Champions League 2007/2008.

[Tony Montana]

But we still need to be more direct at times, finishing teams off earlier and scoring a few more goals.

Having said that, I agree with Rohit's point that the defence is what has let us down and teams with the best defence win titles. The best example is the Liverpool CL game where Toure gave away that penalty. I still feel our players panick more than the other top four teams. I can't see us holding on to a tons of attacks from Chelsea and not let in a goal like Manure did in the second half of the CL final.

I personally like our possession football and is the reason we gained 83 points but we still need to quicken our counter-attacking style. I don't think we have a fear factor either.

 

[Biggus]

Fair enough for your last line. Scared me for a sec there. lol.

I see you've mentionned the same idea in another thread about the attacking game and the need to have money to play it with success. But again I fail to see the logic behind this. Or more precisely, I think I see what you mean but I don't agree with you.
1/ A possession game doesn't mean having a bad defense. I do not think it is exclusive. You can be strong defensively and have a good possession game.

2/ I think we have the players to play that kind of game and this season proves it to some extent. Plus "possession players" are not more expensive than other players.

Well time in training is limited, to put it bluntly- you can practice possession or set pieces, more of one means less of the other, something like 50% of goals come from set pieces.......There are many forms of defence, and attack is said to be one of the best of them. If you can dictate the game, dominate the opposition and most importantly- finish them off! I think that this season proved the reverse- that to do this effectively and consistently you need the highest standard of players in skill and experience, and they don't come cheap.

I believe we should be less ambitious in trying to dominate games and more cautious. Instead of stupidly beating our heads against a brick wall we should cleverly lure them out, then counter-attack them at lightning speed like we used to do. Why did Wenger change? Possession is fine if you're playing at 30 degrees C but it's too slow for the English game.

 

[Tony Montana]

Not necessarily Biggus. We're better than most English teams so you can't say it's too slow for the English game. United keep possession but they know how to finish teams off. When they are not so good at possession then they counter beautifully and still finish teams off. It's always a mix of both.

The team of 04 were probably less cautious and we should still try and be dominant, as usually the dominant teams win.

 

[Biggus]

I think our overpassing- which in fairness was less last season, which is one area we've definitely improved over the previous one, was a product of our youth not wanting to make a mistake and have a pop.

But you can't dominate sides with the lions share of possession- it's what you do with the however small amount of possession you have that counts, you know that Tony- nothing affects a game more than a goal, you saw how fat frank changed the course of the final. And an away goal in Europe will almost always decide the tie.

 

[clockwork orange]

We're nearly like a Dutch team, too much focussed on (keeping) possession. Possession is useless. Having said that I do not tthink youth has anything to do with us playing too indirect or having too little shots. It's because of the Wenger's tactics. He should just tell the passers to go for more risky passes & everybody (especially those who can) to shoot more often.

 

[Biggus]

And more off the ball penetrating runs, not just waiting for the ball to come.

 

[JazzG]

They seem to have got over it pretty quickly http://www.redcafe.net/f6/john-terry-ph ... ed-204353/ Some hilarious pictures there.

 

[Lancelot]

Is Drogba having too much coffee or what?

 

[number_0]

That picture was a knock off of the arsenal version...

 

[Lukazan]

The Arsenal version is by far the funniest of all of them that I've seen.

 

[Macho]

Definately. I never get tired of it.