Match Thread

[Mhbruce]

                Stek
Riether  AMorebietta  Hangeland   Briggs

          Parker        Boateng  


 Ruiz                                Taarabt

                  Berbatov

                    Bent

I'm not sure Ruiz is the way to go, I think the 442 we played at the end could work well, maybe
Stek
Riether.  Hangeland.   Amor.    ?
            Parker.         Boateng
Dejagah.                                Kaca/taarabt
           Bent & berbs

[OxfordWhite]

We can't play with two holding midfielders if they cannot communicate. There is NO pace in there. I would rather see Parker and Boateng than Parker and Sidwell. Also I feel we should at least try Ruiz at CM, with Parker at CDM and Ruiz CAM in a diamond 4-1-2-1-2. We need to buy a new left back if we are to play Taarabt at LM.

The issue today is there was a massive gap between midfield and defence and that should not happen if we are playing a 4-2-3-1, the two holding midfielders are there to stop this.

[Azeedo]

I think Ruiz is being negotiate, I find it very weird that he did'n play at all in this game.

[God The Mechanic]

I personally thought rise made a few good tackles and deflections, but was poor going forwards, all in all though I thought we deserved more than what we got, especially last ten minutes, if it wasn't for arsenals defence we could of got back in

Arsenal's defence was utterly makeshift though.  Jenkinson ain't great, Sagna was a right back at centre back and Mertesacker has the turning circle of the moon.  Merte wasn't tested enough and pulled out of his comfort zone, Sagna wasn't isolated enough.

It wasn't utterly makeshift. I'd argue we actually had more injury problems in our defence than arsenal did. They basically had one member of their first choice back 5 missing and they defended pretty well IMO.

They were allowed to defend well imo, by lack of movement and real threat. Had they all played blinders then fair enough, but I really do think they were there (defensively) for the taking.  Don't rate Mertesacker, so had there been movement he would have struggled especially with Sagna being out of position next to him.

[BarryP]

Strange game. Some decent performances but some dreadful positioning and defending. Never been a fan of Jol and nothing has changed my mind. Fulham seem like the easiest team to prepare for. The problems are there for all to see. 1. Jol's never changing tactics (which don't work) and 2. Just don't work hard enough when we don't have the ball.

Parker and Bent could be the saviours this season.

A big +1 with regard to not working hard enough off the ball.

[TKFJ_FFC]

                Stek
Riether  AMorebietta  Hangeland   Briggs

          Parker        Boateng  

 Ruiz                                Taarabt
                  Berbatov

                    Bent

That is the formation I want, but with Taarabt and Ruiz on the wings you lose all width. Kaca provides a little bit. Need more crosses into the box.

[bill taylors apprentice]

Beaten by a better team on the day?
While the first goal was flooky, it was coming.
Knowing how arsenal like to play I assumed we would close them down further up the pitch as a unit, we didn't.
I liked what i saw of Parker and Bent, Riether was excellent.
I don't dislike Sidwell, but he is not the answer and unless we get a LB who can perform like Riether on the right going forward we need kaca to stretch the opposition

 

[God The Mechanic]

We can't play with two holding midfielders if they cannot communicate. There is NO pace in there. I would rather see Parker and Boateng than Parker and Sidwell. Also I feel we should at least try Ruiz at CM, with Parker at CDM and Ruiz CAM in a diamond 4-1-2-1-2. We need to buy a new left back if we are to play Taarabt at LM.

The issue today is there was a massive gap between midfield and defence and that should not happen if we are playing a 4-2-3-1, the two holding midfielders are there to stop this.

Parker doesn't have the positional discipline to hold.  He loves making tackles, harrying players and closing down too much to just sit and act as a pivot.

[premFlem]

Positives of the game: Bent scored and looks like the goalscorer we've been looking for, Parker was very tidy, Tarbs had a positive impact (but was in the wrong position to be effective), Kasami looks really up for it this season. So effectively, we have 4 new players (I know Kasami isn't new, but this may be his "breakthrough" season)who all look better than what we had last season. Reither, Kaca, and Riise (controversial??) also played fairly well.

Negatives of the game: Jol doesn't know how to lineup the team, Berbatov looks increasingly disinterested and destructive, we still lack talent in the middle of the park, Duff has lost it, Stockdale can't catch a ball (in fairness, I imagine the rain had an ENORMOUS effect. His kicking was very good though), Sidwell continues to look lost in the premiership, we have no structure in attack.

We have a great squad, and I'm praying that this is simply a 'teething' period before Jol finds the best team. I think that 90% of the problems can be solved once we have found the right formation/first 11. But, when it comes to Jol, it does always seem to be a case of "tomorrow, tomorrow".

Jol doesn't know how to line up the team, sums it up really.

[Enter the Frei]

I personally thought rise made a few good tackles and deflections, but was poor going forwards, all in all though I thought we deserved more than what we got, especially last ten minutes, if it wasn't for arsenals defence we could of got back in

Arsenal's defence was utterly makeshift though.  Jenkinson ain't great, Sagna was a right back at centre back and Mertesacker has the turning circle of the moon.  Merte wasn't tested enough and pulled out of his comfort zone, Sagna wasn't isolated enough.

It wasn't utterly makeshift. I'd argue we actually had more injury problems in our defence than arsenal did. They basically had one member of their first choice back 5 missing and they defended pretty well IMO.

They were allowed to defend well imo, by lack of movement and real threat. Had they all played blinders then fair enough, but I really do think they were there (defensively) for the taking.  Don't rate Mertesacker, so had there been movement he would have struggled especially with Sagna being out of position next to him.

Their defensive problems have been massively overdone in the build up to this game. Sagna still has a lot of experience playing centre back and Mert is a good player. Granted we weren't perfect going forwards, but if Duffer had put that early chance in the game would have been completely different. The game was more decided by our defensive issues rather than us losing it by not creating anything going forward.

[God The Mechanic]

Their defensive problems have been massively overdone in the build up to this game. Sagna still has a lot of experience playing centre back and Mert is a good player. Granted we weren't perfect going forwards, but if Duffer had put that early chance in the game would have been completely different. The game was more decided by our defensive issues rather than us losing it by not creating anything going forward.

I agree about defence being more to blame than attack, but I really think more could have been done to unsettle them.  It feels like a missed opportunity, even though it probably shouldn't :P

[Tonywa]

It increasingly seems to me that Jol has brought in a batch of new players without really having a clue as to what formation to play them in. Although Parker was infinitely superior to Sidwell, they are really too similar as players to form a centre midfield together.  The same goes for Boateng.I liked Kasami who worked hard and generally used the ball well, while Tarrabt is surely not someone to play out wide, though he certainly looked imaginative and there were several occasions on which the defenders had to bring him down to stop him. Riise was as bad, if not worse, than last season, while the Duffer works as hard as ever but looks fatally off the pace now.  The same could be said of Hughes much as I admire him.  Same trouble as last season with little or no pace in the team without Dejagah. Kacanicklic, although he is still young, never quite seems to get past the 'promising' stage and contributed little when he came on.

[supersimmo123]

Talk in H5 was that Ruiz is off to Wolfsburg for 6 mil