Boy oh boy... where to start? First of all, it was a great atmosphere. The fans were great, even when we went 1-0 down. We're slowly starting to lose our 'library' reputation (which has been deserved over the years). Now onto the game. My heart sunk when I saw Mertesacker had been dropped. Why? I assumed he was going to resume his position after his blinding form of late. I would've started Kosch and Mertersacker as Verm had just recovered from the flu and I had a feeling he would be off the pace, and unfortunately, I was right. Kosch and Verm are TOO SIMILAR. How many times does it have to be said? We need a balance when it comes to our CBs. Diaby coming off really really hurt us. In the 1st half, we got dominated in the midfield. This is why we kept on conceding stupid fouls. It's no coincidence the two goals we conceded came from fouls from Chelsea's runs through the middle. Verm was way way off. And as usual, we conceded not once but twice from set pieces. Now from what I saw, it looked like Torres was impeding Koscielny but I guess the ref deemed it fair. Regardless, the marking was atrocious. Luiz had all the time in the world to set up Torres. We came alive after conceding the first goal, Gervinho took his goal well. Offensively, I wouldn't say we played badly. Cech was just too good in goal and saved Chelsea from drawing/losing. Having praised Cech though.... Giroud's miss? I accept it was a difficult angle but that couldn't compensate for the collective sigh of 55,000 gooners as his shot went wide. I'll give him a season but boy, that would've been a great way to silence the doubters if he had finished that. When we came on though, he did give Arsenal that extra dimension. Walcott was anonymous although he was marked heavily... having said that though, if he was as good as thinks he is, he should've been able to shrug them off. Oxo had a somewhat indifferent game: he wasn't terrible but he wasn't great either. On the plus side, Gibbs and Jenkinson were immense. Arteta was solid as usual and Carzola had another good performance bar a few of his wild shots. Pod made a few great runs and had a decent effort saved by Cech. Chelsea played well but our defence just wasn't good enough. How many times are we going to continue conceding from set pieces? All in all, not happy with the defending. Just as we seem to be getting back to having a solid back four, the same old frailties show their ugly head again. Credit to Chelsea but Arsenal conceded soft fouls which led to soft goals.
only 1 of the goals we've conceded this season has come from open play, the rest has been from set pieces, which sadly, isn't a good sign, and seems to be the same old story of Arsenal failing to deal with set pieces.
And the one in Man City and the two today... guess who were to blame? Lescott and Torres found it too easy to get the better of Koscielny.. and the own goal ok, it happens to the best defenders but talk about switching off at such a pivotal moment. Verm giving away those freekicks didn't help either.
I thought the atmosphere from you was average. Yo only really chanted when you scored and stopped after half time. Maybe it was from where we were standing. However I thought our support was class. Did it come across as loud from wherever you were sat? A great game. Fair play to both sides for having a go. You'll be fine this season for sure and you'll get top 4
I can't see what Wenger sees in Vermaelen. Mertesacker and Koscielny are by far your best defenders. Conceivably if Mertesacker and Cahill had started that game was 0-0 all day long
You said Torres impeded Kos. I thought it was a clear foul on TV and he just pushed Kos out of the way. Having said that Kos should have reacted differently. If he had done that to a Chelsea defender they would have just gone down and got the free kick, Kos should have done that. Not dive, just stand there and make sure as hes pushed the only way hes going to move is if hes pushed off his feet.
And that 1 goal from open play was because of Szczesny blunder after he went into the game not fully fit. We just can't afford to give away silly set pieces.
My section is always loud and tbf, we did become more alive after we scored. When Torres got his goal, you could hear a pin drop The mind boggles at his defensive start up too. I can only remember Torres having a real tug at Kos and I've seen referees impede players for such acts. I guess Kos should've done better but I've said that so many times throughout his career at Arsenal.
My view are that Mertersacker should have started along with Giroud. Played Gervinho on the right with Podolski on the Left.
Disappointing but I could have thought of worse teams to lose to. Just can't help feeling we looked flat overall. Gary Neville summed it up perfectly: no belief.
Mate are you having a bubble???? Your atmosphere was absolutely dire last Saturday. Emirates was only rocking for 2 minutes when Gervinho scored. Other than that your fans were so quiet, with the odd noise here and there. Chelsea fans were spectacular.
A draw would have been a fair result, but it was a Jeckyl and Hide performance from Arsenal - good 1st hlf, timid 2nd half. I'm still not convinced by Gervinho - poor finishing but also wastes too many chnaces to put pressure on. Compare our attck to United's - they seem to make evry attack count, getting shots in, which is why when they apply the pressure late on team buckle. Our attack is too casual, and often runs out of ideas, and it's because of players like Gervinho and Ramsey being a little dopey. Still, overall, apart from the home draw to SUnderland, I'm not unpleased with the start. There is a chance of putting an good solid 5-6 win run in the league now after which we can see where we are heading. City and United don't look as good (defensively), and I think Cheslea will falter too, so it will be a comptetive top 3, and theer will be a chance for a tilt at the title for Arsenal, but I don't think we will win.
