MotM - PL: Bolton vs Arsenal | 20/12/03

[jc8gooner]

I am finally beginning to see your point now.
If the defenders' job is to keep to the ball out of the net, 1 goal from 19 shots is pretty good.
The team as a defensive unit need to stop Bolton from playing and getting those 19 shots on goal on the first place. This is therefore where we failed on the weekend.
On the other hand, the 1 goal from nineteen shots could be attributed to Bolton's wastefulness, rather than good defending.

 

[Mbaki Mutahaba]

am sure bolton fans think that it was wastefullness..but if you are a true gooner you most likely will think it was our good defense.

 

[Natnat]

Only one man. Boom boom.

Oh Adam I did not know Basil Brush played for us.
( sorry I could not resist that Im am in a bit of a silly mood this morning for those who do not know Brasil is a fox puppet who has the catch phase boomboom oh at lest I think it was if not another sorry )
Seriously now I thought Jens was my MOM if it was not for him we would of lost the game
Kolo was great too

 

[Adam]

LOL Nat. That cartoon will be the death of me (i have a little sister).

 

[Lukazan]

Lehmann...

 

[reggiepaul]

On the other hand, the 1 goal from nineteen shots could be attributed to Bolton's wastefulness, rather than good defending.

I can't say wastefulness for a number of reasons. One of which is the proffesionalism of the premiership. Striker CAN get into scoring positons and HAVE strong chances of scoring WHILE defenders do have strong defensive positions and CAN stop goals from being scored. This is the nature of top flight football and destroying and creating oppurtunity.

Then there is Boltons situation. Most of the time we didn't have strong defensive cover due to our wingbacks being elsewhere we had to go deep in to our defence and hold off attacks. We can also add 19 shots (14 according to OPTA, 19 - sky) which they couldn't finish off. Also their possession as well which dominated over an Arsenal team. All these factors show a Bolton side in a position to totally destroy an Arsenal side, but why didn't they?

Like any situation of conflict you have to give credit when a stronger threat are incapable of taking out a weaker one even when the stronger threat has more of the field advantage. Arsenal played a very good defence against a highly dominant Bolton side according to the way the game was played and seen.

 

[Anonymous]

1-toure

2-lehmann

3-pires

and thanks

 

[Anonymous]

Why are so many people saying Lehmann was the MOTM???

His kicking was a joke, put us under needless pressure countless times.
His claiming of the high ball is also inconsistent. He dropped a couple that put under us needless danger again. Coming out for that punch that resulted in being lobbed was needless, there was no reason for him being there.
He also only made one save of note. All the others you would have expected a half decent keeper to make.

There was one MOTM and that was Kolo.
And people giving Cygan stick, he was under a lot of pressure and came through it very well.

 

[Sammer]

Well SOL, lets put it that way:

why did you only rate him 6/10 when his performance was way better than your rating???

 

[Anonymous]

Well SOL, lets put it that way:

why did you only rate him 6/10 when his performance was way better than your rating???

Erm, did you just not read my last post? Lol.

Was the game on in Germany? If not you have no credible opinion on this.

 

[reggiepaul]

If it was the 110m hurdles Sol I would give Kolo the motm crown but it wasn't. I think Kolo was placed as a center half for two reasons :

a) He is a very very very good player who can play anywhere,

BUT

b) He wanders like no one has ever wandered before.

Best position? Center Half. It keeps a man stuck.

I would go against the Tabloids and all other nonsence and give the crown to either Sol or Cygan on the day and THEN the rest of our team who had rush back everytime our wingbacks lost the ball but Lehmann was good too I have to admit.

I think on the day Clichy and Kolo showed how they would in a pressured game. Get up front, fight for the ball and give us offensive oppurtunities when offensive oppurtunities aren't there.

This was Bolton. If we played Bolton like Arsenal play then we would have got a 3-1 win but I think our defence was new in parts and communication was gone. What Arsenal do best is communicate - off the ball and on the ball movement. If your wingbacks aren't doing the pass and move your team earn their living from you'll be stuck, as we were.

 

[thierrys_girl]

1-toure

2-lehmann

3-pires

and thanks

who are you thanking? :roll:

 

[Andrew]

He also only made one save of note. All the others you would have expected a half decent keeper to make.

Yes, but if he didn't make that save we would have been 1-0 down. Despite how many errors you think Lehmann made, none of them resulted in goals. He stopped a certain goal and could do nothing about the other. If it wasn't for him it would have been 2-1 and our undefeated record gone.

And he handled everything with comfort, even though it was very slippery. He does very well not to give strikers a second chance by holding the ball. He's only mistake came when he came out and punched the ball away out of the box to Frandsen. It was still a very difficult chance for Frandsen and Pires dealt with it quite easily. There's a reason you know for our undefeated record. It's not wholey due to Lehmann but he's made a big contribution.