North London Derbies are always that little bit special and with the tightest race for years as to who will eventually become Champions, together with the implosion of United and the resurgence of Liverpool and of course not forgetting the two big mega bucks clubs, this was a game we just had to win.
Within under two minutes the ever enthusiastic Oxlade Chamberlain set up Rosicky to what can only be described as a wonder goal, if not our best long range shot of the season.
We were ecstatic and yet not for the first time, instead of taking advantage of the early lead, we handed possession to Spurs and apart from Oxlade Chamberlain missing a sitter or passing to Podolski we retreated further and further back and left Giroud as a lone attacker. For the rest of the match he was largely nullified except on the few occasions he was brought into play.
This is a dramatic change of tactics by Wenger as we have been always an attacking team with neat fluid passes which more often or not produced pleasing football to the eye and invariably some spectacular goals. A better team may well have punished us. Spurs huffed and puffed had 60% of the possession but in all honestly only mustered one or two half chances
It’s a dangerous tactic to employ especially with practically the whole game to play after the early lead. Having said that Mertesacker and Koscielny were outstanding, is there a finer defensive partnership in the League ?
We have several players still out and perhaps the after effects of the Bayern game took the edge from our overall performance but the need for support for Giroud with a world class striker really became apparent in this game.
Three points in the bag though. I wouldn’t say we won ugly and we certainly weren’t at our best but a massive improvement is needed next weekend against what I consider our hardest game in the run in, or so my crystal balls tell me 🙂
I have to give Rosicky Man of the match purely for the reason that his goal won us the game. Koscielny a close second and The Ox for his never ending drive and directness always looking for goal.
Finally a word on Szczesny. Allowing for the fact he had missed the last two games and made a fairly straightforward save, twice in a minute he dropped a cross, once he was fouled but on the other occasion he got lucky and if you look carefully was flapping and nearly brought Adebayor down, which could have resulted in a penalty. He is by no means the finished article and I still maintain he needs competition for his place.
Written by kelsey
Arsenal News 24/7
arsenalarsenal.net 
Hi guys, now there’s another welcome patch of green to report, can someone be good enough to update the tables on the right ? Ta !
The defence was brilliant. The only blot was the gks. His hesitation could have been costly. Arsenal have been plagued by underperforming gks in the past. Hope this is a one off.
Lovely write up kelsey. Love the pics
Any victory at the Lane is to be savoured and I intend to get full value for 3 wins over the Hapless Hotspurs this week.
Only disagreement is MotM. Has to be Koscielsny because had he not stopped Chadli weak effort we would have not taken the 3 points. Add in his fantastic performance throughout the game and he gets the nod.
As you rightly say, is there a better CB partnership in the PL?
Hi Lew, the tables will be updated this evening – as they now make much better viewing 😛
Wolfgang. True but TPIG has been very good this season and IMO is improving year on year. Any young GK will make mistakes but I agree with Kelsey that there needs to be pressure on him for the shirt, re-signing Fabianski would be great though I expect him to leave.
Thanks for he report Kelsey. I’m with you, we shouldn’t view the game as a lacklustre performance but as a magnificent defensive display. We haven’t been firing on all cylinders in attack for some time, but as many have said, its all about the 3 points now, not the opposition …. so job done 🙂
Good motning all, a fine match report Kesley and enough for me to forget your little gag at my expense re. the picture of the fortune teller Chas put up yesterday.
After the first 2 minutes following the rest of the game was a rather tense affair to put it mildly but 3 points is 3 points and no matter how much Tim “nice but dim” Sherwood says that this result only “papers over the cracks” for the Arsenal we won and the spuds didn’t.
Now we move onto the Chavs who are hopefully reeling a bit and will have the Eye gouger, Willian and Ramires banned for our trip to the bus stop in Fulham.
Sagna was once again superb and must be given whatever to takes to keep him at AFC.
If it is true he wants 100k a week and a signing -on fee then fair enough because it will be almost impossible to find a RB with his all round ability. His consistent excellence has forced me to change my mind about him (and the hidden man-love agenda)
Good to have something to read after a very satisfying win like that.
I have heard it mentioned a few times that spuds deserved a point as they had Arsenal on the back foot for most of the game.
Absolute tosh.
We played like that because we were one up, had spuds equalised we would have played differently but they didn’t. Simples.
The better side won as anyone who knows anything about football should understand.
The only thing I slightly differ on about the post is that I thought there was no single MOTM. For me Mertasaker and Koscielny were as good as each other and both deserving of the Men of the Match award.
