On the Liverpool game
I did not write anything after our win over Liverpool. I was too happy and amused to write anything I guess. We struggled to win against the big boys last season but we have beaten Man Utd and Liverpool this time around. Liverpool are of course a much better team than the one that played last Saturday. But Arsenal too were not playing their best football.
I was thinking.. How could a team that lost to WHU a week before are now scoring three against a much better team? It was the same team, more or less. If anything, we were without Rosicky who was one of our better players at the moment. We did not play as well as we did against CSKA. But we scored three good goals.
I think it's down to the fact that we have extra man in defense as well as attack.
TH was surprisingly chasing balls, closing down, and helping out the defense all the time against Liverpool. Liverpool's backfour couldn't mark him because he was everywhere. His aggresive play also meant that Liverpool were under pressure the moment they got the ball. They simply couldn't pass it properly to Crouch.
And of course, the Kolo's goal happened because TH was down there exchanging passes with Cesc, while Kolo made his run into the opponent's area. No one noticed Kolo because Kolo was never part of their consideration. They only paid attention to the usual attackers and van Persie who was the most advanced player at that time, managed to steal their attention. His handball apart, I must credit van Persie for his performance. He managed to provide that pass to Kolo and he put in a good corner kick for Gallas to head home. He also worked hard generally.
The first goal was another case of extra man in attack. Neither Hleb nor Rosicky would have gone there to wait for the cross. They would have stayed outside the box trying to play another teammate in. But Flamini went straight to the area to put the ball in. I think we all know that Flamini is never going to be good enough to be part of our starting eleven. But his performance showed us how far someone could go if he is 100% dedicated. Flamini's direct approach gave us another dimension.
Another aspect that helps explaining our improvement was the fullbacks. Eboue and Clichy are now fully fit and both have incredible speed to attack the flanks. With both our wingers drifting inside all the time, the fullbacks are essential to provide us with more width. I never realised Clichy was that quick, or maybe I forgot that. His speed was unbelievable. Against Liverpool, I felt that he would only need to form partnership with someone down the left and we will have another deadly combination to break down the opponent's defense.
Overall.. it was a great disciplined performance from the players and I am glad for Gallas and Toure who seemed to be getting on well. Gallas' header was something we have been missing lately. More of those goals please!
Oh and glad that Wenger is back among the press =)
I was thinking.. How could a team that lost to WHU a week before are now scoring three against a much better team? It was the same team, more or less. If anything, we were without Rosicky who was one of our better players at the moment. We did not play as well as we did against CSKA. But we scored three good goals.
I think it's down to the fact that we have extra man in defense as well as attack.
TH was surprisingly chasing balls, closing down, and helping out the defense all the time against Liverpool. Liverpool's backfour couldn't mark him because he was everywhere. His aggresive play also meant that Liverpool were under pressure the moment they got the ball. They simply couldn't pass it properly to Crouch.
And of course, the Kolo's goal happened because TH was down there exchanging passes with Cesc, while Kolo made his run into the opponent's area. No one noticed Kolo because Kolo was never part of their consideration. They only paid attention to the usual attackers and van Persie who was the most advanced player at that time, managed to steal their attention. His handball apart, I must credit van Persie for his performance. He managed to provide that pass to Kolo and he put in a good corner kick for Gallas to head home. He also worked hard generally.
The first goal was another case of extra man in attack. Neither Hleb nor Rosicky would have gone there to wait for the cross. They would have stayed outside the box trying to play another teammate in. But Flamini went straight to the area to put the ball in. I think we all know that Flamini is never going to be good enough to be part of our starting eleven. But his performance showed us how far someone could go if he is 100% dedicated. Flamini's direct approach gave us another dimension.
Another aspect that helps explaining our improvement was the fullbacks. Eboue and Clichy are now fully fit and both have incredible speed to attack the flanks. With both our wingers drifting inside all the time, the fullbacks are essential to provide us with more width. I never realised Clichy was that quick, or maybe I forgot that. His speed was unbelievable. Against Liverpool, I felt that he would only need to form partnership with someone down the left and we will have another deadly combination to break down the opponent's defense.
Overall.. it was a great disciplined performance from the players and I am glad for Gallas and Toure who seemed to be getting on well. Gallas' header was something we have been missing lately. More of those goals please!
Oh and glad that Wenger is back among the press =)
posted by phoenix chix at 4:00 PM
1 Comments:
hey, excellent post-game analysis. you are right abt Henry. when he is in the mood, the team is lifted two folds. and the full-backs gave us morre width that night. i hope everyone stays healthy and more importantly, Henry keeps this commited performance in every game...
Post a Comment
<< Home