Tottenham vs Arsenal | Wed 14 Apr. 20:00 | SS1/2

[Abs]

Stop the Denilson love, he had a decent game last night, but how many interception did he do? how many tackles did he win? He didnt take many risks and just kept it simple. If everyone played like Denilson we would never score.....Im not saying he should start dribbling and all, but he rarely wins a 50/50 and win the ball back for us

He made loads of interceptions and he won plenty of tackles. He was a fantastic DM last night, especially considering many people think he can't play there. He knew when to intercept, his positioning was fantastic and he even knew when he needed to concede a foul and take a yellow card in order to stop an attack. Denilson's job is to keep it simple - that's what you do at that area in the pitch. It's your duty to win the ball back and distribute it to the attackers.

He won one tackle and one interception last night....I like the guy and he can come in and do a job, but he's just not dominant enough. Diaby who had a shocker last night had 8 interceptions and 2 tackles. Diaby contributes alot more to the team despite being up and down, and he usually make one or two significant thing every game.

Denilsons job is first and foremost protect the back for, win tackles and stop the other teams attack, then keep it simple. he just dont win enough balls back

 

[TomasCR]

That's where you're lying though Tomas. He never lost 50% of his shoulder challenges at all. In fact, he was guilty of body checking too much and as a result of a tweaked game, still tries to buy the foul/goes down too much, nothing has changed in that regards, it's just that people now understand that football isn't all about looking tough or strong, sometimes it's about the simple things you do off the ball like the pressing and interceptions, all of which Denilson has long been doing with huge success.

Maybe it was only me, then. I thought he used to be lazy to track back too and it cost us a few goals. That's why I thought Wenger dropped him actually, it was after the United game IIRC. Still think he looks like a lost kid and is not a first choice midfielder, but will probably always get more than enough games with the problems we have.

 

[MAK 14]

He won one tackle and one interception last night....I like the guy and he can come in and do a job, but he's just not dominant enough. Diaby who had a shocker last night had 8 interceptions and 2 tackles. Diaby contributes alot more to the team despite being up and down, and he usually make one or two significant thing every game.

Denilsons job is first and foremost protect the back for, win tackles and stop the other teams attack, then keep it simple. he just dont win enough balls back

Where do you get your stats from? I can definitely remember more than one tackler and one interception.

Diaby contributes more to the team? Well he certainly didn't last night.

 

[sabret00the]

Stop the Denilson love, he had a decent game last night, but how many interception did he do? how many tackles did he win? He didnt take many risks and just kept it simple. If everyone played like Denilson we would never score.....Im not saying he should start dribbling and all, but he rarely wins a 50/50 and win the ball back for us

Denilson love? You think I thought he had a good game last night? Denilson was OK. The best thing about his performance last night was that he weren't a pile of ****e like the other midfielders. But his game did include important tackles, tactical fouls, interceptions and showing for the ball. You call it keeping it simple when he does it, but when Xavi does it, you get your **** out, put on a condom and call it a posh ****. It's called football dude, learn about it.

 

[sabret00the]

Denilsons job is first and foremost protect the back for, win tackles and stop the other teams attack, then keep it simple. he just dont win enough balls back

He is not a defensive or holding midfielder, he's a box-to-box midfielder with tactical nous, the fact that we don't have a real defensive midfielder that Song should be aspiring to displacing is a Wenger problem, not a Denilson problem.

 

[lagos]

at least there weren't any tranny references there

 

[sabret00the]

ops:

 

[Abs]

Stop the Denilson love, he had a decent game last night, but how many interception did he do? how many tackles did he win? He didnt take many risks and just kept it simple. If everyone played like Denilson we would never score.....Im not saying he should start dribbling and all, but he rarely wins a 50/50 and win the ball back for us

Denilson love? You think I thought he had a good game last night? Denilson was OK. The best thing about his performance last night was that he weren't a pile of s***e like the other midfielders. But his game did include important tackles, tactical fouls, interceptions and showing for the ball. You call it keeping it simple when he does it, but when Xavi does it, you get your **** out, put on a condom and call it a posh ****. It's called football dude, learn about it.

lool at comparing what denilson does to what Xavi does. You say he's a box to box player, but he rarely takes on players and take a chance. He made one tackle and one interception last night, so stop saying he made tackles....he made a tackle. he also gives responsibilty to other by always keeping it simple. he did absolutly nothing significant last night, hew just kept it simple.

