It's a big disappointment. But Fulham deserve full credit for this win. They had a plan and executed it perfectly: neutralize the Arsenal's weak central midfield and clamp down on the left flank.
Arsenal's team on the pitch were not fluid; their passes astray, their runs sluggish; they were often a step late to the ball. Denilson and Eboue did not work well together; they were either both too deep or too far advanced; they were sliced apart by Jimmy Bullard and Danny Murphy. The result is Fulham had acres of space in the center of the park when they came out of defense. Bullard did a job on Denilson and Eboue did not contribute much to the flow of the team. As a consequence of the absence of the central area, Nasri was isolated whenever he had the ball, often trailed by two defenders and could not link with the forwards. Theo Walcott once again failed to show up; he really had trouble opening up operating space for himself.
Adebayor did not work as hard as he usually does but he still proved dangerous, only narrowly missing the few precious chances. Robin van Persie tried hard but brought no end-product. Link-up plays were at a premium so the opposition's keeper was not threatened often. After Bendtner replaced Walcott and RvP dropped into a deeper-lying role in the 65th minute, things still did not improve. The central midfield pairing still were invisible and Robin did not come deep enough to collect the ball from the defense to start the offense.
The defense was quite solid through out except that one moment in the match. The lone goal of the game was scored from a corner during which Gallas had a lapse and let Hangeland get ahead of him to poke home. Other than that Almunia was rarely troubled. From this performance, I would say that the defensive problems from last season have not been addressed. It was a fundamental lack of full concentration during critical junctions of the match that did us in.
Cesc Fabregas' absence was really felt. No one in the team could open up the pitch and no one can inspire the team to up their performance. I hope we'll see a very different team on Wednesday when Cesc is scheduled to be back.
It's early yet but we really need a spark plug like Flamini to drive the team forward. Someone needs to stand up and take the responsibility.
54 minutes ago
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8 deflections:
I'm wondering why Arsene is waiting for the end of the transfer window to sign a central midfielder. Maybe he (or rather Cesc) wants Xabi Alonso but Liverpool cannot afford to let him go without signing Barry and/or getting Mascherano back from the Olympics. Now that the Olympics are over, The Alonso-to-Arsenal deal might happen. But if Benitez insists on having Mascherano plus Alonso/Barry then the deal might not happen.
There are other midfielders as well Arsenal could bring in, including outside the Premier League.
Arsene Wenger is really struggling to deal with the injuries: Cesc,
Diaby, and Rosicky are three injured midfielders, and the midfield is looking vulnerable.
Why are we having so many injuries? For three years running now, we've had devastating number of injuries that really affect results. I hope Arsene didn't break any mirrors.
Maybe other clubs have as many injuries but just cope with it better. Arsenal, on paper, at least in recent seasons, had a really strong first 11, but questionable depth.
Some of the concerns for this season are a little different: people are questioning if the first 11 is good enough, even with everyone healthy.
For me, aspirations for grandeur have been set aside. I'm watching, for the time being, as a curious, more than expectant, spectator.
Denilson couldn't have done more to show he is NOT up to the task. He will learn, but we cannot afford for it to be with our results
kdat - who would you like to see come in then? I've thrown out Vieira as a suggestion. What about Appiah? What kind of form is he in?
There was a French player who broke into the France team for a while, and was a top player in the French league for a few seasons - Benoit Pedretti. He looked like he might displace Makalele for a while, but he faded - I'm not sure why.
Yaya Toure might work, or Lassana Diarra, or Mathieu Flamini.
Maybe Diaby will be great, if he can stay healthy.
Appiah unfortunately is still recovering. I'm not sure he has those energy levels anymore. Also he was a hard tackling all-round midfielder in his day--I am not sure that is what we need. I think we need the all out defensive player to allow Cesc to attack freely. I thought Arsene should have signed Appiah when he left Juventus.
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