Frustrating. If there’s one word to describe yesterday’s draw away to Wigan, it’s “frustrating”.
To say that the team suffered a post-Milan hangover would not be accurate. In fact, they played fairly well. I thought Senderos had a good game, as did Gallas. The problem was the attack. I can’t even remember how many times Adebayor got the ball yesterday. He had that one good chance early on, but were there any others?
I suppose a lot of people will point to the condition of the pitch, and they’re right. It was absolutely pathetic, and certainly not up to the standards that a Premiership club should meet. Perhaps the league should look into stricter regulations regarding the upkeep of pitches. Pitches found not to be up to par would result in fines, match re-location, docked points, something…
Anyway, the other big talking point yesterday will be the return of Robin van Persie. It was always a bit much to ask a man coming off of five months injured to single-handedly win the match, but bless him, he tried, what with the little he saw of the ball.
As for everyone who wants to see Adebayor and Bendtner paired up front, well, you got your wish, and I for one pray that we never see it as a starting combo again.
Anyone reading this might think I was angry with the play yesterday, but that’s not quite right. If anything, yesterday’s match was…
frustrating.
23 Responses to “Wigan 0 - 0 Arsenal”
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March 10th, 2008 at 11:17 am
I still think Adebayor and Bendtner have potential as a partnership. However Adebayor is a very hard to player to play with because he never releases the ball quick enough and generally makes a mess of every combination. Adebayor’s great strength is stretching the play and getting the other team to turn backwards. For the good of the team he should stay out of the combination passing although admittedly that is difficult being a main striker. I would drop Ade and play Bendtner and Van Persie for the next few games.
As for yesterday’s game, I feel this game would have been made for the bumbling Baptista. We needed someone just to be crude and direct.
March 10th, 2008 at 11:29 am
Both teams looked lost. They acted like they weren’t sure what to do on the pitch… Very depressing…
March 10th, 2008 at 11:35 am
I kept praying for someone to shoot from distance. RvP was on the pitch for 15 min yet managed two long shots (albeit one was a free kick but nobody else would have taken it direct), even though they ended up in row Z. We need more of that to open up games where our passing doesn’t work, with or without a bad pitch.
March 10th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
I certainly don’t think Adebayor should be dropped for Bendtner. Only Ronaldo has scored more goals that Adebayor in the Premiership, so to start criticising Adebayor for his team play or talk of dropping him is Championship Manager tactics.
When Arsenal drop points immediately people look around and want to drop players too. It’s much better to keep faith with the players who have put us where we are right now, top of the table. They have already proved something, Bendtner, much as though I admire him, has proved nothing. If you drop Adebayor you will demotivate him or give him a confidence crisis and if Bendtner does nothing in his place then suddenly you have two players with a confidence crisis instead of one + one player trying to force his way in.
I think the team lacked creativity in midfield, that was where the problem was. With Gilberto and Flamini there only Hleb and Fabregas were ever going to create anything for the forwards. The pitch completely buggered Hleb’s natural game, all that was left was Fabregas, stuck out wide right.
As the game moved into the second half the strikers were completely isolated and the midfield got increasingly tired playing on a very heavy pitch, compounded by a physically draining trip to Milan. When Van Persie came on he did nothing for 5 minutes until he started dropping deep to pick up the ball.
March 10th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
Bendtner’s probably not ready but the team looks knackered and needs freshening up. Adebayor especially has run his ass off and has been carrying the attack for about five months. Also, his style encourages a grinding performance and hardfought wins because he seems afraid at times to score early- preferring to run away from goal and get a corner or play it back to upcoming midfielders. Ade has a very basic game in that sense, he can’t play one-twos or see spaces early. Van Persie and Bendtner have similar brains and intelligence levels on the pitch. They see the game in similar fashion and we could get more inspiration from them rather than the perspiration we get with Adebayor. If Van Persie can stay fit, I would seriously consider the option. To brush it off because of how many goals Ade has scored is too simplistic in my opinion. It’s similar to argument saying Arsenal were going to be screwed without Henry; simplistic and doesn’t take into consideration the elements that make a successful team.
