[Archived] Arsenal V Blackburn Rovers

[TimmyJimmy]

Walton's inane grin when Arsenal went 3-2 up said it all for me. ... it just showed he had an agenda yesterday which was pro-Arsenal and anti-Rovers.

Absolutely spot on, he was grinning like a Cheshire Cat. Couldn't agree more with your observations.

[Iceman]

I think the one thing which were clear to see, was that there was not 1 midfield player putting his foot in. We have lost that bite in midfield, where the opposition would be petrified to play us. Whatever anybody says about Grella, he is probably the 1 player who would have got stuck in, and unsettled the Arsenal players. Another thing to notice, was that our defence kept on backing off, and allow the Arsenal players time and space to do whatever they wanted to do. We have become a soft team, where teams dont need to break a sweat, to cause panic in our defence. We are not man marking, but defending in wherever there is an open space. We were beaten by a better team, but at the end of the day had we done the basics right, 6 goals might have been 3 goals. We gave it a good go, and after scoring the 1st goal, i told the missus i would have prefered to have seen us go in halftime at 0-0. Once we scored, you just knew that Arsenal would attack us, and that was indeed what happened. The referee did not help either. Constant fouling from Van Persie, a tackle from behind which produced no yellow card was ridiculous. A clear cut penalty, which should have been given at a crucial time, where we could have levelled at 3-3. Its those decisions, and poor defending that cost us. Ive defended Andrews, but surelly Hoiliett down the right and Bert alongside Nzonzi would have been a better option. Even if Sam had Salgado sitting in front of Chimbo and Givet, would have been a better option. A bitterly disappointing game, where we tried, but ultimately crashed and fell to pieces against a superior team. Lessons to be learnt from the game? Well, the biggest lesson is to not allow teams like Arsenal to have that much time and space on the ball. We need to close down the opposition much quicker, and get the basics right. Message to Sam: be a bit braver with team selection. Hoiliett for Andrews would be a major improvement.

[LeftWinger]

At HT the stats were actually level in terms of posession, where play had taken place and we were only one behind in shots on target.

I'm sure the Sky stats showed Arsenal had more possesion in the first half and 6 shots on target to our 2 at half time.

On the game though - I wasn't too disappointed. I expected us to get hammered - but for an hour we gave them a real game. You could even argue Van Persie was lucky to still be on the pitch for the second half. You could also argue that had we been given the penalty then Vermaelen could have walked too.

Andrews role in the last goal was laughable. He sends Jacobsen wide to watch the runner and then doesn't get close enough to Bendtner.

[Montfort]

Abbey just a point Burnley may have beat United but United were at their worst, today we got beat to a great team at their very best. No team apart from maybe United or Chelsea would have oped with them today.

Not an excuse just pointing it out.

I have flicked through the other posts on the topic and was suprised at the vitreol, anger and negative viewpoint of a large number of contributors. Thankfully these have been balanced to an extent by what I would consider to be a more reasonable viewpoint. The above is typical of these.

We were up against a potentially great team at the top of their powers. All the goals were great goals. Robinson had a great game but there was nothing that he could do about them. I enjoyed a lot of the game. We scored 2 against Arsenal, were a a head twice, hit the post and had a good shout for a penalty turned down ..... but we still lost. However if we play like that against other teams we will win far more than we will loose. There is a danger of turning a very positive performance ( in many ways ) into a psychology scar for the team.

I thought Dunn was magnificent, and was glad that Capello was there to see Robinson who has undoubtedly booked his seat for South Africa for the summer. I dont think our rearranged defence or the turned down penalty appeal made that much difference. I was dissapointed that Sam went on about the penalty.

The only dissapointment was that at times we could not hang onto the ball for longer. At one stage just beore the Arsenal 1st goal they said that the possession was 62% - 32% Arsenal. That was always going to put us in trouble. They were passing it around until they could make an opening and shoot - something they are excellent at doing.

This was nothing like last years 4 - nil defeat when Arsenal won at a canter without doing too much at all.

Also dont confuse anger with passion for the team. Like everyone else it hurt when the goals went in and changed what could have been a respectable defeat into an Arsenal triumph. I had to endure this whilst sitting in a pub next to, two nice enough Arsenal fans.

