It's a strange season so far. Maybe the new players need a bit more time to settle into the premiership. But we can only go one way with the players we have, and that is up. With Wilshere and Rosicky back, we have a quality midfield to propel us forward. We still haven't seen the best of Wilshere, Carzola, Arteta and Rosicky as a unit yet..
You're right, we're still a fairly new team really. Cazorla, Podolski and Giroud and have changed the feel of the team, also Wilshere is only just back and it's the first time that Arteta, Walcott and Ox have played with our new players.
What I really liked tonight was the way that Wenger had got the players pressing and chasing down the opposition. That's exactly what we need to do. I think most of our problems have been self inflicted again this season, as when we don't press, we invite pressure and we end up on the back foot, giving the ball away. There was really good urgency and commitment. The players and the manager deserve credit for getting it right.
We pressed and left space in behind which they exploited, i don't think it worked at all. We didn't press as a team, like Barca or ManUre do, we pressed as individuals, which is bad. I give Wenger credit for trying it, but it wasn't executed as well as it could have been.
They had a few chances in the 1st half they should have done better with. They had a chance after about 5 minutes that they should have scored, because we left space in behind. A better team may have drawn against us today.
Kyle that is what you said. --------- If we'd have left space and conceded goals and lost then game, then yes it wouldn't have worked. What actually happened was that we pressed, scored five and their goals came from Gibbs' mistakes.
Not only did the Reading player push him, he trampled over him to make sure? Sagna, the consummate professional as usual.
You conveniently left out the part where i said a better team may have drawn. We give Chelsea that much space, we'll get killed.
All you can assess it whether it worked against the team we were playing against. The rest is just speculation - and as it happened, I don't think we left much space open at all for Reading. As I've mentioned, the only time they took advantage was when Gibbs made two mistakes.
In fact, it's exactly what we've been calling for. For our players to press the opposition more and for us not to sit back and let teams play through us. We got it right tonight, so Wenger and the players deserve some credit.
Yes, we need to hold other teams completely chanceless in order to play acceptably. Because that happens a lot in football, one side holding another team completely chanceless for 90 minutes!
