It's Simple - could be a blessing in disguise

Could you enlarge on that theory?

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Dennis Bergkamp, simply the best

v.good padre

no need to enlarge.

si simple. small squad depleted by injuries. if u had 2 hands, would u rather carry 2+1 less value, or 2 with real value?

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Warning: Supporting Arsenal is not for the faint at heart... It requires hard balls...

If we beat Milan and Birmingham, your analysis will be proved right.

I am a bit more concerned. That's the 3rd thrashing this season - Sevilla was the first (and cost us first place in the Champions League group, which Milan may yet make us pay for), Spurs and now ManU. It's as if we are consistent for 95% of the time but occasionally just dont turn up and get thrashed. But twice in a month is a worry.

We should accept that ManU were terrific esp Rooney - clearly in response to their poor showing last weekend - let's hope we do the same bouncing back against Milan.

For me, the worst thing was Fabregas and Hleb looking so poor and constantly losing/giving the ball away. They made Fletcher and Anderson look world class. Toure and Gallas looked like what they were - a central pairing who hadnt played together for a month (unless Senderos was badly injured, I think it would have been better to have retained him with Gallas). And Gallas was lucky not to be sent off - he may still get suspended for his petulant kick against Nani - which could be costly given the key games we have over the next month.

I think you are too harsh on Bendtner. Considering he was on his own against two world class centre-backs, I thought he showed composure and kept the ball, set up a few promising moves that others wasted. Eboue is a real liability - Wenger needs to tell him he is out the door unless he can control himself.

Traore is still very young - he was at fault for two goals and will learn from it - the problem is we can scarcely afford the learning process at the moment. Let's not forget too that Lehmann played well - it could easily have been 5 or 6 if he hadnt.

We cannot afford any more thrashings this season if we are to win ether the premiership or the Champions League - that's clear.

I agree with Djarse on bendtner...you cant expect him to do wonders against the best defensive pairing in england who dont concede many goals

but the games we lost this season were all down to injuries and team selection

in the seville, manutd and spurs match we played an understrength team which consisted of traore and hoyte and we lost pretty badly (we have conceded 12 goals whenever these lads started)

that is correct

look at this

van der sar
brown rio vidic evra
andersson

Ferguson started 100% of his first choice defence. which incl andersson = 60% of his starting eleven concentrated in one area of the pitch.

Compare

Lehman
Hoyte ToureACN Galla Traore
Gilberto.

did anyone really expect us to win with 1 match fit first team regular in that area of the pitch compared to united's 6?

when you're playing in midfield with a weak defence behind you and an attack which is marked out of the game, your best bet is to keep the ball like England Vs Croatia Keeping possession will protect your defence and draw central defenders away from your forwards if you keep the ball long enough then the whole team can move upfield thus one of your full backs [Traore/Sagna etc] can take up a position in the penalty area to make it 3 vs 4 or even 3 vs 3 if one of their defenders steps out.

The premeditated chopped surfece on the pitch effectively ruled out the short passing game get out of jail card. And with the aerial prowess of Vidic and Rio the long ball was ruled out too.

It was a suicide run.

We survived with minimal casualties, Toure Hoyte Lehman and Bendtner got an opportunity to work out some of the kinks outta their system.
Senderos gained street cred.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 17/02/2008 14:56 by Ares.

It wouldnt have been so bad if our starters showed up. All of Manu's starters showed up, therefore the fringe players settled in very easily. I only blame Wenger thats it. Not Traore or Hoyte, the midfield was waaaaaaay worse than the back 4 in my opinion.

Wenger put the same mentality in their heads he did when we played Sevilla and the Spuds. That is...this game really doesnt matter. And they played as such.

Wed cant come soon enough!

only beating milan confortably with a safe result to give us the advantage in the 2nd leg and maintaining a good run in the league enough to clinch the title will do.