Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen
While we are waiting for the transfer window to close I thought I would provide you all with a fall-out shelter from all the transfer rumors and instead give you something to talk about that isn’t about Mark Schwarzer’s 80th failed physical. To that end I thought I might compare and contrast what we in the USA refer to as the “Hail Mary Pass” in American Football to what English Football fans refer to as “Route One Football.”
The actual history of the Hail Mary Pass in American football is pretty straightforward. Every football team at every level has what they call a “post” play where they flood the field with receivers who go deep and the quarterback is expected to pick out a receiver who is ostensibly angling across the field in a pattern that goes from sideline to, well, to the goalpost.
This is roughly equivalent to a deep lying playmaker in English football picking out a striker or winger with a long angling pass. There’s no shame in either sport with this type of play because it’s good to mix tactics up and play some long balls to see if you can’t stretch the defense and perhaps give your midfield (or running backs) some space to play. Typically, if the quarterback can’t find a long receiver because they are all covered, he will revert to playing a shorter ball, or even throwing the ball out of play rather than giving up possession.
The term “Hail Mary Pass” is thought to have been popularized in America when Roger Staubach threw the game-winning pass to Drew Pearson in the dying seconds of the 1975 divisional playoff game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Minnesota Vikings. With just 24 seconds left on the clock, down 3 points, on 4th down, and sitting at the 50 yard line with no chance of kicking a field goal, Roger Staubach threw a “long bomb” to a well recovered receiver who basically was lucky to catch the ball and subsequently waltz right in for a touchdown. Here’s a video of the play and it’s interesting to note the reactions from everyone all around.*
After the game was over, the reporters asked Staubach about the play and he said that he just closed his eyes and, being a devout Catholic, said a Hail Mary prayer. The play was so controversial that the phrase stuck and now refers to any last ditch attempt to score a touchdown by tossing the ball to either one or more (usually more now) receivers down field.
Probably the second most well known version of the Hail Mary happened when Doug Flutie, then playing for Boston College, needed a last minute touchdown. He had 3 wide receivers flood one area of the field (plus the running back), dropped back, waited until they got into position, time runs out, and he unleashes a speculative throw that just so happens to find one of his players.
I’m not taking anything away from the throw. It was a 63 yard toss and not many people can do that. But then again, not many people can throw the ball like Rory Delap either.
As you can see from both videos the similarities are eerie. Delap throws the ball into basically a zone where his teammates challenge the defenders to win the ball. If they win the ball, then they have a chance at scoring. Usually, though, the defenders should win this challenge simply because there should be more of them and less attacking players. The only real advantage in the case of Delap is that English football defenders aren’t used to the trajectory of his throws and some of them even have a curve to them which would be hard for anyone to control, offensively or defensively.
Basically, what Stoke are hoping for on those plays is that the ball will be so odd that it will cause defensive errors and on the ensuing broken play they can bundle something home. They tried a similar tactic on a corner against Tottenham and fortunately the referee called the foul and disallowed the goal. Oh wait, no he didn’t (warning, this video contains unsafe levels of Tottenham).
You can see a similar tactic employed by Blackburn against Arsenal on Saturday. About 3:27 in to this video, you’ll see that Blackburn start flooding the Arsenal box with burly players trying to cause chaos so that they can steal a goal on the ensuing broken play.
2nd half
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It very nearly works for them but the Arsenal defense just holds. The similarities then, between the Hail Mary and Blackburn’s Route One football are pretty obvious: both teams send as many players as they possibly can, down field, toss the ball up, and pray that something happens.
What’s different though is that in American football this tactic is reserved for the dying seconds of a game. It’s a desperation move because it’s so easy to give possession away by just tossing the ball up like that. You’d never see a team try a Hail Mary in the 10th minute of the first quarter, yet teams like Stoke and Blackburn do that the whole game.
