Blackpool 1-3 Arsenal: Arsenal continually exploit Blackpool’s high defensive line
The starting line-ups
Arsenal had some nervous moments, but attacked intelligently and were comfortable after their third goal.
Ian Holloway kept his back four unchanged, but brought four players into the side, with only Charlie Adam and Gary Taylor-Fletcher surviving from the side which lost 3-0 to Fulham last weekend. DJ Campbell returned after suspension.
Arsenal had Abou Diaby in for Alex Song, and also had a late change in goal, where Jens Lehmann returned after Manuel Almunia went down with an injury shortly before kick-off.
This was a strange game, where the pattern of play seemed to be identical in both halves. In that respect, it was perhaps ‘two halves of two halves’, with a high tempo from the home side in the first minutes of the two periods followed by a period where they put no pressure on Arsenal’s midfield, and were opened up easily.
Blackpool pressure
For the first ten minutes of the game, Blackpool were on top. Whether this was a deliberate Arsenal strategy – to sit back and play on the break – is questionable, but either way they wouldn’t have wanted to invite quite so much pressure early on, especially with Lehmann back in goal. Blackpool whipped in a couple of corners into the six yard box (something Lehmann always used to be uncomfortable with), and Arsenal looked nervous.
Blackpool’s strategy with the ball was the usual – they played lots of long diagonal passes, which is certainly the defining feature of their game. That said, Premier League teams seem to have figured out Blackpool’s way of playing, having initially been surprised by the slightly unusual approach, and Blackpool’s pass completion figures (and results) have dipped in recent weeks. Adam was their main playmaker – he sat deep and hit balls to the flanks, but only completed 54% of passes, bringing a premature end to attacking moves.
Blackpool’s best work came without the ball – they were energetic and closed Arsenal’s midfield down quickly, preventing Wenger’s side from playing their quick, sharp passing game in the opening stages.
High line
At some point, Blackpool’s pressure on the man in possession suddenly stopped, and soon after, Arsenal took the lead. Cesc Fabregas, having spent the first few minutes unable to exert an influence on the game, dropped deeper into midfield to pick up the ball, which helped Arsenal retain possession deep in midfield – and also meant he could hit long balls over the top to Robin van Persie, who peeled away to the left.
Blackpool were attempting to play a stupidly high offside line, which in combination with the lack of pressure in midfield, meant Arsenal were able to cut Blackpool open at will. Two early chances fell van Persie’s way (one pass he miscontrolled, the other shot was saved by Richard Kingson), and he also received a ball over the top to cross for Diaby for Arsenal’s opener. Samir Nasri also had a chance in a similar situation, where he hit the post. Soon after the first goal, a quick Arsenal passing move made it 2-0, through Emmanuel Eboue.
Second half
Blackpool came out for the second period fired up, again closing down quickly in midfield and attacking well. They got a goal back in the 52nd minute through Taylor-Fletcher, after Jack Wilshere was beaten in midfield and the home side broke speedily. This hinted that Arsenal were going to suffer another second half collapse, but Blackpool were unable to keep the game at a high tempo, and Arsenal’s ball retention became much better as the second half went on.
The lack of pressure on the ball again resulted in Blackpool becoming vulnerable to the ball over the top – though the defence played deeper after the break. Still, the introduction of Theo Walcott was always likely to cause problems, and a direct attack down the right ended with Walcott squaring for van Persie for the third goal. It was similar to Arsenal’s second goal against Wolves recently, and another good example of a forward staying in an offside position as the move develops, then becoming onside when the winger catches up with him, as outlined before.
Blackpool didn’t really recover from the third goal, and aside from mistakes by Lehmann and Gael Clichy late on, Arsenal were fairly comfortable.
Conclusion
A game dominated by one key aspect – Arsenal being able to play direct passes to exploit Blackpool’s high line. For much of the first half, it was amazingly easy for Arsenal to create chances through this route, reminiscent of Newcastle’s suicidal defending away at Manchester City earlier in the season.
With both sides playing high lines, the game was congested in the midfield, and was a bit of a scrap in that zone. Arsenal sometimes struggle with that sort of game, but both Diaby and Wilshere were impressive when it came to physical challenges.
