UCL | Basel v Arsenal | Tuesday 6th December 19:45 | BT Sport 2

[Nyctophobia]

Almost every time we attacked yesterday we had two-four players making runs, our wide players especially did a tremendous job attacking the space and it puts a lot of pressure on the defending team when there's several possible conclusions to an attack.

I think that ever since Iwobi broke into the team we started to work our way into this kind of play where we attack from all sides at once rather than going just down the middle or just down the flanks, it makes us unpredictable, it suits practically all of our wide options to play this way.

If this is the way we continue to play then I think it's pure brilliance by Wenger, and if we can play this way against any team -we'll always be a dangerous side to play.

 

[samshere]

This is a great victory, but will be worth celebrating only if we follow it up with results at Stoke and Everton. I'm of the opinion that we could've won the match even without Sanchez/ Özil. We can conclude how good this result was only after the next string of matches and the CL knockout draw. If we drop more than 2 points or we get drawn to Bayern/Real I'll look back at this match as when we should have rested players.

 

[carlito'sway]

This is a great victory, but will be worth celebrating only if we follow it up with results at Stoke and Everton. I'm of the opinion that we could've won the match even without Sanchez/ Özil. We can conclude how good this result was only after the next string of matches and the CL knockout draw. If we drop more than 2 points or we get drawn to Bayern/Real I'll look back at this match as when we should have rested players.

That is some serious sour grapes here mate. By finishing first, we are giving ourselves the best chances to draw a "weaker"team and as importantly we will be playing the second game at home. If we draw Bayern, it will be pure bad luck.

 

[SYS]

That is some serious sour grapes here mate. By finishing first, we are giving ourselves the best chances to draw a "weaker"team and as importantly we will be playing the second game at home. If we draw Bayern, it will be pure bad luck.

The success of CL campaign should be judged on how well we perform in the following league games. We spent energy conservatively as per @hydrofluoric acid and @Rimaal. So lets see if we can do well with 3 PL games in 10 days

 

[carlito'sway]

Granite Xhaka, Ladies and Gents....

 

[SYS]

 

[TriniGunner]

Almost every time we attacked yesterday we had two-four players making runs, our wide players especially did a tremendous job attacking the space and it puts a lot of pressure on the defending team when there's several possible conclusions to an attack.

I think that ever since Iwobi broke into the team we started to work our way into this kind of play where we attack from all sides at once rather than going just down the middle or just down the flanks, it makes us unpredictable, it suits practically all of our wide options to play this way.

If this is the way we continue to play then I think it's pure brilliance by Wenger, and if we can play this way against any team -we'll always be a dangerous side to play.

We just need to work on our ability to keep the ball in tight areas and not give it away when we're trying to attack. Iwobi lost his concentration a lot yesterday and it resulted in our attack breaking down and losing the element of surprise. There are very few teams in Europe who get into your final third as fast as Arsenal...we need to make it count more often.

 

[samshere]

That is some serious sour grapes here mate. By finishing first, we are giving ourselves the best chances to draw a "weaker"team and as importantly we will be playing the second game at home. If we draw Bayern, it will be pure bad luck.

But what if we could've won the match without Özil/ Sanchez starting. We could've brought them on later if needed. And I'm being very lenient with my judgement, either an easy draw or doing well in the PL(without injuries) will be enough for me. I wanted the players rested not because I wanted us to lose against Basel, but because:
1. I considered our second string good enough for basel.
2. Coming first wouldn't have been significantly better.
3. We've traditionally done poorly after away CL fixtures and have a challenging set of matches to come in the PL

 

[Gooner Zig]

If we draw Bayern, it will be confirmation that UEFA is rigged

Fixed for you mate

 

[IchirotoV2]

But what if we could've won the match without Özil/ Sanchez starting. We could've brought them on later if needed. And I'm being very lenient with my judgement, either an easy draw or doing well in the PL(without injuries) will be enough for me. I wanted the players rested not because I wanted us to lose against Basel, but because:
1. I considered our second string good enough for basel.
2. Coming first wouldn't have been significantly better.
3. We've traditionally done poorly after away CL fixtures and have a challenging set of matches to come in the PL

although if we were to, e.g., lose the next two matches in the PL, it might not be because of the lack of resting players in this particular match. If it is clear that the result was caused by fatigue to specific players, then fine. But how would you know that fatigue would be the cause, and nothing else?

