Arsenal match thread

[Red Nick]

Two extremes today. Liverpool were very, very good and Arsenal were very, very poor. I am very pleased with both the result and the performance but there isn't too much to be read into it as it was a pretty meaningless match. Sure, Bolton have cut the gap on Arsenal but Arsenal have the game in hand. They'll make the 4, of that I'm sure. I think that we'll now go on to finish third although I do suppose it counts on how well we do in Europe as we might well take our eyes off the ball.

 

When we score at home, it tends to be a case of how many we'll go on to score and not will we hold on. That was summed up today perfectly I feel. We scored an excellent first goal from Crouch who took it well but had it put on a plate for him by Pennant and Arbeloa. 3 minutes on the clock... just a case of what we were going to go on and do from there on in. To be fair to Arsenal they had a little bit of pressure for the next ten minutes or so without seriously troubling us and then we had ten minutes where neither team could string 3 passes together, some seriously poor football. Speaking of seriously poor, Baptista blazed a great chance to level things up but blazed horrendously wide. I don't care how many goals he scored against us and his tally in the League Cup. The guy is seriously pants. Surely he's going back to Real? Wasteful, disinterested, nowhere near good enough for Arsenal.

 

And then we scored our second, out of the blue. Gerrard was causing no end of problems in the hole (going 5 in midfield raised eyebrows initially but Gerrard, Alonso and particularly Mascherano were all superb) and it was no surprise when he got dragged down.

 

I've been a big critic of Aurelio this season but he looked the business today and he showed great awareness to sprint into the empty space that the appalling Eboue left wide open. Great cross straight onto Crouch's head. Flew in and at 2-0 you were sure we were going to win the game. The big guy somes in for some ludicrous stick, all by morons who know nothing about the game. He does an excellent job for Liverpool, and those who go to the game know this is the case. He is occasionally wasteful and tries to do too much but his hold up play is excellent and he brings others into the game a treat. And when he plays like he did today, there's not a thing you can do brother, when Crouchamania runs wild on you.

 

I thought we might have sat on that as we're not playing dross like Sheff Utd or West Ham, we're playing a very good Arsenal team, but give us credit, there were more goals for the taking and we went after them. We had a scare early in the second half when Adebayor hit the post (Agger was blatantly fouled in the build up) and luckily for us it fell to Baptista and it all went downhill from there. It was a lethargic display from Arsenal in the main but he impressed me. He has so much endeavour and his attitude is spot on. He is a bit of a gem from what I can see. I thought, this time last year, he was going to be a bit of a comedien, but fair play, he looks a good player.

 

We then went on and made it 3-0 with another deadly delivery from Aurelio, who did come from Valencia with such a reputation. Straight on to Agger's head, he couldn't miss. He impresses me more and more every game. He's as cool as ice in his own box, and I think he has the potential to cause consternation in the opposition box as well. Especially if he's left totally unmarked, as he was today. Wenger will be furious with the marking but it was an excellent cross. Just the sort of tonic to quell the brief recovery from Arsenal. Aurelio played well today and there have been signs that he can do it on a consistent basis lately. Hope springs eternal.

 

Arsenal suddenly found themselves back in the game after the goal inevitably came. Reina had already made a top, top save from an Adebayor header which he tipped onto the post. The pressure had been building and I can't say I was surprised when Gallas bundled home on the line. Surprised no, disappointed yes. The zonal marking is normally very effective but someone wasn't paying attention to their zone. We briefly looked a bit put off but we settled the game down and it was great for Crouch to complete the perfect hat trick. He's been on one on three occasions and every time Rafa has hooked him. It was some finish as well even if it was a bit of a lucky bounce into his path.

 

Very pleasing win all in all. I'm not going over the top as it was essentially an overhyped friendly. But what we did we did very well. Hopefully we'll take some confidence from that going into Tuesday. I would consider the same system again as Gerrard was too hot for Arsenal to handle.

 

 

the system and players was very much the one we won the CL with maybe an omen for Athens and lets see what happens with Momo on Tuesday, Javier is a much better passer

[The Bugged Out]

my 3- 1 wasnt a million miles away, great result for the lads, hopefully we can take that confidence into the psv game and rip there fucking heads off during the week.

 

have it

[Captain]

Are you for real

 

Your obviously a really nice humane bloke

 

It's not like he said die cunt, die, is it? :whistle:

[Ladkin9]

the system and players was very much the one we won the CL with maybe an omen for Athens and lets see what happens with Momo on Tuesday, Javier is a much better passer

 

Momo is suspended isn't he??

[coop]

Momo is suspended isn't he??

 

Correct.

[Dan Vito Corleone]

the system and players was very much the one we won the CL with maybe an omen for Athens and lets see what happens with Momo on Tuesday, Javier is a much better passer

 

Momo will be missing in Eindhoven through suspension.

 

Mascherano vs. Momo is an interesting one. Whilst they do the same sort of job they are totally different sorts of players.Mascherano does little in the terrms of running but always seems to be in the right place at the right time. He uses the ball cleverly and it usually seems to be the right ball. He also has brains when to make challenges. He doesn't dive in rashly, he always seems to get the ball. Momo should watch him!

 

Sissoko on the other hand is an all action man who presses, presses and presses. He does the work of 3 men in one match. What a shame he can't pass. If he sorts that out... wow! He has immense workrate and he gets the foot in where people fear to tread. He also rushes in where fools fear to tread and gets too many bookings. His passing has improved but he gets exposed too often and concedes possession way too often. There seems to be more negative than positive there but that's not the way I feel, I like Sissoko.

 

Alonso and Gerrard in the middle too? We're really spoilt for choice.

