Arsenal Verdict Thread

[Jefe]

I don't think these stats (from ESPN) are at all bad against the top of the table team that scored six in their last outing, not to mention our last visit to the Emirates:

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I think that's a case of the stats and final scoreline rather massaging what we saw with our own eyes. It was only wastefulness from Arsenal that prevented a drubbing in the first half. Had they scored one of the two chances they had in quick succession, when they hit the post and skied a sitter over the bar at the back post, to make it 3-0, we'd all be having a rather different conversation.

 

[Sketchead]

We didn't get battered on paper so it shouldn't damage morale, which is good. Arsenal definitely should have scored at least five but they didn't thankfully. From what I remember we played well between 28-35 mins and for little parts of the last 10 mins.

Thought both wing-backs had decent games considering they were up against some of the best wide attackers in the league who constantly look to overload the flanks. The three in the middle all had tough afternoons, especially Toti but none of them were up to much. Few people to blame for the first one but was shocked at how tame Dawson was in the tackle with Saka, and Trossard and Nketiah both missed sitters having not had to do much at all to get a free one-on-one down the middle.

Thought Doyle did pretty well in that he never hid and always wanted the ball despite at times being clearly overran. I was most disappointed with Boubacar - really tough environment to play in and their side is a level above but he spent most of the game running around into emptiness and never getting anywhere near putting a tackle in. We saw a bit more of him towards the end but looked way off it.

Tough gig for those up front, ultimately being asked to do something on their own on the rare occasion the ball got to them. Cunha took his goal excellently.

It's a shame we can't really compete but when both your usual starting centre midfielders are missing, along with your main threat in Neto, we're always going to be about 10-15 yards further back than we'd like and a lot less threatening on the break.

At least it's over with and we have some fixtures coming up we should be expecting to get some points from.

 

[JonahWolf]

Noticeable yesterday how aggressive and smothering Arsenal’s press was…and we weren’t able to break it much.
The loss of Lemina was absolutely crippling in every way, with that being a big one of them.
His strength, nous and dribbling ability make him the very definition of a ‘press-resistant midfielder’.
countless times against Spuds he’d shrug off a challenge, which then opened up the pitch because the press would be in disarray.

That option wasn’t open to us yesterday, which on top of his defensive qualities, was a big part of why they battered us in spells.

 

[Wolf 82]

Noticeable yesterday how aggressive and smothering Arsenal’s press was…and we weren’t able to break it much.
The loss of Lemina was absolutely crippling in every way, with that being a big one of them.
His strength, nous and dribbling ability make him the very definition of a ‘press-resistant midfielder’.
countless times against Spuds he’d shrug off a challenge, which then opened up the pitch because the press would be in disarray.

That option wasn’t open to us yesterday, which on top of his defensive qualities, was a big part of why they battered us in spells.

Yes.. after watching the breakdowns on MOTD, Murphy really highlighted how both Arsenals goals (and Trossards missed chance) came from poor defending from our midfield.. situations that Lemina and Gomes would have dealt with better.

 

[Golden Arrow]

Harsh on RMT - they have settled their strike lol.... ASLEF on the other hand....

EMR had no service yesterday and their members are part of RMT.
So not sure if they just give themselves a weekend off as well as receiving their back dated monies.

Yes, just when I thought it was business as usual for away day travel, ASLEF will probably pull the rug from underneath me once again.

 

[KnowNuttin]

Not sure what the plan was for the first half, but we just stood and watched them play, hardly pressed them at all and lucky to be only two down. We made them look far better than they really are. Second half was better, but we'd given ourselves a mountain to climb. To be honest if we'd have snook a draw at the end it would have been daylight robbery.

 

[Beastier]

Looked to me like Arsenal invested very heavily energy wise in the first phases of the game - especially the opening minutes when we could easily have been at least 3 down. Perhaps that was their game plan as had they scored another one or two most likely our heads would have dropped. We were also maybe guilty of showing them too much respect in the first third of the game.

