Match Reaction vs Marseille

[Marc Overmars]

How poor was that 2nd half? Jeez.

Disappointing result.

[Olivier's xmas twist]

How poor was that 2nd half? Jeez.

Disappointing result.

The whole game was poor, in terms of the way we played.

[Syn]

We had the chances to win it. You’d have put your house on Van Persie scoring when he was one-on-one. Rosicky’s brilliant pass there was one of the only right decisions any of our players made with regards to the ‘final ball’.

We had the ball in fantastic positions, we had players open - with the right decisions and the right, simple passes, we’d be in on goal. Defensively very solid and determined winning the ball back. Passing - very good working it upto the final third. After that, the wrong choices cost us the win. Ramsey and Van Persie should have converted the clear cut chances we did create. Thought Marseille did a good job too.

Not a horrific result. Plenty of positives - Jenkinson, Mertesacker and Vermaelen at the back were fantastic. Should be very interesting to see what defence Wenger puts out on the weekend - annoyingly, I think Koscielny will be left out again.

[Olivier's xmas twist]

We had the chances to win it. You’d have put your house on Van Persie scoring when he was one-on-one. Rosicky’s brilliant pass there was one of the only right decisions any of our players made with regards to the ‘final ball’.

We had the ball in fantastic positions, we had players open - with the right decisions and the right, simple passes, we’d be in on goal. Defensively very solid and determined winning the ball back. Passing - very good working it upto the final third. After that, the wrong choices cost us the win. Ramsey and Van Persie should have converted the clear cut chances we did create. Thought Marseille did a good job too.

Not a horrific result. Plenty of positives - Jenkinson, Mertesacker and Vermaelen at the back were fantastic. Should be very interesting to see what defence Wenger puts out on the weekend - annoyingly, I think Koscielny will be left out again.

Never noticed he was not playing strange enough.

[Joker]

Really poor game from us, hardly any creativity or spark whatsoever. Our midfield looks really turgid and lacking in inspiration. Song was trying to create but he's a defensive midfielder, Arteta's looking like a glorified Denilson and Ramsey was unable to replicate his recent form. And Walcott failed to build on his performance on Saturday, and fell back into bad habits again.

[fakeyank]

Yawn

[Marc Overmars]

Dortmund won't be shy to attack so there is still a lot of work to be done here to see this group out. Can't help but feel we missed a trick tonight.

[Master Splinter]

Decent up to the final third.

Lack of urgency; need to correct that against Dortmund or we'll be in trouble.

Clean sheet :bow:.

[Olivier's xmas twist]

Dortmund won't be shy to attack so there is still a lot of work to be done here to see this group out. Can't help but feel we missed a trick tonight.

Its the greeks who will be tricky we have to win both games to top the group now

[Joker]

Santos looks a terrible defensive btw. He should be second choice left winger rather than left-back IMO, because he seems to have no understanding of defensive positioning and looks unfit as well.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

A draw would qualify us, at least. I can't say I am too arsed if we finish first or not.

[Niall_Quinn]

Match was there to be won but the forwards were careless. Not great from Theo or Gervinho tonight even though they put a shift in. The defence were solid but Marseilles didn't offer much of a threat. Good to have TV back, easily our best defender.

Pundits in the Sky studio (including Dave Seaman) slaughtering us for some reason. We weren't great but we weren't that bad either.

[Marc Overmars]

Its the greeks who will be tricky we have to win both games to top the group now

Yeah I have a feeling we could come 2nd now.

We'll see how it goes.

[Niall_Quinn]

Santos looks a terrible defensive btw. He should be second choice left winger rather than left-back IMO, because he seems to have no understanding of defensive positioning and looks unfit as well.

He's certainly not unfit or else he couldn't do the amount of running he does. He's always having to charge back because he's often out of position, that's why he looks knackered.

[Olivier's xmas twist]

Match was there to be won but the forwards were careless. Not great from Theo or Gervinho tonight even though they put a shift in. The defence were solid but Marseilles didn't offer much of a threat. Good to have TV back, easily our best defender.

Pundits in the Sky studio (including Dave Seaman) slaughtering us for some reason. We weren't great but we weren't that bad either.

Should have started Arshavin and Rosicky Or even AOC

[Özim]

Yeah I have a feeling we could come 2nd now.

We'll see how it goes.
We know how that panned out last season.....

[milla]

Arteta and Santos were poor IMO. One didnt contribute enough in midfield and the other disregard his defensive duty.

This weekend I'd like to see Rosicky starting alongside Song and Ramsey, add some pace to our midfield and creativity in our midfield. :coffee:

[Olivier's xmas twist]

We know how that panned out last season.....

TBF only barca and real would be the worst to face if they won their groups everyone else not really that great.

[Marc Overmars]

Arteta and Santos were poor IMO. One didnt contribute enough in midfield and the other disregard his defensive duty.

