Arsenal have learned ‘negative football’
Let me start this by congratulating Arsenal on going through to the second round top of their group. After the start they had (although Liverpool and Newcastle have been worse hit in terms of injuries), they’ve done well with a young squad.
Also, I think they were helped by Porto - when Arsenal lost to CSKA Moscow, they could have been in big trouble, but Porto beat CSKA Moscow and as a result didn’t have to win their home game, which allowed them to go easy on Arsenal in this game.
Having said all this, let’s get to the subject at hand - negative football and what Arsenal did last night against Porto.
Arsenal players (and fans) have been guilty of blaming the opposition of playing negatively - defend, defend, defend, without any attack or even the desire to get out of their own half.
Against Porto last night, while Arsenal were struggling to impose themselves on the game, you could see Arsenal on the back foot mentally - they’d lost the will to attack and win the game and were more focused on avoiding defeat. Arsenal were defending like they had against Villareal in last season’s semi-final. They were out of their element, were outclassed and went on the backfoot very quickly.
Wenger at least was very honest about his side’s poor display, and props to him for that.
There’s one lesson in this for Arsenal that I doubt they bothered taking away.
The next time a Premiership side comes to the Emirates, looks lost and decides to close up shop and defend for the next 90 minutes, Arsenal would do well to remember last night and how they looked lost, had given up on winning and were focused on avoiding defeat. Being obviously second-best in a match does that to you.
I don’t think Arsenal did anything wrong - they would have been top with a draw, they got it, fair enough. If they had lost, the way they played would have been an issue but they stuck it out, got a bit lucky (how many times have opposition teams gotten ‘lucky’ against Arsenal?) and eventually, came out with the point they wanted.
But this is what happens when a team can’t handle the pressure, or if they know winning is more fiction than reality. Pragmatism takes over - Arsenal should keep that in mind the next time a team visits the Emirates. They’re a big club, they’re a strong team, time to start acting like one.
Wenger Quotes
“It was uncomfortable for us and we suffered because Porto played well. They appear to have improved since we beat them at home in the first game.”
Yes, home advantage does that to you. Ask Fulham 
“The game was very fair and both teams tried hard to win. Porto tried to beat us until the 85th minute.”
And Arsenal tried to avoid getting beat. Hey, doesn’t that sound like Aston Villa or Manchester City or Everton to you?
The difference is that Villa and Newcastle come for a point, if they lose, no big deal. If we lost, we would have lost at least 10 million, have nothing to look forward to in the new year (out of title race, cups no longer hold the allure of the past) and set back the development of talented kids.
You quite clearly dont understand what was going on and what was at stake last night.
I don’t think Arsenal did anything wrong - they would have been top with a draw, they got it, fair enough
Steve - Newcastle actually took the game to Arsenal, so quoting them as an example is a bit ridiculous.
If you had been knocked out of the Champions League the consequences would have been dire, I agree.
I’m not criticising Arsenal for playing negative, I’m just asking them to give other teams (who are far lesser than them in terms of ability) some leeway before judging them as being ultra-defensive.
Benfica came to Old Trafford and sat in their half for 85 minutes. I guess they lost out on a lot of money as well. But they didn’t defend because they were being practical, they defended because they weren’t good enough for anything else on the night.
And that’s what happens with a lot of teams, doesn’t mean you should moan and bitch about them playing negative.
You play the team that’s in front of you, and you do your best to get the job done.
Newcastle took the game to us????? Could I have an ounce of what you smoke? They had one shot on target and one off. They played with 3 centre midfielders and used duff and solano as auxilary wing backs. The one chance they got they put away.
Agree we did not create anything, but we played, in patches lovely one touch football.
Dont forget, we have played bolton saturday, fulham wednesday, spurs saturday, and had chelsea coming up on sunday. Our style depends on everything working in perfect harmony. We cant score from crosses, which are in the end balls into an area, broad and approximate, which United and Chelsea can do. That means all our plyers need to be in great condition physically to play ‘our’ game.
The difference is that teams come to emirates with no intention of playing, time wasting, and strategically fouling. We didnt do that once in Porto
I’ll do this sentence by sentence:
Newcastle took the game to us????? Could I have an ounce of what you smoke? They had one shot on target and one off. They played with 3 centre midfielders and used duff and solano as auxilary wing backs. The one chance they got they put away.
They fought, and they went forward. More than what Arsenal did, and much more than what Manchester City managed. Not the right comparison.
Agree we did not create anything, but we played, in patches lovely one touch football.
What would you rather have? Pretty football or points in the bag?