I thought Oxlade-Chamberlain’s passing was often down right poor and was one of the reasons we were pegged back as much as we were. Rosicky was not that much better.
Arteta was our rock of maturity in the middle but he was being stretched too far. Move him further forward, add Flamini to cover his back, move Carzorla out to the left and put Podolski back on the bench.
———Szczney
Sagna, Mert, Koscielny, Gibbs
——–Flamini
—–Arteta, Rosicky
—Ox, Giroud, Cazorla
In fact I hope this is what happens next week.
LB. Oi …. that’s my team for the Chavs. Have you been reading my notes?
Cheers, kelsey, and a top o’the morning to you after such a fine report on Paddy’s Day. (Saint, not Vieira)
Maybe a feature of last season’s strong run-in was that ‘hold what we have’ mentality which we saw yesterday. If it results in three points, I’m all for it. 🙂
Looking at the 4th close-up camera view of the goal, Ox’s first touch looks poor but his second touch seems deliberate.
This was written by Sam Wallace of the Independent just over a year ago.
(Apologies, but I’ve cut and pasted the whole thing because the site has some really annoying adverts on it)
Tottenham Hotspur 2 Arsenal 1 match report: Lethal Spurs signal a changing of guard in north London
The great eras in football tend not to fall to pieces overnight or end in one great Hollywood finale, instead they disintegrate over months and years until one day no-one can quite recall what it was like when they so impregnable and so certain.
Arsenal will still be in fifth place in the Premier League come tomorrow, only five points off the Champions League places but, as so often is the case these days, they find themselves diminished.
Arsène Wenger has only ever lost five North London league derbies but the problem for him is that four of those defeats, including the one at White Hart Lane yesterday, have come in the last four seasons. Slowly, but perceptibly, these two clubs are passing one other in the natural order: it is Spurs who are the more powerful, the more dangerous and it is Arsenal who put up resistance, much of it admirable, but ultimately doomed to failure.
That was the nature of it yesterday, when Wenger’s side started the brighter until the big boys took charge towards the end of the first half. Gareth Bale, relatively subdued by his high standards scored the first, then Aaron Lennon, who out-shone Bale, added the second and suddenly we were again examining a range of mishaps familiar to the Arsenal of 2013.
This time it was the defence that was dreadfully out of tune in allowing almost identical balls in behind them from the Spurs’ left channel to permit first Bale and then Lennon to run at Wojciech Szczesny and undo much of the good work Arsenal had done up to that point. Szczesny shouted at Thomas Vermaelen, Vermaelen glared at Per Mertesacker and everyone wondered why Nacho Monreal had just stopped tracking Lennon’s run for the second.
Each time, the default position of Wenger is to confront his team’s mistakes as if they are a new phenomenon but really the same old errors are being perpetrated again and again. He pointed out yesterday that his side had the best defensive record in the league away from home until he was reminded that this was not the first time his side had fallen to two goals in quick succession.
There were echoes of the defeat at home to Manchester City in January when a 10-man Arsenal conceded two around the mid-stage of the first half and never recovered. The defeat to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the same month featured two decisive goals for the home side in the first 16 minutes. Reluctantly Wenger agreed. “It happened many times,” he said, “and only in the big games”.
There is much to admire about Wenger’s willingness to face up to the most difficult questions, as he did once again yesterday. But when he earnestly announced “We were not efficient in the zones where it matters: at the front and at the back”, you did get that looming feeling that satire could soon be pronounced redundant when it comes to this manager and this club.
Meanwhile, the same old tensions play out on the pitch. Jack Wilshere, the stand-out Arsenal performer again, tried desperately to create some kind of momentum with the anguished aspect of a man who realises he has come of age at the club 10 years too late for the good times. Mertesacker, even in spite of his goal, behaves as if every passing minute is an agony. No-one is capable of taking responsibility.
The decline is incremental. It is not as if Arsenal are bobbing around mid-table, but yesterday was another small descent further into mediocrity. The travelling support rose to the defence of their manager when he was taunted by the Spurs fans but back at the Emirates when they face Reading later this month, you can imagine that the mood will be different if things go awry.
The likelihood of the putative Middle East consortium’s takeover of Arsenal reported yesterday is difficult to judge, but the very suggestion of it is one more black crow on Wenger’s shoulder. He has fought for Arsenal to be run according to his principles for so long but there is very little he can say about Spurs with an annual wage bill of around £50m less than their Champions League-flush rivals.
