PL: Arsenal a Ratings & Reactions

[SoccerHQ]

Just back.

Arsenal deserved to win but it was never a 3-0 game.

Infact at half time I was very happy with what we'd seen, we weren't attacking much but neither were Arsenal with much quality either (Eduardo looks like a terrible player nowadays) and so I was daring to dream we could nick a win at the emirates yet again.

I was happy MON identified the need to make a change when Arsenal started peppering our goal early in the second half...but in hindsight NRC or Sidwell on to add a bit more energy into the centre of midfield rather than Carew straight on for Heskey would've been wiser.

Still at 1-0 and with it coming to 10 minutes to go, Arsenal were starting to drop back into their half but that great breakaway from our free kick killed us and the game. 3rd goal was academic but probably the worst we've conceded all season, Diaby just strolled through the middle of the pitch.

Not too disappointed as I've always sad I don't expect to finish above Arsenal. I do however believe we can finish above Man. City, Spurs and Liverpool so Tuesday now becomes a must not lose at least. Let's hope we have enough left in the tank for then.

[AndyM3000]

We should ALWAYS play 4-5-1 against Arsenal.

[PompeyVillan]

I thought the ref was a bit of a homer. Perhaps it was my C&B specs, but I felt the Arsenal players went down easily because they knew the ref would give them the foul.

[Soobax]

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

I actually thought Gabby was one of the only players to come away with any credit. The amount of effort this guy puts in is amazing, but without him today we would have had even less of a threat than what we gave - anything good from us today involved him. He's so important to our side, but he was let down by the players around him today.

As for the goals, well they were poor from our point of view. First goal was took well by Fabregas, although you could argue that it wasn't a free-kick and Friedel was out of position. Second goal was down to a shite pass from Milner (although MoN is partially to blame for that as he took our only hard working defender on the day in Luke Young, to put a rookie Fabian Delph in midfield). Third was shocking too as we had 5 or 6 players around Diaby with not one closing him down or sticking a challenge in.

Overall, pathetic performence.

[B6avfc]

Young pissed me off, he seemed to have cut out his, lets call it 'going down easily' over the past couple of months, however that dive today was embarrasing and cringeworthy coming from a Villa player and a stupid, albeit deserved booking picked up which now keeps him out the Liverpool game, fking cut it out Ash

[Tomaszk]

Gab was as good as he could have been with what he got. Held it up ten times better than our 'hold up' striker Heskey who made one good defensive header and did nothing else. If he plays like that, we may as well have Carew there, as he'll do nothing either but could nick a goal.

Surely today MON can see we need a striker. Imagine if Gab got injured

[Soobax]

Young pissed me off, he seemed to have cut out his, lets call it 'going down easily' over the past couple of months, however that dive today was embarrasing and cringeworthy coming from a Villa player and a stupid, albeit deserved booking picked up which now keeps him out the Liverpool game, fking cut it out Ash

Ash was crap all game. The frustration kind of got to him, but that dive just summed up our day really.

[avfc89]

We were outclassed, move on.

[Soobax]

To be fair, Arsenal didn't need to do an awful lot to beat us. I'd hardly say we were outclassed, they weren't at their best either and we could have even snatched it had Milner not gave the ball away for the second which was always going to be the important goal.

[jonno_2004]

We seemed to have eaten a bit too much turkey and pudding during our two days off. Arsenal were nothing special and it took a decent free kick and a fast run from a crocked midfielder to beat us. Diaby's goal was just disgraceful.

[Oaks]

Well the last time we were well beaten like this was against Wigan, and then we went on to beat who??

[lapal_fan]

I reckon this will be the kick in the arse that we need.

After the Man Utd game we HAD to win against Sunderland to make that win worthwhile - we did it.

We beat Stoke at home and I think there was a visble tiredness - but we won 'ugly'

This game was a no pressure game really because our former wins meant it wasn't THAT important a result.

MON wont be happy and neither am i, but we lost against arsenal away, plenty of teams will do that. The way their fans were jumping about you'd have thought they had beaten utd!

[reykjavik]

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.

The freekick was maybe not superb, if the f* wall (gabby) has jumped. It would not be goal. 2nd and 3rd goal was class finishes.

Carew for Heskey was tactical mistake. Heskey was our third best defender!

And we need to be more creative. Heskey played greater role as defender than attacking player.

Warnock, Dunne and Heskey, thumbs up.

[reykjavik]

I reckon this will be the kick in the arse that we need.

After the Man Utd game we HAD to win against Sunderland to make that win worthwhile - we did it.

