About the incident when Fonte was injured and, following the rules, he had to leave the pitch and return when the ref said he could come back on. The commentator, on the stream I was watching, said that whilst Fonte was being treated, Monreal ran down the tunnel for some pills, then came straight back onto the pitch. Should he not have waited at the side of the pitch, until after the game had restarted, as Fonte did?
If Saints do go to Upton Park, they'd better get back in time for kick off - the match is at St Marys
And not being in command of all the facts or all of my faculties I thought we would retain our 'winning formation', like there is really such a thing. And with hindsight, I can now see that it wouldn't have worked because as stated they would have overrun us in the centre of midfield. What's good is Ron changes and the players seem to be able to play to different plans. Some suggestion that there is some feeling of dissatisfaction around but I was there and we played really well 1st half and if our attacking 3 had been in better form we might well have won. 2nd half Wenger changed things and especially moved Sanchez deeper to run at us. If Steve Davis had been fit then he might have been able to negate that move, but unfortunately we don't have anyone else that could do that at present. But the way we defended 2nd half was pretty damn good. Many other teams would have folded. Shame we couldn't bring on CA9 again to score the late winner
Bit of a late response, but been in London. Depends on how good you think he can be. I mean this as a compliment as I think he can still be a lot better. I want to see him winning games and he isn't doing that yet. Interesting that JWP, Victor & Oriel played last night not Jordy.
Just about agrees with my view last night, particularly the front three. Arsenal started scared and our forward couldn't find the right pass, touch or finish once. If they had we could well have won.
Maybe I've over-simplified here but when I've seen him play (live) he shows what he can do in spells but not over a whole game and he hasn't actually scored or assisted a goal yet (correct me if I'm wrong on the assist). He has got a shot on him, but haven't seen much of it, can play a telling pass (on occasions), can chase and win the ball at times (but not like Steve Davis), links up well with our other midfielders (but often fades), has missed a couple of key tackles and doesn't last 90 minutes yet. I don't mean this as criticism, I just think he's still adapting and has had to play some games when we haven't been that great as a team. I think he'll get better.
Your comment about Sanchez dropping deeper, second half, is really interesting because you see it as a decision made by Wenger, which it may well have been. The commentary team, I was listening to saw it as our defence forcing him deeper as he wasn't getting enough space further upfield. If it was a Wenger decision, then we have to give him credit for making the change, because he caused a lot more problems after the break. I agree with the Davis comment as well, as he works so hard at closing down players/space. We've also missed his linking with the front two, in our last two matches when, coincidentally, the front two have been less effective with regards to getting into goal scoring positions, maybe because they are dropping a bit deeper into the space Davis naturally drives into.
I think he's shown quite a bit more than people have seen. What you say above is still fair comment, but he really has put in some good performances. I think he is getting better.
We have also won without Romeu. And without Wanyama. And without JWP. And without Davis. After every loss, people want wholesale changes. After every win, people insist we not change a winning side. None of these guys are indispensible. Not because of any fault of their own, but because we have a bunch of really good midfielders and so can easily rotate. It's a good problem to have.
Yes, sorry about Tuesday's.... The strikers must have been affected by the of negative post that got on there. I'll patrol this one a little harder
No need to apologise. Because of MOTD's selective coverage I began to doubt my own senses, so I watched the first half again yesterday evening and had my faith restored. We gave as good as we got. Even the commentators said that. Besides, I read somewhere that we got mullered. I'll take a 0-0 mullering, but moral victory, any time away to Arsenal, if we can't win.