Tuesday 23 November 2010

On the slide, defending to forget (again)

We had won three games out of three in the Champions League, we were playing well and one nil up at Shakhtar, let's hit the pause button there for a minute. One would have thought it would have been impossible to throw away this group, but we are pushing this assumption a little close to the wire.

I know we should have had a penalty at 0-0, it was a clear foul on Vela, what the useless cretin of a referee was doing booking Vela was beyond belief. UEFA's stupid system of extra officials does nothing to prevent errors, the officials are still crap. The referee also allowed a lot of rough stuff from Braga in the second half that should have been dealt with far more severely. But remember, Braga are no stars, they are a mid table side from Portugal.

Anyway, back the main point, since being one nil up at Shakhtar we have now conceded four rather sloppy goals from a defensive point of view. This puts the Tottenham capitulation into perspective, our defensive organisation is quite frankly pants, we are a shambles at the back and it is now getting beyond a joke.

It was nil nil before Braga scored their first, if we could have kept a clean sheet then we would now be through, we could not and things will now go down to the wire when they really need not have done. Obviously we should beat Partizan at home, I almost dare not think about a failure to do so.

What has become abundantly clear this season is that something is badly wrong with the way our team is setup to defend. I think the problem is a mixture of problems, the 4-3-3 formation does not help, the lack of discipline and defensive cover from midfield is a big problem, the defenders are also far from blameless in all this. We need to go back to basics and fast.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Arsene should go and so should a few of the players who have no right to wear Arsenal shirts. The club needs to make a fresh start.

Samuel said...

wenger shouldnt have risk fab, he got it all wrong. for me fab injury was worse than losing. we could have done resting fab and trying to hold for a draw.

Anonymous said...

This team is not good enough.

The problem is obviously not one of technique, though there are several players who are squad players at best.

The problem is mental. And Wenger has to take responsibility for that. He has worked with this group of players for YEARS now, and has not done anything substantial to reboot the team.

Its the same problems over and over, yet Wenger did little during the transfer window.

I am at a loss. Arsenal loses two games to teams they TRASHED in the first round.

Anonymous said...

If I saw you in person, I would be doing exactly what Keown is doing to Ruud on the pic to the right of the screen.

You cocky deluded wanker.

I am sure instead of crediting the opposition, you blame it on the ref and then also say, they didn't win it, we lost it.

When are you going to learn that when you are shit and another team takes advantage of it, they rightfully WIN.

Unknown said...

was hapenong to our beloved arsenal...denilson same mistake..ref agiainst us as usual..lots of posession still no end prodct...injuries to captain n eboue...lack of defense..theo doing nothing..bedtner bragging off the field only..on top of dt vela gets a card fr diving instead of clear cut penalty..wats hapening

Anonymous said...

Well said. I have never seen a top team give away goals so easily. The last two games have been nothing short of embarrassing. This is where the President of the club needs to let Wenger know that the problem needs to be addressed.

It also feels to me that it was a mistake not selling Fabregas when he said he wanted to go. He is not the same player as he was last year -- aside from the injuries, his head is not in the games any more. The problem may now be that Barca won't spend as much for him, due to injuries and his lower level of play, and also because they simply do not have the money.

chimp said...

A classic arsenal wenger defeat: 1. Gung ho attacking with no end product (250 more passes completed than braga, but 4 less shots) 2. Gung ho attacking when we don't need to attack and a composed defensive draw was all that was needed 3. C*nt foreign ref allows greasy bastards to foul us and cheat all night, doesn't give us stonewall penalty, which of course is traumatic enough an event for us to be unable to recover mentality from 4. Piss poor defending, mostly from our £6m squillaci. Why not throw that and koscielny's fees at hangeland, Cahill, samba, i.e someone who is strong, aerially commanding and oh, who can communicate to his other defenders? With Our style of football wenger has tried to emulate barca, but what we've ended up with is a bunch of physically and mentally weak midgets, epitomised by our rabble of players who have the luxury position in the club of playing in the position that has Zero accountability for goalscoring or defending i.e Walcott, arshavin, vela, rosicky, denilson, diaby... That's it arsene, tell them they were unlucky and only the ref denied us, stir us into a heroic win at villa park heroic win at villa park building our false hopes again only to be dashed a week later by that bunch of MEN from sh*tchester. What price a towering header from vidic and a galling effort from that granny shagging ogre? The salt in the wound thoughts of That hairy handed simian keys "lovely strike from Rooney, but better than Bale?"... The project is over. But I'll be back next week for more. Damn...

Unknown said...

de ja vu. I never thought i would say this. Wenger is not up for the job anymore

DougEllis'Socks said...

'The referee also allowed a lot of rough stuff from Braga in the second half that should have been dealt with far more severely.'

Like how you tried and failed to kick bale out of the game on Saturday?

We will stuff you on Saturday.

Martin said...

The form of the team is a concern but changing the manager now would destroy the foundations of this club. If he goes, we're fucked.

Rhinogooner said...

Hands up if you have now reached that point in the season where you realize we aren't going to win anything....

Pedro Morgado said...

There was no penalty because Arsenal player was offside.

king tony said...

with regrets,its time to boot wenger upstairs,yes he's great at getting terific offensive players and flogging em off for a nice profit,but hes failed to buy good defenders and he's failed to establish a good defence,he was very lucky to inherit Adams,keown,dixon,winterburn ,bould ,seaman.Captain tony has never been replaced,and intelligent aggressive organisors on field are desperately needed.; Come on down,Owen Coyle!