As we're unlikely to see terraces again at football, this is the virtual equivalent where you can chat to your hearts content about all football matters and, obviously, Arsenal in particular. This forum encourages all Gooners to visit and contribute so please keep it respectful, clean and topical.
I know most of us wanted a win and some might feel disapointed as I am. But common! Our first half was a reference and we were very unlucky not to score once. The starting line up was exactly the one I was hoping for, and I was extremly satisfied by most of the players on the pitch. Djourou, Song, Fab, Nasri, RVP, Clichy, Theo... Most of the team was playing very well!!!
I'm always ready to critisize Arsene or the players, and, when we see performances like Man U, ever rightly so. But if we play with the same concentration and commitment every week, then I won't be far from pleased...
Iceman29 wrote:The posters on this forum are very experienced to know better when referring to the FA Cup. When you play like that in a cup tie, you're actually giving yourself a chance to win through a replay or via penalties. Its all about live today and fight tomorrow in a cup tie. When you play like that in a league game, you're playing not to win and that is a massive, massive difference
I agree fully, but in fairness they are still two points ahead of us now albeit we have a game in hand.
It's all about Arsenal FC, I couldn't give a toss if City want to be negative. So what just place them in the pile with most of the bottom half.
We should have broke them down and made them come at us.
Oh, and I dn't think Shitty came only to get a draw. When the game started they tried to impose a high rythm, but they quickly reverted to "parking the bus" when they saw that we were playing at an even faster rythm. They sarted making faults when they saw that not only could we follow their rythm, we could even go another gear up.
IMO, over the two legs we have clearly shown that we are better than SHitty!!!
Champagne Charlie wrote:Thought we played well without getting any reward. On another night we'd've won.
I don't see how on the one hand folks are saying fair play to Citeh for parking the bus then with the other cursing Wenger for not winning us the game?
Citeh are a belligerent outfit. I think they've only conceded one goal against the top 5.
We tried but failed to get the win. We're only 4 points off the summit. It's not a disaster.
United have a game in hand v Blackpool make that 7 behind
IF they win at Blackpool... then we can't really point to this result for that. There have been worse home performances this season.
WBA or Scum anyone??
I'm one of the biggest realists you can meet. IMO Wenger is past his sell-by-date by years. But to have a go at tonight's performance is quite frankly a joke. Yes the subs were poor and Arshavin is less active than a sloth, but the rest of the team were great. We couldn't score, not through lack of effort, but IMO we were unlucky.
Sometimes it's not your night. I'm certainly not going to slag our players on tonight's display.
I thought we played pretty well tonight - Song was very good. But City came for a draw again and got one, again. We looked less like scoring the more the game went on.
Still don't feel any momentum gathering at the moment.
Is it coincidence that the two teams at the top of the prem are probably the two teams with the most solid defence? does defence win premierships? Maybe we could learn something here, probably not though.
Iceman29 wrote:The posters on this forum are very experienced to know better when referring to the FA Cup. When you play like that in a cup tie, you're actually giving yourself a chance to win through a replay or via penalties. Its all about live today and fight tomorrow in a cup tie. When you play like that in a league game, you're playing not to win and that is a massive, massive difference
I agree fully, but in fairness they are still two points ahead of us now albeit we have a game in hand.
It's all about Arsenal FC, I couldn't give a toss if City want to be negative. So what just place them in the pile with most of the bottom half.
We should have broke them down and made them come at us.
Mate! With that quality of defensive midfielders and defenders any team would find it difficult to break them down. We would've gone all night and not broken them down. They did the same to Man United as well.
Can't believe the richest team in the EPL plays with 10 men behind the ball as if they're battling relegation. Fucking disgusting. Unfortunately Arsenal couldn't keep up the attacking pace beyond about the 70th minute and the inclusion of Arshavin really hurt the attack as he continued to show he's not up to his own calibre. Putting Bendtner in I felt was the right idea, but leaving him as left-forward was absolutely ridiculous.