Partially this has to do with the way passes are different in American football than English football: the defenders only needs to bat the ball to the ground for the play to be stopped in the USA. That means that the broken play is pretty rare in American football. So rare that when it happens it’s hailed as an Immaculate Reception — we do love a religious pun don’t we?
Still, differences aside, the play has so many similarities that I think it’s appropriate to label Stoke’s long throws and Blackburn’s keeper kicks as Hail Mary plays. After all, they are an act of desperation by teams who think they have run out of other options.
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*There’s so much I could comment on in this video, a referee is hit with a bottle, the Vikings players feeling like they have been cheated and are demonstrably upset, and the commentator’s bizarre comments about getting knifed at soccer games in Argentina are all ripe for the plucking. But I’m going to stick to the topic at hand.
Arsenal News 24/7
Starting off the day a liitle more solid evidence that RVP could be out for 2 and possibly up to 4 weeks with his (L) ankle sprain: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/aug/30/arsenal-robin-van-persie-ankle
Starting off the day a little more solid evidence that RVP could be out for 2 and possibly up to 4 weeks with his (L) ankle sprain: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/aug/30/arsenal-robin-van-persie-ankle
RVP has to be regarded like beluga caviar or truffles, luxury items that are for ‘special’ moments and shouldn’t be over indulged.
August 31st, 2010 at 7:48 am
I would take what the Dutch FA have to say with a huge grain of salt.
August 31st, 2010 at 8:40 am
@Tim, I agree with you 100%. The Dutch medics wouldn’t know a broken leg even if they were ‘standing’ on one. They just wanted to confirm that their boy wonder was indeed injured. Since this isn’t the WC, they won’t force him out there on crutches like they did with Robben.
I’m going to surmise that this scan is a preliminary read since there was swelling. I’d wait for a repeat scan when the swelling is resolved. In any event he doesn’t need to stay in Holland for treatment
August 31st, 2010 at 8:10 am
@ctpa, I’ll take 2 weeks.
Oh, now I get why some NBA commentators referred to really bad passes as hail maries, hehe. Funny.
Fulham has just confirmed they are keeping Schwarzer. WTF man! Are we going to go another entire season with Almunia and Fabianski?
August 31st, 2010 at 7:48 am
Yes, at least until January.
August 31st, 2010 at 8:01 am
@Tim, I can’t believe we didn’t have a plan B in case the Schwarzer deal didn’t go through. Even the tiny totts got a keeper on loan. All Almunia needs is to make one mistake and the masses will point the gun at Wenger. This really pisses me off.
August 31st, 2010 at 10:13 am
@nycgunner, If Almunia gets injured we are and truly funked.
August 31st, 2010 at 10:13 am
@Joe, +well
August 31st, 2010 at 8:22 am
@Tim,
not cool, NOT cool at all
ps: man am i pissed!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1307593/Father-girl-injured-Jack-Wilshere-clash-demands-justice.html?ITO=1490
You can never be too careful about who you pick and choose to be friends with.
Drew Pearson (who grew up in the town next-door to mine, and as a high school sophomore his quarterback was then-senior Joe Theismann) was guilty of offensive pass interference, so he should have been penalized and the Vikings should have moved on. He wasn’t, because the NFL bent over backwards to help the Dallas Cowboys. Come to think of it, maybe an analogy between that play and Stoke isn’t all that odd.
August 31st, 2010 at 8:32 am
@Uncle Mike, There was a flag on the play.
There’s apparently this thought that the Premiership’s style of play in the box is a different sort of animal to be tamed by a club’s goalkeeper. Is that not why we targeted Schwarzer? Someone tall, physical, with Premiership experience and good command of his territory? At the end of the day, Almunia’s an average goalkeeper in the Premiership and if you look at those that we’d deem markedly better than him, how many of those were really available at sensible prices? Howard, Reina, Given? Probably not available. Schwarzer and Sorenson were two that Wenger has bid on, but unsuccessfully so. Maybe there were some goalkeepers then from outside the Premiership that might have been the answer? The thought was we bid on Marchetti at the least. Maybe there were others like Skeklenburg? At the end of the day, it was FAR more vital for Arsenal to bring in centre backs and we should be very thankful we were able to at least do that. Not to mention how thankful we should be for Chamakh at the moment considering Bendy’s and RvP’s injuries. This GK business isn’t terribly upsetting to me at the moment. Maybe it will down the road, but right now, not really.
