Ratings| EPL| Arsenal 1 Man United 0

[Yaya]

I didn't, it's on chalkboard. :wink:

 

[Shue]

A lot of the unsuccessful kicks were due to Arsenal players being **** in the air. Arshavin, Walcott, lol

 

[redwhiteAustrian]

We're not **** in the air, we're non existant.
Some players didn't even try to get to the ball, no one really wanted to head it.

 

[Shue]

Sell Cesc, sign Drogba, go 442 with Ramsey and Wilshere CMs? >_>

 

[Irish_Owen]

Why does every goal kick have to be smashed into the opponents half though?

The majority of Valdes' kicks are to either Pique or Puyol, and they build from the back, like a lot of teams that play possession football have always done. But us being Arsenal, we'd probably conceded every other week from defenders getting caught on the ball

 

[Proof]

Szczesny - 8

Sagna - 7
Djourou - 7
Koscielny - 7
Clichy - 7

Ramsey - 9
Wilshere - 7
Song - 8

Nasri - 6
Van Persie - 8
Walcott - 7

 

[Shue]

Why does every goal kick have to be smashed into the opponents half though?

The majority of Valdes' kicks are to either Pique or Puyol, and they build from the back, like a lot of teams that play possession football have always done. But us being Arsenal, we'd probably conceded every other week from defenders getting caught on the ball

Most teams stand off Barcelona, in the EPL it's the norm to press very high up the pitch.

 

[Irish_Owen]

Why does every goal kick have to be smashed into the opponents half though?

The majority of Valdes' kicks are to either Pique or Puyol, and they build from the back, like a lot of teams that play possession football have always done. But us being Arsenal, we'd probably conceded every other week from defenders getting caught on the ball

Most teams stand off Barcelona, in the EPL it's the norm to press very high up the pitch.

When Alonso still played for Liverpool, Reina used to play it short to him more often than not, and Xabi used his passing ability to better effect than Pepe could. Its more effective than simply giving the other team the privilege of being able to gain possession every time we have a goal kick

 

[Shue]

We did that before Alonso, lol

Vieira and Petit used to come get it all the time. Cesc used to as well. It's only recently that teams have pressed us specifically in that area. Don't be surprised to see Wilshere start demanding the ball deeper though.

 

[cuban]

Why does every goal kick have to be smashed into the opponents half though?

The majority of Valdes' kicks are to either Pique or Puyol, and they build from the back, like a lot of teams that play possession football have always done. But us being Arsenal, we'd probably conceded every other week from defenders getting caught on the ball

Most teams stand off Barcelona, in the EPL it's the norm to press very high up the pitch.

they do, but I thought we could play it short and knock it around in our half a bit...if we get under pressure boot it away same, but at least we get some time...this way its a way after a way of opposition attacks...they had no midfield at that time...surely we are able to hold a ball a bit against that

 

[sabret00the]

Szczesny - 8 - Done his job and kept the ball outta the net
Sagna - 6 - Average
Djourou - 7 - Decent
Koscielny - 7 - Average
Clichy - 5 - Sloppy in possession
Song - 8 - Defensively disciplined.
Wilshere - 7 - Solid, gave us drive.
Ramsey - 7 - Started off sloppy but grew into it. Nice finish.
Walcott - 7 - Attempted to drive on. Was better off the ball than most people realise.
RVP - 8 - Lead the line well.
Nasri - 5 - N/A

 

[Lord Dula]

lol at sabres comments for kos and dj

 

[outlaw_member]

Szczesny-6(-1 for kicking)

I thought his kicking was better than VDS today who is known for his ball-playing abilities. Both keepers were put under a lot of pressure and I think Szczesny did well. Anyways:

I think VDS is quite overrated in that regard, to be honest.

It was frustrating to see Sczcesny give the ball to VDS on three consecutive occasions in the last few minutes of the game. However, he also did his part in relieving the pressure at crucial moments, so it was definitely a good performance from him.

 

[ricky1985]

Van der Sar is way overrated in that regard. He miskicks at least once in every game I watch him in. His miskick against City the other week played a big part in United failing to reach a cup final.

I think Szczesny just wanted to show off his new power kicking towards the end! Although, in all seriousness, nobody wanted the ball rolled out to them in the last 5 minutes, so he didn't have a lot of choice.

 

[mo50]

Looking back at how the game unfolded, Wenger owned Fergie in the tactics department. Playing Song deeper completely negated anything Rooney did, which resulted in Hernandez having no service, or any touches on the ball. Not playing an out and out AM also made our midfield that much better in the absence of Fabregas.

Its great to see the old man still has it

 

[arsmile]

‘course we won....pressure's off innit? That’s the main thing here...i can mention changes to our tactics and personnel or whatever, but the reason we won the game was because the players and fans knew it really didn’t matter all that much.

