[Archived] Arsenal Preview

[RoversFanUSA]

Having not seem the game I can't comment yet on our performance BUT I can say we must gave done well if the score line was 2-1. Normally we get smashed on but I think were going to do very well this season and fact our pjayers are putting in good work is very ecouraging

[Tom]

Couple of points about celebrations:

- did anyone notice Walcott doing the rubbish FIFA pointing celebration, would have made me laugh against anyone else

- did MB Diouf kiss his badge after his goal?

[47er]

I see we have the usual negative garbage posted on here...

First point, we faced a full strength Arsenal side playing at the top of their game and gave the an enormous challenge. Arsenal are no longer kids- these are players getting to their peak in their mid-twenties who have been playing together at the highest level of football since they were teenagers. In the second half, they upped their power and presence a notch, cut out the misplaced passes and we could not compete with it effectively but in the first half we gave them one heck of a game.

Second point, any criticism of Rovers players is uncalled for- the team was superb throughout.

The Diouf twins were magnificent and EHD is a total revelation this season- the strength holding off Vermaellen to set up the goal was awesome.

MGP is fantastic in his new role.

Kalinic gave the Arsenal defence a torrid time until he tired.

Grella was superb until he tired.

All the defence played brilliantly and were extremely well drilled. If you are going to blame anyone for the first goal watch number 28 Jones in the build-up for it, not Givet. Walcott literally burst the net with his shot- the ground staff had to re-knot it where the ball struck before the second half could start.

Having said that, Phil Jones is the most exciting emerging home grown talent we have seen at Ewood in the Premier League years.

Fantastic effort against an Arsenal outfit that means business this year and unfortunate not to take a point.

Good summing up Phil. The only misgiving I have at the moment is about N'Zonzi. He's gone from being Player of the Year to bit part extra and I don't understand why. Jones is a centre-back whose time will come. It shouldn't come now in the wrong position at the expense of a terrific young defensive

central midfielder. We missed his composure today.We couldn't have done more today, we were outplayed in the second half but in the end only a big slice of luck to Arsenal cost us a draw.

[Hughesy]

Based on our first 3 fixtures this season, compared to the same fixtures last season we have the same points, only 3 MUCH better performances & VERY unlucky to not pick anything up at Brum & possibly today.

Last season we beat them 2-1, very fortunate and by harassing their stand in keeper.

Today we lost 2-1, but played 2 strikers, had more attempts at goal, had 2 attempts cleared off the line and for 1 half actually played better than a full strength Arsenal.

2nd half we lost our way abit, however I think the midfield wasnt as good. Jones lacks abit of experience in their & NZonzi would have been a greater influence in their today.

El Hadj was superb for our 1st goal, as was Mame's movement to make his move inbetween both defenders.

Dunn was pointless today. As for Subs - Kalinic went off when knackered & same for Mame.

Doomsdayers at expected blame the manager for taking them off!! Hardly suprising from the usual suspects.

[Blue n White Rover]

Jones is not a midfielder! Get him back in central defence or on the bench. What annoyed me the most today was when Sam brought on N'zonzi, he decided to put Olsson in the LB position, and shift Givet to CB. Why on earth did he not leave Givet where he was and slot Jones into CB?

Olsson would surely be more of an attacking threat on the left wing than Jones in CM. Some really poor decisions today by Sam, and with City next, it's looking like 3 defeats on the trot.

Based on our first 3 fixtures this season, compared to the same fixtures last season we have the same points, only 3 MUCH better performances & VERY unlucky to not pick anything up at Brum & possibly today.

Last season we beat them 2-1, very fortunate and by harassing their stand in keeper.

Today we lost 2-1, but played 2 strikers, had more attempts at goal, had 2 attempts cleared off the line and for 1 half actually played better than a full strength Arsenal.

2nd half we lost our way abit, however I think the midfield wasnt as good. Jones lacks abit of experience in their & NZonzi would have been a greater influence in their today.

El Hadj was superb for our 1st goal, as was Mame's movement to make his move inbetween both defenders.

Dunn was pointless today. As for Subs - Kalinic went off when knackered & same for Mame.

Doomsdayers at expected blame the manager for taking them off!! Hardly suprising from the usual suspects.

When will you get into that head of yours, that chances mean sweet FA if they're not converted into goals. You were banging on about how many times Kalinic hit the post last season and were counting them as goals as well as his disallowed goals!

Pathetic!

[roversfan99]

Thats a good point about Olsson, i noticed that. Very strange decision.

[CAPT KAYOS]

philipl

Kalinic gave the Arsenal defence a torrid time until he tired.

philp d you want to borrow my specs?