This weekend I'd like to see Rosicky starting alongside Song and Ramsey, add some pace to our midfield and creativity in our midfield. :coffee:

Yeah, I don't think Arteta is doing enough to justify his place in the team, he has a good engine and keeps things tidy but surely we need a bit more there, given Song is having to defend and create. I'd certainly be tempted to play Rosicky or even Benayoun, just to freshen things up.

[Özim]

TBF only barca and real would be the worst to face if they won their groups everyone else not really that great.
Thing is though if you finish second you're more likely to meet one of those teams earlier, at least if you delay the meeting with them there's the off chance they could get knocked out by some other team.

[Cripps_orig]

Welcome back Arsenal

[Niall_Quinn]

Thing is though if you finish second you're more likely to meet one of those teams earlier, at least if you delay the meeting with them there's the off chance they could get knocked out by some other team.

Or more likely we'll get knocked out. Better to have a big night. We aren't winning this anyway so why not bring on Barca again?

[Cripps_orig]

Just got back. Awful match. Awful performance.

Player ratings

Sirchesney - 6 Had nothing to do. Was a bit of an idiot with a couple of needless dragbacks but got away with it in the first half

Jenkinson - 4 Jebus fucking christ this guy is shite. Not good enough for Charlton but in the first team for us? Is that how low we've fallen?

Vermaelen - 9 MOTM. Stay fit you cunt. Did nothing wrong defensively and would have got a 10 had he scored.

Mertesacker - 8 Almost as good as Vermaelen and you could see the benefit of playing him alongside a decent CB. Long may this partnership continue. Arguably played in 2 positions this game as he was often covering the right back territory with Jenko being worse than useless.

Santos - 7 Needs to lose weight. No major concern defensively. Looks pretty good attacking wise

Song - 7 Did his job as a DM fine. What wasnt so good was him losing posession lots of times when playing a forward pass but then someone had to which brings us on to

Arteta - 5 Pointless player. Heard it said hes a glorified Denilson. Denilson is actually better than him.

Ramsey - 6 Missed a sitter. Took forever to shoot for another chance and did nothing else.

Gervinho - 5 Biggest cheer of the day when he was hauled off. Basically Diaby with a big forehead.

Park - 4 Come back Chamah. All is forgiven. Nowhere near good enough and not as good as Chamakh or RVP. At least we sold some shirts in Asia which is why he got a 4 and not less

Walcott - 6 Much like Per, had to cover at right back most of the time. Was in plenty of space in the opposition half but the midfield 3 couldnt managae a pass between them. When he did get the ball, he was too deep cos he was doing a very good defensive shift.

Subs

RVP - 6 Too arrogant when clean through. Just blast it you twat. However did more in that half hour than Park has done in his career

Rosicky - 6 Better than Ramsey and Arteta

Arshavin - 6 Surely a starter now ahead of Gervinho?

[Olivier's xmas twist]

Arsene Wenger admitted his gamble of resting Robin van Persie did not pay off after Arsenal drew 0-0 with Marseille at Emirates Stadium in the UEFA Champions League.

Victory over the French club would have ensured the Gunners' progress from Group F into the last 16 of Europe with two games still to spare.

It was therefore a surprise Wenger decided to rest Van Persie, with the Arsenal captain's hat-trick at Chelsea on Saturday having taken his scoring total for 2011 to 28 goals in 27 Premier League games.

But Wenger, who had an eye on the coming home game with West Brom, told Sky Sports when asked about the decision to only introduce his skipper as a 62nd minute substitute: "It was a bit on the edge."It was a gamble that you can say tonight didn't come off.

Strong position
"But, overall, he was very tired after the game on Saturday. He has played many games and I took the gamble to rest him first and make him come on."

Van Persie had an opportunity to win the game for Arsenal in the second half, but his attempted chip was comfortable for Marseille goalkeeper Steve Mandanda.

"I felt he had the chance. If he scores, it is perfect play. But overall we didn't create enough," Wenger admitted.

But the Arsenal manager was not completely disappointed, having defeated Marseille in France on Matchday Three to leave his club with a superior head-to-head record over Didier Deschamps' team.

Wenger said: "Overall, I must say, we took four points from Marseille in the two games. So now we want to win the Dortmund game at home and then we are in a strong position.

"But, of course, it is good that we didn't concede tonight because it was difficult to score in the second half."

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11670/7286380/Wenger-RVP-gamble-failed

[Cripps_orig]

Also why was RVP rested?

Oozing with confidence. Just scored a hat trick and Wenger rests him?

He just had a week off.

He can rest when hes injured for 4 months later in the season.

