Tottenham 2 – 1 Arsenal: Dull and Tepid

By: Darren_v | October 2nd, 2011

The North London Derby kicked off at White Hart Lane in the blistering heat, along with a rancorous atmosphere which commonly typifies this fixture every year. Throughout Arsene Wenger’s reign, Arsenal always went into this match as the favorites, and for the first time the shoe was on the other foot, with Arsenal looking up at their hated neighbours and looking to go into the International break on something of a high.

Francis Coquelin was given a somewhat surprising start for the Arsenal as Song continued on the backline with Mertesacker and Gibbs came in for Andres Santos at left back. Gervinho, Walcott and Ramsey all started the game as well, while Tottenham lined up in 4-4-2. And in the first minute Aaron Ramsey gave us a sign of things to come, cheaply gave possession with a poor back pass and only ‘Always Offside’ Adebayor prevented it to become dangerous. A ball over the top in the 6th had Song beat at the byline by Adebayor but Coquelin snuffed out the danger, only for Song to give the ball away and Szczesny was forced into a smart stop on a clean through Scott Parker. The first half then settled into a settled pattern; Arsenal controlled the ball and pace of play with the extra man in the midfield, while Spurs looked to play the ball over the top of the defense. Bale would occasionally creep in field to help out Parker and Modric, but Walcott had no luck even getting the ball versus Assou-Ekotto while Sagna’s crosses were virtually useless. Arsenal’s midfield struggled to find any balls into the feet of their three forwards and Spurs seemingly only threatened off Ramsey’s poor passing, and Van der Vaart found himself have a couple chances in the box, forcing the solid Arsenal #1 #13 into action, preventing the opener, while Arsenal had to settle for tame efforts that never looked like worrying Friedel. In the 29th minute Van Persie shrugged himself loose of Kaboul on the byline and his cut back found Gervinho in space in the box, but his effort was put agonizingly wide. It would prove to hurt more ten minutes later as Arsenal lost possession in the middle of the park, and with both Gibbs and Sagna caught high up the pitch at the same time, Defoe and Adebayor were able to split Song Mertesacker apart, and while it looked as though Van der Vaart possibly controlled the cross with his arm, his strike was well taken and left Szczesny with little chance. While Sagna was highlighted as at fault, it was both fullbacks that were suspect and Arsenal needed a fight back in the second half.

Arsenal came out in the second half and looked immediately looked to press Tottenham, and it paid off as Spurs were pushed back and their passes were cut off well by the back line, and after sustained pressure Alex Song found space to drive down the left flank and his low, powerful cross found the Ramsey who turned it into the top of the net. Goal for the Arsenal and the amazing away fans could be well heard in voice ‘Arsenal! Arsenal! Arsenal!’

The pressure from the away side continued, but never really troubling Friedel while Spurs broke the high offside forcing Szczesny into a great one-handed save on Adebayor and a last-ditch sliding tackle by Mertesacker as Gibbs got caught cheating high up the pitch. Redknapp the brought on Sandro to help out his central midfielders and it paid dividends as his side would gain control of the match and never give it back, but not before Sagna collided with Assou-Ekotto and was in noticeable pain while twisting his leg on the grass/tarmac and had to be stretchered off. Jenkinson came on for him, and soon after Benayoun would appear for Walcott to help aid the youngster against Bale. 73 minutes in, Arteta and Coquelin had some poor miscommunication on a throw-in, Sandro was allowed to stroll into the box, who cut back to Modric who’s shot was well blocked by Song. The ball would rebound out to Kyle Walker who touched the ball past a casual Gervinho and from 25 yards, drilled a shot that fooled Szczesny, dipping past his arm in a very reachable manner, and it was Spurs up again, 2-1. And three minutes later a ball was allowed to drop between Song and Mertesacker, who watched Bale go in alone and somehow contrived to miss the target altogether. Arshavin would come on for Gervinho and do nothing, Mertesacker was then employed as a center forward and failed to get close to the ball for the rest of the match, and instead of pushing hard for an equalizer, Arsenal struggled to get the ball past half, while Bale ran poor Jenkinson ragged on the right touchline for fun. A couple late corner came Arsenal’s way, but typically were easily turned away by the Spurs defense and it was game over, 2-1 to our hated rivals.