 

[sabret00the]

Stop the Denilson love, he had a decent game last night, but how many interception did he do? how many tackles did he win? He didnt take many risks and just kept it simple. If everyone played like Denilson we would never score.....Im not saying he should start dribbling and all, but he rarely wins a 50/50 and win the ball back for us

Denilson love? You think I thought he had a good game last night? Denilson was OK. The best thing about his performance last night was that he weren't a pile of s***e like the other midfielders. But his game did include important tackles, tactical fouls, interceptions and showing for the ball. You call it keeping it simple when he does it, but when Xavi does it, you get your **** out, put on a condom and call it a posh ****. It's called football dude, learn about it.

lool at comparing what denilson does to what Xavi does. You say he's a box to box player, but he rarely takes on players and take a chance. He made one tackle and one interception last night, so stop saying he made tackles....he made a tackle. he also gives responsibilty to other by always keeping it simple. he did absolutly nothing significant last night, hew just kept it simple.

The Xavi comparison was because Xavi is extraordinary at showing for the pass and enabling the triangles, that's why he racks up more passes than any other player on his team. Something you're criticising Denilson for. Of course Denilson needs to show more adventure in his play, but at the same time, he often plays for a one-two and gets ignored in favour of a Hollywood pass, a pass to a full back or some mindless dribbling.

Regarding the rest of your post, please learn a little more about the game. The post is almost criminally ludicrous. The yellow he picked up (which wasn't even a yellow) was a professional foul that most World Stage footballers would happily put their name to.

 

[Clrnc]

What the ****. Denilson vs Diaby all over again? This is getting ridiculous.

Both had an average game yesterday, positive and negative moments a plenty. Whats there to argue about? Both their strengths and weaknesses has already been put to bed already

 

[Captain]

He didn't make one tackle and one interception last night; stop quoting chalkboard stats.

He was decent last night and actually did a job, the job that he was given to do. He also looked like a player worthy of playing in the upper third of the premiership unlike a fair few others.

 

[Captain]

god knows what sagna is doing at the second goal. he's 5 yards behind the rest of our defenders, playing bale onside. at first, i thought silvestre should share some of the blame, but i think silvestre actually knows bale is behind him(quick reaction when the pass is made). he just assumes that bale is offside. maybe he should have noticed sagna cluelessly wandering around behind him, but the goal is clearly sagna's fault. horrendous defending.

Didn't see the replay but the commentary team said it was Eboue playing him on side.

And yet again nothing verbal from AL...........

The players who aren't on the blindside have to make the call and they got it wrong although Sagna also shouldn't have been in no man's land.

 

[kel varnsen]

The players who aren't on the blindside have to make the call and they got it wrong although Sagna also shouldn't have been in no man's land.

the cb's set the line and the full backs have to pay attention. sol was pressing high, silvestre pushed a few yards up and clichy followed. perfectly decent defending and would have put bale offside, if it hadn't been for sagna's mysterious positioning.

 

[darthwenger]

Don't think the league was lost just on this game to be fair.

The fact that we have lost to all of the teams in the top five (Man Utd, Chelsea, Man City and Sp**s) is the reason. We seem to have overcome our problem of beating the smaller teams but cannot now get ourselves up for when we play the bigger boys.

Haven't lost complete faith in Wenger but enough is enough now and he has played around with his youth project long enough and time to admit that some have worked and some haven't and I know this a clique every time we lose but we do need to a spend some money on what we all know we need (GK, CB, ST)

 

[Captain]

The players who aren't on the blindside have to make the call and they got it wrong although Sagna also shouldn't have been in no man's land.

the cb's set the line and the full backs have to pay attention. sol was pressing high, silvestre pushed a few yards up and clichy followed. perfectly decent defending and would have put bale offside, if it hadn't been for sagna's mysterious positioning.

The blindside player should never be so far back, but the players who can see the scenario have to make the call. If you can plainly see that the line is already disturbed you shouldn't step out.