So many factors when analyzing the performance of a match. And we would never know if we would win the game without Sanchez and Özil, unless you can look into an alternate dimension. Pure speculation.

 

[carlito'sway]

But what if we could've won the match without Özil/ Sanchez starting. We could've brought them on later if needed. And I'm being very lenient with my judgement, either an easy draw or doing well in the PL(without injuries) will be enough for me. I wanted the players rested not because I wanted us to lose against Basel, but because:
1. I considered our second string good enough for basel.
2. Coming first wouldn't have been significantly better.
3. We've traditionally done poorly after away CL fixtures and have a challenging set of matches to come in the PL

"IF" is the operative word here. That is speculation territory. As I said, kudos to Arsène, he did what he had to do, i.e, giving the team the best chance to win.
Again, saying that our second string is good enough to beat Basel is speculation as well. Those are risks that no serious manager should ever consider.

 

[Makingtrax]

Granite Xhaka, Ladies and Gents....

That's a terriffic passing network. Great movement and tactics there.

 

[Sanis]

Our second string also should have been good enough to beat southamptons second string...

 

[celestis]

That is some serious sour grapes here mate. By finishing first, we are giving ourselves the best chances to draw a "weaker"team and as importantly we will be playing the second game at home. If we draw Bayern, it will be pure bad luck.

For Bayern

 

[Gautier]

Am I the only one to think we won mostly thanks to the opponent? they were so bad, could have come back at 2-1 at home. we made some very bad decisions, dangerous play which is very costly against any other team. I'm not saying we were bad but not always reassuring.
I can't remember seeing a CL team as bad as the one I saw yesterday (Basel) so I'm not too impressed.

 

[Makingtrax]

"IF" is the operative word here. That is speculation territory. As I said, kudos to Arsène, he did what he had to do, i.e, giving the team the best chance to win.
Again, saying that our second string is good enough to beat Basel is speculation as well. Those are risks that no serious manager should ever consider.

Last night Arsène pretty much played that perfectly but before the game there were people calling him out SMH.

Two I recall: "Can only see one positive in that line up" and "F***ing brainless".

It's a funny old game and maybe not as easy as playing FIFA 17

 

[Makingtrax]

Our second string also should have been good enough to beat southamptons second string...

Wasn't that our C team. Wenger's targets this year are the EPL and CL, he's already got the record for Cups.

 

[Makingtrax]

Am I the only one to think we won mostly thanks to the opponent? they were so bad, could have come back at 2-1 at home. we made some very bad decisions, dangerous play which is very costly against any other team. I'm not saying we were bad but not always reassuring.
I can't remember seeing a CL team as bad as the one I saw yesterday (Basel) so I'm not too impressed.

Just lost 2-1 to PSG, drew with Ludogorets away, top of the Super League by 12 points . . . that very bad Basel you mean?

 

[Rimaal]

Am I the only one to think we won mostly thanks to the opponent? they were so bad, could have come back at 2-1 at home. we made some very bad decisions, dangerous play which is very costly against any other team. I'm not saying we were bad but not always reassuring.
I can't remember seeing a CL team as bad as the one I saw yesterday (Basel) so I'm not too impressed.

We would have won 2-1 because they were bad, but we won 4-1 because we were frelling brilliant.

That is not to say ofcourse that we can perform as well against better teams - they will simply not give Özil and Sanchez the space they got from Basel, but it shows what we are capable of, and that we still have higher gears to shift through. After all, the team we played yesterday had 6 2nd string players.

 

[Tosker]

there's teams out there hoping they don't draw us in the knock-out rounds

we play so much better when the team believes in themselves - just wish more fans would make the effort too