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I thought Shaun did really well yesterday.

His battle with Clichy (spelling?) was brilliant to watch. In the first half I have to say that Clichy was winning the battle and I would have considered taking SWP off and giving Weiss a go.

But, SWP kept going and going and eventually started to beat his man. This must have done his confidence a power of good and the finish for his goal was sublime.

Fully agree.
Never let his head down (he never does) and kept on going and going and going until winning the battle between the two.

Funny you posted this, I was literally just thinking this as I re-watched the highlights. The finish was absolutely lovely, perfectly lofted, weighted and placed. Brilliant stuff.

I was all for bringing Weiss on when Petrov came on as well, thought it was just not going to be SWP's day (esp after that horrible horrible miss after crazy legs crane had worked his lanky limbed boombaclart magic in the box) but he kept going until he got his reward.

Clichy played well yesterday and yeah it was a proper duel between the two of them, pretty evenly matched but absorbing viewing

I thought he was looking a bit 'bullied' by Clichy in the first half but was absolutely made up when he skinned him not long after the start of the second half - I think it gave him the confidence for a really excellent second half performance. I'm just sorry he put that effort wide after Ade's fantastic run through their entire defense.

He got better and better as the game went on and he stopped running down blind alleys as he did in the first half numerous times.

The most impressive thing about him was the shift he put in defensivly. Going backwards he was very good. He played his part yestreday, as they all did.

He did a great job for the team & stuck at it well but both he & Ireland were lacking confidence going forward in the 1st half & should have made arsenal pay on the break like we did in the 2nd. Against a lesser team they would have but because it was arsenal they just ran without looking. Players such as Bellamy proved themselves to have bigger balls imo & led where they followed.

ant london wrote:Funny you posted this, I was literally just thinking this as I re-watched the highlights. The finish was absolutely lovely, perfectly lofted, weighted and placed. Brilliant stuff.

I was all for bringing Weiss on when Petrov came on as well, thought it was just not going to be SWP's day (esp after that horrible horrible miss after crazy legs crane had worked his lanky limbed boombaclart magic in the box) but he kept going until he got his reward.

Clichy played well yesterday and yeah it was a proper duel between the two of them, pretty evenly matched but absorbing viewing

Lmao to funny

TBH I thought he was poor, apart from the goal.

Blue2 wrote:TBH I thought he was poor, apart from the goal.

he looked very poor in the first half. Clichy really had his number, and Shaun was too stubborn. Clichy is a very talented player tho, and i don't think it's entirely something to be down on SWP about. Few will challenge him the way SWP did. He gradually got better for sure. His goal was well taken, but his miss after Adebayor's mazy lanky run ruined what would have been something people watched decades from now and turned it into just another play in an amazingly contested match with loads of near misses.

i was all in favor of taking him off at the half, but in hindsight leaving him on and adding Petrov worked out just fine. Weiss needs to get a run tho, and i felt after his international performances last week that he deserved maybe a look to try and run at Clichy and do what Shaun couldn't.

SWP has been superb this season!

SWP has indeed been excellent this season. In the first half yesterday Clichy had played him well and SWP's attempts to get through got held up but as heas been said he never stops trying. The 2 things also stated are that he was up against one of the top full backs and also the work he puts in defensively. He isn't just a winger who should be judged on how often he beats the full back and gets crosses in.
Much as I like Weiss and how he has improved his game of late I was hoping he wouldnt come on as I feared he wouldn't get much out of Clichy either and I would rather he had an easier start to his prem career.

An to nobodys surprise SWP came through the game well and scored a peach of a goal. I don't even think the miss was as bad as some are saying.Looking at it closely it came at him quite quick and was a bit behind him so that directing in on goal wasn't easy at all. Just a pity he didn't leave it to Bellers as it would have been easy for him.

Personally, I thought he had an ok game - speaks volumes about him that he can be playing below his best and still set one up and score another (and a top quality goal it was too). He got better as the game went on. Never stopped trying. Don't know why, but I always get more pleasure from seeing him score than any other player...

Same, I don't think he was great yesterday and for long periods he just ran into Arsenal defenders and lost the ball. However his defensive work was superb and late on he got reward for refusing to let Clichy beat him for 90 minutes.

I thought he was very good. Not everything's going to come off and it didn't yesterday but I'll be happy with a contribution like that every week.

One cap Whitey wrote:I thought he was very good. Not everything's going to come off and it didn't yesterday but I'll be happy with a contribution like that every week.

Exactly.

Wingers not going to beat his fullback every time but if you keep pressurising him you'll get your chance eventually. He got three chances, one he fluffed but one was assist and the other was goal.

Slim wrote:Same, I don't think he was great yesterday and for long periods he just ran into Arsenal defenders and lost the ball. However his defensive work was superb and late on he got reward for refusing to let Clichy beat him for 90 minutes.

I have to say I agree with this - he had a very poor first 60 mins imo - made up for it by the end of the game though

How come there is a Sweep thread? Surely there is an agenda here. Where is the Toure thread?

Watching the first half, I wondered if Arsenal hadn't done a tactical number on SWP. They shut him down very effectively. Clichy was having a stormer, but he still didn't really hurt us getting forward. Arsenal really picked their moments well to double up on him.

But he adapted his game and kept doing his best. Ended up making an overall positive contribution. Not a vintage performance but good under the circumstances. Linked very well with Richards.

dazby wrote:How come there is a Sweep thread? Surely there is an agenda here. Where is the Toure thread?

There is definitely an agenda going on, there's been no thread about Barry either.

edge275 wrote:

dazby wrote:How come there is a Sweep thread? Surely there is an agenda here. Where is the Toure thread?

There is definitely an agenda going on, there's been no thread about Barry either.

What nonsense is being spouted about Barry by the usual suspects?