It's funny how we adopt a different perspective of our own team to everyone elses - had it of been us in such an opening ascendency then we would have been harshly judging our inability to properly finish, whereas most of us feel we were lucky to have still been in the game.

I was impressed with Doyle and as a few others above have pointed out, he certainly didn't hide from the ball and actually did some tidy work with it and didn't panic when we did get a bit of possession early on. Conversely I thought Boubi looked lost in the first half, lacking shape and was slow to react and often caught out with slow decision making - I did think he had a much better second half but I expect him to make way on Tuesday night when the suspended lads are back. Also thought Toti's distribution could have cost us a few times.

from the middle third of the game I thought it was more of a contest and especially second half - as above I felt this was due to Arsenal inevitably tiring after putting in so much running to achieve their early overloads all over the pitch (it felt like we were playing a team of 15 in the opening stages).

When we did get a goal it looked like Arsenal couldn't wait for the game to end and to the point where they started making game management substitutions - fantastic side as they are, for me this was a glimpse of why they ultimately fell short of winning the league last season.

In a game where we didn't expect much return, an encouraging second half and a single goal loss isn't the worst outcome. I thought this was an optimistic contrast to last season where we likely would have stayed in our shells and ended up with at least a 3 goal reverse - ultimately we're still ruing the loss to Fulham last Monday.

Surely we have to target 6 points from our next two which will put us right back on track.

 

[EastDorsetWolf]

I see Chirewa was stripping off to come on just before Cunha scored. GON must rate him.

 

[thommo1984]

Looked to me like Arsenal invested very heavily energy wise in the first phases of the game

Surely, surely we knew that would be the case?

They always start like that, especially against “smaller” teams. We should have been much better prepared for it and had a plan to at least try and disrupt them.

 

[ombyman]

Maybe a controversial take.. but I actually think when a player hits the post in a one-on-one, you can’t really say the goalie got beat. Perhaps he closed the angles down well enough that the attacker couldn’t hit the target.

Totally agree, hitting the woodwork is missing the goal. Ever heard the story about ronaldo refusing to play cross bar challenge in training 'why should I train to miss'

 

[lobodelsur]

Looked to me like Arsenal invested very heavily energy wise in the first phases of the game - especially the opening minutes when we could easily have been at least 3 down. Perhaps that was their game plan as had they scored another one or two most likely our heads would have dropped. We were also maybe guilty of showing them too much respect in the first third of the game.

It's funny how we adopt a different perspective of our own team to everyone elses - had it of been us in such an opening ascendency then we would have been harshly judging our inability to properly finish, whereas most of us feel we were lucky to have still been in the game.

I was impressed with Doyle and as a few others above have pointed out, he certainly didn't hide from the ball and actually did some tidy work with it and didn't panic when we did get a bit of possession early on. Conversely I thought Boubi looked lost in the first half, lacking shape and was slow to react and often caught out with slow decision making - I did think he had a much better second half but I expect him to make way on Tuesday night when the suspended lads are back. Also thought Toti's distribution could have cost us a few times.

from the middle third of the game I thought it was more of a contest and especially second half - as above I felt this was due to Arsenal inevitably tiring after putting in so much running to achieve their early overloads all over the pitch (it felt like we were playing a team of 15 in the opening stages).

When we did get a goal it looked like Arsenal couldn't wait for the game to end and to the point where they started making game management substitutions - fantastic side as they are, for me this was a glimpse of why they ultimately fell short of winning the league last season.

In a game where we didn't expect much return, an encouraging second half and a single goal loss isn't the worst outcome. I thought this was an optimistic contrast to last season where we likely would have stayed in our shells and ended up with at least a 3 goal reverse - ultimately we're still ruing the loss to Fulham last Monday.

Surely we have to target 6 points from our next two which will put us right back on track.

Good summary. TBF I think all of our players were guilty of misplaced passes at one time or another - happens when the press is so intense. I noticed Dawson made a couple of howlers and he's usually 'steady eddie'. I also thought some of Traore's work (covering for Semedo late in the 2nd half) showed what an exceptional engine he has tho, like you, I expect him to be missing tomorrow.