August 31st, 2010 at 9:40 am
@ArseChicago, Like I said, it’s all golden till Mooney has another howler.
August 31st, 2010 at 10:00 am
A howler like Reina’s?
August 31st, 2010 at 10:03 am
@ArseChicago, yeah well.. Reina’s howlers are few and far between.
August 31st, 2010 at 10:15 am
@ArseChicago, We tried to go after Eduardo (Portugese international), but he moved to Genoa before we could bid. And Roberto, but he moved to Benfica, lucky too, because he looks well rubbish.
As a Vikings fan, that video is killing me. Major historical anguish, there.
I understand everyone’s anguish over the keeper situation. More thoughts tomorrow.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/aug/31/alexander-hleb-birmingham-city?
Mcleish is wetting himself in joy at ‘capturing’ ex-Stuttgart, Arsenal , Barcelona player Hleb on loan. He’s never, ever going back to Barcelona. We’ve moved on as well with quicker, more direct players like Rosicky, Walcott and Arshavin. Hleb’s best performances for us were in the CL. Hleb is a good dribbler but he’s like fly paper and doesn’t make the necessary pass when players are drawn out of position.
August 31st, 2010 at 12:50 pm
I have a Hleb shirt, and will never diss the guy. Last year he was a standout for Stutgart. He just needs the right team/system and he can do a more than decent job. I’m sorry to see him stuck in Birmingham with that group.
More worrying than our #1 GK situation I think is our #2 GK. Any chest infection or injured wrist could mean Flappy at goal. Not nice.
I understand it when someone says: It’s not Championship Manager, but come on, does this mean we are not able to find a single solid (at least better then Almunia) goalkeeper not wanting to come and play for Arsenal, and a club not willing to accept good money? Fuckin’ ridiculous. 9 months worth of rumors, and we could be left stuck with a goalkeeper not brimming with self belief and some guy named Fabianski. If we really don’t buy anyone, we better pray Mooney pulls an Eboue (although I somehow doubt it), I would consider this a major sign of incompetence by Arsenal and Arsene Wenger. I’d hate it, but I would hardly find another way to see this.
August 31st, 2010 at 11:00 am
@Teampossible, How about an even more modest goal of a keeper better than Fabianski who could be credible backup and potential competition for Almunia? Surely that was possible at the very least.
August 31st, 2010 at 11:15 pm
Keepers don’t grow on trees.
Considering that only one keeper can play in one game, do you think any club would let a good keeper leave?
It’s not like buying an attacking mid, which is considerably easier than getting a good goalie.
Metro has us making a move for 23yo Asmir Begovic from Stoke (Portsmouth). I guarantee this is not going to happen because it makes no sense. We are not going from trying to bring in an experience GK to another callow GK who may or may not have gone on strike when asked to play a Carling Cup game.
All you Huntelaar fans can now watch him play for Schalke 04.
Robinho goes from a team with CL aspirations to a team that is synonymous with the CL in AC Milan (Pato, Ibrahimovc, Ronaldinho). Do Ajax, Auxerre and even Real Madrid just go for 2nd place?
Inter and Benitez get a droll draw against Bologna. Benitez needs to prove that Mourinho’s shoes are not to big to fill.
Real Madrid should not be looking at Barcelona but should be more worried about Atletico Madrid.
August 31st, 2010 at 10:18 am
@ctpa, Milan suck balls. Their strikers are all donkeys. Robinho is a sulky twat. Ronaldinho is past it. Ibra is overrated, and about as effective as my nan. Pato it all flash, no end product. Add that to a squad with an average age of 30+ and they’ll fail again.
