Arsenal not convincing, but others are, as crowd go missing
Super Sub
By Boris Mellor
December 10 2010
Partizan Belgrade is the poorest team, or joint poorest team in the Champions League to be precise. They have played six and lost six, which is why the Arsenal crowd sat back looking forward to a Turkey shoot. As I sat back I said to my neighbour I wonder if we will ever see Gibbs play a full 90 minutes? Silly question.
Well when I say crowd, I mean the two thirds who bothered to turn up. In particular the club level can’t be bothered to turn up
Now the tickets were sold out, apart from the away end, where Partizan fans failed to fill a restricted allocation, hence ticket sales being 58,932. I had four friends who could have come, but for different reason they didn’t. Thus I do not see any conspiracy about the attendance figure, it’s just that people aren’t turning up for paid seats; and they should stop calling it attendance. Call it what it is, ticket sales.
I could have sat in two other places in the stadium far better than my own regular seat. I tried to offload a spare at short notice, but nobody was interested, especially as one possible punter was trying to get rid of 2 spares himself.
So why the lack of enthusiasm?
Of course most of my missing mates would deny they lacked enthusiasm, it was just too cold and they had work they had to do, they were out of town, or had a cold coming on. However, I bet if it was Barca, they would have discovered that they could sit in zero temperatures in a string vest, and the work could wait.
So why the lack of enthusiasm? Well it was on ITV and Arsenal were certain to qualify. As it turned out nothing is certain in life, but death, taxes and the return of a Labour MP in Jarrow. But its more than that, I believe some are losing faith, they know Arsenal will qualify, but after that top 8 is the best they can hope for.
Some fans say that Arsenal can’t hold a lead for 20 minutes, they are wrong! The team held out for 22 minutes, until Sagna and Squillaci decide to back off and back off, giving Partizan ample time to cross and score. The back four had plenty of time to stop the goal, but they just aren’t organised for that sort of thing. Sir Red Nose’s spy must have been rubbing his hands in glee.
For twenty one minutes it was squeaky posterior time as the crowd got more and more anxious, come on Arsenal they whined, like an exasperated parent tutoring its child from the touchline. But Arsenal didn’t come on, not until Walcott did. A note for Walcott moaners, he has played 14 games this season and scored 8, and they are not Vela goals, that is they are not icing on the cake goals, they are important ones; so within 6 minutes of coming on he scored a super goal. It restored confidence in Arsenal and the crowd, and it deflated Partizan.
Nicky Knockers
It’s fashionable to knock Nick, but he combined well with Song for Nasri to score another great goal. Cue na na na na Nasri Samir Nasri song.
A strange match boring for much of the time, lacking tempo but three great Arsenal goals, even RvP’s penalty was a joy to watch.
Not convincing
Yes Arsenal have scored 14 goals at home, but that was probably in the weakest group in the whole competition. Spurs, Man U and Chelsea had tougher groups and qualified earlier. True Wenger’s insistence on easing up on team selection for the last two away games was a shot in the foot, but the opposition was so weak they should have won, but time and again Arsenal’s defence has let them down at key moments.
All the top clubs, bar one (I don’t consider Tottenham a top club) finished top of their groups, only Arsenal came second.
Others are convincing
Arsenal are top of the league at present, because most of the top clubs in EPL lack consistency, but in the CL that is not the case. Man U, Barca and Real Madrid were all undefeated in their groups, I would argue, that are tougher than the group Arsenal were in.
Arsenal’s predilection for losing away makes them an unconvincing contender in this competition. I believe there are far more convincing contenders, in particular the three named above, out there, and it’s unlikely that Arsenal will be a contender this year. If I am wrong fantastic, it would be a dream to win the cup with big ears. However, I suspect that my belief that Arsenal will not progress that far in the CL is shared by many of those who could not be bothered to turn up for the match.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010:12:13:20:11:24 by Padre Pio.
wenger is absolutely clueless as to how to resolve this...even if we buy a solid defender...how long before he forgets his defensive expertise as wenger has refused to practice!! practice!! practice!!!
Can We Now Trust The Process 🤔🤷🏿♀️ or Should We Still Remain Cautious 🙇🏿♀️
"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.
While I recoginse Vermaelen is out best CD I remember quite a few big games last season he played and we still got whooped.
I agree though dont think we have the ability to go all the way in the CL unless things improve on the defensive front and we get a good draw.
If we play a high-line, we need both FLamini Engine and CLichy Engine.
If we have A FLamini ENgine, Sagna will close down the player, knowing that behind him is a FLamini ENgine to mop up the pieces.
It is the lack of a Libero that is costing us dear when playing the high-line.
RInus Michel ha dpointed out explicitly that in 4-4-2 Attacking FOotball, you need the 2 no. centre midfielders that can:
1 - One offensive mdifielder that can dominate box-to-box and join in the attack.
2 - One defensive mdifielder that can dominate the space between Forward-Line and Back-4 Line like a "vacuum cleaner" breaking up plays and mopping up all counter-attacks in front of Back-4.
Johan Cryuff refined 4-4-2 and 4-3-3 at Barca to a 3-4-3 with a CB like Ronald Koeman joining in mdifield as one of the "4" to defend high up in midifeld as well as a LIbero to sweep in front of Back-4.
The problem with Wenger is that his "high line" attack is Anarchaic Football, formless, without organisation, without leadership and playing by instinct only, honed on the training pitch with intensive 5-on-5 and short-passing, emphasising on possession.
That he gambled on the superb technical skills against workman-like teamwork of English teams is there for all of us to see:
- You win dome, you lose some..hopefully you win more than you lose.
Wenger had completely thrown away the "Ajax Model of Team Building" by playing kamikaze "Tora! Tora! Tora!" Football by outscoring opponent and by retaining 60% or more possession to deny opponents playing time, hence scoring time.
Unfortunately he has a chronic-hamstring Fabregas as ACM, and a slow-coach SOng without a FLamini ENgine.
ANd he lacks confidence in Nordtveit or Djourou as that Libero in 3-4-3 to sweep that VOID behind Song-Denilson-Fabregas when theya re caught in opponent half by a swift long and accurate pass out of opponent box.
And when a fit CLichy plays, do observe that CLichy and Sagna ar eour "Last Line" at centre circle with teh rest (including C
are in oponent box.
Wenegr de[ends veyr much on their pace to snuff out any counter-attack or ROute 101 direct football with a pacy opponent (remmeebr Keane? Agbonlohar or latest by Braga?) that has free run directly at Arsenal.
And that is where the missing Clichy Engine comes into play.
Without Flamini ENgine, without CLichy Engine, playing kamikaze "Tora! Tora! Tora!" Football?
A recipe for suicidal football that will win you f**k-all this season and beyond.
Not even the tin-cup as a lucky 1-0 breakaway goal, with Santini Bus will see WHU or BRUM win or even Ipswich knocking us out....like what WIgan did a few seasons back.