I honestly have no idea why Sagma was so far back, was he getting up from an injury or something? He was literally in no man's land.

 

[marco]

last night wasnt about losing the league- we lost that at birmingham+ we wont beat blackburn anyhow
last night was losing to our most hated club
this feels a lot worse than the 5-1... i dont remember feeling this deflated about a game for years....- they only had 2 ****ing shots as well..
at least last night confirmed that rosicky and almunia need to be offloaded in the summer and that diaby is a lazy ******..
he has all the attributes to be a great player just doesnt fancy it half the time.
it was a nld for ****s sake..apart from sol and rvp none of the guys out there had a clue what it means to us the fans, and what we have to go through in the next few days with those ****s giving it large.
want to burn my wigan ticket as cant think of anywhere id rather go..

just home Arsène has some sense and lets citeh walk all over us next week..
Sp**s getting top 4 would kill me.

 

[albakos]

I know its zonalmarking.net and they're usually ****, but this article reveals some insightful thoughts.

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.zonalmarking.net/2010/04/15/tottenham-2-1-arsenal-tactics/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.zonalmarking.net/2010/04/15/ ... l-tactics/</a>

Tottenham record their first league win over Arsenal for a decade, and simultaneously rule Arsenal out of the title race. Arsène Wenger’s side have been written off on at least two previous occasions, but this, surely, is the end of the road.


No major surprises in the starting line-ups – with injuries throughout the side, Wenger merely chose what he had. As against Barcelona, the only choice was between Emmanuel Eboue and Theo Walcott, and the Ivorian got the nod. Denilson played in space behind Abou Diaby and Samir Nasri in a 4-1-4-1 shape.


Tottenham’s formation was their standard 4-4-2, with debutant Danny Rose on the right. Luka Modric sat very deep, almost alongside Tom Huddlestone, although the Croatian’s tendency to go forward occasionally left space for Nasri to exploit.


North London derbies always start at a frantic pace, and Tottenham began by pressing aggressively, putting pressure upon Thomas Vermaelen (who was replaced by Mikael Silvestre) and Sol Campbell. The approach changed when Tottenham went ahead through Rose’s wonderstrike – they instead sat deep, letting Arsenal’s defenders have the ball, and played with two solid banks of four in front of their goalkeeper.


Sp**s defended brilliantly throughout – their back four played extremely narrow, across the width of the penalty area, and let Arsenal have the ball in wide areas, confident their centre-backs would win the ball in the air against Nicklas Bendtner. The players they used were crucial – Younes Kaboul was effectively a centre-back playing at right-back, and was a towering presence in the penalty area, whilst Benoit Assou-Ekotto on the left is slightly less solid, but had the presence of Gareth Bale, comfortable at left-back, to double up against Arsenal’s right-winger, and help out in the air.


Arsenal struggle to break down sides who sit deep and play with two narrow banks of four - it was the same pattern against Aston Villa back in December, until Cesc Fabregas came on and changed the game with his direct play. Although Arsenal now have a more traditional target man in Nicklas Bendtner, it’s still not in Arsenal’s game to cross the ball constantly – although their play very wide, their biggest threats often come through the centre, or when the wingers cut in.


Arsenal’s passing style is often likened to Barcelona’s, but there are notable differences between the two. The most obvious one last night was how unwilling Arsenal were to play the ball to their centre-backs once they got into advanced positions. With Barcelona, the ball will often go to Henry, Pedro or Messi in wide positions, and if they don’t see a good pass on, they’ll play it backwards and start again. Not only does this keep possession, it also draws the opposition defence up the pitch, leaving space to exploit in behind, or between the lines.


Arsenal never looked to do this, instead playing short, quick passes in advanced areas, yet rarely steered the ball into goalscoring positions, as passes were intercepted. Arsenal’s over-reliance on short, neat passing also seems to have compromised their ability to play on the counter-attack – too many moves were slowed by Nasri and Rosicky and lost momentum, allowing the Tottenham defence back into position.


