Arshavin: Our ‘disease’ continued
Andrey Arshavin admits Arsenal failed to banish the woes of last week’s North London derby but he was pleased with the Gunners’ resilience yesterday.
Wenger’s men raced into a 2-0 lead at half-time again at Villa Park but were pegged back again right after the restart as Clark’s seemingly offside goal was allowed.
But a rare impressive performance from Arshavin meant succumbing to another comeback from the opponent would have been harsh on Arsenal.
The Russian was lively for most of the 84 minutes he played and feels his side’s commanding first-half display is what really handed them victory over Aston Villa.
“I think that our game in the first half secured our victory. We have competently carried out the first half. We managed to press on; often intercepted their passes and that led to the free zones, that we broke, creating dangerous chances at the Aston Villa’s gate”
“We were moving around. The first 45 minutes were very well played. Our opponent didn’t know what to do and how to play against us. Therefore, the Arsenal’s advantage has naturally turned into goals.”
Arshavin also admitted that being in the same position at halftime as they were against Tottenham forced a few nerves which saw Villa pull a goal back right after the break.
“At half-time there were talks that even 2:0 wasn’t enough for us.
And so it happened, our “disease” continued. We conceded a goal.”
And had Arsenal surrendered another 2-0 lead for defeat…
“What would have happened? We would have been sitting on the bus to London looking at each other like frightened bunnies.”
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Shut up Arshavin. We could have scored 2 more if you’d seen Nasri free on the right when you ran into trouble twice just outside the box.
leave it out mate, arshavin was our most dangerous player.
Makes a nice change to see him earn his pay and help his team mates!!
@mistaken you are such a complete dick it’s unreal
He’s being honest though………
When he slipped nasri through he missed an open(ish) goal. He also played a corner to the edge to set up nasri and did some amazing skill to set up that corner. Fuck off in short. Mistaken
arsenal need to learn how to defend big time.. We need stronger defenders who can win lots of headers and have more control at the back
but Arsenal have only conceded one less goal than United.
Yes we have our defensive issues as does every other team other that maybe Man City.
The defensive thing is overblown by the two long balls we allowed goals from. Thats an easy thing to fix but please lets not think that Villa are not good for goals.
We expect way too much, Arsenal score 5 and keep clean sheets in every match.
Great great win!
Mistaken u be MUMU
Our defence is a problem just as it is for every other team in the EPL. If you look at our record it measures up just as good as anyone else, but for the life of me I don’t understand why the commentators/ media and our supposed fans only see our mistakes and don’t give credit where credit is due. There are only two teams above us, one on 31 points with a goal diff. of 19 and the other tied with us on points @ 29 and a goal diff. of 19. Ok so we are third with a goal diff. of 15 a mere difference of four goals. Funny enough the team that is top of the table has 1 less goal scored against them so far this season, but you don’t hear any talk about there defence and the 2nd place team have 7 less goals scored against them and the same story. I would not even mention what is happening to those teams that lie beneath us. Despite what everyone thinks I think we are doing good and I am not going to let the media or anyone make me doubt my team. Of course we can always be more consistent, but that would come. This season the EPL has no clear runaway front runners and every week it is getting more interesting. I for one can’t wait till the Christmas (4 game special) and the new year to see just who is serious about this title race.
Yes, the top two teams are leaking goals, so are we. And this is why we are third in th table, instead of topping it.
We have been crying out loud for the last few years for not having the luck on our side with injuries being our main nemesis. This year it is our opponents’ turn. And yet, they are ahead of us.
Given how depleted our rivals are this season as well as how much depth we have, we should have been runaway leaders by now. But, we are not.
We must give credit to our team where it is due and be critical where we must be. Arsenal FC is not a charitable organization nor our defenders/mid-fielders play for free. They have a job to do and if they can’t do it properly, they must make way for someone who can.
We leaked goals because we lost focus but not because the players are not good enough.
The team got complacent and actually Cesc was the biggest reason for the Spurs loss and against Braga we were toothless upfront. We cannot lay blame in one area.
Great comment!
You make a good point bro but because of the 5 & 7 goals dfrnc we r third and not 1st so it is very important to conceed less because we score almost every game and a clean sheet every once in a while will mean a win for our boys!!! its very RARE that we loose 1-0 or 2-0 we always score !!!!
@gunner4life-you have it right! Only Chelsea, Manc and ManU have conceded less goals this season. And I would not have ManC goal-scoring for anything, either.
and two of those teams sit above us right now. If we had a better defence then we would be leading the league….simple. Our defence has to be better that those two to win!
