We need to learn to keep our concentration for 90mins! by Lagos Gooner
Hello once again. Can i ask you all a question? Would you all be nice enough to help me with the answer? I just want to ask a simple question; please what is needed for a team to keep its concentration at 100% for the whole duration of a game?
In our game on Thursday, if you all will agree with me, what killed us at the dying minute of the game was our lack of concentration at the defence. Why do we always find a way of letting teams score against us just some minutes after we might have scored? Is it that we over celebrate and forget that we need to cover our back? Or are we just wired not to know how to defend?
The first goal the Greek giants scored against us on Thursday was as a result of us not concentrating on actually defending a corner. We probably were just waiting for the opponents to lose the corner kick and we start a counter attack, rather than defending our post. Cisse was left unmarked to nod in the first goal of the match. Where were the defenders? Why would an opponent be left unmarked in the penalty box? That first goal was a cheap and easy goal for Olympiacos. Too bad!
As if that was not enough, the Arsenal defence on that field of play was uncoordinated. The Greek grew in confidence, and their attack caused panic in the Arsenal’s defence.
In recent games, the team has done well in shutting teams out, but on Thursday, I simply can’t explain what happened. In all honesty, the team’s defence was not doing too badly with Mustafi and Luiz in defence, but I noticed that as soon as Mustafi was subbed, the defence started getting all jittery. Even with Mustafi on the pitch, the defence was not too coordinated, but we were assured that we had two dedicated players, willing to give an arm and a tooth to keep the other team from scoring.
The painful part of the game to me was when we allowed Olympiacos to score just few minutes after we scored our goal. I felt heartbroken, just like other Arsenal fans around the world! It is such a painful thing that just when you thought your team had got the winning goal, the same team brings you back to earth by conceding a cheap goal! I don’t know what Leno was thinking playing the ball to the corner after receiving a back pass from Xhaka! Wouldn’t it have been better if he had played the ball out of his box? Must we always play from the back and cause ourselves problems? We need to fix our defensive issues properly, once and for all! We are Arsenal and we are proud.
Sylvester Kwentua