3-1 to the Arsenal
i am terribly disappointed that
- we conceded a late consolation
- we seemed very satisfied that we did enough to go back to the top of the table
because all these shouldn't have happened.
almunia-6
steady, especially during corners, which were reading's main threat. this is the difference between this season and last season, when we conceded far too many from set pieces. the only thing he didn't do well is all those fluffed clearances in the last 10 minutes, which gave reading the chance to play. and they scored.
clichy-6
more like his usual self. great anticipation and tremendous pace to totally shut out convey. but didn't join in the attack as often as i would like.
gallas-6
very comfortable on the ball. controlled the game with toure from behind.
toure-6
see gallas. he shouldn't ahve taken that freekick. he should have let fabregas have a go, or rosicky, because it was close enough for precision. it didn't call for power.
sagna-6
didn't really make mistakes.
flamini-7
played well to break down reading's play. started and finished the first goal.
fabregas-7
did well to distribute the ball, should have gotten an assist with that wonderful throughball to adebayor who somehow hit the post. some good defensive work as well. the yellow card was rather stupid, but i think it might have been in the plan: serve a suspension against wigan at home, rather than miss a game against tougher opposition. anyway i think it's good to give him a bit of a breather. he hasn't been outstanding, although he got some goals.
rosicky-6
best game he played since he came back. enough said.
hleb-6
was roughed out in the first half, but managed to find the space in the second to do some real damage.
eboue-6
offered the most penetration in the first half, but always looked out of place on the right side of the midfield, because of the way we play. could have scored towards the end, if only he dared to shoot. well, if he missed, no one would have blamed him because he is such a poor shooter anyway, and the victory was in the bag.
adebayor-6
if he had scored in the 3rd minute, the game would have been very different. tried to do too much in the first half. should have stayed up and let rosicky and hleb do the running. had a perfectly good goal ruled out for offside. i felt that he interfered too much with our own attack.
walcott, bendtner, diarra-6
din really have time to do much, although diarra showed some great touches, and bendtner made a very good pass.
at the end of the day, we had some luck, although some things went against us, like the post in the 3rd minute, and then adebayor's disallowed goal. that goal was a perfect counter-attack. brilliant cross-field grounder pass from hleb.
we were lucky in that hleb's maddening unselfishness paid off when flamini reached the ball and scored. with the reading defender's boot coming in, the ball could have gone anywhere, and we would be lamenting: why didn't hleb try to score himself.
we were lucky in that fabregas somehow tapped the ball towards adebayor for the second goal, although a penalty could have been given, or the ball could have been tapped to adebayor by the defender, rather than fabregas. but amazingly, adebayor was so composed when he put the ball into the far post. at that moment, i thought he wasn't adebayor. henry-esque.
and we were lucky that the clearance went into the path of hleb on his way to the third goal. some wonderful footwork and goal, although the defender on the line was unlucky. got to it, but couldn't stop it.
gallas and toure totally controlled the game right up till the last 10 minutes. their play up to then was almost perfect, the way defenders should play. i think it was more down to almunia not clearing the ball well, rather than gallas and toure making bad back passes. but in any case, almunia made 3 or more clearances that gave the ball back to reading, which allowed them to attack. that was the most glaring fault in our game. the goal didn't came about because eboue did not head over the bar, as morrison and company discussed, but from much earlier: all these skewed clearances which relinquished our control of the game.
my question is: what would have happened if adebayor stuck to the two centre-backs? reading played very well, very organised, stuck tightly to us, gave us little space. adebayor might have compounded the problem by coming out and killing the space. it's ok if we have two strikers: this could free up some space for the other striker. but hleb and rosicky dun have the instinct to go into the box, so it backfires. if we have van persie, den of course adebayor coming out would be good, because van persie is a better finisher than adebayor and that could free up space for him. the real issue is that in a 4-5-1, with your three other attackers (eboue, hleb and rosicky) not really goal-scorers, the lone striker must stay up.
wenger must address this. or maybe he is waiting for van persie to come back. i suggest dropping eboue for walcott to play as a second striker though. or bendtner.
