Match Reaction Arsenal v/s Burnley, Nov 1

[mr_brighterside]

We're top 4 now
As wobbly as we've been who do you see being a real threat to a top 4 place?
Chelsea and City will be top 2 IMO, that leaves 2 spaces.
The obvious candidates, other than us, are Liverpool and Utd but both of those are looking rubbish too.
Southampton and West Ham won't last the distance (in a way it would be nice if they did, but I can't see it).

We've been helped by the equally poor form of others but we can't rely on that for the next 28 games. I do think we will struggle as usual for fourth unless we can start beating teams above 10th place more often.

[Letters]

I guess the point is if we're above those sides now then what makes you think they'll all pick up form and we won't?

[WMUG]

I do think we will struggle as usual for fourth unless we can start beating teams above 10th place more often.

Fuck me, I think you might be onto something here.

[Letters]

Fuck me, I think you might be onto something here.

MOTD just called, they'd like mr_b to be their next pundit...

[Xhaka Can’t]

The league is so god awful, we'll probably finish third this year.

I hope this doesn't mean the bin dippers finish 7th and win the CL.

[Letters]

The league is so god awful, we'll probably finish third this year.

Progress

[Dein-machine]

We will win games against the pub teams with Wenger's new found wonder formation of 4-2-3-1. Having Arteta & Flamini as the 2 will certainly tighten us up against the dross of the league but it won't help against the better teams. Its a crying shame that we
need 2 DM's at home to Burnley & against a Sunderland team who had conceded 8 in their previous game but because of our lack of defensive quality & cover it is necessary.

Progress

[Niall_Quinn]

We had 73% of the possession against Burnley in the first half and did fuck all with it. By the end of the game the possession had dropped to 68% over the 90 mins, meaning we must have had a fair bit less possession in the second half. And yet we played so much better. This isn't a mystery. If you are going to play on the break then you actually need the other team to have the ball at some point. It's not a crime if the other team gets a touch. Keeping the ball for the whole game while the opposition sticks 11 men in front of you means there's no space. Everything is easy to snuff out. That old saying about the opposition not being able to score if they don't have the ball is misleading. Sure, if you can hang on to it for the whole 90 mins then you'll probably end up 0-0 with the no fewer than 1K suicides in the crowd.

[Dein-machine]

We had 73% of the possession against Burnley in the first half and did fuck all with it. By the end of the game the possession had dropped to 68% over the 90 mins, meaning we must have had a fair bit less possession in the second half. And yet we played so much better. This isn't a mystery. If you are going to play on the break then you actually need the other team to have the ball at some point. It's not a crime if the other team gets a touch. Keeping the ball for the whole game while the opposition sticks 11 men in front of you means there's no space. Everything is easy to snuff out. That old saying about the opposition not being able to score if they don't have the ball is misleading. Sure, if you can hang on to it for the whole 90 mins then you'll probably end up 0-0 with the no fewer than 1K suicides in the crowd.

Its the same old story but it seems to be so more noticeable this year. Last year the emergence of Rambo, Ozil signing, Jacks goal against Norwich sort of hid the cracks but this year with only Sanchez to shout about things are far clearer.
Most teams, inc Chelsea, will come to the Emirates & play on the break. This virtually guarantees us the possession stats before we start. Therefore Wumger only has to work out how to break down a well drilled defence. When you are playing against 8 defenders it is very difficult to move them around when you only have 4 attacking players - this is the issue with playing both Flamini & Arteta. If Sanchez wasn't on fire on Sat, where were we going to break them down or get beyond them.
It seems that our plan now is to break teams down with our monotonous passing then bringing a bit of pace & Podolski on for the final 25 minutes if the scores is still level. This has got us out of trouble in recent weeks ie Hull & Anderlecht but it won't do so against the better teams who may already have a decent lead & will pick us of with the quality of their counters.
I think the system is perfect for us to use in certain away games & those against top opposition where we should draw the opponents on to us for a change but Wumger doesn't ever seem to be able to switch tactics dependent on opponents.
If we continue with 4-2-3-1 at home we will drop an awful lot of points, god knows how we'd score if Sanchez gets injured. Bearing in mind we must be the worst set piece attackers in the league, our only chance is to score from open play & to do this regularly & to put games to bed we must have width & bodies in the final 3rd with the emphasis on getting the ball into this area far quicker than we are doing. You can't do that playing 2 DM's

[Marc Overmars]

I'm sure we'll finish 3rd/4th but not without caution, this year we're not competing with no hopers like Everton and Spurs, it's Liverpool and United we have to keep at arms length and that's a big challenge because we'll have just as many ups and downs as them.

But of course, the fact we're talking about this same shit again and not a title challenge is rather disappointing.