Schalke 2 - 2 Arsenal: Decent point in the grand scheme of things

Completed the write-up. No moaning for once.

wish we had kept rvp on for one more season. he is way better than giroud at holding the ball up and maintaining possession.

Would've made no difference tonight.

El_Gunner wrote:And also Diaby for Arteta!

Why? Arteta is one of our most important players in the team.

GoonerJay29 wrote:Completed the write-up. No moaning for once.

wish we had kept rvp on for one more season. he is way better than giroud at holding the ball up and maintaining possession.

Would've made no difference tonight.

you serious? rvp's movement and skill on the ball would have made no difference tonight? lool come on dude, we would have took more control of the game in the second half if we had someone upfront like rvp. we miss him bad, too many teams are dominating possession against us.

We are 4th in Europe in terms of Possession. First in EPL

REWB wrote:

GoonerJay29 wrote:Completed the write-up. No moaning for once.

wish we had kept rvp on for one more season. he is way better than giroud at holding the ball up and maintaining possession.

Would've made no difference tonight.

you serious? rvp's movement and skill on the ball would have made no difference tonight? lool come on dude, we would have took more control of the game in the second half if we had someone upfront like rvp. we miss him bad, too many teams are dominating possession against us.

How many times did Giroud actually touch the ball in the second half? That's through no fault of his own. We were penned in our half and forced to lump balls forward.

Doesn't matter if van Persie is better at holding the ball, he wouldn't have received the ball in the first place.

I have to disagree, RVP would have made a difference imo, the cleverness of his movement and how he finds space would have made things easier for our midfield.
Anyway about giroud, is it me or does he not time his jump well? keeps being beaten in the air

There were actually a number of games last year in which RvP barely touched the ball. I was actually very impressed with a number of Giroud's touches, and thought he was quite good apart from a minor moments. Maybe if our midfielders had the ball for more than 10 seconds at a time it would be easier for me to criticize him.

Diego Armando Maradona wrote:Anyway about giroud, is it me or does he not time his jump well? keeps being beaten in the air

He won almost aerial duel he was a part of from what I saw

I didnt see the last 40 minutes so i dont know, but im talking about in general. He seems to have lost quite a few headers recently

Mertesacker and Cazorla quite poor tonight. Worrying. Will write up my full feelings tomorrow after work.

Even when he wins a duel, most of the time there's no one close to take the 2nd ball. With better understandment (which should come with time) he and his mates will get better in that regard.

@El Gunner, you're right. I thought you meant dropping him because of his performances or something. But I don't think Diaby is the one to rotate with Arteta, it's Coquelin. While Diaby should rotate with Wilshere (when Wilshere gets tired/out of form etc...).

We got screwed over by the refs very nicely. Clear goal scoring opportunity for Podolski's hammer left foot and the referee stopped the game.

Giroud won some balls in the air, but there usually no one around to pick it up. He did cock up that 1v1 pretty badly and had Walcott not scored, some of us would be ripping into him lol.

Vermaelen got some good tackles in today, but he's become very error prone for a while now...

Theo was decent, but his decision making and awareness at times was still questionable, most notably in the first half when he failed to make an easy pass to Sagna to create a chance, and to let Podolski through on goal when he was clearly offside. I do like this defensive lineup much better though, having Santos at the back keeps you on edge.

2 - This is only the 2nd time Arsenal have given up a two-goal lead in the CL, 1st was v Bayern Munich in Dec 2000. Precious.

0 - Arsenal have never kept a clean sheet in Germany in the Champions League, now conceding on all 8 trips there. Inevitable

opta

Giroud isolated
rare occasion when both Fullbacks average position is inside our own half

having Gibbs as an outlet i believe would have also helped us to keep the ball better/more higher up the pitch

Sina wrote:2 - This is only the 2nd time Arsenal have given up a two-goal lead in the CL

i dont believe it....

Arsenal's 0 successful dribbles tonight was the least this season in the Champions League (via @WhoScored)

I am happy with the the point, I know giving up 2 goal lead is depressing but we were lucky.

Our first goal was a gift that almost turn shit. I knew Giroud going to mess it up. Thank god he redeemed himself with a great goal.

I know some say we missed RVP, but I think we missed Song. This will hunt us for many years. Our team needs help and we cant relay on Jack to carry us. I hope Wenger puts his ego aside and thinks of Arsenal buys few players in January.

We must win our next games.

is it just me or does it feel like almost every player in the team is off form?

lenear1030 wrote:is it just me or does it feel like almost every player in the team is off form?

Sagna has been solid.

The rest have been a joke.

Raptorgunner wrote:

lenear1030 wrote:is it just me or does it feel like almost every player in the team is off form?

Sagna has been solid.

The rest have been a joke.

And little Vito, he has been saving our asses from embarrassing scoreline. Mertz has been great but he is also shaky last two games. Theo did well too.

TV5 well the less be said the better. Maybe the armband is too much for him, captain is supposed to inspire, he's doing the opposite atm.

Twoism wrote:

Raptorgunner wrote:

lenear1030 wrote:is it just me or does it feel like almost every player in the team is off form?

Sagna has been solid.

The rest have been a joke.

And little Vito, he has been saving our asses from embarrassing scoreline. Mertz has been great but he is also shaky last two games. Theo did well too.

TV5 well the less be said the better. Maybe the armband is too much for him, captain is supposed to inspire, he's doing the opposite atm.

Agree, Theo has been great, wished he finished that 1 on 1 today would have been great 3 points.

Come January we need a lot of help.

How can anyone say undoubtedly that RVP would have made no difference.. He holds possession better than almost everyone in our team atm.. And if he gets it anywhere inside the box.. Bang.. Also he creates oppertunities for others too..
Giroud has been good generally in the lone striker role.. No one expects him to be RVP.. But what frustrates everyone is him missing those one-o-ones and those free headers, also considering the fact that we are hardly creating any chances.. Thats poor from a quality striker like him...
Cazorla, Podolski and Arteta need rest.. But they are too important to be rested, considering our situation, all are key matches..

I don't know what it is but we are always just a better team when Walcott is playing. Every time he plays, we get some kind of result. When he doesn't, it seems like we suffer a painful, embarrassing, slow defeat. No matter who we are facing

Im really starting to think he is our best player (that isn't a defender) which is just

Predicted a draw but very Disappointed by the way we surrendered our 2 goal lead. I'm confident we'll get 6 point from our last 2 games though. Some tired legs out there last night. With Wilshere suspended, maybe Arshavin or Coquelin will get a start this weekend.

An interesting stat is that Giroud has only scored when he and Walcott have played together (Coventry, West Ham, Reading, Schalke).