- we conceded a late consolation
- we seemed very satisfied that we did enough to go back to the top of the table
because all these shouldn't have happened.
almunia-6
steady, especially during corners, which were reading's main threat. this is the difference between this season and last season, when we conceded far too many from set pieces. the only thing he didn't do well is all those fluffed clearances in the last 10 minutes, which gave reading the chance to play. and they scored.
clichy-6
more like his usual self. great anticipation and tremendous pace to totally shut out convey. but didn't join in the attack as often as i would like.
gallas-6
very comfortable on the ball. controlled the game with toure from behind.
toure-6
see gallas. he shouldn't ahve taken that freekick. he should have let fabregas have a go, or rosicky, because it was close enough for precision. it didn't call for power.
sagna-6
didn't really make mistakes.
flamini-7
played well to break down reading's play. started and finished the first goal.
fabregas-7
did well to distribute the ball, should have gotten an assist with that wonderful throughball to adebayor who somehow hit the post. some good defensive work as well. the yellow card was rather stupid, but i think it might have been in the plan: serve a suspension against wigan at home, rather than miss a game against tougher opposition. anyway i think it's good to give him a bit of a breather. he hasn't been outstanding, although he got some goals.
rosicky-6
best game he played since he came back. enough said.
hleb-6
was roughed out in the first half, but managed to find the space in the second to do some real damage.
eboue-6
offered the most penetration in the first half, but always looked out of place on the right side of the midfield, because of the way we play. could have scored towards the end, if only he dared to shoot. well, if he missed, no one would have blamed him because he is such a poor shooter anyway, and the victory was in the bag.
adebayor-6
if he had scored in the 3rd minute, the game would have been very different. tried to do too much in the first half. should have stayed up and let rosicky and hleb do the running. had a perfectly good goal ruled out for offside. i felt that he interfered too much with our own attack.
walcott, bendtner, diarra-6
din really have time to do much, although diarra showed some great touches, and bendtner made a very good pass.
at the end of the day, we had some luck, although some things went against us, like the post in the 3rd minute, and then adebayor's disallowed goal. that goal was a perfect counter-attack. brilliant cross-field grounder pass from hleb.
we were lucky in that hleb's maddening unselfishness paid off when flamini reached the ball and scored. with the reading defender's boot coming in, the ball could have gone anywhere, and we would be lamenting: why didn't hleb try to score himself.
we were lucky in that fabregas somehow tapped the ball towards adebayor for the second goal, although a penalty could have been given, or the ball could have been tapped to adebayor by the defender, rather than fabregas. but amazingly, adebayor was so composed when he put the ball into the far post. at that moment, i thought he wasn't adebayor. henry-esque.
and we were lucky that the clearance went into the path of hleb on his way to the third goal. some wonderful footwork and goal, although the defender on the line was unlucky. got to it, but couldn't stop it.
gallas and toure totally controlled the game right up till the last 10 minutes. their play up to then was almost perfect, the way defenders should play. i think it was more down to almunia not clearing the ball well, rather than gallas and toure making bad back passes. but in any case, almunia made 3 or more clearances that gave the ball back to reading, which allowed them to attack. that was the most glaring fault in our game. the goal didn't came about because eboue did not head over the bar, as morrison and company discussed, but from much earlier: all these skewed clearances which relinquished our control of the game.
my question is: what would have happened if adebayor stuck to the two centre-backs? reading played very well, very organised, stuck tightly to us, gave us little space. adebayor might have compounded the problem by coming out and killing the space. it's ok if we have two strikers: this could free up some space for the other striker. but hleb and rosicky dun have the instinct to go into the box, so it backfires. if we have van persie, den of course adebayor coming out would be good, because van persie is a better finisher than adebayor and that could free up space for him. the real issue is that in a 4-5-1, with your three other attackers (eboue, hleb and rosicky) not really goal-scorers, the lone striker must stay up.
wenger must address this. or maybe he is waiting for van persie to come back. i suggest dropping eboue for walcott to play as a second striker though. or bendtner.
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