And this was Spurs’ day. Not, as might have been expected in the past, a heroic one-off in which they reached beyond their everyday capabilities to chisel out a famous win. This time they simply exerted their own superiority over Arsenal.
This Tottenham side has better players, it is more robust and better organised and while there were moments when Arsenal had more of the ball and greater pressure, Andre Villas-Boas’ team never looked on the rack.
There was an exceptional performance from his central defensive pairing, especially the Belgium international Jan Vertonghen who was simply superb against the limited Olivier Giroud. So too Michael Dawson on whose future it could be said Villas-Boas got lucky. At the start of the season he was prepared to lose this redoubtable Yorkshireman who has now started the last nine league games.
There was little spark from Arsenal old boy Emmanuel Adebayor, taken off injured in the second half, but he was replaced by Jermain Defoe, back for the first time in a month. Bale was quiet, sticking too rigidly to a central role when he might have had more joy attacking Carl Jenkinson down the left, but he still scored his 20th Spurs goal of the season. Gylfi Sigurdsson, picked ahead of Lewis Holtby, was well worth his place in the team.
Sigurdsson spotted Bale’s run for the first goal on 36 minutes of a game that Arsenal had hitherto had the upper hand. Then Scott Parker, another solid performer, broke from the same position on the left to pick out Lennon’s run from right to left and the winger took the ball around Szczesny. Pushed into a corner, there is simply not the confidence in this Arsenal team to turn games around.
Mertesacker’s header from Theo Walcott’s free-kick from the right six minutes after the break flicked off Bale’s head on its way in but after that there was precious little. Aaron Ramsey, switched to right-back after Jenkinson went off injured, struck a shot wide, so too did Walcott with a free-kick. The life slowly waned in Arsenal’s game, much as it once did with Spurs in these derbies back in a past that feels increasingly distant.
Fine report Kelsey, I must say that I enjoy your style.
A key victory as it (almost) ensures that we will be in the CL and most importantly makes it nigh on impossible for Spurs to make the CL.
Our chances of winning the PL are still improbable but if we can win with Mike Dean reffing at the cockerel coop then we can win anything at anytime..
My view of it is that Oxlade-Chamberlain’s first touch was a superb piece of improvisation and the second was superbly deliberate.
Is it my imagination or does Adebarndoor run at least twice as far in a game against us than he does against anyone else?
Right off out for Paddy’s Day with Ant and some Irish friends. Could get messy. 😆
What a bad combination, I just noticed that tonight will be a full moon and its St. Patrick’s Day.
………………………………………………………………………………
Paddy’s racing snail is not winning races anymore. So he decided to take it’s shell off to reduce it’s weight and make him more aerodynamic.
It didn’t work, if anything it made him more sluggish.
You’ve convinced me, LB, both were brilliant. 🙂
That’s the sort of joke that creeps up on you!
I think I’ll slide off now.
LB
I have to disagree about the Ox. He is still a pup has been brought into the team earlier than AW wanted, due primarilly to Ramsey’s injury and he and Rosicky very occasionally were our only outlet to get our few attacks going. he is very confident, had a couple of attempts at scoring,which admitedly weren’t that good but as I mentioned in the post one of those he chose the wrong option with Podolski free, but Giroud was annonomous for most of the game,especially the few attacks we had, so IMO he was no better or worse than some others.
Really off now
Kelsey
My comment on the Ox was how I saw his passing yesterday. The occasion when he could have played Podolski in but chose to shoot is the memorable one but there were a succession of poor passes throughout the game in which we conceded possession unnecessarily.
I would have thought you as someone who writes match reports would have understood. You obviously wrote your report on how you saw the game yesterday. Don’t you find it frustrating when you express your concern over a player’s performance and then someone comes on and says something like — he is only a pup, just filling in while Ramsey is injured.
Please tell me what that has got to do with Oxlade-Chamberlain’s performance yesterday?
Well from a neutral viewpoint I thought that AO was both superb and sloppy. His explosive energy was what won us the game and kept the Spurs defense on guard the whole game. Without him our game and most likely the result would have been disastrous. On the other hand he both created and then in turn wasted the remainder of our legitimate chances to score.
LB
I think we all agree that the Ox chose the wrong option when he should or could have passed to Podolski,but of course if he had scored,we wouldn’t be talking about it.
When I said he is only a pup, you know as well as I that he has just only returned from a long injury and going by the way AW normally works,he likes to gradually players in.IMO he is a future star for Arsenal,maybe a little to keen sometimes but at least he gives his all.
