FA: Arsenal vs Manchester United | 21/05/05

[OneProudGooner]

The problem with our 4-5-1 is Bergkamp isn't a target man and then Wenger tinkered with players too much that people like Reyes got confused with where he should be.
So if we don't have Reyes on the left flank we're asking for trouble he must of been moved about a couple of times during the game plus Pires plays infield so we lack width and not much cover for Cole which the system needs to be successful, normally you would be able to prevent attacks down the flanks and counter attack quite easily but we had the wrong players in the wrong positions and lack a few players that would make this system flawless.

 

[whoztheman]

rio was crying. :cry:
KEEN dint get a touch on the ball ;D
scoles missed a penalty :shock:
can it get worse for manure fans. glazer and now this the nature of the defeat.

i thought vieira was good comapred to others, but the press is saying he had a poor game. :roll: this is has to be the first time in a long time when arsenal's defence was so poor because i hjave never seen our keeper make so many saves. whatever! arsenal won.

howz everyone planning to celebrate.

 

[satan_beckham]

do you think the 4-5-1 formation would work with henry upfront? i think it will work out next season in europe.....

 

[thierrys_girl]

Maybe you right satan beckham, the 4 5 1 formation would work better if Thierry is involved as he is much more a target man as others have said above however I still like our 4 4 2 formation better. Having said that seeing it in action maybe next season will change my view.

 

[patrick42uk]

i'd be suprised if we see 4-5-1 again. but you never know. the only reason i though arsenal will never play it is because wenger criticised it as boring. but today changed all that.

 

[AdamT]

thing is reyes and bergkamp cannot play together.it didnt work during the season and when van persie and reyes played together it looked good.no way bergkamp should get another season.hes a drag on the team at the moment.

and fabregas should have been benched instead of fred.we were matching them in centre mid early in the game til fabregas came inside and swapped with gilberto onto the right.stupid idea to even play him.the team we started with set the tone for the game, if we'd started with van persie and freddie instead of bergy and fab i have no doubt we would have played better.

but i knew we would win as soon as the tv showed wenger drinking water from his bottle.everytime they show this we always win for the last 3 years or so, we used to sit at home yelling come on Arsène drink from the bottle every time they showed him on the bench.
funny thing is in the first half i said to my bro if they show wenger drinking we'll win, seconds later there it was and after that i had no worries all game cos i knew we were home! fate was on our side and as they pummelled us i was happy cos i knew they wouldnt score!
my manc loving mate sent me a text "you are ****" when rooney hit the post, i sent back you aint won yet ***** and so it proved hooray pay up 100 bucks you prat!!!!! f*ck yeah we are the FA Cup CHAMPIONS! 8)

 

[brady]

bergkamp is not a drag on the team. he has off days (if you have played you will know) and definitely so when played out of position. he is still the best passer on the team. i love the guy to death.

 

[AdamT]

i love him too.and hes been fantastic, but hes not what he used to be and i'd like to see him leave now on a high and open a space for a new striker.dont want him to drag on and on like seaman who was a joke at the end

 

[n_henry]

I'm all for trying out new formations (God knows a bit of variety can help us out in Europe especially), but did Wenger have to try it now? That's what I just don't understand...

It's painfully clear that the ruddy Scot has out-thought Wenger... Wenger has no idea what to do against them. :?

As for Bergy - he should have been taken off much earlier. He shouldn't have been playing as target man. I'd like for him to stay one more year, but clearly he cannot be 1st choice - Reyes/RVP with Henry have to be, and even if he stays I think we need to bring a new striker in.

 

[KingReyes]

i'd be suprised if we see 4-5-1 again. but you never know. the only reason i though arsenal will never play it is because wenger criticised it as boring. but today changed all that.

Well Wenger was right, it is boring. Especially when you don't have the personell tp play it. I too feel it will be the last time we play it.

 

[DaViEsW]

IIRC, Wenger strayed from the 4-4-2 early on in the season and had a unit of three of Bergkamp, Reyes and Pires behind Henry. I don't remember him ever using this formation before.

Anyway, watching MotD, it was luck really. We didn't ever defend all too well, Man Utd just couldn't finish their dinner. Plus Lehmann put in a decent display. Cole played ****e. Maybe it wouldn't be too bad if we flogged him to Barcelona for £25m.

 

[Feis-al]

I really don't care whether who was bad but I've been praying ever since we lost our unbeaten record to the Mancs that we play like we played yesterday and they lose to really understand what it feels like to play so well and lose. Atleast I got to see Rio and Co. crying yet he had scored "ooopps" an off-side goal

Then again, I'm glad Bergy was sub because the feeling of him taking penalts especially after 1999, Gosh-We were lucky and rightly so bacause only God knows how much injustice we surfered. A mate told me that even the Ref was pissed and almost crying, Can someone confirm

 

[kel varnsen]

do you think the 4-5-1 formation would work with henry upfront? i think it will work out next season in europe.....

doesn't anyone remember we've tried it before in europe and failed miserably. i think we played 4-5-1 away to dortmund in 02/03... lost 2-1.

 

[Alexone234]

That was the worst tactical formation that I have ever seen.

