PL: Norwich vs Arsenal | 28/08/04

[thegame24]

LOL i got the predicted goals scored again, but wrong again on goals against.

We still let in stupid goals when whopping teams but as long as we keep out scoring i dont care.

 

[Ossi]

I agree with you: Lauren wasnt on his best today. Should even have been sent off. On the other hand - how many of us remember his good games? He is a typical defender in this sense...

Ossi

 

[Gooner_Milton]

From soccernet:

As a result of Pascal Cygan's late withdrawal from the named Arsenal side, the injury believed to have happened during the warm-up, teenager Justin Hoyte came into the backline, and boss Arsène Wenger elected to play with a four-man bench.

Hmm I guess it's a tactical decision. Would be better have 5 men on the bench though. More options. Maybe RVP might have been tossed in for a go. Oh well, still good.

 

[Canuck]

Everyone has their off days, especially defenders. Norwich didn't make it easy for them in the second half either. Good on Jens for a couple of quick saves. And he didn't even lose his temper when he was double teamed on the goal line...

 

[MightyArsenal]

Maybe the simple fact was that only 5 subs travelled on the bus

 

[huyha123]

When you are 2 goals up, why waste energy in pushing for a bigger lead? It's good enough for me.

what a stupid thing to say, if you want to know just how stupid ask bobby robson

i think it's the way they push for another goal causing them trouble. not in Norwich match but also other ones.

review them and you will see. against Boro. when only 5 minutes to go. instead try to keep the ball as much as possible. they keep attacking.

they really remind me ourself in 02-03.

now we keep the ball even at the beginning of 2nd half. that's what bring us to the position now.

 

[Sol man]

why didn't we play senderos instead of hoyte at centre back today?

or, why not include senderos in the sub?
we played with just 4 subs right? (almunia, clichy, edu, bergkamp)

I think thre reason for hoyte being on the bench is because he is more versitile than senderos.

 

[Anonymous]

Bergy and Pires. Arsenal super subs?

To be honest I thought the game would end at 3-1. Bergy's super strike was a pleasant surprise.

I'm happy to see Reyes and Henry linking up well. Cesc had a fantastic game yet again. Defenders were suspect though. Lauren had a horrible game, hopefully he'll prick himself up and move on.

cesc was quiet and defence very suspect.

 

[Sammer]

Henry - superb match in my view, especially in the 1st half. Pure strength, pace and technical superiority.

Reyes - he has established himself now on an immense level, he is fast, agressive and knows only one direction - the opposite goal. He was involved in almost everything dangerous we did in the 1st half.

Gilberto - did the "dirty work" well, but kind of lost it in the 2nd half in my view, where our defensive midfield suffered

Fabregas - great game in the 1st half, but looked quiet and tired in the 2nd half (like most of the team) - overall a good performance for a 17-year old kid, but it was absolutely necessary to take him off in the 2nd half

Pires - decent performance

Lauren - this was his off-day, hopefully for a long time. Our right defense looked like Swiss Cheese in the 2nd half

Toure - decent performance, some great tacklings

Hoyte - I thought he did quite well...the penalty was due to inexperience

Cole - I thought he had a great game - defending, as well as going forward. Is this guy great or what?

Lehmann - pulled out two good saves and caught that low-pass nicely in the last minutes. He seems so much more controlled, as he would have probably flipped out last season when getting knocked over by that scandinavian guy.

Bergy - pure class. That touch and that immense shot...

 

[huyha123]

Cesc look very tired. quite blur for me.

 

[juz7_pi12es]

Sol man,
he looks old

 

[GoonerGurjit]

A good win but we can play much better then that. I know thats a strange thing to say after we've just won 4-1 away from home. Henry and Reyes had good games but Pires and Ljungberg had pretty quiet games by their standards. Gilberto and Cesc were solid in the middle of the park. I thought the defence looked very shaky. Lauren had an absolute stinker of a game. I have to say that in my opinion Huckerby was the MOTM. His pace and mazy dribbling caused so many problems.

