'kin hell ,lads ! .......... we made a couple of silly mistakes and we lost 2-1 . did i miss something ? did i mis-read the scoreline and it was actually 12 - 1 ? ONWARDS !
In these eight trophy-less years, one of our biggest faults has been not reacting well to defeats. Normally after one, we struggle and drop points in the next game. So it's good that we have Palace next, where we need performance as well as the result. Cazorla needs to start and need to get Flamini back into that midfield, because it did lack bite tonight.
I don't think it was Gibbs that ****ed up it seem like it was Sagna me personally I think Sagna was the weak link he seem very lazy to me sometimes.
no you WUM tw@t , i see it as proof that we dont roll over when its tough . NO one said we would beat them at their gaff . we still did tho didnt we ? and dont start with all the , they didnt really need to win so you had it easy cr@p . Bayern dont let ANY team win at their gaff ,
ill have to look again but it looked like Gibbs either went to make the challenge or backed off the guy completely , he instead did neither , and by the time he decided what to do it was too late.
Gibbs should have tracked the runner down the wing, but went to the man with the ball instead. It was a mistake that ultimately cost us the game, but overall Gibbs has been very good for us this season so I'm not about to start singling out players for criticism.
His energy is also very infectious and speeds up the tempo of our game Like Rosicky at his best. Flamini has been just as important as either Ramsey or Ozil this season.
I'd actually use the Flamini Arteta combo here. Arteta had a great game and Flamini is a monster. Those two should be able to control the midfield like we did v. Napoli.
One irrelevant thing here, but today has gone to show even more why i want Klopp as our next manager. The way the guy was celebrating their goals up in the stands, jumping around and hugging the guy next to him, it's clear how passionate he is about the game, and about his team. He's like a young Wenger, back when he was hungrier for success.
When you can afford anything better than a caravan in Southend, come back and chat about hotels & customer service. Back to footie....you're a spud, so wtf would you know about real footie?
We deffinately lacked the cut thrust and intensity of previous games, I think we lost it rather than Dortmund winning it. Gutted we lost as I think a draw at worst was fair on the balance of play. As previously mentioned, the next 2 games are vital. Vital we do not fall back in to bad habits of feeling sorry for ourselves.. confidence and momentum needs to stay! If Santi is 90% fit he has to be a starter, Flamini not playing tonight also showed how important his "true grit" was missed. An average day at the office with a disappointing result, but not totally negative.
neither am i , as i said it was a silly mistake but , he has played enough good football to outweigh that . sh1t happens , but the success we have been having , i think is in no small measure related to the closing down of the opposition fast . For large parts of that game tonite we didnt do that . there was a period when we upped the pace and played one touch , we looked really dangerous , then we took the gas off again and they punished us.
One thing i noticed about tonight was that it was our British core that let us down. Might explain why British football is in the doldrums, the players lack mental toughness.
Good things: Koscielny. Giroud had mostly a good game - ran his socks off. Bad things: Ozil is not a winger, he plays best in the centre. Wilshere & Sagna misplaced a lot of passes. Ramsey decided he was Maradonna for their first goal, and he isn't. A severe lack of width meant the fullbacks committed too far forward leaving the flanks exposed on the counter - see Dortmund 2nd goal. Lack of width also meant Dortmund could stay compact - no need to push men out wide to defend, preventing space on the attack. Arsenal need wide men playing wide. At least one to stretch the opposition defense be it Theo, Pod, Cazorla, Ox...not Ozil or Wilshere.
Just got back from the game, obviously disappointed, and the piss pouring rain in the end made it even better. We have our work cut out for us now, we needed to win all our home games to qualify, now we need to go to both Dortmund and Napoli and get something from both games if we're going to want to qualify. Today's game also shows how that gaping hole in our strike department will hurt us, and that's not slating Giroud, he did his job today, scored and worked hard, but in the big games, in the last 15-20 minutes, when the striker is looking tired, and we're lacking the cutting edge, you want to have a super quality striker on the bench ready to come on and do something, and with all respect to Bendtner, he's not that striker, as much as some on here would like him to be, in a game against Dortmund I don't really feel confident in having Bendtner come on to help us out. As long as we have that gap in our strike department, we're always going to be at a major disadvantage.
