Arsenal 0 - 0 Manchester United: Toothless Arsenal

Twoism wrote:Ozil scored when he 1st arrived also so it's not like he's shy to shoot but that's common thing for a midfield when they join Arsenal. Start taking less shots, lots of passing and attempt to walk into penalty box, we've seen this before.

Ramsey wants to score unlike the other so called attacking midfielders in front of him, Wenger should be setting all the attacking midfielders targets. All attacking midfielder must score at least ten goals before christmas  

EL Patron wrote:

Twoism wrote:Ozil scored when he 1st arrived also so it's not like he's shy to shoot but that's common thing for a midfield when they join Arsenal. Start taking less shots, lots of passing and attempt to walk into penalty box, we've seen this before.

Ramsey wants to score unlike the other so called attacking midfielders in front of him, Wenger should be setting all the attacking midfielders goals targets. All attacking midfielder must score at least ten goals before christmas  

That would take him thinking that there is a problem, but I doubt he does, we need more attack from the width

Raptorgunner wrote:Fail of the match, Wenger, Jack and Giroud.    

Only Wenger would keep a scorer on the bench for a useless player, who cant even out run a old CB.  

What a shit game, dont tell me we bossed the second half, so *bleep* what, United still had better chance to win the game. United was not scare of us they just didn't give a shit.

When Jack comes back from an injury, he always plays like he is pissed. Taking too many touches on the ball, running into players. Giving the ball away with some shocking passing, he is a player that needs to be eased back in when he comes back from an injury but we have no choice at the moment.

I still dont get why Wenger played Giroud the whole 90m? its clear the guy is shit and slow. He look exhausted and he will start him again in few days, why not give him a rest and bring on Bendter or Podolski to win the game?

We needed some fresh legs and Oxe should have been subbed in for Jack after 50m. Wenger waiting for 70m to make a sub is frustrating. Jack losses the ball too much, its getting ridicules, we could have lost the game because of his stupid passes.

We really should not bother talking about winning EPL, how can we win when we have the worst striker in EPL. Giroud is only starting for us because he is French and Wengers ego is so big he rather see us suffer than change.

I lost count of the number of times Ozil looked around for support on the wings and Giroud running and still could not beat the defenders in front of him.

Wojciech Szczęsny is going to be an Arsenal legend. 

Giroud is Gervais of this season and Abused every time after bad result which has been collective failure   

im frustrated but not mad at him because he is what he is

A Top class CF would have destroyed their defence   
yet on the other hand they two of those and didnt score either

Jack was worst player on the pitch with his poor passes/decisions
6 turnovers and twice dispossessed

Rosicky disappointed me as well with some wayward passes and also with Giroud
you should play give and go with him and go for it not stand around him
like AOC did for 2nd Goal vs Palace

Gibbs was decent defensively and i love him but on the ball he should really really improve esp in 1st half

and without having Tools to play on the break our Counter attacks were Joke

Ozil was class above everyone else

yet our quick break would end up with ball in wide to put hopeful crosses for only 1 man in the box

space behind per was good target for them and we escaped some scares
well done Woj   

last time we really got the better of Moyes when his defensive tactics were working well was that 2-1 win when Saha scored dubious goal and Fellaini-Arteta-Rodwell didn't let our midfield breath
yet we completely changed our shape and suddenly their were confused and we scored 2 Goals in quick succession

actually i remember in 10/11 season we had more or less fixed line up and thought how good it would be if it was more unpredictable and more options

but this season we haven't had a chance to field our best Xi and its so painful   

you can Name XI's of successful teams of recent years quickly

I though we had leaders at Arsenal but after past few games its clear we have no leader. After a pathetic loss, you would think we show more heart and win the game against a pathetic team, but we showed no response, there were no leaders and nobody believed they were going to win including Wenger who was nervous the whole game.

Wenger lacks common sense and tactics, which big teams will punish us. We will see how this team responds against Liverpool, if they were this nervous against Man u, what they going to do against Liverpool? 

Wenger on the game.
on using substitutes...
It was important not to lose, but it was also important to win. There was not a lot to do because there were plenty of offensive players on the pitch in the whole game basically. We did not manage to score, but one of the positives is that one of the guys you questioned, Ozil, had a good game. He was one of our best players.  

on Giroud...
He fights very hard. If he keeps that attitude he will score.    

