Match highlights of the disappointing 2-1 defeat to Arsenal at the Emirates for you all now.
Well I say disappointing, but on balance of play we deserved to lose. The fact that the losing goal came in the 95th minute and was essentially our own doing is what is most disappointing!
There are positives to take from this though. We stayed resolute against a team that has thrashed AC Milan and Tottenham while picking up a win at Liverpool in recent weeks. They are a good team who have found form and it took them to the very last seconds to break us down.
Onwards and upwards I guess. It’s Norwich next and I fancy us beating them with two central defenders on the pitch. Their little tactic of pinging high balls into the box like they did last time may have worked against Simpson and Perch, but it won’t be as successful against Colo and Williamson. Well, hopefully anyway.
Howay the lads!
Not long been back, and we were unlucky not to get a point. Thank god we have been ruled out of the ‘race for fourth’ now we can concentrate on more realistic ambitions.
All the players gave their all and I’m personally very proud of the effort they put in (except the celebration from the french fancies!)
Unfortunately I felt that when we stupidly conceded the equaliser that we reverted to hoof ball to keep them away and that tired us out quicker. We looked decent in the first 10 mins,some good passing against a team bang in form. We didn’t get Hatembomb on the ball enough in the second half either but he’s improving game by game, and there’s another goal for him.
Mint stadium, sh*te fans it was like being at wigan’s stadium, I think them booing Timmy was the loudest they got! Toon fans class yet again I love our away support
Howay The Lads!
Pardiola(Quote)
TOONSY very vaild points mate,my only worry is cabaye,tiote,santon ect looked a bit cream crackered imo,and that was another tough game
icedog(Quote)
An awful gut punch but really you can’t argue with it we weren’t good enough through the 90 minutes. We contained them well enough but frankly they created the chances to win the game.
Think the stick for Simpson is way out of line- he’s not the greatest but last night was not his fault alone. As many have said there were opportunities to tactically foul to stop the move and also why were there several free Arsenal players when the ball was squared.
There were some good performances there though among our boys- Collo was excellent, Benny provided a threat and to be fair Ameobi put in a decent shift once he came on. Jonas puts in the effort and is incredible at drawing fouls, if only he had any end product.
RvP was a **** no doubt but it’s the kind of thing you’d love if it was one of your own players- shows that desire to win.
SJP14(Quote)
simmos gota be off in summer…..
stevo(Quote)
I’d like to see us play a 4-4-2 diamond against Norwich. Tiote dropping in the hole, Cabaye on the right (I think he has more successful crosses this season than anybody else? Certainly not far off anyway..), and Benny behind both Cisse and Ba.
My team would look like this:
————————————–Krul—————————————
R Taylor…………Willo………………………Colo………………..Ferguson
————————————-Tiote—————————————-
Cabaye———————————————————Gutierrez
———————————–Benny—————————————-
————————Cisse——————Ba—————————–
Elliot
Perch
Santon
Guthrie
Obertan
Vuckic
Best/Ameobi
Shamrock(Quote)
Shamrock@ 5 Glad to see Fergie in there ,looks good .
kimtoon(Quote)
Will raylor be fit for sundays game ?
kimtoon(Quote)
At the front we know that Ba plays best off a front man, so Cisse starts with HBA with a free role.
Agree with Tiote in the DM role with Cabaye & Jonas in more forward CM roles.
The back four needs sorting however you look at it.
So similar thoughts.