Wenger :doh:

[Cripps_orig]

on Robin van Persie...
He had a great chance when he came on, you know? He tried to chip the keeper but overall you cannot say that one player always has to make the difference.

on the 0-0 draw...
I felt it was a game where we were not physically at our sharpest. Marseille started stronger than us and after that we got back in the game. In the first half I feel we had opportunities to kill the game. After that we were disciplined, we were willing, but you have to give credit to Marseille - they defended very well. They stopped us from playing and we were not sharp enough to get them out of position. The positives are that we did not concede a goal, Marseille only had one shot on target and overall we know that in the final third we can do better.

on his back four...
I was happy with them. It's not all perfect but we have rebuilt a back four. Overall Vermaelen had a good game, Mertesacker had a solid performance tonight, Santos as well. Jenkinson has just come back and he lacks experience in certain situations but overall he did well.

on Andre Santos' attacking nature...
I am happy when he has the ball. I feel personally he is much better defensively than many people think. He is getting stronger in every game. He is a very intelligent boy who learns very quickly and obviously he has to adapt to the pace of the English game. That is not easy, to play game after game.

on what Saturday's game took out of his team...
Emotionally more than physically maybe. It is difficult to be on a high three days later again but we still had opportunities, especially Ramsey in the first half, he had two great chances. Gervinho had a chance, and in a game like that you still expect to take one of these chances.

on Ju Young Park…
He did very well last week. Tonight you could see that he lacked the pace of the game a little bit because he has not played enough games.

on not securing qualification…
Well we wanted to achieve that tonight but you have to say as well to be fair that we have taken four points against Marseille in our two games. Four points overall is not too bad.

on hopes of finishing top of group…
I just looked at the numbers of Olympiacos, who did extremely well tonight. They dominated possession and they played very well. Everybody thought that Olympiacos would be the easy game but you could see that even in Dortmund tonight they lost just 1-0. They were strong in the game from what I've heard. If we win our next home game we have a good chance.

on any injuries from the game…
Everyone looks alright.


Good to see he agrees with me

[Olivier's xmas twist]

Good to see he agrees with me

Not really its Common sense even Wenger has too see it lol

[Özim]

Or more likely we'll get knocked out. Better to have a big night. We aren't winning this anyway so why not bring on Barca again?
I'd rather not play the bigger sides, reckon they'll annhiliate us this year.

Would prefer to see a game against a team we're more evenly matched with that might be a bit more interesting.

[Japan Shaking All Over]

Didnt watch a game that I thought I'd wake to see we had won, by the sounds of it I wont bother watching the 3 day delayed airing we are shown over here!

Looks like Wenger had shown similar complacency in 'resting' RvP, surely the right thing would have been to bag the group then rest players for the next games.

But what it does show is to Wenger is that there isnt much else in attack other than Robin, Ju had his first game aside from the CC and I wont come down on him for that but he knows the big stage and he will be expected to produce, lets wait and see, have a feeling we will see more of him over the run of so called 'soft' games we are about to embark on.

We do however need a true talent on par with RvP to make us a serious threat and to relieve the pressure on RvP. Tevez is not cup tied right, I mean the hissy fit he threw avoided that, right?
This is becoming a no brainer - loan the guy in January IMO better still buy him and see if he will take a wage cut cos 250k is unheard of at our club!

[Xhaka Can’t]

Just got back. Awful match. Awful performance.

RVP - 6 Too arrogant when clean through. Just blast it you twat. However did more in that half hour than Park has done in his career


Am I the only one to have missed his Henry-like finish?

What happened?

Was it disallowed?

[Cripps_orig]

Tevez might have played in the first CL match v Napoli. Not sure as I haven't seen any of their matches

[McNamara That Ghost...]

I think if Citeh went out of the Champions League he might be allowed to play for another side in the Champions League. UEFA have complicated a rule that was pretty simple to understand.

[LDG]

Good result, albeit a tired display, against a very good team. Whilst Marseille lack quality in the final third, they are a very dangerous side, full of power and movement.

Thought we battled hard, and won back possession really well, and bar the first ten, defended excellently. Jenko, Verms and Merts were very very good.

Walcott looked more dangerous on the left, soshould have stayed there.

Park was off the pace, but for me, showed some good movement off the ball. His time will come, but for now we only have one top draw striker.

No shame whatsoever in that result, and the kneejerk bollocks of "welcome back Arsenal" is more blind than the three blind mice, in the dark.

Good result. Not exactly what we wanted, but we have a tough group, and we're sitting on top of it.

[Letters]

We had the chances to win it. You’d have put your house on Van Persie scoring when he was one-on-one. Rosicky’s brilliant pass there was one of the only right decisions any of our players made with regards to the ‘final ball’.

We had the ball in fantastic positions, we had players open - with the right decisions and the right, simple passes, we’d be in on goal. Defensively very solid and determined winning the ball back. Passing - very good working it upto the final third. After that, the wrong choices cost us the win. Ramsey and Van Persie should have converted the clear cut chances we did create. Thought Marseille did a good job too.

Not a horrific result. Plenty of positives - Jenkinson, Mertesacker and Vermaelen at the back were fantastic. Should be very interesting to see what defence Wenger puts out on the weekend - annoyingly, I think Koscielny will be left out again.

