Arsenal 2 Saints 0 post match

[mrfahaji]

The result was not a huge surprise, but when you throw away wins against Cardiff and Burnley, you can't afford to have many of those matches where you almost accept losing. Especially as the argument for not winning those six pointers is that we struggle against teams who defend deep. Soon we will be accepting losses in every match on the basis that we struggle against sides who play professional football.

 

The most frustrating thing is how quickly individual mistakes ruin any possibility of implementing a game plan. The Tenerife trip looks totally pointless, but who knows how we would have set up throughout the match if either Redmond scores with that first opportunity or Stephens wasn't playing. But of course the latter comes down to the manager's team selection.

[stevy777_x]

Je

Face it. We're going down.

 

Face it we are not

[mrfahaji]

Waited until I had seen the highlights before commenting, but clearly neither goal was the fault of Stephens today. Usual blaming the current fall guy without actually watching the action. Typical of this place these days. Not saying he didn't make other mistakes today, but those weren't.

 

He also wasn't to blame for the Cardiff winner because he wasn't marking Zohore

[BotleySaint]

Need 6 pts from the next 4 games. That is wins against Fulham and Brighton. And hope Cardiff lose all their games. It is possible! But I really can't see understand Ralphs team selection and tactics at the minute.

 

Hope Obafemi isn't out long.

[trousers]

I find this game they call 'Football' baffling at times...

 

There we are in January... Hassenhuttl has successfully instilled his high intensity methodology into the team, we look confident and are 5th in the form table with manager and player of the month nominations in the bag...

 

Then, within weeks, and with the same squad, we're back into 'lack of confidence mode', with that new found intensity and desire seemingly on the wane....

 

Baffled: That's me.

[derry]

Waited until I had seen the highlights before commenting, but clearly neither goal was the fault of Stephens today. Usual blaming the current fall guy without actually watching the action. Typical of this place these days. Not saying he didn't make other mistakes today, but those weren't.

 

Just before both goals Stephens had the ball under no pressure and with the team moving forward, he strolled forward and was dispossessed then Arsenal counterattacked and scored with us light at the back. Stephens losing the ball as he did against Cardiff led to both goals. He learnt nothing from the Cardiff game. I watched the whole game not just the highlights.

[Saint Billy]

The only positive I can give is that saints make betting look easy.

[Saint Pete]

Waited until I had seen the highlights before commenting, but clearly neither goal was the fault of Stephens today. Usual blaming the current fall guy without actually watching the action. Typical of this place these days. Not saying he didn't make other mistakes today, but those weren't.

 

I was at the game and for the second goal Stephens was definitely at fault, in precisely the same kind of way as he was in the Cardiff game. Giving the ball away under no initial pressure in a dangerous area for us.

 

I don't know what Ralph was thinking of starting him when he had Yoshida available.

 

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[Saint Pete]

I was at the game and for the second goal Stephens was definitely at fault, in precisely the same kind of way as he was in the Cardiff game. Giving the ball away under no initial pressure in a dangerous area for us.

 

I don't know what Ralph was thinking of starting him when he had Yoshida available.

 

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Should say, Gunn should also have done better with the poor back pass he was dealt with but the problem was Stephens making.

 

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[stknowle]

I find this game they call 'Football' baffling at times...

 

There we are in January... Hassenhuttl has successfully instilled his high intensity methodology into the team, we look confident and are 5th in the form table with manager and player of the month nominations in the bag...

 

Then, within weeks, and with the same squad, we're back into 'lack of confidence mode', with that new found intensity and desire seemingly on the wane....

 

Baffled: That's me.

 

New manager bounce then transfer window so **** that if our aim was to get relegated it could barely be improved upon.

[Saint Pete]

I find this game they call 'Football' baffling at times...

 

There we are in January... Hassenhuttl has successfully instilled his high intensity methodology into the team, we look confident and are 5th in the form table with manager and player of the month nominations in the bag...

 

Then, within weeks, and with the same squad, we're back into 'lack of confidence mode', with that new found intensity and desire seemingly on the wane....

 

Baffled: That's me.

It's not really that baffling for me. We had a poor squad before Ralph arrived, we have an even poorer squad after the January window.

 

Yes, we had a temporary bounce when Ralph arrived and he has definitely improved some aspects of our play. But we still have poor central defenders who regularly make mistakes that cost goals. And we still have little quality up front barring the guy who only plays half of our games due to injury. That will catch up with you in terms of results in the premier league.