Blackpool 1-3 Arsenal: Arsenal continually exploit Blackpool’s high defensive line
Any explanation as to why Blackpool stopped pressing Arsenal’s midfield? Was shocked at how much time Fabregas had in parts of the first half, not a good formula when you have defenders who don’t anticipate danger very well (coupled with a high line).
Fitness, maybe? Honestly, I’ve no idea. Bizarre how it came back for the second half, then went again…
I am thinking that most probably to do with fitness.
Maybe Holloway wanted to make sure that he would be able to keep a high tempo game up until the end. Knowing how many times Arsenal have fallen apart in the second half he could possibly wanted them to late in the game push hit quickly. Maybe if it wasn’t for the high line and the game became closer in the closing stages we could have seen a different game.
Charlie Adam should move to a bigger club this summer. Same as Scott Parker.
They have been the 2 best mids this season probably.
Whilst both players have been crucial to the infrequent successes of their respective teams – and have looked pretty tidy in the process – I don’t think the conclusion that they have been the best two midfielders this season is a sound one. Would you rather have Fabregas or Adam in your team? Just because a player from a worse team performs at a better standard than you would expect of them does not entail that they are a better player than those anchoring the midfields of those teams challenging for the title. I’d hazard that the vast majority of Manchester United’s midfield – which is relatively weak in comparison with some of their older teams – would look good at Blackpool or West Ham. Yes, even Gibson.
Good game today. It’s fairly obvious that Blackpool’s ridiculously high line was their undoing. If Walcott had played from the beginning they would have been in a lot more trouble, especially given that Van Persie (hardly known for his searing pace) was giving them all sorts of problems.
From an Arsenal perspective, the communication along the backline was still an issue. It seemed to me that the centre-halves didn’t know when to hold their line and let a player go and when to go with them, mainly due to the weakness of Clichy’s positioning. Most of Blackpool’s better attacks – see the goal, for example – derived from the defence not stepping up or dropping back as a unit.
Yes, good call on the Arsenal backline. Clichy and the offside trap have been a bad combination in the last few months.
Interesting, lots of talk of Clichy leaving in the summer I wonder if he would be missed? Maybe i’ll get slaughtered for saying this but I think he often looks like the weak link in our back line. On top of that his attacking play is average at best, he regularly supports and is often in good positions thanks to his athleticism but is pretty wasteful/ineffective with the ball in final third.
I find this an intriguing matter as well because Gibbs and Traore are backed up behind him waiting for a chance. Not really sure who I prefer, though.
Charlie Adam is insanely overrated. Just because he constantly hits the “killer pass” out to the flanks and out for a throw in doesn’t mean he’s Xabi Alonso. In fact, I’m fairly certain he’s not Xabi Alonso.
I don’t disagree.
Agree. As a Liverpool fan it really concerns me that we are so interested in him. Xabi Alonso he is not. We already have 1 player who can hit ‘killer passes’ but causes problems when trying to keep possession.
I don’t especially want Adam, but the 1 player you mention has had about 4 groin injuries this season and is 31–I’m not sure if Stevie G can be counted on to be a first XI player anymore, as much as that saddens me.
One (non-tactical) point: am I the only one who thinks Lehmann should have been sent off? His foul denied a clear goal-scoring opportunity and the fact that another striker was following up doesn’t change that. The fact that they scored anyway is irrelevant – if they hadn’t they would have had a penalty (ie. a new goalscoring opportunity) as well. Wilshere was booked for his earlier foul despite advantage having been played, and I felt Lehmann should have been punished retrospectively too.
“His foul denied a clear goal-scoring opportunity and the fact that another striker was following up doesn’t change that.”
I know what you’re saying, but I think the rules indicate the opposite, that he didn’t deny a CGS if the ball ends up in th enet.
Stewart Robson, when commentating on the match said that the goal was the best outcome for Arsenal, because if they hadn’t scored, Lehmann WOULD have been sent off.
Scroll down to the 2nd from last slide:
http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/afdeveloping/refereeing/7.%20law%2012_miscounduct_557.pdf
“If the referee makes use of the advantage during an obvious goal-scoring opportunity and a goal is scored directly, despite the opponent’s handling the ball or fouling an opponent, the player cannot be sent off but he can still be cautioned.”
