Arsenal 1 - 2 Chelsea: Horrible performance and deserved defeat

maybe Girouds Arsenal career gonna be the exact opposite way of Chamakh
poor start but then fruitful
you never know
one can hope
YES!
IN Giroud i still believe!

Raptorgunner wrote:
Should have bought another striker.

Another striker in addition to Giroud or one different from Giroud? Because I guarantee once he comes good you won't be bringing that up again. We have Poldi, Giroud and Gervinho to an extent, who can play up front. Under the pretense that Giroud becomes a proper striker (which he will) I fail to see where another striker would fit into the equation.

We believe in Giroud <3

Will write up feelings in morning instead, still too angry.

MJGunner wrote:

Raptorgunner wrote:
Should have bought another striker.

Another striker in addition to Giroud or one different from Giroud? Because I guarantee once he comes good you won't be bringing that up again. We have Poldi, Giroud and Gervinho to an extent, who can play up front. Under the pretense that Giroud becomes a proper striker (which he will) I fail to see where another striker would fit into the equation.

We believe in Giroud <3

Back up for Giroud, I cant judge Giroud yet maybe end of the season.

I believe in Giroud. Still hasn't got many starts, and when he DID get starts, it was when the team was still getting to know one another and learning to link up properly. Looked dangerous when he was in today -- more convincing than Gervinho, barring Gervinho's wonder goal.

I just dont get why we try to play with out Striker? all those balls were crossed in with no one to head them in?

I strongly believe if Giroud had started the game would have ended differently. I know most of you might not like this, but we must start Walcott and Giroud together.

Gervinho is hard working and his movement is good but his touch and finish isnt that good. He also need to work alot on his end product. I also hate they way when he tries to take 3-5 defenders when he can simply pass the ball to his team mate.

I still belive in Giroud and think he can be great this season. He works hard and he is good at defending set pieces.

The thread title says it all! Poor performance really...

But when will John Terry start his 4 game ban? is it still pending because of his appeal??? He shouldn't have played this game.

Agree with most of the OP's comments. I didn't think we played terribly though. Chelsea are a top team and not a team you can just walk all over. We can do much better, yes. This was a tactical and scrappy game. All three goals came from defensive mistakes.

Really...0-0 would've been about right.

I agree most of all with the OP on his comments on defending...particularly set plays. I thought Ramsey was awful yesterday and Kos had a mare. Which is unusual for him tbf.

Giroud's miss made we worry that we have another Chamahk on our hands. In fact, at least he scored a few early on if you remember. He needs to pull his finger out and fast. That miss was a shocker. He's paid about 70k per week to score goals. If he misses empty ones then he will not be required. Despite this, he could still come good (wishful thinking?)

My ratings:

Mannone 5 (Poor on the Mata free kick)
Jenks 8 ( His best performance yet in an Arsenal shirt...seemed devastated at the end)
Gibbs 7 ( Solid again)
Kos 4 (What happened there? I'll forgive him it's rare for him to play poorly)
Vermy 6 ( Not quite at his best)
Diaby 6 (Injured early on...again)
Arteta 6 (Couldn't get a foothold of the midfield. Still defended quite well)
Cazorla 6 ( Average at best)
Podolski 5 (His worst performace in an Arsenal shirt)
Ramsey 4 (Pants. Never quite got what all the fuss is about. Slow and wildly inconsistent)
Gervinho 6 (Good goal and ran his heart out. didn't use the ball particularly well)

Subs
Giroud 4 (Shite)
Walcott 4 (Looks like he can't wait to leave)
Ox 6 (Battled hard)


We'll put that one behind us...onwards and upwards

It was really Wengers fault. Podolski is not a target man, nut still made.some good runs, and should've stayed on. Giroud is flopping at this point, but I want to see him and Poldi on the field together. It is Wengers fault that Koscielny had a bad day in one way. That is the fact that Mertesacker is on great form but he dropped him for a risk. Like the old saying, if its not broken don't fix it. He shouldn't have dropped Mertesacker. When Mertesacker and.Vermaelen have played together this season for quite a few games, they haven't conceded a single goal I don't think. Arsenal should've played like this from the start:

juventus101 wrote:Arsenal should've played like this from the start:

--Mannone-
--Jenks-- --Vernaelen-- --Mertesacker-- --Gibbs--
--Arteta-- --Diaby--
--Gervinho-- --Cazorla-- --Podolski--
--Giroud--

Really want to see Podo and Giroud on the field together
We cannot blame Giroud while you were substituting him at 7X mins.....

And I think Gervinho's great movement n mobility can be shown if we put him at flanks or even allow him to exchange with Podo on Left/right....not necessarily at the upfront. we need more Giroud's header at the front.

It was a disappointing display, of course. It was out of the blue a bit as well. After good performances recently, especially at City last week, I didn't expect that.

Aside from Arteta, Jenkinson and Gibbs, I struggled to see a good display. Both centre-backs were poor, particularly Koscielny of course, whilst Ramsey (despite some nice touches early on) and Podolski were below-par, Cazorla too, missing some good chances.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but dropping Mertesacker is the wrong decision, however Koscielny-Vermaelen were excellent together last season apart from the QPR game. We should have been ok.

Giroud's chance was the one. That was the moment to equalise and get Giroud up and running in the league. He can't go on missing chances like this in the league. Diaby's injury affected us, and both Walcott and Chamberlain failed to impress from the bench - at least the latter got an assist though. Nice goal from Gervinho, but he was inconsistent again.

