PL: Blackburn Rovers vs Arsenal | 19/03/05

[asajoseph]

I have to say, that against more clinical forwards and better players we probably wouldn't have kept a clean sheet today - but let's not look a gift horse in the mouth, eh?

I thought Flamini did mix it up well today, but his distribution, much like Senderos's, was dire.

What worries me, is when Sol and Senderos are playing together, the distribution coming from the back 2 will be pretty shocking. Sol isn't awful, and Senderos is going to improve, but it might cause us problems in the future.

 

[JGooner]

I have to say, that against more clinical forwards and better players we probably wouldn't have kept a clean sheet today - but let's not look a gift horse in the mouth, eh?

I thought Flamini did mix it up well today, but his distribution, much like Senderos's, was dire.

What worries me, is when Sol and Senderos are playing together, the distribution coming from the back 2 will be pretty shocking. Sol isn't awful, and Senderos is going to improve, but it might cause us problems in the future.

I have been thinking the same thing. Neither Campbell nor Senderos are natural passers. This may not be much of a problem in the prem because we have so much in midfield, but our CL habit of whacking desperate long balls when plan A fails may become even worse because we won't have a Rio Ferdinand-type to distribute intelligently from the back. This is why the CB we buy in the summer has to be a skillful, ball-playing one. Kind of like Woodgate without the injuries. Ledley King is pretty good at this, which is why he plays CM sometimes for Sp**s.

 

[asajoseph]

For all his faults, I think that this is one of the areas in which Kolo Toure excels...

 

[AFCG7]

Woodgate and King are good at that kind of role.. but Chivu is better than those two.. i'm looking forward to hs comeback game tomorrow, i hope he will show how god he is although its been a long while out with injury.

 

[asajoseph]

Yuh, I've been a big fan of Chivu for a while, he's someone I'd LOVE to see at Arsenal, if he's fit for the job.

Woodgate may be a while away from playing top flight football ever again - who's going to take a risk on him, if he leaves Madrid? And King, being an Englishman moving to a rival club, will cost far more than he's worth.

 

[JGooner]

Chivu would be my no.1 choice but I can't see us winning a bidding war for him.

 

[kanuuu]

Toure was great at passing the ball out of defence last season, pity he hasn't kept up his form.

 

[Mark]

RvP and Reyes both had good games I feel. Improved performances from both. Not sure why some of the finishing was so poor, but they were impressive. RvP's goal was almost identical to a goal Anelka scored on that ground in 98. Robin really does have great natural ability. The first touch and dummy was fantastic. This is why I feel he will be a great player for us, because even if he doesn't have good games that ability for moments like that will always be there.

Vieira had a poor game I feel. He lacked energy and he gave the ball away a lot.

Not as much as our CBs though. Senderos is a good defender, but his distribution is rather poor, as is Toure's. I think Chivu would be a good option in that sense as well as all his other qualities. He would compliment Sol's game so much.

Cole had another good game in midfield, if he stays I think it might be worth considering playing him there more often.

Overall not a great performance, but more wins like this during the season would've seen us in a better position than we are now. We're holding onto leads well, this is now our 5th clean sheet in a row and 3rd 1-0 win in a row. We're doing this with a lot of injuries as well. Wenger's done a great job to keep them motivated. I remember Man Utd totally fell apart last season as they lost their grip on the title. I'm glad we're not doing that. Still a good chance of finishing 2nd.

 

[patrick42uk]

Has anyone else noticed that RVP runs like a girl? His arms flap about a bit, and he scampers a bit.

you know what, about two seasons ago i noticed that with robben as well as van der vaart at times and van persie. what these 3 players have in common is very good balance. i actually think they might have been taught that early on to enhance their balance. the dutch are very thorough and technical in their education of young players so it wouldnt suprise me.

with reyes, i dont think he has the peristance of a robben or a overmars or a c.ronaldo to make a good out and out winger. i dont think he has the maturity or the possesional qualities either to make a good inside left like pires. but to be honest right now i'm more concerned about him playing well than what position he does it at. will be a big shame if we cannot make reyes at arsenal work.

interesting that wenger said he needs rvp to do what he did today '10, 15, 20 times'. at face value it seems harsh, but with the talent of the boy i think its a fair assesment. couple of months back pires and wenger were raving about what van persie was doing in training before he ws geting games. i think wenger might have expected a little bit more from him by now. i think next season will be his season though.

 

[Gunner4Eva]

That makes 5 clean sheets in a row. Something I absolutely never thought we could've acheived this season, let alone achieve it with Sol Campbell sitting in the terraces. Senderos has been huge and Toure and Pascal have done well also. One thing that extermely disappointed me today however was the disgraceful distribution of the ball from Phillipe Senderos and Kolo Toure. Too many times they gave the ball up straight to a Blackburn player. Should we have been playing a team with a lot more quality than Blackburn, we probably would've paid for that.

