Match Ratings Ratings vs Arsenal

[Gilzeanking]

Then Hugo (3) chucks one to Jesus and turned the whole atmosphere, you can tell when he is going to be dodgy as he seems hyper and his kicking in the first few minutes was appalling (like Diana Ross levels of bad)

I like this remark...but don't remember DR being particularly bad. Any info on where I can see DR particularly bad ?

 

[spurs mental]

Some of the overreaction on here is incredible.

I get it, it was Arsenal away. Its fucking huge.

But we were in that game and had them at arms length once we scored and we looked the more threatening after that.

Hugo throwing it into our own be totally changed the momentum and the crowd got behind them again. Royal was braindead. I didn't think it was a red but it was a stupid challenge when we had him running back towards his own touchline.

Personally I thought Bentancur was outstanding for most of the game, dragged us up the pitch at times. He's an absolute gem of a footballer.

Son still not on it. Richy was decent. Kane at times looked like he was waking up to H of last season and other times was sluggish.

The back 3 were fine, Lenglet again impressed me. He looks skinny but he knows how to impose himself well.

Hojbjerg, Royal and Perisic were dreadful although Perisic wasn't helped by Sonny at all really. Needs to find his shooting boots though because that chance first half at nil all that he blazed high and wide was one of our best moves all game. He'll get chances in this setup and he needs to put them away.

We need to bounce back v Frankfurt in what will be another testy atmosphere.

Conte lost at Arsenal and it clicked his Chelsea team into gear. There were some green shoots today but hopefully that's the start for us too.

We're only 8 games into the season. Let's not panic just yet.

 

[Barrd10]

What Emerson did was stupid, but in my view it was a clear yellow. Just didn’t see the red at all. 11 v 11 and down 2-1, we have a chance. Down to 10 we have much less; it’s a refereeing error for me. He was fine the rest of the game, for the life of me still don’t see how it’s a red.

Come on. He was no where near the ball, with studs up and catch the player. Definitely a red. There was no intent to play the ball.

 

[theShiznit]

I like this remark...but don't remember DR being particularly bad. Any info on where I can see DR particularly bad ?

Just a joke based on her failed penalty in the US world cup opening ceremony.
They had a set piece that was 'supposed' to cumulate in her smashing in a penalty and the goal breaking in half (such was the power... ) Anyway she duly missed the goal which then proceeded to break in half.

 

[Barrd10]

Hojbjerg loves a press, and when it comes off it great, but when it doesn't it leaves him horribly out of position.

Those 2 just need to sit and defend that midfield space and let others press.

You can’t press with just the front 3 as it’s easy to pass around. This means that we concede the ball back so easily. We have no proper plan to press and so we are so passive. We just get everyone back behind the ball and hope to counter-attach. Conte-attach.

 

[McArchibald]

Conte 1
1 as in one-trick-pony. We've been crying out for some tactical tweaks over the past few weeks. But all he does is double down on a line-up that does not suit the squad at his disposal. Really disappointing.

 

[H-SF]

It's a shame as the crowd and Arse were quite nervy after we equalized and got some possession, we looked like we could create at any moment but for poor decisions/technique in the final third.

Then Hugo (3) chucks one to Jesus and turned the whole atmosphere, you can tell when he is going to be dodgy as he seems hyper and his kicking in the first few minutes was appalling (like Diana Ross levels of bad)

Having said that, I'm not a fan of us setting up to be so passive and concede ground, even if he thinks this group aren't up to playing any other way he must see that when your attacking moments become so sparse that the pressure to capitalize on them becomes too much, especially with forwards like Son and Richy who are quite hit and miss in their link up play. Also Richarlison at RWF almost stands next to Kane centrally for a lot of the time, which is fine if you have a progressive RWB (like Spence?)

In the current system our LWB/LWF and RWB/RWF partnerships are linking up quite badly. Richarlison and Emerson on that side just isn't productive enough. we saw last season how well Doherty and Kulu linked up, hopefully they can rekindle that in Emerson's (ahem) absence... (but i would be equally happy to see Djed given a runout.

Bentancur (MotM) and Romero come out in credit (Romero mainly for hurting some of their players )

Good point about Lloris. People need to understand how damaging his distribution is for us. Against West Ham we were comfortable, then Lloris passed it out of play under zero pressure and they scored from the resulting throw in. The game switched on that moment and he continued to give it away throughout the second half. He is the one of the reasons we are always camped in our half against sides like Arsenal. Not only is his distribution poor but he can’t kick it very far so even when we choose to go long we never truly get out. He needs replacing if we want to be a serious team. People don’t like to hear it but it’s the truth.

 

[DannyNZ]

Lloris often our hero was badly at fault for their second which was a significant momentum swing, distribution worse than his usual low standard.

Emerson stupid tackle and deserved his red card, just so poor in the attacking third. Romero pretty solid although thought he could have done better with third goal. Dier also lost on third goal and not his best. Lenglet a bright spark on a poor day, why we don’t play more through him was a surprise he looks so comfortable with the ball. Perisic should have done better with chances, didn’t think he did a bad job on Saka if Son and PEH were more alert.

Bentancur again put his heart into it and was generally good on the ball. PEH was awful, positional all at see and poor in possession was played around far too easily. Midfield two were overrun and we couldn’t pressure Partey who had an armchair ride.

son can’t defend to save his life and just didn’t do enough. Kane took his penalty well and couple of nice passes but otherwise pretty ineffective. Ricarlison want great but at least he battled hard. Thought one of these three had to make Parteys life a bit harder.