Premandup(Quote)
Can’t really understand playing Ben Arfa on the wing and Obertan in behind Ba. I would have the other way around makes more sense. Ben Arfa is more useful in the centre of the pitch. He always pushes the ball to his left foot and defences will learn that quickly now. Obertan could have started on the right wing but he was useless where he played. Lost all the 50-50 balls and made some terrible passes including the one behind Ben Arfa when we were on the break in the second half. Is Marveaux close to healthy yet? We need him badly. Cabaye looks a bit afraid of the rough going in the midfield and his passing was off. Have to say Perch looked steady at left back. We must play well and win against Norwich.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Shamrock at 5, yes that’s a very good formation to try mate, especially at home. Not sure Ferguson has had enough playing time to use him there. What about Santon to start at left back and Ferguson to come in for Jonas if he starts to look jaded? We can’t just leave Cisse on the bench Pards. He needs all the playing time he can get. We must find a way to play Ba, Cisse and Ben Arfa together.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
For the guys who hope for Marveaux, this season no chance we will see him.
And for me we really need to give all the freedom to Benny, to play how he knows. Because yesterday he seems lost in the pitch, I think he had some specific instructions to meet from Pardew and you could see that it was always trying to track back. And when he has the ball he was not taking players on which is the stregnth of his game to always go forward with the ball.
Let him play as a free role behind one or 2 strikers. (But knowing Pardew now, I think behind one).
And before and after the game you can make 500 theories, but the the first goal we concede after 14 seconds, that just break all, he gives a lot of confidence to Arsenal. And this goal was completely so naive especially from Jonas and Santon who defends like kid and williamson I prefer to not speak about.
HBA39(Quote)
Geordie, every time Ferguson comes in he plays well. I know he looks good going forward, but more often than not when he has pulled on the shirt, he has done so as a full back – and not once has he let himself or the team down. I really do think he’s just as good an option than any of our other full backs at the moment. If we dont give him games then he’ll never reach his potential. Lets give him a run. Never know – just might be a natural replacement for Enrique without having to spend a penny. I really do think he can do it consistently, he just needs to work on his stamina or discipline (stop going forward so much?) over the 90 minutes as he does tend to tire out.
Shamrock(Quote)
Have to agree with you Shamrock, I have always liked Ferguson’s attitude and play. I think he has a great future. Maybe it’s time to try Santon at right back and Fergie on the left? Pardew seems too set in his ways though. HBA39 @11 I think you are spot on. Williamson is not the answer at centre back but I think most of us have known that for a while. We definitely need at least 1 if not 2 more centre backs. The club seem very reluctant to strengthen at that position for some reason even though it is glaringly obvious. We are a well organized team now but still very thin in quality players. Llambias is clearly hinting we will sell Tiote for a large fee in the summer and then re-invest in several players. At least 1 of the new ones had better be a decent centre back if we are to play in Europe next season (and to keep our place as high as possible in the Prem).
GeordieTwo(Quote)
I thought Marveaux was expected back in April. If we really do bring in this Amalfitano can he play right wing? I have been very disappointed with Obertan but I would think that is why Fergie let him go. It’s time for a few of the young uns to step up, especially Vuckic. He has the size and power to be a force for us. A new centre back is a must though. We see it time and time again. Williamson is too much of a clutch and grab player and he goes down quite easily as well. Generally he would be decent cover but that’s about all.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
I really dont mind the idea of changing the formation but the problem, in my opinion is that the players simply aren’t playing well enough.
I don’t believe that is down to formation, it’s down to concentration and confidence – both of which we are massively lacking at the moment.
Too many players playing well below par at the moment and as soon as the opposing team start showing signs of offensive dominance we seem to **** ourselves and just boot the ball anywhere, which just encourages them.
I’m sick of hearing the players getting a verbal pat on the back for “putting a shift in”. It takes more than that and at the moment, we are still 6th thanks to Liverpool being rubbish – and we will all be behind Everton tonight again.
Simpson is far from our worst player at the moment so for him to be getting the level of abuse he’s getting is just stupid and unfair. I know Walcott has been playing well of late but Santon didn’t give him a game at all last night. Willo had a poor game again, as did Jonas and Cabaye and RW remains an issue for me.
Finally, why the hell is Jack Wilshire tweeting about Krul?! That little freak wants to keep out of things. Stupid things like that that get the FA bringing misconduct charges against teams.
