PL: Arsenal a Ratings & Reactions

[RichardCanning]

We got lucky last week against Stoke with the ref wrongly ruling out the Sidibe goal and today that was reversed with the wrngly ruled free kick

Fabregas is in the top 3 players in the world ATM and he showed it today. Till his introduction it looked ike all the matchwinners from both sides were not going to deliver.

I think 2-0 would have been fairer but its done now. Bring on Liverpool, would like to see a little rotation. Anyone know which game Young is banned for?

[Malachite]

The minute Wenger put his plan B into effect bring on a very sensitive and unfit Fabregas and go for the 3 points MON should have countered it with his plan B by putting Gabby far right, Downing far left Ash Young of, NRC on in central midfield playing 5 across the centre, that would have broken up Arsenal's passing game, give us an extra man in the centre and MON could have had a word with NRC pointing out that if Arsenal made there move with Fabregas his job was to get in there and make life difficult for him even crunch him, IMO Wenger would have responded instantly to that kind of treatment of what was clearly an unfit player.

We didn't respond and as a result Febregas was allowed all the time in the world.

[Hanky]

Why was Luke Young taken off for Delph? Strange one I'd say especially with NRC or Sidwell on the bench, though it should have been Downing off and him on.

Chasing the game. O'Neill obviously felt he might as well try and score as much as keep the score down so made an attacking change.

NRC was never going to help us score or get back into the game, and Sidwell... well... yeah. He's got a good shot but it's always a foot to the right of where it should be. So on comes Delph, who might be able to conjure something from nothing as well. He might have been banging in some rockets in training, who knows.

I don't get this Milner to right back obsession though. Might as well have Luke Young there as he'd get forward just the same. Thought Downing was the most ineffective today and should have been replaced really. Wouldn't criticise the 4-4-2 though, if we'd have changed and lost I'm sure we'd have been screaming about how we change the side after four wins.

[Chindie]

He switches Milner to RB I suspect because he's more accustomed to going forward effectively than Young, given that much of his career has seen him play as an RM, so will represent more of a danger whilst sacrificing some of Young's defensive ability, which doesn't matter so much when the games already being chased.

As said, it's just making an attacking change in favour of defensive strength. Milner's the only player we have really who can switch to RB and be more attacking than a genuine FB whilst not completely disgracing himself defensively.

[AVFC-Prideofbrum]

I thought Mon perhaps tried to be too cute tactically, we tried to hit them on the break quickly, but our long passing was quite weak today and also Arsenal I think played alot deeper than usual which meant these balls were cut out easily or just turned into long balls, rather than "passes"

We perhaps should of changed our style of play and gameplan quickly and played the way we had been playing lately by keeping the ball and passing it.

[maqroll]

Hopefully this setback alerts the manager and owner that we do in fact need a top striker and even another midfielder, even if it means spending big.

[SouthBirminghamVilla]

We were pants today. On the positive side I think we have done well so far this season. We need to forget about the result and look forward to the next game.

[sth]

Having been at the Emirates today, I must say that Dunne was magnificent all game. He was covering more of the pitch in the second half than Petrov. Warnock too, what a defender. The first half was a terrific effort from the Villa and we matched Arsenal blow for blow.

Second half, Downing was done in, if not injured. I think he was waving over at the bench to come off at one point, but that didn't happen although it really should have.

Petrov barely moved in the second half. There's no doubting his ball playing ability but his fitness holds the team's performance back. Madness to sub Luke Young and move Milner. Young had had a very sound game and Milner still had energy. The defensive unit should not be messed around with.

Ashley Young dived so blatantly that he had to get booked. He appeared to have run out of ideas in this game, but in fairness to him, Arsenal's defence was tight, and very quick to the ball. Although the idea of Ashley and Downing switching wings is good in principle, in practice it means that often they're using their weaker foot and the fluency of Villa's attacking play suffers.

