Arsenal Post Match

[Gibbo]

He's just watched the highlights.

MOTD fan.

[ChesterDave]

Seriously, went out for a smoke and they scored two in that time.

Have you ever thought of quitting smoking?

[Lee]

He's just watched the highlights.

MOTD fan.

Seriously the only part of the match I missed was the two Arsenal goals.

Jinxed ffs.

[Chazza]

You keep telling yourself that mate.

[Kenneth]

I saw the entire game apart from the period of when they scored. Seriously, went out for a smoke and they scored two in that time.

FFS.

[Lee]

better that than some fat cunt like you.

Classy. How about showing some ****ing respect for once?

PS. What's Kyrgiakos doing these days?

[Gibbo]

Bit of a random though there Lee?!

He's at Wolfsberg.

The Greek

[Lee]

Suso had his chance at the start of the season, and to be honest, he didn't take it. Looked good in the Europa through the middle, but looked poor on the flank.

Fine. But I think you've pretty much hit the nail on the head.

Maybe the reason Suso didn't look particularly good out wide is because he's actually better playing in the middle.

It's like saying that Lucas is **** on the wing. Innit.

[Baracus]

It was all Carraghers fault,what do you expect a 35 year old to do except invite pressure he is hardly gonna drag his teammates further forward knowing that he is tiring and incapable of running back like he did in 2005. Sit back, sit deep and invite the attack. BR should have subbed him at 60mins.




....

[Fosterbloke]

I hope we strengthen the midfield in the summer.

[Muddled]

It's already being mentioned, but I'd have taken 2-2 before the game. Obviously, throwing a two goal lead away makes that point harder to swallow, but let's not lose sight of the positives.

I thought our shape in the first half was great; Suarez doubled up at left back *and* provided a threat going forward and we broke with some real pace. We had men behind the ball pressing in zones and we tucked our back four in line with the penalty area and looked very compact. It was clear that we were looking to counter Arsenal's attack, which we did very well. If we had somebody showing the same desire and ability on the right, then Wisdom would not have looked so isolated and we'd have more options when we broke.

In the second half, we capitulated under the pressure. We retreated deeper and we lost concentration, but it's encouraging to see that Rodgers is addressing the issue around our defence and much like the rest of the season, there are going to be games when it clicks and games when it faulters ... this was the latter.

Things are taking shape, but there is a real concern about our set-up from set-pieces. We don't stick anybody around the arc of the penalty box, so if anything gets pushed out there, we're slow to react. Equally, when we're attacking corners, we don't have anybody there, which can lead to a quick counter which Arsenal exploited yesterday.

I'm not particularly sure we'll see Suarez so far wide against lesser teams, whilst he put in a shift and was influential in our attack, he needs to be more central. Sturridge did well - especially when he was left isolated on occasion - but his hold up play for Henderson's goal was superb. Equally, Henderson took a risk to get beyond him and the tenacity he showed in taking the chance was great to see.

Certainly some things we can take in to the Man City game and most definitely some things we need to work on before then too.

[Exiled_red]

I guess a point was a decent result, you just can't help but be disappointed not to win when you've been 2-0 up though.

The main issue for me was the midfield, when Arsenal pressed us they went to pieces and played far too deep inviting pressure on to us and no way to get out. I still don't think Lucas is fit to play 90mins, he seems fine for the first hour or so but you can see him tire and his performance drop off after that. On paper the midfield looks decent but far too often we are dominated in midfield when we should be dominating it, we need to press teams more and play at a faster tempo, at the moment we stand off too much and often play at a pedestrian pace.

The other thing I noticed was how well Carragher played I think that similar to the situation with Sami Hyypia a few years back, not playing every game will suit him. The other thing that Carragher adds is passion, the whole thing of throwing himself about putting his body on the line to stop everything is something we have missed, sometimes (some of) our players don't look that bothered.

[Muddled]

The main issue for me was the midfield, when Arsenal pressed us they went to pieces and played far too deep inviting pressure on to us and no way to get out. I still don't think Lucas is fit to play 90mins, he seems fine for the first hour or so but you can see him tire and his performance drop off after that. On paper the midfield looks decent but far too often we are dominated in midfield when we should be dominating it, we need to press teams more and play at a faster tempo, at the moment we stand off too much and often play at a pedestrian pace.

True.

There were large chunks of the second half where we had no central midfield; it was like a huge void in the middle of the park.

We'd clearly pinpointed Arsenal's threat from out wide and we countered that by placing bodies there. It stretched our midfield and several times Arsenal would build their attack centrally, by driving the ball through the middle more-or-less unopposed until they hit our 18 yard line.

[RichC]

Cold light of day, happy with a point against Arsenal but annoyed we threw a 2 goal lead away.

We look pretty decent moving forwards but we leave far too much space in midfield for my liking, we're getting better though and it will take time to get where we want I guess.

Still feel we should have had all 3 points though

[BG1973]

Undone by 2 minutes.

Decent point.

2 minutes????

They looked like scoring at any time for about 30 mins of the second half.

They found their groove and we shat ours.

Not many teams would have stopped them during that period though so can't complain too much.