[philipl]

Guardian report is very fair. Just been reading some Arsenal fans' comments which went along the lines of give Fabregas the space he got yesterday and he's a genius, close him down effectively and you can nullify him....

I was going off the Sky stats which as I recall them were remarkably even at half time except the corner count. We had a flurry before half time which pushed our shots tally up from scored 2 from 2 goal bound efforts which it was for most of the half! I think we only had two goal bound efforts in the second half- Benni's fk and Olsson's volley.

[Bobby G]

Andrews was rubbish as usual. I hate it how he is so laid back when he receives possession, because he gives the ball away whenever he acts lax. I didnt want to comment about him in general after the match, because its an old tune, but having re-thought about the match since then, I cannot think of one positive contribution he made, and can only recall the mistakes he made.

[bubblerrovers]

SERIOUSLY??

Some fans on here have so little knowledge on football it's amazing. Arsenal where AMAZING and would of Spanked ANY team in the premiership playing like that, i include utd and chelsea. Fair play maybe not by 6 though. OK Andrews is not many peoples favourite player but lots of much better players have been made to look silly at the hands of Arsenal, Arsenal have such good movement it's impossible to man mark Fab.

We all know that with no Investment we're going to get relegated sooner or later and we are on the slide down now ( we won't go down this year). Look at at the 2 teams on paper they have so much more quality it's untrue. People need to accept we where always guna get spanked, relax chill out. We'll get points somewhere but not against the top 4 NO CHANCE.

[den]

Unfortunately Arsenal were executing everything to perfection. Look at all their goals, there's just nothing you could do about them.

I just hope our coaches don't accept that Miker. Every single one of them could have been prevented.

Accepting a performance where we conceded 6 and let's be honest here, it could have been 10, is, to me, unbelievable.

[Parsonblue]

Whenever we go to the the Emirates Stadium, and yesterday was no different, I always return home reflecting on the gulf that exists between clubs within the Premier League. You can talk about systems and individual players all you like - and I would agree that Andrews was clearly out of his depth yesterday - but the simple fact is that the Rovers cannot compete with the likes of Arsenal at any level. If Arsenal, or indeed any of the top four or five clubs, play to their full potential we cannot hope to live with them. Their stadium, marketing, sponsorship deals, hospitality packages, season ticket prices etc, put them on another financial level to ourselves. The financial gap between the Rovers and many of the big city clubs is widening all the time and yesterday that gap was reflected by the performance on the pitch. In the first half we were able to compete. In the second half, Arsenal moved up a gear and left us in their wake. Indeed, but for Robinson we might well have conceded eight or nine.

Each season the Premier League becomes more elitist. The big four, plus Man City are one League. Spurs, Villa, Everton and possibly Sunderland, with their new investment, have the potential to slot in below these five. As for the remainder, it's a fight for survival. A good season can bring a mid-table finish while a poor one can bring relegation.

Ultimately, it's the games against those around us that will define our fate not trips to Arsenal. Yesterday you could only admire the style of Arsenal. Their movement and inter-play was excellent and left us chasing shadows at times.

However, for me the time to worry would be if we were suffering heavy defeats to the likes of Hull, Wolves, Portsmouth etc. On the evidence of what I've seen so far this season I firmly believe that we will be playing Premier League football next season.

[G Somerset Rover]

At HT the stats were actually level in terms of posession, where play had taken place and we were only one behind in shots on target.

I know Leftwinger's picked up on this, but Phillip the stats were no where near to being even in terms of possession and shots on target at half time. I think it was at least 60-40 to Arsenal (to be expected) and we had only had two on target by half time. Don't get me wrong, I was happy with our performance for the first 60 minutes, but our capitulation after that was embarrassing.

I just hope our coaches don't accept that Miker. Every single one of them could have been prevented.

Accepting a performance where we conceded 6 and let's be honest here, it could have been 10, is, to me, unbelievable.

In total agreement here Den. Yes we deserved a penalty to make it 3-3, but we still had a job to do from then on, to be professional. The last 30 minutes were painful to watch. We couldn't have complained if the game had ended 10-3.

[bubblerrovers]

I just hope our coaches don't accept that Miker. Every single one of them could have been prevented.