OK then, didn’t know that rule and had never seen this happen before. Seems a bit counter-intuitive, as it basically encourages players not to play on – if Taylor-Fletcher had stopped playing and appealed, they would have had a penalty and been playing against 10 men with RVP in goal for a significant period and would quite likely have won (or at least drawn). So surely he made the wrong decision putting the ball in the net? That’s the situation this rule creates. Anyway, it’s all irrelevant in hindsight I guess.
Just seems strange that Lehman wasn’t even booked for an offence which was seen and called by the ref and would have been red 9 times out of ten.
I think you always take the goal in that situation though. What if the ref (for some reason) decides not to blow the whistle, or send him off? What if you miss the penalty? And really, even if the red card + penalty were 100% for sure, in the heat of the moment when you’re standing in front of an open goal with the ball at your feet, you’re not thinking of stuff like that.
From Graham Poll’s column today in the Mail:
“The rules changed a few years ago so if a goal is scored, the last man is only sent off if he uses violent conduct. Mason was right to apply the second advantage”
So to add to what Carlton said, that’s why Lehmann stayed on the pitch.
hey zonal marking is this supposed problem with clichy and the offside trap the reason why the Arsenal have conceded fewer goals than Manure? with this horrible defensive line including the likes of sh** players like koscielny, clichy , Djourou and Squillachi, surely the numbers are lying to me? maybe *cough cough sarcasm* an overpriced English center back will give us the boost to win the title. i commend you on this website though. i enjoying reading it.
^ this…
didn’t he say Clichy was “the weak link” in the defense – i.e. the other players (Eboue, Squillaci, Koscielny) were fine, it was only him? and to be fair, it’s been an obvious weakness in his game for whatever reason for the past few years. he has one or two indecisive moments in each game, usually in the offside trap, and also when he’s under pressure near his own goal with the ball at his feet. both of these problems surfaced today (he was partially at fault for the first goal, and late in the game was caught in possession and saved by Lehmann).
Clichy’s strengths have always been his technical ability (with both feet now!), quickness, and his tireless stamina. he also makes a lot of interceptions by simply being more aware of where the ball is than his opponent. but in terms of making quick decisions, it’s not his strongest point. I think everyone can see that…
and as for the other defenders, Zonal Marking has pretty consistently praised Djourou, Koscielny, and Sagna when they deserved it, just like anyone else, English or otherwise. far from the instinctive “Arsenal has a soft centre, need to buy a proven English defender who can just hoof the ball away” stuff that English journalists love to repeat year after year…
I think, given the number of times Clichy has been caught on the ball, that he would do well to “hoof the ball away”.
Tobias:
1. having conceded less goals doesn’t necessarily translate into having more points, though they’re often correlated.
2. i don’t see how anyone who’s watched a decent quantity of arsenal games this year could deny that Clichy, while often playing well, has also made a number of individual errors that came with consequences.
3. While Djourou and Koscielny have both played quite well, the squad’s record with Squillaci on the field in terms of w/l/d and goals conceded has been pretty dire to my knowledge.
4. Snarking ZM over Arsenal is absurd. Commentators from so many sources subscribe to the narrative you’re mocking, but this site isn’t one of them so why you felt compelled to come out talking merde with your “supposed problem” when anyone who’s watched the big Arsenal games this year has seen the high line and offside trap breached, including on each occasion when Arsenal’s played Man U, the team you make a point of insulting.
5. David’s comment regarding Clichy’s strengths and weaknesses strikes me as (a) spot on and (b) a useful and interesting interjection.
Nevertheless, I commend you for displaying skepticism regarding the media narrative around Arsenal. Now if you could only put your sarcasm to use against those who merit it…
So maybe Arsenal have conceded less goals than Man Utd? So what? That doesn’t stop Arsenal’s back 4 (and GK) being completely shambolic on occasion! Just think of where Arsenal would be in the league right now if only they had a decent back line!
They may have conceded more goals, but give me Vidic over Squillaci or Koscienly any day of the week! Hopefully next season Vermaelen and Djourou can forge a decent partnership, because both have been sorely missed when absent. But we do need some decent cover at centreback, and sadly Squillaci doesn’t fit the bill for me, I’m afraid.
