Ratings v Arsenal

[Stavrogin]

I'm not sure overall...

Certainly this was one of the worst occassions to play 2 against 3 in midfield (especially when VdV is one of the wide players)... yet was the problem not simply that we just weren't very good whilst Arsenal were functioning at their optimum level?

Not only were we losing out in tackles and a bit lax with the ball but Modric and Bale did not play with much discipline or respond well to circumstances - when they're fully capable of doing so.

There was plenty of evidence to suggest that if we'd gotten into our stride we could still have dominated using that formation - and ultimately, even at its worst, we still had a lot more proper chances and looked more capable of scoring.

 

[chrissivad]

Friedel 7- not much to do, but did it well enough
Walker 8- Not much cover but seemed to be under control.
Kaboul 8- Great partnership with King
King 8- Great partnership with Kaboul
BAE 6- Gave the ball away far to many times today.
VDV 7- Strange to call, as a RM.... not good. But drifted about and when we did play the ball about was effective
Parker 8- Was everywhere
Modric 5- thought he went missing for most of the game today
Bale 7- Same as VDV, when we got the ball moving was a threat. Some great runs.
Adebayor 6- Started well, but faded fast. Second half i dont think he held on to much at all... Didn't help with long hopeful balls up to him at times.
Defoe 7- Calls for him to offer more when not scoring, did that today. Worked back and put in a shift. Got better when he played the ball into him.

Sandro 8- changed the game, just gets stuck in

 

[L-man]

I think it's a bit of an overreaction to Redknapps starting XI and subs. Last season we played 4-4-2 against Arsenal, scoring 3 goals in the process with VDV on the right. Yes, we conceded 3, but that was a significantly stronger Arsenal XI and IIRC a team that was still chasing the title.

Too many ifs and buts as to whether he could have done subs earlier, later or differently. I thought he made good substitutions today and it obviously worked as we won, and by far more if we'd taken a few more chances

 

[stemark44]

Shocking decision by the manager to play 4-4-2 today.
Every man and his dog knows that midfield is the engine room of the Arsenal team,wipe that out and they have no answer.
This was a team short in confidence and we just gave them the chance to pass and pass and pass and grow into the game.
With his formation today, we just handed them the initiative and they seized it with both hands.
We beat Arsenal today but we were fortunate to do it.

 

[Abdoujaparov]

Can't say Kaboul had much more than an average game cos of his c*ck up for their goal. Unbelievable decision to run away from Ramsey and that other guy when they could be brought back into play at any moment.

 

[Mr Pink]

I disagree I think the problem wasn't the formation but more so the lack of passing, i mean the passing in the first half was shocking, defoe was playing deep so it was like a 4-2-3-1, the passing from VDV and modric was the worst i have seen by them

Well I've had a fair few beers mate, :wink:, but really that is pretty much the way I saw it.

Yeah Modric's passing was way below par today.

 

[Coyboy]

I thought the worst part of our performance today was our intermittent pressing. Sometimes it was excellent, other times it was non existent. It caused their goal, I think.

VDV was a bit enigmatic. He could have got sent off to boot. But he scored an important goal, and his presence and ability to get up for the big games with Arsenal is key. We may have been more solidified and even more fluent with the extra system but with Adebayor as quiet as he was, we may have been worse and created fewer chances. Defoe was the far better player today for me. But then Adebayor set up the goal, sometimes just having these players on the pitch makes a difference.

Either way, other than a gaping miss- Arsenal again created little and we created a shit load of chances from Parker's early on right up to Defoe and Bale near the end. We were the better team and deserved to win. You can always do things differently and they may be better they may be worse, but generally I couldn't fault the performance or the merit of the result.

 

[fortworthspur]

Freidel 7
BAE 7.5
King 7
Kaboul 7.25
Walker 7.25
Bale 7
Modric 6.75
Parker 7.5
VdV 7
Ade 7
Defoe 7

Sandro 7.5
Corluka 7
Livermore 7

just looking at those I think the team played well, they were just set out wrong and Harry wouldnt change it. Great back four, too.

 

[sloth]

Before I begin, I've never imagined I could be so angry in a victory against Arsenal. It almost is souring an amazing feeling!!

Anyway, that ended up a toss of the coin type match. Either side could have won, but we did. Which in the end is what matters...

But, Bc is 100% right, we won despite Redknapp's best efforts. I honestly thought he had turned a corner and I was shocked when he sent us out as he did (would he have if Defoe wasn't his player? If he didn't against all evidence believe he was a 20 goal a season striker?)

My overwhelming emotion is relief. We got away with it. Hard on its heels is a heart-felt hope that Redknapp has learned his lesson.

There is absolutely no point in having an extra attacker on the pitch if you don't own the ball. Arsenal - with a weak midfield - owned that ball for large spells of the game. It shouldn't have been alowed and every single one of us, even the most one-eyed ardent supporters of Harry knowns that it wouldn't have happened if Sandro and Parker had started.

Anyway, done is done, I firmly believe he won't make the same error twice and if that match serves to confirm in his mind our best line-up then all's well and good.

