In my opinion too early to state who will win the league ,5 months left and arsenal arguably aren't known for there consistency , also if city sort there away form out I feel they are more of a force than arsenal and thats not even mentioning chelsea , utd , liverpool ! . Also it would have been criminal for giroud to not score the first , and the odds are always with a striker in a penalty situation and apart from the goals he didnt threat that much . He also is not Aguero ,suarez , van persey etc .....Arsenal have a chance to win the league but they have alot ...alot ! to do to achieve that .
The only criticism I have really is Clyne who otherwise had a blinder again. The criticism is 'why oh why did he not cross the ball the several times he had the chance to in good positions? If he had then maybe people would not be criticising Lambert as much as they are? There were 2 or 3 where he could have stood the ball up from not too dissimilar a position as the Wilshere cross that hit the post but he didn't cross and either passed backward or lost the chance. First game for me where Wanyama showed what he really is. He has shown glimpses in some games already but yesterday you got the whole package.
Really could not play our game, the fullbacks did not push up high which allowed the likes of Gibbs to be free of defensive responsibilities, but I would put that down to missing Lovren and not wanting to leave the CBs exposed. We try to play through teams instead of passing through teams yet we have the players that can play killer passes. Overall thought the teams were pretty level which is a good sign, but Arse are much more direct and threatening
One good thing about us losing is people have stopped making those tedious threads going on about how much better were doing compared to last season, with crude statistical analysis (because we didn't know that).
exactly ! .....now moving on , anything less than a 6 goal win at Stamford bridge next week and i'm going to throw (well frizbee) my season card at poch !
Well, we should start that up again because even this result was better than last year. Mind you if Pochettino doesn't get better than a draw at Chelsea, is he sacked
Speaking as one of those guilty of causing you such boredom, there was a reason for that thread, namely to counter the constant whine of "Well, we're doing well for this point in the season but that's because we had a hellish set of fixtures last year". Sorry for the tedium but at least it shut the whining up for a while. You may have known it; plenty of people seemed not to. If we don't at least draw away at Chelsea, I'm expecting a flood of "Adkins was better than Pochettino" threads. Vin
Lff - MP won't need to be sacked if we loose to Chelski, according to Caught Offside, he is to be targeted by Spurs to take over from AVB who is to be sacked by Levi…….LoL!!!!!!!!!!!
I wasn't aware of this [I'm generally not sufficiently interested in what other teams do] but apparently Spurs have been trying to play a high line, hard pressing game this season..? Unlike us, however, they haven't got the system properly sorted, but it does explain why they had let in few goals prior to the 6-0. Incidentally, they are also having trouble scoring goals and it seems to be a nature of the system that, even with super strikers, you will tend to score fewer goals. Mind you, if you're not letting them in at one end, you don't need to score so many anyway. Saints fans know better than most [because our team play the system very well and we've seen how it works] that if a team doesn't press with their entire 10 outfield players when the lead player starts to press the ball, then the system can easily fall down badly against quality opposition. Also, unless the back line doesn't react properly they can be beaten over the top or through the line. All those things happened to Spurs at ManC during the 6-0. I wonder if it is AVB not being capable of implementing the system or if it is his players who don't know how to learn..? It didn't take Saints 12 games, but then again, Spurs are learning, are 9th, and actually have a pretty healthy points total, so far. Only 2 points less than Saints. I think Levy will persist with AVB.
Don't think Mauricio would ditch a project after one year...especially when it is working. He also seems quite close to Cortese. As above, I think AVB will keep his job anyway....the usual media knee jerk.
Only just seen the goals .... what the **** was Boruc doing? He looke dodgy throughout for me. If that was Kelv, this forum would have been in meltdown.
Apart from the massive howler I think he was fine. What was he doing? He was trying to retain possession. He's obviously been told to play the ball out short as much as possible so he didn't want to just lump the ball long. I think making the first turn was understandable but at that point he found himself still unable to get rid of it, tried to be too clever when he should have just booted it (into touch if necessary) and things went very, very wrong. This season we've made a few keepers look uncomfortable ourselves by closing them down quickly, his balls up is just a little more spectacular!
I agree with Puck...he tried to play it (as no doubt instructed), then couldn't get the ball onto his better left foot. He never meant to do several touches...had no intention of trying a Cruyff turn...just isn't as good with his feet as an outfield player (though all goalkeepers think they are). And he wasn't poor throughout....did some good stuff against the team top of the league.
Looked dodgy? Don't you think that a gaff like that would affect your confidence? He did everything that he could, had no chance with the penalty, but otherwise stayed composed, lots of keepers would have got the jitters, at least he didn't let in 6. I have no doubt he will make errors in the future, but I bet he produces more point winning performances than losers, providing he isn't bullied and victimised out of it, your choice. Get over it and move on. (not aimed at you personally Sf4L)
Hope he gets support from the fans on Saturday...though he's probably been banned from carrying a water bottle on to the pitch just in case
It's the obvious replacement, should they be looking for one, and something we're going to start to need to get used to whenever a 'big' club loses a manager now. Either way, like you, i think Levy will stick for the time being, and I don't believe Mauricio would have any interest in going anywhere just now.
