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Struggling under pressure

pikey2000

Well-Known Member
how opinions change from one game to the next, we were league winners after the City game and now we have the worst spine and poor attitude......the season is long, we have players due to return from injury and hopefully Wenger is getting the cheque book out in Jan...we are still 2nd and a couple of points off top - yes yesterdays performance was lacklustre, gutless, mediocre but perspective is needed
 

redwhiteAustrian

Tu Felix Austria
Administrator
“League Winners“ is a bit of a stretch....everyone knows our issues, they haven't gone away with one victory, as much as all what makes us good, won't disappear after a defeat.
 

samshere

Why so serieuse?
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?
Where did I ever say that he was out of position? The nature of our game while chasing means that there are dozens of times the ball is going to be played over the top and having someone as slow as Mertesacker leaves us with only Koschielny with a chance of catching up to a runner. Gabriel would have doubled our chances. In an ideal world we would stop the ball at its source by pressing immediately after losing the ball, or else keep our shape even after conceding but that rarely happens with us.
 

WurzlSepp

Has No Chill
how opinions change from one game to the next, we were league winners after the City game and now we have the worst spine and poor attitude......the season is long, we have players due to return from injury and hopefully Wenger is getting the cheque book out in Jan...we are still 2nd and a couple of points off top - yes yesterdays performance was lacklustre, gutless, mediocre but perspective is needed

I don't think any rational being thought of us as league winners at all. The attitude problem was there for years, we have been beaten like a pub team by the "stronger" teams in the past, this season where we overcame the fear of the strong the crap teams **** us up cause we just are not mentally ready for the games.
Everyone knows this story and it keeps going on and on and makes us sick!
 

MaraDon

Wants you to learn about football
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 can argue that this is a tendency that goes all around the world, only 3-5 teams in the world can impose themselves like that, specially in the Premier League, there are no spaces available and teams close eachother very very well. Football is now about not having the ball for 95% of teams around the world, is about practicing off the ball movements and its about been practical fast and intelligent when you are on the ball, you can see this tendency in Barcelona aswell, they start the game very high pressing, if they score they drop deep, and hit teams on the break. It about optimizing the energy of your players and keeping a high level of fluency so spaces can appear.
I agree that i want Arsenal to go back and propose more football, be more in your face with possesion, but we went the other direction, specially since Ramsey plays a key role in the middle, and it has paid off. The southampton game is an abonrmality and it can not be taken out of context.


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.
Cazorla is the middle is a fantasy that only worked because of Coquelin hunger. We need a mifielder since Fabregas Left and Arteta decline (even if i think that Arteta was never good enough for us as a midfielder and i mantain that neither is Cazorla)
If we are going to play Ramsey there, the best way is to drop deep and hit on the break, possesion wise we are clueless, no movement, no nothing, its hard to find a pass on todays football.
 

Tourbillion

Angry & Miserable
This is just not the case! Do you have any clue about our team?
What's wrong with what he said?

Mertesacker was excellent against City and dreadful last night.

We must get Gabriel primed to take over in the second half of the season or the summer.
 

WurzlSepp

Has No Chill
Where did I ever say that he was out of position? The nature of our game while chasing means that there are dozens of times the ball is going to be played over the top and having someone as slow as Mertesacker leaves us with only Koschielny with a chance of catching up to a runner. Gabriel would have doubled our chances. In an ideal world we would stop the ball at its source by pressing immediately after losing the ball, or else keep our shape even after conceding but that rarely happens with us.

It does not matter - do you get it? When you get Mertesacker off our complete defence becomes instable, you may get those balls, but then the offside trap will be ****ed up, or some of the high balls which Mertesacker clears so often would come through or...! Do you get it?
 

Country: Iceland
how opinions change from one game to the next, we were league winners after the City game and now we have the worst spine and poor attitude......the season is long, we have players due to return from injury and hopefully Wenger is getting the cheque book out in Jan...we are still 2nd and a couple of points off top - yes yesterdays performance was lacklustre, gutless, mediocre but perspective is needed

I think many here have been careful lately. Everyone know of our hard away schedule, everyone read my posts and it is well documented here from me that our away form after new year will be vital.

I been saying if we don't show up in the away games after new year we will not win the league.
 

WurzlSepp

Has No Chill
I think many here have been careful lately. Everyone know of our hard away schedule, everyone read my posts and it is well documented here from me that our away form after new year will be vital.

I been saying if we don't show up in the away games after new year we will not win the league.

Genius. Most of the time the teams who don't win won't become champions?
 

samshere

Why so serieuse?
It does not matter - do you get it? When you get Mertesacker off our complete defence becomes instable, you may get those balls, but then the offside trap will be ****ed up, or some of the high balls which Mertesacker clears so often would come through or...! Do you get it?
When the line you're holding is closer to the half line rather than our own goal, the offside trap becomes a little less important than recovery pace. But its perfectly fine if you think otherwise, we must agree to disagree.
 

Trilly

Hates A-M, Saka, Arteta and You
Trusted ⭐

Country: England
These days when we go down I never see us winning. That's probably a result of how rarely we do overturn results these days.

Seems like we don't have a game plan for that, or we do but it just doesn't work.
 

Country: Iceland
That's both ****ing incredibly **** and hard to believe. Wow. We don't respond in the league, period.

We usually respond. But we need to finish the losing game, hear Mertesacker incredible post-match interview, get inspired, and win the next game.
 

say yes

forum master baiter
Having a CF who can run is pretty crucial. One ball over the top and all that pressing is for nothing.

As it is- their defence is allowed to push up which constricts the pitch and makes it much easier to press us.

Ramsey has never done well when pressed - he always needs a couple of touches. Although he was still the second most competent player in our front 6 yesterday which says a lot.
 

eye4goal

Established Member
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.

I think we've got to be more side-way happy at times and tire teams down but Wenger hates that sort of "sterile" possession. Instead we play into their hands by being too direct and pushing too many players ahead of the ball. I think we've more or less found a solution by playing Ramsey wide, Theo upfront and Cazorla at CM(Gabriel can add something too). We still struggled against Sp**s and Liverpool, but that's very different to struggling against WBA, Southampton, Norwich etc.
 

Country: Iceland
Seems like we don't have a game plan for that, or we do but it just doesn't work.

Giroud is easy to defend against, especially when team score first and then close the shop. Giroud need that extra the team gets in 0-0 situations or being up by goal or two.
 

Gooner Zig

AM's Resident Accountant
Trusted ⭐

Country: Canada
One thing that's been bugging me recently is why we defend so deep against inferior opposition. When we're at our best, we're winning the ball back high up the pitch, why do we only see this approach so little?
 

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