Aston Villa v Arsenal Post-Match Thread

[hawkeye]

Also, was it just me thinking that Downing was lazy for a good portion of the match, especially when he lost or gave away the ball?

Back to last seasons form, although he does play better on the left.

[CT]

Everything aside, Arsenal seem to have used us for "practice" on a lot of occasions at Villa Park now! Without checking any stats, they must have a pretty decent record here.

[Dr_Fegg]

OK not great today by any means, especially first half, but at least we took the game to them second half and for a while a draw seemed possible.

Should never have started Pires as he's still in love with them and I'll let carew off for coming back from injury IF he shows against bluescum - if he doesnt, finished. Ireland finally showed some potential, hope to see more.

TBH we played and defended well for parts of the game buit we were let down by our passing, short, long, behind etc. etc. and this was to blame for at least 2 of the goals.

So overall I can still see us moving forward but final question (cue the "they're too good we couldnt get near them" whines) - The way to play against them is get in their faces, early and HARD!!. One yellow card was nowhere near enough and one good early hit on chamakh would have made him more cautious. The kids are quick enough and big enough so lets get more physical with teams - FFS we did it against the Mancs and look where it got us.

[The Situation]

What is our heaviest ever defeat to SHA?

That comment is pathetic, defeatist, negative and deserves no place on this site; thank god you weren't around in the trenches in WW11.  We all know what we are going to get on Wednesday, an atritional and likely atrocious match where Blues will try to play the usual negative spoiling game, they score very few goals you know!!!!

Spot on (apart from World War 11, but I guess that was a typo).

Despite us having an inexperienced and weakened team, they still won't have the balls to actually play football and take the game to us because they will be too frightened at the possibility of losing to 'Vile Reserves'.

[olaftab]

The only time we looked dangerous was Young on the rite and Downing on the left but for some reason we only played about 15 minutes this way

The only time we looked dangerous was when Arsenal had to defend a high ball  in or around the 6 yard box alas we disdn't get enough of those in.

[mr-villa]

I didn't go today. Made the decision late last night when the weather looked dodgy and didn't feel like changing my mind this morning. When they scored their first I actually turned over to see how Wimbledon were getting on, and stayed on ITV for a bit. Yes, we're reaping what O'Neill sowed in the summer - lack of signings, leaving us in the lurch - but I can't help but think that Houllier was the wrong man. I was briefly optimistic at first but it's become clear we're going to need a battler to survive this season. The Albion next - can I be bothered?

No don't bother mate, the club and its loyal supporters can do without fairweather folk like you, stick to your armchair and Sky subscription I think you will enjoy it more oh and by the way in case you didn't know football is a winter sport!!!

[Brend'Watkins]

GH got the tactics totally wrong in the first half.  It is pointless playing with one up front if that one is off form and has virtually no pace.  Carew needed somebody along side him to at least offer some threat to the weakest part of the Arsenal team ...their defence.  Pires was a complete waste of time.  He showed no effort what so ever and didn't appeared bothered.  He's not a player that should be in the starting 11. 

Our two fullbacks are awful.  If Luke Young is consistent as somebody else stated earlier then he is consistently shit, Warnock was a marginal improvement on his offerings of late but still was not good enough. 

You have to get at Arsenal if you want to get something out of the game, we didn't until periods of the 2nd half.  Had we had the same idea in the first we might have got a point.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

We were up against a class Arsenal side and we really lost the game in the midfield. Downing, Pires, Young, Bannan and later Ireland all failed to put a challenge in. It really was Wimpsville B6. Apart from his goals, I was impressed with Clark, he looks like he really has the quality to make it. Today Bannan's height and weight really stuck out, getting pushed off the ball far too easily. His opening 15 minutes were absolutely shocking but credit to the lad, he kept at it.

Carew did well in holding the ball up at times but unbelieveably failed to make the simplist of passes on at leat four occasions. The Fonz when he came on just looked out of his depth. Some good running but clueless with his decision making. On todays performance, he's still a long way off breaking into the first team. Oh how we miss Gabby.

The defence were on the back foot for most of the game, due in part to the poor protection from the midfield. Arsenal just took full advantage of the space we gave them, which was acres. Great to see Collins finally winning headers, I thought overall he had a decent game but I still have concerns about Dunne. Luke Young and Warnock were both forced to battle hard throughout the game but they were on a hiding to nothing.

Agree with whoever said Big Brad should have done better for the 3rd goal. I thought he had it covered. Superb save almost made up for it.

Previously against Arsenal we've been in their faces, not surrendering an inch but today they were the team prepared for a battle, always pressing and with the talent they have to pass the ball around plus their movement on and off the ball, we just looked frail. Hopefully for the Rags game, we'll have a few more players back otherwise they'll just bully us in midfield.

Arsenal, despite their dodgy defence are still a bloody good side and we were lucky not to be four or five down in the first half. Ignore the injuries if you wish but who else was Houllier to field today?

Forgot to mention that today was probably Ireland's best performance to date, not saying much I know but some positive signs. Now he needs to start making a tackle or two and we might finally start seeing the best of him.

[Shrek]

Today was definitely a game of two halfs, the first half we were scared to death of the ball.
Every time we have the ball we are scared to keep it if an opposing player is near.