Full Time Stats

Spurs         Arsenal
76%   Pass accuracy   83%
71%    Ariel Duals      29%
24 Crosses 24
18    Shots 13
6    On Target       5
38%      Possession    62%

On the balance of play, Tottenham deserved the win, and while I was practically begging for a late equalizer I was never truly expecting it. Arsenal dominated the ball, but did very little with with it, as you can see by the numbers. The creativity in the middle of the park is just simply not there, as Arteta and Ramsey are proving to be an absolute massive drop off in creativity from the departed Fabregas and Nasri. Arteta had a game high 106 touches with a 91% pass completion, while Ramsey completed 83% of his, with 87 touches. The keep the ball well enough, but too often the pace is slow and they are unwilling to attempt to penetrate the opposition. The movement off the ball is also shockingly poor all around, which doesn’t aid them in the least, and our counter attacks are…. Well non-existent. So often Arteta will receive the ball and not a single red shirt is moving into space, but standing alongside the defender, waiting for the ball to move for them to react. The Arsenal game is all about reaction right now and not anticipation, and that’s while in possession and defensively. It’s all well and good to keep the ball in midfield, but when you have 62% possession and your entire backline has more touches then your forwards, (Walcott had 25 touches compared to Sagna’s 45) something isn’t right. The attack is laboured and faltering, and will continue to so until we get a midfielder to start beating players in the middle of the park. Unfortunately Jack Wilshere won’t be back for a long while, Abou Diaby is perma-injured, Rosicky is a shadow of his former self, Song is needed in the backline, while Ramsey and Arteta are passers and little else. They just don’t create.

Remembering the Good Ole' Days

pires

Player Ratings:

Szczesny – 6.5. He was having another terrific game. No chance on the first, and made several excellent stops and was very assured in the air. But he will be having a poor night sleep, allowing Walker’s shot go in. It should have been stopped. His distribution is easily the worst part of his game.

Sagna – 5.5. Didn’t have a great game at all. Aimless crosses in the first half to no one, and struggled to contain Bale down the line. Bale is the only player I can remember giving Sagna issues consistently. Got injured falling in a collision on the sideline and reports are saying it’s a fractured fibula. He will be out a minimum 3 months and may need surgery….

Mertesacker – 6.5. Did very well the half hour and allowed nothing by him. Received a yellow card and he started to get caught out a few times. You hear criticism of him, but I like game.

Song – 7.5. Adebayor had a chance at the start of the game from a poor tackle by Song, and then Song put him in his pocket the rest of the game. Song is a terrific player, and while I wondered how he would do without Fabregas around, he has impressed me so far. Certainly not willing to call him ‘world-class’ yet, but The Martin was right about him last year, very good player.

Gibbs – 6. Struggled in the first half against Kyle Walker on the flank, and didn’t get forward much at all. Nothing bad, but nothing to write home about either.

Coquelin – 7.5 MOTM. He did a great job covering the backline. His positional awareness and tactical sense is on another level compared to Frimpong, and perhaps kept it too simple when in possession. But it’s his second premier league match in that position, so it’s too be expected. He is my favorite to the backup position at DM.

Arteta – 6. Laboured and lacks cutting edge. I’ve been hoping to see some creativity as a deep lying midfielder, but it’s just not coming. Partly because no movement ahead of him, and partly because he cannot beat a player one on one.

Ramsey – 5. He saves himself because he scored. I don’t want to trash him too much because he has taken, and will take, a lot of heat for his game right now, and it has to be hard for a teenager to come in after a horrific injury like he had and be expected to perform each and every game like Fabregas did. But my goodness, what a shocker he had.

Gervinho – 4.5. I’m getting tired of his game off the ball. He is just as lazy as Arshavin on the defensive side, and lately his movement off the ball hasn’t been great. He has to be the worse passer on the squad as well. Entirely at fault for Walker’s game winner, allowing him all the space in the world and just… stopped tracking him.

Walcott – 5. Touched the ball 25 times and I was a little surprised it was that much. Had a couple shots the first half, but defenses have him figured out now. Sit deep so he can’t beat you with pace, and he will rarely get the ball. Done.

