There have been many posts and comments rueing Arsenal’s performance against Chelsea at the weekend, but the Gunners midfielder Jack Wilshere feels that we were on top for a lot of the game, but just didn’t take advantage of our chances when they appeared during the match.
“At times we controlled the game,” said Wilshere. “…and that is the difference, at this level when you are playing against a top-class team, when you are on top you have to really make it count,”
“We created a few half chances, but we never really made it count.
“You didn’t really see Cesc Fabregas or Diego Costa all game and then, all of a sudden, a 50-yard ball from Cesc put it on Costa’s foot and it is a great finish, and the game is over.
“We have played well, but at this level, against the top three in this league, when you are on top you need to make the opportunities count and if you don’t, then you are going to get punished.”
The fact is that Arsenal did not muster one shot on target, and the only real chance I remember is when Wilshere himself received the ball in front of goal but failed to control it for a shot. Other than that it looked like Chelsea were not in the slightest bit worried about getting over-run by our side…
But look on the bright side. Arsenal have surely played the most difficult fixture of the season, and their are a host of “lesser” opponents waiting for us after the international break. We just need to regain our composure and get back to doing what we do best, beating sides in the bottom half of the table.
Wojciech Szczesny agrees. He said: “We have had a tough run so far, but I would like to think that our start has been solid, not as good as we expected from ourselves,”
“But I believe that, after the international break, we can push on and get more points.”
Thats about all we can do for now. Rack up the points and hope that Chelsea show some weaknesses or complacency and start dropping points themselves…
Yeah. .. That’s all we can do now. Just hope Chelsea gets weaker. I was hoping we could dominate this season but unfortunately it’s already too late for that.
The lost on itself is not What pissed off but the fact that I know we can do better, if. Wenger decide to play wingers on the Wing, cam in the hole, take off under performers when it comes to substitution. What. Is more painful is the fact that when I started supporting in 2002, chelsea are not even making top4 and we always win simply against them, look at how things change, most people are trying to find positives or feel a bit happy that we were not demolished, come on WENGER time is running faster no more mediocre
Whether we controlled the game or not makes no difference. Their tactics were superior to ours at the end of the day. You just have to look at the score and log that’s what matters. Not talking about all this patty bullsh’t. Win! Win! Win! That is all that will count in the end. No amount of possession skill passing the ball around running into defenders losing the ball and laying half of the game on the ground. Twat!
To be honest, we didn’t lose by 6-0 against Chelsea so it is an improvement. The team had some glimces of brilliance, but didn’t manage to score against a strong opposition. We can argue all day about Arsenal defence, but if we can’t even score a single goal then we have a serious problem in attack.
There are 3 fundamental issues that Arsenal must address in training in order to challenge for the premier league title.
1) Fast counter-atteacks: Fast counter-attacks is an opportunity to get the Chelsea defence on the back foot and out of position. However, this requires pace, precision and deadly finishing from our attackers. We lack 2 out 3. Our passing up the pitch is sloppy and we have a tendency to lose the ball before we a chance to bring the to ball to the box. One touch finishing does not only concern the striker but also our attacking midfielders, winger and even fullbacks. Just look at Wilshere’s awful first touch in the box.
2) Ability to break down defences in the box: Breaking down an established defence should be our priority in every training. Most the teams will park the buss against us and try to hit us on the counter. Here we should take a leaf from Barcelona’s book and observe how they patiently pass the ball, probe the defence and waiting for space to occur as a result of frustration. Our tactics are to play through the middle or cross the ball inn. But again when the crosses are not precise enough and squad players have a lower average height then the rest of the league, it is just pointless. The ball is cleared away and our midfield that pick up the ball can’t shoot from distance.
3) Modify our style: We try to play tikki-takka but we can’t play it. Players run with the ball too much and slow down the pace of the game. We need to address that passing accuracy and two-touch play. Move the ball quickly and keep that fluency in the opposition’s half. Once we get the first goal in, just sit back and hit the opposition again on the counter-attacks.
and yeah forgot one more: STOP GIVING THAT GOD DAMN BALL AWAY!!!
OT: HAPPY BIRTHDAY GILBERTO – Legend. How I wish we could turn back time and have you marshal our midfield again.
Buck to the topic at hand – Am tired of hearing our players speck these days, they all sound exactly like Wenger and this is should worry everyone. It seems Arsene has too much control such that non of his players or anyone else can object him and actually flap facts into his face and tell him to walk up.
A loss is a loss, whether we had 98% of possession and the final score says 1 nill just accept it and try to improve on it. I did say this before the game that if we go there and play like headless chickens Chelsea will just pump the ball forward and that will be all see wrote. I wonder whether Arsene and his boys take time to watch there opponents play or other teams. It seems we the fans are more knowledgeable and up to date than the men who are paid millions to represent us.
Talk it on the chin and just win us some games!!!
I am sorry but this lad right here is delusional
We didn’t control s##t
What’s chelsea game plan been for the last 3-4 years
Sit back
Absorb the pressure
If you Get a goal
Sit deep and wait for the chance to counterattack
That’s what happened at the bridge
They got a goal and sat back to counterattack
That’s why we Dominated possession cause that’s how chelsea set up
Thats right man, we played into their hands, I’m sure if Chelsea did not want us to have the ball, they could have done it too
Two weeks of no Arsenal will have us talking only of this match.
Wish we could keep our lead in the City game and got more two past against Spurs.
