So here is my comments. 1. I said on match day thread on friday i was looking forward to this and it was a test. 2. I also offered my suggestion of how to win and lose at arsenal. 3. Rodgers picked the wrong team and the wrong tactics and it was so very obvious. 4. Cissohko had a mare but nobody could have seen who bad he was. I said last week i was unimpressed so far, i am not seriously underwhelmed. I'd rather enrique any day. 5. 5-3-2 is what we play when defending. arsenal had 60% which meant 60% of the time the midfield trio had 5 players to play against plus two full backs while we are at it. thhus we got killed 6. Gerrard legs are gone he can't hack that kind of game we need to face this and not deny it any longer. 7. We should have played 4-5-1 like i said suarez wide left and coutinho/moses wide right... and i mean wide f'n right moses.... 8. Atkinson sure could have let us take a quick free btu thems the breaks. sagna's foul was a blatent professional foul even though there was one man left to beat never mind the keeper. for me that's a case for the mythical higher than yellow card that forces a manager to take the guy off. ridiculous. 9. arsenal good value for the win as LFC shot themsevles i nthe foot once again. flanagan should never have got a sniff of that pitch, especially not in a wing back slot and we should have stuck toure right full in a tight back 4 and stretched 5 across the middle and fought for parity in possession... its fairly easy pass around lfc when theres 3 guys trying to cover 5 passes.
This is the crux of why we were overran Tactical naivety from Brendan and Wenger got it spot on and knew where to overrun us, I am just surprised Rodgers did not see how it would pan out. 5 minutes after their first goal the signs were ominous. Why we didnt give Arsenal more respect going to their ground. Closing the space to operate in to frustrate. We'd have had chances.
I'm sick of screaming at the box to get the ****ing ball over the 1st defender. We had our chances, but weren't sharp enough. Coutinho improved things when he came on, but needs some match practice as his balls were not as accurate or well-paced as usual.
chelsea could do this to city and nobody batted an eyelid. I don't understand why we are persisting with 5 at the back. Just don't we need 5 in the middle when we are defending not 5 at the back. gerrard can't close down we can't lose his legs just to chase ghosts. Rodgers mantra was rest when we have the ball and all that. I doubt we've had very many, if any, matches were we've dominated possesion this year. I think it just highlights how tactically wrong west brom got it comapred to newcastle v us.
Arsenal lacked natural width other than their fullbacks, therefore they would play through the middle. Their one weakness and we couldn't punish it because of an inexperienced right back, and Cissokho was awful. So there goes our width straight away. There is no point playing this system if our first choice fullbacks aren't fully fit (although Cissokho should be doing better). But overall, that was a masterclass from Arsenal. Outfought us in every way possible and it was embarrassing. Put a decent midfield against Lucas and Gerrard and this is the result - absolutely embarrassing, and I hope people now realise that we will not win many games against big teams or win the title with such a poor central midfield. Restrict time and space given to Lucas and Gerrard and the result is telling. They did not support the attack and they did not protect the defence. Bright points - Sakho looks commanding and classy on the ball. Coutinho was the only one feeding the front two and we looked more dangerous once he came on. Even a rusty Coutinho made an impact. Henderson's energy was brilliant and he carrying Lucas and Gerrard at the moment, but he lacks the guile and creativity. He will be a very good squad player for this club but we should be looking better players. Our first true test this season and we failed miserably in my opinion. We pressed well up until the first goal and our heads dropped, and Arsenal really took control. Their midfield is a joy to watch and it's so strong that it protects their weak defence and keeper. Rodgers now knows he made a mistake relying on Gerrard/Allen/Henderson/Lucas as his central midfield. It's extremely weak. However, in his last two transfer windows he addressed our attack (Sturridge/Coutinho) and defence (Sakho/Ilori). I'm sure he will improve our midfield come January. Final point - we lost to the best team in the league (form wise). We finished 7th last year - getting any result was going to be difficult. Was hoping for a better performance but never mind.
They were brilliant but Arteta was my MOTM. Protected his defence brilliantly, won a lot of tackles, recycled possession and kept feeding the attackers. Take note Lucas. All in all, their midfield is far superior to ours then again, a lot of teams have a better midfield than ours. I hope Rodgers addresses this in January because we will struggle against big teams in the big matches.
Jimmy, I don't know what match you saw but to my mind Arteta was absolute pants. Slow and no real clue as to what his defensive responsibilities were. If it was for Cissokho then I'd have nominated him for the worst man on the pitch.
Lucas is becoming a waste of a central midfield position. There i said it. He's lucky though as competition is so rank in midfield.
Quite surprised by that assessment but fair enough. Arteta is an intelligent player who occupies space brilliantly - he protected the back 4, intercepted the ball, pressed well, won it back and recycled possession. Unglamorous it maybe but he did the job and let the creative players do the job. He and Ramsey are a great partnership - Arteta sits back and protects, and Ramsey is the legs - he covered so much ground, combined with technical quality.
Speaking of which, I can't believe how far Ramsey has come since last season. It's not just the goals, he's look like a top quality box to box midfielder.. When he got on the ball we couldn't get it off him. Kudos to Wenger, probably the best manager of young players in Europe.
Remarkable turnaround for the lad - I actually did rate him before he was injured and understandably, he struggled to regain form. Took a lot of stick over the past few seasons but he's become a real quality British player. Has the engine combined with skill and vision. I hope Henderson can develop into such a player but I fear that he may be too technically limited.
i think ramsey is merely beenfiting from 3 things. 1. a run in the team 2. ozil and him allowing a new role. 3. a nice run of luck, he's not improved, its just the goals are going in adding gloss to what he could do already. Frankly if henderson had not have simply utterly panicked in front of goal when arsenal parted like the red sea... and in fact had he popped in any of the say oh 10 chances he's blazed over the cross bar this season I reckon people would be raving over him not calling him technically challenged. the gloss of goals hides an awful lot. and Henderson is technically weak... I fancy him more for lucas role than anything else right now. its all confidence. However.... now I think most commenting here are saying the same thing. Our midfield looks a shambles. well the fact is having skertl tool about as a sweeper is adding to the workload and i felt our midfield was spent after 60mins.... henderson or no! I think we again simply needs to see it and address it. formation, formation, formation.
I think that's a slight discredit to Ramsey. Yes, he's always had potential but now he's finally showing it. He's not looking out of place in a midfield with Cazorla and Ozil - now that is pretty special for a young British player. He's what we're lacking at the moment - box to box midfielder, can tackle but has technically stepped up a notch, scores goals, grabs assists etc. We only have Henderson in our midfield who can play box to box.
Henderson vs Ramsey: isn't the best attribute to have in the game is the ability to put the ball in the net given the opportunity?
no discredited intended to the player, merely the impression of him. confidence and a little run of goals makes him suddenly world class when in fact he's just thesame player he was. the run i nthe team's helped him but so has ozil coming in. henderson is just as box to box but you can see him fluffing his lines. leaning back on shots, blazing them over, scuffing them. totally anxious. My point is we have the guy but he's not confident cos he's stuck everywhere and not given a run and faith... yes faith he can run but wing back, right size, left side right back, holding player... he needs a run in the proper position.
confidence. ramieres won all but won the CL for chelsea with a great goal.. how many since. henderson has scored for us. its all about confidence (and not leaning back when hitting it) I eman we can say the same about the total numptys at the back who can't head an attacking corner or free and if the ball ever does get in they are sure to fluff their lines 9/10 times.. its all confidence attacking the ball.