Van Persie – 6. Aside from beating Kaboul on the byline the first half, didn’t really do anything and rarely touched the ball in dangerous areas. When your best player doesn’t get the ball, it’s hard to create chances. RVP is a great central striker, but if we can’t get him the ball, he is wasted in that position. Time to play Chamahk with RVP behind him like last year? Can’t be worse than our attack right now, that’s for sure.

Jenkinson – 6. His gait is strange and he tries hard. Sagna is out for three months and we might as well get behind the kid, because he is all we have.

Benayoun – 6. Song had a great through ball for RVP behind the defense late in the game which Yossi intercepted and had a tame shot blocked for a corner. I don’t recall him doing anything else but foul a Spud.

Arshavin – 6. Came on, jogged around for 15 minutes. Time for a beer.

I think everyone can agree the league title is obviously beyond Arsenal now, and the priority this season has to be a Top four finish, preferably three. The Champions League money is needed and more importantly, the CL is needed to convince Van Persie, Vermaelen and Song to sign contract extensions and be able to attract the top talent around the world without massively overpaying for talent like Liverpool has had to do. So we go into the International break with Arsenal in the bottom 6 of the table and Tottenham in the top 6. Tottenham aren’t even a good club.

But then, what does that make us?

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Category: Arsenal News

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brenton

Song defended well, which is all you expect of a stand-in CB, but his passing in the first half was atrocious. Like, really atrocious. Embarrassingly so at times. That's a high rating you've given him considering.
JG

Folks, good news- the Twitter stuff has been cleared and we are now operational! Follow us at OffsideArsenal for regular updates, links, comments and more!
Patoux21

The good news is Squillaci may finally have some playing time! Looking forward for some headless chicken backward runs and crazy friendly headbutts!
JG

Folks, good news- the Twitter stuff has been cleared up and we're now online. Follow us for updates, comments, links and more at http://twitter.com/#!/OffsideA...
JG

Bacary Sagna has successfully undergone injury on his fibula. Out for 3 months.
Darren_V

Good thing you are not a writer for a blog....
Homey_Mills

Successfully undergone injury, or surgery?
JG

Although my original statement was correct, at least meaning-wise.
JG

Surgery.
Zamil_m10

An almost complete 1st team Spurs vs half the Arsenal squad and they only win 2-1 lol, Spuds...

+If it wasnt for Van der Varts biceps the ball would have rolled off him and that would've resulted in a GOOOOOAL kick. Making him look like a complete noob
+Gervinho hasnt found the Henry within him yet
+Song wasn't in midfield
+AOC wasnt on the bench
+Everyone scores once-in a-lifetime goals atleast once you fools!

Coquelin looks great, plays like he has bucketloads of experience in the EPL. 2 last ditch interceptions!
Arshavin should be our CAM, i think hes the only one in the squad at this moment who has the sharpness and ability to play through balls. Rambo and Arteta prbbly have the ability but are just not quick enough
caligunner

when I saw the lineups before the match started I thought that Arsenal was in big trouble. In every area of the pitch Spurs had more experienced players that have been playing together longer than Arsenal's have.

Arsenal are playing 8 new players from last year's opening day lineup. Spurs were in the Champion's League last year and were at home in a derby game. Plus, the Arsenal of this year has proven that its not a matter of "if" they will have a defensive lapse, but "when." I wasn't expecting a win, and at 1-1, a draw would have been a very good result.

I'm not sure how Arsenal fans can look at a performance like this and be surprised or shocked by the result. I thought that Arsenal dominated the game for much of the match. The 5 defending players mostly bottled up Spurs and the chances all came from let-offs, not the run of play. I see that as progress for a side that has yet to develop an identity. Hopefully Arsenal will continue to work on communication and cohesiveness in defense and build the positive midfield play into more chances.

