Liverpool 3-3 Wengers Minions

[Power n Glory]

I don't really see what other substitutions we could have made in fairness, it's not like we had control of the game when Ozil came off...if we had than I'd think it was a terrible substitution but given the state of the game I think any manager would have decided to try and hold on to what we had.

Rambo, Bellerin and Flamini would have been my candidates to hit the bench if you’re going to go more defensive. Maybe Bellerin for Chambers and Rambo for Arteta. Fresh legs on in defensive positions rather than taking the sting out of our attack and leaving heavy legs on in defence.

[Power n Glory]

He is a master of retention but he had no support in the centre of the pitch, so he was limited with what he could do beyond that. There was a moment when we had come out from a corner and he received the ball on the touchline near the hallway line and found himself surrounded by 3/4 Liverpool players. He managed to get a throw-in from that situation but he was becoming increasingly isolated with no-one around him to receive the ball and keep it. And quite frankly he looked as tired as Campbell. With Ozil on the pitch and without, the momentum of the game didn’t change at all and that was mostly down to the fact Walcott, Flamini and Ramsey were not giving him enough support. That central pairing just does not work but it is all we have and we’ve managed to get through by the skin of our teeth up until this point. With Coquelin on the pitch I can guarantee we would’ve seen a different conclusion and none of the usual substitution/tactic stick beating.

Then why not change the central pairing if that's the problem? Take Flamini or Ramsey off instead of leaving them on if that's what wasn't working?

[Letters]

‘Has it cost us this season?’ I really don’t get the way you think sometimes. That’s like a bad driver that constantly forgets to check his blind spot trying to defend not having an accident this year despite still having that same bad habit. The season isn’t over and even if it hasn’t cost us much this year, it needs correcting. Our subs shouldn’t work in the favour of the opposition.

I don't really understand how you think either.
You're identifying something you see as a problem, how is whether that problem is costing us irrelevant?
If it's not costing us then maybe it's not really a problem?
Late goals which see a team drop points are going to happen. They happen to every team in every season. The question is how often. Is it something which is happening to us too often? If so can we correct that?

We did have a problem with conceeding late too often in games, often being too keen to go forward in tight games and getting caught. Maybe this tactic of going defensive at the end of games is a reaction to that. And actually since we started doing that we have very rarely dropped points late in games. So is it really a big problem? Wenger has been repeatedly criticised for doing it but very rarely has it seen us drop points.

[GP]

I don't really understand how you think either.
You're identifying something you see as a problem, how is whether that problem is costing us irrelevant?
If it's not costing us then maybe it's not really a problem?
Late goals which see a team drop points are going to happen. They happen to every team in every season. The question is how often. Is it something which is happening to us too often? If so can we correct that?

We did have a problem with conceeding late too often in games, often being too keen to go forward in tight games and getting caught. Maybe this tactic of going defensive at the end of games is a reaction to that. And actually since we started doing that we have very rarely dropped points late in games. So is it really a big problem? Wenger has been repeatedly criticised for doing it but very rarely has it seen us drop points.

:goodpost:

[Marc Overmars]

Its frustrating that we keep referencing how poor the other teams are this season to justify when we drop points. The title is there for the taking this season, and we're blowing the chance to build up a good lead because if its neck and neck with a few games to go I don't have much faith. 3 points needed at Stoke.

This is the most annoying thing but I'm sure City will also be thinking if they weren't so careless they could comfortably be top as well.

It's scant consolation, sooner or later someone will go on a run. Let's just hope it's us.

[Power n Glory]

I don't really understand how you think either.
You're identifying something you see as a problem, how is whether that problem is costing us irrelevant?
If it's not costing us then maybe it's not really a problem?
Late goals which see a team drop points are going to happen. They happen to every team in every season. The question is how often. Is it something which is happening to us too often? If so can we correct that?

We did have a problem with conceeding late too often in games, often being too keen to go forward in tight games and getting caught. Maybe this tactic of going defensive at the end of games is a reaction to that. And actually since we started doing that we have very rarely dropped points late in games. So is it really a big problem? Wenger has been repeatedly criticised for doing it but very rarely has it seen us drop points.

