Scorers: Joey Barton (thumping penalty in off the crossbar)
Positives : Van Persie looks lively, his thunderous shot that hit the inside of the post was class. Hleb and Rosicky seem like good players who will be able to contribute. Walcott looks more and more like the signing we dreamed he would be.
Negatives : Eboue’s final ball is worthless. Henry needs to find his form quick! and score from his Reebok boots… We need a good left back. Sometimes you just need to let it rip and shoot…, What is Lehmann doing? getting riled up by Dickov’s antics…
What’s to say. Once again; as in the Villa game, we completely outplayed the opposing team but didn’t get the breaks we needed. Citeh had one very good chance and our European Goalkeeper of the Year saved it in style.
Hoyte has to be blamed for his surprising naivety that led to the penalty. He is not our main left back so I just wish Arsene has this sorted out and play Flamini there for the moment. He looked solid for us there when Cashley got himself injured last season.
I love Eboue for his bombing runs up the flank but two main weaknesses overshadow his speed. One, he doesn’t have a cross worth mentioning and two, his dives are worst than the fake Ronaldo. He has to grow up and work on his technical ability.
What is with the seemingly lack of shooting tries? I understand it if the team already has all 11 men behind the ball but if there’s just half of the team in the box and all other team mates are well covered, just hit a ball in and hope. Works well enough for Gerrard, Lampard and Risse. Even Van Persie, my favourite choice to be second forward in the first team seems reluctant to shoot or run at opponents yesterday and seemed to shirk the responsibility of rescuing us from defeat. Is the the Medusa-like gaze that emits from Titi’s eyes everytime another guy tries to hit and hope or is it the worrying sign of Arsene’s frustration at every losing match. Against Villa, he knelt at the technical area seemingly ready to sprint. Yesterday, he just retreated to the bench and let Pat Rice handle the battlefield. For all that Arsene has done for the club, I wish the pressure is not getting to him.
As a round up of our players in the game:
Excellent: None
Good: Van Persie, Fabregas, Walcott, Toure, Lehmann
Ok: Hleb, Rosicky, Djorou, Gilberto
Below par: Henry
Absolutely shite: Hoyte, Eboue
Can’t judge: Flamini, Adebayor
It’s not all doom and gloom. As I say, we just need to get the rub of the green at some point and convert our dominance to goals and wins.
Posted by mygunner 
Posted by mygunner 