 

[JJ59]

Given the disgusting penalty decisions match after match against us I worry that our players are becoming hesitant in the penalty area. Commentators were amazed with the ease that Arsenal danced past our defenders. Is it any wonder.

 

[Oh When the Wolves]

Given the disgusting penalty decisions match after match against us I worry that our players are becoming hesitant in the penalty area. Commentators were amazed with the ease that Arsenal danced past our defenders. Is it any wonder.

That’s what o Neil said after

Blamed Dawson for being passive then said you can hardly blame him

 

[Ned]

Surely, surely we knew that would be the case?

They always start like that, especially against “smaller” teams. We should have been much better prepared for it and had a plan to at least try and disrupt them.

I posted in the comms thread that we needed to kick somebody. I know it's basic and going back to 80's football but a few cynical/hard tackles could have disrupted them a bit. Arteta would have been fuming on the sidelines, this would have got the home crowd angry and could have filtered through to the players on the pitch. It might not have done but I feel that we didn't really try anything to disrupt their game.

Still, all credit to us for hanging on in there but it really could have been a cricket score.

 

[WolfInSheep'sClothing]

Don't think 5 at the back is making us any more solid. Think both Fulhams early goal, and the 2 against arsenal we're way too passive for.
We've scored a fair few this season, In the next 7 or so games where we mostly play midtable sides I would like to see us keep a few clean sheets in that time. Won't happen if we get **** refs.

 

[SingYourHeartsOut]

Don't think 5 at the back is making us any more solid. Think both Fulhams early goal, and the 2 against arsenal we're way too passive for.
We've scored a fair few this season, In the next 7 or so games where we mostly play midtable sides I would like to see us keep a few clean sheets in that time. Won't happen if we get **** refs.

Not sure about the 5 atb point. We've been pretty solid against top teams with an actual 5 atb, City obviously, Spurs. Didn't go so well at Arsenal as I agree, we were a bit passive, Dawson did get unlucky, but maybe if he goes a bit harder he gets a bit luckier. Likewise Kilman blocking the ball across, leaving the pullback, where he might have actually engaged.

However I disagree with the point in other games. Lots of people seem to think we played a 5 at Fulham, whereas I didn't see it that way at all. Look at RAN's position when the first goes in.

We do look vulnerable to the ball into the LB position at times where teams try to exploit that space as Toti does play narrow as if it is a 5 at times, even when Rayan is in the other half!

 

[Oh When the Wolves]

Don't think 5 at the back is making us any more solid. Think both Fulhams early goal, and the 2 against arsenal we're way too passive for.
We've scored a fair few this season, In the next 7 or so games where we mostly play midtable sides I would like to see us keep a few clean sheets in that time. Won't happen if we get **** refs.

I mean , we didn’t play 5 at the back against Fulham

 

[Plovdiv Wolf]

Not sure about the 5 atb point. We've been pretty solid against top teams with an actual 5 atb, City obviously, Spurs. Didn't go so well at Arsenal as I agree, we were a bit passive, Dawson did get unlucky, but maybe if he goes a bit harder he gets a bit luckier. Likewise Kilman blocking the ball across, leaving the pullback, where he might have actually engaged.

However I disagree with the point in other games. Lots of people seem to think we played a 5 at Fulham, whereas I didn't see it that way at all. Look at RAN's position when the first goes in.

We do look vulnerable to the ball into the LB position at times where teams try to exploit that space as Toti does play narrow as if it is a 5 at times, even when Rayan is in the other half!
View attachment 38841

The midfield needs to be stronger at protection for the back defenders.

Many open room and teams walk through us

 

[Beastier]

Given the disgusting penalty decisions match after match against us I worry that our players are becoming hesitant in the penalty area. Commentators were amazed with the ease that Arsenal danced past our defenders. Is it any wonder.

I think that's a fair point - we did seem reluctant to put a foot in early on