I thought Clichy, again, was fantastic at left back running up with Cole. He's not afraid to take on defenders and more often than not gets around them with his smarts and lightning pace. He is no doubt an extremely exciting prospect for the future, and a handy player to have.

Vieira was clearly non-evident in this game. He really did have a howler. Flamini and Fabregas were the dominators in the midfield. Vieira did sit back in front of the defenders more often, and Flamini was left to run around all over the midfield. Fabregas, despite being our "right midfielder" for the day spent the majority of his time in the centre of midfield. Was very disappointed he didn't score with his fantastic run at the start of the second half. I still can't get ovr the fact he is just 17-years of age. He was my second best on the field.

Jose Antonio Reyes was my Man-of-the-Match! He troubled the Blackburn defence with some great runs and probably should've scored one goal, and set up Van Persie for another. I love the fact he likes to drift down to the right-side of midfield. With him and Henry doing their work, both side of the opposition defence are under the pump. I actually stood up and applauded in front of the TV on both of the occassions he hussled back and covered for Lauren and recovered possession for our team. It was absolutely beautiful to see. Also loved hearing the crowd singing his name. He deserved it.

Van Persie's goal was class, and probably should've had another one but for the crossbar. This kid just oozes class in every movement he makes. I can't wait to see what kind of player he turns out to be next year.

 

[Mark]

Clichy does get forward better these days. It's just a sign of improved confidence. He has real ability and with experience, he is using it better.

 

[Anonymous]

can someone do a player ratings with some description

 

[ozgooner]

unless i missed it but i dont think wenger made a single substition in the game? i was getting excited when quincy was warming up but he didnt get on the pitch

 

[Soler]

unless i missed it but i dont think wenger made a single substition in the game? i was getting excited when quincy was warming up but he didnt get on the pitch

He didn't make one against Bolton either.

 

[Gunner4Eva]

I really thought he was going to take off Fabregas or Flamini for Eboue to add some extra defensiveness to the team, but he didnt make any substitutes.

 

[Mark]

I'm not too keen on this policy of not making any subs. I know why Wenger does it and it's a fair enough point, but I think bringing on Eboue in midfield and Quincy upfront in the final few minutes wouldn't disrupt the flow of the team too much. Players like Cesc in particular must get really tired.

 

[Legend#1]

Good solid winning performance yesterday.. I'm very happy.

We were very average in the 1st half.. but so were Blackburn.. considering we had 7 1st team players out.. 1-0 away at Blackburn is a great result.. especially with all the youngsters and some of the players playing out of position and practically playing with eachother for the 1st time.

Ratings:

Lehmann - Another clean sheet.. that is 5 in a row (which the media are not talking about).. looking very solid and i'm confident in him at the moment.. the 1st time I truly have been.. he's dealing with crosses brilliantly and always in the right place at the right time recently.. playing for his world cup place perhaps.

Clichy - I love this kid, he is so quick and is playing with a lot of confidence, he is getting better with every game, especially at attacking, his defending is very solid too, it's hard to think he is only 19 ! Better than Cole was at that age, he has the world at his feet.

Lauren - He had a solid game in all, but once again was caught out of position waaay to many times, if it wasn't for Reyes' incredible tracking back on 2 occasions and the weak attacking opponents we could have been in trouble.

Senderos - Defensively another very solid display, his distrubution was awful again though but he is a natural defender, he works the line very well and always seems to be in the right place at the right time, which is great for a defender.

Toure - Had a better game today, still gave away needless foulsand needless corners.

Cole - I was happy with his display, he lost the posession a lot in the 1st half, but so did everyone, linked well with RvP and Clichy and gave us a genuine threat on the left, good display after all the b/s.

Fabregas - Solid game, got stuck in whilst not playing in his preferred position, great through ball in the 1st half for RvP and towards the end he was pulling all the strings, amazing run for that Reyes chance but he should have shot earlier, he was trying to walk it in, I can't believe this lad is 1 year younger than me.

Vieira - Non-existent, not bothered, lost posession too much, didn't stamp his foot on the game, but recently he has been great, but it is this inconsistency that leads me to believe we should let him go in the Summer.

Flamini - Probably the worst game i've seen him play for Arsenal, lost possession numerous times, got caught upfield too much losing the ball, passing was awful, duidn't have a clue going forward, just a bad day at the office for Matty.

RvP - Great game imho, 2nd for MOM behind Reyes, his touch for that goal was stunning, he knew exactly what he was going to do, it stuck to his foot and trust me that skill isn't easy, especially at the pace it was done, great composure for the goal too and was unlucky to hit the bar, there were a few moments where I thought he might lose his temper because it was opbvious Blackburn's filthy players targeted RvP and Reyes, but RvP kept his cool, his passing will get better with time, it won't be hard for him cause he has 1 of those footballing brains.