The difference was Arsenal's midfield, in particular Fabregas, in the second half. A defensive substitution should have been made in the second half when Petrov could barely move. Delph was the wrong man for the job, although a fluent and talented prospect. No surprise that Arsenal ran at us through the middle.

A better performance by the Villa than the scoreline suggested and lessons, particularly in respect of tactical subsitutions, should be learnt from this game.

[maqroll]

I'm concerned that MON is rolling the dice with Downing playing as much as he has so soon back......

[cbr600rr]

No overreactions folks.

Arse are a better side and been doin it for a long time.

We lost because we played too much long ball football and didn't create enough.

A tired team? Perhaps.

The ref was a joke but thats not excuse for us losing.

World class finishes.

Oh and Gabby, JUMP when your in a wall?

Some problems which have been there in other games but we've got away with....not today.

bang on fella,all the more reason im not intrested in "4th",we havnt got it at that level, if you think 4th will transform the villa ..think again.

[Maradona10]

How many times Ashley did not dive, took him on clear obstruction by Song! Also from now on Phil Dowd has to issue yellow cards for every dive, and any player who uses abusive language!

[AVFC-Prideofbrum]

Ashley Young played for a free kick, Song didn't even move.

He also booked Song 5 minutes later for that exact same thing.

[ozvilla28]

Two words to describe todays game and that is Totally Outclassed by a better team.It was a huge reality check for us and shows how much long we still have got to go to be up there with the best.In saying that through we gave away position so many times to Arsenal and not hit our targets and when you do that against quality team it will kill you.For me we also gave them to much room to play and didnt close them down right away and not bring the ball up so easily.I thought our defence was awsome today considering the pressure it was on and the midfield and strike force not playing there part.

Ashely Young frustrates me bigtime so much quality and skill and does not use it enough and goes missing in games bigtime and that's why he wont go to the world cup.He's not consistent enough plays a great 2 minutes and then you dont see him and then he gets frustrated and looses the ball so easy and has a sook at his teammates if they give a bad ball.

We have to be patient lads for me Arsenal a the best side we have played this year and we a still on our lerning curve.

[darrenm]

Just reminds me of the Liverpool away 5-0 last season. Got it wrong today, no biggie, we've got it right more than not this season. Seemed like the fitness wasn't great, too much Turkey.

I'm sure we'll turn it around against the plop.

[markdell7]

a dose of reality

[Milfner]

Just got back.

Shattered.

Disappointed.

Oh well, I would have ripped your hand off if you offered me a point, and most saying that we will win before the game was just outrageous.

The bigger game is on Tuesday, no doubt.

And even then I will still take a point.

[peterms]

Wasn't expecting 3 goals against your defence.

Probably would've stayed 0-0 if it wasn't for a bit of Cescual Healing.

I thought it was quite good, if it was original. But truth be told, I suspect it's not. Maybe he'll 'fess up?

[paulanddonya]

Just got back from Emirates and all I can really say is it was just one of those games.

All our key men, including the manager just seemed to have an off day.

Start with positives, I thought the defence was superb, especially Friedal , Dunne and Warnock - at 55 mins I honestly thought we'd got it sorted and would maybe even nick a winner.

However, mistake number 1 - Downing was gone, Fabregas came on , as soon as he came on, we should have took Downing off and put NRC on, or maybe even Sidwell, just someone who could get tight and not let him dictate play.

So he takes off heskey for Carew. And I gotta say, even I (who is not a lover of Heskey) was peed off. Heskey played really well, battled and more importantly defended. fabregas got the obvious run of the midfield and scored.

Mistake number 2 came shortly afterwards with, the even for MON standards, totally bizarre substitution of Milner to RB, Young off and a 17yr old kid to come on and try and take out Fabregas. And the inevitable happened and quite truthfully, we were lucky to get away 3 in the end, 5 wouldn't have been a surprise.

