Any side with aspirations to winning the Champions League or any competition needs a solid defence. Arsenal looked far from solid last night.
How many times were we carved open and forced to rely on the excellent Manuel Almunia? Too many in my opinion.
We were also lucky that Fenerbahce had the Spanish equivalent of Adebayor playing up front for them, Guiza and Adebayor must be in a competition for who can be offside the most. I've no idea who will win.
Admittedly Arsenal didn't have our first choice defensive pairing playing, but then again Gallas and Toure haven't looked the most solid partnership this season either.
We have big problems at the back and it's needs rectifying, on another night this game could have ended 5-5 and all the team's superb attacking play would have been undone.
And superb we were going forward. We looked like scoring every time we went forward, it was a joy to watch. Nothing can be taken away from the team in an attacking sense, to go to such a heated atmosphere and score five goals is an incredible achievement and one we Gooners are very proud of. However despite this we cannot overlook the fact we were opened up at will by a poor Fenerbahce side.
As I've said from an attacking point of view we couldn't have done anymore, however great we were going forward the same has to be said for Manuel Almunia. He was top notch and gave a captains performance, it was probably the best display I've seen from Almunia in an Arsenal shirt. He was amazing.
I hate to sound negative about the defence after such a great win but it needs to be said. If we don't sharpen up at the back we will end up potless again and what a shame what would be. We have proved to devastating effect the damage we can do to teams, if we can be more solid at the back we could win the lot.
Keep it Goonerish........
22 comments:
Couldnt agree more
The title will be decided by which of the top teams can beat each other. As such, to be considered a big team we need to stop losing to the smaller clubs. Beating United is irrelevant if we lose to Hull and dare I suggest relegation fodder such as the Spuds?
I think how we do this season will depend on how well we take the early chances we get in each game. In games in which we took them this season, we dominated and won easily. In games we didn't we struggled.
So the defence is a problem but it is more crucial to control games and take our early chances.
About winning the title I figure here's how you do it. You play 32 games against the non Top-4. If you win 27 of those, you're at 81 points. Then all you need is to hold your own against the Top-4 teams. If you take 9 points or even 7 out of the possible 18, you're there.
Dont be so hard on the defence, Wenger will find the best combination that will see us through the season. I hate to say it but i am warming to Silvestre already, he may be pushing it and not what he once was but he is a model professional and knows how to throw his body about! In the reserve game and last night that i saw of him he still has the passion and committment to succeed. We need more of that from Toure and Gallas! Djourou will also get better.
2006 we had the best defence in CL by miles...but we still didnt win anything!
What a marvelous piece of Article and comment on Arsenal. We were so bad the Fenebacke players targeted long balls which were so obvious and still unsettled our defence. This more than anything else annoyed me that they could use the subtelty of a car crash and still go us to concede 2 silly goals? One by our own Mr Sylvestre and this is the guy Wenger described as a experienced professional. Professional indeed!
But Frichie, who knows what would have happened had Lehamnn not been sent-off?
We were defending well until then and dominating the game
shut it wrighty you prick
sorry only joking! dont know why you get so much abuse maybe they think your the other wrighty - he is legend but he does talk some proper shit these days!
anyway last night the defending was disgraceful like you say, we were as shambolic as ever dealing with the long balls + the cb's had no pace, i can see why wenger perseveres with g&t now cos at least they can run
You forgot to mention diaby - what a fucking suprise fenerbache must have been shitting it with him and ade charging around
Truth is, Gallas and Kolo would've been caught out just as many times as Silvestre and Song.
Also, despite his goal, Adebayor was so poor last night it was shocking. He has been rubbish all season and Bendtner deserves his chance.
Shut up Eboue for President!
Ha ha,
Diaby was brilliant last night and even Ade who isn't my favourite player did a great job last night.
If Ade performs like that then he'll go a long way to building bridges with Gooners.
I'd agree that Ade has been poor this season but I think he did well last night. Held up the ball, scored and grafted.
And wasn't offside as much!!!!
True he wasnt offside but his control, 1st touch and passing is woeful. He really does make Heskey look like Ronaldinho. I also dont think his graft is there anymore like last season. now he loses the ball and throws his arms up in the air (a la Henry). look at his stats last night, his pass completion was 17%. That is rubbish!
i cant believe what im hearing ??? we beat them 5-2 and your still winging? yes the centre backs were shite but they only scored 2 goals one which was an own goal. we played them off their own pitch, i swear sometimes you guys just enjoy moaning,just like women. give cred when its due for god sake.
It's not "winging" its true!
its also true we beat them at home no ones ddone that in 16 games give them some cred
you moan when we lose and moan when we win??
hey guys. I would like 2 point out that we scored 5 goals without van persie playing at akk, this proves that we do not need him on the pitch at all ti,es and that he should have to work for his place and not be selected automatically because he is meant 2 be amazing. let vela and bendtner play until v.persie gets thinking strait because he was woeful against everton and in the games b4 the international break. any opinions.
Its not moaning, its just a valid opinion!
wrighty i said leave song alone,an stop slaggin off ade lol
Wrighty nice post mate.
I agree with you and i guess that is the oly dept that we're lacking off. We need a player like Martin Keown who can tackle and take the ball off from the opposition.Song and Silvestre not really a good combo, Mr Arsene should put Johan Djourou instead of Song
Song is next out of the emirates, he could have been
booked twice for the same obstruction. Very poor defending and something about Song's sleep-walking attitude makes him very suspect to me. Song is next out of emirates.
Eboue was great at right back, his attacking instincts are sharper than Sagna's who tends to only stay close to the touchline where it gets congested quickly while eboue can drift inside and create a bit of space
Nasri was poor compared to ramsey who has better movement off the ball.
Diaby was man of match in 4-5-1
Anyway 4-5-1 with Diaby and possibly Ramsey instead of Song sounds exciting
Do the dummies on here realize that we had a few of our first choice defenders missing. Just thought I'd mention it to make sure you folks had any brain waves going.
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