Wenger takes responsibility for everything that's wrong with this team, for the last 8 years.

He will never changed. Mark my words.the guy is an absolute fraud who couldn't even prepare, properly, how to extinguish a camp fire.

The lying, useless, twat has lead us into a battle, ill-equipped, with one front man who probably shouldn't and couldn't start for a top 8 team as we speak.

There's only so much criticism I can direct towards Giroud before it turns personal...however, Giroud must wake up daily wondering how he's the only front man at a team who are second.

This fixture had a draw plastered all over it. Wenger is tactically inept, nowadays, against top teams. If we make the top 3, then we well and truly blagged it.

Like I said this summer...WENGER OUT

SUPERCARTTS wrote:Wenger takes responsibility for everything that's wrong with this team, for the last 8 years.

He will never changed. Mark my words.the guy is an absolute fraud who couldn't even prepare, properly, how to extinguish a camp fire.

The lying, useless, twat has lead us into a battle, ill-equipped, with one front man who probably shouldn't and couldn't start for a top 8 team as we speak.

There's only so much criticism I can direct towards Giroud before it turns personal...however, Giroud must wake up daily wondering how he's the only front man at a team who are second.

This fixture had a draw plastered all over it. Wenger is tactically inept, nowadays, against top teams. If we make the top 3, then we well and truly blagged it.

Like I said this summer...WENGER OUT

i mean chelsea fans moan about not having a WC striker, but at least they have 3 decent strikers there, we on the other hand have one striker who is below average and then NOTHING. wth? damn it, what a wasted opportunity this season because everyone is dropping points, next season teams are going to be MUCH more consistent.

-chelsea will get their WC striker

-city will get their defenders

-liverpool will improve.

so even if we buy a striker in the summer its going to be touch and go as to whether we have a good season or not. just bullshit.

Wenger said this few weeks back about Podolski.  

"He's certainly one of the best finishers I've ever seen. When he is physically ready, he will of course help us. If there's one you want to see in front of the goal in a shooting position, it's him.

We have played the worst United team I have ever seen and still could not score against them.

we are not going to score much for the rest of this season, get used to it

Gosh, if aliens landed on Earth, logged on to this forum, came here and read the last few comments, they'd think we got slaughtered tonight and are sitting in the relegation zone

REWB wrote:we are not going to score much for the rest of this season, get used to it

Or we could just drop Giroud, and hope Wenger does not hurt his feelings, because Wengers ego and Giroud are bigger than Arsenal. We cant even beat a mid table team at home.   

Raptorgunner wrote:Fail of the match, Wenger, Jack and Giroud.    

Only Wenger would keep a scorer on the bench for a useless player, who cant even out run a old CB.  

What a shit game, dont tell me we bossed the second half, so *bleep* what, United still had better chance to win the game. United was not scare of us they just didn't give a shit.

agree..

Shoulders dropping.. inevitable ?

As soon as the fixture list came out, we knew we were in trouble in February and March.. to make things worse we drew Bayern.. and the Pool and Manu matches were considered easier of the lot and we have not only dropped 5 points, but got our momentum and confidence shattered with terrible performances..

TEAM..
Wenger played the same team which got hammered at Anfield.. arguably lack of options.. but Changes can turn games and form of the team.. remember what happened away at Buyern.. i expected Wenger to change something after the Anfield disaster.. something drastic like droping Ozil, or playing Bendtner ahead of Giroud, asking Wilshere to play sensibly atleast.. we know he doesnt like changes, right ?

GAME TACTICS..

0-0 and lots of we didnt have the desire stuff.. but i feel both teams started the game trying to win all 3 points.. Moyes seeing what Liverpool did was trying to land a cheeky blow on us by pressing high and hard without a clue what he is doing.. but as the game moved on both teams calmed and feared more about losing than drawing..

we were too on the same side.. the team wanted to prove something and came out pressing high and with lost of energy.. but we were all over the park.. playing a very very high line with Metskr.. may be this is the first United attack which doesnt have the pace to utilise its quality.. so arguably was a good tactic.. but Arteta and Wilshere were surging forward and trying to attack.. never seen Arteta play that forward since his first season.. and i lost count of the balls they gave away in trying to do so.. it was really stupid and we nearly paid for when Arteta and Sczeny messed up.. Thank God that we didnt have to see RIP celebrating so early.. but our high line clearly took Rooney and Mata out of the picture.. the only chances for United when RIP broke the offside trap quite intelligently and nearly scored few times.. the second half, both teams slowed the tempo which helped us to play our usual toothless attacking game.. and quite surprisingly in 2nd half fullbacks pushed forward and wide, putting some good crosses and made our attack better.. Our back 4 did well and nullified Valencia and Rafel.. and Mata isnt exactly a winger, which stopped their wingplay which Manu are famous for..

