Unfortunately I couldnt catch the game. How did we play? Did walcott and gervinho perform? How was rosicky? Jenkinson? Key moments? And what things need work on? P.s I'm new to this board and I see this word pixie being mentioned, is this not slang? What is going on?
Rosicky is a better playmaker than Ramsey at the moment, he was really good. Jenkinson looks so vulnerable, I fear for the guy. Arteta is technically good but must get out of his comfort zone. Santos may well be a better player than Gibbs. Koscielny had another good game, as well as Mert. Song was solid. All in all a rather positive result. Even Arshavin looked sharp. Walcott was below par though. RVP is the King of AFC at the moment.
So Walcott was rubbish again? Is it one he makes way and gives chambo a shot? Or myaichi with gervinho on the right?
I'm confused with what wenger is doing with chambo, plays him in carling cup and UCL, he plays outstanding in both and for England u21, gets heaps of praise of everyone, he was even compared to messi at one point! Yet he can't make the bench in PL games apart from against man utd!
Positives: Rosicky playing with his head up and effecting play, RVP being a demi-god, Mertesacker having a solid game, Arshavin coming on and being positive, actually keeping a lead Negatives: wasting chances, Gibbs and Jenkinson looking vulnerable, Walcott non-existent, Song giving the ball away at every opportunity Average: Arteta doing enough but nothing significant or game-changing, Gervinho fading in and out of the game, Chesney making a brilliant save but also jeopardising that by rushing out from his line unnecessarily
We did pretty well today. RVP was the embodiment of World Class, Arshavin and Rosicky looked like they are getting back to their best. Couple of shaky moments in defence, but they are starting to come good. Jenkinson did alright apart from one mistake that could have been costly. Piskie is an upstanding chap with a chipper disposition, a merry persuasion and would like to see a bit of balance of opinion amongst us fine Gooners
I thought Rosicky played very well and Arshavin when introduced was excellent. Jenkinson made some great runs up the wing so credit to him. Walcott was completely hopeless, could not cross, beat his man or even join in the passing moves, I think Oxo has to be starting ahead of him. The lad is a dead rubber unless he moves him up into the strikers role or uses him more as an impact sub. Also why Walcott is let anywhere near free kicks is shocking, late on we needed a goal and had a good chance, he hit a weak skied shot, that's what he does 9 times out of 10 with free kicks. Arteta or RvP for free kicks and if they are not avail then Arshavin would be a better option, I like Walcott but he was very poor yesterday and his decision making is not improving so he needs to be benched for a period till he wakes up.
Sorry but you are being overly negative about Walcott. Yes he didn't have a great game but he was ok and did get a couple of crosses in, 1 of which was a peach but no one was in the box. As for the game, it was the best we've played in a long while. Apart from the wobble in confidence after the Sunderland goal, we pretty much bossed the game. Outstanding players for me were RVP, Gervinho (first half), Rosicky, Jenkinson, Santos (second half sub, looked dangerous going forward) and Song in patches (he showed great strength in the middle of the park). The defence was pretty good to but switched off a little that resulted in the free-kick. Always clear your lines!!!!!
I don't think that I am to be honest, your point illustrates for me the problems with Walcott, he does not use his head half the time and constantly makes the wrong decision. No doubt he can put in a cross at times, but he does not look up and either lashes in aimless balls or puts them in before the attack has had a chance to catch up. I am sorry but I find him frustrating me week in and out and after 6 years I would have thought that basic decision making could have been straightened out but it appears this is not something that he will ever learn. Don't get me wrong he is still a big asset for us, the main problem for me is that he is not a winger and will be much more effective up top when he gets the chance, but right now I would rather see him coming off the bench against tired legs as he is not near the quality of footballer that OXO has already shown himself to be despite his inexperience.
I agree, he isn't really a winger and is a pure forward man. Unfortunately, he hasn't quite progressed to that spot with others being tried in that position instead of him. Maybe Wenger doesn't think hes quite strong enough in that spot? Even if RVP wasn't playing, i can see Wenger playing Chamakh or Gervinho in those spots. What will come of Walcott i wonder, especially with Chamberlains arrival?
Lets be honest, yesterdays performance was pretty poor. Apart from 2 flashes of brilliance from RVP, we were average at best. The defense was absolutely shocking and were lucky Sunderland didn't put away their chances. Not much has change since the end of last season and unless Wenger sorts out the defence we are going to concede goals galore. I'm happy we won but we might not be so lucky against better opposition.
I would think Theo still has a big role to play and OXO is viewed as more of a central player long term I think, right now though I would give the lad the nod over Theo and see how he works out. I would love to see us try Walcott up top and RVP playing behind him, could be a winner and more direct, how much messing around are we at on the edge of the box without any penetration! With RVP quick thinking and passing he would be superb and laying on chances, keep Song back for the FULL game and I dont see any major changes oin the way we could still dominate games. Altough we got 3 points, which is welcome! If RVP has not banged that in we would be in an apalling situation this morning, things are clearly not working and we need to make some changes to try and effect positive change, Wenger though is so stubborn, he only see's one way to play the game and one tactic and if it does not work we are all suffer. I think it's this stubborness that is galvanising the current bad run, I just looked at our goal scored and it read 13 for 8 games. We have problems in defence and offence and no longer is our side good enough to cover up for bad errors at the back by scoring shed loads. Wenger needs to wake up for all our sakes, he is still the man for the job but I wish he would open his eyes and see what the rest of us see at times. Before anyone says he knows best etc.. he doesn't. Manuel Almunia being our first choice goalkeepers is just one of many counter arguments and symbolizes the mans stubborness and unwillingness to listen to anyone or the fans. He would want to get his act together as there was loads of empty seats yesterday.
Think I watched a different game to you. I thought we were really solid with the exception of 5 minutes around the goal. There were negetive moments but that's the best I've seen us for a while. Ideal, no but we're on the right tracks.
We were nothing special and still look vulnerable against any attack. We have not turned any corners, we will lose to any half decent team. Agree Rosicky looked quality. Arteta is nothing special - but we all knew that already, Walcott is hit n miss as usual
Tuffnell is basically correct. Not much has changed with a different back four ,5,6,7 - how many have we tried now? We still get exposed in midfield (after we attack) and cannot understand marking. That allows ANY half-decent forward to create havoc for our defence. We were very lucky to win - thank God for RVP (Gervinho, Rosicky etc)
We weren't very lucky to win. We won because we were the better side, had more possession and created more chances. If the teams switched shirts then people would have been salivating about how Sunderland were all over us. There are still many things to improve about our game but it's a vast improvement on recent games so far this season. This is whilst missing Vermaelen, Wilshere, Sagna, Diaby and this mighty Squillachi.
