Why do we have no urgency in first halfs

[Alfonso]

Why do we have such slow starts to first halfs?

Why does it take untill the other team scores we play up tempo football?

Is it a motivational issue? Is Wenger complacent? Are the players complacent? Lack of concentration, lack of fitness?

Why do we take so long to get going? Are we that immature as a side? What are we a bunch of 12 year olds? For a team trying to be champions, we need to be more professional, i.e start games properly.

How many first halfs are we going to waste untill we learn our lesson?

It has become the story of our season, and im not just talking about today.

We will never win anything if we continue to start slowly to games. One day, we will not be able to come back from being behind in games..

You cant expect to win games by just showing up for the second half of games. A football match is 90mins, not 45!

Not long ago, we used to blitz teams 3-0 before the 20th min mark. I know it is unfair to compare this team to that one, as that was one of our greatest ever sides, but im sure we can use the same approach. We are good enough to do that this season imo.

 

[jester]

We used to really come out of the blocks in previous seasons, but for some reason we only up the tempo once the opposition score.
Bar the reading game of couse where we looked like the old arsenal. Its an issue that needs to be addressed, badly.

 

[stuart]

You are right and it is very, very annoying. I think the team have just got so used to conceding first that they can't get the motivation to get going until they concede. It will cost us trophys if we don't start sharpening up. Like you say, a few years ago we would have killed teams early and then sit bored because we sat back but oh boy do i wish we were the same now. Now and again it is brilliant to score a late goal, it gives us the fans a real buzz but eventually we are going to be unable to find the goal and like i say it might start costing us trophys.

 

[Lukazan]

Someone said it earlier on in the season, could've been Gurgen, that this team seems to be of the mentality that effort is only necessary in the big games, and that results will fall at their feet in games like today.

That, or they forget scoring goals is the object of the game before seeing the opposition do it.

 

[lagos]

When we were playing 451, i recall Wenger saying something about dominating teams and wearing them down in the 1st half and then striking in the second. obviously the system has changed but the mentality hasn't

 

[Captain]

I would put it down to weak captaincy.

 

[sesquioxide]

When we were playing 451, i recall Wenger saying something about dominating teams and wearing them down in the 1st half and then striking in the second. obviously the system has changed but the mentality hasn't

I agree. We know from the reports that that was the team instruction in the game against Manchester United, and we are reliant on the counterattack both spatially and temporally. And even Wenger's substitution philosophy reflects this. He threw van Persie on late in the Manchester United game after Adebayor has done his work wearing down the defenders (instead of starting van Persie when van Persie was in better form), throwing Adebayor later in the Portsmouth game (when Adebayor himself was in form), etc. I think Wenger targets the last 15 minutes of the game as the best time to sustain pressure and strength.

It's just that we concede far too many goals.

 

[ronitc]

I would put it down to weak captaincy.

i wouldn't make a direct correlation, but i think it's a contributing factor. we start off most games with henry having a laugh and joke with the opposition team. not quite a "fired up" mentality is it...

 

[Timleaf]

I would put it down to weak captaincy.

Then how come when, on the odd occasion Henry captained the side a few years ago we were just as potent at the start of games?

I think it's got more to do with the fact that the side of a few years ago was better and more experienced than the current one. They're getting there but it would be entirely unreasonable to expect them to be as polished yet.

i wouldn't make a direct correlation, but i think it's a contributing factor. we start off most games with henry having a laugh and joke with the opposition team. not quite a "fired up" mentality is it...

Vieira would look so laid back as to be horizontal before a lot of games. Even 'big Tony' would have a "laugh and a joke" with the opposition towards the end of his career.

 

[bojed]

it's very frustrating isn't it?

we'll only play with urgency when we concede the 1st goal or when it's a draw and we're approaching the 75th minute.

like i've said many times before, it's not that we can't play with such high urgency. it's more likely that we don't want to play with it unless we're forced to.

this sort of mentality is a little cancer in our team. slowly yet surely it will bring a catastrophic result to the boys unless all of them realize and do something about it in a positive way.

 

[Grampus_Eight]

It has to do with injuries and tactics.

We haven't fielded a full strength lineup for more than one or two games this season. For instance today, b/c Arsène seemed to give Downing far too much respect and since he didn't reward Denilson for his super performances we had no attacking threat or even basic attacking competency on the right side. Flamini had no ability to get behind his man, either on the dribble or by making a run and Hoyte can't beat players or doesn't have the confidence to beat his man 1 v. 1.

The other consideration is that we are no longer a pressing team/counter-attacking team and have become a possession side instead.

The backline is always too far back. Arsène has corrected this at half-time on at least one instance, but Senderos isn't suited to playing a really high line and needs to have everything in front of him with time to make decision.

