shurlock

Agree the Arsenal game is what the Man City game should have become if they had taken their chances. Not so sure that the defense can be blamed for everything - the combination of JWP/Morgan/Davis hardly inspires fear -tidy but not particularly physical or powerful- while Punch and AL are poor when they don't have the ball which is the norm away from home. And when they do get it -typically in deep areas, they lack the pace and directness to do much with it - contrast the lack of pace in our team with that of Arsenal's -one reason why Mayuka might be a better option away from home. Whether Cork will make us more competitive in the middle of the park, however, remains to be seen. I have my doubts - he's another tidy but soft player, something which seems to be running theme with a lot of NA's team -whether here or at Scunny. Finally, NA was discussing his beloved KPIs after the game - in particular, the fact that we enjoyed more possession at the start of second half. It seems central to NA's gameplan that we can go away from home and retain possession for long spells -and the team is picked on this basis. Yes it might have worked in the NPC but it seems wildly optimistic in the Prem - remind me what was the possession count at City -at one point it was 81% to them.

The FBs were on a hiding to nothing - both in the sense that midfield gave them little protection and, by dropping so deep, we allowed their FBs to push on. Gibbs at times was playing as a virtual winger against Clyne. IMO the CBs could have got slightly closer to, and in support of the FBs as Arsenal didn't really play with a centre forward/attack down the middle.

An odd one as I don’t think Arsenal were anything special – we played into their hands by trying to do a City and defend deep. The difference between Arsenal and City is that City largely went through the middle while Arsenal have pace to burn –Gervinho was my MOTM by a country mile. Arsenal will get down the sides and behind you if you drop off and let them play little through balls between and around the full backs. IMO the goals could have been avoided – for the first, two of our CMs were criminally outbossed and outfought by one of their players who then nutmugged KD. IMO the second was never a free-kick. The third involved some miscommunication between the Yoshida and the other defenders – was he trying to play offside? The fourth was again unlucky, taking a wicked deflection off Clyne. KD didn’t and increasingly doesnt inspire confidence – arguably he could have done better for the first goal (through the legs) and third goal (near post without the Tevez poker eyes) and the freekick didn’t fly into the top corner, even if it was hit with a lot of pace. KD also flapped at a cross (from which they could have scored a header), though he did pull off an excellent save in the 2nd half. The second half was brighter, though Arsenal could have just taken their foot off the pedal. Lambert was less isolated helped by Ramirez's position. He should have done better from a Ramirez mis-hit shot – and indeed we worked some decent openings but never with any pace or ruthlessness. Ramirez looked good – was happy to take responsibility, look up and drive forward with the ball –something which none of our three CMs did. Yoshida also showed some promise after a shaky start and bailed Fox out a few times – possesses decent pace. Jrod also threw himself about– and looked more mobile than Lambert down the middle, demonstrating good strength to hold off their CBs. By contrast, Lallana was very poor as was Davis. Morgan took too much time on while Clyne made some good tackles, though they were always felt like recoveries for prior errors. Punch got better as the game went on, though he flattered to deceive - alot of sideway runs. Arsenal underlined the value of pace and I’d love to see Mayuka get a nod on the right. He remains our one and only genuinely quick player. Not impressed by Arsenal crowd – I live in and around them, so dont know what I was expecting. For the first time, made me nostalgic for the championship, though I don't have a purist’s desire to go back down.

Totally agree-the midfield gave the defense little protection. Their first goal spoke volumes- their one attacker should never have outfought two of our midfielders to come out with the ball. Yes our midfield covers ground but it is incredibly lightweight. What I would do for one physical, powerful CM- a Tiote type player. Arsenal also showed what a little bit of pace can do. Mayuka apart, we don't have any players who can truly test or put a defense on the backfoot.

Ravens were very good and the Bengals did make the playoffs last season. But I remember thinking the same thing last season after they destroyed the steelers - next week they lost to a very average titans side. Still think Suggs will be a miss and the defense is starting to show its age. Hard to get one's head around the offense leading the way.

Concrete proof that 'having a name' for a manager makes a difference to your ability to recruit.

Can't do the whole two hours in one sitting and find myself skipping tracks but excellent album on the whole - reminds me of when I first heard Godspeed You Black Emperor for the first time, albeit with a scuzzier, heavier sound.

I'm talking about Mayuka. Re. subs, I had a bigger issue with who was on the bench i.e. the lack of midfielders (effectively Chaplow) than the actual subs. I don't think they cost us the game. Even those who criticise the subs agree that Lambert should have been taken off while keeping punch/al on. The problem would have been the same: we would have lacked a decent outball. NA wasn't blind to this - IMO we just weren't good enough to execute his plan which was to hit Jrod early and have him hold balls up, albeit on the left, exploiting his height advantage over their RB. Too many aimless hoofs, not enough control to our direct balls.

Monday mornings are bad enough and on top of that I've got to read this ****.

Against Wigan, it was more the case of not creating chances than not putting them away. IMO we've been pretty clinical this season and taken whatever chances we've had - City being a good example.

Gave the ball away once -dangerously outside his own box and was lucky the Colombian attacker didnt punish him; but otherwise was strong and tidy on the ball and if he wasn't beating people, was drawing fouls.

Has to start down the middle against Sheff W - perfect opportunity to see what he can do.

Yep. wasn't it the other way around - they held us to a 0-0 draw at our place and we lost at theirs. To make things worse, it was also the year the public fell in love with the skates and anderton as plucky underdogs....

Do you have any idea how many high passes were made to Rodriguez? The reasoning for putting on the wing was to exploit his height advantage against Rafael which makes sense on one level. Wonder if we actually did or attempted this?

I can see how those comments might apply to the US and China but Australia? You can't be serious.

'uckin hell. its going to go right off now. that was some turn up for the books if you pardon the pun.

Yep, that's right - he did. It was also Rudi's comeback as fantasy left-back.

Saw him up at Bramall lane for a midweek game during the dark days of the 2008-09 season -a few months after Lowe's coup. Nothing glamorous about the game -it was ******ing it down- but he was there on the terraces.

Yep and the fact its a 38 rather than a 46 game season will help.

Perhaps he knows what he's doing - he's compensating for his lack of pace.

Funny diagram - don't know if it says a lot though. Not sure if the problem is just positional - more that Fox knows he doesn't have the pace or acceleration to stand up close to the winger. Compare Fox with the lightening quick Clyne who's happy to get up the winger's ar$e as he know he won't get skinned. Maybe there's a happy median where Fox needs binos rather than a telescope to see the winger; but there are limits to what coaching can do...

True, Cork would have made a massive difference but could we play that kind of football with our squad over the course of the whole season, especially if we're starting three rather than two CMs which worked a treat against United (obviously, we might revert back to 2 CMs and Lallana against Villa). If so, we only have Cork to cover the 3 CMs. There's Chaplow but he's more a sub who can shore things up rather than a starter in his own right capable of giving others a breather. And then there's JWP - Adkins made a big deal about resting AOC even when he was in fine form - 'growing bodies' and all that. For similar reasons, can't see JWP playing week in, week out regardless of his form.

Good point.

My worry is not that this is headless chicken stuff. Am pretty sure Barcelona and the Spanish nation team cover alot of ground, closing players and hunting in packs. Rather the worry is that this is not sustainable. Think back to the beginning of last season when we were so effective at playing high-intensity football but then dipped as our energy levels invariably dropped - the Reading game straight after the Wham game was a good example. Save superhuman stamina, this kind of football requires a deep squad to play this kind of football; yet we're basically reliant on the same midfielders week in and week out. What's more, we're not even winning and making it count.