As much as we would all like to see a polished finished product at this stage in the season, I think it's a false expectation, and one that is bound to lead to suicidal thoughts at every bad result. Arsenal lost to a better more experienced team away from home. They performed well for 75% of the match. By the end of the season, we are all hoping that the squad will gel, but so far, this squad has done nothing to make me expect wins away to any top 5 sides.
formos

Coquelin – 7.5 MOTM? WTF? I thought that was his sloppy misplaced pass that started spurs counter-attack and resulted in VDV goal. Though he grown into role as game progressed, I wouldn't go so far to claim him as MOTM.
Shelton

I'll have to go back and watch that first Spurs goal again, but I also thought Coquelin was MOTM. Maybe he was MOTM by default, which goes to say that nobody else impressed really. Sad but true.
Martin

I thought he was great. Reminds me a little bit of Gilberto, which is exactly what a team like Arsenal needs.
Orion

A couple of things about the game. First off, try as some Arsenal fans might, we cannot sell a whole squad and bring a new one. We can't. Yet, this team's collective defending is as efficient as a sack of shit. Blaming individuals gets us nowhere. Seeing the ball bounce between Mertesacker and Song, and the latter shouting for the former to let it bounce over to the keeper, while Adebayor is sprinting in behind our defence was laughable. Good thing Szcz is not Almunia.

Yes, Song was out of position. Yes, Per is only in his first month in an Arsenal shirt. But this whole team is still gelling, so to speak. Key players should have been brought in June, not the last day of August. Look at United. Young, excellent players bought in June. They might have paid over the odds, but hey, would you rather we spent 20mill more than we did, and not be in this mess?

The next game cannot come soon enough.
Georgedb1

This is going to be a season of "gelling"; i.e. a season of mediocrity excused as gelling. Its going to be a season where we shed the final batch of fair weather fans (whatever is left of them, lmao).

Bunker down boys, this is going to be a rough year's end, and January needs to arrive ASAP, but more importantly, what needs to get here sooner is the moment of clarity, or epiphany even, in which Wenger finally realizes that if you have world class ambitions, you need to acquire world class talent.
Patoux21

Poor transfer management by Wenger period. Selling Nasri at the very end of the transfer window and buying leftovers at the last moment. Erghh what was the Emirates cup created for? Only make money?
Orion

Nasri should have been sold earlier, but its easy to judge when you're not in the mix of things. There may be a possibility that Wenger had reason to think Nasri might sign. This was a completely different story than the one with Fabregas, since it was all motivated by money from the player's part. And the Emirates Cup was created for Arsenal to play some home games in pre-season, to generate money and to please the sponsors in question, ie. Emirates.
Homey_Mills

Still, I don't see why we didn't have a drop-dead date for Cesc and Nasri. For instance, August 1. If Nasri doesn't want to sign a new contract, then we sell him by that date. If Cesc doesn't want to commit to the club by then, then we sell him at that time. Then we re-invest over the next couple of weeks. And that timetable is still super late.
There is simply no excuse for doing all our major business in the last two days of the window. If there's an easy criticism to be made, that would be at the top of the list.
Axel

move over francesc we have francis! bring on the black cats
Patoux21

Poor transfer management by Wenger period. Selling Nasri at the very end of the transfer window and buying leftovers at the last moment. Erghh what was the Emirates cup created for? Only make money?
Patoux21

Poor transfer management by Wenger period. Selling Nasri at the very end of the transfer window and buying leftovers at the last moment. Erghh what was the Emirates cup created for? Only make money?
Homey_Mills

Your second paragraph sounds a lot like what I wrote for a couple months, leading up to the start of the season.
Hopefully you'll like my Hazard blog though... set to be released tonight sometime.
Orion

I'm begging for any sort of optimism. At the moment, I'd take anything.
Darren_V

Why would Hazard come to Arsenal?
Arsenal Fan

There's more of a chance of RVP going to City. Don't worry, next game is Sunderland. We should whip their asses pretty good. We're just going to have to wait the 2 weeks. Yes, we call this Optimism. It's all we have right now. Pessimistic edumicated optimism.
Homey_Mills

We should have whipped Blackburn too though.
Arsenal Fan

We did whip Blackburn. 26 shots vs 9. The final score just let us down a little. You can't defend own goals, they're too tricky. Sunderland are shit, 16th place now, one point from relegation zone. Steve Bruce vs. Arsene Wenger? Come on. Would you take a wager? Though they do have a +1 goal differential and we have a -6 diff. So, maybe it is a tossup.
Darren_V

Uh... both own goals were horribly preventable. Which makes it worse.
Arsenal Fan