OUR ATTACK..
Never seen an Arsenal attack so poor as we have been seeing for last 2 months since Ramsey got injured.. the attack has been on decline since last 2 seasons.. the only reason we are so high in table is because of the massive improvement in defense and GK overcompensating for the decline in attack...
Giroud.. so terrible.. he doesnt have pace or skills.. ok.. he is a holdup and linkup player.. acceptable.. but he is a striker, rt ? you wont get anywhere near the scorecard in big games with a conversion rate of less han 10%.. free header wasted and some poor shots.. this is a game where one moment of brilliance could have won 3 points which strikers should have..

and blame should be on Wenger if he thought that this toothless pass to Giroud holdup and pass back is enough to win the title.. with Ramsey and Walcott out at January, he had the chance to add options.. players not available ? comeon.. even relegation teams have more threatening and pacy players in attack.. all we needed was some additions to give some extra options..

Ozil showed some improvement and good passing.. he almost everytime picks a player on run.. so it is upto us to break this toothless style and play according to the strength of Ozil than strength of Giroud.. we have the luxury of a cup match and 3 PL matches to settle our attack before our season defining title run in the next month..

PLAYERS..
Sczeny was amazing.. great concentration levels and reflexes to prevent is from seeing RIP laughing.. thank you..
Gibbs was very good.. (with Monreal this match would have been different)..
Kos with his pace and reflexes saved our ass many a time..
and Wilshere was again a failure as a deep midfielder.. trying to dribble too much and kept on losing the ball..
Cazorla got some decent shots on goal in the dying minutes, but was as usual anonymous till then..
Rosicky added his energy didnt have the brilliance to make things happen..
Ox didnt have much impact..

OUR BENCH & SUBS..? oh.. they are here to come out at 85 mins when someone goes down with a knock or when Giroud and Ozil gets so tired that they cant walk.. and how can wooden thing called 'bench' change football matches..?

so overall.. very disappointed that we could pick only 1/6 point against Manu having their worst form in 25 years.. but there is some more time in this tight PL to sort our attack (dont ask me how), change things and wins over City and Chelsea will be enough to win the title if we can hold playing our toothless game against the smaller teams...

we are f...d.

Ramsey's form + back 5 put the team the top3 but could a team realistically think about winning a title when you have only Giroud as striker + no trues wingers ?
Even Chelsea's striking force is stronger than us. look at Sturridge's goal today..When you have good Mid as we do it's a crime not having a striker who can make run.

I bet Giroud might be surprised by so much playing time.
How disrespectful it is to let Podolski rot the bench like that ? A manager's role is to keep his players motivated and ready to fight .

God I swear watching paint dry would have been more interesting than watching Arsenal's "attack" in the first half. Same shit, different day. Tippy-tappy around the box and trying to walk the ball into the net. Why pass it to a guy who's surrounded by 3-4 Manchester United players hoping he can produce a magically flick/pass when you know he's going to just lose the ball. Why not try something different, like getting it wide, or SHOOTING FROM DISTANCE.

I swear we should be playing Podolski, tell him to stand at the edge of the box and shoot on sight. At least give the opposition something to think about. Right now everyone knows they can just pack the box and they wont concede. Same issues we had a couple of seasons ago. Can't believe Wenger hasn't even tried to correct it.

Wenger is so tactically inept its embarrassing.

And the amount of times we lost the ball in the midfield was ridiculous. Just boot the ball out of the danger area! Don't try to dribble like you think you're Messi. I agree, Arteta is finished. I love Arteta, he was useful at one time, I always defended him, but he is done. It's so obvious that he's too slow and too weak to be a DM, doesn't run enough to be a box-to-box CM that we need in our system, and not creative enough to be the AM. Also, for our captain, really does not show enough leadership qualities.

