Arsenal POST Match Thread

[DannyMan2006]

You're the woman off ChelseaTV and Craig is Martin Lipton.

[Neil Young]

I thought of that, but some midfield players would be classed as attacking ones. Generally the two strikers and two wide players would be seen as attacking, that's four out of ten outfield players straight away. Plus one of two CM's tend to be more attacking.

Hmm, not sure that works really. I mean, the primary responsibility of six of our players today was defending. And that doesn't include Dirky who can defend brilliantly.

[Molby]

BTW - Lee Dixon's analysis on MOTD is fantastic, he's right on the money..

Bigging up our young full backs....

[Craig_H]

In all fairness, I see why you are saying that, but it's complete rubbish. There are plenty of attacking players in world football, so it's not like there is a shortage due to difficulty in producing them.

And we are only suddenly bringing through defensive players because of injuries there. I'm sure if we had mass injuries up front we'd see young sterling get a game, or Dani Pacheco would still have been here.

I'm not saying there's a shortage due to difficulty of producing attacking players - read what i posted. I said it's far more difficult and a bigger risk to throw in a kid in an attacking role, because there's far more onus on an attacking player/striker (if you even play 2 up front, there's only 2 of them), especially if you use a lone striker system. Whereas a defender is only going to be a quarter of your defensive unit, so he has far less pressure on him to deliver the goods than a striker/attacker would.

So from a manager's point of view, the decision to chuck a kid in upfront is far more difficult to make, than it is to put in a defender who's only young.

[DannyMan2006]

I think Pepe benefited a lot from Rafa's statistics on regular penalty takers. Seen Rafa being interviewed last week and he said he hold records on how most players take penalties.

He had a better record in Spain where he didn't have Rafa as manager...........

[DannyMan2006]

Hmm, not sure that works really. I mean, the primary responsibility of six of our players today was defending. And that doesn't include Dirky who can defend brilliantly.

Arsenal on the other hand.............

[Kenneth]

The little word he had with Flannagan was just top class. He knew that Carra was Flanagan's mentor for the City game and, up to this point, in this game as well.

The lad could've gone to pieces at that stage, who better than the King to settle you down?

Top Class - We are so lucky to have the King

he called him over, gave him some words of encouragement, gave him a pat on the back, then called him back for another one. Not having a dig at anyone but I don't think we've had a manager who's this good at the human side of managing a team with out more recent appointments. It seems like an oldschool approach when you look around the league these days. It's great.

[DannyMan2006]

I'm not saying there's a shortage due to difficulty of producing attacking players - read what i posted. I said it's far more difficult and a bigger risk to throw in a kid in an attacking role, because there's far more onus on an attacking player/striker (if you even play 2 up front, there's only 2 of them), especially if you use a lone striker system. Whereas a defender is only going to be a quarter of your defensive unit, so he has far less pressure on him to deliver the goods than a striker/attacker would.

So from a manager's point of view, the decision to chuck a kid in upfront is far more difficult to make, than it is to put in a defender who's only young.

The argument wasn't about when a player should be given a chance, it was about the players that are produced. At what age they are when they get the chance and take it matters not.

Let's be honest, Flanagan and Robinson only played today because of the circumstances. Players were injured and they got a chance to stake a claim, which I feel they have done.

Kenny has said that neither would have been in the team just yet had others been available, which I guess is obvious anyways.

[Neil Young]

Arsenal on the other hand.............

...need more defenders. Or better ones anyway.

Anyway, I think we're all in danger of being reductionist in this discussion. If we're not bringing through attackers - and it might just be a quirk of circumstances right now, even if it's true - then maybe that says something about talent identification or player development or whatever. It could even be that young defenders tend to be more assiduous than young creative players who have always been the stars of the show...

But it might just be, as you say, the first choice defenders keep getting injured.

[Craig_H]

The argument wasn't about when a player should be given a chance, it was about the players that are produced. At what age they are when they get the chance and take it matters not.

Let's be honest, Flanagan and Robinson only played today because of the circumstances. Players were injured and they got a chance to stake a claim, which I feel they have done.

Kenny has said that neither would have been in the team just yet had others been available, which I guess is obvious anyways.

Who says we havent 'produced' them though? We cant say whether we've produced ones who are good enough until they've had a chance and we've seen if they are good enough. From that perspective, they obviously need the chance.

[DannyMan2006]

Who says we havent 'produced' them though? We cant say whether we've produced ones who are good enough until they've had a chance and we've seen if they are good enough. From that perspective, they obviously need the chance.

Agreed. I didn't say we hadn't produced any. What I said was our better players this season have been defensive ones, and the ones coming through the Academy now were defensive ones, though as I said, down to circumstances.

But as they've done well I think the need is there to spend on attacking players. That was my point but we all got side tracked. As usual

[Craig_H]

I agree with your general point, of course

We're absolutely gagging for a proper wide threat.

[DannyMan2006]

We need a wide player with some serious pace.

That type of player is ideal for counter attacking and makes the opposition think twice about throwing players forward. Suarez is hardly electric and Carroll is no sprinter, so we have a greater need for it now we no longer have the Torres/Gerrard partnership of old.

[CJ]

do you not think jokey pace is better ?

[Craig_H]

We need a wide player with some serious pace.

Leggooo!