PL: Wigan Athletic vs Arsenal | 13/12/06

[tristan]

Seems like the Arsenal performance yesterday was really quite similar to Chelsea's (doubt many of you watched that snoozer). Terrible first half, decent second half, saved from blushes by a late goal from a West African

 

[Tony Montana]

Didn't anyone else find the Wigan fans absolutely annoying?

I have never heard some many clueless inbreds complain so much. They actually thought Cesc's tackle which lead to the goal was a foul and begged for every handball, foul etc etc.

Ignorant tossers.

Funny isn't it? Everyone complains we don't like the hard stuff , yet the opposition and fans go up in arms when we go in hard but fair .

QFT.

 

[tactica442]

Since when those NW people becomes so soft? Cesc's tackle should have been a foul? Ha!

I also recall Jewell's comments on Wenger-vs-Pardew incident. I couldn't believe it when hearing Jewell's view on Wenger while the scouser manager conveninetly neglected his comments on the ref in the last game in Highbury. Jewell said the ref wanted to make a history. what a t0sser

 

[patrick42uk]

on the point i was making about walcott being a player without set ways, perfect to be moulded by wenger's vision; its so refereshing to see that he understands and tries to implement the concept of the 'second line' or second penetration'. by that i mean when he gets played through at an angle he is always aware you create 100% chances by squaring th ball. i'v seen him do that on a number of occasions now. unfortunately it seems to be a dying concept with the likes of reyes and rvp always with their minds set on goal. even yesterday freddie ( who should know better but is probably blined by his desperation for a goal) and julio fell into the trap of shooting when bettter awareness would have created a simple chance.

of the current crop only ade, henry and theo seem to play like that and it isnt enough IMO. it takes two because it involves the awareness of the player on the ball and the movement off the ball of someone else. in the past the front 6 were on the same wavelength in that respect and it made us not only efficient but pleasing on the eye which is the ultimate aim.

 

[Viper]

No; Hleb, Rosicky and Fabregas also play like that.

 

[patrick42uk]

yeah your probably right; i'v got excited from watching ade and walcott againt wigan when i posted that but you mentioning those names jogged my memory. although to be fair, hleb against reading was a spectacular exception to the rule. he's more about passing sideways on teh edge of the area because he rarely gets in behind.

still, it doesnt happen often enough which is why we havent been that great an offensive threat this season. as you say we have the players who can do this but i dont think the awareness or off the ball movement have been consistent enough.

 

[thegame24]

i tell you what the legend pires had no problem when he was infront of goal

i miss that guy

 

[patrick42uk]

speaking of the past; yesterday looke dvery much more like the 4-2-3-1 of the past than the 4-5-1 we'v been playing. or is there even a difference? the shape did look like flamini/fab ang gilberto sitting with rvp/baptista in the hole.

 

[Captain]

Baptista did look like he was 'in the hole', that is the sort of thing I assume that Gurgen was talking about.

 

[thegame24]

i think there is a difference.

tbh yesterdaty i dont think baptista was advanced enough yesterday, Bergkamp, although he played deep, was not really interested in tracking back so much, also vieira could drive with the ball, thats something flams cant do.

 

[patrick42uk]

i think it was definately 4-2-3-1 when rvp and cesc came on. rvp actually showed some brilliant, bergkampesque touches and vision in playing through walcott and ljunberg i.e. the wingers which was a key feature of the old arsenal. strange that no-one really picked up on that.

anyway thats probably the favorite formation for the weekend. except ljugnberg and walcott are more wingers than hleb and rosicky which will probably affect the look of the formation.

its still early days really and we are still in the process of the team taking shape so its dificult at this stage to box people into certain roles or the team in specific formations.

 

[_scorpion_]

i tell you what the legend pires had no problem when he was infront of goal

i miss that guy

When Hleb skied that would have given us a 2-1 win against Chelsea, you can almost see Arsène wishing that was Pires instead of Hleb running onto th ball.

No question about it - Pires was one of the most composed finishers we have seen at the club. He just knew how to score in almost every situation.

 

[Clrnc]

make no mistake, pires sidefoot is the best in the world.

 

[the dawn raids]

For all the flak Baptista has been getting, I think he has been the only free role midfielder this season who has been able to give that 4-5-1 a bit of flair. He was moving very well at times and actually made it look like a half decent formation.

spot on. think of the possibilities when he has a proper midfield playing with him.