Matchday Chat - 2016/17 season archive

[LFCMadLad]

34 minutes ago, SirBalon said:

I don't know what to say and I'm left without words to describe what I feel to be honest.  We're not and never have been in the past recent seasons one of the best sides in the division.  We've been sold that at times by the media and many Arsenal fans have believed it and probably some continue to do so.  But we're not this bad and in saying this I don't want to take anything away from Crystal Palace's performance today because it was brilliant and how they've been in the position they have is beyond me.  They have a more than just decent side when comparing to where they've been sitting most of the season in the table.  Nobody can say that the Arsenal players didn't want it and infact they were playing by over revving most of the time which leads to not using your brain and making massive errors.  The commitment was there and I'm not about to believe they've thrown any games in recent times and certainly not today.

One of the main jobs for a coach (manager in our case) is the preparation of the team mentally and conditioning them to understand what stands before them.  Modern football has many coaches in training these days and even when the head coach/manager does attend the training sessions it's mostly to over see what the players put into their sessions as individuals.  Most coaches actually pick players for a match these days based more on what's going on in training with the training staff itself than what their form is on match days.  Just to put a Premier League example that comes straight to mind, we have Troy Deeney at Watford who's been dropped by head coach Walter Mazzarri due to his lack of commitment in training...  Now with this example I'm not saying that Mazzarri is right in Deeney's case, just wanting to use an actual example of how this actually occurs.  It happens everywhere in every league in the world these days with the very few exceptions of exceptional players that pick themselves due to how great they are.

The coach has to prepare so many things for a match day and have every aspect drawn out in his mind before he implements it to his training staff so as to put it into practice.  The coach is there to head the job and attract the respect of the players to perform on the day itself.  Wenger seems to be failing in this and maybe the reasons are that most of the players know they're gonna be playing and they feel comfortable in that aspect and then comes the lack of confidence due to another season gone by the wasteside and feeling that there's probably nothing to play for.

That's what Sam Allardyce got right today and the Palace players outperformed their rival in one term and one term alone...  Not commitment!  They won by playing the game, playing football with their heads.  Arsenal like I said at the start of this over long post, lost their heads in terms of not thinking and probably feeling that things just had to click at some point.  That doesn't occur where humans virus humans are concerned...  This isn't a PlayStation FIFA game where some players are much better than others point blank!  That whatever occurs, those players are just simply better and that's it.  The greatest players can be there and not perform and the reasons that happens is because they haven't prepared themselves correctly for the day and the reason for that is because the head coach didn't do his job properly.  Yeah, the rival has a big part to play, but both being prepared correctly wouldn't see a 4-0 scoreline.

Well done to Crystal Palace although on their part, that's the way they have to play every week and not just at moments like these.  But then again they won't be playing a shambles like Arsenal every week in the Premier League.

It's was 3-0 mate 

[SirBalon]

50 minutes ago, LFCMadLad said:

It's was 3-0 mate 

Yeah sorry... I forgot to edit it before I hit the shower.

I could've made it all a lot shorter by saying "Headless chickens" which says it all really. 

[Chaaay AFC]

8 hours ago, Aaroncpfc said:

Away from 'Wenger Out' I was really impressed how well structured and organised we were. Townsend and Zaha causing problems on the flanks, Puncheon pushing forward well, Benteke was moving around and both Luka and Cabaye have a real good fluidity with each other in the middle. Then of course at the back not even Sanchez would get past The Walking Armageddon that is Sakho. Very pleasing performance from our perspective.

Yeah us being shite aside you were fantastic. Lovely little front three and midfield you have there. Also Sakho was simply fantastic, he will for sure have some after him if he becomes available. With the team you have you should never have been anywhere near relegation.

Looking good for you at the moment even with your tough run in.

[IgnisExcubitor]

So happy to see Martin Kelly playing in the centre of defence and having a good match. That's his ideal position. Here's hoping he puts in more such good performances.

[Panna King]

Wenger has lost the dressing room because he has been far too weak with these types of players. Players in the past wanted to win things and didnt matter really who was in charge, players like Henry, Bergkamp,Vieria etc were born winners. These players like Walcott, Bellerin etc have had such an easy ride no pressure on them what so ever to perform, due to the low standards set out over the last several years.

[Stan]

6 hours ago, SirBalon said:

Yeah sorry... I forgot to edit it before I hit the shower.

I could've made it all a lot shorter by saying "Headless chickens" which says it all really. 

that'll be the day  

a short Sirbalon post. One wishes.  

[Inverted]

The fallout from the match is nursing me through my hangover this morning. 