My ratings:

The team did as well as could be expected given how he sent them out - 7

Harry Redknapp - 4 (6 for the team he put out, not the worse decision in the world given our performance against Liverpool, but still rubbish given his supposed knowledge of the game; he should know better!!!!! -1 for not correcting his error at half-time, not bringing Sandro on for Defoe and allowing them to consolidae their dominance, resulting ultimately in a goal. -1 for subbing VdV for Sandro and not Defoe, thus even at the moment he corrected his error, not maximising our strength. 0 for eventually getting something right, because it was so fucking obvious he should have known it without needing to think about it.

Last thing, in the man's own words:

""They had a lot of possession in the first half," the Spurs boss told Sky Sports HD1 of Arsenal. "It was difficult. They played three in midfield.

"So they were always going to hold the sway in terms of possession. We had the two (players) in there."

I mean seriously wtf!!!! What the fucking fuck!!!!!!! Arrrrghhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[haxman]

Well I've had a fair few beers mate, :wink:, but really that is pretty much the way I saw it.

Yeah Modric's passing was way below par today.

Thanks for the neg rep btw, much appreciated. I'm going to correct you every time you make that mistake in future now.

 

[werty]

Friedel 7 - Not a whole lot to do but done it well. No chance for the goal.

Walker 8 - Very good defensively and topped it off with the winner.

King 7.5 - Rock solid throughout

Kaboul 7.5 - Another very good display from Kaboom.

BAE 7.5 - Part of an excellent back four today

VDV 6 - Very well taken goal, but other than that I didn't think he was great. Worked reasonably hard in the first half, but I thought he should have gotten across to Song quicker for their goal(although he might have been injured?) and was pretty poor defensively the second half

Parker 9 - Outstanding again. The interception/tackle when King had ran forward epitomised what he's all about. Hard to be critical of him on the ball because his options were poor when he had it.

Modric 5 - As mentioned in the OP, the tactics didn't help him, but he was still off his game today.

Bale 7 - Great going forward, especially when Sagna went off, but should have done more when he got into the positions.

Defoe 6 - Worked hard and had some good moments.

Adebayor 5.5 - Great ball for the assist, but other than that he was poor. His workrate was terrible and he didn't look interested at times. Missed a great chance at 1-1 too.

Sandro 7 - Good impact when he came on and sured things up well.

Harry 3 - I don't normally rate managers unless they are exceptional or bad and today Harry was the latter. Poor selection at the start, but we got away with it in the first half and you can give it the slight benefit of the doubt. It was the fact that more he didn't change it at half time when he saw it wasnt working which disappointed me the most . He even took too long to bring on the extra midfielder when we went 2-1 up.

 

[Mr Pink]

Thanks for the neg rep btw, much appreciated. I'm going to correct you every time you make that mistake in future now.

Seriously grow up.

 

[Spurs_Bear]

:lol: you ****s are hilarious :lol:

bad tactics shit team selection :lol:

Redknapp v Wenger P7 W3 D3 L1 :lol:

Have some of that you fucks.

Is Walker still the worst technical player you have seen for us BC? Not as good as Hutton eh?

Seriously you lot, get to the ground, enjoy the game with your mates, stop waiting with a full bladder to get back on SC after a game just to try and prove you were right.

#peoplewhoplaytoomanycomputergames

 

[haxman]

Seriously grow up.

I'm not the one with the grammar of an 8 year old.

 

[kdspur]

defoe worked hard? seriously!!!! a jokes a joke but i dont think the lad can spell work hard let alone try it. he looks dangerous when he has a shot centrally from 20 yards out but he is a liability imvho. still does not now offside rule . time and again today got caught out by arsenals high line and he should not have been.

 

[Coyboy]

Was it handball btw?

 

[Mr Pink]

I'm not the one with the grammar of an 8 year old.

cheers mate :wink:

 

[bomberH]

Considering harry got it so wrong, if we'd put our 4 or 5 other chances away as opposed to arsenal's 1 or 2, I don't think anyone would've been moaning. We created those one on ones through Harry's tactics remember, you can't just write that off.

But yeah, he should've brought Sandro on earlier and when he did eventually do so, we looked good again. Even though we were quite average, arsenal never looked like scoring apart from gervinho's miss. Our defence was solid. They didn't have any one on ones as opposed to their usual 3 or 4 they get against us when my heart stops.

King, Kaboul, Parker, were excellent and i thought Defoe was great too. I think Harry was right to play him and keep him on instead of vdV. He worked harder defensively than vdV and was always a threat up front. Overall, not great but still beat arsenal and the fact we're still moaning shows how far we've come in a short space of time.

 

[bomberH]

defoe worked hard? seriously!!!! a jokes a joke but i dont think the lad can spell work hard let alone try it. he looks dangerous when he has a shot centrally from 20 yards out but he is a liability imvho. still does not now offside rule . time and again today got caught out by arsenals high line and he should not have been.

:-/

 

[cwy21]

Was it handball btw?

Probably.