Pretty much. Wasn't a terrible performance, wasn't a great one either. Meh. Not a terrible result and we should qualify.
On we go.

[Letters]

We know how that panned out last season.....

Oh yeah, 'cos if we'd won our group we'd definitely have won the CL...

[Power n Glory]

I don't have a problem with Wenger resting RVP. The truth is, we should have put away our chances. Ramsey and Gervinho wasted a lot of good chances in the first half.

Sloppy finishing, bad passing in the final third and poor ball control. It wasn't a bad performance but I think one two players were a bit too cocky. Ramsey had a few chances to pass for the easy goal but went for glory instead. He'll learn. What a snooze fest of a game though. I fell asleep around the 70th minute.

[Letters]

Looks like Wenger had shown similar complacency in 'resting' RvP, surely the right thing would have been to bag the group then rest players for the next games.

It's not complacency, it's common sense. The bloke is made of balsa wood and he's by far our most important player. We HAVE to keep him fit this season and if that means playing him a bit less then so be it. Results haven't suffered so far in games when he's been put on the bench, maybe we'd have won had he started but maybe he'd have got injured too. It wasn't a 'must win' and a draw isn't a terrible result.

[GP]

It's not complacency, it's common sense. The bloke is made of balsa wood and he's by far our most important player. We HAVE to keep him fit this season and if that means playing him a bit less then so be it. Results haven't suffered so far in games when he's been put on the bench, maybe we'd have won had he started but maybe he'd have got injured too. It wasn't a 'must win' and a draw isn't a terrible result.

Pretty much. We've got 4 points out of Marseille. I'd have taken that at the start.

[IBK]

Good result, albeit a tired display, against a very good team. Whilst Marseille lack quality in the final third, they are a very dangerous side, full of power and movement.

Thought we battled hard, and won back possession really well, and bar the first ten, defended excellently. Jenko, Verms and Merts were very very good.

Walcott looked more dangerous on the left, soshould have stayed there.

Park was off the pace, but for me, showed some good movement off the ball. His time will come, but for now we only have one top draw striker.

No shame whatsoever in that result, and the kneejerk bollocks of "welcome back Arsenal" is more blind than the three blind mice, in the dark.

Good result. Not exactly what we wanted, but we have a tough group, and we're sitting on top of it.

This. I can understand that people feel a little deflated after the weekend - but Saturday was never going to herald an Invincibles style-change. This was a CL game, remember - there aren't many totally shite teams in the comp (apart from Genk - tee hee), and Marseille were a lot better than at their place. Our players were understandably a bit jaded - it must be draining when after our start every game is so important with little room for error.

I think the comments about Arteta being a rich man's Denilson are a bit unfair. He seemed leggy last night but has been told to play a more holding role than at Everton (while Ramsey gets forward more) and does the simple things quite well. We suffered form having a 'green' striker on the pitch for 2/3 of the game, but given the complaints about our lck of options there, the boy has to be given some experience/opportunity to improve.

We didn't have to win this game and I would take clean sheet draw over a scoring one (Chelsea) any day!

[LDG]

This. I can understand that people feel a little deflated after the weekend - but Saturday was never going to herald an Invincibles style-change. This was a CL game, remember - there aren't many totally shite teams in the comp (apart from Genk - tee hee), and Marseille were a lot better than at their place. Our players were understandably a bit jaded - it must be draining when after our start every game is so important with little room for error.

I think the comments about Arteta being a rich man's Denilson are a bit unfair. He seemed leggy last night but has been told to play a more holding role than at Everton (while Ramsey gets forward more) and does the simple things quite well. We suffered form having a 'green' striker on the pitch for 2/3 of the game, but given the complaints about our lck of options there, the boy has to be given some experience/opportunity to improve.

We didn't have to win this game and I would take clean sheet draw over a scoring one (Chelsea) any day!

I was gonna add this, but forgot.

And, of course, you're right.

Just because it's not Barcelona, Madrid, Utd, City or Chelsea, we have no right to expect results against quality opposition.

Marseille are in the comp for a reason, and from one of the better leagues, you have to expect them to be a bit better than Stoke.

The CL has always been a patient team's competition. You stay compact, patient and take your chances. Unfortunately we looked a little too leggy last night to convert, but there's no shame in that result.

If someone had said a draw away, and win at home against this lot, everyone would have taken it. That it was a reverse shouldn't really matter....and if we end up level on points with them, we'll go through by rights.

[Letters]

Aye. People have to stop thinking that just because we're not playing Barca or Real Madrid that everyone else in the competition is shite.
They're all, by the very fact of them being there, one of the better sides in their league and in this group we've got a side from the French league and one from the German league. Neither are as strong as the PL but they're not shite teams. 4 points from 2 games is fine. Compare and contrast with Chelsea who drew with frickin' Genk last night!