I always though Giroud sucks and think Arsenal should play Flopolski on top. Although I also dislike him, he will score more clear cut chances and if given the chances the odd long shot.

Also, to maximize Ozils passing a fast winger should always start instead of playing only midfielders, so right now that Walcott is injured, AOC or Gnabry should start IMO.

GoonerJay29 wrote:The defence, in general, was very good. Szczesny pulled out a world class save to deny van Persie. Our entire season has been based on the back five being so solid and not conceding stupid goals against lesser opposition. The clean sheet would have done them a lot of good after that Liverpool game.

At this point, I'd be starting Chamberlain or Gnabry most games, just for the pace they have. I had reservations before because of their inexperience, but experience isn't what's going to break teams down. Get one of them in on the right hand side.

If we want to be really radical, we can try this in some games:

Szczesny

Sagna - Mertesacker - Koscielny - Gibbs

Cazorla - Arteta - Ozil

Chamberlain - Giroud - Podolski

Consinderably more open set-up and not one I'd go with from the start, but I recall similar shape doing wonders against West Ham and we create a crap-tonne of chances.  

I see that you had a similar idea to the one I propose, but seriously, Girodu shouldn't start.

Another option would be to play without a pure striker, something like this:

Ramsey - Arteta - Wilshere
---------Ozil
---AOC--------Flopolski

Neg: Giroud's last season as first-choice striker. Has to be. He can't hit a barn door. Lay-offs go to the opposition. Shots go into row H. Podolski might as well retire, he isn't getting any game-time here. Chamberlain on for 16 minutes - don't get that. Arteta and Wilshere were poor - Wilshere gave the ball away in dangerous areas quite often. Arteta's first moment was nearly to give the game away in the first minute. Has to be his last season as first-choice. In fact, with Flamini now back, it might be his last game as first-choice. No Arteta against Bayern in 1st leg is a blessing in disguise. Walcott and Ramsey - I want to cry without these two.

Pos: Szczesny was incredible again. We're blessed to have him. Mertesacker and Koscielny back to their normal level - fantastic to see. Our clean sheet record at home is exceptional. Ozil had an excellent game - it must be hard with midfielders who don't run in behind or strikers that don't move.

Overall: 180 minutes against the worst Man United team in decades and we can't score. Laughable.

We've always needed another striker to either play with Giroud, get the best out of him competitively or displace him. That's a given, but not changing my opinion on him game to game. Think we need to tone it down a bit.

If we want to stay relevant in the title race then we need 9/9 points from our next three games. No discussion.

Giroud v Man City, Chelsea, Liverpool & Man Utd:

P14 (Started 10) Scored 1

Sanogo is horrible... he can't finish and he doesn't know how to make runs. Don't say i didn't warn you...

REWB wrote:we are not going to score much for the rest of this season, get used to it

We haven't been scoring much this season to be honest, Dominate possession and score two goals then lock. The new "Arsenal way"   

sportsczy wrote:Sanogo is horrible... he can't finish and he doesn't know how to make runs.  Don't say i didn't warn you...

He cant be worse than Giroud?   

At this point I rather play with no striker than play with one. We tie or lose our next game, we would be fighting for 4th spot again, thank you Wenger. 

Well, we'll see what's what after our next 3 PL games. We haven't even hit the brunt of our difficult fixtures yet.

The title will be won or lost when we play City at home and Chelsea away (under the assumption that we get close to maximum points vs the lower teams)

Giroud - We gave the right reaction

"I think we had a good reaction after the bad result against Liverpool," the Frenchman told Arsenal Player. "I think it's a good draw to be honest even if we could have scored at the end. It was maybe just about our confidence.

"We did well in the first half especially but after we looked a bit tired. It's OK, we had a good reaction on the pitch and I think that's the most important thing even if we wanted to win this game.

"I'm confident for the remaining games and we'll know a bit more about our future after Liverpool and Bayern [Munich] because we want to play in every competition."

What reaction? you played a team who didnot give a shit and still didnot do shit.

Arteta - We can take a lot of positives

“We threw absolutely everything up front to try to win it and we created most of the chances and played really well in the second half - we really dominated,” the vice-captain said.

You didn't throw nothing, if you wanted to win your Manager would have sent the best finisher he has ever seen to win the game(podolski).