How I learned to stop worrying and love Almunia (apologies with Dr. Strangelove).
/Users/leonardking/Desktop/The-Gallery-Gareth-Bale-001.jpg
More from the Guardian.
We really need to appreciate the character of Fabregas and the stand that he took in not being seduced by Barcelona.
Anyone else who has Barcelona come sniffing their behind raises their tail. We saw this with Hleb, Henry (there were extenuating circumstances in his case), Alves (Sevilla has never recovered from his loss) and now Mascherano with 2 years remaining on his Liverpool contract completes his “dream move”. Hey Mascherano, Keita just signed an extension through 2014 and who do you think pushed out Yaya Toure (besides Busquets).
The biggest transfer news of today though is that ‘Arry (I’m no fucking wheeler dealer, I’m a football man) Redknapp is not doing any more deals today.
Traore’s loan move to Juventus pushes out Zebina who has been woeful for years.
August 31st, 2010 at 10:04 am
Are you serious? With all due respect, Cesc clearly wanted to leave and it was Arsenal that put the kibbosh on it. Cesc was clearly seduced and now it’s on him to show us his commitment to this club and what it did for him.
August 31st, 2010 at 10:18 am
@ArseChicago, I totally agree with you. And to be honest, I haven’t seen a smile on his face in any games (just at the member’s day). He doesn’t look like he wants to be here anymore. I hope his “professionalism” shines through in the up coming games. i doubt it will, now that he is linking up with all those Asshole Spanish players who are going to tell him how he absolutely missed out and all that. Cesc needed a couple months without seeing his “friends” since all this summer bullshit.
August 31st, 2010 at 11:30 am
@ArseChicago, Yes but Fabregas did not come out and demand the move publicly or threaten not to play for Arsenal. That is what so many of these players, and even Squillaci recently, have done to agitate for a move they wanted. Fabregas does deserve some credit for leaving matters in Wenger’s hands, fulfilling his obligations, affirming his commitment to Arsenal, and being more of a professional than many others.
Would I have wanted and perhaps even have expected more? Yes, but placing the onus on Fabregas to “show” his commitment is playing in to the hands of those who would like to further unsettle him. When has he ever not given full effort? He has played injured and risked himself and his career fighting for our club.
Of course, I am proud of Arsenal for refusing to bend and be bullied. I am also thankful that Cesc didn’t make it harder, but frankly concerned that the club didn’t do as much in the transfer period to strengthen this team and enhance the chance to make the most of this fantastic talent in order to win the trophies a winner like him desires and has already achieved internationally. I am optimistic this year, like the defensive signings and addition of Chamakh but think the club could have seized the opportunity to surround Cesc with the best team we can afford. If we win the PL this season, add a cup and go deep in the CL making a semi or a final, perhaps the dream of Barcelona will fade a bit until he has won all he can with the club for a couple of seasons. He could then later head to Barcelona as a champion in his own right and Arsenal legend. Perhaps he wants that and would be happy with that.
If he plays poorly for a couple of months, then you can say he isn’t committed, but the starting point is not that he has to prove anything about his commitment to us. He broke his leg trying to win against Barcelona. He is back and playing for Arsenal, and we shouldn’t be talking about smiles and silly stuff like that. As Wenger has said he wanted to go to Barcelona but he loves Arsenal too.
What I wish Wenger was able to say, which he didn’t and can’t, is that we have a team that has been built to win as much as Barcelona did the season before last because we added the quality and experience needed to go that extra step along with our young players’ improvement. In fact we have done the minimum necessary, and perhaps arguably not even that, to replace outgoing defensive players and change from Eduardo to Chamakh, which suits our style better. It’s a good team and we have a chance to achieve more success this year. Let’s hope we do, but we’d all be more confident if we had improved the GK and found a DM to cover and compete with Song.
