Post Match Thread - Arsenal (H)

[wiw]

His desperate defending is decent and fancy to watch but the gap b/w midfield and attack becomes much more when we cant play a high line. To play a high line Carra is a liability and he shat himself when Chamakh chased him down and he still had a 15m head start.

We were playing with two qute defined lines of four though so there was always going to be some space. I just think you're being harsh and picking on the one thing he did wrong, he generally had Chamakh in his back pocket I thought

Btw props to Kuyt today who was clearly told to push up on Clichy for as long as possible and drop in at the last minute. He was brilliant positionally I thought, clever player

[cream]

So who comes in for Cole, Lucas or Aquilani???

[squaddie]

I know I'll get slated for this but Carra is slowly becoming a liability. I dint hold this view last season. But after the WC and today's match he is. We need to play a high line with a 4-2-3-1 and having Carra deffo doesnt help. You take him out and Agger perfectly slots in CB and we can have Aurelio at LB.

He's been a liability for a while tbf....... Still a brilliant player of course but ideally we should drop him a game when fitting.... The problem is who'd replace the managerial role of that back line.

[JohnDoe]

So who comes in for Cole, Lucas or Aquilani???

Torres.

N'Gog should keep his place in the team.

[destinydude]

We were playing with two qute defined lines of four though so there was always going to be some space. I just think you're being harsh and picking on the one thing he did wrong, he generally had Chamakh in his back pocket I thought

Btw props to Kuyt today who was clearly told to push up on Clichy for as long as possible and drop in at the last minute. He was brilliant positionally I thought, clever player

As I said I was going to be a little controversial but I'm not faulting his performance today but just saying if you want more ball and more possession and decent footy, he needs to be on the bench. It was a big game today and hence the way we play shudnt matter that much, Only the result shud. But I'd be sad to see him play week in week out. He isnt that trustable anymore

[cream]

We were playing with two qute defined lines of four though so there was always going to be some space. I just think you're being harsh and picking on the one thing he did wrong, he generally had Chamakh in his back pocket I thought

Btw props to Kuyt today who was clearly told to push up on Clichy for as long as possible and drop in at the last minute. He was brilliant positionally I thought, clever player

Kuyt is brilliant at following instructions, it's what made him a certain starter under Benitez.

[JohnDoe]

As I said I was going to be a little controversial but I'm not faulting his performance today but just saying if you want more ball and more possession and decent footy, he needs to be on the bench. It was a big game today and hence the way we play shudnt matter that much, Only the result shud. But I'd be sad to see him play week in week out. He isnt that trustable anymore

You need one defender who's good on the ball if you're a top side, and that's Agger. If it's a choice of Carra and Skrtel, it's Carragher any day and twice on Sunday. He's also a leader, an organizer, that's something you can't see from outside.

[Tatterdemalion]

So who comes in for Cole, Lucas or Aquilani???

I think they can both do a decent job there tbh, and I look forward to seeing either. I genuinely believe that Lucas will have a really good season as even last, he looked a lot better when he was allowed to get forward a bit. Aquilani has a lot of skill which we just haven't seen enough of, but I suppose th jury is out on whether or not he can cut it in the prem.

I reckon though that Gerrard is more likely to be pushed forward with Lucas kept back.

[Tatterdemalion]

As I said I was going to be a little controversial but I'm not faulting his performance today but just saying if you want more ball and more possession and decent footy, he needs to be on the bench. It was a big game today and hence the way we play shudnt matter that much, Only the result shud. But I'd be sad to see him play week in week out. He isnt that trustable anymore

[Rudo]

Skrtels positioning is normally piss poor

Who mentioned his positional sense?

[sevennilphil]

Is Aquaman injured as he wasn´t on the bench? Can´t see him starting against City if he wasn´t even on the bench.

I still think Johnson´s lack of concentration is going to lose us points.

[destinydude]

You need one defender who's good on the ball if you're a top side, and that's Agger. If it's a choice of Carra and Skrtel, it's Carragher any day and twice on Sunday. He's also a leader, an organizer, that's something you can't see from outside.

I disagree. You cannot hold a high line with him and it'd be difficult to play decent footy with 4-2-3-1 like today with such a huge gap b/w the lines. I've been saying this last season too and this became more evident after today.

There's nothing that can really say Skrtel and Agger cant be solid and cant communicate cos neither of them shout like a crazy SOB. They were quite good over the last 2 seasons when paired.

[destinydude]

Haha was just trying to get my point across quickly. I do that with wud and wudnt too

[JohnDoe]

I disagree. You cannot hold a high line with him and it'd be difficult to play decent footy with 4-2-3-1 like today with such a huge gap b/w the lines. I've been saying this last season too and this became more evident after today.

Barca play with Puyol, who's quite a similar player to Carra, only he's got **** hair. They do quite fine.

There's nothing that can really say Skrtel and Agger cant be solid and cant communicate cos neither of them shout like a crazy SOB. They were quite good over the last 2 seasons when paired.

Both of them lack aerial dominance and assertiveness. I'm not saying Carragher is aerially dominant, but he's better than both. You need that player in your team, any team.

[Shaggy]

I'll get slated for this, but Skrtel looked good because we didn't have the ball and were defending deep. He's still poor in retaining possession and handling counter attacks. The circumstances suited him.

Who cares if he can't pass. Yes his distribution, especially long, is rubbish but loads of the best centre-halves couldn't pass. Keown, Adams et al....they were garbage in possession. Who gives a ****.

Skrtel continues his revival if you ask me. Before his last injury he was getting back the form he showed in the early days, and today he was back to that bullish, dominant, uncompromising and powerful player we all know he can be.

Thought we were garbage in the 1st half. Had to laugh at Redknapp and Keys' anti-Benitez agendas going into overdrive with all manner of thinly-veiled - and I use that phrase loosely - digs. 1st half we were poor, couldn't hold the ball, never got Cole into the game (his frustration at barely having a kick possibly a factor in the reckless lunge) - yet the half-time 'analysis' was overwhelmingly positive. Bizarre.

Dead impressed with the reaction in the 2nd half. Great spirit and credit to Roy for that. Ngog just keeps on improving. If this lad was English the country would be creaming its proverbial pants over him. Hilarious to see him RAM Merson's jibes back down his grotty throat.

Mascherano was ****ing immense throughout, a towering performance. I hope to **** no move materialises. Man of the match for me.

Overall, absolutely galling to lose a goal like that at the end, it feels like a defeat, but it's not...it's alright. If we lose at City however, it starts to look a bit of a bad result. Must not lose at City.