Sharpy17(Quote)
@gerodietwo
Amalfitano is a young player from Ligue 2, We will buy him for free because end of his contract in the summer, I don’t expect he will play directly next year. He wil probably be involved in some games, but it’s more like Abeid or Vuckic I think.
I agree even if Simpson was really really bad in a lot of games this year, in the last 2 games he has shown a good performance. But that is limited defensively.
Our problem comes when we wanna start an action from behind, Krul gives to simpson who is affraid to give it in the feet of a midfiel so give it Back to krul and hoof. The same with Williamson when he has the ball, he seems that the ball is just 300 degrees hot.
And Cabaye in the last 2 games was really bad even defensively than in his passes. I have defend him a lot in this blog, because for me he is a good player and for the fee we paid really a good transfer but the in the last 2 games very disappointing. Yesterday he could made his best action making a big foul in Van persie in the last action to stop the counter attack and he doesn’t made it, very naive from him.
HBA39(Quote)
Missed the match, and by the sounds of it I’m kind of glad I did. Wouldn’t have had a good night if I’d seen an equaliser after 14 seconds and a last minute goal in the 104th minute…….Meh. Guessing we didn’t play too badly though?
Newkie(Quote)
Sharpy its obviously true that the players aren’t playing well enough.
You could play 11 defenders in a 4-4-2 and as long as they play well in their roles you don’t have a problem.
If Pardew could fix our performances with motivational speaking alone is be over the moon. He doesn’t seen to be able to or I assume he would have done it by now.
One of the reasons I like the idea of trying a different formation is because we don’t have anyone capable of fulfilling the wide roles to an acceptable standard at the moment. We have several midfielders who seem more comfortable playing through the middle. I just think it would be more sensible to get as many players on the pitch playing in positions in which they are truly comfortable at the moment.
Yes, they may still play badly, but that’s not likely to be helped any if they are playing in positions that they aren’t naturally good at anyway.
Obviously there are no guarantees this would work or immediately improve things but for quite a while now I haven’t seen anything to suggest we are getting better anyway.
Pootle(Quote)
I have to say the one weak part of Krul’s game is his distribution. He has been trying to roll the ball out to the fullbacks now and then but Simpson isn’t that comfortable passing out of defence and Santon doesn’t look all that confident defensively. Only Colo really looks confident on the ball of the back 4. Do we really have a good plan to distribute the ball from the goalie? It doesn’t look like it to me. We couldn’t hang on to the ball at all against Arsenal. Our passing generally was poor, far too many giveaways. The team has looked less lively and confident for the last month or so, since the loss to Brighton in the cup which was probably our worst game of the season. No easy answers to this but Pardew will have to lift the squad somehow. The next few games are the key to a good season.Finishing below 7th now would be a real disappointment.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Thanks for the info about Amalfitano HBA39. It sounds like you are right. He will probably be competing with several of the young players and seeing action with the new-look reserve setup next season. Overall I’m disappointed not to have seen more of Abeid after Pardew raved about him early in the season.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
I just don’t think now is the time to be trying such big changes to the team. The fact is that some players just aren’t good enough and others know what they should be doing but aren’t doing it well enough at the moment. I don’t think changing it to a formation that they aren’t used to is going to improve things to be honest.
I don’t think our full backs are good enough defensively for this formation and having Tiote as the only midfielder sitting back will leave Williamson even more exposed.
I personally would look for a better balance by going this way:
………………….krul……………..
Simmo/willo/Colo/Santon
…………Cabaye/Tiote…………
Obertan……………..Ben Arfa
………………Ba/Cisse………….
I’d maybe consider giving Santon a break and giving Fergie a run out there instead. But this, I think would give a better balance. Cabaye and Tiote cover the CBs but if the opposing wingers have it then Cabaye would double up with Simmo and Tiote move across to cover the ball back into the middle of the park and vice versa if it comes down the otherside.
