Arsenal match thread

[joyno]

I thought Plessis had a good first half. Remember that midfield is not a full back and for a 20 year old midfield it's very difficult. Plessis also has a good passing ! I think he' s better than Spearing from what he showed.

sorry mate, cant agree with you about plessis, he looks elegant on the ball but does nothing with it, very negative mostly playing the ball backwards.
has for spearing he loses all positional sense when defending and does horrendous shots from long distance every time.

[BobTheCharmer]

Haha yeah I was about to say Kuyt was our best defensive mid tonight

was this because he was asked to or just because he got himself tangled up again?

Near the end he ****ed around and gave them the ball back. Take Torres goal on sunday, he almost ****ed that up and miskicked it to Benni. I love his effort & desire. I hate his lack of quality.

[Roboklopp]

I thought we lacked decent support for Ngog upfront - we had Babel & Voronin, they had Eduardo & Nasri. Had we better internationals up top we would have won tonight. If Senderos hadn't got away with his handball we may well have won.

Arsenal have better reserve strikers. That's all.

Everyone does sadly & that is no slight on Ngog, who is doing well for a kid.

Anyway, I'm off to bed now.

[BubbaZanetti]

Can I just say again what a clueless cliche spouting muppet Steve Claridge is. R5 sounds more like TalkSport 'LET'S SHOUT BOLLOCKS' every time I tune in.

[dww]

Dirk Kuyt has, once again, been pants.

Thought he was really good myself.

Ngog looked excellent for the first 55 minutes. Real promise and confidence seemed seemed to give him a bit more strength in the game. I think he is a genuinely promising player.

Spearing an anonymous and quite poor first half but perked up second and played a lot of neat quick balls. needs to work on his positioning and he is slower than he looks (if that makes any sense).

Skrtel needs to be more decisive. I guess it is a confidence thing. Overall though I thought he and Kyriakos handled the pace of Arsenal well enough.

Plessis looked assured and calm.

Degen was quite fun in attack. Needed help in defence but looked the sort who could step up if given a few games to get fit.

Babel was wasteful - again glimpses of why people think he could, secretly, be a football player but no fulfilment of that promise.

Voronin despite a few really good moments lost the ball too much. He might be better with a run of games but he inspires no confidence and somehow manages to always make mistakes that seem costly. I have the impression that if he was playing for Bolton someone on here would be campaigning for him as a cut price backup for Torres and Kuyt.

[Baracus]

Spearing will probably be flogged if not this summer, the next.

More Saudi bashing

[MrMichael]

Yeah, I don't get the criticism of Kuyt tonight, i thought he worked very hard in what was totally a midfield role, hit a few nice passes and got really stuck in. I much prefer him playing in a more advanced position but considering the paucity of experience (Ngog, Plessis, Spearing) and quality (Voronin, Babel) around him he took on a leadership role in the midfield and did it pretty well.

Voronin runs around a lot but he gave the ball away far too often and never looked like a goal threat. Babel just has no footballing brain whatsoever, which wouldn't be a problem if he wasn't a footballer. But he is. He makes the wrong decision almost every time and was shepherded really well by Arsenal's full back.

Degen was fun, looked like he might actually be a half decent attacking full back on that display. Ngog I like generally, he's got a lot of developping to do still though.

Plessis was quite assured but his passing is really not up to much, and Spearing was just ok, but the gulf in class between those 2 and the likes of Merida and Ramsey was pretty obvious. I'd love to say otherwise but in all honesty I don't think either of them will ever be in genuine first team contention

[dww]

Plessis was quite assured but his passing is really not up to much, and Spearing was just ok, but the gulf in class between those 2 and the likes of Merida and Ramsey was pretty obvious. I'd love to say otherwise but in all honesty I don't think either of them will ever be in genuine first team contention

I have to say I think the comparison is slightly unfair. They aren't really the same type of players. I'd expect the sort of player Plessis is in particular to need more maturing. Spearing I'm not quite sure what his point is - until that gets decided by him/Rafa/whoever I think it is premature to judge but you are right - at the minute it is hard to see him step up. Ramsey looks to have gained a lot from having had some match experience with Cardiff. I do worry that it is hard for some of our players without that to kick on.

I thought that in general Plessis passed it quickly which is important for a player in his position. I'm not sure that he needs to be Alonso. The pairing looked a bit unbalanced - particularly with Babel on one wing offering such an inconsistent outlet.

It was an enjoyable game but I don't think any of the young players (on either side) really made me think they were ready to take to take the PL by storm. In general the Arsenal players were neat but aimless, we looked indecisive until the second half and not tough enough for players who were not as creative as their Arsenal counterparts.

[Scratch]

Well, it's a weird thread this one...from my point of view, i really enjoyed the game tonight...fast paced, end to end stuff, with some pretty slick passing from both sides, and plenty of positives to draw on (along with a couple of negatives).

Don't really think any player stood out as poor tonight, apart from Skrtel...what's happening there...hope it's just a blip...and a couple of poor passes by Voronin and the midfield duo...and someone please stop Spearing from shooting!!

But as a football spectacle, i enjoyed that match...played in a great spirit...as someone else said, a face paced friendly.

[SB]

i can see where you coming from.
he has game intelligence but then again he doesn't stop playing one-twos when those around don't seem to catch up. therefore we end up losing the ball in good positions.

That's exactly the sort of play needed to break down packed defences. It's hardly his fault that the players around him last night aren't up to it.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying he's the mesiah, but I think he gets a lot of stick that's unwarranted

[Parr_Zee]

My observations:

- Degen looked very good in attack and could really contribute to our attacking play against team who put 10 men behind the ball
- Voronin was very good in the 2nd half. Poor in the 1st half though.
- Bar a handfull of occasions, Babel gave the ball away everytime he had it
- Great debut by Aquilani - can you imagine if that over-head kick had gone in? I thought it was on its was too.

[nbryan1764]

Degen reminded me a little of Heggem (no rhyming intended). Thought we looked a little lost in midfield though but was impressed with Ngog. Maybe THAT goal has giving him more belief.

[Tee]

I thought we were unlucky to lose the game. Arsenal did play some wonderful football but to our credit we more than matched them throughout IMO, and on another day we could and probably should have score 2 or 3 goals given the clear chances we created.

Was impressed with the whole team, in particular Ngog playing with confidence is a totally different player. Degen showed what he could offer us as an attacking threat but again looked suspect defending IMO. Voronin was very good also and I think Rafa can take a lot of positives from this game.

Aquilani just looked a class apart when he came on and I just cannot wait to see him again.

I am disappointed we lost because I really wanted us to return to Wembley this season. Looks like it will have to be via the FA Cup now.

[MrMichael]

Degen reminded me a little of Heggem (no rhyming intended). Thought we looked a little lost in midfield though but was impressed with Ngog. Maybe THAT goal has giving him more belief.

Not a bad comparison actually

[sssiho]

I thought from the team we put out, Arsenal kids should have been no problem.
It showed the lack of quality within the squad. Maybe I'm being too pessimistic, there was some good points, Insua's goal was fantastic - but his pace worries me, Ngog/Plessis/Degen/Kuyt all played well, the rest some can be squad plyers but there are some obvious players that are not good enough to wear the red shirt - Voronin/Babel/Spearing.
Of course it was good to finally see Aquilani and I really hope he is the hero we need.

Roll on Fulham and lets get the first team out, score goals and get that much needed confidence up before playing Lyon.