Fulham 1 - 3 Arsenal: Crisis club win again

So for the second game running we've hit three goals away from home and have won comfortably. We were so comfortable in the second half that there wasn't even anything remarkable for me to note down and talk about in this thread.

There were some talking points from the first half, though. When the line-ups came out this morning, many expected Rosicky to play alongside Aaron Ramsey in the pivot. However, it turned out that we were playing more of a 1-2 today, with Ramsey as the deepest midfielder and Rosicky and Cazorla playing ahead of him. This slight change may have been influenced by Rosicky's and Cazorla's lack of discipline in a deeper role. Ramsey had to play slightly deeper in order to keep the balance.

For the most part, the trio worked out fine, but they did struggle when it came to winning the ball back and made a lot of challenges from the wrong side. Most of Fulham's best play came when their midfielders, particularly Parker and Taarabt, evaded our challenges and got in behind our midfield. Ramsey could have easily picked up a second yellow card with the amount of niggly fouls he kept committing.  

At the very least, this was expected given that you don't associate Rosicky or Cazorla as being good ball-winners, and we already knew Ramsey still had a lot to learn as a holding player.

Other than that, we played very well. Fulham tried to put pressure on our defenders but we played around it extremely well and were able to exploit the spaces that pressure left behind. Fulham could barely sustain any pressure on us as Kasami and Berbatov were detached from the rest of the team, and our midfield had a lot of time and space to get on the ball. Typically, we didn't make many chances but took the ones we did create extremely well - the finishes from Giroud and Podolski were all high quality. Defensively we were very solid, bar the goal, which I'll look at later, and we looked dangerous on the counter.

All in all, very good performance and result. Hopefully now we can go into next week's North London derby with another win against Fenerbahce under our belts and with some shiny new signings.

On my death bed, when my Children ask me what i regret in life..

i would say being a ramsey hater was one of them..

Walcott proving, once again, his presence at the club is absolutely vital. He's really starting to come into his own and dominate play

I had to miss the first two-thirds of the match, but what I saw was encouraging. After Villa, a combined 6-1 away against Fener and Fulham is a solid response. Can't ask for more from the players who are already at the club.

Giroud is continuing his fine scoring form from preseason ...  

Podolski is someone who can't ever be accused to having to try to walk it into the net.

Impressive win, there was alot of confidence in our passing, especially at times in our own end. Lots of one touch sequences which suggests theres alot of confidence atm.

Just need a couple signings this week to give us another boost before the NLD next week.

Absolutely raped Fulham on the counter attack. We desperately need a quality defensive minded midfielder, lost count of the amount of times Fulham went through our midfield.

Would we have to sign players before a certain date for them to be registered in time for the NLD?

Looking at the goal we conceded, it's definitely Jenkinson who's at fault. He doesn't pick up Bent once during the attack and ends up losing him completely at the back post.

It may more down to communication than awareness, though, since he ended up picking up a man that Sagna was already picking up, even if it wasn't immediately apparent.

beatrixasdfghjk. wrote:Would we have to sign players before a certain date for them to be registered in time for the NLD?

we are probably gonna get our players before NLD

GoonerJay29 wrote:Looking at the goal we conceded, it's definitely Jenkinson who's at fault. He doesn't pick up Bent once during the attack and ends up losing him completely at the back post.

It may more down to communication than awareness, though, since he ended up picking up a man that Sagna was already picking up, even if it wasn't immediately apparent.

I think Mert gave Berbatov time and space to cross the ball across the box, if Mert gets a bit tigher to Berbatov then the cross would resulted in either a corner or a throw in.