Arsenal lacked penetration, lack directness – and this was shown up blatantly when Robin van Persie stepped onto the pitch. He immediately produced a brilliant turn in the centre of the pitch that sent him towards goal – and quickly got shots in to test Gomes. Could a more frustrating night for Arsenal fans be possible? In one game they managed to lose to their biggest rivals, lose sight of the the Premiership title, and then van Persie illustrated ‘what might have been’ had he not been injured for the majority of the season. The good news for football as a whole is that he should be in good condition for the World Cup, as he is one of the best strikers in the world.


Arsenal didn’t have a single shot on target until Robin van Persie’s introduction on 68 minutes. He alone had three in the remainder of the game.


Arsenal’s problem was demonstrated most notably by a misplaced van Persie pass. He picked the ball up in the centre of the pitch, then shifted a through ball behind the defence for Rosicky to run onto. Rosicky, however, was not the same wavelength, and was instead making a run towards the ball for a short pass. The ball trickled out for a goal kick. It may only have been one misplaced pass, but it summed up the difference between van Persie and the rest of the Arsenal side – van Persie is a direct player who looks towards goal instinctively, whereas Rosicky almost seems to have become brainwashed into a regime where short passes in front of the defence all day is the best ideology.


For all of Arsenal’s failings, the game was equally won by Tottenham’s brilliant defending. Michael Dawson was unbeaten in tackles and aerial challenges all game, and Sp**s defended solidly as a unit rather than as individuals, communicating well, pressing in numbers when the ball got into their third, and covering for each other when one player – generally Modric or Bale – went up the pitch.


In truth, their passing was poor and they rarely threatened Arsenal – it took a wonderstrike and a defensive lapse for them to score, but once they went ahead, their defending was simply faultless. Only Manchester United had scored two goals against Sp**s at White Hart Lane this season, and that same game was the only occasion Tottenham have lost having gone 1-0 up. The focus on Arsenal here should not take away anything from the brilliant way Harry Redknapp set up his side, but essentially there’s not a great deal to say about Sp**s – they did the basics well, and when it comes to defending, that’s often the key to a positive result. Redknapp had to shoulder the blame when Sp**s lost the reverse fixture 0-3 in November, but he deserves immense credit here.

:roll:

 

[Segway]

Robin is a world class striker and his control is uncomparable to Nick's - we all know that - but putting the blame on our lone striker in stead of that static midfield is way off the mark IMO.

Nasri and Diaby unfortunately dont do too much off the ball movement. They want to receive the ball then do something with the ball. They dont make sacrificial runs to open space for others. You could see Rosciky making quite a lot of those small diagonal runs, even though he wasnt receiving the ball. Once you have Denilson there, we cant afford to have the other two mids waiting for the ball to pass it around. They had to make more runs. Its what Fabregas does to us and why he is so valuable. He makes a lot of runs without the ball into the penalty box, and you know quite a lot of times he doesnt get the pass, but he helps to move a defender or distract another.

I think despite our shortfalls, we really do have a solid team. I truly hope Chamack is in and if we can get a real goalie, keep the entire team bar tweety, we are good.

Thank you. My sentiments exactly.

 

[xcdude24]

last night wasnt about losing the league- we lost that at birmingham+ we wont beat blackburn anyhow
last night was losing to our most hated club
this feels a lot worse than the 5-1... i dont remember feeling this deflated about a game for years....- they only had 2 f****g shots as well..
at least last night confirmed that rosicky and almunia need to be offloaded in the summer and that diaby is a lazy ******..
he has all the attributes to be a great player just doesnt fancy it half the time.
it was a nld for f***s sake..apart from sol and rvp none of the guys out there had a clue what it means to us the fans, and what we have to go through in the next few days with those c**nts giving it large.
want to burn my wigan ticket as cant think of anywhere id rather go..

just home Arsène has some sense and lets citeh walk all over us next week..
Sp**s getting top 4 would kill me.

I feel the same way. Watching even their stewards go mental killed me last night. Walking down park lane onto the high road was about as dejecting as it gets, watching their lot go mental like that. I honestly wish we could fast forward do the start of next season. Don't care about the world cup, and it'll be frustrating watching us go through the usual **** mid-season.

 

[kel varnsen]

I honestly have no idea why Sagma was so far back, was he getting up from an injury or something? He was literally in no man's land.

just a mediocre full back. that's all... :wink: