Arsenal paid the price for being too passive and suicidal defending by KM
Hello fellow Gooners. I am highly disappointed with the fact we threw away the lead and I cannot accept the fact we did far too many defensive changes and we were hoping to just roll over the finishing line and with the way we defended we were punished. This almost happened against City, but we had a two goal lead there which saved us.
This is exactly how we missed the chance to beat them last year. Why I’m so disappointed is because if we want to be champions, we have to win games like that. Besides, Liverpool had quite a few injuries and we should’ve taken the chance. I feel like Gibbs on the left flank is just another left back pushed up forward.
Campbell, Walcott and Ozil create chances. They are a threat. When we replace them, suddenly Liverpool throw more bodies up front and we hope to roll the clock. It doesn’t work like that. This could’ve been massive three points. Last thing I want to note is that the defending was horrible as I said in my previous article, which when we don’t play Sunderland cost us 2 big points.
On the plus side though, Olivier Giroud was sublime, scoring two great goals and missing a sitter. Ramsey scored a good goal, to give us an early equalizer. Overall we had some chances and our conversion rate of 3 goals out of our first 3 shots on target it’s not too shabby.
This still feels like a missed chance, but there is no time to pity ourselves, because Stoke away is a horrible fixture for us. Still we are top with Leicester next to us after their away win at Spurs. We showed some character in responding when were behind and we have to take this as a positive.
We really hate the Britannia and with the quality Stoke have up front, we’ll be in serious trouble if we defend like that again. These games will decide if we are champions material or not. We have to shrug off our problems and deal with what Stoke will offer.
The next game is on Sunday, and we tend to do not so well on those fixtures, but we need to lift the heads up, prepare well and hopefully improve on our away record there. How we end up at the end of January might determine our fate. Hopefully though, Alexis will return soon and bring in some much needed energy into our side.
Till next time, have a great day.
Konstantin
OT Finally ELNENY IS A GUNNER!! WELCOME TO ARSENAL FAMILY. We’ll need your engine in that midfield. COYGS
Elneny In, Flamini Bench. Flamini was non-existant last night, Elneny will do a better job, yeah he plays in an average league, but his record with Basel suggests he has enough experience and ability to know how to defend and see out games when were winning! hopefully we will never have to play Arteta again, I have no idea why he came on last night, Should of kept Campbell on and bought on Oxlade for Ozil to sit in the CDM position.
@renoosenal
Flame wasn’t non-existent, he was overrun. Big difference. Had his midfield partner better positional sense, then that wouldn’t have happened…But you failed to see that.
So you think Flamini played CDM well? LOL I didnt see him protect nothing. Now if Coq was there it would of been a whole different game.
I think a point last night was a fair result. We had to come back twice and to salvage a point from anfield. Giroud was outstanding. Giroud is right up there with the best in bpl…I will take the point and focus on Stoke which is a must win game now.coyg
Hopefully, people will now cherish Joel Campbell. Liverpool tried to shove him around, but instead they found out just how damn good this lad is. He never stops chasing, he never gives up, and he has the same eye for a pass as Ozil. When Alexis is back it is going to be almost impossible for teams to mark the three awesome attacking playmakers we have in Ozil, Alexis and Joel each able to thread passes to Giroud, Ramsey and Theo. I think we are blessed because awesome attack is also a hell of a defence.
True on both counts. Ramsey bombs forward and his positional sense isn’t the best. Coq worked well with Santi coz Santi is a whole lot more discipline, plus his distribution and dribbling abilities are all better than Ramsey’s. Ramsey is like an unorthodox box to box. Santi is a deep lying playmaker. Differ players. Ergo, even Flamini and Santi would have more control of the midfield.
The obvious thing is Coq is just a much better player than Flamini. The stats back it up. Plus it doesn’t help when Ramsey is out of position bombing forward or whatever, Flamini seems to always lose his sh*t.
@renoosenal
Thing is, when Le Coq is there, Santi is also and Santi holds his position and defends alongside him. Both can turn defense into attack at the drop of a hat.
Le Coq would have been run over also had he been doing it by himself, which Flame was…Take off the blinders dude.
