We pimped him out to Utd. We didn't want to turn down the money and let him walk on a free. We had ultimate say on which club he could go to.
Apparently the board put a clause in the RvC deal that if he won the league at United, we'd get more £££![]()
We could use the 2 games against Monaco to analyse our system & what suits us.
We were accused of being too gung-ho in the 1st leg, trying to attack without thinking of our defensive duties. However, this was repeated last night probably more so. So why the different results.
Monaco parked the bus in both legs to be fair but the reason why it looked worse yesterday & they offered virtually no goal threat was down to the way we played. Should have been like that at the Emirates.
For me, yesterday was the way we have to play in most games whether home or away. Only against the big teams with real quality in attack should we adopt plan B.
Yesterday we got the ball into the final 3rd quicker, we pressed higher & were less tippy tappy in the middle of the pitch. This suits the players we have. We don't want Santi, Sanchez or Ozil on the ball in our own half.
In the 1st leg we were overplaying in the middle of the pitch. Taking forever to get the ball forward. This plays into the hands of a counter attack team, if they win the ball on the half way line due to a bad pass they can be in on goal with one pass of their own. If we had played the 1st leg at a higher tempo they would have had to have more players in their defensive line which would have resulted in less of a goal threat. If they win the ball in & around their own box, there's less chance of a counter if they have bought players back.
If we take our next game away to Newcastle. If we play like we did in the 1st leg we will probably pub a 2-1 win like recent games at Palace & QPR but could just as easily come away with having lost points. If we play like we did yesterday we can win by 3 or 4 goals.
Why on earth would we be cautious about really attacking Newcastle - incase they hit us on the break!, with what exactly. They don't even have Cisse who is only slightly less poo than the other poo they have.
Why can't Wenger get us playing like this all the time. Go into these games thinking we need 3 goals instead of trying to nick a goal or 2 & sitting back on it.
If our manager was promising him things that he had no intention of providing ie other top quality players to help compete, then I really don't think RVP has to worry about insulting Wenger. Players that have left us have all gone on to win trophies whilst we continued our annual battle for 4th - don't blame them in the slightest. Their decisions mean they will retire with many trophies & winning memories to share with their granchildren unlike most of our players over the past decade.
I repeat the issue is in joining United, Van Persie joined United to double his bank balance if it was just about winning things he could have gone abroad so he is a cunt.
Don't get me wrong we are just as bad for selling him to them.
I'm sure Van Persie will share his treasured memories of being on remand in a police cell in Ansterdam for weeks as well.
You lot have been busy. It's almost like a real forum.
Anyway, it's not a disgrace to go out to Monaco. That kind of thinking and attitude is what lost us the first leg. It's a disgrace to play so badly at home, nothing to to with Monaco who should have been afforded proper respect but weren't. Their manager and players picked up on it too and it pissed them off, and probably fired them up. We still think of ourselves as a big team, but we don't have the record to prove it. A little more humble is what we need, feet back on the ground and every opponent taken seriously.
Giroud is the ultimate hot and cold player. Will sometimes fight for every ball, other times will wander around looking at the sky. He's not top quality and he costs us as much as he helps us. But of late he seems committed to the cause and he's fought back from a position where it looked certain he was out the door. So he needs to get credit for that. But does anyone imagine if we had Aguero up front we wouldn't be safely in the CL QF now? For now though we have Bif and he should be good enough to mount a title charge if the others pull their weight. Forget the FA Cup, we need to be pressurising the chavs and gypos now. Nothing else will do.
Wenger. What can you say? His record in Europe speaks for itself. It's impossible to defend that record. He's the one constant, he's the one putting out the teams, setting the tactics and calling the shots. He's been getting it wrong for almost 2 decades. That's a fact that can be accepted, danced around, but it can't be denied because the evidence is there. Even last night when we dominated the opposition and should have won by more goals I feel the performance was down to the players despite Wenger. People say we did well, not being gung-ho, being a bit patient and conservative. Fine, we should have done that in the first leg. But needing 3 goals, the low tempo, negative selection, wasteful inclusion of Welbeck when he had no purpose in that setup - all down to Wenger again. The one gamble he did take was a stupid and unnecessary risk. Bringing Coquelin off was idiotic. Yes, it meant we had more up top with Ramsey, but we didn't need to sacrifice the midfield to do that, Welbeck could have been brought off as he had no role anyway. Even if we grabbed the 3 I was thinking we'll pay for that sub because they'll exploit the space and nick a goal back in the last minute. They didn't need to.
Then we have this stupid desire the play everything through a congested centre. I hate it. We have all seen we are far more potent when exploiting pace and width. This one touch ricochet wing and a prayer football through defensive walls is amazing when it comes off, 1 time in a 100. But to break down defences consistently you move the ball fast and over the full extent of the pitch to pull the defence around. Liverpool did it brilliantly when they had Suarez pulling it all together. Walcott, Ox, Alexis, Ozil, Welbeck - you think we couldn't play like that? Remember Liverpool's first instinct when they got the ball in the centre? Hit it into the channels for Sterling and Suarez. Why were there channels available? because everything was happening at pace. Think about us when we get it in the middle. Back. Sideways. Now the defence is massed and we play it wide but into congestion. Back it comes. Painful stuff. We aren't utilising the abilities of the squad. That's Wenger again.
Seems harsh to criticise him after we go to Monaco and win. But it's far from being about that one match. This has been going on for years. Same thing.
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