Silly logic because the season isn't over. You often mention the frailties of our rivals and how odd this season has been so far so maybe we just haven't been punished as much or found ourselves in a position where we were under pressure like that late in the game.

We may never see this sort of scenario again in the league but say we were to go far in the Champions League? Champs League final maybe (let me dream)? Same scenario occurs and we repeat the same mistake and it costs us the cup? Is it still not a problem? Also, you need to stop talking in isolation of this season. It's something we've seen in past seasons and I'd have hoped we'd have learned by now.

[Niall_Quinn]

‘Has it cost us this season?’ I really don’t get the way you think sometimes. That’s like a bad driver that constantly forgets to check his blind spot trying to defend not having an accident this year despite still having that same bad habit. The season isn’t over and even if it hasn’t cost us much this year, it needs correcting. Our subs shouldn’t work in the favour of the opposition.

Exactly. I was going to use the analogy of the drunk driver who boasts about not killing anyone. Just keep doing it, see what happens. Or you could drive sober, that option is ALWAYS available. From the kick off Wenger had it all wrong, then he just kept compounding his errors. I said it before, he's lost any ounce of courage he used to have. Apparently he trusts the players, but increasingly it doesn't look like that at all. Either they opted to hand the impetus to Liverpool last night (in which case Wenger should have been doing that manager thing he is paid to do) or, far more likely, this is another wild tactical swing devoid of all subtlety and nuance - like his squad rotation (team decimation) policies. Either we're all out attack leaving ourselves desperately exposed or we're camping in our own box, there's no middle ground with this guy. Certainly no middle ground last night, Flamini and Ramsey were desperate. How Wenger could have watched that without making adjustments is a scandal. Lucky Campbell was willing to run himself into the ground to cover from box to box. Our injury crisis pays off again, twice as effective as the manager's youth policy.

Weird match. Up against a more capable opponent we'd have been annihilated playing like that. As it was, this is a leaky Liverpool who looked half decent because we rolled out the carpet for them most of the game. So negative, so lethargic, so careless. I thought we were supposed to be a passing and possession team? Not much of that in evidence over recent weeks. We have some great players and they are just about doing enough to prevent the drunk at the wheel causing a major crash.

[Letters]

The season isn't over but there have been enough games that we're top on merit and Villa are bottom on...'merit', there have been enough games to start drawing some sesible conclusions about how things are going. If what you're saying is as big a problem as you seem to think then it would surely have cost us more than it has so far.

What is silly logic is citing something as a problem despite the fact that we've done this time after time and pretty much always hung on to the result and then the one time we do concede a late goal go "Aha! See? Told you!"
Late goals are going to happen. The issue is are they happening too often and this season I'd say no. We've got pretty good at hanging on in tight games. I don't like us going defensive but we seem to be good at it and it's better than previous seasons when we were bombing forward late in tight games and getting caught too often.

[Özim]

I don't really understand how you think either.
You're identifying something you see as a problem, how is whether that problem is costing us irrelevant?
If it's not costing us then maybe it's not really a problem?
Late goals which see a team drop points are going to happen. They happen to every team in every season. The question is how often. Is it something which is happening to us too often? If so can we correct that?

We did have a problem with conceeding late too often in games, often being too keen to go forward in tight games and getting caught. Maybe this tactic of going defensive at the end of games is a reaction to that. And actually since we started doing that we have very rarely dropped points late in games. So is it really a big problem? Wenger has been repeatedly criticised for doing it but very rarely has it seen us drop points.

Teams are regularly all over us in the last few minute of matches, we haven't conceded many times more through luck than judgment, we seem to encourage teams to come at us rather than playing for 90 minutes.

It's a weakness we have no question, the fact we get away with it doesn't change that.

[Letters]

Teams are regularly all over us in the last few minute of matches, we haven't conceded many times more through luck than judgment, we seem to encourage teams to come at us rather than playing for 90 minutes.

After this many games maybe it isn't luck?