I know. We almost won just like we almost kept Nasri, almost beat spurs. Almost get Hazard. Almost get to CL next year. Almost spend $20mil for quality. Almost a selling club. Not quite almost a shit club!!! Like you'll almost tell me something I'm missing!!!!!
Arsenal Fan

Homey, you're not supposed to like this stuff. I was just giving _V man a lil ride. Things must be bad??
Homey_Mills

Look, you all know me. I'm not saying it's going to happen. I highly doubt it. But is there a chance of it? Yes, I certainly think so. Anyway, stay tuned for my blog later on.
Orion

Dammit, now is the time for ArsenalOffside Twitter account to rise once more. I can't be checking the website every other hour for my daily dose of optimism.
brenton

You come here for optimism? You do know that Homey writes 65% of the posts, right?
Zamil_m10

HAZARD!!!!!
bobjcanada

i'm depressed
Jeff

Ramsey was indeed the flop besides his goal. I prefer Arteta to be paired with Rosicky,just like the olympiakos game..
Arshavin32

Time for Wenger to change the system. Arshavin MUST be playing just behind Van Persie. Arshavin is Dominate for Russia in that creative, free role. He is a much, much better player then both Gervinho and Walcott. Van Persie is pretty much carrying the side at the moment. With Van Persie and And Arshavin up front, you can then have Frimpong / Ramsey / Song at CM, with Walcott on the right, and Gervinho?? on the left. Things need to change, Arsenal are imbarrassing ATM!
Arshavin32

and Arteta in the CM role!!
Patoux21

Another blinded Arshavin fan probably one of the most overrated player in the PL. The guy can't even play a full game
Patoux21

Another blinded Arshavin fan probably one of the most overrated player in the PL. The guy can't even play a full game
Patoux21

Another blinded Arshavin fan probably one of the most overrated player in the PL. The guy can't even play a full game
Bumblefock

TRIPLE HATE! FATALITY! KABOOM!
Stuvanpersie

How has Wenger allowed us to get so bad this is the worst team I've seen in all the 40years I've supported them. If arsenal don't get some big players in January there will be thousands of fans throwing their season tickets at Wenger, me personally I think arsenal have robbed me of about £30,000 over the last 5 years promising to deliver a great team & great football but all they are doing is emptying our pockets to fill theirs. Fuck arsenal plc love arsenal fc
Patoux21

Song is nowhere near a world-class player he made 2 huge mistakes in the first 15min that could have cost 2 early conceded goals
brenton

Song had a poor first half, quite a few giveaways.
Shajee

How can you say that when he's not a natural CB? he's playing out of position and i believe still excelling, despite his "2 huge mistake", he is constantly improving, and is even adding another creative dimension to his game, provided the assisst in the game, and provided wonderful defense cutting passes in previous games when he was playing in his natural position as a DM
Patoux21

I think people should stop overrating Arsenal players because if they were so good we wouldn't have a record of 3 wins in 16 games. Most players are average or even worse only RVP and Wojo stand out in this squad. Despite Wojo countless crucial saves we still concede plenty of goals with either Song as CB or DM.
Benjamin Dockter

It's entirely possible to have a squad full of top class players, but a shite team. Just look at Man City the last couple seasons. I would agree that we do have too few "top class players" and too many average players, but we have enough talent to be doing MUCH better than we have been. As a team, Arsenal are woefully bad right now.
Patoux21

Last season Man City finished 4th above Arsenal and I think the season before they made it 5th very close to 4th. And this season they are co-leaders. I wouldn't call it a shitty team. I agree Arsenal 15th place isn't showing the team genuine level but it's still very far from the top teams ManU, ManCity and Chelsea.
Will

Alright then, even though you're missing his point, here's another example: the England national team. I think we can all agree the talent is world class in practically every area in that squad, but they drew 2-2 to Montenegro today. Did you know Montenegro had a national team?
Benjamin Dockter

My intent wasn't to say that ManCity have had a shit team, just that when you look at the quality of players they've had, they have under performed. It's taken them 3 seasons to finally start gelling and performing as a sum of it's parts.