[Olivier's xmas twist]

Aye. People have to stop thinking that just because we're not playing Barca or Real Madrid that everyone else in the competition is shite.
They're all, by the very fact of them being there, one of the better sides in their league and in this group we've got a side from the French league and one from the German league. Neither are as strong as the PL but they're not shite teams. 4 points from 2 games is fine. Compare and contrast with Chelsea who drew with frickin' Genk last night!

Tbf i think it was more the perfomance that people were frustated about well the attack. like LDG said we'd all have taken 4 points from these fixture and lets be real if Both mancs win today then all then English clubs will be on 8 points from 4 games tbh.

The only positive is compared to last season winning the group was not in our hands buy the time the 4th game.

[Letters]

The performance wasn't that bad though.
Wasn't that good either.
Meh. It happens.
On we go

:shrug:

[Olivier's xmas twist]

defence we were alwsome, its clear we lack up front without RVP. What did you think on the merts/TV5 partnership or would you prefer TV5/kos

[Marc Overmars]

Nothing wrong with the result. Just a poor 2nd half which we seemed to lose any urgency. RVP's chipped effort was the only thing we could muster up and that was a shame. It's not like Marseille had us run ragged at the back, we dealt with them fairly well and restricted them to half chances. It's a missed opportunity but it would take something disastrous for us to not qualify, so there's nothing to dwell on here.

[IBK]

Tbf i think it was more the perfomance that people were frustated about well the attack. like LDG said we'd all have taken 4 points from these fixture and lets be real if Both mancs win today then all then English clubs will be on 8 points from 4 games tbh.

The only positive is compared to last season winning the group was not in our hands buy the time the 4th game.

Ditto Letters. The performance was pretty boring to watch, but not too bad. We used to be reknowned for these/keeping a clean sheet - but secretly admired all the same!

Like I said on the other thread, Saturday was bound to raise expectation for yesterday, going forwards - but a similar performance was unlikely, particularly given our use of a rookie striker.

It makes me smile that some people seem to think that we should be steamrollering the second best team in France last season- when we are still recovering from a start that saw us concede 3 points to a team with only 6 overall in our league this season.

[Letters]

defence we were alwsome, its clear we lack up front without RVP. What did you think on the merts/TV5 partnership or would you prefer TV5/kos

I think the games Mertesaker (sp) has impressed me most in have generally been CL ones so maybe he's still getting used to the PL. He's clearly not a bad player. In the PL I think I'd be happier with TV5 and Kos right now.

[Olivier's xmas twist]

Ditto Letters. The performance was pretty boring to watch, but not too bad. We used to be reknowned for these/keeping a clean sheet - but secretly admired all the same!

Like I said on the other thread, Saturday was bound to raise expectation for yesterday, going forwards - but a similar performance was unlikely, particularly given our use of a rookie striker.

It makes me smile that some people seem to think that we should be steamrollering the second best team in France last season- when we are still recovering from a start that saw us concede 3 points to a team with only 6 overall in our league this season.

Very true.

[LDG]

I think the games Mertesaker (sp) has impressed me most in have generally been CL ones so maybe he's still getting used to the PL. He's clearly not a bad player. In the PL I think I'd be happier with TV5 and Kos right now.

Merts reminds me of TA. Maybe not quite as good, but like TA, reads the game very well. He'll be very good for us IMO.

Adams would struggle in this league with the high line we play. I actually think we're a better team all round when we drop deeper defensively.

[LDG]

Almost forgot.

Chesney :haha:

Where he took it round their attacker. :bow:

[Letters]

That was one of those ones which could have been :doh: but ended up being :lol:

[Olivier's xmas twist]

Almost forgot.

Chesney :haha:

Where he took it round their attacker. :bow:

You have to love his confidence.

how good is it to see a GK of Our's shout and sort out his defence.

[Dog Toffee]

Its the greeks who will be tricky we have to win both games to top the group now

We dont have to win both games to top the group. We Already are top and if Marsellies drop points, a draw and a win could put us top.

Im quite happy with last night in terms of keeping a clean sheet, that part of our game is far more important than scoring goals so in that sense we did well. Shame we didn't win but nothing to be to bothered about, Marsellies are a great team and 4 points from them is good enough. Confident we can win the group, as we have to to avoid an 'sods law' Barca tie.

Edit- Its a shame Koscielny might not be playing if Vermalean and Mertz get a good partnership, because he's improving greatly, but its a good decision to make now we seem to have 3 good CB's.

[Niall_Quinn]

It's probably better we'll have to fight to the end to top the group. Look at last year where we thought it was going to be a breeze. Complacency set in.

[Olivier's xmas twist]

We dont have to win both games to top the group. We Already are top and if Marsellies drop points, a draw and a win could put us top.

Im quite happy with last night in terms of keeping a clean sheet, that part of our game is far more important than scoring goals so in that sense we did well. Shame we didn't win but nothing to be to bothered about, Marsellies are a great team and 4 points from them is good enough. Confident we can win the group, as we have to to avoid an 'sods law' Barca tie.

