CL semi final first leg at OT

[g88ner]

Very few teams own the ball to the extent we did in OT.

Own the ball? we passed it around in little triangles IN FRONT of their defence and midfield. We hardly even threatened to get in behind them.

We were no threat whatsoever.

Passing for the sake of it gets you nowhere, and that's just what happened.

This attacking philosophy that Wenger seems to live by is all well and good when you're knocking goals past 'Boro and Wigan, but in the BIG GAMES i.e. Chelsea in the FA Cup and tonight at Old Trafford, our game plan has been to defend in numbers, match the oppositions formation, and sacrifice our attacking nature.

How else can you explain leaving Ade isolated up front against Chelsea and ManUre... how else can you explain dropping Arshavin for the FA Cup semi... or playing a central midfielder in the number 10 role, and Diaby on the wing.

It's a tactic designed to keep things tight and match the opposition man for man. It was throwing down the gauntlet to Chelsea that we could beat them at their game... and we couldn't. Tonight... the same.

Before the game, Wenger said "This is moment we have waited for" and "Our team play will create chances" yet after another big game balls up, he's now saying "'You will see a different Arsenal next week"

Talk is cheap. Actions, and the negative tactics we've employed, speak much louder than words spoken in a press conference ever could.

[JakeN13]

It's not so much that we lost, it's how we lost. the one way to catch ManU is to have areal go at them. I just couldn't belive it when we were 1 - 0 down and still didn't have players making runs into the box! It wouldn't have mattered if they scored a second, no one from this planet can believe we can stop ManU're from scoring at the Emirates...we will need to make it a freal game like Liverpool did against Cska, hoee to win 4-2 or something like that.

[Glitch33]

Didn't we used to be good at counter-attacking?

Now we pass it sideways and amble up the field.

Difficult with one up front, but do you want only 4 in midfield away to the Mancs? They would surely walk though us.

Almunia and Gibbs, star players tonight.

We were going to be overrun in the first half but survived and kept the ball better in the second half.

Lack of cutting edge in the final third, but nothing new there (without AA).

1-0 not the end of the world. It sets up a great match next week.

Concede one though and we have to score three.

We beat them 2-0 earlier in the season so still very much in it.

Can't see AW changing things too much. What options does he have? Dudu or Nick can't play up front by themselves.

Ade on his own again and Fab, Diaby and Theo pushing on a bit more.

2-1

Oops

In that case we are doomed to inglorious defeat.

[rtpgooner]

Check out my youtube page (below) for some videos from the arsenal end last night.

[mcdowell42]

the only positives to come out of tonight, were almunia and gibbs. but i would have taken a 1-0 defeat before the game and i have to belive that we can beat them at our place
wenger can't set up as negativly at the grove, rvp and eduardo MUST start, greedy should never wear our shirt again, he was a disgrace tonight and if milan still want to give us 25 mill for him in the summer we should bite there hands off.
diaby is not an arsenal quality player, and why arsene feels so much loyalty to him after the chavs and tonight performance i will never know.
next week we are going to have to fly out of the gates at them, put pressure on vidic and ferdinand and press as far up the pitch as possible

one last comment, i thought our fans were fantastic tonight and did every gooner proud, the atmosphere at the grove next week needs to be as intimidating as possible and we need to be behind them more than ever before

Eduardo out of game against pompey through injury doubtful for utd game according to arsenal.com.

[worthing gooner]

After having near on 24 hours to digest that effort last night ( Especially after only getting home at 315 and only 3hrs sleep) and i feel positive.
Yes we played V Poorly but it is a single goal. The danger is the away goal but why are people insisting that UTD will score?
As a club we have to man up and show some balls for a change and believe and that includes the fans. There will be times when we may be up against it so lets try to keep the groans of a misplaced pass to a minimum and sing loud and proud!!!

AFC
C'mon

Ps. Well played to all the Gooners who sang their hearts out last night, the only downside is that we are repeating the same 5 songs over and over again. C'mon people lets all get behind some new songs and mix the usual ones in aswell!!!!

POSITIVE!!!!!