If Ramsey or even Wltshire or Theo were fit he may not have played yesterday,but anyway it’s not an argument,just an opinion.
Hi Kelsey
I wrote that comment very quickly on my way out. I actually don’t think we disagree, we are just saying different things.
I thought his passing was sloppy and if I have understood you properly: you think he is a future Arsenal star in the making.
If that is what you are saying then I agree.
Probably a more accurate view of his performance yesterday is summed up well by GN5.
“I thought AO was both sloppy and superb”.
What the heck, we won and AO’s part in the goal was decisive. I am sure there is one thing we can all agree on and that is:
It is a great day to be an Arsenal supporter.
I forgot to mention it was nice to see Pat Rice sitting in the Stands.I hope he makes a full recovery.
As to United,my crystal ball definitely suggests that RVP is not a happy bunny despite what he said a few days ago.
As so many have pointed out,that we only took one point off them this season is a crying shame.
I loved the report especially the goal keeper part. I have maintained that Woj should not be given the free pass for the number 1 spot and he needs to earn it regularly. He is good but he has his moments when he just sees the flash lights go and he wants to be the hero or knight in shining armour.
This was a game which should have been dead and buried by half time. Spuds have a poor defense and i mean seriously poor. Arsenal should have killed the game and been atleast 3 goals to the good at half time. Yet we dint and hence they felt they had a chance but honestly they never looked like scoring barring once when chadli had an open goal and then found 2 mean machines in front of him.
Rozza what a goal, contender for individual goal of the season for us.Sagna excellent, Gibbs definitely out of fitness. Santi and Arteta i felt were average, Poldi average to but the biggest disappointment was Giroud, i mean seriously the guy needs to run, he is a hard trier but if he cant run then it becomes tough to score in this team which plays more on the ground than in the air. Giroud is crucial for us but he needs to read the play better.
Pool starting to worry, they have city and chelsea at home in april and if they even get 4 points of those then they just may go all the way, they need to drop points and we need to pick up atleast a point at the bridge. Aaron still missing for the bridge, swansea and city games means we need someone from the midfield to step and score, santi please or else will we finally see the kallstrom arrival?
Cheers Kelsey
Brilliant defensive performance. Reminded me of the good old days. I think we finished the game with nine defensively minded players. Hilarious. hahaha
The player that caught my was Soldaldo. He cut a forlorn character on the bench. Tinges of sadness and moments were his eyes welled up were observed. Mind you, he was sitting near Stefen Freund, so that might explain it.
When he was coming on, he had the look of a desperate school boy. Anxiety seemed to take over, especially when Freund was giving him instructions.
I couldn’t see one of Freunds hands.
And then he blew it. Running around like a headless chicken and in final desperation committing a foul and getting himself booked.
I really felt for the guy
Is there a word for someone who sets up something bad and then makes out hes a hero by saving the day? Well, thats me.
I will befriend Soldaldo by faking a mugging and then turning up to save him
I wish to get close to him. Eventually stealing his house keys and even identity. Lets face it. I could score more goals than him. Totnumb fans will thank me.
One day he will come home, from another game were he has failed to score, and find me in his kitchen wearing nothing but a skimpy Arsenal pinny.
Yes, I think I would like to befriend Soldaldo.
Just look at Mertsacker:
http://gfycat.com/RedShockedCrayfish
Giroud is coming under far too much criticism he gives his all every time he is on the pitch.
How many times is it Giroud who is back assisting the defense and making clearing headers?
The Spurs defense are the latest incarnation of the Orcs all 6′ plus trees – who would want to run into them for 90+ minutes?
Of course he needs help up front – that’s obvious, but remember he is the lone attacker, when others come forward its Giroud who is making room for their runs by pulling defense-men away – give him a break!
Wow!!
Did my last post scare everybody off??
Gn5. No …. but some of our bloggers are having to work for a living.
I just gave an English lesson to a poor befuddled Dane who thinks L’pool will win the title!
BR;
I work very hard at – boring as many people as I can!
Well my reviews aren’t stirring many to comment. Not sure if that’s a good or bad thing.
Kelsey,
You would think that after mashing the spuds there would be lots of comments, but of late nobody seems interested. Its not the quality of the posts that’s at issue its down to general disinterest in blogging.
But then again what do we know – we are old and retired.
I think we need Rocky to come up with a really controversial post and headline that will awaken the dead!
I agree Gn5, it has nothing to do with the posts.
It seems there are fewer people interested in blogging at the moment. Whether that changes when we win the title we shall have to wait and see 😀
From my own point of view I write for myself and my friends on AA, if others want to comment then great, but if not, I do not take it personally.
