Struggling under pressure

[Furious]

You can most certainly bet that we'll **** the bed in the same manner as we did yesterday when we visit Stoke and Liverpool in a few weeks.

We've very few players in their respective positions that I would consider acceptable when being pressed:

Özil, Alexis, Santi, Wilshere, Coq, Monreal, Kos.

That's it actually, which is extremly few. The rest crumble every time they don't have time to think on the ball, and give it away.

How do we tackle this major problem? Tactics? Walcott up front could give our players some breathing space in these kind of games, but then again, his hold-up play is non-exsistent at best.

 

[Gooner_Delhi]

Well the following stat will tell you how much do we struggle mentally.

via @Orbinho : "Arsenal haven't won after trailing at half-time in the Premier League since October 2011 v Chelsea (5-3)."

However there are matches like the FA cup final, Reading 7-5.

But 4 years in the league without overturning a deficit, would mean that probably our team is unable to respond / Wenger is unable to get them motivated correctly.

 

[WurzlSepp]

I have to add this issue: We have not a single leader on the pitch, neither a real agressive fighter!

 

[hydrofluoric acid]

I will add this also here:

Weakest spine of any top team in the league. Giroud - Flamini - Mertesacker. Two of those three have worst mentality I've seen of professional players and the other one don't even know how to play football.

I also have theory that Wenger trust his players to much and we don't go out with stronger tactical plan than we do. That could be wrong. Maybe Wenger just gets easily outsmarted by average managers these days.

My 50 cent would be signing 30-40 million players in midfield and defence. We have signed two attackers of that calibre over last three seasons. Defence and midfield must be reworked in the summer. And. Wenger should take a hard look into him self and approach those games with more respect.

 

[GDeep™]

The players aren't good enough. This only really gets fixed in the summer.

Wenger failed the above last summer.

 

[Godwin1]

I have to add this issue: We have not a single leader on the pitch, neither a real agressive fighter!

Sounds a bit like some of the cliches that pundits come out with, but I agree we do lack that. Wonder if most of the hate pundits get round here is because deep down people know they are right?

 

[A_G]

Weakest spine of any top team in the league. Giroud - Flamini - Mertesacker. Two of those three have worst mentality I've seen of professional players and the other one don't even know how to play football.

Only one of those are first choice though. You could say the same about other teams, if they'd had similar injuries:
City: Dimichelis-Fernando-Bony
Chelsea: Djilobodji-Mikel-Falcao
United: Jones-Fellaini-Martial

As for the OP, the obvious solution would be buy players who are better technically. For example going from having RVP up front, to Giroud was a big downgrade. When the ball got played up to the former it would stick, losing players like him and Nasri then replacing them with Giroud and Gervinho illustrates how the technical level of the team has dropped over the years.

 

[hydrofluoric acid]

Only two of those are first choice though. You could say the same about other teams, if they'd had similar injuries:
City: Dimichelis-Fernando-Bony
Chelsea: Djilobodji-Mikel-Falcao
United: Jones-Fellaini-Martial

Only? Only... Wait. Only two of three. Two of three. Only.

Two of three is majority. Two of three are starters that make up our horrible spine. The excuse would be better if only one were starter and two were subs. Two starters in bad spine are "two much".

 

[A_G]

Only? Only... Wait. Only two of three. Two of three. Only.

Two of three is majority. Two of three are starters that make up our horrible spine. The excuse would be better if only one were starter and two were subs. Two starters in bad spine are "two much".

My mistake, meant to say only Per is (or should be) first choice.

 

[MutableEarth]

I would agree with this - we have players in key areas who can be pressed easily into mistakes, which would seem to be the anti-thesis of a team that dominates possession. It makes sense that we tend to do better when we have less of the ball, particularly against bigger teams. We're unlikely to be pressed when we have little possession.

One of both Coquelin and Cazorla's saving graces is that both were capable of evading the press but even they fell to a high press on occasion if there was little movement ahead of them in terms of breaking lines. Wurzl has a point about a leader, but I think more than anything a leader who takes control on the ball would be a start - one who himself is capable of evading a high press.

 

[samshere]

Mertesacker is at his best when we're under the cosh most of the time, like we were against City. But its obvious that his game is not suited for maintaining a high line. Scoring the first goal becomes crucial for us here, because the moment we start chasing the game we become susceptible to the ball behind the defense.
The manager should recognize this, be brave and sub Mertesacker off for Gabriel in such situations but this is something Wenger will never do due to his loyalty towards players(which isn't always a bad thing). Sadly it does mean that these kind of reverses will be a feature of Arsenal till Wenger is at the helm.