March 10th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
One thing Bendter lacks big time is pace. I am amazed by how slow he is. I think that’s a big negative in this Arsenal team. I really like Bendtner and would love for him to succeed, but I can’t see him starting ahead of Ade.
March 10th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
speed is overrated. bendtner is no slower than bergkamp! and he is no slower than any typical “english” center-forward … which is basically what he is.
personally, i think the ade/RvP combo is the best for now. bendtner does best coming in as a sub at 70 minutes. same with walcott.
for our next match pretty much everybody will be back - song, walcott, RvP, toure, diaby, eboue, denilson…..even rosicky.
only djorou, who nobody cares about.
i think hleb should be rested for a game. personally i dont really believe he needs to rest - considering he has one week breaks, and is 27, not a kid but not an oldie either. the likes of pires and ljunberg and henry never rested at his age.
anyway, give him boro off so he can come back strong for the chelsea game.
i want to see this squad against boro:
almunia
sagna, toure, gallas, clichy
eboue, ces, fabregas, rosicky
RvP, Ade
bench: lehmann, sendy, diaby, walcott, bendtner
if our squad stays fit and we beat boro i will be confident going into the chelsea game.
if we beat chelsea away, then its back ON! we will roll bolton and liverpool. which will set us up nicely for the old trafford game - which is pretty much a title shootout.
March 10th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
I hate to say it but Gilberto was an absolute ghost out there. He contributed absolutely nothing in attack or defense. Flamini was running his socks off, doing the work of two players. It was like playing a man down. It’s hard to win with only ten men.
Also, I have to point out, again, that you need your creative players playing in central areas. Essentially everytime we’ve played with two DM’s in central areas, we’ve struggled to score. Two of our losses came with a Gilberto/Diarra CM combination. Wrong answer! We struggled when Rosicky was our only fit playmaker, as he was stuck in a wide area, also. Sure, Fab got into central areas sometimes but he had defensive responsibilities that didn’t allow him to focus on creating chances. You can’t do that. It’s like having your striker also be your captain; bad idea. You need those special players focused on doing what they do.
van Persie was not fit to play. He did very little running. Though he took shots from distance, we lost the initiative when he came on as he wasn’t very active off the ball. Bendtner fades after about an hour so we had to play RvP as we needed a goal. I know we were short but we had enough quality to give us a better chance to win. We could have used one of the reserves to give us some width and change it late if need be. Sure the pitch was crap, but that’s not the reason we lost.
Lastly, three straight draws is hardly championship form. I know it ain’t over till the fat lady sings but that big bitch is warming up. To be a champion, we can’t afford dropping points against relegation battlers. In the unbeaten season, we knocked these guys right in their fucking mouth but we’re not bullying inferior teams enough. Something’s got to change. Either Wenger’s got to introduce better tactics when we’ve got injuries or the kids have to develop a KILL instinct, like Jose Mourinho.
March 10th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
I would have:
Almunia
Sagna, Toure, Gallas, Clichy
Walcott, Fabregas, Flamini, Hleb
Van Persie, Bendtner
Subs: Adebayor, Eboue, Rosicky, Lehmann, Diaby
March 10th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Wow Mazza, Senderos doesn’t even feature on the bench. Who is the backup CB - Diaby?
March 10th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
Sorry, forgot Sendy. Goodbye Abou.
Actually, Senderos is playing very well at the moment and from a defensive standpoint I prefer him and Gallas to Gallas and Toure. However if we are gonna go for the title we need offensive power and Toure can be an asset going forward in open play.
March 10th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
If Bendtner needs to replace Ade, he needs to have some pace because this Arsenal team is used to Ade stretching the opposition defense. I am not saying Bendtner + RVP won’t work, just that we can’t change it around this late in the season and expect it to work miracles. Remember the Everton game? With Bendtner and Eduardo, we struggled to creates chances in the first half. Only when we changed our tactics to route one football, did we taste success.