Kalinic was useless yeterday and didn't seem all that interested imo.

What the game showed yesterday is our extremely frustrating jekyll and & hyde we are, and the good , bad and ugly

Good - we showed when we do play football we can be a match for anybody.

Bad - two strikers as such but still play same system one up front and Jones in midfield, who, which has already been posted , played like a centre back in midfield.Playing him out of poition will not gain him any confidence or the right experience in his best position - why do managers do this nowadays ? Substitutions needed to be made but feel Sam certainly got it wrong.

Ugly - 2nd off back to normal as the media would have it - sit deep hit and hoof with kick and rush football as evidenced with pushing Samba up front to win headers for erm ....... nobody

We could have got something today which is not bad for what I would say we played with 10 men for most of the match, just went off the boil and lost concentration.

Didn't think Arse really had to step up to win the game - just we blew it and looked tired in the second half (can't remember anybody mentioning that Arsenal didn't play midweek - but that shouldn't be an excuse)

Need to start pressing our influence on the game more and stop whingeing about missing chances and start making them count.

Overall there where more positives than negatives and a least something to work on - but we got beat of a better team who if needed probably could have stepped it up a bit.

[otto man]

I see we have the usual negative garbage posted on here...

First point, we faced a full strength Arsenal side playing at the top of their game and gave the an enormous challenge. Arsenal are no longer kids- these are players getting to their peak in their mid-twenties who have been playing together at the highest level of football since they were teenagers. In the second half, they upped their power and presence a notch, cut out the misplaced passes and we could not compete with it effectively but in the first half we gave them one heck of a game.

Second point, any criticism of Rovers players is uncalled for- the team was superb throughout.

The Diouf twins were magnificent and EHD is a total revelation this season- the strength holding off Vermaellen to set up the goal was awesome.

MGP is fantastic in his new role.

Kalinic gave the Arsenal defence a torrid time until he tired.

Grella was superb until he tired.

All the defence played brilliantly and were extremely well drilled. If you are going to blame anyone for the first goal watch number 28 Jones in the build-up for it, not Givet. Walcott literally burst the net with his shot- the ground staff had to re-knot it where the ball struck before the second half could start.

Having said that, Phil Jones is the most exciting emerging home grown talent we have seen at Ewood in the Premier League years.

Fantastic effort against an Arsenal outfit that means business this year and unfortunate not to take a point.

Top post Philip, couldn't agree more. I watched the match with a dingle, who's "other" team is the Arse(doubly sad I know) and even she said(totally unprompted) just how good we looked and that a draw would have been a fair result.

[joey_big_nose]

Out of the 3 league games he looked pretty good in the first two, he will have games like today where nothing runs for him, especially with his age.

Problem for me with Kalinic is if he is running at a defender he can't get round them into a scoring position. On the turn he is good, and he does get shots off from tight situations although he is worryingly not getting them on target. To handle him all the centre half needs to do is drop off. Also he is average in the air.

It is not ideal but if in latter stages of games Sam should be looking at playing Samba up front with Kalinic playing off him for the knockdowns. If Benjani can come in and perform in that role then all the better.

[thenodrog]

A bit harsh but we know how clinical the big sides are and thats the difference.

We faded badly in the second half largely due to Arsenal's control of the middle of the park. We didnt create anything. We should have scored earlier on.

Sams fatal mistake. Largely down to the manager replacing Grella (who was having a cracking match and had completely nullified the seemingly disinterested Fabregas) with Dunn. Dunny's mobility now is such that we may as well have painted a wardrobe blue and white and placed it in the middle of the park. Funny game to abandon our dogged 4-5-1 formation cos it's difficult enough for a 4 man midfield to hold the Arsenal but then Sam left us with just one midfielder capable of making a tackle. If he had wanted Dunny on it would have been more sensible to replace El Hadj Diouff.

[MarkBRFC71]

Based on our first 3 fixtures this season, compared to the same fixtures last season we have the same points, only 3 MUCH better performances & VERY unlucky to not pick anything up at Brum & possibly today.

Last season we beat them 2-1, very fortunate and by harassing their stand in keeper.

Today we lost 2-1, but played 2 strikers, had more attempts at goal, had 2 attempts cleared off the line and for 1 half actually played better than a full strength Arsenal.

2nd half we lost our way abit, however I think the midfield wasnt as good. Jones lacks abit of experience in their & NZonzi would have been a greater influence in their today.

El Hadj was superb for our 1st goal, as was Mame's movement to make his move inbetween both defenders.

