He Beat Anorexia, but defence was thin and forwards wasted
By Boris Mellor
September 29 2012
On the way in to the ground I noticed a very large man wearing an XXXXL T Shirt (Or fat Barsteward size as it’s known colloquially in Norf London) proclaiming “I beat Anorexia”. Unfortunately his success did not transmit itself to the team, which proved to be the lightweight when it came to defending, and taking chances.
It could be argued that Arsenal deserved a draw, after all Arsenal had slightly more possession, and 4 more shots off target (14-10), but only the same number of shots on target 5-5. In the pub, afterwards, one or two were arguing that was the case.
However, they and the team, should be taken to see the mural on the inside lower which quotes Herbert Chapman, the team that scores the most goals wins, the quote continues, “To accomplish this you must make sure that the defence is sound”.
That was the main difference between the two teams, Chelsea, apart from standing off Barndoorinho, had the better defence. Arsenal reverted to the errors of last season. Two sloppy errors from free kicks led to Arsenal’s downfall.
Having gone behind twice in the match Arsenals forwards lacked the ability to score more than once against a defence with John Terry at its heart. Its ok scoring 12 against Southampton and Coventry, but you need more than one against Chelsea at home if you can’t defend.
Chelsea effectively nullified Cazorla and Podolski, Ramsey ceased to be effective as he was against City, and Walcott failed to press his case for being a first team regular when Wenger frustrated with his forwards finally shook it up with substitutions. The other substitute, Giroud, missed a sitter.
It wasn’t a great match, but it had its interesting moments, but it was the lack of tempo that made me fear for the outcome within a few minutes from the kick off. It seemed that Chelsea were dictating the pace, if they weren’t Arsenal did not step up for most of the game.
The game was lauded as a test for the championship, but it is too early to claim that this one game has settled it all. However, it is true that Arsenal are now averaging 1.5 points a game, so the team will need to step up quite a bit to prove it is a contender.
Quite a few fans I spoke to felt it had been a mistake to drop Mertesacker, I am not sure about that but clearly some work will be needed on the defence to restore it to its early season efficiency. The place to do that is away next week against Fat Sam’s bombardiers, Mertesacker might be a good choice for that game. Anything short of a win at West Ham will leave Arsenal little better off than last season.
If you do not already have an account Click here to Register.
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2012:10:04:19:17:10 by Padre Pio.
the defending by kos for the torres goal was awful, he turned his back on the ball, and ox was poor on it too, and gibbs was poor on the second goal, mannone should have done better on both too, never even made an effort to save the first
*Signing Ozil is a signing Bergkamp type moment for Arsenal. It changes things utterly.*
"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.
Once they had the lead, they went on to defend the lead with counter attacking football and that brought Arsenal back to the game. But from the start of the 2nd half they again controlled the game till they get the goal and then defended well and controlled the tempo.
I always felt through out the match that Chelsea came to Emirates for 3 points. Dropping Lampard was a clear signal of creating chances for Torres and playing continental football.
"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.
The problem with "Tiki Taka" Crab Football is like during the 61st minute, Gibbs attempting to beat 3 players where a simple pass will do...lost the ball and left flank is immediately exposed.
Like Ramsey was slow in passing the ball, got caught out by Torres (again like last season).
The reason why so many of our players are injury-prone is that they invite hard-tackling with the style they are playing, attempting to beat palyers all the time, dwelling on the ball.....and refused to execute simple passes...
And why managers like O'Neill, Pulis and Big Mouth always seem to get their tactics right against Arsenal.
They simply knew that our players are like to dwell on the ball, prfer to beat 2 or 3 players, trained to bring the ball out of defence,.....and all you need to do is close down or surround the Arsenal ball carrier players with 3 or 4, always track back behind ball carrier players..and instantly tackle him from behind (like all those CHelski players always tracking back and chaisng Arsenal players)..
At Upton Park, our "light-weight" players will be run-down, hack down and simply kick out of the game if they drae to dwell on teh ball or attempt to dribble pass 3 or 4 players like Gibbs was doing down the left flank...or Ramsey dwelling on the ball looking for a pass.
Tactically, Wenger is playing "Tiki Taka" Crab Football without the likes of pacy and skilful players in Oscar, Mata, Hazard and Torres...
Wenger on Giroud
"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.
"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.
Quote:Merlion96
Against WHU, they see whether Big Mouth will out-fox Wenger again by hacking, intimidating and overtly physical plays to stop us playing.
The problem with "Tiki Taka" Crab Football is like during the 61st minute, Gibbs attempting to beat 3 players where a simple pass will do...lost the ball and left flank is immediately exposed.
Like Ramsey was slow in passing the ball, got caught out by Torres (again like last season).
The reason why so many of our players are injury-prone is that they invite hard-tackling with the style they are playing, attempting to beat palyers all the time, dwelling on the ball.....and refused to execute simple passes...
And why managers like O'Neill, Pulis and Big Mouth always seem to get their tactics right against Arsenal.
They simply knew that our players are like to dwell on the ball, prfer to beat 2 or 3 players, trained to bring the ball out of defence,.....and all you need to do is close down or surround the Arsenal ball carrier players with 3 or 4, always track back behind ball carrier players..and instantly tackle him from behind (like all those CHelski players always tracking back and chaisng Arsenal players)..
At Upton Park, our "light-weight" players will be run-down, hack down and simply kick out of the game if they drae to dwell on teh ball or attempt to dribble pass 3 or 4 players like Gibbs was doing down the left flank...or Ramsey dwelling on the ball looking for a pass.
Tactically, Wenger is playing "Tiki Taka" Crab Football without the likes of pacy and skilful players in Oscar, Mata, Hazard and Torres...
Gibbs and Ramsey aren't the only culprits in trying to beat too many-Diaby is a master at it and it doesn't help matters when the Vem decides to commit fouls within shooting range. This lead to the two goals on Saturday.
"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.
Quote:Padre Pio
I thought gibbs had a good game, also agree that Vermaelen made serious mistakes, there was no need to foul for free kick that led to second goal.
I thought Gibbsys positioning caused half the trouble.
Podolski had nowhere to run as gibbs had him flanked, and vermaelen kept getting pulled out of position and giving away needless, and fatal free kicks.
Quote:Philly the kidQuote:Padre Pio
I thought gibbs had a good game, also agree that Vermaelen made serious mistakes, there was no need to foul for free kick that led to second goal.
I thought Gibbsys positioning caused half the trouble.
Podolski had nowhere to run as gibbs had him flanked, and vermaelen kept getting pulled out of position and giving away needless, and fatal free kicks.
Meaning..we need BFG to calm him or Kos down..
Partnering Kos-Verm is like haivng two hyper-active kids all over the place......
Guess it is either BFG-Verm or BFG-Kos.
Kos-Verm is almost like that disaster of a Kolo-Gallas pairing.....whereas Sol-Kolo is like BFG-Verm or BFG-Kos.