PL: Arsenal vs Aston Villa | 19/08/06

[maxxx]

seems kinda strange to say, but with all the results of this weekend confirmed, i kinda feel like we are out of the title race already. i know liverpool drew as well but they werent at home to a non-top 4 side.

jeez man, we've only played one game...

A sense of pessimism is spreading fast on this board....

 

[thegame24]

People have to remember that when we play top teams they also play negative when we have the ball.

So if we cant get a shot on goal against villa, how are we gonna do it against man u chels and liverpool

 

[jester]

seems kinda strange to say, but with all the results of this weekend confirmed, i kinda feel like we are out of the title race already. i know liverpool drew as well but they werent at home to a non-top 4 side.

but we werent at home, or at least didnt feel like it just yet. anyway, a draw at home to villa (playing good football) is more credit worthy than a debatable draw v sheffield united
manutd played a poor poor fulham side. lets not kid ourselfs they did ok but it wasnt mautd being great, it was fulham also being terrible. aston villa will finish a good few places ahead of fulham and i expect a similar result when we play fulham.

 

[kel varnsen]

chelsea will probably win on wednesday and next sunday, while i wouldn't be surprised if we drop points away to city on saturday. that could mean that we're already 7-8 points adrift and it's not even september...

 

[nazo]

seems kinda strange to say, but with all the results of this weekend confirmed, i kinda feel like we are out of the title race already. i know liverpool drew as well but they werent at home to a non-top 4 side.

jeez man, we've only played one game...

A sense of pessimism is spreading fast on this board....

Tell me about it. This is 1 out of 38 games.
You never know Aston Villa might come out and beat ManU, Chelski and Liverpool when they meet. Remember Middlesbroug last season?

 

[RedNWhite]

People have to remember that when we play top teams they also play negative when we have the ball.

So if we cant get a shot on goal against villa, how are we gonna do it against man u chels and liverpool

Can't get a shot on goal against Villa? Which game were you watching?
We have every chance of beating those teams you mention. Just because we were a little rusty in the first game doesn't mean we'll be like it all season.

I take it that all those who don't expect to win these games won't even bother to go and see them.

 

[gooner_singh]

I am going to be very childish here and the only thing I have to say to most people is WHATEVER, I am getting tired of this constant criticism, for crying out loud it is just one game, I can guarantee that this would not be the only game villa would get points off the big boys. It will happen to other teams, it is the way O'neil does it, go and watch leicester city, he is not known for his expansive football. Having said that, still believe arsenal should have won but they did not, not end of the world.

Yeah manure and chelski won, they were not playin a team with 10 men behind the ball, both man city and fulham tried to play, do we remember tottenham going to chelsea and parking the bus, it was a 0-0 at the bridge and in that season arsenal beat Sp**s at home, so I don't see why its such a big deal that arsenal are 2 points behind the rivals, one game, lets move on.

 

[YeahBee]

it is ok to shoot, but in moderation. watching the chelsea match now, every chance essien gets, no matter who's in space, he'll shoot.
we want to get into the best positions possible and shooting on site will be even more frustrating.
The problem we have is that we dont do it at all, although in the first two games, cesc's been shooting more

When he finds the space to.

You see the problem yesterday was that we wanted to score the perfect goal against a team that had 10 players behind the ball. We don't shoot whenever, we shoot when we find enough space to cause a problem to the opposing teams gk. It's just the teams mentality.

On the whole game, i think we were passing around very very good but just missed the final ball. Henry missed a couple of good chances and Ade was unlucky that his two shots were cleared off the line. I don't know but i think Robin should've started due to the fact that he is actually match fit (at least more than Henry) and actually shoots more.

Hleb was decent in the first half, alot better in the second but his passing needs to be sorted out. One second he makes a great pass and the next second he can't pass to someone 6 yards away. Btw, this guys touch on the ball is simply amazing.

Ljungberg, i have to say that even though this is his first game and god knows how long, he looked more like the most fit player on the pitch. He was always moving with the ball and without it. He was tackling here and there and really did a good job. I hope we see more from him this season.

Cesc was a little controlling dynamo in the middle of the field. He was making perfect passes, taking shots and linking very good with everyone on the pitch. This kid is going to be great.

Gilberto was good. Of course he scored the goal we needed, but he was good all around. Good in defending, good in attacking and his passing is better. Good job from him.

Henry was not match fit, simply.

Ade was good running his socks off and was unlucky he didn't score in both those chances he had. I don't know why people say he had a bad game. I thought he slowed down the pace a bit in some places but he was good in setpieces and was good in bouncing on to loose balls. Decent game from him and just unlucky.

The defense was all pretty good except for maybe Hoyte. He was just a little lost defending and was average going forward. The rest were good. Djourou and Toure were very good and Eboue was great. Eboue was great going forward and great defending (needs to sort out those tight angle shots), i want to see how Lauren is going to beat him to a first team place.

Lehmann. He didn't have anything to do all game but was at fault for the goal Villa scored. That's all about him.

On the substitutes, Theo really surprised me i have to say. I never knew he would make that much of a difference but he proved me wrong. Good debut from him.
Robin only touched the ball 4-5 times and blasted a freekick at the wall.
Flamini came on and touched the ball once, but i think he is a better lb than Hoyte.

Finally, i think we will improve. We looked capable of playing some great football but just lacked the final ball.

