Post by yeoldetangerine on Apr 11, 2011 17:00:42 GMT 1
As no one has put in a match report yet, thought I'd put some impressions. I was really low down in the North, so didn't see much of the controversy at the South End, but got a great view of some dreadful decisions below us. Feel free to disagree.
Firstly, thought the team selection was comabative. replacing the injured Vaughan with Gnasher probably raised a few blood pressures, but Ollie wanted a team to work for each other and give everything. Much of the backbone of last year's side was back together, and I think it showed.
First set back was the team announcement for Arsenal, little me was reading the Arsenal team sheet thinking "OMG, how do we compete with that, van Persie, Nasri, Arshavin, blxxdin xll"
Pool started brightly, pushing forward, it was a few minutes before Arsenal even got the ball. But when they did, much shorter faster passing than we do, and really sweet little short chips over players, very skilful. First goal, all screaming offside, given. Second goal, defense went totally awol, simple finish, 0-2.
The real positive from our club point of view was the support. Apart from a brief lull after each goal, wall to wall noise, standing shouting encouragement, chants for individual players, brought a tear to the eye.
Just before half time, a real scramble in the area with 14000 Pool supporters willing it in, but just cleared off the line. Couple of top draw saves by Kingson, including one brave dive after which where Van Persie stood on his arm, even the ref came over to see if he was OK Did I mention how awful the lino was, apart from the major incidents, he was missing offsides again and again. When he finally gave one, he got one of the biggest cheers of the day.
Second half was a different team again, Ollie must have had a quiet word at half time. Forgive the hyperbole, but it was wave after wave of tangerine attacks, unrelenting pressure, Reg and Punch running anything into the box, DJ like the scrapping terrier that he is, jumping for everything, shielding the ball, passes dissecting the defnese, no surprise at all when we scored, although a surprise that the ref allowed two advantages for GTF to finally slot home. Wilshire was booked for the first offence, but how he forgot to send Lehmann off or at least book, who knows.
Unfortunately, as I'm sure the susbstitution system takes time, Reg went off and Pie Man came on, losing momentum at a vital momement. Arsenal showed their professionalism by slowing everything down, the second of 3 rather bizarre drop balls happened around this point. Apparently, under a new rule, if you are tackled and curl around the ball, it is a drop ball, rather than the obstruction it used to be. The first drop ball was for an injury where an Arsenal player went down like he'd been shot, ball had gone back to Kingson, but the ref called for it back to midfield. I'm sure you'll all be pleased to hear the Arsenal player was soon on his feet, like after about 2.3 seconds after the ref stopped play.
By this point, I'm sure Ted was having apoplexy, as Gnasher appeared to be acting as a left winger, narrowly missing with his head from open play, Punch being so surprised to see him in front of him that he too missed it. Charlie was not at his fireyest, but tackled back well. Couple of time when he set off on a run, I'd love to see him just keep going, rather than making up ground and looking for his strikers.
The inevitable then happened, simple fast Arsenal passing and a third goal. Another really bright point, though, heads did not go down and the Pool continued to pour forward in attack, DJ getting a ball about 2 feet too far in front of him on the stretch for Lehmann to save at his feet, Punch with a shot stopped by anArsenal head, nearly knocked him out. Matty had a few good runs at the left side of the Arsenal defense, which looked fragile, but seemed a little overawed, earlier this season he would have just run at anyone. Korni made a welcome appearance, first touch of the ball, foul given against him for daring to tackle an Arsenal player!
The decisions and poor reffing have been done to death elsewhere. The positives were :
This was Arsenal, second in the League, and we gave them a real go
Team was much more positive and comabative. In the good spell, they chased everything, were first to every fifty fifty ball.
The frontline looked more cohesive, DJ, Reg, GTF and Punch played off each other without being in each other's way. When they were doing well, it was a lot more direct.
From where I sat, thought the King had a good match, don't like some of the abuse he gets
Crainey and Baps both did well in attack, made some real crucial tackles
The crowd
Stuff about Arsenal that impressed :
Short fast passing
Little chips over players
Their longball is straight upfield into what we used to call the inside left or right position, rather than diagonal, really effective against a defense like ours.