But, hey ho, we won, they didn't, they played poor football at OT to end our winning run, it was in the Carling Cup Edu got injured and at Highbury we got tonked, so while we won poorly, we won, so Fungie can stick it up his ARSEnal

 

[JazzG]

In a way it just seemed this was how we were gonna that spell those ****s had over us off our back, when we played well we still kept losing to them so in the end our worst performance against for a long long while has won us the match.

Tactics were wrong but I was encouraged to see Wenger willing to stop playing 4-4-2 if he had to. In hindsight Edu, Gilberto and Vieira should of been our three CMs. With RvP upfront as Dennis just isn't suited to that role. Our fullbacks were horribly exposed and that diagonal ball of thiers is still causing problems. But in the end they played one of their best games and still couldn't break through, by hook or by crook we still held firm. Our formation was not tried or tested so we really shouldn't of taken this kind of risk for final, needs a lot of tweaking!

Our lack of creativity from midfield was so embarrasing though, Pires/Reyes did nothing in attack and that was our main fault yesterday. Really need to get someone in this summer who can CONSISTANTLY set up goals because Pires just isn't the player he once was.

Lauren isn't that bad. I wish we had someone quicker and more productive offensively but he is a consistent 7 out of 10 performer and has been almost ever-present in our title victories recently. And he can take a penalty!

He is a consistant performer but that is three times I've seen Ronaldo really give him a working over. Ferguson has figured out that Cole knows how to deal with him but Lauren doesn't, it was very bad seeing him get done over time and time again. At times he just didn't have a clue. Lauren usually does well against Giggs or Duff but the more quick feet winger in Ronaldo caused him many problems. This could result in Lauren being targetted much more, he is a very good RB but imo the best RB at our club is Toure.

 

[Beany]

Hi Guys,

I was there yesterday, and yes, my wife did enjoy the day, after all!

I'm staying in a hotel at the moment (house being renovated) so this is the first chance I've had to come & say howdy (I'm in the lobby...)

Anyroad, that was the most unpleasant 120 minutes I can remember, as an Arsenal fan, since the 77 final against Ipswich.

It's the only comparison I can make because, although we've played 8 FA Cup finals since then, and so many other significant games, I've haven't been so dissapointed in an Arsenal performance, so agog at the ineptness of our tactics, since then.

Those who are old enough to remember, and unfortunate enough to have seen that game, will know what I mean.

Of course, there were two differences; firstly, we came through yesterday, we survived. No Trevor Brooking to head in the only bleeding goal of his career. Secondly we were red hot favouites in 77 so perhaps that made it worse.

And unlike 77 I always felt we had a chance because, unlike 77, Manure failed to take theirs.

At half time, I figured it was an abberation, perhaps Sir Alex "Farquar" Fergusson and Wayne "Shrek" Rooney has joined forces and replaced our team with some weird facsimile 11, and somehow Wenger would break then out at half time.

At Full time, I fet like I did that night in Paris; I expected Keane to volley the winner from the half way line.

But mid way through extra time I thought heck, we're could win. And so pretty much everyone sitting around me, exept the manure fans about 6 seats to my right, who looked a little like I did, in the 87th minute against Liverpool back in 01. Then I knew we were going to win.

No one could be that lucky and NOT win.

And when we did I picked up my "stars and stripes" that I'd barely had the strength to hold a few minutes before and gave it large. I don't remember enjoying a victory, however undeserved it felt, in all my years. I've revisisted quite a few posts on various fans forums and it's true, it almost felt better because of it.

Fot the pure pleasure of leaving the Manure management, players and fans flailing for reasons, some explanation for how or why they lost.

The post mortum can, I think, wait for summer. For the record I just think Wenger wanted to mix it up, somehow, anyhow. he only knows one way to play football; the right way, yet we'd lost 3 games on the trot to manure doing just that.

So the tactics were dreadful but the manner in which the players dealt with it was great. They hung on & they won ugly.

Our charming press don't know quite what to make of it.

All I ask is that we buy a few players in the key positions; up front (a ball magnet) right back and (sorry Jens) in goal.

And when we come out for the first game of next season let's be the Arsenal we know and love. If we can do that I'll happily forgive that performance.

And meanwhile, Fergie, here's a lemon - go suck it.

 

[RocktheCasbah]

Blimey Beany, you must have had a skinful, we lost to Ipswich in 78 and Trevor Brooking scored the winner for West Ham, in 1980...

 

[Asterix]

They were both terrible years - I'm not surprised beany's transplanted them elsewhere......

My sister asked me if it felt like a hollow victory - "fcuk no" I said. But in a way it was. We were clearly hammered over 99% of the pitch and we never looked like scoring. Rooney and Ronaldo were outstanding, but couldn't crack Jens, Phil and Kolo (immense game from those three, just fantastic).

But United couldn't put the ball in the back of the net, and if you can't do that you don't win.

Sunday morning felt strange - not the usual euphoria of winning the Cup. Then I logged on and saw a picture of Rio Ferdinand in tears and I felt much better.

 

[IndoGunnerz]

guys, where can I get pictures of the manc crying (especially fake Ronaldo) ;D

 

[whoztheman]

i think there are some in the my personal goal thread by james.