 

[gooner4eva]

time to rest cesc i guess. Edu and Gilberto would start next game. The scoreline is good but our defence is really suspect. Vieira and Campbell cant come back soon enough. Against better teams we would be cut to pieces. Scoring against them would also be much tougher than the premiership defences we have been coming up against. I am sure wenger has that in mind and goes about fixing things. Lauren should count himself lucky not to be our first red card this season. He was taken to the cleaners on a number of occasions by Huckerby. No wonder Le boss wants cover for him. He is the weakest link in our defence. On the positive side, we are much better with our conversion rate this season. Last year we were creating this many chances but hardly converting them. All in all a satisfying evening.

 

[juz7_pi12es]

Wenger hails smooth Gunners

 

[johe]

Overall a decent game by the lads today.

Thierry might not yet be in top form, but he sure as hell showed why he is the best player in the world. The pass for the last goal was 'Bergkampesque' and how ironic that Bergkamp was on the other end to receive it. Brilliant header as well, we rarely see that kind of goal from Thierry. Alot of it has to be attributed to Freddie's cross though. When he played around with to Norwich players at the touchline, then crossed it with a bicycle kick was simply brilliant and I just had to clap.

Reyes was good, but he didn't run as much at defenders as we've seen him do lately. And he's turning out to be a brilliant goalscorer with 4 goals in 4 games. Who can match that? Our very own Thierry of course.

Pires was quite good in the first half, but dissapeared a bit in the second half. With his goal however he showed that he is still our best poacher.

Hoyte I didn't notice that much apart from the very dubious penalty, and that's very positive because it means he didn't do anything wrong. Alternatively it could be because he and Kolo look identical from a distance. ;D I've been one of those defending Cygan alot, but I have to say this kid should be given games in Sol's place. I still think Cygan is quite alright, but I want to see more of what this kid can do.

Lauren had a really bad day today and was second to every single ball he went for, but who hasn't had one? Possibly Kolo, but that's another story.

Lehmann was very good today and made a couple of very important saves. I don't like that alot of goalkeepers go very early on penalties, as most of the time the penalty taker sees it and puts it in the other corner. 99% of all penalties that are saved are saved when the goalkeeper waits until the exact moment when he strikes the ball. It's nothing important, but it annoys me sometimes.

Overall I think we should be happy while we are still playing this way, because most of us know it's not going to last for ever. When the November nights start setting in and the rain starts pouring it will be a whole new deal. But why worry about that when we're playing champagne and caviar football here, eh?

 

[GoonerGurjit]

I loved 2nd and 4th goal. Typical Arsenal

I'm going to dream about that second goal tonight. It was a beautiful team goal.

 

[GoonerGurjit]

Edu and Gilberto would start next game.

It's good to see Edu back in the red and white of Arsenal.

On the positive side, we are much better with our conversion rate this season. Last year we were creating this many chances but hardly converting them

Yes, this season we are more ruthless in punishing mistakes by the opposition.

 

[Sammer]

The scoreline is good but our defence is really suspect. Vieira and Campbell cant come back soon enough. Against better teams we would be cut to pieces. Scoring against them would also be much tougher than the premiership defences we have been coming up against. .

Yes, we were lucky that we were up a Norwich side, who could not take advantage of our defensive weakness.

My point is though - it´s not only Lauren (who had a really bad game). Defensive work starts in midfield, and I was discussing this in the pub with another gooner how badly we need Viera back for stronger opponents.

Plus - we need SOL badly as a mastermind/organizer of the defense.

 

[towelie]

now we have 16 goals in 4 games right?

only 77 more goals in 34 games to beat man u's record of most goals in a premiership season. and hopefully that asking rate will keep falling...

 

[GoonerGurjit]

We're scoring tons of goals and conceding a few too. You definitely get top-notch entertainment being a Gooner.