@Ekeemz
Who would you give the Man of the Match award to then? It was definitely Ramires' in my opinion. Bad refereeing or not, he was still the best man on the pitch. Not only did the two chances that resulted in goals for Chelsea pass by him, he still destroyed and outplayed the midfield of Arsenal this game, that's completely undeniable. The referee definitely had some wrong calls this game but things like this unfortunately happen all the time. I think the result 2-1 represented well what happened in this game anyways. Chelsea was amazing in the beginning of the game, even the commentators here who are clearly against Chelsea were impressed. And when they went 2-0 they started to slow down the game. It's only natural that Arsenal had more chances then. Arsenal anyways built up some immense pressure in the final minutes but they didn't look particularly like they were going to score or turn this around in my opinion. Arsenal really misses RVP. It's clearly noticeable.
Can't believe Ramires got man of the match, referee really helped him out this week, constantly fouling arsenal only got blown up for 2 and dived to clinch the game, absolutely woeful refereeing. It wasn't helped much but Arsenals dire performance in the first half, although I think they deserved at least a point really stuck it to them in the second half, but typical chelsea parked the bus and waited it out.
Sagna's been in poor form lately. Not sure how he rated a 7.
Agree with Elbeast. I have an outside perspective on Arsenal and Giroud does not seem to be the striker you're looking for and Walcott is simply too inconsistent in front of goal to be that man either. Arsenal need someone to fill the RvP void. Also agree that Wilshere plays better further back on the pitch.
I agree with Elbeast. Sagna was often caught out of position and his passes/crosses were totally predictable. Gibbs has really improved alot this season. It's really obvious that we miss Arteta. If everyone had Wilshere's mentality we wouldn't have any problems with this issue.
How is Sagna rated 7? Gibbs played a far better game than Sagna did. Coquelin definitely deserves more than 6.3 for his performance, Giroud and Torres were both abysmal.
That said, it seems like Arsenal only really start believing in themselves after their first goal. Chelsea could only occasionaly start a counter attack after the 60th minute. If Arsenal would start each game with that mentality, they wouldn't have conceded two early goals. Their last 30 minutes show there's hope. The quality is mostly there, it's the mentality that's sometimes wrong. I also think it's clear that Giroud isn't the striker we need, but neither is Walcott. Given Ramsey's recent performances he should've been in the starting 11 instead of Coquelin. Wilshere performs much better as a dynamic CM than as a CAM.
Kudos to Wenger at the end for his substitutes. Hope Oxlade-Chamberlain is back soon though.
@Thypot the 5 scored last year was a direct result of the borderline crackpot pressing AVB was implementing (/trying to implement/). Safe to say (*crosses fingers*) Arsenal won't score 5 this year, though they have a chance in this match.
@ Infamous I find the distinction between 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3 to often be vague, so I wrote both. In fact, Arsenal often looks like a lopsided 4-1-3-2 when Walcott is on the wing and playing high up the pitch while Jack/Cazorla's roles overlap. Really, all you need to know are the # of central defenders, central mids, strikers, and sets of wing players, so the simpler the notation, the better. And if that's true, even 4-3-3 isn't perfect. Anyway, I digress.
These Arsenal-Chelsea matchups always seem to lack tactical interest. 4-3-3/4-2-3-1s against one another. Mata and Cazorla's movement to be the most interesting, surely.
Arsenal just need to not get a man sent off in the first 10 minutes and i reckon they could win this. Scored 5 last season and chels doing badly at home
@Ekeemz Who would you give the Man of the Match award to then? It was definitely Ramires' in my opinion. Bad refereeing or not, he was still the best man on the pitch. Not only did the two chances that resulted in goals for Chelsea pass by him, he still destroyed and outplayed the midfield of Arsenal this game, that's completely undeniable. The referee definitely had some wrong calls this game but things like this unfortunately happen all the time. I think the result 2-1 represented well what happened in this game anyways. Chelsea was amazing in the beginning of the game, even the commentators here who are clearly against Chelsea were impressed. And when they went 2-0 they started to slow down the game. It's only natural that Arsenal had more chances then. Arsenal anyways built up some immense pressure in the final minutes but they didn't look particularly like they were going to score or turn this around in my opinion. Arsenal really misses RVP. It's clearly noticeable.
Can't believe Ramires got man of the match, referee really helped him out this week, constantly fouling arsenal only got blown up for 2 and dived to clinch the game, absolutely woeful refereeing. It wasn't helped much but Arsenals dire performance in the first half, although I think they deserved at least a point really stuck it to them in the second half, but typical chelsea parked the bus and waited it out.
Sagna's been in poor form lately. Not sure how he rated a 7. Agree with Elbeast. I have an outside perspective on Arsenal and Giroud does not seem to be the striker you're looking for and Walcott is simply too inconsistent in front of goal to be that man either. Arsenal need someone to fill the RvP void. Also agree that Wilshere plays better further back on the pitch.
I agree with Elbeast. Sagna was often caught out of position and his passes/crosses were totally predictable. Gibbs has really improved alot this season. It's really obvious that we miss Arteta. If everyone had Wilshere's mentality we wouldn't have any problems with this issue.
How is Sagna rated 7? Gibbs played a far better game than Sagna did. Coquelin definitely deserves more than 6.3 for his performance, Giroud and Torres were both abysmal. That said, it seems like Arsenal only really start believing in themselves after their first goal. Chelsea could only occasionaly start a counter attack after the 60th minute. If Arsenal would start each game with that mentality, they wouldn't have conceded two early goals. Their last 30 minutes show there's hope. The quality is mostly there, it's the mentality that's sometimes wrong. I also think it's clear that Giroud isn't the striker we need, but neither is Walcott. Given Ramsey's recent performances he should've been in the starting 11 instead of Coquelin. Wilshere performs much better as a dynamic CM than as a CAM. Kudos to Wenger at the end for his substitutes. Hope Oxlade-Chamberlain is back soon though.
arshavin in dire form
Torres or Giroud - who's worse?
Oh come on, Torres 7.2 rating? This should be around 6.5
chelsea dint perform in second half..so bad..
Why on earth is Torres still on the pitch instead of Demba Ba?
Diaby & Sagna were horrible in the 1st half
torres is horrible
@Thypot the 5 scored last year was a direct result of the borderline crackpot pressing AVB was implementing (/trying to implement/). Safe to say (*crosses fingers*) Arsenal won't score 5 this year, though they have a chance in this match.
arsenal win 5:3
@ Infamous I find the distinction between 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3 to often be vague, so I wrote both. In fact, Arsenal often looks like a lopsided 4-1-3-2 when Walcott is on the wing and playing high up the pitch while Jack/Cazorla's roles overlap. Really, all you need to know are the # of central defenders, central mids, strikers, and sets of wing players, so the simpler the notation, the better. And if that's true, even 4-3-3 isn't perfect. Anyway, I digress.
@LessBlues They are both playing 4-2-3-1 at the moment though
in my opinion, clear BTS.
Arsenal scored 5 last year, but we had van Persie! Come on Gunners!
I prefer Arsenal to win this one.. Probably not, but it may.
These Arsenal-Chelsea matchups always seem to lack tactical interest. 4-3-3/4-2-3-1s against one another. Mata and Cazorla's movement to be the most interesting, surely.
Arsenal just need to not get a man sent off in the first 10 minutes and i reckon they could win this. Scored 5 last season and chels doing badly at home