It's Simple - could be a blessing in disguise
Sod off
By Boris Mellor
February 17 2008
If you play two full backs that play as poorly as Hoyte and Traore did you will concede goals quickly. United's first two goals were down to thrashing the full backs, and leaving Gallas and Toure with too many holes to plug. As soon as I saw the line up, the two full backs, in particular, I knew the team was not good enough.
Even before then I expected the Gunners to lose - see my preview link below.
However as I said in the preview I do not expect this to be a blow from which Arsenal will not recover.
Secondly, a midfield with Eboue and Gilberto left Hleb and Fabregas with too much to do, and finally Bendtner did not seem as interested in the game as Rooney. Yes, Bendtner did not get any service, but he was wooden. Eduardo did not get much service either, but at least he got a yellow for trying to tackle back.
Of course, the team should not have played as poorly as they did, they rarely seemed interested, perhaps their minds were on Wednesday, but it is not justified. The good news is that there are no new injuries, and only Eboue is lost to the domestic game. I just hope we do not need him for Europe, for he now has little to offer.
I have never seen Wenger so calm after a defeat, he even kept saying how well Man U played, which convinces me he is up to something. That something will be lots of miraculous recoveries by Wednesday, or at the latest Birmingham away.
Meanwhile the press are banging the implosion drum, the one they played after the Spurs defeat. However, for once I agree with Shearer, it was nothing more than a bad day at the office. Now Arsenal are out of the cup they can concentrate on the league; with the squad so badly stretched it could be a blessing in disguise
Dennis Bergkamp, simply the best
si simple. small squad depleted by injuries. if u had 2 hands, would u rather carry 2+1 less value, or 2 with real value?
Warning: Supporting Arsenal is not for the faint at heart... It requires hard balls...
I am a bit more concerned. That's the 3rd thrashing this season - Sevilla was the first (and cost us first place in the Champions League group, which Milan may yet make us pay for), Spurs and now ManU. It's as if we are consistent for 95% of the time but occasionally just dont turn up and get thrashed. But twice in a month is a worry.
We should accept that ManU were terrific esp Rooney - clearly in response to their poor showing last weekend - let's hope we do the same bouncing back against Milan.
For me, the worst thing was Fabregas and Hleb looking so poor and constantly losing/giving the ball away. They made Fletcher and Anderson look world class. Toure and Gallas looked like what they were - a central pairing who hadnt played together for a month (unless Senderos was badly injured, I think it would have been better to have retained him with Gallas). And Gallas was lucky not to be sent off - he may still get suspended for his petulant kick against Nani - which could be costly given the key games we have over the next month.
I think you are too harsh on Bendtner. Considering he was on his own against two world class centre-backs, I thought he showed composure and kept the ball, set up a few promising moves that others wasted. Eboue is a real liability - Wenger needs to tell him he is out the door unless he can control himself.
Traore is still very young - he was at fault for two goals and will learn from it - the problem is we can scarcely afford the learning process at the moment. Let's not forget too that Lehmann played well - it could easily have been 5 or 6 if he hadnt.
We cannot afford any more thrashings this season if we are to win ether the premiership or the Champions League - that's clear.
but the games we lost this season were all down to injuries and team selection
in the seville, manutd and spurs match we played an understrength team which consisted of traore and hoyte and we lost pretty badly (we have conceded 12 goals whenever these lads started)
look at this
van der sar
brown rio vidic evra
andersson
Ferguson started 100% of his first choice defence. which incl andersson = 60% of his starting eleven concentrated in one area of the pitch.
Compare
Lehman
Hoyte ToureACN Galla Traore
Gilberto.
did anyone really expect us to win with 1 match fit first team regular in that area of the pitch compared to united's 6?
when you're playing in midfield with a weak defence behind you and an attack which is marked out of the game, your best bet is to keep the ball like England Vs Croatia Keeping possession will protect your defence and draw central defenders away from your forwards if you keep the ball long enough then the whole team can move upfield thus one of your full backs [Traore/Sagna etc] can take up a position in the penalty area to make it 3 vs 4 or even 3 vs 3 if one of their defenders steps out.
The premeditated chopped surfece on the pitch effectively ruled out the short passing game get out of jail card. And with the aerial prowess of Vidic and Rio the long ball was ruled out too.
It was a suicide run.
We survived with minimal casualties, Toure Hoyte Lehman and Bendtner got an opportunity to work out some of the kinks outta their system.
Senderos gained street cred.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008:02:17:14:56:57 by Ares.
Wenger put the same mentality in their heads he did when we played Sevilla and the Spuds. That is...this game really doesnt matter. And they played as such.
Wed cant come soon enough!