All in all, dissapointed with the final score, but proud of the team performance. Add Charlie on song to an effort like yesterday, and we just might get some more points.
Firstly, thought the team selection was comabative. replacing the injured Vaughan with Gnasher probably raised a few blood pressures, but Ollie wanted a team to work for each other and give everything. Much of the backbone of last year's side was back together, and I think it showed.
First set back was the team announcement for Arsenal, little me was reading the Arsenal team sheet thinking "OMG, how do we compete with that, van Persie, Nasri, Arshavin, blxxdin xll"
Pool started brightly, pushing forward, it was a few minutes before Arsenal even got the ball. But when they did, much shorter faster passing than we do, and really sweet little short chips over players, very skilful. First goal, all screaming offside, given. Second goal, defense went totally awol, simple finish, 0-2.
The real positive from our club point of view was the support. Apart from a brief lull after each goal, wall to wall noise, standing shouting encouragement, chants for individual players, brought a tear to the eye.
Just before half time, a real scramble in the area with 14000 Pool supporters willing it in, but just cleared off the line. Couple of top draw saves by Kingson, including one brave dive after which where Van Persie stood on his arm, even the ref came over to see if he was OK Did I mention how awful the lino was, apart from the major incidents, he was missing offsides again and again. When he finally gave one, he got one of the biggest cheers of the day.
Second half was a different team again, Ollie must have had a quiet word at half time. Forgive the hyperbole, but it was wave after wave of tangerine attacks, unrelenting pressure, Reg and Punch running anything into the box, DJ like the scrapping terrier that he is, jumping for everything, shielding the ball, passes dissecting the defnese, no surprise at all when we scored, although a surprise that the ref allowed two advantages for GTF to finally slot home. Wilshire was booked for the first offence, but how he forgot to send Lehmann off or at least book, who knows.
Unfortunately, as I'm sure the susbstitution system takes time, Reg went off and Pie Man came on, losing momentum at a vital momement. Arsenal showed their professionalism by slowing everything down, the second of 3 rather bizarre drop balls happened around this point. Apparently, under a new rule, if you are tackled and curl around the ball, it is a drop ball, rather than the obstruction it used to be. The first drop ball was for an injury where an Arsenal player went down like he'd been shot, ball had gone back to Kingson, but the ref called for it back to midfield. I'm sure you'll all be pleased to hear the Arsenal player was soon on his feet, like after about 2.3 seconds after the ref stopped play.
By this point, I'm sure Ted was having apoplexy, as Gnasher appeared to be acting as a left winger, narrowly missing with his head from open play, Punch being so surprised to see him in front of him that he too missed it. Charlie was not at his fireyest, but tackled back well. Couple of time when he set off on a run, I'd love to see him just keep going, rather than making up ground and looking for his strikers.
The inevitable then happened, simple fast Arsenal passing and a third goal. Another really bright point, though, heads did not go down and the Pool continued to pour forward in attack, DJ getting a ball about 2 feet too far in front of him on the stretch for Lehmann to save at his feet, Punch with a shot stopped by anArsenal head, nearly knocked him out. Matty had a few good runs at the left side of the Arsenal defense, which looked fragile, but seemed a little overawed, earlier this season he would have just run at anyone. Korni made a welcome appearance, first touch of the ball, foul given against him for daring to tackle an Arsenal player!
The decisions and poor reffing have been done to death elsewhere. The positives were :
This was Arsenal, second in the League, and we gave them a real go
Team was much more positive and comabative. In the good spell, they chased everything, were first to every fifty fifty ball.
The frontline looked more cohesive, DJ, Reg, GTF and Punch played off each other without being in each other's way. When they were doing well, it was a lot more direct.
From where I sat, thought the King had a good match, don't like some of the abuse he gets
Crainey and Baps both did well in attack, made some real crucial tackles
The crowd
Stuff about Arsenal that impressed :
Short fast passing
Little chips over players
Their longball is straight upfield into what we used to call the inside left or right position, rather than diagonal, really effective against a defense like ours.
All in all, dissapointed with the final score, but proud of the team performance. Add Charlie on song to an effort like yesterday, and we just might get some more points.