[Archived] Arsenal V Blackburn Rovers

[Steve Moss]

I had a go in the Sam Allardyce thread Paul...

Incidentally, I though Walton's booking of Di Santo was ridiculously early and ridiculously soft and deliberately targeted to give their defence a softer ride.

Absolutely. Every decision of the referee was designed to bolster Arsenal and hamper Blackburn. Is there some sort of tribunal a referee can be taken to task in? The "Respect" campaign seems to be an effort to shut up the critics without addressing the core problems with the referee class.

[eddiewac]

Nice to see Tugay in the crowd on Sunday

[LeChuck]

Every decision of the referee was designed to bolster Arsenal and hamper Blackburn.

Oh come on, I'd hate to think other fans are coming on here and reading this kind of thing. It's embarrassing.

The penalty decision was a very bad one, but that is really about it. To suggest he deliberately gave Di Santo a booking so that he couldn't hassle the Arsenal back four as much is ludicrous.

You wouldn't find a single neutral person who would make that assessment.

[John]

So many people I talked with today seemed to highlight (and take delight) in our hammering. Whatever way you look at it, regardless of the performance, losing 6 goals is very embarassing.

Whilst there was a few postive aspects in our performance, we could have easily lost by more goals, and that is the depressing/worrying thing for me.

"Black October" has started, let's hope we are not all on suicide watch by the end of it.....

[brfcs5359]

I agree with the unlucky camp. The win v Villa has lifted spirits. In my view because the dollopers arnt getting selected.

The team above with Emerton & nzonzi was for me too except the useless Diouf. If anyone can tell me what he contributes other than graft and winning fouls. He's crap. I'd bring Kalinic in instead. £6m. Let him play ffs.

My main concern now is the useless ones on the books. We are accumalting them. Selbado, Spit, Roberts, McCarthy, Andrews, Grella, van heerden, even Pederson to be honest. Then there's crock Reid. BFS has made things hard for himself.

[thenodrog]

The team above with Emerton & nzonzi was for me too except the useless Diouf. If anyone can tell me what he contributes other than graft and winning fouls. He's crap. I'd bring Kalinic in instead. £6m. Let him play ffs.

I wasn't at the Emirates so I will have to accept your eyewitness verdict that EHD had a poor match but never mind Fabregas as far as I saw on tele EHD contributed the pass of the match to free Bert and set up Dunny for our second. So thats a start eh?

btw your sentence construction could be better.

[T4E]

I've avoided this thread since Sunday.

Lets face it, we were @#/?, we lost, we expected to lose, some of the defence were injured, those that stepped in were crap.

It doesnt matter - no new injuries, and if we win in just after 2 weeks against you know who then this will be long forgotten.

[DarrellH]

I agree with the unlucky camp. The win v Villa has lifted spirits. In my view because the dollopers arnt getting selected.

The team above with Emerton & nzonzi was for me too except the useless Diouf. If anyone can tell me what he contributes other than graft and winning fouls. He's crap. I'd bring Kalinic in instead. £6m. Let him play ffs.

My main concern now is the useless ones on the books. We are accumalting them. Selbado, Spit, Roberts, McCarthy, Andrews, Grella, van heerden, even Pederson to be honest. Then there's crock Reid. BFS has made things hard for himself.

I find your criticism of EHD quite strange.. he is one of few players who can hold the ball up and relieve the pressure. So you'd you'd like to replace EHD for Kalanic? Strange, take a midfielder out for a striker with little confidence and little graft? Don't get me wrong I'm not his biggest fan but Diouf does give us another dimension. Sometimes controlling the game and taking the pace/sting out of the opposition doesn't look effective but it sure helps the cause.

[Hughesy]

Diouf was a big reason we stayed up. Forget his goal against Wolves too? He holds the ball well, he takes pressure off, he gets the crowd and his team mates going. He upsets the opposition. He does plenty! Cant understand why we would be moaning about him when you look around the team....

[Miker]

It is so obvious that is our best team. Why does everyone see it bar Sam Allardyce?

Sam has played that team though, with the exception of Grella and Pedersen in place of Hoilett and Emerton. I'm pretty sure that against Burnley, Emerton will keep his place and play on the right wing with Diouf on the left and Grella brought in instead of Andrews.

