Gylfi has really been cutting through defenses lately. Vertonghen and Dawson were most outstanding, I thought, but Gylfi next. Parker and Dembele were both good, especially Parker. I loved Lennon's very cool finish. Everyone else was pretty good but not great. Bale had his quietest game in some time, though his nice, quick finish turned the game.
I disagree with the Ade injury. Unless I'm mistaken, the ball was still in play from the time Ade went down to the time when Dawson went beserk. If Spurs benefited from the referee playing on with Lennon's goal, why shouldn't it work for Arsenal? Obviously, if the ball was out of play between those two situations, then I take it back. The ref didn't have a perfect game; it was high profile with challenges coming in consistently, however for the bigger decisions he did not do anything stupid.
Yeah, your defence is not good. I think the other problem you have is that all your midfield players are attack minded - there's no holding player. When you lose he ball, there's no one picking up on the danger, and your defence is left exposed. You've never replaced Song. Why? Ask Wenger!..
With regards to Verts, I will say I thought he was uneasy in the first 15 minutes or so. He made one excellent saving tackle in that period, but it had been his balls up which led to the chance in the first place. I gather he got Sky's MOM and agreed he did get his act together and go on to have an excellent afternoon, but I think I'd have been inclined to go for Daws as he was consistent throughout. But who cares, we beat the scum !!
The ball didn't go out, but play went on for a fair while (and far long than for the Spurs goal), including a period back in the Goons half, when arguably, Clattenburg 'could' have blown I think. But that is splitting hairs - I have no real complaints over the decision.
Always say the same thing about Dawson - this club needs people like him around to push on. He's never gonna be our star man, might not even get in the team at times. But is is always 100% committed, will not sulk, will not try to force a move or mess the club around and when he comes in and plays - I can count the number of times I've been disappointed in him on one hand. He's done such a good job for Spurs since his first ever game. Even today when he lost it with the ref he listened, he calmed down and got on with it. He just seems like an incredibly dependable, likable bloke and the sort of player you would always love to have in your team. He'll never let us down and I'd love to see him stay with us for years to come. Oh God - I'm getting all "next to you in the trenches" sort of thing. This is embarrassing. (But...well I AM thinking it).
I'm not sure that we need one. Horses for courses. Sometimes we need to tailor the line-up to take advantage of an opponent's weakness or restrict one of their strengths. It's also good to have a bit of competition for places.
A reporter said that Arsenal's defence was brittle PNP so tailor made for Bale but our front line is weak regardless. Our strongest defence is with Lloris in goal but Andre will probably play Brad for some reason Against Inter.. With injuries it's difficult to choose horses and with Demps to come back and others Andre might have a small problem as to whom to choose.
District,the goons goal was deflected off of Bale's bonce so they were the lucky ones. You only beat a team who haven't won at Chelsea since 1978 1-0,not good mate.
That's what I felt, minus the "no complaints" The move broke down but before we could knock it out they had it back again and were going nowhere. The idea behind only stopping it for head injuries is that they need immediate attention whereas there's no need to break up an attack for other injuries. However the longer it goes on, the longer one side would be disadvantaged. Letting them take their time to try and build a second attack was poor, in my opinion. Anyhow I'm glad Dawson was out there having a go at the ref, I think we're too nice at times and don't try and put the ref under some pressure. I don't want us to surround the ref but it's good to see our captain go up to the ref and tell him exactly what he thinks of his decision.
I think the WBA win has put us back on track now, close in the end but about time we had a bit of luck In reality your game was very tight but the underlying difference was the two CB's. Vertonghen in particular was excellent, knew when to drop deep and push forward. Once I saw no Koscielny and Vermaelen partnered with Mertesacker (two bang average CB's) the outcome was inevitable. Arsenal's midfield pressed well but when you defend like they did for those 2 minutes there's nothing in the game for you. The fact Arsenal (up until the game) had the best defensive away record in the league is a damning indictment of how poor the league is.
Agree with this PNP - with the proviso that we are still 'technically' short of out & out forwards. I do like the way that we have options around the park though - the interchangeability at the back and with Sigs hopefully showing some form, a similar situation in MF. Having said that, I was willing AVB to bring Holtby on for the last 15 or so to replace Sigs who looked out on his feet and we looked vulnerable on the left in front of Benny. However, that's an assessment from the man who said that Dembele needed to come off against Lyons, so best not put too much emphasis on my calls......
It wasn't really that tight mate - although my bitten finger nails maybe don't reflect that!! The Arse only managed 2 shots on goal all game - and we had 3 clear chances in the 2nd half - 2 of them open goals - that would have made the last 15 mins a lot easier.
I think you needed a bigger win than 1-0 to put you back on track but we'll see. You say that the league is poor? We beat an Arsenal side unbeaten in five and they still played some good stuff as they did against Bayern. It could be that because the goons aren't as strong as they used to be we are making the mistake of thinking that they are rubbish when in fact they are fifth in the table. I can't agree that the league is poor. Liverpool are coming on but will stop this winning run when they next lose and keep losing afterwards. Everton can still spring surprises too.
Watched the game in Hove as my nephew was being Christened 2 hour's before the game. I think we just deserved it as we created far more clear chances . There only clear open chance was Ramsey's. Central defenders were magnificent . Arse had fair control in central midfield but found it hard to penetrate us .