Reyes - What can I say.. You don't understand how excited I was when we bought him, after watching Sevilla a lot on La Liga.. I knew we had something special and I prayer to god that we keep him.
It was a repeat of his Bolton performance, 1st half was quiet but so was the team, 2nd half we sprung to life, hugging that right touchline running at players, cutting in, he looked dangerous everytime he had the ball and Blackburn knew this, that is why they tried to kill him on numerous occasions, he should have scored, but it will come in time, he's enjoying playing up front, you can tell, and RvP and Reyes compliment eachother very well, RvP can play like a target man, with the ball at his feet, and Reyes can make those runs and use his absolutely blistering pace. The tracking back was something very very special, Henry-esque, I hope the Reyes/Henry partnership works and they play like Gooner101 said, Henry hugs the left and Reyes goes central and vica versa, makes our attack have more dimensions to it and makes our weak right side much stronger.. Great performance by the little Spaniard, I want to learn spanish so I can meet him ands tell him how fookin great he is and that I would cry if he leaves.

That is all.

 

[patrick42uk]

I'm not too keen on this policy of not making any subs. I know why Wenger does it and it's a fair enough point, but I think bringing on Eboue in midfield and Quincy upfront in the final few minutes wouldn't disrupt the flow of the team too much. Players like Cesc in particular must get really tired.

considering the injuries, that was nearly our second 11 out there. the injuries forced wenger to take the risk with the kids, but the kids out there are the most 'experienced' we have. but even they carry the risk of inexperience. going to the bench would only mean increasing the risk that the inexperience will cost you, especially in holding onto a lead. even upfront, keeping the ball there is part of defending the lead. i dont a substitution was a risk worth taking.

which leads to another point. what if wenger did make a substitution and we blew the lead?

 

[JazzG]

Just seen some of the highlights and we really should of won 3-0, we can't keep wasting chances like we are.

Must say the defense really is looking much better, have a lot more confidence in them. You can say they gifted Reid and Emerton good chances but unlike in the past the attacking players still had a bit of work to do if they were to test Jens. Before we just gift wrapping goals but at least now we have cut those out. If we lead by 1 goal I feel now that we can hold on until the end. Ever since the Bayern game we have tightened up, against Southampton we were unlucky but we are looking much more solid. Vieira also has become very defensive now and playing at times right infront of the back 4 (with Flamini infront doing all the donkey work) which is good as he needs to do that until our main players come in and then he can resume his normal role.

I'm not too keen on this policy of not making any subs. I know why Wenger does it and it's a fair enough point, but I think bringing on Eboue in midfield and Quincy upfront in the final few minutes wouldn't disrupt the flow of the team too much. Players like Cesc in particular must get really tired.

I think the way the games were so delicately poised he didn't want to mess around with changing things. Also our next match is in April so no point taking them off to keep them fresh for the next match!

 

[sabret00the]

I'm not too keen on this policy of not making any subs. I know why Wenger does it and it's a fair enough point, but I think bringing on Eboue in midfield and Quincy upfront in the final few minutes wouldn't disrupt the flow of the team too much. Players like Cesc in particular must get really tired.

considering the injuries, that was nearly our second 11 out there. the injuries forced wenger to take the risk with the kids, but the kids out there are the most 'experienced' we have. but even they carry the risk of inexperience. going to the bench would only mean increasing the risk that the inexperience will cost you, especially in holding onto a lead. even upfront, keeping the ball there is part of defending the lead. i dont a substitution was a risk worth taking.

which leads to another point. what if wenger did make a substitution and we blew the lead?

i'll be honest pat, on our performance we didn't actually deserve three points, i've seen alot of hype over reyes's performance but damn we're supporting him for doing what we're not too fond of in dennis, yes he made good runs but what did it result too? he never made any good shots he never even made an assist, despite almost getting one, it was almost, if we had swapped him for quincy and it flopped then i'd have been ok with it because despite the win and the hype of everyones favourite players we did not play well.

hence why i'm having alot of trouble picking a man of the match, i'm even seeing people pick lehmann though he was hardly troubled and he does what even jerzy dudek does week in/week out and liverpool fans want him out.

it was nice to have the win, and we did have players that played better than others but everyone was sub-par, which is obviously due to not enough variation of the first team in training? i dunno i'm just guessing, i hope all the players get more of a run and i hope while we re-find out form we continue to grind out results but all ths "reyes was fantastic (despite not taking a real shot on target)" is stupid IMHO, he made good runs and yes placed some nice balls into the area, stretched the defence, but that's what i'd expect from a winger, especially an Arsenal winger, to say his performance warranted a start up front is laughable.

btw i did say he'd be a better player while henry was out, proof is in the pudding it seems.