Obertan is right footed and Benny left so hopefully crosses would come into Ba and Cisse but they would also have room move inside, swap flanks or have Ba drop off Cisse to come looking for the ball, or Cabaye to move forward with it should the space be there.
That’s what I’d do anyway 🙄
Sharpy17(Quote)
Except for Ben Arfa in for Jonas on the left that is pretty well what we have been doing before the Arsenal game Sharpy17. At least your lineup gets Ben Arfa, Cisse, and Ba onto the pitch at the same time which Pardew doesn’t seem to like doing. The wing play with Jonas is weak in attack but he provides strong cover for Santon going forward which is what he seems to like doing best. Not so sure Ben Arfa would provide the same defensive help which is why I would prefer to see him in the middle behind either Ba or Ba and Cisse. We definitely need better attacking wingers and improved defensive play from Santon and Simpson or different players at those positions. Another good CB as well, so really only Krul, Colo, Tiote, (Cabaye), and Ba should be certain starters. Surely Cisse has to force his way into the lineup again as our number 9 and I’m hoping Taylor and Marveaux will play next season as starters with Obertan gone or used only as cover like Williamson. A lot of changes still needed to compete in Europe. 😉
GeordieTwo(Quote)
GT – that’s exactly the point I’m trying to make about the balance of our team though. Your talking about Jonas providing defensive cover while Santon gets forward?! Santon is a full back and his main concern should defending and Jonas is a winger who’s main concern should be providing good delivery to our CFs!!.
It’s hasn’t been what we have been doing at all. We have had Jonas focused on covering Raylor or Santon and the right has been Oba or Raylor covering Simmo and Cabaye and Tiote sitting deep as well. The formation I’m putting forward puts the emphasis on attack. HBA could still come into the middle and Ba play the left channel depending on how the game is going. It just makes our attacking players harder to mark.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy;
That’s almost the team I suggested on Sunday to play Arsenal.
I left Simmo out and had Jonas at RB behind Obertan.
I had a 4-2-3-1 with Cisse up top.
…………………………………………………..Krul
Jonas……………..Willo……………………………………..Colo …………….Santon
………………….Cabaye………………………………………….Tiote
Obertan……………………………Ba………………………………………HBA
…………………………………………………..Cisse
JJ thought I was mad cos our full backs would be constantly pushing up and out of position for counter attacks.
I think Jonas and Santon would have been quick to get back and Tiote and
Cabaye could have covered for them when necessary.
At least it would have been better than not seeing the ball and being given the run-around for 80 minutes.
Did I enjoy watching us play last night ? – absolutely not !
sidekick(Quote)
Bindippers beat Everton 3.0 .Never saw that coming what with evertons form. Stevie g hat trick , what would they do without him .
kimtoon(Quote)
Sidekick – I think we need new players in in the summer for it to work well but I’d take the model of City or Spurs. Full backs who can get forward but also defend well, two sat in the centre of midfield and wingers who can move round but focus on offence and share the goals out a bit.
We need more players in the summer but with just 2 additions for example, this would be my starting 11 next season:
…………..krul…………..
Santon/saylor/colo/PIETERS
…………Cabaye/Tiote……..
HOILLETT………..Benny
………….Ba/Cisse………
As I say, more than just 2 in coz we need CBs and cover for most positions throughout the team, but that would certainly give balance, particularly in defence
Sharpy17(Quote)
was defo a sucker punch but we have to realise we just don’t have the quality to compete with **** and the rest of top four at the moment – ffs we are flying well above our level although th sonly worrying thing is that we’ve gained very few points since safety
i’ll be over the moon to get 7th but gutted if we get below – not even sure how that works out 🙂
stevep(Quote)
we can def compete with people below us but think we need to play an attacking formation… at least for home games – hba didn’t do a lot wrong ast night so lets use him !
stevep(Quote)
Anyway off topic I hate gerrard and I hate terry – I blame them personally for England underachieving – pair of cooooonts
On topic – think the Simmo sticks a bit harsh especially given that he cleared a couple off the line – support your players !! We’ve built a squad for fook all and still 6th !
