Why are we blaming the players...

[Guest Ant]

Wenger outclassed Benitez, Wenger was spot on in every sense, we attacked they counter attacked and always looked threatening, they look comfortable and We were never going to get back from 2-0 down.

 

When you think...

 

That was our best atmosphere since God Knows when

 

We are imense at home

 

Them two combined normally mean a rout, but Arsenal came here had a plan and stuck to it, Toure was maginifcent, Rosicky had his best game in an Arsenal shirt and Henry was back to his best as usual.

 

Well ourselves...Them kind of games are when you need the mighty Momo

[Guest Kev]

Yes, Rafa has to take a lot of blame as well as the players. Why the f*** Bellamy never came on is a mystery.

[jimmylibel]

Arsenal played well and their tactics were spot on but to say Rafa was outclassed is OTT. Big games like this are on a knife edge. If you cut the individual errors out of that performance at best Arsenal get a draw.

 

As Knox has said in another thread they were set up to capitalise on those kind of mistakes but I really don't think Rafa got it wrong.

[Guest Kev]

but I really don't think Rafa got it wrong.

 

One word...........................DUDEK.

[Guest Ant]

I'm not blaming Rafa at all by the way I am praising an Imense performance from the visitors

[George Costanza]

I'm not blaming Rafa at all by the way I am praising an Imense performance from the visitors

 

was it f***. we made 3 defensive errors which they capitised from. It was completeyly our own fault we lost today. In some ways a bit like our last dometic defeat at home.

Edited January 6, 2007 by coltmanaman

[jimmylibel]

One word...........................DUDEK.

 

Well I meant tactically... I would have picked Reina too but I don't think anyone could have anticipated that kind of performance from Dudek. I actually reckon today was worse than THAT game against the Mancs.

[Sion]

I don't think Wenger outclassed him that much. Had Reina been in goal they might not have scored 1, and us won 1-0. It was pretty even in terms of the overall game.

[Guest Kev]

Well I meant tactically... I would have picked Reina too but I don't think anyone could have anticipated that kind of performance from Dudek. I actually reckon today was worse than THAT game against the Mancs.

 

As soon as we were passed the team, everyone in the office went

[Guest Ant]

was it f***. we made 3 defensive errors which they capitised from. It was completeyly our own fault we lost today. In some ways a bit like our last dometic defeat at home.

 

 

Defensive errors which shouldn't of happend...It was Arsenal's gameplan to make the break when they had the ball our s*** defence bar Finnan gifted them the win

[Earl Hafler]

I don't think Wenger outclassed him that much. Had Reina been in goal they might not have scored 1, and us won 1-0. It was pretty even in terms of the overall game.

 

And Rafa doesn't know Carra is going to be such a t**t, or Gerrard's going to shirk challenges like a big girl's blouse.

 

Mistakes in keeper selection and after we were 2 nil down but all their goals could - and should - have been prevented before Dudek had chance to f**k them up.

[George Costanza]

Defensive errors which shouldn't of happend...It was Arsenal's gameplan to make the break when they had the ball our s*** defence bar Finnan gifted them the win

 

agreed. But it certain ly wasn't an 'immense' performance by Arsenal. If (except Kuyt) we had one attcking player with an ounce of fight we would have made more of the pressure. We were the better team for the majority of the game.

[Jarg Armani]

it was all a bit odd. the burnley argument again, does rafa rate the FA cup?

[DazzlaJ]

Why are we blaming the players?

 

 

Quote by Ant 'Defensive errors which shouldn't of happend!'

 

Thats why

[Chili Palmer]

it was all a bit odd. the burnley argument again, does rafa rate the FA cup?

 

Of course he does, bar Dudek, that was our strongest team available. Bad performance by the defence, not Rafas fault

[Guest Kev]

it was all a bit odd. the burnley argument again, does rafa rate the FA cup?

 

With the exception of Dudek, the outfield 10 was probably his first choice.

[Jarg Armani]

i'm not saying i don't think he rates it, but it was a bit fishy.

no unenforced substitutions? (riise coming off was enforced by his extremely minty game)

[Guest Kev]

(riise coming off was enforced by his extremely minty game)

 

Second chuckle of the evening - thanks.

[Guest sniffer]

was it f***. we made 3 defensive errors which they capitised from. It was completeyly our own fault we lost today. In some ways a bit like our last dometic defeat at home.

 

Correct. We had one shot on goal and got one goal. They had three shots on goal and got three goals. Not rocket science. they held our attack with ease much of the time and they didn't have a full side out either.

[Stevie H]

3 defensive f***-ups, 3 goals. otherwise arsenal had nothing it was a 0-0 or 1-0 to us game. to say that rafa got anything wrong tactically is miles off.

[alias75]

Dudek is more than capable of stopping at least 2 of the goals the fact he didnt is hardly Rafas fault is it?

 

Its very easy to blame team selection and tactics after the game but as a manager how can you plan for the type of individual errors we say today?

 

Before the goals we were the better team, we werent creating much but we were forcing the issue, the 2nd goal near HT was obviously crucial, the 3rd is to be expected when your pushing for an equaliser but even that should have been stopped.

 

Games against the top sides are usually decided by 1 piece f magic or more often 1 error, at the moment i feel Utd, Chelsea and Arsenal have more potential gamebreakers than we do and that could be where we need to improve.

[Elisha_Scott]

Wenger outclassed Benitez, Wenger was spot on in every sense, we attacked they counter attacked and always looked threatening, they look comfortable and We were never going to get back from 2-0 down.

 

When you think...

 

That was our best atmosphere since God Knows when

 

We are imense at home

 

Them two combined normally mean a rout, but Arsenal came here had a plan and stuck to it, Toure was maginifcent, Rosicky had his best game in an Arsenal shirt and Henry was back to his best as usual.

 

Well ourselves...Them kind of games are when you need the mighty Momo

 

Oh for f***s sake, shut up. Wenger outclassed Benitez, if you seriously believe that then you need to learn the meaning of the word 'tactic'.

Please explain how Dudek being absolutely f***ing attrocious is Rafas fault.

 

Oh, another thing, best atmosphere since god knows when, it was s****, the mosaic killed the 'match' atmosphere. It was weird. Granted it was for the right reasons, bit wasn't a 'good' atmosphere.

Edited January 7, 2007 by Elisha_Scott

[Guz]

Any side that comes to Anfield and restricts us to just one shot on target has done it's job. Wenger got it spot on but we also contributed to our downfall with poor decision making at the back and being clueless in attack

[Cheesecake]

Does anyone think that maybe, just maybe, going out of the cup at the first hurlde might assist us for the rest of the season?

League Cup QF, CL v Barcelona, league games to make sure we finish top 4....

 

I reckon its better to get knocked out early than later, reasoning is that your still knocked out and so dont win it, but replays, more games are not necessarily a good thing - tiredness, injuries etc etc.

 

Help me here as I'm looking for positives after being knocked out of a major cup comp.

 

I'm not suggesting this is ideal or what I would have wanted but given a choice of cups I'd take the CL thanks. Perhaps we'll look back in May and say it was a blessing I dont know. But going out to Arsenal is no embarassment and I'd rather it happened now and give us an opportunity to focus elsewhere than it happenned in April in a semi final.

 

I'm sure there are many who'll disagree and are (rightly) upset that we're out. Just trying to look at the bigger picture my self.

 

Thats all!

[RafaShanks]

I actually reckon today was worse than THAT game against the Mancs.

 

Which one?