Edit- Its a shame Koscielny might not be playing if Vermalean and Mertz get a good partnership, because he's improving greatly, but its a good decision to make now we seem to have 3 good CB's.

He will play in the EPl i think merts will be for the CL and TV5 won't be dropped as he needs games but like you say its good for AW to have a headache over which CB to pick.

Well if we beat Dortmunt and Olympiarcos(sp) gan grab something in france then were through and group winners.

[Olivier's xmas twist]

It's probably better we'll have to fight to the end to top the group. Look at last year where we thought it was going to be a breeze. Complacency set in.

Agree. if we can show the fight after going 2-1 down at chavs we will be fine.

[Cripps_orig]

Ditto Letters. The performance was pretty boring to watch, but not too bad. We used to be reknowned for these/keeping a clean sheet - but secretly admired all the same!

Like I said on the other thread, Saturday was bound to raise expectation for yesterday, going forwards - but a similar performance was unlikely, particularly given our use of a rookie striker.

It makes me smile that some people seem to think that we should be steamrollering the second best team in France last season- when we are still recovering from a start that saw us concede 3 points to a team with only 6 overall in our league this season.

If this was still last season then you'd have a point but Marseille are far from the 2nd best team in France this season.

[Niall_Quinn]

We should have steamrollered Marseilles, tbh.

[IBK]

If this was still last season then you'd have a point but Marseille are far from the 2nd best team in France this season.

Didn't know it was May 2012. Have I been caught in a wormhole or something?

[IBK]

We should have steamrollered Marseilles, tbh.

Oh yes - just like we did in France. Tbh.

[Fist of Lehmann]

I thought we looked a hungover. Very little movement at times.

Fullbacks and Song seemed to be less prominent attackinglistically than usual, left us undermanned and short on options when we went forward, but solid defensively.

Park looked over-anxious and like playing with strangers, unsurprisingly. Disappointing nevertheless.

Both games against these dudes were boring as hell, they should play more of a high line, maybe fall over in defense now and again.

[Cripps_orig]

Didn't know it was May 2012. Have I been caught in a wormhole or something?

They have been awful this season. Where they finished last season has no significance

[Niall_Quinn]

Oh yes - just like we did in France. Tbh.

Expectations were raised, I was expecting a similar result to Saturday.

[IBK]

They have been awful this season. Where they finished last season has no significance

:lol: 2 places and 1 point below our position in their league. And we've had a pretty awful season until recently, and if you take away RVP who wasn't playing for most of the match we'd have fared no better than them. It amuses me that because we've scraped some results and had a rare away win on Saturday, people expect us to blow a solid CL team away.

[Cripps_orig]

:lol: 2 places and 1 point below our position in their league. And we've had a pretty awful season until recently, and if you take away RVP who wasn't playing for most of the match we'd have fared no better than them. It amuses me that because we've scraped some results and had a rare away win on Saturday, people expect us to blow a solid CL team away.

Tbf i havent complained about the result. More the performance which was awful

[IBK]

Tbf i havent complained about the result. More the performance which was awful

Fair do's - but I'll take a clean sheet performance.

[Cripps_orig]

Fair do's - but I'll take a clean sheet performance.

Id rather see a 3-3 than a boring ass 0-0

[Niall_Quinn]

Id rather see a 3-3 than a boring ass 0-0

Depends. If we had to endure another shambolic defensive display there wouldn't be much joy in that.

[Cripps_orig]

Depends. If we had to endure another shambolic defensive display there wouldn't be much joy in that.

At least id get some entertainment

[Letters]

At least id get some entertainment

You'd have thoroughly enjoyed 92/93.

[Cripps_orig]

You'd have thoroughly enjoyed 92/93.

Won 2 trophies tbh. Something we wont do with this team in 10 years

[IBK]

Won 2 trophies tbh. Something we wont do with this team in 10 years

Thought it was the level of entertainment rather than the result that mattered to you?

[Letters]

@Ach You're too young to remember how bloody boring it was though.
We scored 40 league goals in 42 games :yawn:
We've scored 20 already in 10 this year, and that's with that dodgy start.
I know what I'd rather watch.

[Cripps_orig]

@Ach You're too young to remember how bloody boring it was though.
We scored 40 league goals in 42 games :yawn:
We've scored 20 already in 10 this year, and that's with that dodgy start.
I know what I'd rather watch.

Probably right. I was an Arsenal fan then but i was Ollies/WMUGs age around 10 or 11 so dont remember much bar the trophies we won. It was from the season after to 2010 where i watched football religiously and wouldnt miss an Arsenal game for the world but the 2 games ive been to this season have been awful to watch. Won 1-0 and drew 0-0 in the other. You want your moneys worth when you go to games and i havent had it

[Cripps_orig]

Thought it was the level of entertainment rather than the result that mattered to you?

The games i attend, entertainment over boring shit.