Some people on here seem to think Emerton should play in the centre, but he's not a central midfielder and I'm pretty sure he doesn't want to play in the centre either. Didn't he move here in the first place because we were going to allow him to play on the right wing, whereas other clubs wouldn't?

Grella and N'zonzi are definitely the defensive midfield pairing for me in our 4-2-3-1

[patrickvalery]

Excuse the late post on this subject.

I don't think we can say we were unlucky on Sunday. If anything i'd say our two goals were quite the opposite. To score two at the Emirates is usually lucky in itself.However, i think Arsenal would have beaten most sides with that performance. The match highlighted a few key points to me.

Our only top quality players are Robinson, Givet and Samba and Dunn if vaguely fit. Chimbonda looks like he could be added to that list but only when deployed as a full back.

Givet would look at home in any of the top 4 sides in the country. Of that i am certain.

Ollson didn't have the shocker i expected. Positionaly not the best, but i've seen him have worse games despite the 6 conceded.

Jacobsen is steady and no frills. Over the course of the season he'll prove to be shrewd business.

Di Santo impressed me. His work rate was exceptional for someone dealing with hopefull long balls most of the afternoon.

The problem (as we all know) was our inept midfield. Apart from Dunn they offer nothing going forward. But more of a worry is they offer no protection defensively. When we capitulated in the 2nd half it was the midfield leaving an inexperienced unit at the back sadly exposed. Arsenal will destroy you if you allow their best players time in areas between our defence and midfield. What worries me even more is Grella, our recognised destroyer would have contributed little more.

Mr Andrews makes too many mistakes born from his enthusiasm. Numerous times he raced in to make a needless tackle only to get skipped past and leave us exposed again.

David Dunn is our shining light in the middle. That says it all for me. I'm not knocking him because he is our only player looking to make things happen. But he labours about and is so slow and unfit that he will never create chance after chance in any game. Unfortunately Dunn needs other midfielders around him who make intelligent runs thus saving his legs. How i long for David Dunn of old.

Hoilett looks like the TYPE of player we've been crying out for. I was so tired of Diouf receiving the ball to feet and either plodding down a blind alley or holding off the opposition so long that his eventual delayed pass to someone else was too late and put them in trouble. This lad at least attempted to attack! He looks to get the ball down and spin away. Something the superb Arsenal did to us time and again. He's got a long way to go, but his pace and, seemingly, direct dribbling is something we've lacked for ages. I'd sooner see him play the majority of games over Pedersen.

Needless to say i was far from impressed with Diouf. OK he set Emerton away for our second. But more by luck than judgment. Don't get me wrong, he has been better in previous games. Overall i still believe he has warranted us signing him. But the Diouf i remember at Liverpool seems a different player now. I was going to say he seems to lack pace. But i'm not sure he does. He just seems reluctant to open the engine up at all. All the tricks and party pieces seem to be devoid from his game now. I was hoping when we signed him he may be the flair player we as fans so desperately wanted to see. On Sunday he was anything but. He also almost cost us a goal in the 1st half out of sheer laziness at a free kick. Simply making no attempt to pick up his man who sent in a cross under no pressure at all.

The only saving grace for me is there are at least 10 sides in the league who we can beat. But it also highlights the importance of going into games such as West Ham with more confidence, desire and mentality to win the match.

Excuse the excessive rant. Two days spent with no menas to release this has been hard work.

[tonyoz]

Here is an objective look at the Arsenal v Rovers player performances. I'm not highlighting individual performances - more the overall picture.

% successful passes:

Arsenal

Sagna 77

Gallas 81

Vermaele 80

Clichy 92

Fabregas 77

Song 92

Daiby 81

Rosicky 83

Van Persie 83

Arshavin 80

Walcott 100

Bendtner 92

Rovers

Jacobsen 48

Chimbonda 77

Givet 68

Olsson 59

Emerton 73

Andrews 53

Dunn 47

NZonzi 59

Diouf 72

Di Santo 59

Pedersen 55

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/arsenal/6256538/Arsenal-6-Blackburn-Rovers-2-match-report.html

If we can't pass the ball to our own players a bit better than this, no wonder we get tubbed by teams like Arsenal.