Dunn was pointless today. As for Subs - Kalinic went off when knackered & same for Mame.

Doomsdayers at expected blame the manager for taking them off!! Hardly suprising from the usual suspects.

Hughesy, you can put as much spin on it as you want, but the fact is whatever was said, and whatever tactical changes were made at half time had a very negative effect on our performance.

It was blatantly obvious that in the first half we defended in Arsenal's half, not allowing their defence any time at all, and the team sat higher up the pitch as a unit. We were also trying to play the ball out from the back way more than usual, and we were getting a lot of success from it. We were keeping the ball, and not allowing them time and space when they had it.

Second half, the team sat a good 20/30 yards further back, and it was back to the usual with the lone striker being isolated and not supported, and high/long balls being played. Arsenal coped easily with the style in the second half (it was probably exactly what they'd trained for all week) and every time we launched it they won it back easily and had us under constant pressure.

San got it spot on in the first half, and that is how we should approach every game. However, second half he got it drastically wrong - we lost yesterday because of the change in style/system at half time.

The subs were also poor - we've got a 2 week break coming up so the players have plenty of time to recover - he should have given both strikers at least until the last 10 minutes. Grella was also taken off too early, and Dunn looks way short of fitness.

10/10 to Sam for the first half, but 5/10 at best for the second.

[thenodrog]

Jones did an excellent defensive job against Everton and helped stifle one of the best midfields in the Premiership. He also showed decent touch and technique at times and ran a long way with the ball on more than one occasion. Do I think he'll go on to become a new Platini or Xavi - no. But he can do a job as a holding midfielder who protects the back four. And he should only get better at it as he gets older.

I'd agree with that and at 18 he has the stamina and fitness to cover an awful lot of ground.

[magicalmortensleftpeg]

Sams fatal mistake. Largely down to the manager replacing Grella (who was having a cracking match and had completely nullified the seemingly disinterested Fabregas) with Dunn. Dunny's mobility now is such that we may as well have painted a wardrobe blue and white and placed it in the middle of the park. It's difficult enough for a 4 man midfield to hold the Arsenal but Sam left us with just one midfielder capable of making a tackle. If he had wanted Dunny on it would have been more sensible to replace El Hadj Diouff.

EH Diouf was having arguably his best ever game for Rovers. I understand Sam's tactics. Kalinic and M Diouf were fading in the second half, there was nobody to bring on in their place so he brought on Dunn, put EH Diouf up top and put Nzonzi in midfield. Again illustrating how we're a striker short. I thought bringing on Dunn was a smart idea at the time. He ran so many games for us last year so it was a gamble worth taking. It didnt come off, but its understandable why Sam tried it. Grella played well, but with his injury record Im not surprised Sam was cautious.

[thenodrog]

Well, we gave them a game but lost because we don't have a specialist left back; Givet was AWOL for both goals and offers nothing going forwards.

I really liked how we played first half so credit to Sam, but I thought every substitution made us worse to the point where in the last 10 mins we looked like a Rochdale in a cup tie. We lost the midfield after Grella went off. Diouf mkI was causing havoc on the left and switching him into the middle just emphasised his weaknesses. Dunny lumbered about giving them even more space when they had the ball. Taking off both centre forwards was a nonsense. Good finishing is instinctive e.g. Diouf mkII's movement for our goal; Samba can't do that. Samba was always going to be up for the set pieces so I don't see what we could possibly gain by having him there in place of proper forwards for the approach play.

I agree with most of that but there is an old saying that if you want something different to happen hou have to do something different. Throwing Samba up top was the last throw of the Allardice. I've no problems with pushing him forward cos he is one big handful for Arsenals lightweight defence BUT when we do send him up we need to get a couple of teammates in close support for the knock downs his presence will create. Yesterday his team mates left him isolated.

[Sysagent]

Dunny's mobility now is such that we may as well have painted a wardrobe blue and white and placed it in the middle of the park.

That is one of the funniest things you have ever posted Gordon, I am almost tempted to quote it to the man in person next time I see him around town...

;-)

Oh and yes as most of the others have said was defo a game of two halves, we was all over them the 1st and then they decided to turn on the extra quality for the 2nd half and took the marginally deserved victory, as for EH Diouf, he was like a completely different player in that 1st half, did anyone notice that most of the front players were swapping wings and positions a lot in the 1st half, it was quite confusing at times.

[thenodrog]

Dunn looked like he'd eaten Benni McCarthy! Well short of match fitness. It did go awry when Grella went off - he is an excellent player, really underrated. Does the Makalele role - kick people, win it and play it short. Not the most glamorous role but he is our best player by mile for it.