It’s cheapo defensive options that have killed our seasons in previous years, and history will repeat until we get decent cover in. Squillaci is just another name in a long list that includes Garde, Stepanovs, Senderos, Cygan, Silvestre, and Sol Campbell (in his second spell last year). Maybe Arsene *should* splash the cash on a no-nonsence English defender – can’t be worse that we’ve already got!
agree, agree, agree (especially with the last paragraph). If Man Utd needed a defender now, I reckon they would offer Bolton proper money for Cahill. Maybe Arsenal should do the same…..
Squillaci doesn’t fit the bill? what team out there has a 4th choice centre back that “fits the bill”? Man Utd’s defensive record when they play Jonny Evans is terrible this year. it was a partnership of Evans + Smalling (comparable to Squillaci + Koscielny in the pecking order) that was responsible for, among other things, the 4-0 defeat to West Ham in the Carling Cup… same with Chelsea, their 4th choice centre back all year has been Paulo Ferreira (even after the signing of David Luiz, since Alex has been injured for all of 2011).
Inter conceded 5 goals to Schalke playing their 3rd and 4th centre backs, a week after conceding 3 goals in the Milan derby. Werder Bremen are missing their 2nd choice CB (Naldo) and 1st choice LB (Boenisch) and they are battling relegation, due to their terrible defensive record (in part because of the form of Mertesacker, the Arsenal fans’ favorite name to throw around).
the fact is, while Arsenal’s defending has not been good, Man Utd’s hasn’t been any better. they conceded 2 goals in the first half of their game at Blackpool, and should’ve conceded a 3rd for a penalty on Rafael early in the second half. the difference is, when they do concede stupid goals (another example being the most recent West Ham game, when they conceded 2 penalties in the first half), they usually fight back and score even more (Rooney got a hat trick that day). we simply fall short (like the West Brom game – similar situation, but we only got a draw). I mean, we haven’t lost a league game since December. just a couple more goals in crucial situations, which United have gotten and we haven’t, and the table would look quite different. that’s the real problem at the moment.
yeah pretty mad that it’s come to arsenal relying on 3rd and 4th choice CBs and a 4th choice gk. Yet pundits talk about strength in depth etc without much mention of this! I wonder how other teams would do? Anyone fancy Chelsea or Utd to win many games with their equivalent players?
well, ok, I understand your reasoning about Johnny Evans, so at the very least, perhaps Arsenals 3rd choice Centre Back needs to be better (the goal they conceded in the Carling Cup final was COMPLETELY the fault of Koscielny).
Also, They’ve needed better Goalkeepers for ages now – Szceseny has emerged as a good enough keeper, but you need more than one good keeper in your squad to win the league over the course of the season – Kusczak played for Man U on Saturday against Fulham and didn’t drop any clangers, did he – ? – you could say that he was playing in front of a good defense which protected him from awkward situations, but thats the point with Arsenal – their combination of Centre-Backs and Goalkeeper has NEVER been good enough in the last 3 to 4 seasons – that triangle of players has to be very solid to keep goals out (basically, Arsenal keep using poor goalkeepers behind poor Centre-Backs – a catastrophic combination as the evidence has shown).
Wenger HAS GOT TO change his policy now because the past is now simply repeating itself again and again……
1. Koscielny has for the most part played well. He made a mistake in the Carling Cup final for sure, but on the other hand he played very well in the win over Barca and in many other games as well. He can back up TV as they both have similarly aggressive styles. That’s also why he fits well with the more reserved Djourou – the pair of them played excellently for most of the season, hence Arsenal’s low amount of goals conceded.
2. Your assertion that Arsenal’s CBs have been consistently poor doesn’t stand up – Campbell, Toure and Gallas were actually quite good, for example. They haven’t found a consistent pairing to keep together, though, but that’s been in part through a miserable injury record.
3. You’re right about the keepers – Arsenal need to find one and stick with it.
4. Still, you’re just some random dude. Take your “Wenger HAS GOT TO” BS on a long walk off a short pier. He’s the professional, and what he’s really got to do is his job. What he has not got to do is let random fans tell him how to do it.
Ah, could not agree more.
“If you’re winning 2-0, you have to try for 3-0.
It’s a big mistake to be defensive; it’s more risky not to take risks.”
