Kiss_The_Goat wrote:Ted Hughes wrote:Beefymcfc wrote:Good to see that there is some debate, and I for one was not happy with the first half tactics. However, the second half was totally different and the introduction of Ade was a god send, allowing us to get forward and force the game.
What I find weird is, like last week, that many people now think it a norm to play and beat these teams. What exactly have we done to give us the right to believe we are better than these teams. Whether under-par or not, these teams are where they are because they have played well and earnt the right to be classed as part of 'The Top 4'. We on the other hand have spent a few hundered million and have earnt the right to be classed as the 'Richest Club in the World', which is not quite the same.
Maybe when the teams we are playing look at us as a draw, then we are getting somewhere, but until then, a draw away from home at the Emirates (How many years was it again?) is a good result.
We have already beaten 'these teams' on plenty of occasions in recent times. Both versions of Arsenal that we played earlier in the season were playing & passing the ball much better than the current team. I've been told we're a much better side now under this bloke than we were then.
If that's true, why can't we muster one decent shot on goal? are tactics & defence all that matters?
We've beaten better Utd sides than this one with idiot managers & teams full of no marks. When they turn up with three 97 year old has beens, several crap signings & a half fit Rooney, after a string of bad results, why shouldn't we expect to beat them? Surely even if we do lose, both those teams should be put under severe pressure to earn their victories? It was like a training game for Arsenal today & we barely had a shot v the rags. They had a much tougher time early season at their own ground.
The secret of the best teams in sport is that they're not scared of losing. We're learning to worry about it above all else. It's not right imo.
As was mentioned earlier, I think that was more to do with bad personal performances from our attacking players than the tactics. Our tactics were set out to soak up sustained periods of pressure (something you'd expect away at Arsenal) and to hit them with our pace on the break. Unfortunately we had players who kept hitting poor passes or choosing the wrong option when Arsenals play broke down, and Tevez who for whatever reason was really out of sorts today.
I think it's less to do with the players and more to do with the system we played. How many times did we see anybody maraud forward? Over laps? Clever moves to open space? Not once.
When we were ten minutes left, there was a situation where Ade (I think) had the ball on the right hand side by their box. I waited and waited, and not a single bloody player was anywhere near their box. We had Micah coming to help Ade out for a connection, but that was it. Sure enough Ade loses the ball, Arsenal get it, the camera angle pans left to show the midfield and there everybody was, sitting deep and holding a line, awaiting an onslaught.
As for Tevez, it seemed fairly obvious from the off that he wasn't happy. Nothing in midfield because of grandad and creative Nige, so he's dropping back to his own sodding midfield to try and start something. And he did that until the 99th minute.
This isn't the first time we've all seen the squad go missing because of an overly cautious approach to the game. And when it happened previously, people rightly pointed out a lack of creativity in midfield was marginalising our forwards. However, because this has happened away at Arsenal, it seems everything changes.
You know, considering all the bullshit this board and our fans have been through over the past 18 months, all the petty squables and arguments, bannings, hiatuses, I really do wonder if some people are happy that with the massively unnecessary change in management and tactics, that these people are really pleased that we've regressed to a "park the bus at the away grounds of big teams" club.