You'll be for it now matey! This boards chock full of Grella haters.

Grella is a damned good player and the only fault with him is the obvious fitness issue and I can neither defend nor argue against that. Sam (and us) have been so damned unlucky that our two most talented midfielders are so injury prone. We would be a much better team with those two both fit and well.

The 'suits' generally know (Please don't use that word again) all about football.

Why do you say that? Who are the suits ER?

[thenodrog]

Good first half, extremely poor second.

Anyway more importantly, today I saw Heston Blumenthal with Nigel Howarth outside the club shop and Abbey eating double battered sausage chips and curry outside Holly Tree chippy

Now that would have been something!

In that case, we don't have any good midfield players. Grella, and N'Zonzi can't attack, Pedersen and Dunn can't defend. .

Correct. Same as just about every other team in the Prem since Patrick Vierra was in his pomp. Plastic Heads talking rubbish.

Given the opposition 3 points from the first three matches isn't too bad -

I think people would generally be happier if we had drawn all three.

Shocking? Very harsh words Matt. We more than matched a much better Arsenal side that we beat in May , esp in the 1st 45 mins. Second half , their strength showed, and but for a bit of luck we could have easily drawn. I concede Arsenal winning was about a fair result, but shocking? Never.

imo if we had had Arsenals subs and they had ours we would have at least got a point out of the match.

[Mattyblue]

That was the best performance yet from Grella, fitness aside I have seen him put in some shocking performances, but yesterday he played that role to perfection.

With a nights sleep I actually feel that we can get something at Citeh.

[Andy]

I think it's fairer to say that we lost due to Arsenal changing their tactics and not allowing us to play football anymore after HT.

Wenger acknowledged in his interviews after the match that they stood off us in the first half and allowed us press them higher up the pitch, letting us create chances and play a nice mixture of short and direct football.

In the second half however, Arsenal became more 'forceful' and backed us into playing in our own half and restricting our chances.

It'd be naive to think that at HT Sam said to his players "right lads, cracking first half, really please. I think the way forward now - instead of keeping things as they are - would be to play a bit deeper, play a bit more direct and allow Arsenal to get back into the game".

[Paul]

Hughesy, you can put as much spin on it as you want, but the fact is whatever was said, and whatever tactical changes were made at half time had a very negative effect on our performance.

It was blatantly obvious that in the first half we defended in Arsenal's half, not allowing their defence any time at all, and the team sat higher up the pitch as a unit. We were also trying to play the ball out from the back way more than usual, and we were getting a lot of success from it. We were keeping the ball, and not allowing them time and space when they had it.

Second half, the team sat a good 20/30 yards further back, and it was back to the usual with the lone striker being isolated and not supported, and high/long balls being played. Arsenal coped easily with the style in the second half (it was probably exactly what they'd trained for all week) and every time we launched it they won it back easily and had us under constant pressure.

San got it spot on in the first half, and that is how we should approach every game. However, second half he got it drastically wrong - we lost yesterday because of the change in style/system at half time.

The subs were also poor - we've got a 2 week break coming up so the players have plenty of time to recover - he should have given both strikers at least until the last 10 minutes. Grella was also taken off too early, and Dunn looks way short of fitness.

10/10 to Sam for the first half, but 5/10 at best for the second.

So many posts on this page (19) I agree with but this one sums it all up. At half time I was brimming with enthusiasm and had really enjoyed the game. I thought the team was producing exactly the right mix of football and as fans we couldn't ask for much more. As the second half progressed the crowd became increasingly quiet, in sharp contrast to the first half, and at 80 minutes I found myself sat back, arms folded, wondering what on earth was happening. By this point we had reverted entirely to the type the media love to portray and in desperation resorted to subbing our strikers and putting a centre-half as lone striker with little support coming from midfield.

Yesterday I would have ranted about the manager, today I'm just baffled. For 45 minutes we played some excellent, entertaining football and really threatened Arsenal. I'd happily have placed a bet on us winning, equally, as I said to den, I don't mind losing if we play like this. I cannot understand what the manager said to the team at half-time or why. Yes, Arsenal were threatening to score in the first half, but our threat was at least equal if not greater. I couldn't see any reason for changing things much yet from the KO it was clear the tactics had changed.

I realise my lack of faith in Allardyce is a minority view but yesterday demonstrated why I don't like him as our manager. On several occassions he has demonstrated our team, on very limited resources, can play good, entertaining football. Why, oh why change it at half time to send us home beaten and disappointed when at worst we might have gone home beaten but proud in the whole performance?

