UCL: Marseille vs Arsenal | Wed 19/10/11 @ 19:45 ITV1

[Rain Dance]

Looking at Newsnow all the headlines are about how we were lucky and played poorly and how we scraped a result when Ramsey "saved the day" at the death. Saved us from a perfectly acceptable point at the Velodrome?

F**k me the media have an agenda don't they? ManUtd drew 0-0 there in February but we get more stick for "winning ugly". Pathetic.

Typical

 

[HollandGooner]

I am happy with the 0-1 but again we are really lacking a final third

 

[celestis]

Looking at Newsnow all the headlines are about how we were lucky and played poorly and how we scraped a result when Ramsey "saved the day" at the death. Saved us from a perfectly acceptable point at the Velodrome?

F**k me the media have an agenda don't they? ManUtd drew 0-0 there in February but we get more stick for "winning ugly". Pathetic.

Typical

They have been looking for any excuse , 'Van Persie carrying gunners' . bloody hell as if Henry didn't carry us .

 

[Fab Fabre04]

Stating the obvious but we've definitely lost the guile of players like Nasri and Cesc and neither have been properly replaced.

I know we were a bit, 'tippy-tappy' last season but this season we seem to have gone to the other extreme. We're just too direct and because we're not good enough at being direct, it's become predictable.

Once again, a case of not having the right players for the system that we play. Wenger is a ****ing idiot.

 

[dyeruz]

It's much deeper than the media having an "agenda", I genuinely think we are hated. Listened to commentary on Talksp*rt and fair enough Collymore (even though he used to wind Arsenal fans up terrible, has seemed to calm down a bit) tried to give genuine views on the performance, Talk sport dont generally do commentary on Arsenal games in europe unless they expect us to lose i.e Barca, and Marsaille *previously unbeaten* hence today they had George Graham lined up to come on with his usual bile.
Then we had the TV pundits, Adrian Chiles witht he most hilarous question "So Arsenal fans after thinking their team was so bad will now be thinking they are better than they are?" What kind of question is that!?
Graham Taylor on fivelive, almost couldn't bring himself to say anything nice, apparently he couldn't see that goal coming even though we had created two or three genuine goal scoring opportunities. Any other team would have been praised for going to France and beating a team despite playing *poorly* which I dont think we did. We've won 5 out of 6 yet are still in a crisis.

 

[Big Poppa]

I must say, I haven't detected any real media bias against Arsenal. Most respectable neutrals praise us when we play well, and their criticism is constructive. The ones who go the other way tend to be frustrated ex Gooners like Merson, Wright and Smudge or plain idiots like Taylor, Collymore, Chiles and Savage.

 

[patrick42uk]

One of Gervinho or CHamberlain must always be on the pitch. ALWAYS!

 

[fabo]

What a feeling to win in the dying seconds. Better than sex that was.

It was a dire affair but I thought we deserved it, Marseille did absolutely nothing second half, actually we let them do nothing. Whereas we had gilt-edged chances with RVP and Theo and were pushing right to the end.

There are big problems in attack however, none of our midfield 3 can influence our attack consistently enough and I think that will still be an issue with Jack fit, we need a new AM. And another wide option is vital as I keep saying, another cack performance from those lads last night.

Dortmund's result made this all the sweeter too, beat Marseille at home and we are getting top spot.

 

[redwhiteAustrian]

FWIW, I felt ITV had a pretty positive coverage from our game yesterday.
Watched it on german TV but took the option of english commentary and never had the impression they're biased towards Arsenal or so.

If any, they've praised us during the second half and often enough pointed out how poor Marseille was.

 

[HollandGooner]

Stating the obvious but we've definitely lost the guile of players like Nasri and Cesc and neither have been properly replaced.

I know we were a bit, 'tippy-tappy' last season but this season we seem to have gone to the other extreme. We're just too direct and because we're not good enough at being direct, it's become predictable.

Once again, a case of not having the right players for the system that we play. Wenger is a ******* idiot.

Spot on

 

[celestis]

What a feeling to win in the dying seconds. Better than sex that was.

It was a dire affair but I thought we deserved it, Marseille did absolutely nothing second half, actually we let them do nothing. Whereas we had gilt-edged chances with RVP and Theo and were pushing right to the end.

There are big problems in attack however, none of our midfield 3 can influence our attack consistently enough and I think that will still be an issue with Jack fit, we need a new AM. And another wide option is vital as I keep saying, another cack performance from those lads last night.

Dortmund's result made this all the sweeter too, beat Marseille at home and we are getting top spot.

I think Diaby will surprise as an AM/SS for the time being . Not the most perceptive passer but ability to take on players makes up for most of that. .

 

[clockwork orange]

Well, in his post match interview on Dutch tv, RVP didn't think we were too direct at all. In fact he stated the opposite. Basically he said quite a few times I created space by my movement, but every time our midfielders opted for playing save (keeping possession) in stead of trying the riskier throughball/pass to the striker. He added that he kind of understood it.

Basically we were not passing very well all match. OM even thought our defence were so insecure they opted for pressing quite a few times. They wouldn't have done that if we were playing well.

 

[celestis]

We weren't direct at all so I don't know what some of you mean , seriously if you watched it we were anything but direct .

 

[clockwork orange]

For me the most annoying moment when it comes to lack of directness, was about the 37th minute. They've a set piece (this was about the situation were OM committed most players to attack), Sneezy wins the ball, they've no rest defence whatsoever, plenty of space. NONE of our players offers Sneezy an option to launch a quick counterattack (mind you he really was looking for it). Our players opted for being happy we won the ball and allowed OM to track back and organise themselves. Why did nobody offer Sneezy an outlet by making a run forward? Great counterattacking chance wasted.

 

[celestis]

They're still short on confidence I feel clock ,thats why I feel Jack , Ox and Diaby will give this side a shot in the arm . All of them love posession of the ball .

Also I feel if we start winning consistently those kind of things will fix themselves . As it is they are still learning to walk let alone run .

 

[Anzac]

Stating the obvious but we've definitely lost the guile of players like Nasri and Cesc and neither have been properly replaced.

Once again, a case of not having the right players for the system that we play. Wenger is a ******* idiot.

Spot on

Not about the game but in regards to our play in general - we are also playing the wrong shape for our style of play. IMO the Barce tiki-taka style 433/451/4141 are better suited to a more patient/possession based controlled build up, whereas the more traditional 433/442/4411/4231 are better suited to more direct play. We're still looking to control possession but we're playing the wrong shape & without the required abilities.

 

[fabo]

Diaby won't do anything, might have one good game in ten, and that will be a game where he actually does his usual braindead stuff but scores. IMO we need a mobile, ball-carrier in the AM role, someone with vision and awareness. Diaby is too dumb.

We are basically playing a 4-3-1 in recent weeks, we can't carry 2 passengers in attack for much longer though.

 

[ebouenolike]

One of Gervinho or CHamberlain must always be on the pitch. ALWAYS!

Agreed. You always need that wildcard who is a little unpredictable and will try something a little different.

 

[clockwork orange]

They're still short on confidence I feel clock ,thats why I feel Jack , Ox and Diaby will give this side a shot in the arm . All of them love posession of the ball .

Also I feel if we start winning consistently those kind of things will fix themselves . As it is they are still learning to walk let alone run .

Yep confidence isn't high, despite us already winning (5 of last 6 matches), guess we need to win by better play. Key players returning would help for sure.

 

[fabo]

Distance Covered: Arteta 11455, Rosicky 10851, Song 9795, RvP 10418, Arshavin 8150, Walcott 7535