August 31st, 2010 at 11:55 am
For the record, I didn’t criticize Cesc for speaking out publicly, which, as you point out, he didn’t really do. I’m just pointing out that he wanted to leave Arsenal this summer and that we’ll need him to give 100% effort if we’re to win a trophy this season. As for the latter point, I expressed no doubt about him giving said effort. That’s it.
August 31st, 2010 at 5:16 pm
@Limestonegunner, You have reiterated my point. He didn’t publicly put the club in an untenable position.
August 31st, 2010 at 6:37 pm
@ctpa, We tend to agree. But to be fair, I think I expanded on the point! Cheers, man!
Cheer up, everyone. We were 7-1 odds to win the league going into the season. Do you think signing Schwarzer would’ve increased the odds that much? 6-1 then? 5-1? The favorite, even? Laughable the notion that Schwarzer would’ve done that. As for centre back, Arsene traded out a volatile nutter for a hard working, skilled Koscielny and traded out the nearly lifeless corpse of Silvestre for the serial killer looking Squillaci. Not to mention we’ve brought up Wilshere and brought in Chamakh.
August 31st, 2010 at 10:15 am
I will admit, too, that maybe my perspective on goalkeepers has changed over the summer following the Blackhawks winning the Cup with Anti Niemi, a 27-yr old Finnish guy that was basically playing semi-pro hockey a few years ago, in the net.
August 31st, 2010 at 11:35 am
@ArseChicago, You’re right Schwarzer might not make such a big difference–I certainly don’t think he is that much better than Almunia, if at all. But it is remarkable that a club like Arsenal with the resources we have available this summer couldn’t do more to strengthen the squad. Maybe no one was available, but at least someone better than Fabianski would have been an improvement. It is more about providing serious competition and improving the confidence of the defense. Perhaps the latter has been achieved merely by shuffling so many players out who have worked already with our goalkeepers and lost confidence in them. We’ll see how much better Kos and Squillaci are than Gallas and Campbell, but it is a loss overall of experience even with some other advantages.
August 31st, 2010 at 12:05 pm
@ArseChicago, but it’s not just about replacing mooney, it’s also about adding depth to your team and more importantly providing competing with your team mate for the same spot – something mooney does not get from fabianski. we should have planned this much better. i think we will still do well in the league given we have improved defensively – but i also think we may just fall a little bit short unless mooney somehow pulls an eboue
August 31st, 2010 at 12:06 pm
@nycgunner, meant to say competing with your team mates from the same position.. can’t type today.
August 31st, 2010 at 12:23 pm
As I mentioned the other day, if all this talk of replacing Almunia with Schwarzer and every other GK in the world doesn’t motivate Almunia, then certainly bringing in yet another GK to actually compete with him won’t. For my money, given what I perceive to be not a world of difference between Mooney and Schwarzer, I guess I’m fine having a motivated Almunia rather than an under pressure, under the microscope Schwarzer asked to shoulder the title hopes of every venom spewing, anti-Arsene, Arsenal supporter. Note: I’m referring to a certain website not named 7amkickoff and its frequent commenters there.
August 31st, 2010 at 12:31 pm
@ArseChicago, Arguably Almunia played with greater aggression and concentration at Blackburn because his position was threatened by the transfer bid for Schwarzer. Now that the deadline is passed where will the competition come from? That is why at the very least we needed someone in who was a more credible backup and competitor for the position than Fabianski. When Almunia was fighting for his spot with Lehmann he had a pretty good season or two. Without that pressure last year he had real difficulties.
Now we support him. But my thought would be to have Sneezy be put forward as the number two and get Carling Cup and early FA cup games and if we qualify early for the CL some group games. Almunia needs to feel him breathing down his neck.
August 31st, 2010 at 12:57 pm
@Limestonegunner, He has competition.