Basically, our problem has become that we have become over reliant on Cesc in the middle and Ade up front. When either/both are struggling, our game suffers. Hleb is struggling to make an effect from the wings. He is great when playing central. But we can’t do it because our goal scoring outlets (which are scarce in the first place) will be replaced by a person who won’t shoot in front of an open goal. We desperately need that wide player who can create chances but is more required because he can score goals. In short, we need a Robert Pires.
March 10th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
Fred, you want cesc and Fabregas as CM’s? I know the kid’s good but he’s still only twenty. Maybe when he’s 21.
I think speed is important, if you lack any other real threat. It’s the scariest thing for defenders to cope with. Bendtner’s not a typical English striker as he’s got skills. But he’s definitely slower than the best of the English, like Rooney or Owen. It’s unfair to compare Bendtner to Bergkamp as Bergy was as fast at thirty-six as Bendtner is at 20; ie. he’s god-awful slow. Also, Bendtner hardly possesses the guile of Bergkamp so he needs something to contribute to the team to make up for his lack of pace.
March 10th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Bendtner playing well is good enough. We can play off him more and he can paint pictures his head. He thinks a good game and is capable of playing it. Think of that lovely combination with RVP against Steau Bucharest. Ade could never pick out Bendtner the way RVP did. As a team we would play through the middle, and with Bendtner, one-twos and give and goes can actually be attempted with conviction.
Bendtner can play like a clumsy oaf, but at the Emirates he is pretty consistent.
March 10th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
u cant compare bendtner to owen and rooney….they are completely different types of strikers. u can only compare with the likes of shearer. he does have more skills though.
however bendtner is good for the last 20 minutes. when he starts he always looks rather lost - and we DONT have time to experiment right now.
March 10th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
Carlos Quieroz:
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=515304&cc=5739
March 10th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
LDE….I think what we can see is that the call for a stronger policy on tackles and physical play won’t just fade away this time. I sensed that would be the case once the horror of the Eduardo incident became known.
Adebayor will continue to lead the line. With RvP’s return he should soon hav a partner and then it will be fascinating to see how they mesh. This in itself will be a challenge, one that we should have been observing all season but for RvP’s injuries. Let’s remember that one of the questions going into this season was just how RvP would look as a key team player. No one doubts his individual skills and brilliance but this season was to be his first where the team relied upon his contribution.
March 10th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
I hate it when the Arsenal play lack-lustre performances like they did in this game. Sadly, they got what they deserved from the match, a draw.
Gladly, for us fans it’s not the end of the year.
March 11th, 2008 at 12:53 am
Yeah, something needs to be done about Gilberto. Maybe get him to see a psychologist because it definitely looks like he has lost his mind.
March 11th, 2008 at 2:23 am
Fred, you’re the one that called Bendtner a typical English striker. I just compared him to the cream of that crop.
March 11th, 2008 at 8:00 am
What Danny said. I knew this would be a disappointing result with the way we lined up out there thanks to injuries and Gilberto being a complete passenger. Still, in the end it will be the bad luck/bad attitude of the two Brum games that will cost us the title, if indeed we do lose it – which looks likely. To be honest, right now I’m more worried about not finishing second.
March 11th, 2008 at 10:48 am
joshuad - there is a massive difference between owen/rooney type strikers and the likes of shearer/dean ashton/alan smith(ex-arsenal) type of strikers.
they are totally different in playing style.
the likes of shearer, etc are called the “typical english strikers” by the press and fans because those are the types of strikers england produce the most of - historically.
so when i say “typical english striker” i mean that in the colloquial sense - as commonly used - not as separate words.
in that sense bendtner is a typical english forward - though with better foot skills.
March 11th, 2008 at 11:36 am
yeah i was very dissapointed in the draw, i really like bendtner and i think he has alot of potential, however, just like you all have said the partnership between him and adebayor is just something that does not work. I would like to see if maybe wenger gives him a chance to be lined up with rvp… who knows, lets just hope man u drops some points after their dissapointed cup loss