Flamini battled well winning 3 headers and 3 tackles his passing wasn’t good though as he got 73% accuracy
He cost us a goal trying to dribble out when he should have cleared.
@Renoosenal
Flamini performed very well, I watched him made interceptions and tackles constantly when he could, due to his age he hasn’t got young legs and Liverpool played on this and started avoiding Flamini and using the hole left by Ramsey.
Ramsey has failed Arsenal YET AGAIN with his selfish playstyle, Ramsey needs to learn to defend, how can our B2B CM be missing in so many defensive actions????
When Ramsey is defending then he is a TOP player and I will always sing his name, while he is being a lazy player then I will slander him and point him out to anyone willing to recognize his slack attitude when it comes to defending.
Ramsey will NEVER replace Cazorla in the middle if he doesn’t learn to get back and defend again, we will be playing Cazorla into his late 30’s at this rate…
Bienvenu ELneny!
Hope wenger gets him ready for stoke(too early?)…… Can’t wait!
HonestLy
the fLame-Rambo axis needs a breather!
the axis broke soon as rambo went walkabout…
flippin’ mick dundee impression.
Rambo was almost playing as a Nine yesterday. No complaints about the goal though.
Finally Elneny is a Gunner! Took him long enough to hitchhike all the way from Switzerland since cheapskate gaffer didn’t even arrange his transportation!
Who’s next? We need a forward you know thatttt. Will Debuchy be off? Loan Zaza? Yarmolenko? Alex Texeira?
alex texeira- yeah right-
more like two Nigerians from secondary school ….ray jay okocha and lil’ benjani
Benjani isn’t Nigerian, that’s an ignorant comment to make
We got to high prospect players the types that would wipe the floor with your countrymen at that age group, as there vital parts of the best u17 nation at the moment
The young right back at Monaco traore would be a great buy for a bellerin understudy or we could aim for someone xp eg arbeloa loan, or even a call back for cj
Iwobi is bigger, stronger and better technique and flair than Chamberlain…..why not give him a run of games as well?
What’s his number?
Two seasons ago we were leading 2-1 until Wenger made his defensive subs. Liverpool scored in the final seconds of the game. Too many defensive players means no one takes responsibility anymore. Wenger should try to learn from the past.
i knew as soon as he made those particular subs- we were inviting severe pressure
why arteta over gabs?
seeing as ozil gets rested in training more than the others (wengers words)why not keep him for ball retention?even if he is tired – hes better option than who we put on
we dropped two points- liverpool deserved draw but thats not the point is it. we had a few minutes to gain 3 points an we blew it-
titles tilt on such mistakes
I think AW feels it undermines senior players to remove them before someone like JC. That is why he kept Theo on for so long even though he should have been off at 60ish mins or before. Have to add, however, it’s nice to have Joel at Arsenal in January for the first time ever.
Severally in recent times, Wenger has been deploying defensive reinforcement anytime we are leading with a slim margin and it has always worked especially at the dying minute of games. Why should that change now because we were unlucky with Liverpool twice? Sometimes ago, we threw away 2-0 lead at the emirates and blamed wenger for not reinforcing defensively. Against Newcastle some seasons ago, we blew 4-0 lead and wenger was placed on chop board too. I think it is best to reinforce defensively when in a situation like this. The worst case scenario is usually a draw which was the case yesterday.
yes but look at who he used to defend…arteta? have u watched him this season?
ox ? whos defensive frailties are one of a few reasons campbell is ahead by a mile at the mo
i wont comment on gibbs as im not his biggest fan
gabriel and chambers- would have kept our lead
why should it change now? cos were playing liverpool at anfield!!!
Yes but he probably opted for experience at that point. You cant categorically say that the goal resulted from Arteta or his misjudgement. We were not just lucky yesterday and that is how I personally see yesterday game.
@Chima
The goals were the result of our players inability to close down the ball. We gave them too much space to play in and shoot from…
very true.
to say it was ‘unlucky’ is very naive
That was the overall problem of the team yesterday but even at that we lead till the 90th minute of the game or didn’t we?