-Josep Guardiola
“give me Vidic over Squillaci or Koscienly any day of the week!”
translation: I’ll take the 1st choice CB off the #1 team in the league over the 3rd or 4th choice CB from the 2nd place team. Hello, no brainer.
Also, apparently you don’t remember the actual games from last year very well because Campbell played surprisingly well, though I’m not defending Silvestre et al.
In any event, I think it’s clear that given how Squillaci did not fare well in the first half of the season, and with unable to play, in retrospect another CB should have been bought, or maybe they could have promoted Nordveit instead of selling him. But why that person should be English is beyond me. It should be someone who can play, and f#&% the nationality.
And as for the aggregate goals allowed record, while it’s certainly not the be-all-and-end-all statistic, I think it’s a clear indication that Arsenal’s problems at the back are not as bad as some people make them out to be, even though they may be bad enough to result in the team placing 2nd instead of 1st in the league and bowing out of all the cups.
- to reply to your reply to me above:
You’ve misunderstood my comment regarding Arsenals Centre-Backs: I agree with you, Campell (in his prime-not last year), Toure and Gallas are indeed good Centre-Backs. But their understudies have not been good enough (Cygan, Senderos, Squillaci, to name three). I’m not entirely convinced by Koscielny, but we’ll agree to disagree on that one.
Your last comment is fair enough, Wenger does have to do his own thing, but the point me and others on this forum are trying to make is that up until now (since they got to the Champions League Final in 2006) Wengers way simply hasn’t worked. The last 3 to 4 seasons have seen Arsenal have, towards the end of each season, had a chance of winning the league, only to blow it by letting in stupid goals (last season’s Fabianski ball-drop at Wigan, this season’s Almunia howler at West Brom) and not winning games they should win (look at the Sunderland and Blackburn games over the last couple of weeks).
My honest opinion is that Wenger has done a very good job at consistently challenging for honours without overspending on players and bringing through youth very well, but he is at the point now where most people (including “random dude’s” like myself, along with professional Journalists and Pundits) believe that he needs to bring some proven quality into some key positions (namely Central Defence and in Goal), rather than just relying on players with potential who come at a low cost.
Your other point about Nationality – I agree, Wenger doesn’t necessarily have to buy someone English, but he does need to buy someone with proven quality, and, most importantly (because they play in the English league) someone who will perform well in the English Premiership. Hence why I suggested they buy Gary Cahill from Bolton.
I am not certain that if I were to buy an EPL CB I would pick Cahill, but I take your point on proven performance to a degree. At the same time, as the mutual fund warnings say, past performance is no guarantee of future performance. Transfers are inherently filled with risk, and anyone (Torres, say) might turn out to suck in a particular circumstance despite having been top notch before.
Furthermore, the “professional journalists and pundits” that I am exposed to seem to vary greatly in their degree of useful knowledge. ZM, J.Wilson, Sid Lowe, and some of the others seem to have decent insights (and Wilson tore into Arsenal recently) but many of the others, even in the best of media outlets (like the guardian) spout recycled cliches, and don’t even get me started on the english-language-television fools (I think it would be best if Seedorf (once he retires) and Hislop commentated every game broadcast in english from now on) so for you to point out that pundits concur with anything is completely irrelevant from my perspective.
Personally, I’ve thought the entire time that Arsenal would have done best to sell Gallas, keep Toure, and Jack’s a doughnut, there they’d be. As for keepers, I’d prefer Mannone or Szczesny to be given full confidence and just get on with it.
Ryan, just to be clear of what i drew from your statement. You would rather have a defender from the team who has conceded over 30 goals (Vidic is arguably 1st choice)instead of Kos or squilly who are most likely not the 1st choice CB on the team sheet.
interesting fact: Djourou hasn’t lost a league game since 2008
edit: sorry, meant to add that onto my own post
arsenal conceded=27 ghouls
Great report as ever, thank you. some comments:
“With both sides playing high lines, the game was congested in the midfield, and was a bit of a scrap in that zone. Arsenal sometimes struggle with that sort of game, but both Diaby and Wilshere were impressive when it came to physical challenges.”
Also, both Diaby and Wilshere’s main strength (when playing well) is probably good control in tight areas, so it doesn’t surprise me much that as a pair they were able to deal with a congested midfield.