Accepting a performance where we conceded 6 and let's be honest here, it could have been 10, is, to me, unbelievable.

What planet are you from?? everyone prevented?? We don't have the quality, Our Coach's can't turn water into wine or average players into great. Yes im sure going through the tapes of the game today will be painfull and there are obviously lots of areas to improve on but remember 2 of our best defenders where out.

the best thing the coaches can do is too get this result out of our system and move on

[broadsword]

Lots of areas to improve upon but nothing can be done?

Sounds confused.

[CAPT KAYOS]

Nobody has picked up on the parallels with other games over the years - its so uncanny.

As I said last season - Arsenal arguably, always seem to save their best performance for against us as well as the goals of the season award.

The question has to be why?

What is it we do that makes it so easy for Arsenal - as mentioned its not changed regardless of manager or whatever kind of form we are in?

Why do we always collapse against them - why always class goals from outside the box?

Why - when we have players that are supposedly versatile, does whatever tactical formation selected reap chaos in our backline?

Answer... beacause we back of them far too much give them too much space and give up far too easy.

Yes, understandably Arsenal are a classs team but we always seem to make them look better than they probably are.

Bollux to being realistic and expecting a tonking (we must be the only fans that think this is acceptable) - a defeat maybe - but a performance made up of errors and non desire is not acceptable from a fans perspective.

The space we give people is unnerving - I have said it before about our reluctance to cut out/try to prevent crosses coming in, what becamce more evident yesterday was the amount of space we give opposition on the edge of the box - not just Arsenal but in every game this season. The tactic seems to be to get as many bodies in the box , behind the ball without actually thinking about what they are doing - Arsenal just exposed it more than others.

Now back to the seriously worrying point as I have also mentioned - without Dunn we are nothing (and this will happen) - to continually continue with a headless wildfowl up front trying to gain advantage for our advancing (backwards ) midfield is of a very very serious concern.

Knee jerk my arse - observant criticism and with good reason.

[den]

What planet are you from?? everyone prevented?? We don't have the quality.

We are still a Premier league club aren't we?

Yesterday we could quite easily have shipped ten. You think that's par for a PL side?

[Miker]

This Season:

City 0-2

Sunderland 1-2

West Ham 0-0

Wolves 3-1

Everton 0-3

Villa 2-1

Arsenal 2-6

Last season:

Everton 3-2

Hull 1-1

West Ham 1-4

Arsenal 0-4

Fulham 1-0

Newcastle 2-1

United 0-2

The Arsenal and United games last season were at home and we were absolutely @#/?. We were dominant over Man City this season and actually challenged Arsenal at least.

The rest of the fixtures were against 4 weak teams: Hull, Fulham, Newcastle and West Ham.

There's no way you can compare those teams (with the exception of West Ham of course) to Wolves, Sunderland and Aston Villa. To be fair, Wolves and Hull are quite similar, but Aston Villa is a quality team that was pushing for top 4 last season and will be again and Sunderland have spent millions on quality players that will turn them into a very strong force this season, as they've already proven. How does that compare to Fulham, who were just organised well tactically last season and Newcastle who were absolutely horrid???

The only thing you can compare as a true negative is the fact that we beat Everton 3-2 last season, but lost 3-0 this time around.

[Flopsy]

although we got stuffed, i really didnt think we were awful, we didnt get the rub of the green, with the reffing decisions, or injuries, and although we could have shipped 10 as Den says, we could have scored at least 5 or 6, so disapointed in the result, not so much in the performance.

[den]

although we got stuffed, i really didnt think we were awful, we didnt get the rub of the green, with the reffing decisions, or injuries, and although we could have shipped 10 as Den says, we could have scored at least 5 or 6, so disapointed in the result, not so much in the performance.

There were some good points to take from the game Flopsy.

Dunn is playing better than I've ever seen him play - and I have to admit that I would have let him go this summer. Nzonzi I think has the makings of a top midfielder. Only 20 years old and playing like he's been around the prem for years. In general we did create chances and could indeed have scored more than the two we got. It's all a waste of time though, if we defend as naievely as we did.

[Miker]

We are still a Premier league club aren't we?