Stevep(Quote)
Sorry for copying and pasting… but you can let me off as this is funny:
Netherlands teammates Robin van Persie and Tim Krul nearly came to blows while playing on opposite sides of Arsenal’s 2-1 win over Newcastle on Tuesday. The following is a transcript of their first meeting since that incident at the Dutch team’s hotel for Euro 2012.
Krul: Hey Robin.
RVP: Oh, hey…hey there. Tim, right? How are you…doing?
Krul: Fine. How are you?
RVP: Good. I’m good. Everything is…good.
Krul: Glad to hear it.
RVP: Yeah. Definitely. Definitely glad.
Krul: So. They’re making us be roommates here.
RVP: Awesome. That is fantastic. I mean, I can feel that, you know, there’s a best friends forever type vibe going on here already. It’s there. The vibe is there.
Krul: No it’s not.
RVP: Oh. Wait. You’re not still upset about that thing, are you?
Krul: Yeah, I kind of am.
RVP: No — no, don’t be like that. We’re cool. We’re totally cool right now! Dutch brothers! We’re Dutch brothers! All for one and one for three. Or something like that.
Krul: Were we Dutch brothers when you accused me of time wasting and got in my face and then said “waste time now” after your team scored a late winner on me and then laughed at me?
RVP: Yes?
Krul: No. We weren’t.
RVP: Look, Tom-
Krul: Tim.
RVP: I meant Tim. I totally meant Tim — brothers are like that sometimes. But brothers always know it’s going to be copacetic because there’s a love there and…uh…I just lost my train of thought. Wait. OK, look, how about I let you punch me. In the — well, you can flick me — flick my finger. One time. As hard as you can. But not that hard. Then we’ll be even.
Krul: No. But I am ready to move on. I’m just going to take a shower in our bathroom here. And, you know, I tend to waste time when I’m in there so there might not be any hot water left when you take a shower. The entire time we’re here. Dutch brothers.
[Krul locks himself in bathroom, turns hot water on]
RVP: What have I done.
.. 😆 😆 😆
Nobby(Quote)
Benny’s goal looks better now.
As for Simmo and the stick he’s getting on twitter, I think he needs to stick it out and realise that that is the price you pay for being on twitter. He needs to learn from Joey how to ignore it as he gets some real bad abuse. And how do we even know its all toon fans that are abusing him ?
Big Dave(Quote)
@nobby
Is that a real transcript? 😯
@
Big Dave
Is Simpson biting ?
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Troy, I hope it is… i don’t think so though 😆
Nobby(Quote)
Troy I haven’t been on Twitter as I have been flat out just read a few of his tweets on here yesterday, and he says he is jacking twitter in, a few were saying he was getting abuse, but thats part if twitter life, you cant expect to get a smooth run all the time.
Big Dave(Quote)
@ Nobby
They must have had a covert audio system in the hotel room. Sneaky. 😯
@Big Dave
To be fair, you shouldn’t have a twitter account unless your thick skinned.
Troy Stavers(Quote)
On the football side of things.
I’ve gave out loads of praise to the team this season for their performances but I have to balance it now.
We look a poor attacking side of late. There’s no fluidity to our play, little in the way of creativity and we just rely on individuals like Benny to do something superlative or Ba creating something from a half chance.
I fear we will be caught by the Mackems, Everton and definitely Liverpool.
Continue in the same manner and I’m certain of it.
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Troy I agree 100% a lot of fans make excuses for the team, it was against a top Spuds side what do you expect, but we have wolves next and we’ll get 3 pts there 😯 now it was a top **** side on a super run of form but we can kick on against Norwich with 3 pts.
I can’t remember the last time we played well as a team, and too many are making excuses for some players that have been poor, while slagging of other players.
As you say we are where we are because of individuals like Ba and Benny and the team for the 1st part of the year.
Big Dave(Quote)