And Cesc is an entirely different player than Viera. He will never cover the ground that Vieira did in his prime and Cesc's instinct isn't going to always look to release Henry, et. al. as soon as possible. His magic is different. Rosicky (and Hleb to a degree) are both players that look to run towards the ball instead of away from it.

The team often seems content to keep the ball and probe instead of playing at a high tempo from the start. Nothing wrong with it so long as we don't concede first.

 

[clockwork orange]

The backline is always too far back. Arsène has corrected this at half-time on at least one instance, but Senderos isn't suited to playing a really high line and needs to have everything in front of him with time to make decision.

Yep.

If an opposition striker is walking off side (on purpose), our back 4 track back in stead of leaving him in an offside position. Both Larsson and Berbatov pushed our defence back that way. Kolo should just tell the lads to keep playing higher up (riskier with Phil playing ).

 

[KingReyes]

Glad someone started a topic like this.

Its been like this the whole season really. Its like something needs to happen to us for us to actually start playing football.

The number of times where we've played poorly before something has happened like go a goal a behind (how many times has this happened now?) or someone gets sent off is ridiculous.

Its reasons like this why we aren't title contenders.

 

[otfgoon]

Yeah, this is one of our main problems,

In my opinion its because we lack direct players who get the ball down a look for the quickest rout to goal.

With Hleb, Rosicky and Cesc you have 3 players who look to build moves and create for others. The problem being we have too much of that and dont really have anyone who's going to take advantage of these guys and someone who's always looking to score or make more direct runs. Ignoring our full backs, Theo, Ali, Bap and maybe Robin, are the only ones in the squad that I would consider to be direct and even then only Theo and Ali are capable or raising the tempo of a game.

Our current style is actually perfect for Europe.

 

[athreya74]

It has to do with injuries and tactics.

We haven't fielded a full strength lineup for more than one or two games this season. For instance today, b/c Arsène seemed to give Downing far too much respect and since he didn't reward Denilson for his super performances we had no attacking threat or even basic attacking competency on the right side. Flamini had no ability to get behind his man, either on the dribble or by making a run and Hoyte can't beat players or doesn't have the confidence to beat his man 1 v. 1.

The other consideration is that we are no longer a pressing team/counter-attacking team and have become a possession side stead.

The backline is always too far back. Arsène has corrected this at half-time on at least one instance, but Senderos isn't suited to playing a really high line and needs to have everything in front of him with time to make decision.

And Cesc is an entirely different player than Viera. He will never cover the ground that Vieira did in his prime and Cesc's instinct isn't going to always look to release Henry, et. al. as soon as possible. His magic is different. Rosicky (and Hleb to a degree) are both players that look to run towards the ball instead of away from it.

The team often seems content to keep the ball and probe instead of playing at a high tempo from the start. Nothing wrong with it so long as we don't concede first.

All valid points and remember when we play in Europe this style suits us perfectly. It is not possible for a team to change its style completely for the league or vice-versa.

I think when we have a full strength midfield we start well - not haring off the blocks but keeping possession and probing. We have built a good system around Cesc and Hleb with Rosicky getting integrated and when one of them gets injured, the system is out of gear, putting too much pressure on the other two. The problem is it is next to impossible to have like for like replacements for these kind of creative players. But Flamini is definitely not the answer.

In defence, Senderos suffers from a lack of confidence. He doesn't have the ability to distribute balls properly. I noticed at least a couple of occasions yesterday when he just aimlessly punted the ball forward (to the obvious displeasure of Titi). Toure when he kicks a long ball usually has a target. These things affect the tempo of the game. I have anyways failed to understand why defenders feel the urge to play long balls (early in the match) when we have Cesc in the team. This is clearly down to a casual attitude.

 

[>YounGunner<]

Its almost like a training session.

We need to be more direct

I have been calling out for runners for ages now. Seeing DVDS of our blistering counter attacks with Pires, Ljungberg, Henry and Wiltord like there're having a race. Henry and Freddie missed the ball but Pires was there to smash it in.

Makes this team like a bunch of fairies ***** footting the ball around with no purpose. It gets silly at times.

I hope with new signings we return to our old ways.



---Ribery---------------Cesc----Box to box CM-------------Hleb


A bit like this with a driving midfielder someone like Essien. We have a variety of play here.

 

[Captain]

Then how come when, on the odd occasion Henry captained the side a few years ago we were just as potent at the start of games?

Because at that time we had more leaders right through the team.

 

[USArsenal]

and because that team knew how to win.. our team right now seems to know how not to lose, more than how to win

 

[ronitc]

i think they know how to lose as evidenced by the 6 games we've already lost this season. in every one of those losses we didn't score first...

 

[patrick42uk]

wow. looking at this thread, theres credible arguments for it being down to a number of reasons which is very worrying because it makes the problem harder to solve.

the one game that stands out, where we really started quick was blackburn. then again, we did conced very early that day.

maybe it the treatment players get before a game. i heard they get massages before the match. is this true? is it common for that to be done?