Yesterday we could quite easily have shipped ten. You think that's par for a PL side?

Of course it's not acceptable to concede 6, I'm sure the coaches will make that clear and the players already know this. The goals they scored against us were very hard to prevent, it's easy to look back at replays and show where the players went wrong, but when it's actually in-game, in real time, it's not that simple. Every single player in the team had to be 100% concentrated at all times and be at their very best to prevent those goals. I think they should be that at all times, but realistically it never happens. Attacking is easier than defending, especially if you are technically proficient as all of Arsenal's players are. It means they can easily create space for themselves and score.

I'm just not buying the fact that we could've realistically done something about those goals. I remember watching the Liverpool - United game when Liverpool won 4-0 and the amount of mistakes United's "world class" defense had made for those goals. I just don't see us having made those same mistakes, they were genuinely terrific goals. Only thing Sam and the coaching staff can do is work on our marking and offside traps, which I thought was easily our weak point that game.

[JAL]

Andrews was rubbish as usual. I hate it how he is so laid back when he receives possession, because he gives the ball away whenever he acts lax. I didnt want to comment about him in general after the match, because its an old tune, but having re-thought about the match since then, I cannot think of one positive contribution he made, and can only recall the mistakes he made.

Completely shown up as not being up to the task, ok against your Wolves of this world but the sooner hes swapped for the improved model, then, and only then, can Rovers move onwards and upwards. Roll on the january transfer window.

I hope your reading this Sam Allardyce, John Williams, the money men at Rovers its simply got to happen - change, just this one please.

[modes98]

Some fans on here have so little knowledge on football it's amazing. Arsenal where AMAZING and would of Spanked ANY team in the premiership playing like that, i include utd and chelsea.

Completely agree. They were on top form and it is a credit to us that we not only kept up with them but had the lead twice. If we had got that Penalty it would have put us in a great position to get something from the game but it wasn't to be and I would rather we don't get that decision but get one maybe we shouldn't in another game we should be winning.

Play like that against most teams and we will get points.

[LeChuck]

although we got stuffed, i really didnt think we were awful, we didnt get the rub of the green, with the reffing decisions, or injuries, and although we could have shipped 10 as Den says, we could have scored at least 5 or 6, so disapointed in the result, not so much in the performance.

I watched the game with a lot of neutrals (mainly Liverpool fans as we were staying in the pub for the game after as well) and they all said we were playing well and were unlucky...up until 70 minutes or so and we either tired or gave up. They're not the sort to say that to make me feel better either, they'd be more than happy to take the píss if they thought we were awful.

The Dunn foul was an unquestionable penalty, and even at 4-2 Hoilett hit the inside of the post. Olsson was very unlucky with a terrific effort as well.

Unfortunately for us, Fabregas put in one of the best performances by a creative central midfielder that I've seen for a long time. But we went there with the right intentions and there was certainly no sign of this 'match targetting' nonsense people bang on about. I'd love to know what would have happened if we could have had our strongest back four in that game...my early optimism of a good Givet/Chimbonda partnership was badly judged; Chimbonda was awful.

The final 20 minutes was disappointing though, it became a bit embarrassing by the end, but I was proud of the 70 minutes before that. I really fancy us to rattle the big four when we play them at home this season.

Edit: Just reading a few posts, it's laughable to read people going on about 4-5-1s and playing two strikers instead. Going forward we are fine...we're hardly playing 4-5-1 anyway, Dunn may as well be playing striker because that's where he's doing all his work.

[Hughesy]

although we got stuffed, i really didnt think we were awful, we didnt get the rub of the green, with the reffing decisions, or injuries, and although we could have shipped 10 as Den says, we could have scored at least 5 or 6, so disapointed in the result, not so much in the performance.

Agree 100%.

There were some good points to take from the game Flopsy.

Dunn is playing better than I've ever seen him play - and I have to admit that I would have let him go this summer. Nzonzi I think has the makings of a top midfielder. Only 20 years old and playing like he's been around the prem for years. In general we did create chances and could indeed have scored more than the two we got. It's all a waste of time though, if we defend as naievely as we did.