The problem that Arsenal has is not just a team performance. Even with our best 11 fit for the season, I still think we'd struggle to take 3rd this year. Our problem is that the top 3 teams are in a league of their own in terms of spending and attractiveness to top talent now. It seems like Arsenal are trying to play the long game and hope that somehow the economy and FFP bring the top 3 crashing down in a few years, with us the only team ready to dominate within some new system. The problem is that's all speculative and there is no indication that any of that will actually happen. We are being left behind. Arsenal was in a very strong position this summer to go out and splash the cash on all kinds of top talent without hurting our finances. We had the chance to really kick on this year to win something and convince our top talent that there is no better club to be at. Unfortunately we know how that went. If we don't spend on a few top top top class players in January and win something this year, RVP, Vermaelen, Walcott, Song, etc. will all be gone next summer or the next and we will become nothing more than a feeder club for top teams.
Arsenal Fan

Unfortunately, we're already in that downward spiral and will find it almost impossible to reverse it, given our board's strategies. Nasri, Cesc, Ade, Toure, and RVP to City soon. We're already that selling club that you fear we might become. Nobody wants Walcott, no final ball (Rooney hates him for it). Next year, no CL, same board, transfer fees capped at $15 mil., no ability to attract top talent, we're dead!!!
Orion

Wise words, sir. Eye-opening, actually.
Patoux21

Arsenal attractiveness for top class players is poor otherwise we would have signed the likes of Hazard, Matah or Mvila. My main concern is that we are going down for the last couple of years and I don't see us recovering anytime soon and like you said we are going to lose all our best players. On the other hand even though City has been spending like crazy there are now at the top level of the PL something which will never happen to Arsenal in the years to come. Wenger was always arguing that the team is improving every year and players are becoming more mature but all this in completely ruined since they leave the club at the peak of their career and are replaced by average players. Not one single top class player was signed to added strengh to the team. This is the kind of management that reminds me of clubs with very limited resources ie small clubs selling their best players. When you think that Emirates ticket prices have risen and is one of the most expensive I would be infuriated if I had paid more to watch them play.
Benjamin Dockter

I would argue that not signing Hazard, Mata and MVila was a combination on indecisiveness and simply not being willing to pay what the selling club is asking. We all know that the Mata deal was pretty much a done deal until we stalled it. Apparently we were unwilling to spend until Fab and Nasri had left. So by the time both were gone, it was too late to close the deal as earlier agreed and Chelsea had swooped in. The exact same thing happened with Santi Cazorla this summer only with Malaga being the "swoopers".

As for Hazard/MVila, if reports from those "in-the-know" are true, then both the parents clubs were asking for $20-30 mil for each player, seeing as both still have long contracts and seem to be content with staying. So not only would we have to pay a lot more for those players, AW and more importantly our stubborn board, would never pay so much for a player (Our record transfer fee is 15mil pounds).

That said, with the amount of time and energy that's spent scouting players, if someone has been identified as a top talent that will fit into our team, spend some f-ing money. We are no longer in a position where we have to haggle every last penny. If we needed to pay 5mil more to get Mata, do it!! I'm all for Wenger going out and getting talent at low prices or undiscovered gems, but we need game changers and you have to pay a premium for that.

You're right about the small club mentality. By operating like that in the last few years, we've managed to pay off a lot of the debt, stay relatively successful and put ourselves in a strong position for the future. The problem is that now we need to step up from that and start being aggressive because we're being left behind.

Every year our players do grow and mature. The problem is that we sell the ones who have finally matured into top class players.
Homey_Mills

City actually finished 3rd last year, but that's splitting hairs. The point that Illinois Gooner made, which I agree with, is that for City, the whole wasn't as great as all the individuals added up together separately. Yes, they had a 5th place season, but it was with some of the highest spending in soccer history. So that's a poor result, based on where they should have been.
Likewise, although I can't say our players should be at the top of the table, we certainly have players who should be good enough to be in the top 5-6 at least.
bearsyspur

Your analysis was pretty accurate...but why put in that stupid last sentence that Tottenham arent even a good club!!! I suppose you just couldnt resist that little piece of bitterness.
Art Deli

u lot are SHIT !!! Enjoy your derby v West spam next year. MUGS!!!
Mike Howells

Don't you have a Europa match to watch?
Rico

You really need to get a grip of your life, the first goal was clearly hand ball and the second was a hit and hope with a lot of luck thrown in from swerve. Hardly worth shouting about, also you played at home. Did you expect anything less than a win against a weakened Arsenal team? Grown up you inbreed horrible yid bastard. Is you sister to busy to play with you so you'd try and be smart on a Arsenal site? Tool!
Georgedb1