As for Cesc’s passing over the top of high defences, this is quickly becoming a speciality especially when picking out the sort of van Persie run you mention briefly in the article – in behind and drifting left. I think we’ve seen this connection between those two players lots of times this season, and it’s the kind of thing we really miss when fabregas doesn’t play. As well as Nasri has done in some games as an understudy, he doesn’t quite have the vision and range of passing that Cesc has (who does!?).
Finally, “At some point, Blackpool’s pressure on the man in possession suddenly stopped…” this is unusually vague by ZM’s standards! I would expect an exact moment when it stopped, as well as reasons why…
Both Adam Scott and Jason Day gave much classier humble interviews after losing the Masters by 1 shot..Tiger could learn something from them
Someone explain Wenger to me.
On one hand, some call him a genius. With so little resources he kept Arsenal in the top 4 and the champions league.
On the other hand, he’s a poor tactician, knows nothing about defense (or attack for that matter, look at the stats), recruits second-rate players and has too much faith in them, only has one plan to play – pass the ball to death around the opponent’s box and hope there’s a goal – and can’t adapt and learn, etc…. Objectively, he would have been fired a long time ago were this any other industry. Not only is he not world class, but he’s not even a good manager really.
If he’s fired, and someone else is brought to take over, do you think Arsenal will regret it? Is it because he’s so good or that he’s not but other options aren’t good either (Blanc, Deschamps, Van Gaal….. Ian Holloway)?
I’m not sure where to start with that load of tripe.
The distinction is that he’s very much a ‘manager’ as opposed to a ‘coach’. He’s no pretentious tactician, he’s a hell of a lot more. If and when he leaves Arsenal, they’re going backwards in the short-term at least. You attack his ’second rate players’ but what exactly does this mean? Arsenal simply aren’t in a position to do what they want in the transfer market. And yet I’m quite happy with the players we’ve brought into the club over the last 5-6 years. He’s still very skilled at spotting talent on a comparatively tiny budget.
I think his weaknesses tactically are overblown anyway. He’s not as naive as some make out, and anything he does do which works on a tactical level is often ignored anyway. He has adapted the way we play, and he has introduced different types of forwards in order to give us the ‘plan B’ that the media so love to talk about.
I think I will conclude by basking in your statement that he knows nothing about attack.
Glorious.
While I disagree with the infidel above on most points (and think that if Arsenal let Arsene go they would regret it massively in almost no time), I can’t concur with your assertion that “weaknesses tactically are overblown anyway.” I feel like reading this very site’s reports catalyzed some of my own observations about how the team does not react well to tactical opportunities or change its plans well in midstream.
The amount of recent Arsenal goals that have gone Fabregas – Walcott – RVP is pretty incredible.
That is a pretty devastating attacking combo. It combines the best features of all three (Cesc vision, Theo pace and RvP movement) I think this is why they have been more reliant on right sided attacks than left side as they don’t have the same options on that side.
Speaking of Arsenal defense, Wenger lately cited the statistic that they conceded less goals than United as proof that he has a better defense than them. Yes, koscielny and almunia are better than vidic and van der sar, lol. Would you guys put this to the possession game Arsenal play or United’s awful form (especially away) this season? A little bit of both probably, but that stat really makes wenger and arsenal look much better than they really are to be honest.
He simply said they had a better defensive record, which is true.
There’s no doubt Almunia and Squillaci in particular have been raving liabilities, but on the flip side, when Djourou came into the team we played extremely well, brought the best out of Kosielny as well, and Szczesny came in, they formed a very good partnership which kept plenty of clean sheets.
Actually since the turn of the year, 30 mad minutes at Newcastle aside (during which Djourou was off the pitch), we’ve been pretty sound defensively in the league.
Jaymin herbs you below. I concur with him. All things considered I’d take
Clichy-Vermaelen-Djourou-Sagna
Szczesny
over
Evra-Ferdinand-Vidic-? (Rafael? O’Shea? Brown? Who’s the starter when all are fit?)