That was the difference today, Arsenel are all confident on the ball and not afraid to go past a player, we are the complete opposite. We cannot keep posession which is costing us.

It is going to take a long time and new players for Houllier to change this frame of mind at the club.

[fredm]

The only time we looked dangerous was Young on the rite and Downing on the left but for some reason we only played about 15 minutes this way

Said the same about Blackburn last week - we lose 50% effectiveness by playing Downing on the right.

Have to say that the first half line up was wrong in my opinion - if he was going to play Carew he has to have someone else up with him to do the running, otherwise he is just a total waste of time - as he was.  The quickest he shifted all afternoon was when his number went up on the board!!

If GH thought Pires was going to play off Carew then again totally misguided IMO.  We really needed to get into their centre halfs - they were their weak link and we hardly tested them.  On the few occasions we put pressure on them in the second half it showed how weak they were.

I also thought Bannan was poor today - to me he plays far too deep, just in front of the centre halfs instead of further up the field where he can hurt their defence.  Clark I will reserve judgement on as a central midfielder due to his goals.  Other than those I think he also had a poor game and maybe is not nimble enough to play in the middle of the park.  Unfortunately the two of them playing against the Arsenal midfield literally was men against boys and this is always going to be exacerbated by playing Downing and Ashley on the wings.  If we play with the two youngsters in the middle then either Ash or Downing needs to play off the striker and another midfielder brought in to bolster the middle.

[Pete3206]

Oh dear! Was I the only person at the game who enjoyed it?

Not at all. There were 3,000 Arsenal fans who had a great afternoon.

[Muscle-Dolphin]

I wish that A. Young would develop a better feel around the net.  He looks flashy in midfield but seems to choke when he gets close to the net?!

[Rudy Can't Fail]

I wish that A. Young would develop a better feel around the net.  He looks flashy in midfield but seems to choke when he gets close to the net?!

I wish when he'd stop hugging the bloody touchline and get himself in the bloody box when Downing is putting in a cross from the other wing.

[Klaus Katt]

God I miss Albrighton. And damn you Villa for making me look up to Spurs!

[Legion]

From Auntie:

Arsenal ended a tumultuous week by holding off a spirited Aston Villa fightback to earn victory.

Andrey Arshavin cut in from the left to fire in a shot and Samir Nasri volleyed home to put the Gunners 2-0 up.

Ciaran Clark gave Villa hope with an 18-yard strike, although Marouane Chamakh's poked shot for the visitors appeared to have put Arsenal safe.

But Clark nodded in to set up a tense finale before Jack Wilshere's injury-time header secured victory.

The Gunners let a two-goal advantage slip last Saturday when they lost 3-2 to Tottenham and, despite securing another two-goal lead at Villa Park, they looked unconvincing as they almost threw it away again.

Credit, though, must go to a depleted Villa, who went into the game with Gabriel Agbonlahor and Marc Albrighton added to a lengthy injury list but raised themselves after a poor first half to give their opponents a scare.

Arsenal, who were beaten by Braga in the Champions League on Tuesday and lost captain Cesc Fabregas to injury in the process, held on to move briefly to the top of the Premier League, until Manchester United thrashed Blackburn later in the day.

Although the win helped the Gunners improve on the top-flight's best away record, it remains to be seen whether it will translate into a firm title push.

Arsenal have flattered to deceive too many times this season, digging out hard-fought wins at Blackburn and Everton only to shoot themselves in the foot with home defeats by West Brom, Newcastle and Tottenham.

Against Villa, Arsenal's performance encapsulated their season to date as they quickly got into the groove of producing their pretty patterns of eye-catching football but then relinquished control of the game.

Villa left-back Stephen Warnock was almost punished for giving the ball away in the opening minute when Arshavin put Chamakh through before home keeper Brad Friedel came to his team-mate's rescue by blocking at the striker's feet.

Tomas Rosicky flashed a shot across goal and Nasri sent a drive just wide as Arsenal picked and probed at Villa.

The home side were struggling but almost punished the visitors for their profligacy when Clark flicked on a Stewart Downing cross for Ashley Young at the far post but the winger - seemingly from an offside position - fired over from close range.

It was a rare sight of goal for a Villa side that was spending most of the time trying to keep Arsenal at bay and the pressure finally told when James Collins and Luke Young both missed a clearance.

Arshavin gathered possession on the left flank before driving at goal and angling in a shot, which Friedel got a hand to but could not keep out.

Immediately after, Nasri rounded Friedel before shooting into the side-netting before atoning for the miss when he volleyed home Arshavin's corner from the edge of the area via a Luke Young deflection.

Arsenal were denied a third when Chamakh had a header brilliantly kept out by a reflex save from Friedel before the home side, who took off ex-Gunners star Robert Pires at half-time, came out and went at Arsenal after the break.

They were rewarded when Clark chested down a Sebastien Squillaci clearance and powered in a shot, although Villa striker John Carew was in an offside position blocking Gunners keeper Lukasz Fabianski's view.

Rosicky played Chamakh through to restore Arsenal's two-goal cushion only for Clark to renew Villa's hopes of preserving their unbeaten home record by nodding in off the crossbar after Richard Dunne's header across goal from a corner.

A shaky Arsenal had to show their dogged side to hold on to their lead and confirmed their win when Chamakh picked out an unmarked Wilshere to head in from point-blank range for his first Premier League goal.