Striker number 2

By Boris Mellor
December 18 2011

Arsenal fans were pleased, or was it relieved, that the team only lost 1-0, clearly a far better performance than the 8-2 defeat at the other Manchester. Before hand some journalists teased Wenger with if Man U beat Arsenal 8-2 and City  beat Man U 6-1 then Arsenal were in for a mighty beating. Wenger replied yes we could let in 14 goals, but Arsenal beat Chelsea, who beat City so it doesn’t work like that.

A good reply Arsene, and I never expected a drubbing, and I never expected us to win either. Why? Because you can’t beat a team like City when you only have one striker, and what is more that striker needs more chances than RvP got today. Unfortunately we have become too Robin reliant.

We could moan about the defence, it was a real mess for the goal, but overall the defence was solid, lesser teams than Arsenal would have conceded a bucket full, and indeed even better teams have let in more. No defence isn’t the issue, you don’t go to City and not concede, it was the ability to attack that was the problem. This defence is solid, but it’s also stolid, if Santos had been available maybe we would have been quicker out of the traps. Most times the build up was too slow, and the crosses too poor. We are missing the speedy overlaps and good crosses.

When Djourou took a blow to his manhood his replacement Miquel struggled to get into the game. Meanwhile watching on TV it was hard to detect what Walcott was doing, if anything, this meant that RvP was less effective. Gervinho had a better game, but his inability to score anything other than a tap in leave us woefully short of sharpness in the final third.

Man City might have scored more but Chesney had an excellent game, unfortunately so did Hart who made two great saves from Vermaelen. Perhaps it’s time to put Vermaelen at Centre Forward and Chamakh at centre back.

Yes a creditable performance, but not good enough for league champions and it will be a fight all the way for 4^th place. From 15^th to 5^th is far easier than from 5^th to 4^th. I like this team, it will beat the teams they should beat, but will find it hard to beat the top teams. Yes they beat the Chavs, and that was great, but they got them at the right time.

The next few months will be a real test of character.

Solid and stolid but no cigar as Walcott takes a day off

Discussion started by Arsenal Times , 18/12/2011 19:02

Arsenal Times
18/12/2011 19:02

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011:12:21:19:33:27 by Padre Pio.

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SaltnPeppah
18/12/2011 21:09

Very good performance by us, close match, it could easily have ended in a draw, City never killed us off as they should have done. I'm pleased enough with that, it's our toughest match of the season, we wouldn't normally expect to win it.

So now we've played United, City, Chelsea and Spurs away, and lost 3 of them, but it means the second half of the season we have them all at home, and if we play as we did today, we'll win 3 and lose 1.

We're playing much better than we were when we lost badly to United and narrowly to Spurs, the players we've bought have largely integrated well and we're showing far more unity and confidence.

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Padre Pio
18/12/2011 21:23

I mostly agree with you S & P, but this team has its limitations. They are honest journeymen that are more top 5 than top 3.

"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.

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PAgunner
18/12/2011 23:15

Couldn't agree more regarding Walcott's "performance". Thought Ramsey was nearly as dreadful, how many times did he try a cute flick that didn't come off? Gave the ball away when we were in good positions to counter. Why is he an automatic selection from Wenger? I'd like to see Benyaun get a run w the first team. Wilshire's return will be a big boost.
Also thought this was a good opportunity to give Ox a late run rather than Arsh. Nothing to lose at 1-0 w the Meerkat clearly struggling for form

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SaltnPeppah
19/12/2011 00:29

Top 6, even, padre. Make no mistakes, it'll be a dogfight with Cheslea and L'pool for 4th spot.

As for Walcott, Wenger should have done something long before the 70th minute, but unlike Mournho, he doesn't have the luxury of bringing on Di Maria, Ozil or Altintop when things don't work.

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eduardo
19/12/2011 00:40

I think despite Walcott having a poor game, it was a mistake to take him off, we should have took off a midfieler at that point and gone four up front, putting walcott next to RVP with AA and Gervinho on the wings

*Signing Ozil is a signing Bergkamp type moment for Arsenal. It changes things utterly.*

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Indiangooner
19/12/2011 03:06

when i saw AA on the sidelines, i expected Ramsey to be pulled off but it was Theo... we hv seen AA frustrating us time and again in the wings .... wld hv been worth a try to give him free role in the last 20 mins...maybe just maybe he cld hv given more to the game ... Ramsey tried to be cescilious with his cute one touch flicks and unfortunately failed miserably tdy and more often than not slowed down our counter attack....

another thing about Mert.... whenever he has the ball on his feet hes most comfortable sending a backpass to Woj... hes jittery when it comes to passing it forward and everytime it gives a feeling the opponent will intercept the pass... opponents dont attack him but stay back and cover the players around him to whom he cld pass thus making him go back to Woj

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De Times
19/12/2011 07:51

Ramsey shouldve been the first to go off and shouldve been replaced with rosicky. Also, it was wrong to take off walcott, and even at that he shouldve been replaced by aoc or benayoun and not arshavin. If arshavin must play it shouldve been in place of ramsey too.
I don't know why coquelin wasnt on the bench, cos he wouldve just slotted in at rb instead of reshuffle everything when we lost djorou.

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Flava
19/12/2011 08:08

Ramsey saw slot of the ball and did nothing with it. I'm not a huge fan I'm afraid.

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Bergmars
19/12/2011 08:24

Quote:

Flava
Ramsey saw slot of the ball and did nothing with it. I'm not a huge fan I'm afraid.

I thought this was his season to cement a place.So far he has not taken it.

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De Times
19/12/2011 08:54

But i warned u about that bergmars when you posted that stupid thread. I told you ramsey will struggle this season after that horror injury, but you wouldnt listen. Why don't you just bow down to the real genius? Say hello to the genius...

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Bergmars
19/12/2011 12:32

The genius who said we will be top four four weeks ago?No ta.

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AJ The Gunner
19/12/2011 14:43

didn't watch the game though i heard how theo was dreadful, how rvp scored a legit gola that was ruled off-side & micah's hand ball was spotted by the ref..

finishing 4th may honestly be wengers target & i suggest we should too.

Can We Now Trust The Process 🤔🤷🏿‍♀️ or Should We Still Remain Cautious 🙇🏿‍♀️

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Flava
19/12/2011 15:24

Quote:

Bergmars
The genius who said we will be top four four weeks ago?No ta.

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Slordio
19/12/2011 17:50

thought we played well, especially compared to the last time we went up to manchester, look how far we've come since then!

the worrying thing is the general lack of creativity in the side, which has been the case since cesc and nasri left. without RVP we would be mid table at best. so many times this season he has saved us wiith individual brilliance.

I hold my breath for a new contract for him. Gazidis - earn your fuc*ing corn you cu*t.

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Shane
20/12/2011 01:03

This isn't Theo's first day off this season, I'd go as far as saying he's had more poor games than he has good games, and by some margin I think.

I thought Miguel did very well when coming on.

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microdire
20/12/2011 02:42

Substitution wise, Arsene had a poor game too.

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De Times
20/12/2011 06:16

Arsene substitution was a nightmare.

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Padre Pio
20/12/2011 09:22

He didnt have much on the bench to make any difference

"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.

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De Times
21/12/2011 01:22

Thats true padre, but we still had much better options on the bench than chamakh and arshavin. Those two should be our last possible choices after every other options have been exhausted.

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Padre Pio
21/12/2011 09:22

He needed striker power, Walcott was ineffective, so who was on the bench who could score?

In the past Arshavin could score, and Chamakh can head in the perfect cross one in three - that was all he had

"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.

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