.....and the general urgency of our team. Vermaelen was bullied by Zamora and unsettled into making mistakes, which cost us dearly. The rest of the team didn't really give the required urgency to start pulling QPR around and open up spaces, so we created little. It wasn't helped by having Ramsey on the left, in my opinion we should have started with Oxo there. Other than a top stop from Paddy kenny from RVP which could have changed the match, we didn't really do enough to win this game. Has to be a big improvement against City next week. We're at home and players and fans will be up for it. We have to move on and look forward to this game to get our momentum back if we are going to keep our top 4 spot.
I remember him having a bad game at LB when he came back from injury, but today was pretty shocking. He was unlucky on the 2nd goal as he slipped, but he made bad errors all day - sometimes you get away with it, today it cost us. I don't think he was helped by our pedestrian MF either, they were far too casual today and QPR exploited it, they were quicker and more hungry and put us under a lot of pressure.
His confidence went after Zamora bullied him. Bloody Zamora has hurt us twice this season with different teams. Annoying.
I think we should have started with Oxo on the left and swapped him and Walcott around during the game. For me Gervinho isn't really on form, and we can't really afford the luxury of time to give him time to regain it. I'm not singling out Ramsey, he was played out of position. I don't think Wenger should have started him there.
I think I was about the only one saying Koscielny has been better throughout the last year in that "back 5" thread. :S Vermaelen will get better no doubt, but it's interesting how based on the first 6 months of his first season people still say he's the undisputed best in our defense.
I said that too Kos+ M'Sackeris our best CBpiring and I'm sure if M'Saker was fit he would have helped deal with the physical players while Kos would have dealt with their more pacy and trickty palyers
Vermaelen is usually really solid, but he couldn't handle Zamora today, succumbed to the pressure he was put under by him and was forced into mistakes. While it's not an excuse for the result, he was unlucky with the 2nd goal as he slipped on the poor surface which let Mackie in.
True but he was just poor today. He's a great player though and I hopethis doesn't damage is confidence
Kos and TV together is not right - both are poor readers of the game, relying a lot on their pace to get them out of trouble. No one played well today for us, so hopefully they will come out fighting in the next game.
I'd expect today to increase the urgency against City. We have to improve on this game, the perfect incentive is to beat City at home
Don't know, i think Kos + Verm would still be best match against most teams. Verm having to play as a LB for quite a while didn't help I guess.
Don't agree with that at all. They are usually very good readers of the game, both good in the air and on the ground and quick to the ball. It was a poor performance today, for Vermaelen in particular. They weren't helped by a pedestrian midfield. But a sweeping statement saying they are not right together is way wide of the mark and quite inaccurate imo.
Not knee jerk as I have said it for a while. they are caught out of position far too often, but they both have great pace and can often recover. They also leave way to much space between them, making it easy to find space in between. TV also rushes into tackles when he would be better standing off and slowing down the attack, and Kos has a tendency to get caught too deep playing the attacker onside. I would much rather have Merts + one of them and I think TV may well be on the bench next year. He certainly has not progressed since his first season. I would actually be tempted to play him as a ball winner and holding midfielder / man marker in away games.
Don't agree with that. They had a poor game today, Vermaelen especially. But I don't agree that they are often guilty of the accusations your making.
More or less agree - I am not saying they are not very good - but they both have some flaws that catch us out. When they play together in magnifies some of the issues.
