Match Reaction - 0-2 chelski

[Niall_Quinn]

Chavs have been doing it to us for years. Running at our defenders, lumping the ball over the top and letting a powerful striker barge it into the net. Now we have a player who could have done that, but we religiously keep the ball on the deck and play it short. Tidy little patterns until we lose the ball on the 93rd pass, never shoot, always look for the next pass, move it left, move it right, trying to drag a tightly disciplined defence around that simply refuses to be dragged around. We probably could have played another 90 minutes of pointless tippy tappy and not had a strike on goal. When Wenger sees a stats like that, no shots on target, it will only encourage him to work harder on the 93rd pass.

And as for running at defenders, it's Ozil and Cazorla who should be doing that, not Jack. So he plays Jack as the focal point through the middle to guarantee another route to losing the ball. Play those fullbacks high so we are desperately exposed when pass #93 goes astray - recipe for disaster, the same half baked lasagne week in, week out. We usually get away with it against crappy teams, although this season even that's not happening. Against the big teams they just laugh at our naivety and tuck in for the 3 points.

How many times did we see Ivanovic and Azpilicueta charging up the pitch yesterday? How many times did Terry bomb through the middle like Kos was doing? Merts was the only defender who was disciplined - and he's the one getting most of the stick from the media and fans He's the grown-up in our defence and he needs to have more responsibility. Instead it's Arteta who is the captain - a guy being played out of position every match, a midget asked to be a destroyer. Ludicrous.

What about the subs? When the gameplan is yielding nothing what does Wenger do? He takes off the hardest runners, the guys keeping things together despite the awful tactics. Then he puts another victim into the same system, like for like. The only time he changes things for real is when injuries force us or he's desperately rolling the dice after the game is lost. What was the Podolski sub about yesterday, when we had already lost? Ridiculous. Why the hell bring Cazorla off? It beggars belief. Was he injured? That would be the only possible excuse.

Where's Walcott going to fit into this? More tippy tappy and backward play on the right wing? Or sprinting into space beyond the defender from balls played by our skilful but abused midfield? I think we know the answer.

We are relying on individual moments of excellence to pull our arses out of the tactical fire. Even with all our possession, possession the chavs were happy to concede yesterday, it all breaks down in the final third unless 2 or 3 individuals execute some training ground stunt with the required absolute precision. Other teams just find the space and run. The have other runners pulling defenders. They get in behind and lump the cross in. They play it ugly if it needs to be ugly. When was our last pub scramble in an opposition box where we eventually lashed the ball home? We don't do that, it's beneath us.

We have excellent players and a manager who doesn't have the foggiest how to use them. Or he probably does but for some reason thinks there's an even better way. A way that hasn't worked for years but you know, any day now it will work. Just keep doing the same thing over and over again and eventually it will work - or you will be carted away in a straitjacket, one or the other.

[Niall_Quinn]

It seems like the normal reaction of angry fans to a bitter defeat .
If we lost the game it is not because of Wenger or Ozil but some refereeing mistakes and naiveté from some of our players :
Foul on Sanchez was a straight red card .
Fabregas handball was a penalty and a yellow.
Eden Hasard run should have been dealt with earlier . Make a foul to prevent danger and accept a yellow card is better than letting a player dance in your area . To get yellow card in a dangerous position is more than stupid.
Chambers is the only one who sacrifice himself for the team and get yellow cards to prevent dangerous situation . And he is the youngest of all. And a newcomer.

Even I gave up blaming the ref. It's true, certain red - but then again Kos could have gone too. And Welbeck. And Flamini certainly should have got a red for that deliberate elbow. Don't think we can complain about the red too much other than to say it happened first so could have given us an advantage. But to think the chavs couldn't have pulled together 10 men and held out for a 0-0 or still hit us on the break is wishful thinking. We would have still done the tippy tappy thing up against a 10 man brick wall.

[Marc Overmars]

It seems like the normal reaction of angry fans to a bitter defeat .
If we lost the game it is not because of Wenger or Ozil but some refereeing mistakes and naiveté from some of our players :
Foul on Sanchez was a straight red card .
Fabregas handball was a penalty and a yellow.
Eden Hasard run should have been dealt with earlier . Make a foul to prevent danger and accept a yellow card is better than letting a player dance in your area . To get yellow card in a dangerous position is more than stupid.
Chambers is the only one who sacrifice himself for the team and get yellow cards to prevent dangerous situation . And he is the youngest of all. And a newcomer.

Lost the game because of refereeing mistakes!

We have a team full of experience now, if they are still naive then it is down to the manager who displays little or no match savvy himself.

[BOBN]

It was in his hands yesterday. Wenger had the chance for ultimate redemption. Past woes forgotten. Divides amoung fans shattered. All looking towards the future.

All he had to do was punch that greaseball in the face and put blood in his mouth.

But he didnt.

He'll never change.

Wenger out

[selassie]

It seems like the normal reaction of angry fans to a bitter defeat .
If we lost the game it is not because of Wenger or Ozil but some refereeing mistakes and naiveté from some of our players :
Foul on Sanchez was a straight red card .
Fabregas handball was a penalty and a yellow.
Eden Hasard run should have been dealt with earlier . Make a foul to prevent danger and accept a yellow card is better than letting a player dance in your area . To get yellow card in a dangerous position is more than stupid.
Chambers is the only one who sacrifice himself for the team and get yellow cards to prevent dangerous situation . And he is the youngest of all. And a newcomer.