FIFA want a world wide ban on Anelka
BR – I whole heartedly agree.
[…] on the ArsenalArsenal blog calls her post “Just two minutes of magic and Mozart Composes another beauty,” calling Rosicky’s goal “a wonder goal, if not our best long range shot of the […]
her post 🙂
Hi Kelsey
Sorry not around to indulge in your excellent post
As I said on the blower, I had a busy day which just goes on getting worse. Now have phone calls to US about to kick Off
Will put in a monster motning session 😀
Evening everyone, Rocky is away at the moment so we need a post for tomorrow and more for the rest of the week ……. so get typing 🙂
Peaches I’ve got Friday covered.
thank you Kelsey for the post, very enjoyable read. Completely agree about Szczesny, I really think that Fabianski will be a better goalie, but GiE doesn’t agree, so it seems we are stuck with Szcz
I suppose we didn’t park busses before, because we didn’t have a strong defence for many a season. it is different now and as Micky said teams need to know that we have a bus for emergencies.
Peaches. One in the loading bay.
Great result, lets just enjoy that without criticising our boys!!!
Great report, Kelsey. 😀 Sorry no time to blog today. But just one observation.
The Ox is very resilient to strong arm tactics, or persistent fouling, probably much more so than any other Arsenal player. He is a strong young man and I think in time will develop into a great star. I thought his performance was a bright spot against Spuds.
Kelsey a good solid report that reflected the performance.
I have to admit I spent much of the second Hal asking us to get up the pitch and pressure the ball higher when not in possession but I think that’s because (as others have said) we are just not use to seeing us park up.
I think maybe there was a a element of energy conservation as we have some tough games coming with a stretched squad.
Think Ox’s glaring miss was caused by getting caught in two minds, think he was going for the chip finish but then he thought about drinking it to Pod and ended up doing neither. If we had taken the second I doubt many would have complained about the rest of the performance.
On Szczesny I was screaming at him not to go for thy second high ball, again keeper psychology, failed to hold the first cross (probably fouled) but them trying to atone on the very next ball even if he shouldn’t really go for it. Which was the case with that second cross. But after that I don’t think he put a foot/glove wrong coming to claim a number of crosses and showing good handling the rest of the game.
Exile
That’s exactly what I thought about the Ox miss. Two minds. Just highlights his generous spirit 🙂
It’s that selfish streak that all great strikers have, well that, and belief.
Ooooo Oooo oooo tepid gossip
According to our postman, John, Ollie is definitely leaving at the end of the season. John, who sounds and looks like a farmer, says it’s some kind of marriage saving ultimatum.
Micky weirdly I think Ox shows himself to be full of belief, but that split second a doubt flickered that there was a better option. We know how comfortable the lad is with ball at feet and I just don’t believe he would have dragged that chip if he was fully committed to it.
Kelsey
Now come in and take a pew. We need a little chat.
I take it this line “the need for support for Giroud with a world class striker really became apparent in this game” means you want a striker to play at the same time as Ollie?
If so, no Kelsey, it’s instead of. Ollie would be a superb plan b. Come on to form a two when rally chasing a game and so on, but never a two from the start.
This is the meeting that starts that gossip Micky
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2581273/EXCLUSIVE-What-Arsenal-striker-Olivier-Giroud-deciding-secret-meeting-agent-Muzzy-Ozcan.html
Exile
I think we’re agreeing, and I reckon we’d also agree there has never been a more talented 20 yr old Englishman at Arsenal.
John reads the Mail !!!
I highly doubt it. The Sport would be the most we could expect.
Exile
The article says nothing about a marriage ultimatum.
Perhaps John really does read the Sport after all. Or Guardian even :-
Papers like The Mail are just so pc wet. They kept referring to Ollie’s love interest (ha ha) as an Underwear Model.
Let’s be clear, there are other words for an Underwear Model 🙂
Peaches
I see your Nag 🙂
I’ll do one for weds, as I see BR has loaded one for today.
By the way Kelsey,
I loved the “Mozart composes” in the title. Never seen that used before. Very poetic.
If you look at the Ox “miss” carefully you will notice that the ball bobbled just before he was going to chip it.
Very unlucky.
I don’t believe he was in two minds, again if you look carefully the Podolski pass was not actually on. It is only Lucas’s raised hands in frustration that give us the impression that it was.
LB
Ah ha, the bobble. Brilliant, I’ll take that any day of the week.
