A Cracking game and why did Arsenal lose ?

A tremendous match with Arsenal always looking really good but slightly 2^nd best.  Put another way, Szczesny kept us in the contest. Nevertheless I doubt if many others will give Mansh*tty such a good game over 94 minutes at their place. The fact remains ... 1 – 0 to City. 

So why did we lose?

Well one reason is that Mansh*tty are very good and with such talent, organisation and depth they must surely finish in the top 2 or 3 ... probably top. And they should do.... with so much Arab oil money they hardly know what to do with it!  It makes us sick so I wonder how (say) Norwich City feel about it?

Arsenal had no fit full backs able to play. Not one out of 4 .... and it showed.  Why we bothered to sell Eboue (for a mere £3m) goodness only knows. He can play in several positions (like full back) and we could do with him right now.

Arsene has never done tactics and this match was no exception. He is determined there is only one way – his way.  Playing not one but two wingers who can be brilliant but are usually erratic. It was bound to happen. Walcott was a nightmare . No sorry,  not as good as a nightmare. Why he was nearly disgruntled at being subbed is a mystery. He hit one good shot all the time he was out there. Never beat his man ... never took on his man!  Plus he only tracked back nominally to help the struggling right side of our defence. The world could see it, the crowd, the pundits, all the fans ... but, it seems, not the Arsenal Manager.

If one of Arsene’s two wingers does sod all ... it is like playing with ten and a half men. It happens all too often and where we can get away with it against weaker oppose. - we won’t against top teams. For example, Man City.  Our midfield worked miracles to avoid being completely over run. Arteta showed what a terrific player he is, Song and Ramsey.

And then when Arsene woke up to the possibility of subbing today’s passenger called Walcott - who does he bring on?  Arshavin FFS ... who as we all anticipated was worse than Walcott. Why did the Manager still think he would deliver after failing to deliver for the last 18 months?

Have I got this wrong or are paying a loan player commonly known as Yossi Benayoun?  Why are we paying him if we never trust him to play outside the Mickey Mouse Cup?  Ok he is not Lionel Messi but he is experienced, he is skilful, he is creative and he is a worker!  Why not bring him on instead of Walcott and a whole lot earlier?  Why not select him in the first place?

You all know it takes a great deal to force me to criticise our worthy Manager. This despite the provocation of reading garbage like  “If Arsenal beat Man City will the Arsene doubters admit he is utterly wonderful ?“ 

Well we might have beaten Man. City, even though they are very good. But not by playing ten and a half men and failing to change tack, be flexible, correct the tactical error ... before it is too late. As it was yes, we could have score perhaps 3 goals but they could have scored  ... 5  

Whatever, it was a terrific match and Man. City will take a lot of stopping.

FENTIGER

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Comments

[davi]

While we do have probably the top striker in the league at the moment, City have 3, forwards who are very close to him. Because they were able to play 2 of them yesterday, when they got close to our goal, they were more often able to take better advantage and get a good shot in on our goal. The movement of two quality forwards, coupled with their shooting ability made it more difficult for our defenders than we could make it for theirs. I think this is the major difference between the two sides. To remedy this might be very difficult as well. It's possible Park could become a very good forward in time (he has all the attributes, but has struggled to settle in, although he hasn't been helped with the lack of match time), but it looks as though chamakh never will, and to sign another forward of something like van persie quality seemingly requires about £30m. Perhaps Podolski could be a cheaper answer. Not sure, though.

[Stranger]

Spot on Wenger tactically.That is why if Arsenal are out of the top 4,it's time for him to go and let a pragmatic and tactically down to earth guy take over. Then we will see more defensive cohesion.I'm afraid the German colossus may be easily outmanourvered by strikes like Rooney,Suarez,etc.He could cost Arsenal points when for five million gbp extra,he could have got a proven epl defender.
These are early days and all to play for.But don't be surprised the gunners are pushed out of the top 4.Yeah I know the Arsenal way of self sustence is the way but wait till UEFA take action to prevent the likes of MC,MU ,Chelsea,Barc and RM taking part in the cl. Then Wenger will be vindicated. If not Arsnal could join the ranks of AV and Everton of mid table mediocre status.

[Shakabula Gooner]

I guess the easiest job in the world is to tell a loser where or how he/she lost.
To that end, we "lost" already when Nasri and Fab left and all we could manage were 5new players on the last day of the transfer window.
We "lost" already when all 4 of our wing backs and our most creative midfielder were unavailable for the game. Yet, its a surprise that we lost by such a narrow margin; that the game was evenly matched from beginning to the end and, if one or two things had happened or didn't happen, this posting could have been titled: "A cracking game and why did Man city lose or why it ended a draw...
one team has to lose and another has to win but sometimes, it is not as foregone or as dismal as a "Monday Morning" posting such as this make it out to seem.
Go Gooners! No need to hang your heads down or to begin a round or recriminations as was our habit in seasons past!!