 

[Gooner Zig]

How do we tackle this major problem? Tactics? Walcott up front could give our players some breathing space in these kind of games, but then again, his hold-up play is non-exsistent at best.

Tbf Walcott's shown some real improvement in hold up play. It's still not at the level of a true #9 but it's not full cactus.

 

[WurzlSepp]

Mertesacker is at his best when we're under the cosh most of the time, like we were against City. But its obvious that his game is not suited for maintaining a high line. Scoring the first goal becomes crucial for us here, because the moment we start chasing the game we become susceptible to the ball behind the defense.
The manager should recognize this, be brave and sub Mertesacker off for Gabriel in such situations but this is something Wenger will never do due to his loyalty towards players(which isn't always a bad thing). Sadly it does mean that these kind of reverses will be a feature of Arsenal till Wenger is at the helm.

This is just not the case! Do you have any clue about our team?

 

[MutableEarth]

Mertesacker is at his best when we're under the cosh most of the time, like we were against City. But its obvious that his game is not suited for maintaining a high line. Scoring the first goal becomes crucial for us here, because the moment we start chasing the game we become susceptible to the ball behind the defense.
The manager should recognize this, be brave and sub Mertesacker off for Gabriel in such situations but this is something Wenger will never do due to his loyalty towards players(which isn't always a bad thing). Sadly it does mean that these kind of reverses will be a feature of Arsenal till Wenger is at the helm.

Gabriel might be quicker and better at maintaining a high line and defending the space behind him, but there's no indication just yet that he's any more press-resistant than Mertesacker is on the ball.

 

[Rex Stone]

Sounds a bit like some of the cliches that pundits come out with, but I agree we do lack that. Wonder if most of the hate pundits get round here is because deep down people know they are right?

No because it is lowest common denominator punditry.

Yes inexperienced, young teams are unlikely to win anything but the reasons are as much physical as they are mental.

Who was Utd's leader in 12/13? The likes of Ferdinand and Vidic were experienced but they were so far past it they actually hurt the team rather than helped them.

As for City's leader it's always trotted out that it's Kompany but they don't win league titles because of him. In fact if anything he can't help himself but make terrible mistakes in pressure situations.

The penalty against us last year and his **** up against Pool in 13/14 are two examples off the top of my head. The teams with the greatest depth, a sizeable helping of luck and more importantly the best players and manager will win the league.

 

[samshere]

Gabriel might be quicker and better at maintaining a high line and defending the space behind him, but there's no indication just yet that he's any more press-resistant than Mertesacker is on the ball.

Was talking more about the ball behind defense, rather than the press..

This is just not the case! Do you have any clue about our team?

Would you care to explain?

 

[Furious]

Tbf Walcott's shown some real improvement in hold up play. It's still not at the level of a true #9 but it's not full cactus.

Certainly, but still not to the point where I'd trust him completely with his back to the goal, doesn't get involved much either. As a matter of fact, he gave the ball away for their second goal, when he wasn't being pressured at all. Still a lot of work to do.

Wurzl has a point about a leader, but I think more than anything a leader who takes control on the ball would be a start - one who himself is capable of evading a high press.

Agreed 100%. This is my main issue with the team. Nobody in our midfield has the authority to take responsibility and dominate the oppositon, be it technically or physically.

 

[WurzlSepp]

Was talking more about the ball behind defense, rather than the press..

Would you care to explain?

Oh dear...
Mertesacker is the one who sets up our back 4! He organizes, he sets the offside trap, he is almost never out of position.
We already saw what happens when the mighty Gabriel plays, he makes failure after failure - don't even want to mention them all.
Same goes for Koscielny, he is to impulsive and not a leader at all.
You can not remove the most important player of the back 4!
Is that so hard to understand?

 

[redanddread]

Well the following stat will tell you how much do we struggle mentally.

via @Orbinho : "Arsenal haven't won after trailing at half-time in the Premier League since October 2011 v Chelsea (5-3)."

However there are matches like the FA cup final, Reading 7-5.

But 4 years in the league without overturning a deficit, would mean that probably our team is unable to respond / Wenger is unable to get them motivated correctly.

The other more pleasant side of this horrible stat is that during that period we've tended to take the lead more often than not.

Yet, I do remember that a couple of seasons ago we kept overturning deficits all the time - I guess we were doing before 1/2 time though.

 

[redwhiteAustrian]

From 2006 to around 2011 we often overturned 0-1 scorelines and we scored way more late goals.

That's another thing.....I'd like to see a stat with the amount of goals we scored after e.g. 75 minutes.