Not necessarily, we have to have on our shooting boots also. We have missed some easy chances, penalties and all that. Isnt that what happened at Chelsea and Newcastle amongst others.
Its a team game, all components must do their part.
No one can ever hope to win the Premiership with a leaky DEFENCE. This is an area we have to address very quickly. We need Players in these areas that is not average, or potential future hopefuls, but BIG TIME, and BIG GAME players. In short World Class! Until Mr. Wenger addresses these areas, we ain’t going to win nothing this season or next.
The sad part is the frontline is doing their work 95 percent of the time, but because of the weakness in the backline, they have to hurry back to help out. It is said a chain is only as strong as it’s weakest link. With Arsenal no question the weak link is in Defence.
Finally Arshavin, is beginning to work harder, should he keep on going this way and set new goal targets the Bear will be most happy. Forget the Acting role for a while and continue to give us value for money. Continue to turn up to game with your shooting boots.
I totally agree with you. I mean c’mon its clear that you need a top class defence to win the EPL/CL. Lets take two simple EXAMPLES: Chelsea have recently been without Terry (and lampard) but i think it’s mostly because of d absence of Terry, that they have been fumbling. Then we have ManUnd. They have their usuall vidic and ferdinand. But remember last season they were without them, and now theyv been without rio for some time, hence they’ve been stumbling also.
And then we have us, Arsenal. Who do we have? umm.. Vermaelen (good), squilaci (average, but not reliable at times) and koschielny (same as squilaci). Oh yea and djorou (:D). It’s obvious that we need at least one more TOP CLASS defender, (for example cahill, mexes..).
Moreover, you cannot avoid the injuries. Thats why we need to have a bigger squad. Ok midfield is almost perfect with us. But We need one CB and atleast one LB/RB. And to be honest, i’d trade bendtner for a far better forward, because now we only have two good FW, they are of course vanpersie and chamakh. With vpersie being injury prone, and always will be, we need another clinical striker. The fact is, we cannot simply rely on two forwards with one being injury prone. Not to forget the hectic schedule coming up especially december january february with all the CL matches and FA.
And we all know vela is just an average striker, we might win carling cup with players like vela bendtner, denilson, BUT DEFINITELY NOT the CL or EPL. And i remind, im only being honest.
Finally, with the following players i believe we are capable of beating just about anybody.
VanPersie, Chamakh, Nasri, Fabregas, Song/Diaby, Vermaelen, Koshielny?, Sagna, Clichy, Fabianski?
Stop looking at other teams, we only care about ourselves. We need to take care of any deficiencies we have, and then the rest will take care of itself.
I think the thing is not to get lead astray by the media and to think soberly. We are not as bad defensively as you all are making us out to be. If we were the goals against would reflect it.
THe attitude of most of the posters breeds unecessary negativity, doubt and fear.
Arshavin is a good player,so don’t put him wrong,
yeah,.
not focus and too easy giving up
So AA tells it like it is and some idiot that can’t read posts a load of Cr*p. Why do so many “fans” trot out the I heard it on MOTD or the radio BS! 1st Villa goal Carew was obstructing so offside. I think Flappy would have got it, if he could have seen the shot. The 2nd was nothing to do with short defenders or heading. You could blame Flappy and Squeeky for not talking and giving the corner away in the first place. GC3 and TR7 stood on the line and when the corner went deep should have pushed out or dropped back into the goal. Either way the header would have been offside. That said I think JD has been playing well and maybe should get the start ahead of Kos.
The truth is the Arsenal defenders continue to switch off.The trouble is mistake after mistake have been made and still the defenders have not been dropped. At any other club,Clichy could have been sent to the reserves.
Watch how Mu scored against Arsenal last season.The ugly British bulldog had acres of space and when the pass was made ,he just hit it.When the gunners atttacked,they were confronted by a packed defence and yet they still persisited in passing a way through.
They should get Diaby run at the defenders. That will open up the space.
If Arsene hasn’t learnt his lesson, the gunners will continue to lose against MU and maybe Chelsea.
funny Villa / Manu 2:2
sunderland / chelsea 0:3
no defensive frailties
AA was no doubt our best that afternoon.
And he raises something that is all too
obviuos; if we cured that diesease in the
summer, I bet we would be 9 clear at the top. Regrds.
It was a fantastic game.