Re: Arsenal vs Liverpool 2015/16 PL (Preview/Live Thread)

by EL Patron Mon Aug 24, 2015 8:06 pm

love that Coq work in midfield

by EL Patron Mon Aug 24, 2015 8:21 pm

Need to capitalise on this ffs, looking better. could do with a bit of Ox on

by EL Patron Mon Aug 24, 2015 8:28 pm

Giroud with the falling down finish ffs, get Ox on Arsene

by EL Patron Mon Aug 24, 2015 8:39 pm

Bah Gawd Cech Surprised

by EL Patron Mon Aug 24, 2015 8:44 pm

Santi's traded his assist for goals, whats happened to his shooting Laughing

by Rev Mon Aug 24, 2015 8:44 pm

Looking great.. our midfield are eating them alive atm..hope Chambers fine, he looked way better in the second half

by Twoism Mon Aug 24, 2015 8:53 pm

Tale of two halves but ultimately two points lost

by RealGunner Mon Aug 24, 2015 8:53 pm

Never winning the PL with Giroud upfront lol.

by urbaNRoots Mon Aug 24, 2015 8:54 pm

I am amazed how people think we need a defensive midfielder more than a striker. It was painfully obvious tonight.

by Sina Mon Aug 24, 2015 8:54 pm

great recovery and Response from panicky 1st half to excellent 2nd half but we are already falling in behind ;(

by RealGunner Mon Aug 24, 2015 8:56 pm

1st half was difficult because of Chambers-Gabriel failing to build from the back. We got better with that and it was forgotten.

by VendettaRed07 Mon Aug 24, 2015 8:58 pm

We've improved at every single position since 2012 except for striker. But because of our inability to score when we need to, results haven't improved and we never win games like these.

All the money we've spent elsewhere seems like a waste.

I am tired of us not signing a striker because " meh, too similar, not much better than Giroud"

Sign anyone and hope they are better. This is getting maddening

by urbaNRoots Mon Aug 24, 2015 9:00 pm

Welcome to the club, Vendetta.

Get Higuain in and go again!

by RealGunner Mon Aug 24, 2015 9:00 pm

Failed to score in our 5 home matches out of 6

seems legit

by RealGunner Mon Aug 24, 2015 9:01 pm

I'd take Higuain at this point Laughing

by Sina Mon Aug 24, 2015 9:03 pm

Dzeko ;(

by Rev Mon Aug 24, 2015 9:04 pm

Coq is such a beast...If Cazorla upped his game tonight we would have won Mad

by RealGunner Mon Aug 24, 2015 9:09 pm

Who are we kidding. We are never winning the league. Today's performance showed we are pretenders and not contenders.

Sure we'll go on a good run at some point and win 7 in a row. But that will be for the 3rd/4th spot if we are lucky.

No team has won a title with average strikers. Look at how Liverpool went on to nearly win the title with flanagan and some LB i can't remember. Just because they had two WC strikers upfront. Same with United with Rooney and RVP 3 years ago. Aguero single handedly won City the title.

That's the difference.

Also Big questions on Cazorla after tonight. He doesn't seem like a player who leads players, but someone who likes being led on. If that makes sense. You can see why Arsene tried using Ramsey instead of him in the first match at CM.

by RealGunner Mon Aug 24, 2015 9:12 pm

Gabriel was a beast btw. Great signing and will prove to be a hit in time.

Chambers need a loan.

by urbaNRoots Mon Aug 24, 2015 9:16 pm

RealGunner wrote:Who are we kidding. We are never winning the league. Today's performance showed we are pretenders and not contenders.

Sure we'll go on a good run at some point and win 7 in a row. But that will be for the 3rd/4th spot if we are lucky.

No team has won a title with average strikers. Look at how Liverpool went on to nearly win the title with flanagan and some LB i can't remember. Just because they had two WC strikers upfront. Same with United with Rooney and RVP 3 years ago. Aguero single handedly won City the title.

That's the difference.

Also Big questions on Cazorla after tonight. He doesn't seem like a player who leads players, but someone who likes being led on. If that makes sense. You can see why Arsene tried using Ramsey instead of him in the first match at CM.

Completely agreed with you on the strikers situation.

Cazorla certainly didn't have his best game but after all assisted our only (wrongly disallowed) goal with a beautiful through ball. He has proved to be a massive player countless times and big games aswell against Man City, Man Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea. He is our best CM and should easily start there over Ramsey who is best used in one of the attacking 3 midfielder positins.

by RealGunner Mon Aug 24, 2015 9:18 pm

Don't get me wrong. I love Cazorla. He should be starting for us. But I don't agree with him starting as our CM. It should be someone natural not someone who has to defend in matches like tonight's.

by Twoism Mon Aug 24, 2015 9:18 pm

YES finally RG got into pessimistic mode, WOB here we go

by RealGunner Mon Aug 24, 2015 9:19 pm

by urbaNRoots Mon Aug 24, 2015 9:24 pm

Cazorla is a natural CM, he has had his best games in that position. Ramsey on the other hand as proved tonight and in the run in last year id best suited in an sttacking position with Özil/Alexis. In midfield you need someone like Cazorla who can control the tempo of the game.

by RealGunner Mon Aug 24, 2015 9:25 pm

Think Wenger made a big mistake not starting Walcott/Oxlade.

Ramsey at RW is great away from home. But at home we should have started another genuine attacker.

Saying that, Ramsey was one of our best players tonight.

by Jay29 Mon Aug 24, 2015 9:25 pm

Cazorla is the least our problems.

At one end, Cech's performance was a great example of a keeper saving us points. If not for his saves we would have been several goals behind by half-time. Also showed his experience when he played more long ball from restarts instead of trying to play out when Chambers was struggling.

At the other end, Giroud's performance was a great example of a good but not great striker being unable to score a decisive goal when we need it. Though Alexis also missed a very good chance, and generally I don't think we made enough clear cut opportunities. We haven't scored in 5 of our last 6 home games - too long a run for it not be a concern.

Just heard we've had 61 shots so far this season - more than any other side. But only two goals. That's a worry.

It's not like the intensity or effort wasn't there. There was plenty of endeavor, we won the ball back high up the pitch and the passing was much better in the second half. We had decent width, our main players saw plenty of the ball. But there's just something missing there at the moment. I don't want to pin everything on Giroud but he spent all that second half in the box fending off several defenders and to get the ball to him we need to put in very accurate passes. And things just look imbalanced, as usual; too many players wanting ball to feet, not enough players wanting to get into those gaps between defenders.

A point isn't terrible after such a bad first half. Liverpool were set-up very well in that half and made it hard for us to play out and obviously we didn't help ourselves. They'll be kicking themselves that they didn't win the game based on that half alone. Second half they withdrew into their half and we had a lot more play in their half. We did have a goal incorrectly ruled out and a decent penalty shout in the second half as well.

I feel it's pointless drawing too many conclusions so early in the season. Yes, five points behind a scarily good City team doesn't bode well for our title hopes, but there's a lot of football to be played. Arsenal can and will improve their form eventually. Home form is the biggest concern at the moment and that needs to be addressed quickly. As long we stay within four or five points after 15 or so game we'll have a chance.

I'm actually more confident about away games at the moment, and its Newcaslte next on Saturday (early kick-off, yay).

I look forward to picking apart our forward movement when the full-match comes out.

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