August 31st, 2010 at 1:03 pm
So that’s what everyone was begging for this offseason? Merely competition for Almunia? Motivation has been Almunia’s problem, not talent? We’ve got Szszesny and Mannone next in line, Fabianski or no Fabianski. Why should Arsene have tried to go out and buy some Russian or French GK in his young 20s when he’s got two similarly aged GKs he sees on a daily basis and which he believes to be ready soon? Arsene going after Schwarzer not only suggests that he thought Scwharzer was better than Almunia, albeit not by a tremendous margin given the tepid bid, but also that he likely will be ready to hand over the reins to Szszesny or Mannone relatively soon. The real competition this offseason was between Fabianski, Schwarzer and Almunia. The latter two lost out – Fabianski for horrifying performances and Schwarzer for Mark Hughes’ spite of Wenger. Almunia won by process of elimination. As for the young guys, I hope Arsene gets them in a position, similar to Hart at B’ham last season, where he can make a judgment fairly quickly as to whether or not they’ll be able to live up to our lofty expectations for them.
August 31st, 2010 at 12:32 pm
@ArseChicago, I think I know which website you are referring to. I have said it multiple times on this website during the summer that the Schwarzer deal didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me because there isn’t a big difference in class between him and Mooney. I was hoping for a truly world class keeper who could also be a mentor to Sczezny. But hell – if given the choice of bringing in no keeper or Schwarzer, I would go with Schwarzer. One, it’s a hell lotta better than having Fabianski on the bench and two, sometimes even that little bit of upgrade in class can be the difference between finishing first and finishing second.
August 31st, 2010 at 2:31 pm
@ArseChicago, No, I was never that thrilled with Schwarzer and my aspiration was for a keeper like Given or better. But the worst situation is to have to rely on Fabianski as backup as that is playing with fire. If we couldn’t get Schwarzer to be #1 or #2, shouldn’t there at least have been an alternative who was better than Fabianski? It is a sliding scale as we deal with the diminishing horizons for improving our club. But since that is our goal, to improve as much as possible or at least avoid the worst situation, that is what we are talking about. And, as I said above, if that isn’t happening, then Chesney should be our #2 right now. I don’t see what you are arguing about. Who said anything about more young GK’s from France and Russia? Do you want to improve our chances this season to win something or not? How do you get the most out of Almunia? He historically has played better fighting for his spot. Fabianski is no option right now, I don’t care what anyone says. And he hasn’t been credible competition for Almunia for over a year. He needs to go out on loan somewhere away from the pressure of Arsenal’s first team and rebuild that fragile psyche and paper-thin confidence. I am not crushed that we don’t have Schwarzer, but I think it would have helped us a bit this season and kept us from relying on Fabianski to play if Wenger is too worried about putting Chesney in the firing line right now. But that’s what I would do now and if Wenger didn’t have a different backup plan, I think he needs to show confidence in Chesney now. He’s taking a big risk but that is the best move we have left, or until January.
August 31st, 2010 at 2:34 pm
@Limestonegunner, btw, I believe now we have to support Almunia. He can play well. He did at Blackburn. Let’s hope who his #2 is not even an issue this season because Almunia stays healthy and effective.
August 31st, 2010 at 3:10 pm
My reference was to the clamoring for GKs like Lloris and Ikinfeev. It seemed there were two thoughts – either buy an older GK to replace Mooney and keep the seat warm for Chesney or buy a young “stud” like Lloris. I’m saying I didn’t think Wenger wanted to go down the latter route given his view of Chesney/Mannone. What else I’m arguing and have been arguing is that the noise in support of Arsenal buying Schwarzer, both in volume and amount, is not at all commensurate, in my opinion, with the amount of improvement over Almunia Schwarzer would represent. Wenger made what he thought was a fair offer and for a variety of reasons, Hughes didn’t accept.
Come January, and this is just the way it goes sometimes, if we’re not in first place, I have a feeling there are a handful of other players not named Almunia having fingers pointing at them.