Agree on Dunn he really is becoming a handful - and despite people saying clubs will learn to just stop him - well Arsenal struggled too aswell, just like Villa the week before. NZonzi looks like a real bargain and come next season he should be top quality once he has a full season of experience to work with.

Dont forget we also have Hoilett who looks talented and then Kalinic once he builds up his strength.

Completely agree. They were on top form and it is a credit to us that we not only kept up with them but had the lead twice. If we had got that Penalty it would have put us in a great position to get something from the game but it wasn't to be and I would rather we don't get that decision but get one maybe we shouldn't in another game we should be winning.

Play like that against most teams and we will get points.

Exactly. Except for United away last season we didnt even fight against the top 4 teams. So far this season (now a top 5), we should of taken something from City and against Arsenal we were 3-2 down and should be havbing a penalty and they should of gone to 10 men. Much more improved - although the defence was way too leaky.

We missed Samba yesterday - people do not realise just how important he is to us at the back.

[alexanders]

Some points from me:

- An Arsenal team like that would go on to win the Champions League. They where world class and would've beaten Lpool. Chelsea and United. Everton also let in 6 goals and they are normally a very good side defensively.

- Andrews is @#/?! He was awful to watch. Gave the ball away all the time and ran around with his hands in the air surrending all game.

- We wont get relegated and are brilliant at times. Dunny, emerton, di santo, nzonzi are class. Pedersen and Andrews are both awful and deserve to be among the reserves. I rather give Van Heerde, Olsson, Hoilett, Doran, Judge, Treacy a nod ahead of them.

- Robinson is friggin class!! He was awesome.

How do people think Olsson did? I think he can become a very valuable left-back against lesser opposition than Arsenal. He is very attack-minded and also has a good shot about him. He is not afraid to take ona player and could ceratinly be given a try at left-wing instead of Ped.

[joey_big_nose]

I'm not sure who else could've been brought on? I don't think Sam wants to play Emerton in the middle and unless we were switching to a 4-4-2 there was really no replacement for Andrews. He definitely can't play next week though and I don't expect him too. It has to be:

Robinson

Jacobsen-Samba-Nelsen/Givet-Givet/Chimbonda

N'zonzi-Grella

Emerton-Dunn-Diouf

Di Santo

Next week has to be this, no doubt in my mind:

----------------Robinson

Jacobsen-Samba-Givet-Chimbonda

-----------Emerton-N'zonzi

-----Hoilett-----Dunn------Diouf

----------------Di Santo

Grella instead of Emerton would be acceptable. Emerton on the right wing is not acceptable. We need Hoilett's direct runnning, pace and movement, it will cause the Burnley defence (which is slow) problems.

[Paul]

The Arsenal and United games last season were at home and we were absolutely @#/?. We were dominant over Man City this season and actually challenged Arsenal at least.

Sorry but points win prizes, we got nothing last season and nothing this

The rest of the fixtures were against 4 weak teams: Hull, Fulham, Newcastle and West Ham.

There's no way you can compare those teams (with the exception of West Ham of course) to Wolves, Sunderland and Aston Villa. To be fair, Wolves and Hull are quite similar, but Aston Villa is a quality team that was pushing for top 4 last season and will be again and Sunderland have spent millions on quality players that will turn them into a very strong force this season, as they've already proven. How does that compare to Fulham, who were just organised well tactically last season and Newcastle who were absolutely horrid???

The only thing you can compare as a true negative is the fact that we beat Everton 3-2 last season, but lost 3-0 this time around.

I didn't compare those teams to Wolves, Sunderland and Villa. What I did compare was Hull and Wolves, Newcastle and Villa. Sunderland are crap according to many on here, I haven't seen them, regardless of how much they have spent.

The point is a very simple one, we are doing no better and demonstrably worse points wise than last season. We have no midfield to speak of, in the games I have seen the gap between midfield and attack is gaping, we have resorted to 4-5-1 at home with only one midfielder capable of supporting the lone striker, our strikers have score two goals between them in the PL. Sure Arsenal were very, very good yesterday, I expected to lose but sadly I also expected us to get stuffed, which we did. The team gave them acres of space to play in and if you do that against Arsenal you will always get soundly beaten.

There are a lot of questions to be asked of The Expert but very few prepared to ask them