So

Friedal , Dunne , Warnock - outstanding

Cueller, Heskey - good

Milner and L Young - fair to good

Downing and Petrov - Not bad, but yet again, worryingly, couldn't run 5 yards after 60 minutes and that has got to be sorted

Gabby, just one of those days, nothing seemed to fall for him. Not gonna have a go at him, it was just not a good day at the office

Young A - I've lost patience, the suspension could be a blessing. Personally, I'd call back Albrighton and give him a go (not gonna happen though)

Subs

Carew - did absolute sod all. Why is it you know what you are gonna get from Carew within the first 3 minutes of him being on the pitch ?

Delph - the words Rabbit and Headlights come to mind. I could be wrong but he must be close to a suspension, and he hasn't played !!. I may be being a bit over critical here but I don't see anything more in him than I see in Osiah Osbourne. Just don't get it so far.

MON - not gonna be over critical - he has got a lot more than he has wrong over the last 6 weeks - but boy did he get this one wrong.

Write it off, beat Liverpool and everything will be rosey again.

PS

Not a good day all round as I put my car into a hedge on an ice rink at 6am !!!

EDIT

Try and keep this short as I've posted quite long.

1st time at Emirates, hugely disappointed. On 1st glance looks nice, but then you look closely, and you see it is just all totally concrete just covered up with either glass panels or boards with advertising. Honestly, the way I would describe it is a big, round version of the North Stand.

Concourse level is aweful, all concrete, a few food kiosks and was quite frankly no better than Boundary Park circa 1988

Admittedly, pitch side is nice, lots of room, seats are padded but that didn't matter coz stood anyway, but totally no atmosphere, presumably due to a) the lack of English from most the home fans, and the fact you can quite obviously see the poor, middle class and rich seats !.

Very disappointed - think Sunderland was a much better stadium

[peterms]

Well, yet another viewpoint. Let's start with the unpopular bit.

The ref was fine. There is no part of our defeat which was remotely his fault. He tried to keep the game flowing, and largely succeeded. Not booking Song was highly debatable, but was defensible if you want a game to flow and have eleven players each at the end. Booking Delph was entirely down to Delph. He fouled, then got lippy. Part of his growing up is to avoid bookings like that, and you can bet your life that will be made clear to him on Monday. In general, the ref had a good game, and us losing doesn't make it otherwise.

Downing was poor. Was he injured? He kept turning inside, like he wanted more time for every move. Young made some good space, as usual, and didn't make much use of it, as usual. Milner was good in parts, but unusually poor in parts as well. And it's in midfield that we lost it, like you do with Arse.

The attacking formation worked well first half, but looked tired and stretched second half. Looking back, I would have welcomed NRC coming on to escort Fabregas around the pitch.

[lexicon]

Two words to describe todays game and that is Totally Outclassed by a better team.It was a huge reality check for us and shows how much long we still have got to go to be up there with the best.In saying that through we gave away position so many times to Arsenal and not hit our targets and when you do that against quality team it will kill you.For me we also gave them to much room to play and didnt close them down right away and not bring the ball up so easily.I thought our defence was awsome today considering the pressure it was on and the midfield and strike force not playing there part.

Ashely Young frustrates me bigtime so much quality and skill and does not use it enough and goes missing in games bigtime and that's why he wont go to the world cup.He's not consistent enough plays a great 2 minutes and then you dont see him and then he gets frustrated and looses the ball so easy and has a sook at his teammates if they give a bad ball.

We have to be patient lads for me Arsenal a the best side we have played this year and we a still on our lerning curve.

Totally outclassed? Did you watch the game? Dear oh dear.

The reason we lost is simple. The only difference between us and them is that they have one world class player, who can change a game, Fabregas. He scored a great free kick and a nice finish and that killed us off. We hardly gave them a sniff in the 1st half besides the decent chance early on and the game was there to be had. We should have stuck to our game plan more in the second half but still, it was only Fabregas that made the difference. We are a different team to Arsenal and we play differently to them - if you get dazzled by the fact that they play aesthetically pleasing yet at times ineffective football, then you need to read up on the game. I suggest, The Ladybird Big Book of Different Footballing Styles.

Christ.