Atleast all our games are winnable before the next interlul.
yeah, they are “winnable” but you just don’t know what type of arsenal squad will show up these days.
definitely don’t agree. they know what we can and cant do. we are rarely outplayed but that does not bother the other teams. they make their chances and take them and they always know that against us they will create a chance fora goal.
arsenal players have a mind set that need to be changed.perhaps wenger implants it in their minds i don’t know but we are always scared of the “big” teams.
the quality is there but the attitude sucks ass. we were being pushed off the ball like a schoolboy team. i am not advocating for wenger to move on but perhaps it will take a new manager to convince the players to go out against the so called big teams with every intention of wining the game. we are also a big team for gods sake.
had willshare not ad a heavy touch he could have scored but he allowed the goal keeper to close him down.
we don’t do what they do to us. we always want to plays fair and complain later. we play with no tactics and just hope things will wake out.
Tale of the tape.
Played 7 won 2 daw 4 lost 1
10 out of 21 points
That means we fail to make 50% pass rate. Underachieving. Oh what will we do! With our underachieving manager. Now he’s got players talking like ubderachievers.
Wow !!! Chelsea had a plan & we played perfectly to it. Delusion of control is stupid. They let us play knowing that we could not break them & planned to hit us when we were stretched. Exhibit A : chelsea’s 2nd goal.
If I was the Arsenal manager last Sunday, I’ll gently pull Alexis Sanchez to the touchline and tell him firmly “If you hold on to the ball ONE MORE time, I’m going to take you OFF. Do you understand?”
Yes he did like to hold onto ball but can’t you nowadays our midfielders don’t go to space and ask for ball.
Wilshere only know how to take the ball dribble thru the middle waiting someone to do 12 with him. Our attack was so easily break for our opponents. We are still trying out our midfielder in various positions.
When ozil start from the wing, the others like don’t know how to start an attack. They pass back to defender or sideway than back to defender, by the time they decided to attack, the opponent already pack in their half and we only use one winger and our crossing are still shi*.
Dear Jack wilshere, you are talking about taking chances but you waste our best chance of the game with your poor 1st touch!
Giroud makes porr first touches that all the time, yet some fans are still so far up his arse and he is a CF not a midfielder. Let’s all blame Jack Wilshere for losing against probably the best team in Europe right now. Their defense was air tight and had us figured from the first whistle, but let’s all blame Jack Wilshere. Idiots.
you’re right we shouldn’t single out any player – each player from the chelsea match could’ve done something better to improve their game.
If nothing else I am very excited to see Bellerin get his PL debut.
BvB was a tuff high pressing game.
Next up we have Hull.
My team would be-
———–Danny
Santi—Jack—Mesut—Sanchez
———-Flamini
Gibbs—Kos—–Per—Bellerin
———-Szczesny
Why ???
Santi & Ozil shouldn’t play together niether should Jack & Ramsey. Period.
Only exception i’ll make is Jack & Ramsey in middle 3 with winges & ozil & cazorla on d bench.
*wingers with ozil & cazorla not starting.
Control = having a firm grasp of your destiny…Arsenal didn’t…maybe they had the ball more…the outcome was never in doubt.
lets see what we serve up after the Int break…
Well, the first thing we have to mention is that Wilshere has nothing to do on the pitch.
He should be on the bench and come in when the game is already rapped up… Simple!
This is what happens when you have a manager (and now some players) who believes that having most of the possessions should win you the game… That is just being deranged!
We are in 2014, this modern football and all the teams have some kind of tactician in charge or at least someone who will study the game or the adversary before entering the pitch.
The game of football is about converting your chances (Nobody gives a f*ck about endless and useless statistics except Wenger and some deluded fans).
Again, a manager earning such a ridiculous (and well undeserved) amount of money added with the means at his disposal (and the massive fan base) should deliver trophies on a regular basis.
It is unacceptable and unprofessional he is not doing so (like his transfer strategies… Just daft!!).
He is lazy and not up to the standard… He is not even a good coach…!! WTF is going on here??
It seems that every time we entering a new season, our faith is already sealed…!
After few games (and a usually misguided transfer market), we already know that wining the BPL (nor the CL… Well, I am dreaming here…) was never the objective and getting “butt f*cked” by the major outfits of the league is now a religious occurrence.
Pro wengers vs Anti wengers war. am not interested in such bullshit..
I am Pro arsenal…
the epl is made up 20 teams,lossing to one team is not the end of the story…. stop whining and crying like little puppies…
be a real man and support the team. no teams wins 100% all the if that was possible football could be so boring…
arsenal have really improved and happy for such improvements,compare the team to 3 years ago..
fab had one assist on sunday sunddenly he is the best player in the world, seriously…
if wenger had brought back fab u guys will still complain that we already had ozil when we actually needed a dm.. some fans are just deluded..
ONE THING IS A FACT YOU CANT MAKE EVERY BODY HAPPY IMPOSSIBLE.
we win fa cup last season some deluded arsenal fans “one trophy in 10 years wenger is a failure” if we win epl this season u will say “one epl in 10 years”
if a team controls a game they win that game . wilshere is just paying wenger back for keeping faith in his little puppet.how long can this mutual ass licking go on for . when are players going to get pissed off spinning yarns . when will they tell the truth if ever . wenger is a bully and a thug and he needs booting now .we controlled the game but we lost , give me a break wilshere , your blind faith is rotten to the core.makes me question what kind of a relationship he has with the clown wenger .
Wenger z making mistake by thinking wilshere or carzola z beta in no10 neither of two z better in that position than ozil.carzola played dia for almost 80mins without a single fine pass for welbak.wilshere n Sanchez played lk they can dribble past the whole Chelsea players.they played for personal glory not for the team.how many time did fabregas dribble lk that? c the fine pass he gave to Costa. how many time did hazard dribble? c d trouble he caused us when he did.to me Jack, Alexis n carzola were to blame for game against Chelsea.Wenger did not even talk to them in afta d half time.perhaps that was how he wanted to play n that z y he will always lose to Mourinho