[King Emlyn]

Crouch was magnificent today, unplayable. He is easily our best Striker and he should be starting every week. If he was, then he'd prove to be the 20 a season striker that everyones banging on about that we need. Aurellio was also superb today and i thought Mascherano and Arbelloa also played well. All round great performance, well done redmen, Jesus, even Pennant played well.

[bigbak]

Quite possibly the most deluded club match report since the last blueshite one:

http://www.arsenal.com/matchreport.asp?thisNav=fixtures&fxid=298755

 

What game were they watching?

[Dan Vito Corleone]

What a load of toss. Although to be fair our offal is prone to chatting broken biscuits as well. I know they hit the post twice but really... it does not flatter us...

[derykw]

Well in Reds didn`t think we had it in us, I tipped 0-0.

 

Absolute quality Hat-trick by Crouch he`s got to start on Tuesday surely.

[Strontium]

Crouch was magnificent today, unplayable. He is easily our best Striker and he should be starting every week.

Correct on both counts.

 

Quite possibly the most deluded club match report since the last blueshite one:

http://www.arsenal.com/matchreport.asp?thisNav=fixtures&fxid=298755

 

What game were they watching?

It's not that deluded... they did have spells when they were dominating possession and they hit the post twice. Also remember them missing a few sitters. If their finishing was better, the game would have been much closer, but we deffo deserved the win.

[Himsett]

It was a pretty good game, and I'm happy for crouch about the hattrick.

 

But the best part for me today is that my cousin is a deluded arse twat:D

So it was nice to return a couple of digs after the ones I got in January.

[Al Campbell]

I was really impressed with Mascherano today. Once he's fully match fit Momo's going to have a fight on his hands to stay in the side.

 

What was pleasing today was the way Rafa could rotate his side and still have quality in every position. With Arsenal having nothing to play for now except third I expected more from them but you've got to give credit to Rafa's tactics for making them look crap.

 

p.s. WHERE'S YOUR EUROPEAN CUPS?

[Vincent Vega]

We played footballers who can pass the ball and are comfortable in possession today and put in a decent performance against a team we usually struggle against. More of the same please Rafa.

[Cardie]

Crouch was awesome today, did everything he had to do very very well and scored three very good goals.

 

We played well but still need to be a bit more intelligent when we're infront. tme after time when the ball is with Reina we look to pump it upfield (mainly in the direction of the two wingers) as quickly as possible when we could have kept possession far better by playing it out from the defence and build the attack rather than force it.

 

Other than that an excellent display.

[coop]

Both Alonso and Mascherano are very good passers of the ball. This meant that because teams try to close Alonso down quickly Mascherano was allowed space to pass it about.

 

I agree with previous posts that once Mascherano is upto match speed he is going to be a very good asset to the side. Although not as all action as Momo he allowed us to retain possession and continue to attack.

 

As long as we can keep hold of our midfield four then the summer is going to be very interesting regards the wingers we buy.

[coop]

Heres Tom Hicks interview after todays game.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/player/sol/newsid_6510000/newsid_6514200?redirect=6514289.stm&news=1&nbwm=1&bbram=1&bbwm=1&nbram=1

[Red Nick]

Both Alonso and Mascherano are very good passers of the ball. This meant that because teams try to close Alonso down quickly Mascherano was allowed space to pass it about.

 

I agree with previous posts that once Mascherano is upto match speed he is going to be a very good asset to the side. Although not as all action as Momo he allowed us to retain possession and continue to attack.

 

As long as we can keep hold of our midfield four then the summer is going to be very interesting regards the wingers we buy.

 

Javier is much more like Hammann than Momo time will tell if he stays and perform for us like the great man

[coop]

Heres the goals from today

 

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1l81n_10-crouch-liverpool-vs-arsenal - 1-0

 

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1l86a_20-crouch-liverpool-vs-arsenal - 2-0

 

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1l8lg_30-agger-liverpool-vs-arsenal - 3-0

 

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1l8lq_liverpoolarsenal-31-gallas - 3-1

 

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1l8kk_liverpool-4-1-arsenal-crouch-hattri - 4-1

[coop]

Wenger accepted defeat better then normal.

 

Wenger said: "Defensively our performance was horrendous. The difference was Crouch, we just did not handle him at all. He was the big difference. We could not cope with him in the air and his three goals all came from crosses from wide areas.

 

"He made fine runs and we never got close enough to him and with Steven Gerrard also finding gaps between our defenders, Liverpool more than deserved to win.

 

"They were more mobile, sharper and determined. If we want to finish third now, we will have to produce better performances than that between now and the end of the season."

[bobhorse]

Good performance and a look at Rafa's prefered formation

4-2-3-1

 

it will be really good if during the summer 2 or 3 top players can be signed without losing the quality players we have at the moment

[RJ Fan club]

For me Arebola looked the MOM (yeah crouch is an obvious choice and looked quality today), but Arebola looked class.

 

I hope he can keep that up (although early days)

[Newport]

The Norwegian commentator had met Wenger in the hotel last night and Wenger told him that playing us was the only top game he really looked forward to because it's the only top game where the two teams share a mutual respect between each other.

[sir roger]

I thought Pennant's performance & attitude were good today & he made a significant contribution.

What is the consensus , should the security staff at George Henry Lees be put on red alert under 'Operation Fivetimes arse '

( see #18 )

[Chocoholic]

Fantastic performance today, really made up for Crouchy.

 

 

Did anyone hear about Fabregas asking Gerrard to swap shirts in the tunnel at half time? I heard the commentators mention it, but didn't hear if Gerrard had actually complied with his bizarre request. Anyone hear any more about this?

 

It doesn't even happen at full time in Prem games, never mind half time. So what the hell was he thinking of?