Took the words right out of my mouth mate. Did you see when Cesc stepped on the ref? Hilarious. Even thou we moved the ball around that tight defense I think we lacked some movement especially in the last third. But that may be down to early season cardio and ringrost.

I loved to see freddie running his A** of and Eboue aswell. Why did we play Hoytev again? His Zagreb game was poor as this one IMO, Give Flam the spot ASAP he as a reformed midfielder should be able to move forward better. And He is more double footed then Hoyte who always had to turn in to cross. We need a leftfooted defender because all our wingers are righties except Reyes.

Both eboue and Hoyte were lucky to don't get booked too. They are way top careless

 

[thegame24]

its not the fact that its one ****ing game.

It was ALL OF LAST ****ING SEASON

And before the season started we knew we needed players.

already we draw to a **** team.

I dont care who their ****ing manager is they are **** we had all the possesion, but had no balls to take a shot.

We need some more quality so that players fear for their place in the team.

If i was Van Persie then i looked across at the bench and saw aliadiere, i would laugh and think well atleast i can make up for it next game.

Ill be brewing if city beat us next game. I expect a demolition, we cant let boring ****ers like chelsea overshadow us.

 

[James]

chelsea will probably win on wednesday and next sunday, while i wouldn't be surprised if we drop points away to city on saturday. that could mean that we're already 7-8 points adrift and it's not even september...

But then, Chelsea could lose at Boro and Blackburn like they did last season, and we could beat City.

What's with the pesimissim? There are 37 games to go yet.

 

[thegame24]

I think Boro will battle relegation and blackburn arnt the same without bellamy and pongolle

I hope we beat city, we should definatly outplay them.

 

[R.O.T]

I'm sorry but i just have to ask again. Why can we not play with a five man midfield? It would enable us to combat anti-football more easily.

 

[Harding]

to be honest i was pleased considerring it was our 1st prem game if the season, and we are suffering from injuries! villa didnt realy test lehman at all and we were bombing forward and playing neat footy all game. Ok a point against villa isnt what we should be getting, but confident performances from eboue, hleb and walcott give me hope and if it wasnt for the quality of sorensen then we would of won the game!

 

[orion]

A lot of people seem disapointed that Ade is preferred over Van Persie and I have to say I agree Robin should be a starter, but I think the reason Arsène often prefers to start with Robin on the bench is he has quallities to come off the bench and change the game and add bite to the attack, against Villa it did not come off and he did not really have any service, but we've seen it work on many occasions.

Many are also all ready calling for Hoyte's head; I say give him some time, sure he is no Ashley or Clichy in surging forward, but he will need some time to adjust to the team. Flamini was not really that great going forward neither last term, I only saw him doing some usable runs towards the end of the season.

In any case, supposing Ashley moves on, we will be missing some bite on the left flank as Gael is the only player that shares same kind of qualities (not taking Traore in account yet) and he's been suffering from a lot of injuries that might hamper his chances of coming the regular left back.

 

[Harding]

i think it is still essential that the cole saga is resolved before the next game and a CB is signed.

 

[otfgoon]

I would not look too much into Ade starting, one played 90mins in midweek the other didnt play at all. I would be more concernded about Wenger starting Thierry, who clearly want fit or sharp enough to play in my eyes. Doesnt show much faith in our attack, or is theirry just too good to be dropped?

 

[the dawn raids]

against Zagreb it seemed as if wed abandoned the ball walking in the final thrid and it paid off. van Persies goal was a prime example of what can happen when you shoot; it wasnt the prettiest of goals but they all count the same, and its obvious this squad had the capability. why we lose that mentality in one game and go back to the same **** in and around the box ill never know. and i know villa had several more players back than zagreb did, but there were ample chances that were needlessly squandered. its still way too early to see it as anything other than a mere hiccup, but i hope when watching the game tape the lads realise a half chance is better than no chance at all and not every goal has to be a motd highlight.

 

[RC8]

against Zagreb it seemed as if wed abandoned the ball walking in the final thrid and it paid off. van Persies goal was a prime example of what can happen when you shoot; it wasnt the prettiest of goals but they all count the same, and its obvious this squad had the capability. why we lose that mentality in one game and go back to the same s**t in and around the box ill never know. and i know villa had several more players back than zagreb did, but there were ample chances that were needlessly squandered. its still way too early to see it as anything other than a mere hiccup, but i hope when watching the game tape the lads realise a half chance is better than no chance at all and not every goal has to be a motd highlight.

Zagreb was a prime example of what happens when a team attack us. Against Villa we had 2 counter attacks that almost left Henry on a one on one with their goalkeeper, but Henry couldn't control the ball one time, and the other was called dubiously for offside. Had Villa not scored from that Corner you can bet we would have had more oportunities like these, and we would have probably taken advantage from at least one of them. We'll probably see more goals against Zagreb on wednesday, as they are going to need to attack, and then you will see that our result against Villa had more to do with Villa than with us.

 

[patrick42uk]

its not about one game. I'v maintained throughout pre-season that the height of our ambition is fighting to get into the top 4. yesterday's result didnt create that feeling. it just backed it up. end of the day, this is a game we should be winning and winning comfortably if we were title challengers.

 

[hesham]

I wouldnt read too much into the game... we played realy well and dominated Villa, just not sharp enough upfront...
while i dont think were good enough to beat Chelsea to the title.. 2nd place can be done if were lucky with injuries