Let it rejoice - at tottenham hotspur, a win over Arsenal is the be all end all event. An ant feels just as accomplished when it brings home a grain of sugar as you would when you do something useful, so don't stomp it out, let it live lol.
Rico

Fair players ratings although I think you we're a little harsh on Szcz for the second goal. It looked like the ball shifted direction quite dramatically as it got nearer him, as you seen him ready for it then all of a sudden the ball was lower than what he was expecting.
I've been crying out to have RVP and Chamakh playing together for a while now. Chamakh seems to sit too deep sometimes and RVP could correct this and keep him on the defences shoulders allowing RVP to sit deep when/if required.
Seeing the way Spurs played this was a game we could of won if we stepped up to the mark.
Georgedb1

The only difference between a 2-1 loss and a 5-1 loss was Szczesny, then again, his only lapse cost us the game - somehow the rating is on point but the explanation isn't. Of course, that rating only applies to this game, because he is a world class keeper already; overall so far this season I would give him 8.5 or even a 9.
Martin

I love Szczesny, and he had a great game, but that goal was definitely his fault, regardless of how it swerved. It was almost in the dead center of the goal, and about 2-3 feet from where he was standing. Let me put it this way -- if that had been Almunia that allowed that goal, we'd never hear the end of what a shit keeper he was for letting that in.
Mike Howells

Agree. At the same time though, with Flaps or anyone else in goal the score could easily have been 3 or 4-1. We were outplayed comprehensively and Sczcers kept it close.
Martin

Just to be clear, I completely agree with you on this. I thought he was brilliant yesterday and kept us in the match.

But it's amazing how many people just put blinders on for this sort of thing. I was on Twitter during the match yesterday, and it was amazing how many people called it a "wonder goal". Well, it wasn't. It was a good hit, and that late swerve was crucial, but it was definitely just a full-back saying "Ah, screw it, I'll hit it and see if it gets deflected or the keeper screws up." And the latter is exactly what happened. Szczesny is great, and was great yesterday, and I don't really blame him at all for the defeat, but I was kind of amazed by how many excuses people were making for him -- some people even went so far as to say he "had no chance" of stopping it.
Rico

I agree, it was a hit and hope goal. Regardless of what happens this year they are still not the outfit we are in the north of London. So let them have their win through a goal that was blatantly hand balled and their hit and hope. If we managed to keep our players they did it would of been a Arsenal win. I don't see them doing too well this year if they have a few injuries.
Darren_V

Once people pick a favorite, nothing can swerve their opinion on them being great.Conversely, once they decide a player is 'shite', nothing they can do can redeem themselves.Exhibi A: Szczesny v Almunia.Danny Rose's wonder goal was horrid keeping by Almunia, allowing the ball to go right over his head. Kyle Walker's should have been easily stopped by Szczesny.
But people love one and hate the other.
Winstonweller

arsenal are very weak this season the best they can hope for is mid table
Bertrand

Isn't that what people said about Liverpool last season?
Arsenal Fan

No. We were saying what stature? Pool is no longer a big club and stop living in the past. The things that Wenger said we would be if we lost Nasri and Cesc. The things we all know we are now. If we think we're bad now, wait till we crash out of CL for next year. This is going to get really ugly. Hold on to your britches son. You don't want to lose them!
RVP15

Ramsey is one of my best players but he really is struggling in the creative role...he just cant get anything going and its not in this game only, something thats happened over the last 4 or 5 games.

I think its time to give Benayoun or Frimpong a chance in the centre of midfield.
Nicky

I agree.. it's time to put Ramsey on the bench.. he's very poor so far.. I prefer Arteta to be paired with Rosicky who's is defensively very good either.. they combined very well @ olympiakos game..
Guest

Remember that "very good defensively" Rosicky against Newcastle 4-4? Every single one of that 4 was conceded after he came in.
Benjamin Dockter

but you're forgetting that all four of those goals also came after Djourou (when he was a decent defender) went off injured, and the idiot Diaby had us reduced to 10 men.