But at the end of the day, the fact remains that you have hundreds and hundreds of millions of pounds going out onto the pitch with 1 point in mind.
frankbutcher wrote:I'm one of the biggest realists you can meet. IMO Wenger is past his sell-by-date by years. But to have a go at tonight's performance is quite frankly a joke. Yes the subs were poor and Arshavin is less active than a sloth, but the rest of the team were great. We couldn't score, not through lack of effort, but IMO we were unlucky.
Sometimes it's not your night. I'm certainly not going to slag our players on tonight's display.
It's just that we didn't carve out any real chances in the second half that disappointed me. Man City set their stall out, and allowed us to attack them for an entire half, yet we seemed to run out of ideas rapidly and only had a long-range shot from RVP to trouble their 'keeper with.
We played well in the first half - looked lively, fast and created many opportunities - but I thought the second half was a real letdown.
Last edited by Bring Back Pires on Wed Jan 05, 2011 11:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
In from the game a little while ago. Thought we generally played well overall but we gotta start putting chances away, especially those couple in the first few minutes.
Poor from City. If i was one of their fans i'd be pissed to pay £50 and then see 11 men behind the ball for 90 mins.
Naki_Gooner wrote:Is it coincidence that the two teams at the top of the prem are probably the two teams with the most solid defence? does defence win premierships? Maybe we could learn something here, probably not though.
We did learn tonight that if Djourou keeps playing like this and TV returns to his best ,we could be on par with United and Shitty in the defensive compartiment. Djourou has improved massively since his return, and I haven't felt as confident in our defense as I felt today for a long time! Song also assumed his defensive duty and will be immense if he can keep playing like that as well.
I have been critisizing Song and Djourou a lot in the past, but lately they have been impressive!
frankbutcher wrote:I'm one of the biggest realists you can meet. IMO Wenger is past his sell-by-date by years. But to have a go at tonight's performance is quite frankly a joke. Yes the subs were poor and Arshavin is less active than a sloth, but the rest of the team were great. We couldn't score, not through lack of effort, but IMO we were unlucky.
Sometimes it's not your night. I'm certainly not going to slag our players on tonight's display.
It's just that we didn't carve out any real chances in the second half that disappointed me. Man City set their stall out, and allowed us to attack them for an entire half, yet we seemed to run out of ideas rapidly and only had a long-range shot from RVP to trouble their 'keeper with.
We played well in the first half - looked likely, fast and created many opportunities - but I thought the second half was a real letdown.
I agree. If I'm honest I think we ran out of gas. Wilshere ran out of steam big time and showed a lack of experience (as he should). The subs were made at the right time, but Arshavin was hopeless (predictable) and Chamakh should have come on for VP.
The only thing I can say in defence is that at least we weren't completely gung ho, because we could easily have been hit on the break, which we weren't. I've got to say I thought that City were hopeless defensively and in midfield. We ran rings around them for most of the night. I agree that we didn't carve out many chance second half, but we could have had three in the first half and then it would have been a different game as they would have had to attack us.
I know it's easy to get frustrated, but bizarrely I actually have a renewed confidence in the team. The closing down was great, particularly by Theo, Clichy had an excellent game. Kos and Djourou were good. Song was immense. Fab and Nasri were same old brillliant and VP seemed to be getting his touch back. This team looked like a proper first XI and that is the first time I can remember us having a set first XI for months.
Naki_Gooner wrote:Is it coincidence that the two teams at the top of the prem are probably the two teams with the most solid defence? does defence win premierships? Maybe we could learn something here, probably not though.
We did learn tonight that if Djourou keeps playing like this and TV returns to his best ,we could be on par with United and Shitty in the defensive compartiment. Djourou has improved massively since his return, and I haven't felt as confident in our defense as I felt today for a long time! Song also assumed his defensive duty and will be immense if he can keep playing like that as well.
I have been critisizing Song and Djourou a lot in the past, but lately they have been impressive!
that may have something to do with city offering NOTHING going forward... haha
Ahhh teenagers 