We beat Stoke at home and I think there was a visble tiredness - but we won 'ugly'

This game was a no pressure game really because our former wins meant it wasn't THAT important a result.

MON wont be happy and neither am i, but we lost against arsenal away, plenty of teams will do that. The way their fans were jumping about you'd have thought they had beaten utd!

But the loss was too big. After 1st goal, we had no chance. That's irritates me.

Winning the game was maybe too good to be true, but we had a great chance to get one point.

[mattyburge]

look im not gonna lie here, i watched the game with a skin full of vodka, and cant really remember much about it, but i actually dont think i saw us put a decent shot on target? please correct me if im wrong, fabregas, that was the best 28 minutes you will see from a sub. that kid can seriously play

[leviramsey]

Yeah and who in the middle?

Milner has been our best player this season and his best performances have come in central midfield for us, not sure I'd want to change that to be honest.

At Anfield, I don't recall Ash doing much, but NRC was effective (though in a 5-man midfield, IIRC).

So I'd say a midfield with Milner, Petrov, NRC, and Downing with Heskey occasionally making it effectively a 5-man midfield should still have some success against Pool. I think Rafa's under enough pressure to have to try for the win, as opposed to his last couple of trips to VP where Liverpool seemed content with a point. A draw is the worst-reasonable case scenario for me there.

(kind of off-topic for this thread, but hey what can ya do).

[leviramsey]

The strange thing is that if we want to break the top 4 we would have been better off drawing both games than losing today and then beating Liverpool.

I'd argue that losing to Arsenal and beating Liverpool helps our top 4 challenge more than a pair of draws does. Not only does it mean an extra point for us, but removing a point from the scousers makes it harder for them to finish fourth (which is, if you look at it in the right way, a precondition for us to take fourth).

[alienvillan]

Yeah and who in the middle?

Milner has been our best player this season and his best performances have come in central midfield for us, not sure I'd want to change that to be honest.

At Anfield, I don't recall Ash doing much, but NRC was effective (though in a 5-man midfield, IIRC).

So I'd say a midfield with Milner, Petrov, NRC, and Downing with Heskey occasionally making it effectively a 5-man midfield should still have some success against Pool. I think Rafa's under enough pressure to have to try for the win, as opposed to his last couple of trips to VP where Liverpool seemed content with a point. A draw is the worst-reasonable case scenario for me there.

(kind of off-topic for this thread, but hey what can ya do).

Since Downing/Milner shake-up Heskey has had a new role mainly because of his (aerial) strength. He wins 9 out of 10 aerial battles, OK, but what’s the use? 10/10 of his headers go straight into the feet of the defenders of the opposite side. That’s actually very easy for the opponents. Those balls are useless for us.

It was different when we had Ormondroyd (20 years ago), there was a connection between his headers and our strikers. It worked, this Heskey version doesn’t.

And to say Heskey is an extra midfielder in a 5-man midfield, it just sounds pathetic IMO. Heskey is no midfielder. He really looks like Bruno, runs like a heavy weight boxer in the ring. Without his non mobile strength useless in midfield.

IMO strikers are supposed to be exciting, unpredictable. Now we have Agbonlahor, Heskey and Carew, 3 big fellows unable to dribble. We need a little bit of “Arsenal” in that department (literally).

We were poor against Arsenal. But we have been the team of the month, 5 wins out of 6, so this is still good.

Danm yuo, Fabregas.

[Maradona10]

The strange thing is that if we want to break the top 4 we would have been better off drawing both games than losing today and then beating Liverpool.

I'd argue that losing to Arsenal and beating Liverpool helps our top 4 challenge more than a pair of draws does. Not only does it mean an extra point for us, but removing a point from the scousers makes it harder for them to finish fourth (which is, if you look at it in the right way, a precondition for us to take fourth).

Man City board of directors don't see it that way!

[barry'sboots]

For a great piece of hindsight.....

4 - 5 - 1 was the right formation for today....

This, this and this. Said it in the pre match thread so its not hindsight. We beat them last year at the Emirates with 4-5-1 and we beat Plop earlier this year with a 4-5-1 - both Sky 4 teams that set themselves up in a 4-5-1. Both teams are too good in the centre of the park for Petrov + 1 to keep them under wraps. They were having a field day and taking the pi**. Don't understand why MON can't see that sometimes he needs to change the shape slightly to play against certain good teams. I blame MON for today.

WTF he thought JC was going to add, on the evidence of the season so far, was beyond me and I think it was completely the wrong game to give Delph 20 minutes unless it was with a 3 man CM.