LFC2007 wrote:A great result and we couldn't have expected much better realistically. We managed to hold out for a long time despite being placed under immense pressure at times.
Some of my thoughts:
Babel – massive liability. No fight, desire, passion, heart…will to win the ball at all cost. Shocking passing. He made 4 complete passes in 57 min’s. To put that in perspective -Eboue who had an average game made 22 complete passes. Babel had to be subbed and I would've preferred him off at half time, he was that bad. Benayoun did a much better job at tracking back and tackling.
Kuyt – overall a very good performance – the antithesis of Babel in terms of passion/desire to win the ball. He made a crucial interception tracking back in the second half. He tracked the ball very well , even in attack (two or three times he followed the ball up) he was very alert. He put a good ball through for Torres second half, beat his man on the by-line when there wasn't much else he could do, and got a decent left foot shot off. He DID get a touch on the ball for the goal. He was far from ‘useless’, anyone who says he was in this game is showing their Kuyt-bashing instinct.
We couldn’t keep the ball well enough throughout, but especially second half. Not enough of our players were comfortable in possession. Arsenal have those in abundance, with pace (Adebayor did Carra in the first half, and got in behind) (On that little run Hleb did everyone with his technical ability and mobility, before being tugged by Kuyt) (Walcott skinned a couple with his pace too). This was worrying. Pass completion rates were distinctly apart – 70%-85% roughly (I think). Not good enough. Pace, mobility, movement, passing needs to be better. Unfortunately, only new players can improve this to the required level, but within our current potential we can still be much better.
Their pace and mobility caused us real problems, Adebayor, Hleb, Walcott as mentioned. Whenever they got in behind us, I felt they'd create something. We needed to cut their supply better, i.e. Fabregas, Flamini, - Hleb to a lesser extent. I thought Gerrard at times may have played a little deeper in the second half to press Fabregas, and cut this supply.
Mascherano, some good interceptions, read the game well. Alonso - too static.
Torres fought well, but didn't have enough support up top, esp from wings/full backs – it's imperative that we get quality wingers/full backs if we are going to persist with this formation. Babel has pace, but not much else it would seem unfortunately. Kuyt, doesn't have enough attacking wise.
Aurelio, pretty good performance.
Skrtel, a couple of naïve errors – positioning in first half - got drawn in towards V. Persie when he should've held his position.
Second half – he failed to pick up Adebayor when he played long ball over top.
Overall though he put in a good performance and you can’t expect a lad so young, who’s only been here since January and who’s playing against the most mobile/fluent team in the league/possibly in Europe, to be immaculate. It just doesn’t happen.
The goal conceded was abysmal defending, we didn't find our positions, anticipate the ball coming in then head it. Sami didn’t hold his position, he drifted away from Skrtel and opened a huge gap for Adebayor to exploit. We need to be more compact with these zones, we can't allow gaps to appear between zones. It’s very tough for the opposition to score if the zones are compact and we operate as a unit – it would require a very powerful and accurate header to beat Reina. Hence - the core of the zonal marking system has to be the strongest zone and the most compact zone, it wasn't on this occassion.
A fairly good performance, but we can be much better and there is much room for improvement.
(Apologies if I've stolen anyone's opinion, I've borrowed 'Owzat's' trademark on common sense for the day)
I already put my opinions during the match thread, and I see no point in making a long post in broken english because this review is pretty much spot on.
BTW, it's unbelievable I say this, but Peewee's comment on Kuyt must not be responded harshly, for his standards about the player it was a good praise! Knock it down (hope this is what I mean it to be) and keep talking footie, not fights.
I understand a good fight when our players are insulted, but not because saying one good day doesn't make a summer.