[Letters]

Probably right. I was an Arsenal fan then but i was Ollies/WMUGs age around 10 or 11 so dont remember much bar the trophies we won. It was from the season after to 2010 where i watched football religiously and wouldnt miss an Arsenal game for the world but the 2 games ive been to this season have been awful to watch. Won 1-0 and drew 0-0 in the other. You want your moneys worth when you go to games and i havent had it

Well I agree it's not been great this year but it's got better of late. OK, the Marseille game was a bit of a damp squib but I thought we were pretty good against Stoke, looked a bit more like Arsenal again. The summer was a disaster and the early season results compounded it and after the Utd game we were on the floor. We've slowly picked ourselves up again though and while we're not a great side this year there are a few signs now that we're not quite as bad as our early season form indicated and we could do OK. I doubt we'll win any trophies but with billionaires throwing money around they're not as easy to come by as they used to be.

In 92/93 our league run from November on was:

LLLLDDLDWLLWDLDWWDLWLDDDLWL

That's P27 W6 D9 L12. 27 points from 27 games. We finished with 56 points - Crystal Palace went down that year and they got 49. We scored 18 goals in those 27 games. In 16 of them we didn't score at all. In brief, we were a pretty shit, boring side back then but we did have a bit of fight in us and the ability to raise it for the big games.

We won two trophies and there are moments which I did 'thoroughly enjoy' in that season (The Spurs semi-final - revenge for '91 - and of course the two (well, 3 with the replay) Cup Finals). But even those were boring games of football in which we ground out results, it all seemed great at the time because I was at them all and more into football than I am now. But those games could easily have gone the other way and all we'd have to remember that season by is the boring football and the fact that it was the year I genuinely thought we might go down. There were a few exciting results but over the course of a 9 month season it wasn't great. Fine if you only care about the end result but if you follow them on the journey you want a bit more than that.

Anyway, things could be better right now but there are a few signs of hope so let's hope for a good win on Saturday and keep the run going.

:scarf:

[Cripps_orig]

Wouldnt disagree. We've been more boring and for a longer period in previous times but im specifically talking about games ive gone to. 2 games this season = 1 goal and 2 shit performances and the goal was a keeper error so it easily could have been 0 goals. Compared to the first 2 games i went to last season where i saw 10 goals (granted we lost one of those) and overall in the 8 games i went to, i saw an average of over 3 goals a game. Was oping to see more of the same this season. Cant see it now.

Plus cos i work now :( the last 2 Arsenal games ive seen (2 Marseille games) have been really dull and missed the games inbetween including the Chelsea game and watching the highlights for that, already knowing the score isnt as exciting, I can genuinely say i havent been entertained by Arsenal since early 2011. Probably the Barca home game

[Özim]

Well I agree it's not been great this year but it's got better of late. OK, the Marseille game was a bit of a damp squib but I thought we were pretty good against Stoke, looked a bit more like Arsenal again. The summer was a disaster and the early season results compounded it and after the Utd game we were on the floor. We've slowly picked ourselves up again though and while we're not a great side this year there are a few signs now that we're not quite as bad as our early season form indicated and we could do OK. I doubt we'll win any trophies but with billionaires throwing money around they're not as easy to come by as they used to be.

In 92/93 our league run from November on was:

LLLLDDLDWLLWDLDWWDLWLDDDLWL

That's P27 W6 D9 L12. 27 points from 27 games. We finished with 56 points - Crystal Palace went down that year and they got 49. We scored 18 goals in those 27 games. In 16 of them we didn't score at all. In brief, we were a pretty shit, boring side back then but we did have a bit of fight in us and the ability to raise it for the big games.

We won two trophies and there are moments which I did 'thoroughly enjoy' in that season (The Spurs semi-final - revenge for '91 - and of course the two (well, 3 with the replay) Cup Finals). But even those were boring games of football in which we ground out results, it all seemed great at the time because I was at them all and more into football than I am now. But those games could easily have gone the other way and all we'd have to remember that season by is the boring football and the fact that it was the year I genuinely thought we might go down. There were a few exciting results but over the course of a 9 month season it wasn't great. Fine if you only care about the end result but if you follow them on the journey you want a bit more than that.

Anyway, things could be better right now but there are a few signs of hope so let's hope for a good win on Saturday and keep the run going.

:scarf:
The cup runs were great to be honest, don't know how you can call those boring I really did enjoy them and it was nailbiting at times.

The league may not have been great but the cup runs more than made up for that and that's very much what we focussed on hence the results in the league.

Incidentally we were never going to go down and at no stage did I think we were either.

The stuff we get these days is a real bore, what's more it's compounded by lack of success as well, please tell me what's enjoyable about watching a bunch of overpaid pansies putting next to no effort in and making the same errors, week in week out, year in year out!

I've lost a lot of interest in our games, basically because most of the time it's just boring repetitive rubbish that's just not enjoyable.

