]

Its such a shame that Reyes is still in such a scoring funk, but I think he really needs to take fewer touches and shoot a little earlier than he does right now. For those who remember, its really like how Henry was when he came to the club initially.

He managed to change and became such a phenomenal striker. Kanu, on the other hand, never did.... We sold him.

RvP seems like a quick learner and it has helped him a lot.... I hope Reye adapts soon as well.

But despite Reyes extravagant touches and scoring funk, he is still providing some valuable assists and contributing to the team. I still firmly believe in his talent. I just hope he comes good soon.