My rat:

Mannone 5; Jenkinson 7 Koscielny 4 Vermaelen 5 Gibbs 7; Arteta 7 Diaby N/A; Ramsey 4.5 Cazorla 5 Podolski 5; Gervinho 6

I personally don't believe that the performance was as bad as said over here. Arsenal were the better team when Diaby was on since he provides a tactical pressing alternative whilst applying the pressure off from the passing aspect of the midfield. Immediately when he went off it took away the B2B factor Arsenal needed for the midfield to dominate.

Reasons why Arsenal lost:

-Diaby's injury

-Aaron Ramsey: I've noticed how subdued Arteta can actually be when Ramsey is on field. As it is he shouldn't have been playing since it was initially to crowded in the midfield with him, Arteta, Diaby and Cazorla dropping deep. Yet Diaby coming off afforded him space and he failed hard. I am a fan of Ramsey's talent and skill yet he is one of the most frustrating players in Arsenal. He has no tactical awareness of where to pass, where to move, when to release etc. He does the same frustrating crap of backheeling, using the outside of his foot and passing always at the wrong timing. Wenger needs to know he is too young and needs to develop his mental footballing awareness more.

-Koscielny for all my praise still remains Arsenal's best CB yet his mistakes were costly. Doesn't mean he should be benched immediately for Merte.

-Gervinho's insanely poor decision making. You I liked Gervinho near the end of the game as he was the only Gunner trying to do something rather than pass it into the net yet throughout the game he held onto the ball far too long whilst squandering passing options and disrupting play. He can be a force for Arsenal yet I can't really be a fan of such an unpredictable player.

-Vermaelen's positioning as we know is his worst trait. Both set pieces which allowed the goal were from his unnecessarily rash tackles as he needs to be more precise and tact during his tackling.

-Ramsey's positioning caused Cazorla to drop so deep it eliminated any link to the forwards up front.

-Lack of presence to hold possession which is why Giroud should start as subbing him in is detrimental considering target men like him take a while to settle in the game.

-Gibbs while defensively solid he just didn't bomb down the flank enough as this subdued Podolski who just wasn't having the ball enough and therefore was eliminated from the game. The right flank of Arsenal was used so much that Chelsea increasingly started to crowd that flank yet Arsenal did nothing to create space.

I think Arteta and Ramsey were very poor, they both kept giving the ball away needlessly. I was very dissapointed with Arteta's use of the ball in this game, he struggle when he is afforded less time on the ball. Why does Wenger keep subbing Poldi when we need goals ?? Imagine if Giroud's chance fell into poldi

I would like to see a more physical attack against West Ham. Something like

Both Gervinho and Walcott are making me a nervous wreck.

Against Olympiacos, I'd appreciate seeing something along the lines of:

Why drop Gibbo and Gervinho ??, i know Gibbo has been poor going forward but he is hardly done anything wrong. If we have learned anything this week is that constant choping and changing in defense doesn't work well.

I know Gervinho end product has been meh but he has been scoring goals and creating chances. Dropping him affect his performance and make him even more nervous.

gunnerlistick wrote:Why drop Gibbo and Gervinho ??, i know Gibbo has been poor going forward but he is hardly done anything wrong. If we have learned anything this week is that constant choping and changing in defense doesn't work well.

I know Gervinho end product has been meh but he has been scoring goals and creating chances. Dropping him affect his performance and make him even more nervous.

Rotation. Gibbs looked very tired towards the end of Chelsea game. Gervinho has played every game pretty much. It's about a squad.

Also, Giroud and Walcott need starts, as does Santos

Arquitecto wrote:
-Lack of presence to hold possession which is why Giroud should start as subbing him in is detrimental considering target men like him take a while to settle in the game.

well said arq
just saw this stat regarding this part of your post

Matt Spiro ‏@mattspiro

Giroud never likely to be a supersub. 19/21 goals last season scored in 2nd half, having started and had time to get in game

Giroud never likely to be a supersub. 19/21 goals last season scored in 2nd half, having started and had time to get in game

That is interesting. In that case my team for the Greeks would be

Mannone (if Szczesny isn't fit)

Jenks
Mert
Vermy
Gibbs

Arteta
Coquelin (Ramsey needs dropping after a very poor performance)

Gervinho
Cazorla
Podolski

Giroud

A word on Giroud. I still think he's no Chamahk, but he needs to relax a bit in front of goal. Easy for me to say, but he looks like he is panicking in front of goal.

Give Giroud sometime, as long as he gets in those right positions he's going to start firing eventually. I would take out Gervinho personally, I knew he would score a good goal against us just typical but thankfully after that he didn't do that much.

Dont you guys think dropping Koscielny, would do more harm than good? I still think he is our best CB.

I feel bad for Arshivan, he should be given some minutes.

Raptorgunner wrote:Dont you guys think dropping Koscielny, would do more harm than good? I still think he is our best CB.

I would start Mertesacker - Koscielny but Arsene made Vermaelen the captain so he has to start now

urbaNRoots wrote:

Raptorgunner wrote:Dont you guys think dropping Koscielny, would do more harm than good? I still think he is our best CB.

I would start Mertesacker - Koscielny but Arsene made Vermaelen the captain so he has to start now

I would rest Vermaelen if anything. We need Kos to play next game so he can redeem himself.
Or we can start all 3, and give Jenk and Gibbs some rest.

I hope the boss would do the right thing by playing Kos . He must not lose his confidence , he is a fantastic player who is repaying the fate put in him unlike djourou and co