I probably know nothing but when you are matching Arsenal blow for blow why not just carry on? We seemed to surrender in the half time 15 minutes. It leaves me completely bemused and very disappointed.

[JAL]

Allardyce didnt change anything at half time. Arsenal got an early lead and played better than they did first half this exposed one or two of our players, thus changes had to be made to redress the problem. Saadly non worked or had time to work, as N'Zonzi coming on earlier might have matched the highly effective Diaby but time wasnt on our side.

These things happen some you win, some you lose, but as has been mentioned Dunny should have been in better condition than he was to have an impact on a fit Arsenal team.

[joey_big_nose]

I probably know nothing but when you are matching Arsenal blow for blow why not just carry on? We seemed to surrender in the half time 15 minutes. It leaves me completely bemused and very disappointed.

Not to make excuses, rather explanation, it was clear that we were running out of steam. We played an extremely high tempo first half and by 60 mins in all of our forward players were knackered and Grella had come off who was closing down well.

Sam go the second half wrong yesterday, but not as badly as some have made out. We could have easily got a draw.

[Eddie]

So many posts on this page (19) I agree with but this one sums it all up. At half time I was brimming with enthusiasm and had really enjoyed the game. I thought the team was producing exactly the right mix of football and as fans we couldn't ask for much more. As the second half progressed the crowd became increasingly quiet, in sharp contrast to the first half, and at 80 minutes I found myself sat back, arms folded, wondering what on earth was happening. By this point we had reverted entirely to the type the media love to portray and in desperation resorted to subbing our strikers and putting a centre-half as lone striker with little support coming from midfield.

Yesterday I would have ranted about the manager, today I'm just baffled. For 45 minutes we played some excellent, entertaining football and really threatened Arsenal. I'd happily have placed a bet on us winning, equally, as I said to den, I don't mind losing if we play like this. I cannot understand what the manager said to the team at half-time or why. Yes, Arsenal were threatening to score in the first half, but our threat was at least equal if not greater. I couldn't see any reason for changing things much yet from the KO it was clear the tactics had changed.

I realise my lack of faith in Allardyce is a minority view but yesterday demonstrated why I don't like him as our manager. On several occassions he has demonstrated our team, on very limited resources, can play good, entertaining football. Why, oh why change it at half time to send us home beaten and disappointed when at worst we might have gone home beaten but proud in the whole performance?

I probably know nothing but when you are matching Arsenal blow for blow why not just carry on? We seemed to surrender in the half time 15 minutes. It leaves me completely bemused and very disappointed.

Perfect. Absolutely. Spot. On.

[Paul]

Allardyce didnt change anything at half time. Arsenal got an early lead and played better than they did first half this exposed one or two of our players, thus changes had to be made to redress the problem. Saadly non worked or had time to work, as N'Zonzi coming on earlier might have matched the highly effective Diaby but time wasnt on our side.

These things happen some you win, some you lose, but as has been mentioned Dunny should have been in better condition than he was to have an impact on a fit Arsenal team.

I'm afraid I can't agree with the first sentence. I felt we sat back from the moment the second half kicked off which allowed Arsenal to play better than they had in the first. One of the good points about the first half was that by attacking Arsenal we effectively defended in their half which as we all know makes it much harder for the opposition. By sitting back in the second we invited them to attack us at will.

You're certainly right with some you win, some you lose and had we continued to play Arsenal I'd have no complaints. I don't understand why we should sit back for 45 minutes, at home, apparently content with a 1-1 when the game could well have been won or at least lost with a great second half.

Not to make excuses, rather explanation, it was clear that we were running out of steam. We played an extremely high tempo first half and by 60 mins in all of our forward players were knackered and Grella had come off who was closing down well.

Sam go the second half wrong yesterday, but not as badly as some have made out. We could have easily got a draw.

I can understand that but can't say I thought we looked tired at half time which is when the changes became apparent. Secondly shouldn't this lead to a question as to why the players ran out of steam after 60 minutes? Not all of this team played against Norwich and Arsenal presumably have had much the same tiem on pre-season as Rovers?

[47er]

Not to make excuses, rather explanation, it was clear that we were running out of steam. We played an extremely high tempo first half and by 60 mins in all of our forward players were knackered and Grella had come off who was closing down well.

Sam go the second half wrong yesterday, but not as badly as some have made out. We could have easily got a draw.

Yes--exactly what I was going to say. We just couldn't keep up that level of intesity for the full 90 minutes and we didn't have the quality of subs that Aresenal did. Even so, if we'd had Walcott and they had erm someone else, we'd have won!