Arsenal 3 - 1 Norwich: Things seem to be going our way

REWB wrote:gervinho oh man, back to being useless, he is too much of a confidence player, and thats not good enough. wilshere...lol he shouldnt have played, he was way too rusty.

After he wasted this opportunity, I knew it was going to be Gervais today not Gervinho

Jay, spot on about the lack of urgency in the first half.

Rosicky brings urgency

rosicky is our best player

Big win, we simply had to win today and we did.

Disappointed in Gervinho, a good chance to build on his run today but he showed just how inconsistent he is.

Ramsey was perhaps our best player, while all 3 subs had an impact.

Everton will be a different game, they will attack. Fellaini and Pienaar returned for them today (against QPR) too.

I suspect we'll see starts for Mertesacker, Monreal, Walcott, Rosicky and/or Podolski maybe.

bad bad decision for wenger to play wilshere. he was not ready to start matches.

Gk: Fab
Defence: Sagna Kosc Vermalen Gibbs
Mid: Cazorla Arteta Ramsey
Forward: Gervinho Giroud Podolski

the team above would have simply ripped Norwich apart. There was immense energy present at set pieces and wenger fails to utilize it every time

RealGunner wrote:oh my god

sums up today's game perfectly lol

RAMSEY WITH THAT FIRE

Am I the only one who was actually happy with Giroud?

His linkup play was actually great.

MJGunner wrote:Am I the only one who was actually happy with Giroud?

His linkup play was actually great.

It was after we made the subs, but not so much earlier in the game, which is probably down to our build-up play being poor in general. I think he would have had a better overall game if he been given more service, but yeah he did alright with what he got.

He made himself available for passes but the majority of his lay-offs and flicked didn't come off and he was caught in possession a few times.

His willingness to move and his work rate were good, but his general play was a bit below par. Not terrible, but not one of his better games.

MJGunner wrote:Am I the only one who was actually happy with Giroud?

His linkup play was actually great.

poor in the 1st half, much better in the 2nd

Some stats:

Aaron Ramsey completed 90% of his 79 passes. He also made the most successful tackles with 6.

Mikel Arteta completed 95% of his 102 passes and made 3 tackles.

Olivier Giroud made 4 key passes, the most by any Arsenal player today. Giroud also attempted the most shots with 5 and hit 3 of them on target.

Santi Cazorla made 4 tackles, all in the Norwich half.

Bacary Sagna also made 4 tackles.

Left it late, but huge win, puts alot of pressure on both Spuds and Chelsea next week.

Ramsey was brilliant...his pressing and tackling

G|rvinho was on some sort of run these past few games, but now I think its time for Poldi to start again. Gervinho's lack of fludidity at times really slows down our attack and I'd rather go with Poldi who's got a great understanding with Gibbs on the left.

Couldn't catch the game downloading it right now!

Heard Gervais was booed off the pitch, Emirates

urbaNRoots wrote:Couldn't catch the game downloading it right now!

Heard Gervais was booed off the pitch, Emirates

that is shocking.

he's getting paid 50k a week, he's due a booe every now and then. we are paying your wages, we expect you to perform or f'ck off

It is frustrating when arsenal don't press. Some of their best results - 2-1 win v barca, 3-1 win v chelsea and 3-0 v milan - all came through intense pressing. I can only hope that Wenger told his side to reduce their pressing today so that they'll be fresher for the everton game.

Arsenal have often looked jaded in mid-week fixtures partly because they have only 1 or 2 days to recover from the previous game. So, if you look at it from that angle, the reduced pressing - or lack of it - was not illogical so that arsenal will not tire and look like that frustrating mid-week team we frequently see.

Afterall, the decision to press isn't entirely tactical - fitness concerns and consideration of upcoming fixtures come into play. This was the problem for Athletic Bilbao last season; they strrugled towards the end because Bielsa had asked them to press intensely in practically almost every game, making them terribly exhausted. The only problem for Bielsa was that his players were human beings.

And human beings tire.

REWB wrote:he's getting paid 50k a week, he's due a booe every now and then. we are paying your wages, we expect you to perform or f'ck off

If you play 4 great games and screw up in your 5th, expect the crowd to forget that.

Team against Everton on Tuesday?

Fabianski

Sagna Mertesacker Koscielny Monreal

Arteta Ramsey

Walcott Cazorla Podolski

Giroud
-----------------
Mannone Vermaelen Gibbs Wilshere Gervinho Chamberlain Rosicky

Looks like our best 11

However i wonder if Rosicky is fit, he might start instead of Podolski and go with a lineup similar to recent weeks

i would start rozza if fit also Gibbs to show Baines who is Boss

draw wont do them any favour either so hopefully an open game in which we take our chances

urbaNRoots wrote:Couldn't catch the game downloading it right now!

Heard Gervais was booed off the pitch, Emirates

It sounded like people cheered when we made the subs because Theo and Poldi were coming on, although I will admit that it did get a bit louder when Gervinho came off. I didn't hear actual booing though, although it is hard to tell when watching on TV I guess. At least it's better than the Eboue-Wigan debacle I suppose..

I think wenger will start wilsgere against everton, otherwise i dont know why he started today. Only way it seems logical to me is if wenger used the game as an excerise to accelerate his fitness for everton, risky move but we won. Otherwise i dont know why else he started someone that didnt look remotely fit, i read hes only trained twice, he must have realised he wouldnt play well. We did have other options like move cazorla central and ox/pod on the left so it really doesnt make sense unless this game was used to get him fitter.

Ox is starting to look like a supersub these days, albeit vs scrubs. Physically ramsey is starting to look like a boss again, although im still not a fan of him technically. Gervinhos control when he running at goal is lolworthy, he did that against man city earlier in the season. Vermaelen i heard was at fault fir the goal, lol. Ovrall we are looking good byut this was a game to forget about

just read wengers post match comments saying he started wilshere because he didnt want to change system. If im podolski and someone that isnt even fit starts while im on the bench im nit gonna be happy. He might leave i think