Dont forget, we have played bolton saturday, fulham wednesday, spurs saturday, and had chelsea coming up on sunday. Our style depends on everything working in perfect harmony.
And that’s a GOOD thing?
We cant score from crosses, which are in the end balls into an area, broad and approximate, which United and Chelsea can do.
Reducing ‘crosses’ to long-balls is comparing Manchester United’s 99 team to Bolton at their very, very worst. It’s not just incorrect, it’s an invitation to be called a moron, moron.
That means all our plyers need to be in great condition physically to play ‘our’ game.
And other teams don’t?
The difference is that teams come to emirates with no intention of playing, time wasting, and strategically fouling. We didnt do that once in Porto.
Other teams are out of their depth, so they cheat. Arsenal are out of their depth and find it hard going, they’re just battling against the odds, right?
I agree that teams waste time at the Emirates - it’s not pretty to watch at all. But remember, I’m not talking about time-wasting - I’m talking about Arsenal bitching about teams playing ‘defensively’ when they’re actually referring to teams who would be ripped apart to shreds if they attacked Arsenal. Pragmatism rules, but Arsenal seem to bitch about it when it’s played against them.
No such noise when they do it themselves though.
We fought, we went forward or tried to but we had no real need. If we drew we were top. Did you watch the Newcastle match or just the highlights? It was ridiculous the way they packed the defence and time wasted. Dyer even went so far as to say before the game that we must stop arsenal playing. Newcastle had no intention of doing anything. Did you watch the newcastle man u game? It was similar to that but you scored first.
We played some pretty football, topped the group.
Our game is the most fragile in the premiership, but no one can play like us. When it comes off, we get praised as the greatest footballing team in English football, when it doesnt we get hammered for being one dimensional.
So what, crosses are passes? No they are balls into an area. When did i compare the two? Never, and even though your greatest moment was from a corner, you deserved the treble. You couldnt beat us in 90 minutes all season, but you beat us in extra time, you beat Juve, you beat Bayern.
What is so hard to comprehend? Crosses are whipped into a dangerous area. You get people like Saha and Ronaldo who are decent in the air and they head the ball into the goal. Sometimes scholes scores. You’re defenders score from corners and free kicks, accurately launched into the danger zone.
Because you can score from crosses, you can get away with being more tired than us. Its like a tennis player with a massive serve, you get a lot of free points. We cant do that, and its a defect that frustrates me. No arguements there.
What you’re saying is that we were out of depth at porto, yet we so comprehensively outplayed you at old trafford with virtually the same team, bar clichy and flamini. Why didnt ‘pragmatism rule’ in salford? because we had to win at old trafford and we didnt have to at porto. I could go on about how you bottled it at copenhagen or glasgow but its academic, you topped the group, as did we.
You struggled there to praise Arsenal, but well done for trying to produce enough camouflage material to cloak the real snide purpose of your barbed message. Before you say it again, I know you are not saying that Arsenal did anything wrong against Porto; clearly, your criticism attempts (but fails) to be more subtle than that.
Arsenal won’t take away that little lesson you mischievously suggest because there is no lesson in the terms you try to make. You make an inaccurate comparison of behaviour on several counts. Most glaringly, Arsenal’s tactics in the context of this specific European contest did not threaten and could not adversely affect Porto’s immediate prospects in the competition. In fact, these tactics were always the most likley to be mutually beneficial to both teams in ensuring progress in the competition. Thus, you are unlikely to hear any criticism or moans from Porto about Arsenal’s negative approach. Moreover, I suggest that you would not have heard any complaints from Arsenal had Porto played similarly either throughout last night’s game or, more pertinently, had the game been at the Emirates. Why? Because Arsenal would understand: a) the differences between the nature and context of Prem and CL competitions, b) the quality and ambition of the opposition and, c) the specific circumstances of the match, including the purpose and mutually beneficial nature of the opposition’s tactics.
I too would prefer that Arsenal and their supporters did not moan about the negative tactics of visitors at the Emirates and concentrated instead on combatting those tactics, but your critique is just such a shoddy pretext for making that point and creating the opportunity for some other sly digs.
I’m with Shooy on this one. I’ll just say “Bingo”.
lol Why am I getting this Steve vs. Ahmed feeling again and again on this website :p?
Azar - that’s because usually fans have club bias shoved so high up their asses that they can’t:
1) bear listening to criticism of their team
2) can’t imagine that an opposing fan could actually say something positive about them, so he MUST be having a dig or hiding a sarcastic barb in it somewhere.
Let me finish a couple of posts and I’ll be back to deal with these cunts