Nov07
We started like we all wanted us to, fast, dynamic movement and more importantly pace on the wings provided by Theo, whose miracle recovery from a stomach complaint saw him included for a rare start against the Germans.
It was a sumptuous through ball (read;weak back-pass from Schalke) to Giroud who pounced, beat the last man and then the ball got stuck under his feet, he scuffed a shot at the
Good morning WG
Thanks for a fine match report.
Last night had plenty of positives, but you are right to remain worried. For me, there was overall progress. The three up-front combined well to score the goals, Jack improved again, and in the first half our defence looked more secure and organised.
The second half was disappointing, as per the points you make in your post. It was good to see we were able to fight together though, but it is fair to say we were lucky a few times.
It was a typical night in which we made two steps forward and one back again, but overall there was progress. A point against Schalke is not bad at all, and I personally don’t care whether we finish first or second in the group. Arsenal are very unlikely to win the CL this year, but progressing into the next round is still important.
Good report Wiggy – pretty much the way I saw it.
I felt Vermaelen was at fault for the first Schalke goal because he drifted into the centre back position and left Farfan unmarked. I have read comments to the effect that he needed to move across because Schalke had a free man in the middle of the penalty area, but I think his presence confused the other CBs who otherwise might have had him covered.
As you say, LB is becoming a real problem. It seems we just can’t ever rely on Gibbs to string more than 4 or 5 games together before yet another injury.
Santos had some encouraging performances last year but he seems to have gone backwards. I guess we could play Miquel there. Or maybe we should try Coquelin (it worked with Flamini a few years ago).
Thank you very much gentlemen, I appreciate your comments!!
As much as the draw was a disappointment, the attacking cohesion we showed at times was very encouraging.
I think Vermaelen should be left at left-back until we can get Gibbs back. Yes he wasn’t brilliant the other night, but he is a better defender than Santos. His decision-making is better, albeit he made a mistake or two the other night as per the above.
Defensively on set-pieces we looked pretty decent on tuesday, the BFG was again superb.
There is a lot of hope to be found if people look for it rather than being down in the dumps.
WG