The ref was dodgy but he wasnt pro Chelsea, he made bad calls for both teams.

Yesterdays loss was no surprise, we were not unlucky, we were just beaten by a better team. Maureen sets out his team/gameplan the same everytime he faces us, same old from us, passive possession dominance, 1 shot on target.

[Dein-machine]

Chavs have been doing it to us for years. Running at our defenders, lumping the ball over the top and letting a powerful striker barge it into the net. Now we have a player who could have done that, but we religiously keep the ball on the deck and play it short. Tidy little patterns until we lose the ball on the 93rd pass, never shoot, always look for the next pass, move it left, move it right, trying to drag a tightly disciplined defence around that simply refuses to be dragged around. We probably could have played another 90 minutes of pointless tippy tappy and not had a strike on goal. When Wenger sees a stats like that, no shots on target, it will only encourage him to work harder on the 93rd pass.

And as for running at defenders, it's Ozil and Cazorla who should be doing that, not Jack. So he plays Jack as the focal point through the middle to guarantee another route to losing the ball. Play those fullbacks high so we are desperately exposed when pass #93 goes astray - recipe for disaster, the same half baked lasagne week in, week out. We usually get away with it against crappy teams, although this season even that's not happening. Against the big teams they just laugh at our naivety and tuck in for the 3 points.

How many times did we see Ivanovic and Azpilicueta charging up the pitch yesterday? How many times did Terry bomb through the middle like Kos was doing? Merts was the only defender who was disciplined - and he's the one getting most of the stick from the media and fans He's the grown-up in our defence and he needs to have more responsibility. Instead it's Arteta who is the captain - a guy being played out of position every match, a midget asked to be a destroyer. Ludicrous.

What about the subs? When the gameplan is yielding nothing what does Wenger do? He takes off the hardest runners, the guys keeping things together despite the awful tactics. Then he puts another victim into the same system, like for like. The only time he changes things for real is when injuries force us or he's desperately rolling the dice after the game is lost. What was the Podolski sub about yesterday, when we had already lost? Ridiculous. Why the hell bring Cazorla off? It beggars belief. Was he injured? That would be the only possible excuse.

Where's Walcott going to fit into this? More tippy tappy and backward play on the right wing? Or sprinting into space beyond the defender from balls played by our skilful but abused midfield? I think we know the answer.

We are relying on individual moments of excellence to pull our arses out of the tactical fire. Even with all our possession, possession the chavs were happy to concede yesterday, it all breaks down in the final third unless 2 or 3 individuals execute some training ground stunt with the required absolute precision. Other teams just find the space and run. The have other runners pulling defenders. They get in behind and lump the cross in. They play it ugly if it needs to be ugly. When was our last pub scramble in an opposition box where we eventually lashed the ball home? We don't do that, it's beneath us.

We have excellent players and a manager who doesn't have the foggiest how to use them. Or he probably does but for some reason thinks there's an even better way. A way that hasn't worked for years but you know, any day now it will work. Just keep doing the same thing over and over again and eventually it will work - or you will be carted away in a straitjacket, one or the other.

Agree with most of that apart from Merts. The reason why he doesn't run with the ball is because he can't. He is so uncomfortable on the ball & doesn't have the pace to run anywhere. The premiership is too quick for him now, the 2nd goal yesterday showed how he didn't even bother running for a ball over his head because its hopeless. You can't give up playing for Germany because you've "had your day" & expect to play for Arsenal - Most of the games he would play for Germany are far easier than Premier league games.

[She Wore A Yellow Ribbon]

Arsenal have won none of their last 15 Premier League meetings against Chelsea, Man Utd or Man City (W0 D7 L8).

Arsene Moyes.

[Dein-machine]

During another one of Wengers embarrassing match interviews, when he blames Chelsea's money for them being able to buy Hazard & Costa ( both players were available for us to buy before the Chavs, for money that wouldn't have broken the bank ), he at least alluded to the fact that quality wins you games. Is the penny finally dropping with him. But unlike a few other gooners I was debating with yesterday at the game, you can't simply put Hazard & Costa in our team & think we will win these games. Against Chelsea, Hazard wouldn't have been allowed to run past a non existent defensive midfield & then into our box. Look at Merts when Kos brings him down, more in a right back role. You won't get a situation at Chelsea where the CB's are not covering each other.
The 2nd goal - when Costa is THE ONLY threat & we know that Fabregas is the quarter back, how did Kos & Merts allow themselves to get in a situation where a simple ball over the top can let him in. Merts ( because of lack of pace ) should have been up Costa's arse to either win the ball in the air or stop him easily turning, Kos should drop off 10 yards behind every time he saw the ball go near Fabregas in a sweeper role. These things are school boy errors that our manager seems to have no idea how to change.
Everyone says Hazard, Fabregas & Costa are the difference but I would suggest our defensive frailties are the bigger difference.

[sibreen]

I don't mind the losing so much, but there used to be a time when I thought we could score against anyone. Even when we were getting bashed, we would bag a couple of goals. Or hit the post ten times (what was that team in the CL a few years back that we annihilated and hit the post/bar multiple times and it still ended up 0-0?) or almost score with scintillating attacking play. Now, not so much.

The losing is sufferable, but I'd like the excitement back.

[BOBN]

The myth of Wilshere is now over. Totally useless. That moment where he miscontrolled at the edge of the box was the final straw. If he cant even do that, bearing in mind all his other flaws, then whats the point?

Hes just not that talented at football.

Toss up between him and Cleverly as to whos the better player.