 

The baffling thing for me is why the club saw fit to let Gabbi and Cedric leave without doing anything to help Ralph in terms of replacements.

 

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[Batman]

I find this game they call 'Football' baffling at times...

 

There we are in January... Hassenhuttl has successfully instilled his high intensity methodology into the team, we look confident and are 5th in the form table with manager and player of the month nominations in the bag...

 

Then, within weeks, and with the same squad, we're back into 'lack of confidence mode', with that new found intensity and desire seemingly on the wane....

 

Baffled: That's me.

 

Not sure why you are baffled. Quite obvious this drop would happen.

 

We got a new manager bounce. Hughes gave a little bounce last season.

 

You can quote form tables but we still went into the bottom 3. Added with making an already poor squad even weaker.

Edited 24 February, 2019 by Batman

[Manuel]

The baffling thing for me is why the club saw fit to let Gabbi and Cedric leave without doing anything to help Ralph in terms of replacements.

I suspect, with the results and progress RH was achieving, the club was confident we could survive with what we have, so we wait and look at the squad more seriously in the summer.

 

Now, a few injuries to the worse and a couple of poor results it seems like more of a gamble than I gave it credit for.

[hypochondriac]

I suspect, with the results and progress RH was achieving, the club was confident we could survive with what we have, so we wait and look at the squad more seriously in the summer.

 

Now, a few injuries to the worse and a couple of poor results it seems like more of a gamble than I gave it credit for.

Then the club are complete f*cking idiots. A blind person coukd see that was a giant gamble with zero guarantees.

[trousers]

It's not really that baffling for me. We had a poor squad before Ralph arrived, we have an even poorer squad after the January window.

 

That's fair enough, although the 3 senior players that left (Gabbi, Cedric and Hoedt) didn't really feature during the Ralph renaissance period, so, to my mind, there was every reason to believe we could continue the revival without those three players.

 

Yes, I get the 'new manager bounce' phenonmina, but I genuinely believed we we're witnessing a new dawn under Hassenhuttl, given the performances he was achieving with what are, admittedly, average players.

 

I guess that makes me a tad naive and/or overly optimistic on reflection.

 

If we don't get 3 points on Wednesday vs Fulham then consider me a recruit to the "we're doomed" brigade.

Edited 24 February, 2019 by trousers

[vectraman]

No Austin?

 

How are we ever going to win games when we have almost the least goal threat in the league (almost as I guess Huddersfield offer even less)?

 

You’re right, I’d neglected Austin - I was thinking of starting players, I just think Austin is too slow and unfit to start - better against a tiring team?

Our forward options are just so meh it hurts.

I just hope, our owner Gao doesn’t think youth players are the answer to everything. If our future is youth players, not quality signings, we are done for. If not this season, it’ll be next.

We are just so poor, so many substandard players in the squad, such poor recruitment, shortsightedness, seemingly tightness.

[badgerx16]

..... seemingly tightness.

I wouldn't describe as 'tight' a team that pays Forster as much as we do, or that pays Long at all.

[Dark Munster]

That's fair enough, although the 3 senior players that left (Gabbi, Cedric and Hoedt) didn't really feature during the Ralph renaissance period, so, to my mind, there was every reason to believe we could continue the revival without those three players.

 

Yes, I get the 'new manager bounce' phenonmina, but I genuinely believed we we're witnessing a new dawn under Hassenhuttl, given the performances he was achieving with what are, admittedly, average players.

 

I guess that makes me a tad naive and/or overly optimistic on reflection.

 

If we don't get 3 points on Wednesday vs Fulham then consider me a recruit to the "we're doomed" brigade.

It's a squad game, Lord T. Once Ings (predictably) got injured it exposed the lunacy of getting rid of Gabbi, who has the ability to score, as we all know. Certainly better than Nobody (his replacement). And if Valery is out injured/suspended, the loan of Cedric will also be exposed for the lunacy it was.

 

Good riddance to Hoedt I think we all agree.

[Chewy]

Hopefully a good thing. If we play five at the back on Wednesday then I'm predicting a loss. Bertrand, yoshi vest and Valery please.

 

Dropping bednarek is about the last thing I'd do right now. Maya is a great club servant, definitely better than Stephens, and possibly better than vesti, but I don't get the clamour to recall him like he's some sort of Sergio Ramos figure.