But aside from all the hilarity, I must say that from the highlights I've seen, some of Palace's counter-attacking was lovely. The way they linked up with and played around Benteke was brilliant.

[6666]

Don't know what the hell that performance was from us yesterday. Total shambles.

Mertesacker might be slow but he knows what defending is supposed to look like and has the intelligence to be positioned in the right place most of the time, get him back in the team. Having our 3rd choice keeper playing can't help but I don't think much of the blame is on him here.

Seriously just waiting for this season to end now.

[Stan]

Home wins for Spurs, Everton & Middlesbrough surely?

 

[LFCMike]

Not won at West Brom since 2011. Not sure what to expect here. Think West Brom are almost in summer holiday mode now they've reached 40 points, typical of Pulis side. But they're very good from set pieces and we're crap at defending them. Wouldn't be at all surprised with any result here

[Cicero]

A draw wouldn't be terrible, but we should really be looking at three points. Can fully expect United players hacking Hazard down again. 

[Eco]

1 minute ago, Cannabis said:

That was orgasmic, 2-1.

I think your orgasm is in the wrong thread

[Stan]

21 minutes ago, Cannabis said:

That was orgasmic, 2-1.

 

20 minutes ago, ATL said:

I think your orgasm is in the wrong thread

Not the first time he's stuck it in the wrong place . 

Will have to reconsider his admin position now. 

[True Blue]

We can draw all our remaining away games and win the home games and clinch the title. We need 5 wins and if we do win at United we will be as good as there. I wouldn't mind a draw but a defeat would put it wide open if Spurs don't fuck up at Bournemouth.

[True Blue]

35 minutes ago, Cannabis said:

If Chelsea don't win the title now it'll be the biggest bottle-jobs in recent memory.

Conte won't let it happen, you can get the open top bus on standby.

Would probably be, however to lose three out of the remaining seven and Spurs winning all of their games is unlikely, but you never know mate

[Toony]

It's as good as over for me, avoid defeat at the weekend and that as good as seals it.

Conte is a class manager and won't let things slip.

[HK85]

3 hours ago, Cannabis said:

If Chelsea don't win the title now it'll be the biggest bottle-jobs in recent memory.

Conte won't let it happen, you can get the open top bus on standby.

[True Blue]

I didn't recall they were 5 points clear, this has to be the reason to keep focused all time and against every team.  

[Dave]

Citeh had a game in hand which they won the following day so that table's a bit misleading.

---

We've got Leicester this weekend and it's great time to play them. This fixture is sandwiched in between The Champions League fixtures where they lost the first game but still have a chance of going through. Literally the ideal scenario for us. Hopefully they're focused on that return fixture and we can make it six wins out of seven.

A win here and we should be safe. Unlikely but we could even parachute up to eleventh which is mad given we've spent about five months in a relegation battle.

[HK85]

Only change for us should be Williams back in for Pennington. 

A convincing win will put us into 5th for a day at least. Got to be aiming at doing that. 

[Stan]

33 minutes ago, Aaroncpfc said:

Citeh had a game in hand which they won the following day so that table's a bit misleading.

---

We've got Leicester this weekend and it's great time to play them. This fixture is sandwiched in between The Champions League fixtures where they lost the first game but still have a chance of going through. Literally the ideal scenario for us. Hopefully they're focused on that return fixture and we can make it six wins out of seven.

A win here and we should be safe. Unlikely but we could even parachute up to eleventh which is mad given we've spent about five months in a relegation battle.

Likewise, a win here and we'll be all but safe. 

Expect to see a similar squad as that against Everton. Like you say, focus will be on Tuesday which has now become a possible victory. If it was 3-0 or 4-0 to Atletico then we'd be able to play a stronger squad against you. 

Huth will play though as he's suspended vs Atletico. Probably have Chilwell, Gray, King, Ulloa or Slimani playing. Too risky to play Vardy or Mahrez or Drinkwater (despite the latter 2 being criminally out of form). Probably see Ndidi rested too. 

Expecting a Palace victory to be honest. Will be amazed with 3 points considering Tuesdays match coming up and you'll be flying high on confidence after beating Chelsea and Arsenal. 

[Dan+]

Palace couldn't play us at a better time. Think in normal circumstances I'd have backed us to get something, but not sandwiched between two of our biggest ever games. Expect a weakened Leicester to lose 2-0.

[Dave]

I fancy Hull and Swansea to win tomorrow, and if Sunderland do us a favour against West Ham we could go up to tenth  How fucking mad. Give Allardyce the England job.

[Stan]

Tottenham get the scoring started for the weekend. 16 mins and Dembele scores from an Eriksen corner. 

[Stan]

And that's 2-0 a couple of minutes later.

Son scores again.