Heck, he’s young, and yet still carried our most potent counter-attacking threat from midfield
The Ox is a very exciting prospect.
I find it difficult to work out how Wenger is going to square the Walcott, Ox, Gnabry circle. The first two now regard themselves as automatic starters and Gnabry will not be happy sitting on the bench for what could be the whole season with the other two ahead of him.
Reckon Pod was screaming for a square pass as he made his way into the box…..that is if he could muster a call whilst sprinting 😀
But i’ll take the bobble.
Micky how are we judging talent? I’d put Rocky in the mix for most talented English 20year old we have had at Arsenal, and Tony Adams but as i say depends what we mean by talent.
English Talent at Arsenal: There’s a flippin’ post right there 🙂
On your first question. Mmm, depends on where you see Ox playing. Depends on whether you see Theo playing central (as Arsene said he could), and depends on whether you think all three would ever be fit at the same time 🙂
Morning All. I like the bobble, and as LB says the pass wasn’t on.
Does Mrs Giroud think that by taking her man back to France it will curb his extra-curricular activities? If so, she is much mistaken. In the words of the great Barry Armpit of the Sun “once a love-rat, always a love-rat”
English Talent: Tony Adams
Right now, all three 🙂
Ox Theo Serge
……Mesut
..Flamini Ramsey
Exile
Rocky is a great shout, but Adams had very little talent, just heart of a lion.
Yeah but Raddy, maybe the other Arsenal Wags are giggling behind her back and pointing at her. Can’t control her man. Weak woman for putting up with it and so on.
Must be kind of humiliating for her.
Sorry LB and Exile
I was answering both of your points at the sam time.
Must go now.
Micky. That is cobblers. TA was an AFC regular at 17. You don’t do that without major talent. At 18 he was first choice CB alongside O’Leary. England CB at just 20.
It is true his skills were disguised by his battling aggression but he was the best in his position for almost 20 years.
And he is an MBE (and loony)
All 3 fit at the same time, well wishful thinking. I think Ox will be great central midfield, would love to see Theo and Reus/Griezmann as our wingers, Reus will be a dream come true.
Morning all
I was being diplomatic when refering to Ollie in my post. Mixky 🙂
All this bolloxs that is in The Sun about Ollie’s wife wanting them to go back to France so he can’t commit adultery.
I have an idea about a post as we approach Wenger’s 1000 games in charge this weekend.
I would be happy with third this season and the FA Cup to boot but there is a distinct possibility that apart from Fabianski,Bedtner Park and Djourou all leaving we may also lose Sagna,Vermaelen and it’s 50-50 if Podolski stays.
I know they are all replaceable but that needs quite a lot of money and the squad is already light.
We need someone on the left. Drexler seems an ideal fit and is young enough to be developed into a TH type attacker
I was typing when you said the same thing Raddy
Anyone listen to Bob Wilson last night talking about Wenger and how he helped Bob during the time his daughter was diagonosed as being terminally ill and eventually died.
I have a lot of time for Bob.Of course he is a staunch Wenger supporter,but someone very close to me was interviewed by Bob, and he really is a charming man.
Raddy
Not here, but, Tony is one of my all time favourites, but at 20 you cannot say he’s ball skills were precise
Ball skills – Talent
Two ends of the same stick.
Different people are picking up different ends.
Adams never had great ball skills but he was one hell of a talented defender.
Morning all. I was weirdly both happy and disappointed by the game. After the goal we should have punished them again and maybe again again. We had 2-3 counter attack chances because they were playing such a high defensive line but were not ruthless in delivering the moment and sometimes making the wrong choices. They continued to play the high line so these moments should have continued and we should have punished them more on the break and had a more comfortable win. Instead the ox started to play deeper so was less in a position to get behind them and ollie remained the furthest up. He is unable to exploit that space behind so they became comfortable pushing onto us and the game took on the resemblance of us being an underdog team holding out against a better side. This for me is becoming our slight achilles heal. I agree with micky earlier that the addition of a top pacy striker resolves this and ollie should become our other option up top. A quick thought. If we had been playing with th14 in his prime and they had pushed their defence so high what would have happened?
GB. We would have mullered them 😀
Kelsey and raddy i agree with both your 7.43 comments.
Sorry for my poor english but writing from phone via the norske mountains.
I would love to see the Norske mountains. May take a tour in autumn
Great views up here raddy. A bit more spectacular than micky’s mount wank turned out to be.
Morning all
kelsey – GN5 already has the 1,000th game covered.
Just gonna rummage in the cupboard ………….
We have a New Post ………………..