Match Reaction vs PNE (away, Cup).

[AFC Leveller]

I'm starting to think that 35 m we spent on Xhaka could have been spent on a much better dcm... Kante for exapmle.

Don't get me wrong Xhaka on the ball is very easy on the eye but off it he is a liability and very clumsy.

[Power n Glory]

You really need that explained? And you also keep using the word pace when I already said I meant tempo.

So this video is a CLASSIC cameo of the problem. A whole bunch of aimless shite, our usual style, and then bang, bang, two passes up the flank, a ball into the danger area and Iwobi does the rest. You call that shite at the start, "build up play", I call it shite. The real build up play was when somebody had the balls to move the ball forward rather than sideways or backwards. Yes, you can lose the ball if you play it into contested spaces. And that's what Wenger fears because he hasn't got a clue how to coach the defence so loss of possession can be devastating. But you also can't threaten the opposition if you shun their goal. And that's what we do for long stretches of our matches - basically fuck around, terrified of losing the ball. Tippy tappy Arsenal style, or more like chicken's tikka - the Mr Bean version of tika taka.

Pace...tempo...it makes no difference. The tempo wasn't much different in how we started the first half.

And no, it wasn't Iwobi doing all the rest. Monreal's cross from the wing was headed out. We were fortunate that it fell to Perez who passed to Iwobi (sideways) and Iwobi's touch and control was good enough to hold off the defenders and then find Ramsey. Another sideways pass. If either of the sideways passes are unsuccessful or Iwobi loses gets bundled off the poor, you'd be complaining about the 'tippy tappy' sideways passing. It's all marginal. What made that goal was quality control, vision and passing with a bit of fortune.

[Power n Glory]

I'm starting to think that 35 m we spent on Xhaka could have been spent on a much better dcm... Kante for exapmle.

Don't get me wrong Xhaka on the ball is very easy on the eye but off it he is a liability and very clumsy.

Xhaka was a waste of money. Mastermind saying this guy would help liberate the other midfielders to go forward....not a chance. He needs to sharpen his game up. He was allowed to collect the ball from the defenders as per usual and looked clumsy. Could have cost us a goal and the opening minutes of both halves.

[Goonermerree]

NQ, explain to me how this goal involved more pace and less 'tippy tappy'?



From the build up, we were fortunate not to concede possession when Xhaka took a heavy touch and in the final third it was good work from Iwobi to keep the attack alive.

You've picked the exception to the point. I would point out, however, that it took us 40 seconds from kick off to get out of our own half, and that type of play is what we usually have to endure.

[Power n Glory]

You've picked the exception to the point. I would point out, however, that it took us 40 seconds from kick off to get out of our own half, and that type of play is what we usually have to endure.

But that's what I mean. In those first 40 seconds or the first phase of play we often struggle to play the ball out but only when it results in a goal will NQ say something like 'we stopped playing tippy tappy' or 'changed our approach'. I haven't picked out the exception. The two passes that he refers to that got us out of our half and into the final third are often the two passes that result in a ball being miscontrolled or a bad pass that surrenders possession.

Heck, the cross from Monreal was cleared!

[Goonermerree]

But that's what I mean. In those first 40 seconds or the first phase of play we often struggle to play the ball out but only when it results in a goal will NQ say something like 'we stopped playing tippy tappy' or 'changed our approach'. I haven't picked out the exception. The two passes that he refers to that got us out of our half and into the final third are often the two passes that result in a ball being miscontrolled or a bad pass that surrenders possession.

Are you saying that we play crap tippy tappy all the time and it's a fluke when we score?

[Power n Glory]

Are you saying that we play crap tippy tappy all the time and it's a fluke when we score?

We need to stop using this tippy tappy term. Our Plan A has always been a short passing game and that's how we scored that goal. A short pass to Iwobi from Perez and a short pass from Iwobi to Ramsey. We always try to open teams up and create those little pockets of space. We saw that with that wonderful goal Perez scored in our last game. I'm not saying it's a fluke, it's about quality. Certainly for this game. We weren't playing a great team. There are times where Plan A won't work and it starts to look slow and labored against teams sitting deep. That wasn't the case for this game. There was a serious problem with the quality and effort in this game. Not the tactics.