Snez-8- dominant

Sag-8

Djou-7

Kos-9- thought he massively stormed it. aqll things considered he’s had a good season, ending strongly, wasn’t letting anything pass him today

Clichy-7- okay, should have given away the penalty, his work in the finaql third was poor, and we were still exposed a few times down the left

Song-8- much better, he is so much better when he is the only one holding and we have 2 infront of him. Also as a team we defend better because the midfiekd 4 all push and he sits..simple and effective, when he and wilshere are level behind 1 (cesc) I think song gets very confused about his role and is ineffective, but dealt with rooney expertly today and didn’t really worry about much else.


Wilshere-8- he is the energy of the team, keeps going and working, he is someone to really start building this team around.

Ramsey-9- great performance, him and wilshere were superb- I much prefer the 4141 to the 4231- I mentioned that I think it is more secure defensively, but it also leaves us much less predictable when all play isn’t necessarily funnelled through cesc- I’d keep the formation even with cesc back. But it was great to see ramsey playing like this, I really feared he might have the kind of problems Eduardo did- but no sign of it-

Theo-7

Nasri-6- I dont know how early in the half he got hurt- he looked like the only one who hadn’t turned a leaf in the half

Robin-7- led the line excellently

Arsh-9- what the **** was that!? that was brilliant, why cant we do this when it matters, thought he really made a huge difference offensively and won the ball back with great tackles a countless number of times

Squid-7

Eboue-6- didn’t give away a penalty, vote of confidence from wenger in trusting him to be on the ppitch at that kinda moment




that's right...i've given 3 9s for a 1-0 win...i forgot what it felt like.

 

[outlaw_member]

Why does every goal kick have to be smashed into the opponents half though?

The majority of Valdes' kicks are to either Pique or Puyol, and they build from the back, like a lot of teams that play possession football have always done. But us being Arsenal, we'd probably conceded every other week from defenders getting caught on the ball

Most teams stand off Barcelona, in the EPL it's the norm to press very high up the pitch.

What Barcelona and Spain do is they part their CB's with each standing on either side of the 6 yard box, the DM drops back into the created gap, whilst the fullbacks are told to push up the pitch. Whenever the keeper is prevented from distributing short to the back three, Valdes attempts a diagonal to either one of Alves or Pedro who are completely free. When a team presses the opposition defenders and GK high up the pitch, they invariably leave vast amounts of space for others to comfortably collect a long pass in. It's almost built in to the goalkeepers psyche to aim any long kicks onto the forwards, but there are other players and areas who can also serve as a target. I also find it difficult to believe that for a team keen on keeping the ball, it seems acceptable for the GK to continually lose possession.

 

[sabret00the]

Looking back at how the game unfolded, Wenger owned Fergie in the tactics department. Playing Song deeper completely negated anything Rooney did, which resulted in Hernandez having no service, or any touches on the ball. Not playing an out and out AM also made our midfield that much better in the absence of Fabregas.

Its great to see the old man still has it

While Song playing deeper certainly helped, that in itself would've been negated had our midfield not have been more balanced. There's a greater balance in our side when Wilshere and Ramsey play together because the team isn't so determined to play through Fabregas. It was refreshing in that regard and certainly interesting to see how the team would evolve in such a circumstance. Props to Song for his performance today though, it might be my favourite performance of his this season.

 

[yuvken]

@outlaw - In the match thread you said VP was "poor" (and justified it). So - 7? I guess it was having Ant on your case that got to you... anyway - I agree with what you say here (I think he was very good).

Agree with general talk of Kos (and join that fella who said he is very good on the ground; though... not really as good as song. But that's still very good).
About song - I was particularly happy with him - both for AW's part, and for his own. Agree with qs comments on him in the match thread - I admit starting to lose patience with him. Back to his best. Now the question: will we see consistency there? we can't have another Diaby.
Chez' kicks: yeah, ok. Big problems we have there. He was awful just a few months ago in that, give him a break. And yes, it's kinda stupid to follow the pattern of kicking it to the opposition when you work so hard to gain possession, but sometimes even Barca lose when they overdo this (in fact that is exactly how they lost yesterday).

Naturally Aaron's show is the most eye catching, and the most meaningful for us. Cesc, box to box, cool, finisher, organizer, talker - so much to think about. The combo with Jack is wonderful. I just feel I need to shut up a bit, as I was hyping him since early January. So I'll just throw in this last bit: I was thinking (for a while now) Jack should be our next captain (and with the right attitude a key thing for me, I said I wouldn't mind this to happen immediately). I thought about it today for the first time, so it's not a solid thing, but - isn't Rambo more fit for the job? an idea to ponder.

 

[CandysRoom]

lol at Eboue's write-up from Arsmile

"Didn't give a penalty away"... Classic!

We were all thinking it though. My old man decided it would be good if he didn't venture into our half at all!