[hypochondriac]

Dropping bednarek is about the last thing I'd do right now. Maya is a great club servant, definitely better than Stephens, and possibly better than vesti, but I don't get the clamour to recall him like he's some sort of Sergio Ramos figure.

Sorry you're right I forgot about bednarek. Definitely don't play Stephens though whatever we do.

[Dark Munster]

I suspect, with the results and progress RH was achieving, the club was confident we could survive with what we have, so we wait and look at the squad more seriously in the summer.

 

Now, a few injuries to the worse and a couple of poor results it seems like more of a gamble than I gave it credit for.

I think you mean the club was confident we could survive with the current squad reduced by 3 capable senior players (plus Hoedt).

[Dark Munster]

BTW for those slating Stephens re the second goal, I disagree. Yes he got himself under unnecessary pressure initially, but he did get the ball back to Gunn, who tried to be clever by playing a quick pass to one of our players, and instead booted it straight to an Arsenal player (resulting in the goal). It was 100% Gunn's fault, who could easily have hoofed it to the half way line.

[sandwichsaint]

BTW for those slating Stephens re the second goal, I disagree. Yes he got himself under unnecessary pressure initially, but he did get the ball back to Gunn, who tried to be clever by playing a quick pass to one of our players, and instead booted it straight to an Arsenal player (resulting in the goal). It was 100% Gunn's fault, who could easily have hoofed it to the half way line.

 

I'm just watching sky, second goal 100% on Gunn, Stephens dithers, recovers, bails out to the keeper, Gunn should have hit it high long and handsome to the RW. Ridiculous all the posts I've seen this afternoon saying Stephens gave them two goals ... he gave them one, FACT.

[Pilchards]

Ridiculous all the posts I've seen this afternoon saying Stephens gave them two goals ... he gave them one, FACT.

 

He gave one in the last game too, hold on and the game before that?

Blimey when does a manager finally think it’s time to drop him for god sake.

[woodsaint]

I'm just watching sky, second goal 100% on Gunn, Stephens dithers, recovers, bails out to the keeper, Gunn should have hit it high long and handsome to the RW. Ridiculous all the posts I've seen this afternoon saying Stephens gave them two goals ... he gave them one, FACT.

 

Didnt know Jacks mates posted on here

[austsaint]

The result was not a huge surprise, but when you throw away wins against Cardiff and Burnley, you can't afford to have many of those matches where you almost accept losing. Especially as the argument for not winning those six pointers is that we struggle against teams who defend deep. Soon we will be accepting losses in every match on the basis that we struggle against sides who play professional football.

 

The most frustrating thing is how quickly individual mistakes ruin any possibility of implementing a game plan. The Tenerife trip looks totally pointless, but who knows how we would have set up throughout the match if either Redmond scores with that first opportunity or Stephens wasn't playing. But of course the latter comes down to the manager's team selection.

 

The trouble with your "if Redmond scores" and "Stephens wasn't playing" theory is the 3 or 4 easy goal opportunities Arsenal squandered and their complete "foot off the pedal" approach to the second half - let's face it; we were blown away by a far superior attacking unit. When we went 2 down it was hard to see where a goal was coming from with just Redmond and Armstrong advanced - and five at the back with three non-attacking midfielders. In taking Armstrong off (who looked quite threatening) we lost much of the limited attack we had - with little drive from midfield and no service to a threadbare attack it was apparent we would never get back in the game.

[Whitey Grandad]

I'm just watching sky, second goal 100% on Gunn, Stephens dithers, recovers, bails out to the keeper, Gunn should have hit it high long and handsome to the RW. Ridiculous all the posts I've seen this afternoon saying Stephens gave them two goals ... he gave them one, FACT.

Nah, I don’t agree. Stephens is not one accident waiting to happen, he’s a hatful of them. For the first goal he sloppily lost possession and instead of belting back as fast as his legs could carry him he lopes back at half pace, may have given a penalty away and is a spectator for Lacazette’s goal.

 

For the second he panicked and dithered and gave Gunn an awful pass to deal with.

 

This is the same Stephens who gave away a penalty at Burnley and under no pressure at all passed the ball straight to a Cardiff player deep into injury time.

 

He’s just not good enough.

[macca155]

Just watched MOTD as was out avoiding football this pm. The editor seems to have a different perspective to many posters.

 

We had chances, defended like Fulham for 20 mins but overall it seemed exactly what was expected.

 

We beat them they beat us, honours even move on.

 

Shame Stephens is struggling I had high hopes of him. Yoshi is a hardened pro, even if error prone, we need him back.

