Olympique de Marseille 0 - 1 Arsenal: Bringing back "one-nil to the Arsenal"... one night only

Sushi Master wrote:Santos will improve with time. It's like his 3rd Arsenal game.

Yeah, he's not solid defensively but I feel he had a good 2nd half.

The Kos-Merts partnership again works out.

Merts is the muscle and Kos the silk. Kos was a total beast.

He just needs to calm down with his dribbling around the edge of the box. the guy tries to nutmeg players around the box

Wonder who will partner Vermaelen ?

Dunno why some of ya are saying Santos isn't solid defensively.
Whenever i have seen him play for us, he has looked solid. I thought he did really well. Although i'm a bit afraid that his tendency to try and play his way out of the box could get us into trouble later on.

Has to be Mertesacker. Vermaelen and Kos are too a like to play together.

Merts is just beast to have in set pieces and the like.

Although Vermaelen's good enough to partner anyone.

Mertesaker should...Koscielny is just not consistent enough.

He has his days when he is amazing and some days when he doesn't fancy it and just gives up.

Santos is extremely cool about everything. Thats the best bit about him, but its bad as well at times

Although he has fitness issues. He is really fat atm

I was already going to miss the first 70 minutes of this game because of school, but then my ride home got delayed. I got home and turned the TV on about 2 seconds before Djourou played that pass. You can all thank me later

Updated the first post.

I don't think we can really judge this side's creativity on a game like this. Away games in Europe and generaly tight and cagey affairs and the team was clearly set-up to soak up pressure and counter Marseille.

The thing with Arteta is that he's always played as a deeper playmaker, even during his Everton days. He's rarely played in an AMC role. What he did have was decent acceleation which allowed to get forward effectively, but injuries have hindered that. He's better suited to a deeper role and we shouldn't be relying on him to be the creative hub of the team.

Him playing there is actually benefitting us, because he's disciplined and does the defensive stuff like covering for defenders and getting tackles in quite well.

Anyone noticed how all of a sudden around the 70th min our players (e.g. Rosicky) started piling on the pressure? Deliberate tactic by AW?

wenger said patience will be key. We started to attack after they brought every single of their CAM. They couldnt counter anymore and Gignac is as slow as Lex at full speed

Wenger is a genius

GoonerJay29 wrote:Updated the first post.

I don't think we can really judge this side's creativity on a game like this. Away games in Europe and generaly tight and cagey affairs and the team was clearly set-up to soak up pressure and counter Marseille.

The thing with Arteta is that he's always played as a deeper playmaker, even during his Everton days. He's rarely played in an AMC role. What he did have was decent acceleation which allowed to get forward effectively, but injuries have hindered that. He's better suited to a deeper role and we shouldn't be relying on him to be the creative hub of the team.

Him playing there is actually benefitting us, because he's disciplined and does the defensive stuff like covering for defenders and getting tackles in quite well.

He reads the game better than Song....impressed by his tackling ability not bad for a creative midfielder

The Verminator wrote:Anyone noticed how all of a sudden around the 70th min our players (e.g. Rosicky) started piling on the pressure? Deliberate tactic by AW?

Probably more to do with the team growing in confidence once they realised that Marseille weren't that threatening rather than a delibrate ploy by Wenger.

RealGunner wrote:Santos is extremely cool about everything. Thats the best bit about him, but its bad as well at times

Although he has fitness issues. He is really fat atm

yeah this exactly. he's a tricky mofo too... he'll pull off some skills and make some good runs forward (with much better judgement than gibbs). it really doesnt matter who we play at LB right now both are playing well

Ramsey is picking form as well

Completely agree with the ratings Jay.

Would have given Gervinho 6.5 at least, brought a lot when he came on.

kos had 7 interceptions MOTM
sanots completed 90% of his passes he was pressed and under pressure esp in 1st half
gervs came on as a substitute but had 2 key passes more than any other gunner on the pitch

We are in desperate situation for a Free Role playmaker.

when you look at our luck if we win the group which we should milan will suddenly manage to beat barca at san siro and then we will get barcacheats again

Next 5 Arsenal games: Stoke (h), Bolton (h)- carling cup, Chelsea (a), Marseille (h), West Brom (h)

A chance we will go to Olympiakos on matchday 6 already through, just like in 09/10 when we fielded Bartley, Cruise etc

gunnerlistick wrote:

Sushi Master wrote:Santos will improve with time. It's like his 3rd Arsenal game.

Yeah, he's not solid defensively but I feel he had a good 2nd half.

The Kos-Merts partnership again works out.

Merts is the muscle and Kos the silk. Kos was a total beast.

He just needs to calm down with his dribbling around the edge of the box. the guy tries to nutmeg players around the box

I bet he nutmegs his team mate at training for fun. I can imagine him proper rubbing it in too lol

Great result though.

Per Mertesacker - 6. Was very steady, although he was beaten very easily on two ocassions. One-on-one defending against a pacey player is not his forte, it seems.



I was laughing when Valbuena skinned him

highburied wrote:We are in desperate situation for a Free Role playmaker.

QUOTED FOR EMPHASIS.



And no, it's not Wilshere.

Thank you Ramsey for the last minute joy and Gervinho change the game.

4 bad games in a row for Theo now, I know he might drop form but don't you guys think it's time to give some others a chance, Ox, Ryo, Yossi, Park, somebody else?

RealGunner wrote:Wonder who will partner Vermaelen ?

Koscielny without any doubt for me and i think the reason is obvious.. And i saw some1 saying Kos makes mistakes.. Atleast he does something and makes the occasional mistake.. What about Met..?
I think Santos is doing well defensively and i dont think we are missing Clichy this season.. And Arteta is playing too deep while Song is given license to go forward.. I remember the first couple of matches when he took the ball and played.. It looked great.. But he is also defensively very good.. Better than playing Ramsey or Rosicky deep.. So it is really benefiting the team eventhough his assists or goals have come down...