Van Der Sar
Vidic is probably the best CB of these four, admittedly. Evra may be better than Clichy but also is older and may have peaked already, while Clichy could still straighten out his decision-making and become the best in the league given his physical assets and technical ability. Sagna is better than anyone Man U can play on the right, and Ferdinand, while quite good, is also old and creaky. Djourou and Vermaelen can grow together if they can ever play without injuries. Van Der Sar is great but older than dirt.
you’re right, if we’re being honest, it’s only a statistic which records events as they have actually transpired in the real world. you should tell me how you feel, and we can talk about that instead. as a facts based discussion seems a bit cold for you, “to be honest”.
well said.
The problem for Arsenal is that that they cannot win crucial matches. Every time thath Arsenal plays a crucial match, the team does not play well. They had a chance to be near United but they did not win Blackburn, West Bromwich and Sunderland. Especially, against Blackburn and Sunderland the problem was not their defense.
haha what? it’s the non-crucial matches where we’ve played the worst. 4 of our worst games this season have come against West Brom and Newcastle (2 losses where we were awful offensively, and 2 draws where we collapsed defensively). in those games alone we dropped 8 points, which is obviously a big deal. sure, we lost to Chelsea and Man Utd, but so what? Man Utd also lost to Chelsea away, and they still have to come to the Emirates. the difference is, they’ve won 14 of their 15 home league games, while Arsenal’s home record is spotty at best (but they do have the best away record in the league, for some reason).
Can be summed up quite simply really, Blackpool’s high line and poor defensive positioning was constantly exposed, would have been even worse if Walcott had played from the start, I remember he ripped Blackpool apart back in August.
Focusing though on Arsenal, and more to the point, Fabregas. I thought he played well yesterday, although he was pretty much allowed to from about the 20th minute onwards, but what are people’s opinions on him as a player, and opinions on the whole Barcelona saga? I would describe him as a footballing box to box midfielder, quite a rare player in my opinion. Most box to box midfielders are all action, combative midfielders, of course that is not Cesc, but nor in my opinion is he a playmaker, deep lying playmaker or a Ozil/Sneijder type of player, is it me or is he quite unique?
He plays more killer balls in my opinion than Xavi and Iniesta, but is he better than either, I would say no. Which must raise the question, why is he do desperate for this move to Barcelona, because surely he’s not going to be playing regularly. Busquets-Xavi-Iniesta is a near perfect footballing midfield trio, so where do you play Cesc. I’m sure he could play wing, kind of how Nasri does for Arsenal at the moment, but he wouldn’t be as effective doing so, and Barcelona’s wingers are very effective with what they do at present in terms of good movement in behind, and intense pressing, so why fix what isn’t broken?
Perfect move for Fab in my opinion would be Madrid, can’t see that happening though.
All this chat about are defense. Yes at times it is shambolic but it is more due to our midfield who literally go missing for periods of a game. Watch Diaby race back and then saunter towards the Blackpool player reluctant to make a challenge.
Our biggest issue this season is killing games off due to
1. Abysmal finishing
2. Lack of fitness, too many Arsenal players seem to lose it in the final half hour – Arsharvin, Fabregas and yes even Nasri.
3. Lack of Fight. When your captain clearly wants to be somewhere else how can he display leadership/resolve?
I like this website but of course not everything can be explained by tactics alone.
I WOULD LIKE TO REMIND EVERYONE OF AN ALMOST IDENTICAL FOUL/GOAL INCIDENT IN THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL.
THE PLAY WAS BROUGHT BACK, LEHMAN SENT OFF,(FREE KICK AND NOT PEN YES)
SWINGS AND ROUNDABOUTS. ID GIVE BLACKPOOL A 5-0 WIN OVER US FOR A CORRECT OFFSIDE CALL ON ETO FOR THEIR FIRST GOAL ANY DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
lol, best and worst night of my footballing watching life in gay Paris
ps if Lauren had played that night when Eto made his run for the sending off im sure a nice accidental clash of heads would have put him out the game,
Great site. Keep doing.
“Blackpool whipped in a couple of corners into the six yard box (something Lehmann always used to be uncomfortable with), and Arsenal looked nervous.”
Jens Lehmann has never been uncomfortable with corners, at least when compared to other Arsenal keepers. If you don’t trust me, ask Arsene Wenger. Of course he has made some mistakes at commanding his area, but name me one keeper that has never made those mistakes.