PL: Blackburn Rovers vs Arsenal | 13/09/08

[the dawn raids]

Re: Blackburn Rovers v Arsenal | 13-09-08 15:00 GMT

Denilson has done well but not in the way we expected him to.

no one expected him to do well this season, he has grown into the role and looks the part but some people will still say Song is the man to partner fabregas for no real reason.

for the reason that he gives us presence defensively in midfield. which denilson doesnt in any way shape or form; his distribution is at least on par if not better than denilsons also. hes the better candidate to be cescs partner longterm, theres hardly a doubt in my mind about that. whether he gets the chance however...

 

[James]

Re: Blackburn Rovers v Arsenal | 13-09-08 15:00 GMT

Brilliant away day. Thoroughly enjoyable trip and performance. Support was brilliant. Must've been around 4,500 there. Was confident we'd get the three points, but didn't think we would by that margin. My two cents for the time being: I thought Denilson was brilliant in the middle. Defence as a unit looked extremely shaky in the first half, and Santa Cruz was proving a handful. Theo looks full of confidence at the moment. Brilliant to see Adebayor getting on the scoresheet, and bagging a hat-trick. RVP was looking back to his best at times.

Fantastic.

 

[General]

Re: Blackburn Rovers v Arsenal | 13-09-08 15:00 GMT

. which denilson doesnt in any way shape or form; his distribution is at least on par if not better than denilsons also. hes the better candidate to be cescs partner longterm, theres hardly a doubt in my mind about that. whether he gets the chance however...

I think the main worry with Song is his mobility (positional awareness too to some extent). He’s clearly not as mobile as Denilson or Flamini but the other parts to his game (physical presence, passing, tackling et al) are adequate to the task.

 

[number_0]

Re: Blackburn Rovers v Arsenal | 13-09-08 15:00 GMT

brilliant game, question marks over our center back, but overall they did ok, ade was ok, was clinical with all 3 goals, theo was also great, eboue, apart from the dive was doing great, cesc ran the show, and the rest is history, if we can do this for 38 more games than its not trouble times anymore.

 

[General]

Re: Blackburn Rovers v Arsenal | 13-09-08 15:00 GMT

Oh and nice to see Mike Dean (the ref) have a decent game for once and not cook it like he did at Birmingham. One could argue his view of Denilson’s handball was anything but clear but yet ludicrously gave a yellow card.

 

[vanPersie]

Re: Blackburn Rovers v Arsenal | 13-09-08 15:00 GMT

I thought that Denilson was one of the main reasons why we where so exposed in the back in the first half.

Agree completely. My opinion after watching that first half was that our defensive problems actually lie in midfield - Denilson provided absolutely no cover.

Toure saved us on three occasions, and Gallas on others - both having to work last-ditch where the tackles should have gone in in midfield. Denilson looked good going forward, but very poor as a defensive midfielder. Looks like he will be good cover for Cesc, but not a partner for him. We need a Flamini/Gilberto-type there, or maybe a Diaby.

 

[qs]

Re: Blackburn Rovers v Arsenal | 13-09-08 15:00 GMT

The problems not Denilson per se its the combination of Denilson and Fab. Denilson isn't a Flamini type player, he's very similar to Fab and they both need someone more defensive along side them. People expect Denilson to do a job he has neither been asked to or is capable of.

 

[Lancelot]

Re: Blackburn Rovers v Arsenal | 13-09-08 15:00 GMT

Denilson was not one the main reasons why we were exposed at the back during the first half of the match; the problem lay somewhere else and Wenger managed to fix it on the fly.

The lad played an almost faultless match, imo.

 

[vanPersie]

Re: Blackburn Rovers v Arsenal | 13-09-08 15:00 GMT

The problems not Denilson per se its the combination of Denilson and Fab. Denilson isn't a Flamini type player, he's very similar to Fab and they both need someone more defensive along side them. People expect Denilson to do a job he has neither been asked to or is capable of.