Wenger should try not to play defensive against attacking teams. How I wish we had Rosicky and a player like Hleb….they would have been the best type of players to bring in as substitutes in this type of games. With their flair and technique on the ball, they would have been hard to dispossess, winning free kicks and killing time as well.
My next worry is wenger doing a gabriel on ELneny!
I will be gutted if that happens…. Tired of flamini starting alongside ramsey, and he’s not even physical and good enough to do the job when ramsey goes missing!
@SA
Thing is, Ramsey shouldn’t go missing…
I don’t like Gibbs on the left wing. You can see how limited he is as an attacker anytime the ball is passed to him. It doesn’t help that he’s too one-footed too. I think Monreal will be a better option up front than Gibbs.
wilshere should hand over his number 10 Jersey to Elneny. Always injured when opponents see such numbers in d squad it immediately strikes fear n commands respect, no use of it being in the hospital yearly
campbell reminds me of Dirk Kuyt. Neither scored that much (actually kuyt scored a bit more) BUT Kuyt was an invaluable striker because he worked his behind off every game
Like kuyt, I think campbell’s best position is winger rather than CF . But both kuyt and Campbell Show that you don’t need to be a big scorer like Alexis or Giroud to be important to a team
Also Campbell is not the finished product yet. He has plenty of time to get even better.
Pos Club P GD Pts
1 Arsenal 21 16 43
2 Leicester 21 13 43
3 Man City 21 18 40
4 Spurs 21 17 36
5 West Ham 21 9 35
6 Man Utd 21 7 34
7 Stoke 21 2 32
8 Crystal Palace 21 3 31
9 Liverpool 21 -2 31
10 Watford 21 1 29
11 Everton 21 7 28
12 Southampton 21 4 27
13 West Brom 21 -5 27
14 Chelsea 21 -3 24
15 Norwich 21 -11 23
16 Bournemouth 21 -14 21
17 Swansea 21 -11 19
18 Sunderland 21 -15 18
19 Newcastle 21 -16 18
20 Aston villa 21 -20 11
Hmm…..how it ended!
After reading all the comments I’d like to say this. Wenger could have made whatever substitution he wanted, fact is we had NO defensive midfield at all. Liverpool put pressure on us from the word go and it carried on pretty much the whole game up until the final minute. The last 20 MINS was fracking nerve wracking and it was inevitable they were going to equalize. When your CB’s are constantly bombarded by CF’s with 1v1’s then you know your DM is missing. We all know Flamini has passion and tries hard, but the proof is in the pudding…I did not see him making any vital interceptions last night and his marking was average at best. His positional awareness is also poor and this is why having him paired with Ramsey is not such a great idea because as we know Ramsey loves to drive forward (and he should). Why Wenger didn’t play Chambers as DM is beyond me.
Anyway, you have to give it to the scousers, their blitz passing and pressure in the first half was suffocating…Klopp had his tactics spot on. The Arsenal of 3 years ago would not have lasted, but it is GREAT to see our will and mentality as a team is stronger than ever and we were able to come back TWICE after being a goal down and still almost win it away at Anfield. A Liverpool supporter said to me today that his team rarely play as well as they did last night. So let’s take this one on the chin, still top and a new signing for DM has arrived!
No disrespect to the Boss, I don’t know what he instructed Gibbs&Ox to do when he brought them on for Walcott&Campbell. But let alone, I thought the Boss instructed them to attack down the lane to take some pressure off the Gunners defenders who were non stop bombarded by the Reds late on in the 2nd half. But what did those 2 subs do? Nothing. I too have agitated for their coming on, thinking they will charge at the Reds’ back-line to relieve our weak base and our back-four of the incessant pressure by the Reds who were chasing the equaliser. Gibbs&Ox were just 2 ordinary passengers on the field for the entire period they came on. What are their problems? They caused us collecting all the 3 points. Arteta was brought on to relaplace the tiring Ozil I should think. Would Iwobi&Chambers have been a better subs for Ozil&Campbell, attackingly and defensively as Ramsey was bombing forward? I think the Boss will know how to better do his subs at the Britannia on Sunday.