A tough day in the office today, and i feel that we finally ran out of luck. In the seven game winning streak that we had, we got lucky more than once and won games that we didn't really deserved to win (the Liverpool game is a good example). So, today that luck ran out. QPR played a very solid game and were very organized but the game could have easily finished a draw or maybe a win for us if Van Persie had scored in the second half when he had a great chance and the score was still 1-1. To be fair, QPR were probably a bit better than us today, so when you add the fact that we were a bit unlucky as well, they got a deserved win.
In both half's we had spells of 10 - 15 minutes where we had good possession and we controlled the game but we never found our rhythm offensively. Our passing wasn't quick and sharp enough and besides one free kick from RVP we didn't create any chances in the first half until Walcott's goal. Both goals we gave away today were caused by defensive mistakes. I give credit to Taarabt for the way he scored, but if Vermaelen had not gambled and pressed him so high on the wrong side, he does not get that big opening that he used to score the goal. I was impressed by Zamora and i think his physical play had it's influence on the mistakes we made in the back. He is a big and strong guy and they kept passing long balls to him which he controlled pretty well and was putting Koscielny and Vermaelen under pressure throughout the whole game. Same with Mackie and Taarabt, they had very high work rate and created a lot of problems on both wings for us. After we went down 1-0, we still couldn't get anything going offensively and Walcott's goal came out of nowhere. Robin gave a good pass and Theo did well to score the rebound which wasn't as easy to score as it looked. Other than the goal and a few decent crosses from the wing Theo didn't have a good game.
In both half's we had spells of 10 - 15 minutes where we had good possession and we controlled the game but we never found our rhythm offensively. Our passing wasn't quick and sharp enough and besides one free kick from RVP we didn't create any chances in the first half until Walcott's goal. Both goals we gave away today were caused by defensive mistakes. I give credit to Taarabt for the way he scored, but if Vermaelen had not gambled and pressed him so high on the wrong side, he does not get that big opening that he used to score the goal. I was impressed by Zamora and i think his physical play had it's influence on the mistakes we made in the back. He is a big and strong guy and they kept passing long balls to him which he controlled pretty well and was putting Koscielny and Vermaelen under pressure throughout the whole game. Same with Mackie and Taarabt, they had very high work rate and created a lot of problems on both wings for us. After we went down 1-0, we still couldn't get anything going offensively and Walcott's goal came out of nowhere. Robin gave a good pass and Theo did well to score the rebound which wasn't as easy to score as it looked. Other than the goal and a few decent crosses from the wing Theo didn't have a good game.
Second half we started well again and had a great chance when Robin was through on goal but wasn't able to score. I think that was the turning point in the game because had we scored, i think we would have held on and won the game. After that chance we didn't create much more and their second goal killed us. There is no question their pitch was a fucking "potato field" (we have a saying in Bulgaria about shitty pitches which translates exactly to 'potato field' in English) but we can't be sissies and we gotta learn to deal with that. Vermaelen slipped badly which allowed Mackie to set up their second goal. From then on, we tried to put them under a lot pressure but we never really created any real chances.
Wenger's last 2 substitutions puzzled me as well. I get why Gervinho was brought instead of Ramsey but to put Oxlade instead of Arteta and Chamakh for Gibbs make absolutely no sense. The Ox ended up playing in deep midfield role and we basically asked Vermaelen to play both left back and center back (I am sure Song was supposed to drop back to center back and Vermaelen play the left back, but what's the point?). If you are going to put Oxlade in, take Walcott out and if you gonna put Chamakh in, take either Rosicky or Arteta out, but not fucking Gibbs. To summarize, we didn't play a good game at all. I can't really point out even one player and say he had a great game. Song was trying hard but his final pass was lacking; Rosicky was active but also didn't create anything; Ramsey was almost invincible but so was Gervinho when he replaced him; Robin did set up Theo for the first goal but also wasted a great chance but he didn't have many others; Theo as i mentioned earlier didn't do much besides the goal and a few decent crosses. Probably Arteta and Koscielny were our best two players. Arteta put a tremendous amount of work covering defensively when Vermaelen and Koscielny would go forward. Koscielny did well while under pressure from Zamora for big parts of the game. Vermaelen is a warrior and never backs down but he had two bad mistakes today and i am sure he will be unhappy with his performance.
And before i go, i do want to mention Joey Barton who is still the same diving/acting/cheating/provoking piece of shit that he has been his whole career. Even though we didn't do anything stupid against him today, he was still diving and simulating any chance he got.
Unfortunately, as i predicted in my last post we have tough games coming up. I do hope Spurs will make some mistakes but i don't think it will happen. So, we really need a W against Man City next week if we want to keep third place and even fourth because if we lose, Chelsea would be only 2 pts behind us. C'mon You Gunners!!!
Unfortunately, as i predicted in my last post we have tough games coming up. I do hope Spurs will make some mistakes but i don't think it will happen. So, we really need a W against Man City next week if we want to keep third place and even fourth because if we lose, Chelsea would be only 2 pts behind us. C'mon You Gunners!!!
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