 

My god we need a striker. Why on earth sell Gabbi and when he was why not call back Carillo, he wasn't that bad. Play Gallagher or Adams, just roll the dice.

 

Lots of must win games now. Bet they end up as draws.

 

I'm not afraid of the Championship, it is a fun league. A bit of a deep clean can be useful.

 

Still not inevitable other teams are as rubbish as us.

 

 

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[Pilchards]

Just watched MOTD as was out avoiding football this pm. The editor seems to have a different perspective to many posters.

 

We had chances, defended like Fulham for 20 mins but overall it seemed exactly what was expected.

 

We beat them they beat us, honours even move on.

 

Shame Stephens is struggling I had high hopes of him. Yoshi is a hardened pro, even if error prone, we need him back.

 

My god we need a striker. Why on earth sell Gabbi and when he was why not call back Carillo, he wasn't that bad. Play Gallagher or Adams, just roll the dice.

 

Lots of must win games now. Bet they end up as draws.

 

I'm not afraid of the Championship, it is a fun league. A bit of a deep clean can be useful.

 

Still not inevitable other teams are as rubbish as us.

 

 

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Play Adams?!?

 

Thought we failed to sign him from Birmingham after they wanted an extra £2.50 which we refused to pay.

[OttawaSaint]

delete.

 

Completely wrong forum lol.

[Kingsbridge Saint]

Result was par but Arsenal put the car in neutral after 20 minutes. Bigger picture, we just need to finish above Cardiff. If we can't do that we deserve to go down. The players should be embarrassed they did the double over us. Massively damaging. I thought Bamba and Morrisson were comfortably going to be the worst Centre halves in the Prem this eason. Step forward Hoedt and Stephens. It's going to be tight.

[mattyg]

You’re right, I’d neglected Austin - I was thinking of starting players, I just think Austin is too slow and unfit to start - better against a tiring team?

Our forward options are just so meh it hurts.

 

I think you may well have been right first time, as Austin looked to have picked up groin injury with about 15 minutes to go.

[Badger]

 

I'm not afraid of the Championship, it is a fun league. A bit of a deep clean can be useful.

 

Still not inevitable other teams are as rubbish as us.

 

 

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It was fun the second time round when we had a settled team that were confident in their team mates, and brought the momentum from L1 and a winning mentality with them. Not too much fun the first time round under Lowe/Wilde, Redknapp, Burley, Poortvliet, etc. Which do you think it will be most like this time ?

[saints-cris]

Hardly season defining losing away at Arsenal. Predicted 2-0 and that's exactly what we got. The most frustrating thing for me was that it was game over before it even started. We so rarely make it tough for teams and it feels like this was just a repeat of so many other games against the 'big 6'.

 

What's so frustrating for me is that after the Everton game I was so confident we'd be fine. Just figured we'd pick up enough wins from that point to even hit the 40 point mark, but since then we've had some really bad results and are right back in it.

 

Move on to Fulham. It's going to be horrible this, just so much pressure and I hope beyond hope we get the win that we need.

[mrfahaji]

[/b]

 

The trouble with your "if Redmond scores" and "Stephens wasn't playing" theory is the 3 or 4 easy goal opportunities Arsenal squandered and their complete "foot off the pedal" approach to the second half - let's face it; we were blown away by a far superior attacking unit. When we went 2 down it was hard to see where a goal was coming from with just Redmond and Armstrong advanced - and five at the back with three non-attacking midfielders. In taking Armstrong off (who looked quite threatening) we lost much of the limited attack we had - with little drive from midfield and no service to a threadbare attack it was apparent we would never get back in the game.

 

It's a question more than a theory, and there isn't a flaw in it because at 0-1 or even 0-0 we may have had a different game plan which would have been more successful. At 1-0 and certainly 2-0 you have to try and score so of course are going to be more open at the back. I'm not saying that Arsenal wouldn't have managed to blow us away regardless, but it's clearly a different scenario if we score first or keep it tight for longer than six minutes.

[macca155]

Play Adams?!?

 

Thought we failed to sign him from Birmingham after they wanted an extra £2.50 which we refused to pay.

Doh wishful thinking, i meant Barnes

 

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[Roo1976]

The result was not a huge surprise, but when you throw away wins against Cardiff and Burnley, you can't afford to have many of those matches where you almost accept losing. Especially as the argument for not winning those six pointers is that we struggle against teams who defend deep. Soon we will be accepting losses in every match on the basis that we struggle against sides who play professional football.