I thought Andrews had a shocker like most people but here are some surprising stats regarding our superhero:

The season so far:

Total passes

1 Keith Andrews 198

2 Paul Robinson 197

3 Morten Gamst Pedersen 177

4 Steven N'Zonzi 172

5 Vincenzo Grella 157

6 Pascal Chimbonda 154

7 El Hadji Diouf 150

8 Lars Jacobsen 146

9 Christopher Samba 146

10 David Dunn 126

11 Gaël Givet 99

12 Ryan Nelsen 67

13 Jason Roberts 63

14 Franco Di Santo 42

15 Martin Olsson 33

16 Brett Emerton 33

17 Benedict McCarthy 26

18 David Hoilett 25

19 Nikola Kalinic 20

20 Míchel Salgado 20

Tackles won

1 Keith Andrews 19

2 Morten Gamst Pedersen 13

3 Steven N'Zonzi 9

4 Christopher Samba 9

5 Vincenzo Grella 7

6 Gaël Givet 5

7 El Hadji Diouf 5

8 Pascal Chimbonda 4

9 Franco Di Santo 3

10 David Hoilett 2

11 Martin Olsson 2

12 Jason Roberts 2

13 Brett Emerton 2

14 Ryan Nelsen 2

15 David Dunn 1

16 Lars Jacobsen 1

17 Benedict McCarthy 1

(same source)

[RovertheHill]

Not sure those stats tell the whole story. For example Fabragas had less successful passes than any Arsenal player but anyone who watched the game knows that the passes he made were the ones that killed us, and that he pulled the strings on that performance.

[tonyoz]

Not sure those stats tell the whole story. For example Fabragas had less successful passes than any Arsenal player but anyone who watched the game knows that the passes he made were the ones that killed us, and that he pulled the strings on that performance.

Yes. of course, that's why I recommend that you look at the whole picture............our passing overall was crap!

Fabregas is class because he looks for (and usually finds) the killer pass.........rarely the simple option. Tugay's stats were not as impressive as other Rovers for the same reason.

[alexanders]

Look 5:20 in this vid.

http://www.footytube.com/video/arsenal-blackburn-rovers-oct04-24555

The Ref smiling was the first one to congratulate the Arsenal player with his goal.

Makes me sick.

Mods: Please remove post if illegal.

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

I, and the Forest, Chelsea, Liverpool, Wolves, Everton and Manure fans I was watching the game with saw that and all commented on it. Looked like he'd just "done a Le Tis".

[LeChuck]

Not sure those stats tell the whole story. For example Fabragas had less successful passes than any Arsenal player but anyone who watched the game knows that the passes he made were the ones that killed us, and that he pulled the strings on that performance.

Also...I think he'll have played more minutes in central midfield than any other player due to injuries, so he's had more opportunities to play passes and make tackles. The numbers need to be divided by number of minutes played really.

[philipl]

Look 5:20 in this vid.

http://www.footytube.com/video/arsenal-blackburn-rovers-oct04-24555

The Ref smiling was the first one to congratulate the Arsenal player with his goal.

Makes me sick.

Mods: Please remove post if illegal.

I could understand anyone involved in football smiling after some of the Arsenal goals but that one was decidedly ordinary.

[waggy]

we may have conceded 6 at the emeirates but i would rovers go and give them a game,than last season when we lost 4-0 and played terrible football.we were in the game for 70 mins,and the refereeing was very poor

[Flopsy]

lordy lord, not the Waggster being complimentary of BFS and his tactics and team?

[waggy]

lordy lord, not the Waggster being complimentary of BFS and his tactics and team?

he was in charge last year,it was ###### poor,this year we gave them a game,still lost by 4

[Flopsy]

so he learnt (ish) from his mistakes

[Al]

Sorry but I do not subscribe to the theory that we were unlucky. Each time we scored I just knew that they were going to score more than we were. They always looked like they could score at will, and did.

Is it just me that can't stand that smug smile on Fabregas's face. He reminds me of that prat Ronaldo.

[RibbleValleyRover]

Is it just me that can't stand that smug smile on Fabregas's face. He reminds me of that prat Ronaldo.

I agree, fantastic player but comes across as a right egotistical prat. Ever since those "Barcelona" comments towards Hughes i've had a strong dislike of Fabregas, his pitch display against Hull further reinforced that.

[roversmum]

Personally it's Van Persie who most ignites the fire in my soul