Match Reaction v Chelsea

[Cripps_orig]

Mata is awesome. We got Cazorla

[Niall_Quinn]

Diaby moaning at the players in front of him and then dawdling on the ball and giving it away was the highlight for me. Ramsey almost did the exact same thing in the second half. Such stupid players.

We're a world class striker away from challenging for the top four.

This is the season we're not going to make it. No chance. RVP carried us to top four last season. No RVP = no top 4.

As for the Chavs, they were impressive in the first half especially their midfield. I guess spending £60million in the summer on midfielders helps. Second half they were pretty crap.

Possibly Wenger (or Bould in secret when Wenger was busy with his coat) reminded the players at half time they needed to run and press the opposition to compete in a professional football match. Once we started doing that and started denying the chav imps all the time and space in the world their £60mill (plus billion trillion in wages) superstars weren't as effective. It makes me think we should try the running and pressing tactic in future matches. If that's okay with the players of course.

[Cripps_orig]

The bit on MOTD showing Jack being the only one trying to press highlighted the problem we have. No one gives a fuck bar Jack

[Marc Overmars]

We're always like that, it takes going a goal down for us to wake up and start playing. We don't really have the discipline to control a game, hence why the nervous kittens always make an appearance when we're leading.

[Niall_Quinn]

Mata is awesome. We got Cazorla

Mata looked good in the first half, vanished in the second. Cazorla was invisible in the first half, looked good in the second. Whatever people think about him he can control a ball, has awareness, can pass, is intelligent, he can be trusted when he gets the ball unlike just about every other player in the team. And he often considers playing it forward which is a big plus. I can't understand how Diaby is considered a good player but Cazorla gets panned. Diaby is a negative influence on the team, like Ramsey most of the time. Slow, ponderous, unaware of what's going on around him, negative, always looking to slow the play, takes too many touches, easily dispossessed, always ready to play it backwards or sideways. Mata would be just as disadvantaged if he had players like Diaby around him.

[Cripps_orig]

Mata looked good in the first half, vanished in the second. Cazorla was invisible in the first half, looked good in the second. Whatever people think about him he can control a ball, has awareness, can pass, is intelligent, he can be trusted when he gets the ball unlike just about every other player in the team. And he often considers playing it forward which is a big plus. I can't understand how Diaby is considered a good player but Cazorla gets panned. Diaby is a negative influence on the team, like Ramsey most of the time. Slow, ponderous, unaware of what's going on around him, negative, always looking to slow the play, takes too many touches, easily dispossessed, always ready to play it backwards or sideways. Mata would be just as disadvantaged if he had players like Diaby around him.

I don't think Diaby is a good player. He's one of the worst IMO. Of all time. Sure, partnering him doesn't help but Cazorla disappears too often in games. It's sad that in this day and age where Spanish midgets are awesome in midfield, we got the 2 worst ones. Thanks Wenger.

[Injury Time]

We're always like that, it takes going a goal down for us to wake up and start playing. We don't really have the discipline to control a game, hence why the nervous kittens always make an appearance when we're leading.

This. Infuriating grr.

[Power n Glory]

Mata looked good in the first half, vanished in the second. Cazorla was invisible in the first half, looked good in the second. Whatever people think about him he can control a ball, has awareness, can pass, is intelligent, he can be trusted when he gets the ball unlike just about every other player in the team. And he often considers playing it forward which is a big plus. I can't understand how Diaby is considered a good player but Cazorla gets panned. Diaby is a negative influence on the team, like Ramsey most of the time. Slow, ponderous, unaware of what's going on around him, negative, always looking to slow the play, takes too many touches, easily dispossessed, always ready to play it backwards or sideways. Mata would be just as disadvantaged if he had players like Diaby around him.

Cazorla has taken a month or so off. I wouldn't hold him up as a great example just yet. He can go into hiding, be just as wasteful and get caught in possession like the rest of them. He can go long stretches through the game where he won't even touch the ball and for a player of his quality it's not enough. His shooting is pretty bad as well. He's a good player but he needs to step it up because he's done very little since scoring that hat trick and hasn't put in a proper shift since. He can be just as lazy when pressing the opposition as well.

[Niall_Quinn]

I don't think Diaby is a good player. He's one of the worst IMO. Of all time. Sure, partnering him doesn't help but Cazorla disappears too often in games. It's sad that in this day and age where Spanish midgets are awesome in midfield, we got the 2 worst ones. Thanks Wenger.

Cazorla requires the rest of the team to be firing, he can't drag the game along by himself. Arteta and Cazorla may not be the most expensive options (which is why Mata and Silva are at the chavs and the gypos respectively) but our "worse" alternatives are not bad players by any stretch of the imagination. We've got much bigger problems that these two.

[Niall_Quinn]

Cazorla has taken a month or so off. I wouldn't hold him up as a great example just yet. He can go into hiding, be just as wasteful and get caught in possession like the rest of them. He can go long stretches through the game where he won't even touch the ball and for a player of his quality it's not enough. His shooting is pretty bad as well. He's a good player but he needs to step it up because he's done very little since scoring that hat trick and hasn't put in a proper shift since. He can be just as lazy when pressing the opposition as well.

He's playing in a system that inexplicably performs when we are up against it but relaxes when we gain the merest advantage. It can't be all eleven deciding to play this way simultaneously. It must be some sort of fucked up tactic that fails to work season after season. The players get instructions before they go out on the pitch. The instructions are faulty, or at least they don't maximise the potential of the team. I suppose Wenger would claim over the course of a season his tactics do work because we keep hold of that 4th spot. But it must be confusing for certain players when the tempo is shifting all the time and there's no opportunity to get a steady rhythm going and build control of the game.