I agree with the first bit - its not that Denilson is a bad player. But actually, when put it alongside Fabregas, I would think they are asking him to play the defensive roll. And today he didn't do his job.

Its great to see him getting forward like he does, and I wouldn't put him down for that - but he needs to be looking to help the defence out a bit more and put tackles in. There was no cover for them today.

 

[vanPersie]

Re: Blackburn Rovers v Arsenal | 13-09-08 15:00 GMT

The lad played an almost faultless match, imo.

A faultless performance would be a complete performance. That wasn't one. I would say the same for Cesc - if he wasn't prepared to tackle, I'd say his performance had a fault.

But particularly for Denilson in that roll, it was a big fault. And maybe thats a side to his game he doesn't have - in which case he isn't the man for that job.

 

[Lancelot]

Re: Blackburn Rovers v Arsenal | 13-09-08 15:00 GMT

It was certainly not a complete performance from him and I did mention 'almost'. My apologies if the wording confuses you.

 

[True Gooner]

Re: Blackburn Rovers v Arsenal | 13-09-08 15:00 GMT

Denilson was not one the main reasons why we were exposed at the back during the first half of the match; the problem lay somewhere else and Wenger managed to fix it on the fly.

Exactly, its easy to look at Denilson and question his defensive capabilities , but Im watching the replay of the game and a lot of (if not all) Blackburns chances came from crosses from their right hand side i.e. Emerton. I doubt Denilson could do anything to stop that.

Denilson was at fault when we played Fulham, where Bullard and co. passed right over him but today he didnt do anything wrong - apart from giving away needless fouls.

 

[AnthonyG]

Re: Blackburn Rovers v Arsenal | 13-09-08 15:00 GMT

Denilson was not one the main reasons why we were exposed at the back during the first half of the match; the problem lay somewhere else and Wenger managed to fix it on the fly.

The lad played an almost faultless match, imo.

I agree. I'm not buying into the Denilson defensive frailties argument yet. He gave away some careless free kicks, but I don't think he's a liability in defence. Despite Flamini's performances last year, we were pretty bad at the back. In fact, there are some that hold Flamini in part responsible for this. When I see Toure not marking his man in the box or Gallas heading into no man's land, I'm loathe to point the finger at others.

 

[qs]

Re: Blackburn Rovers v Arsenal | 13-09-08 15:00 GMT

Denilsons fouling is like Fabs whenhe first got his run in the team, he's trying to impose himself and show just because he's young and a bit smaller than alot of midfielders he's not going to be pushed around. He'll find the balance eventually.

 

[bojed]

Re: Blackburn Rovers v Arsenal | 13-09-08 15:00 GMT

Some people just love Gallas and Toure a little bit too much that they have to single out Denilson for our central defense's frailty.

Wake up guys. We don't play with a back five.

 

[Kenyonhater]

Re: Blackburn Rovers v Arsenal | 13-09-08 15:00 GMT

Meh, lucky win. Undeserved in truth. Sh*t midfield. Sh*t bench. And Sagna was such a pointless signing....

 

[USArsenal]

Re: Blackburn Rovers v Arsenal | 13-09-08 15:00 GMT

Meh, lucky win. Undeserved in truth. Sh*t midfield. Sh*t bench. And Sagna was such a pointless signing....

??

 

[banduan]

Re: Blackburn Rovers v Arsenal | 13-09-08 15:00 GMT

Meh, lucky win. Undeserved in truth. Sh*t midfield. Sh*t bench. And Sagna was such a pointless signing....

??

attempt at sarcasm

 

[True Gooner]

Re: Blackburn Rovers v Arsenal | 13-09-08 15:00 GMT

Alan Hansen eating his words regarding Walcott. ;D

 

[Dez]

Re: Blackburn Rovers v Arsenal | 13-09-08 15:00 GMT

We didn't play as well as we can - and we still won 4-0!!

We were without our two widemen (Nasri and Rosicky) - and we still looked dangerous.

For gods sake people we won by 4 at blackburn despite having half a dozen players out.