[Letters]

There were some good and exciting games in those cup runs. I seem to remember a marathon against Leeds, didn't we play them 4 times? Even then I seem to remember the home games being BLOODY boring although the away ones were exciting.

And yeah, towards the end the Spurs game was great as were the cup finals. All awful games of football for a neutral but for those of us involved it was brilliant. But you're still talking about quite a small number of games in a long season. In the week to week slog of the league we were mostly awful. And this, remember, was only 2 years after we'd finished champions.

6 wins out of 27. 16 games out of those we didn't score. 40 goals in 42 league games. It was pretty crap.

You enjoyed the end result (which could have been very different, there are fine lines in football sometimes) as did I, and there were some good games in the cup runs but I don't believe for one minute you enjoyed the football we played or think that the football even this year is as bad.

If you only care about the end result, don't go to games and only care about trophies then yes, I guess that was better. If you're following a team week to week and going to games then the football is miles better now - although admittedly not in all games this season but it has got better of late.

Pretty much all players are overpaid pansies these days which makes the whole experience of football less enjoyable these days although we have shown a bit more fight recently, we were behind twice at Stamford Bridge and pegged back to 3-3 and we won, we were pegged back against Stoke and Sunderland and won. There are some signs for cautious optimism that this season won't quite be the disaster we feared early season.

[Özim]

There were some good and exciting games in those cup runs. I seem to remember a marathon against Leeds, didn't we play them 4 times? Even then I seem to remember the home games being BLOODY boring although the away ones were exciting.

And yeah, towards the end the Spurs game was great as were the cup finals. All awful games of football for a neutral but for those of us involved it was brilliant. But you're still talking about quite a small number of games in a long season. In the week to week slog of the league we were mostly awful. And this, remember, was only 2 years after we'd finished champions.

6 wins out of 27. 16 games out of those we didn't score. 40 goals in 42 league games. It was pretty crap.

You enjoyed the end result (which could have been very different, there are fine lines in football sometimes) as did I, and there were some good games in the cup runs but I don't believe for one minute you enjoyed the football we played or think that the football even this year is as bad.

If you only care about the end result, don't go to games and only care about trophies then yes, I guess that was better. If you're following a team week to week and going to games then the football is miles better now - although admittedly not in all games this season but it has got better of late.

Pretty much all players are overpaid pansies these days which makes the whole experience of football less enjoyable these days although we have shown a bit more fight recently, we were behind twice at Stamford Bridge and pegged back to 3-3 and we won, we were pegged back against Stoke and Sunderland and won. There are some signs for cautious optimism that this season won't quite be the disaster we feared early season.
I have to say I didn't find the cup runs boring personally, I enjoyed seeing those matches and watching us progress with some hard fought wins.

The results stat has to be put into perspective, we very much focussed on the cups and thus our league form suffered, it wasn't our priority and the results illustrated that.

It's not all about trophies but watching your team show heart, fight for every ball and hunger (in the cups) is great, had we not won it would have still be a great cup run the fact we did made it even better....the wins against the odds against a superior Wednesday side were brilliant and the last gasp goal was one of those moments where you couldn't help going crazy after an enthralling encounter.

At the end of the day it's not all about trophies but you know what, a club of our stature should be competing and should be picking up trophies here and there, our lack of heart for the fight and casual attitude are awful traits and together with our repetitive football makes for a rather boring experience.

It's just not enjoyable watching a team who you already know are going to fail before they've even started, and that's what I liked about the Graham team, sure they didn't play great football and maybe lost games they shouldn't...but at the back of your mind you always knew they were capable of upsetting the odds and beating the big boys, I haven't had that feeling with Wenger's sides for a long time.

[Letters]

Agree with most of that, to be fair.

[Fist of Lehmann]

...but at the back of your mind you always knew they were capable of upsetting the odds and beating the big boys, I haven't had that feeling with Wenger's sides for a long time.

What about after the Chelsea game? Do you still feel they are incapable of beating big boys?

[Özim]

What about after the Chelsea game? Do you still feel they are incapable of beating big boys?
As much as it was an enjoyable game, it wasn't at the business end of the season and was an one game, alone it doesn't prove much. We beat them last season as well (albeit at home) but this doesn't show we're capable of upsetting teams when it matters most.

[Ollie the Optimist]

As much as it was an enjoyable game, it wasn't at the business end of the season and was an one game, alone it doesn't prove much. We beat them last season as well (albeit at home) but this doesn't show we're capable of upsetting teams when it matters most.

i disagree with the chelsea game, we havnt won at the bridge for ages, i think since 2004 we have only won once there before saturday. it was a big game when it mattered most as we needed to prove we could win big games after losing the other three this season and to keep the run going. as some have pointed out we had played teams that we should be beating and after all the shit wenger got and the players got they really had to stand up and be counted and that they did. i think this chelsea game was the biggest this season so far and boy did they deliever a performance when it mattered