Like others have said. Good encouraging attacking play, Carzola + Ramsey is boss & i'm happy for Lukas, hopefully this shows Wenger we cannot loan/sell him, but the Midfield is still too light. I have no faith in Wenger buying a dm, in 5 years he's never shown a hint of thinking that we need 1, or will just settle with flamoney. Get ready for another season of getting raped whenever a team ''gets up in our faces''

nice game..
the game was a comfortable which again underlines the quality of our first team.. and is a reminder for some of us who feel that we have a weaker squad than Spuds and Liverpool.. great to see that we used our chances well without dominating much and side passing in the final third struggling to break in.. the early first goal opened the game.. Fulham could no more sit back and had to play a positive game, which worked in our favour as almost always..
Wilshere was dropped or afforded some rest which was good.. but the trio of Ramsey, Rosicky and Cazorla didnt look balanced.. Ramsey played as the deep midfielder and Rosicky controlled his instincts to play a more deeper role.. we managed to do well despite few times when they got through the middle.. and they were more keen on playing through the wings via Rise and Duff.. so Ramsey-Rosicky double pivot could manage this game but i still have my doubts unless they are proven ok in better challenges.. Rosciky eventhough has terrific work rate and tackling, he is not a ball winner and his defensive positioning and reading may not be that good to play as deeper player.. we should sign a better experienced deep midfielder for this job..
and it was a team performance where everyone was good.. except for that careless soft goal conceded.. Podolski proved that how productive he can be.. credit to Walcott who is playing like a true RW these days, even with less goals and appreciation.. i hope he doesnt lose his head and gets frustrated with decreased returns.. he will surely have his games.. Ramsey was again great.. and Cazorla is getting sharper now.. Sagna was cool at CB.. Jenko had a really good game where his overall game with the ball was accurate and confident.. and Giroud keeps his goal scoring form with a fine finish..

Cazorla/Rosicky and Ramsey worked well. However, both of them need just little tweeks on how to position yourself and not let the attackers turn/run past. It can be sorted out and its not a big deal.
I only dare imagine if arsenal have cabaye and arteta in the mid field that would be the best mid field arsenal have had in past few years.
Wallcots, giroud and podolski movement was top class today.

Arsenal have structure now, they know their best formation, tactical awareness of players is improving and soon it will be near the likes of bayern and barca.

still arsenal need to learn to play the ref

Dat touch ffs

And THAT, ladies and gentlemen, was Jack's 100th appearance for Arsenal.

on Podolski...
I am pleased for him because he hasn't started much recently more because of the balance of the team than his performances. I am pleased because he plays with a lot of spirit and he can score goals. Everybody in the squad loves Lukas and I want to keep him. When a player doesn't play he is not happy and recently he did not always start but if you look at his and Giroud's goalscoring record it's very good.  

boyzis wrote:Cazorla/Rosicky and Ramsey worked well. However, both of them need just little tweeks on how to position yourself and not let the attackers turn/run past. It can be sorted out and its not a big deal.
I only dare imagine if arsenal have cabaye and arteta in the mid field that would be the best mid field arsenal have had in past few years.
Wallcots, giroud and podolski movement was top class today.

Arsenal have structure now, they know their best formation, tactical awareness of players is improving and soon it will be near the likes of bayern and barca.  

I think the trio was okay. I think we could pull that off better with a more out-and-out DM than Ramsey. Not saying Ramsey wasn't good today, obviously he was. Things just weren't as tidy as they could've been.

I think with our current makeup we're safer with two CM's and an attacking central mid.


And as for Ramsey's form, I was a hater too, but I realized that he was out of position RW/CAM. He still manages to anger me when he decides to attack and go too far forward (still loses the ball most of the time), but he's awesome in the middle of the park.

Great game and a big win. So happy for Podolski, you can see he really loves the team. You can see we have the quality just need to add to this team.

Szczesny had a great game.

The Gunners have won eight PL games in a row with Howard Webb as referee. 

Arsene's best ever signing little bit?

Great win
hopefully some players will get much needed rest a head of NLD contrary to what AW said post match

most frequent pass comb for us was Per to Bac
not really surprising
Giroud won decent amount of duels then Commentators jinxed him for 2nd half

Another 5pud2 is coming COYG