 

The most frustrating thing is how quickly individual mistakes ruin any possibility of implementing a game plan. The Tenerife trip looks totally pointless, but who knows how we would have set up throughout the match if either Redmond scores with that first opportunity or Stephens wasn't playing. But of course the latter comes down to the manager's team selection.

 

Totally agree with all your assesment ............waste of time unless the team can become more coherentas ateam and help each other.

[Micky]

Edit - wrong thread..!

Edited 25 February, 2019 by Micky

[Chez]

We have a poor defence which we over-compensate for by playing the extra man, which doesn't really help much as they always make half a dozen mistakes in a match which even the poorest sides will capitalise on eventually, see Cardiff. So a clean sheet is almost impossible. We have an OK midfield albeit one dimensional, defensively orientated and slow, so when we go a goal down due to one of our defensive mistakes, it is very difficult for us to step up and change a game. We have a poor attack , given the current injuries so we compensate by playing an extra midfield player, who is neither quick or skilful enough to trouble even the poorest of Premier League defences. Unlike even the poorest of teams we do not have anyone who is dominant in the air , especially at the back so corners are a problem defensively, especially against the poorer side who generally have big bruiser centre backs who can get on to the end of things and either score or cause havoc. At the other end our corners are ineffective even with Ward Prowse decent deliveries as none of our centre backs want it enough (or are good enough ) to get on the end of them....apart from Yoshi, who is currently deemed as the worst of our 4 centre backs. We are playing 2 young full backs as wing backs and they are doing OK but rarely look like they are going to cause an attacking threat. Other teams play wingers as wing backs but we dont have any. We also lack pace throughout the side so quick counter attacks are off the menu. oh and we have nothing in reserve, in times of need we bring on Ely ....enough said there. Am i being overly negative?

 

good analysis ozzyman. I wouldnt say negative, just realistic.

[S-Clarke]

We have a poor defence which we over-compensate for by playing the extra man, which doesn't really help much as they always make half a dozen mistakes in a match which even the poorest sides will capitalise on eventually, see Cardiff. So a clean sheet is almost impossible. We have an OK midfield albeit one dimensional, defensively orientated and slow, so when we go a goal down due to one of our defensive mistakes, it is very difficult for us to step up and change a game. We have a poor attack , given the current injuries so we compensate by playing an extra midfield player, who is neither quick or skilful enough to trouble even the poorest of Premier League defences. Unlike even the poorest of teams we do not have anyone who is dominant in the air , especially at the back so corners are a problem defensively, especially against the poorer side who generally have big bruiser centre backs who can get on to the end of things and either score or cause havoc. At the other end our corners are ineffective even with Ward Prowse decent deliveries as none of our centre backs want it enough (or are good enough ) to get on the end of them....apart from Yoshi, who is currently deemed as the worst of our 4 centre backs. We are playing 2 young full backs as wing backs and they are doing OK but rarely look like they are going to cause an attacking threat. Other teams play wingers as wing backs but we dont have any. We also lack pace throughout the side so quick counter attacks are off the menu. oh and we have nothing in reserve, in times of need we bring on Ely ....enough said there. Am i being overly negative?

 

Have only just read this, it's a perfect read. It's exactly what our problems are.

 

Basically, without beating around the bush here, we need Cardiff to absolutely collapse as we have nothing. We were already poor enough before January, but we thought it was clever to make ourselves even poorer. You can’t even say that was a shrewd financial move, as they’ll all be back on the summer on their huge contracts anyway.

[derry]

You know what! Despite a season ticket I personally have had it with the incompetent clowns that are dragging us down. The same players time after time making the same mistakes through stupidity or arrogance, mostly Bentley class cars and millionaires, I just don't want to see another game with the unnecessary disappointment of the last three games. I don't think I'll even bother going. A bad result against Fulham I don't need. I get it, some of those ****s are doing their own thing despite the manager emphasising clearing out of the danger zone.

[Dusic]

We lost away at Arsenal, who have only lost against Man City at home this season.

 

What did some of you expect?

[CB Fry]

We lost away at Arsenal, who have only lost against Man City at home this season.

 

What did some of you expect?

I think most of us expected to go into that game not needing anything because we'd banked points in our previous three winnable matches.

 

We've put unnecessary pressure on the "what did some of you expect?" matches but totally fu cking up the games we should be getting points from.