Subs too slow to readjust after the Red Card and then game was gone. Liked the little cameo from Sess and reconfirmed the fact that Sanchez just cannot kick a football properly.

arsenal the better team on the day but we should and could have pushed them harder. Real weaknesses at RWB and if we continue to play two in centre then I just don’t think PEH is up to it. Playing the three up front left us with a pretty weak bench and this game was crying out for us to compete in the centre.

 

[TEESSIDE1]

Conte 1
1 as in one-trick-pony. We've been crying out for some tactical tweaks over the past few weeks. But all he does is double down on a line-up that does not suit the squad at his disposal. Really disappointing.

I would say there’s 2 reasons why Conte has been reluctant to play a 3 man midfield.

1) Bissouma needs time to get up to speed with the team
2) Skipp has had a long term injury

Had we played a 3 man midfield more regularly we would have to play all of our recognised central midfielders game in game out. Without Skipp we couldn’t rotate any of them. There would be a high risk of fatigue, injuries and if either of those two happened then we would be back to playing 343.

Moving forward however, with all 4 now fit and Bissouma well on the way with learning our game then Conte would be crazy to keep playing a 343. Add the fact we’ve only 3 fit forwards and have a game every 3 days this month, playing a 343 is suicidal.

Play 3 in midfield and rotate Bissouma, Bentancur, Hojbjerg, Skipp and even give Sarr some minutes to try and minimise fatigue.

Play 2 up top, rotating Kane, Son and Richarlison. Once Kulusevski is fit again he may play as a more attacking wing back… having 3 in central midfield will reduce the risk of him being exposed in defence.

In January, if we’re still in a top 4 fight and various competitions then we need to be looking to bring in an attacking central midfielder and another forward. I’d love a RWB but we’ve got to get shot of Emerson and/or Doherty first.

 

[septicsac]

LLoris 2 - really poor mistake in a big game
Emerson 0 - unforgiveable mistake to get sent off, left us with no chance, total liability against better teams, we can argue all day if it was worthy of a red, but he gave the ref a decision to make, with a stupid foul.
Rest all average at best, Richy pick of forwards, winning the penalty.
Bentantcur tried his best in an outnumbered middle, much better than PEH, who again was below his best.
We need to start retaining possession better, there is no cohesion between back 5 and middle, esp when under pressure and we cough up possession too easily. Look dangerous on the break, but neither Kane and particularly Son are as clinical as last season.
Like to see Spence get a chance, as Doherty is not the answer, but doubt it will happen.

 

[mano-obe]

I think Arsenal had the first half hour and we shaded the final 15 minutes of the first half. If we had more finesse with our through balls, we could well have been a goal up going in at half time.

Second half was a complete shit show and Arsenal deserved to win. Lloris has been amazing this season but that was a banger clanger. He went full Paul Robinson parrying it back into the danger area when he could have pushed it aside, Romero's control was dodgy and Lloris spills it again. I mean that was proper Benny Hill slapstick stuff.

I simply cannot join in social media and slag off Royal, yes he was poor but so was everyone for the most part. This fellas form at the end of last season was spectacular and I think he needs another good run when he's back. Never thought it was a red but the Arsenal player played a blinder

Bentacur was brilliant for me. Absolutely oozed class and didn't even stop trying until the final whistle went. His passing, decision making were top notch. It's a shame he was on the losing side.

I put a post about Arsenal last season being better this season and got a few dodgy messages. They have a great young squad and won't hit their peak for 5 years. I hope we can match them for the next few years but today's offering was very flat.

I'm starting to get this horrible Jose and AVB style feeling in the back of my mind

 

[Ghost Hardware]

Lloris often our hero was badly at fault for their second which was a significant momentum swing, distribution worse than his usual low standard.

Emerson stupid tackle and deserved his red card, just so poor in the attacking third. Romero pretty solid although thought he could have done better with third goal. Dier also lost on third goal and not his best. Lenglet a bright spark on a poor day, why we don’t play more through him was a surprise he looks so comfortable with the ball. Perisic should have done better with chances, didn’t think he did a bad job on Saka if Son and PEH were more alert.

Bentancur again put his heart into it and was generally good on the ball. PEH was awful, positional all at see and poor in possession was played around far too easily. Midfield two were overrun and we couldn’t pressure Partey who had an armchair ride.

son can’t defend to save his life and just didn’t do enough. Kane took his penalty well and couple of nice passes but otherwise pretty ineffective. Ricarlison want great but at least he battled hard. Thought one of these three had to make Parteys life a bit harder.

Subs too slow to readjust after the Red Card and then game was gone. Liked the little cameo from Sess and reconfirmed the fact that Sanchez just cannot kick a football properly.

arsenal the better team on the day but we should and could have pushed them harder. Real weaknesses at RWB and if we continue to play two in centre then I just don’t think PEH is up to it. Playing the three up front left us with a pretty weak bench and this game was crying out for us to compete in the centre.

Although obviously Lloris was badly at fault for the second goal I think there was more to it. Saka pretty much walked into our box with hardly any opposition. Son just gave up tracking back resulting in a huge gap and really Saka could have scored himself or played a better ball. Our defensive positioning was very poor for that goal. Yes Lloris made a complete howler but I don’t think he is the only one at fault for that goal tbh as it should have been a lot more difficult for them to get into our box.