[Goonermerree]

We need to stop using this tippy tappy term. Our Plan A has always been a short passing game and that's how we scored that goal. A short pass to Iwobi from Perez and a short pass from Iwobi to Ramsey. We always try to open teams up and create those little pockets of space. We saw that with that wonderful goal Perez scored in our last game. I'm not saying it's a fluke, it's about quality. Certainly for this game. We weren't playing a great team. There are times where Plan A won't work and it starts to look slow and labored against teams sitting deep. That wasn't the case for this game. There was a serious problem with the quality and effort in this game. Not the tactics.

If short passes are quick and decisive, I would agree with you, but we have a slow build up, or tippy tappy which allows defences to get back and have a cup of tea waiting for us to get to their box. When we get there, a lot of the time we don't know what to do. Defences then get into a comfort zone and are not troubled. They then get more confidence and score on the counter. We are predictable. Today we were just awful in the first half, we just couldn't cope with Preston's commitment and pressing. They were unlucky not to be three up at half time.

[Niall_Quinn]

Pace...tempo...it makes no difference. The tempo wasn't much different in how we started the first half.

And no, it wasn't Iwobi doing all the rest. Monreal's cross from the wing was headed out. We were fortunate that it fell to Perez who passed to Iwobi (sideways) and Iwobi's touch and control was good enough to hold off the defenders and then find Ramsey. Another sideways pass. If either of the sideways passes are unsuccessful or Iwobi loses gets bundled off the poor, you'd be complaining about the 'tippy tappy' sideways passing. It's all marginal. What made that goal was quality control, vision and passing with a bit of fortune.

No - ONE sideways pass in an ATTACKING move is not TIPPY TAPPY (a perfect term for the non-football we inflict). A whole series of inane passes designed merely to keep possession and with no other purpose, that's Wengerball of the last decade. The precise opposite of Wengerball from the decade before. Why he made this obnoxious and atrocious switch only he can explain.

But if you are going to say no, we made 5 forward passes in a game so it's not tippy tappy, or no, we made 3 sideways passes so it's not attacking the of course, you win the argument through rigid usage of absolutes. However, I'm sure no Arsenal fan, except perhaps Ty or Chris Wenger, would have any trouble identifying the type of football I'm describing. And of course tempo makes all the difference. In the matches where we've sat up and been deluded into believing the old Arsenal is on the way back, high temp, forward momentum, precision passing. I think in "all" of these games (there are about five I guess, over the last few years) we had less possession than the opposition. In the vast majority of games where we've been dogshit (as in 99.5%), low tempo (to the point of fans wondering if the players give a shit), negative, fearful, loss of composure, crappy passing - cowardball. We get 70% and have 2 shots on target. Rarely anything in between.

[Niall_Quinn]

But that's what I mean. In those first 40 seconds or the first phase of play we often struggle to play the ball out but only when it results in a goal will NQ say something like 'we stopped playing tippy tappy' or 'changed our approach'. I haven't picked out the exception. The two passes that he refers to that got us out of our half and into the final third are often the two passes that result in a ball being miscontrolled or a bad pass that surrenders possession.

Heck, the cross from Monreal was cleared!

Who cares if we surrender possession? What of it? That's exactly what I mean - the players are fucking terrified of trying anything in case the cough the ball up. Wenger is an absolute nutter. I bet he wanks over those 70% possession stats. Fuck possession, we always do better with less of it. And if you don't make those 2 passes, whether you lose the ball or not, then you don't get near the opponents goal and you don't stretch their defenders. Tapping it around in front of them all day long must be what every defender in the league prays for before they face us. Will it be the Arsenal that actually has the ability to make a game of it (because we've seen it happen), or that comical bunch of pansies who tap the ball around all day long and never lay a glove? You have to make those forward passes and you have to get players up the pitch and facing goal, instead of that all too familiar sight of our players receiving the ball with their backs to the goal.