Arsenal v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[timeoutbigbar]

Meh.  Could have had a point but again wasn't to be.  Those hinging relegation predictions on this game are going overboard, it isn't this game or next week that will decide if we stay up, it's the run of games after that.

[PaulWinch again]

We can't shut up shop so we should attempt to do it from pretty much half time.

[Dan England]

In every game our defence and midfield get deeper and deeper leaving an ever growing gap to the forwards. Opposition mid-fielders sit in this gap, with acres of space, and dictate the game. We have to push up and close teams down.

[DC Fontana]

It is the mind-numbing & oh-so-desperate certainty that we KNOW we will throw it away in the final ten minutes that leads me to want to rip my hair out.....it really is so frustrating and we must be the most predictable team for shipping these late goals. It's been going on for decades!!!

Yes it was a battling display....yes there were SOME encouraging signs....yes Arsenal were there for the taking....and yes we lost. It's also annoyingly & wholly predictable.

I still fear we will finish third from bottom ahead of both QPR & Reading as we are running out of time & games; & as other people have so eloquently expressed, we're incapable of learning from our own (much repeated) mistakes.

Losing away at Arsenal (or at home to Manchester City) will not be the reason we go down....the dye was cast many moons ago and it feels right now that we are sailing headlong into the Championship

[Chipsticks]

We're only in the bottom 3 on goal difference, I'm not shitting bricks just yet. All we can ask for against Man City is a good performance and an endeavour to at least earn a point.

[PaulWinch again]

In every game our defence and midfield get deeper and deeper leaving an ever growing gap to the forwards. Opposition mid-fielders sit in this gap, with acres of space, and dictate the game. We have to push up and close teams down.

Exactly, it's all about pressing the opposition when they have the ball.

[pauliewalnuts]

Defeats at places like Arsenal aren't the results that get you relegated over the course of a season.

It is doing badly against teams you should hope to compete against that dooms you, and sadly, we do plenty of that.

What you really have to do is fight and scrap when you see points here and there that people wouldn't expect you to get. That is an area in which we have been utterly pathetic all season long, and it shows no real signs of getting any better.

Whether it is throwing away two points at Everton or a point today, or in numerous other games this year, we seem to show no indication we're tightening things up.

Did anyone on the face of the earth really think we'd hold on for a point once Weimann scored? Really? We didn't, because yet again, we look frail and utterly, utterly brainless at the back.

I still can not believe the act of wanton, short sighted stupidity that saw us not get a CB in during January. God knows how much that is going to cost us in the long run, because in other areas, there are things right about this team.

Unfortunately, we'll continue showing the same fucking weakness week in, week out, and we'll get relegated - at which point all the players who have improved over the course of the season will want (and get) out, and all the work we've done this year will just get pissed away.

Fucking infuriating, and a big fuck you to Lerner and his little poodle for mismanaging our club to this level of rubbishness.

[The Left Side]

Although we lost the defending seemed slightly better, we need to learn from our mistakes a bit quicker though.

[Jockey Randall]

Good performance. We kept the ball better than we usually do and didn't get the tonking we could have got with Vlaar missing again. Crap result at Norwich though after it sounded like Everton were cruising at one point. Looks like it's down to 3 of 5.

[Chipsticks]

Nice to see our fans stayed behind to applaud the team today.

[Legion]

Good performance. We kept the ball better than we usually do and didn't get the tonking we could have got with Vlaar missing again. Crap result at Norwich though after it sounded like Everton were cruising at one point. Looks like it's down to 3 of 5.

Three from four for me.

[andyh]

I dont think I have agreed with a post more than I do with Paulies above.

[andyh]

Good performance. We kept the ball better than we usually do and didn't get the tonking we could have got with Vlaar missing again. Crap result at Norwich though after it sounded like Everton were cruising at one point. Looks like it's down to 3 of 5.

I think its simply 2 out of 3, mate.

[Chipsticks]

Good performance. We kept the ball better than we usually do and didn't get the tonking we could have got with Vlaar missing again. Crap result at Norwich though after it sounded like Everton were cruising at one point. Looks like it's down to 3 of 5.

Three from four for me.

Got to agree with you there Leeg, though saying that, there's still a lot of football to be played and I refuse to believe that Southampton are out of the woods yet.

[PaulWinch again]

Defeats at places like Arsenal aren't the results that get you relegated over the course of a season.

It is doing badly against teams you should hope to compete against that dooms you, and sadly, we do plenty of that.

What you really have to do is fight and scrap when you see points here and there that people wouldn't expect you to get. That is an area in which we have been utterly pathetic all season long, and it shows no real signs of getting any better.

Whether it is throwing away two points at Everton or a point today, or in numerous other games this year, we seem to show no indication we're tightening things up.

Did anyone on the face of the earth really think we'd hold on for a point once Weimann scored? Really? We didn't, because yet again, we look frail and utterly, utterly brainless at the back.

I still can not believe the act of wanton, short sighted stupidity that saw us not get a CB in during January. God knows how much that is going to cost us in the long run, because in other areas, there are things right about this team.

Unfortunately, we'll continue showing the same fucking weakness week in, week out, and we'll get relegated - at which point all the players who have improved over the course of the season will want (and get) out, and all the work we've done this year will just get pissed away.

Fucking infuriating, and a big fuck you to Lerner and his little poodle for mismanaging our club to this level of rubbishness.

Exactly, the lack of a central defender coming in is just pure negligence.