On another note, guardian’s coverage of the Ryan Babel transfer saga has been hilarious.
Arshavin call’s Blackburn’s style of play “Beat run and surround the gate” (apparently a russian saying). LOL!!
Whether or not a new goalkeeper comes in, we did not give up 41 goals last year solely because of Almunia or Flappy. This team had, and judging from Blackburn’s goal still has a worrying vulnerability to the quick counter due to the players lack of concentration, lack of positional awareness, and lack of defensive desire. When Samba intercepts Arshavin’s pass, he ambles forward a good twenty yards, head up and virtually unchallenged. If RvP REALLY closes down on Samba (not the half hearted challenge which Samba easily gets away from), or Diaby tracks back hard (not jog), Samba loses the ball or looks for an outlet rather then play it forward. I might despise Barca at this point but one thing they do which we need to emulated is immediately try to win the ball back after losing it. They come at opponents like a pack of rabid dogs, not allowing them any time on the ball. We were caught out of position but if we had pressured Samba, at the very least it would have bought enough time for us reorganize defensively.
Diaby had rushed forward to support Theo’s run. Song and Cesc were both at the halfway line and there was a good twenty yard gap between midfield and defense when Samba intercepts. Song was caught between dropping back and closing down on Samba and after watching Samba waltz by RvP, moved to challenge Samba. Cesc actually jogged forward and stopped while watching Samba. If instead he had turned and ran back to cover Song, would he have been in a position to help out? I don’t know since there was a lot of ground to cover but I would have liked to have seen him try. Sagna was also caught ball watching and should’ve realized all of our midfielders were high up the pitch and there was NO protection in front of the back three of TV, Koz and Clichy. Samba’s pass to Diouf the elder exploited that gap and put Blackburn in a 3 vs 3 situation in front of our goal. Yes, Koz and Clichy could’ve done better but a 3 v 3 is a bad position for any defense. To me, RvP, Diaby, Cesc and Sagna are also culpable since they were caught out of position and failed to stop Samba.
Almunia was not at fault for that goal nor could Shwarzer (or any goalkeeper we wish to bring in) have prevented it. It’s a team game and keeper issues aside, the team needs to find a balance between their attacking fluency and defensive solidity. Just preventing a few of those quick counterattacking goals could make a huge difference in our season.
August 31st, 2010 at 11:45 am
@Tee Song, All reasonable points, but where is this defensive nous going to come from? We’ve had this problem for a few seasons but the coaching seems the same, have brought in a set of new and less experienced players who have not developed and understanding or partnership, and kept the goalkeepers who seemed to have lost the confidence of last season’s back line. I am being optimistic as far as possible in my view of the new players and of Almunia given his encouraging performance at Blackburn, but one thing a commanding goalkeeper could bring is defensive organization and greater confidence to the back four.
By all means we need a stronger team defense and reaction on losses of possession. But that isn’t mutually exclusive with enhancing positions in which you can also improve.
So many commenters like to frame the issues rather simplistically for all the depth of their analysis generally: so there should only be one reason or one cause for something and our debate should be about which is the right reason, cause and single remedy. Everything about a game of football, as in life, is far more complex. And you enhance your chance of success by identifying the several most important factors influencing the situation and attempting to remedy each of them in as many feasible ways.
Is it impossible to improve your goalkeeper and concentrate of learning to defend better as a team to take pressure off the last line of defense? Let’s be a bit more ambitious for our club.
August 31st, 2010 at 12:28 pm
@Tee Song,
Our midfield lacks great pace. Sagna is the only one who can run back and be of help. He is at fault with the second goal. Perhaps he thinks that with TV and Kos, it can be dealt with sufficient ease. Kos is the second culprit–it is a good lesson for him. Don’t forget he is still learning his way in the EPL. Clichy is the one who I think is the main culprit. He has the pace, but not the mentality to make vital interceptions. He has the tendency to freeze when faced with a crisis at the back. You are right that Almunia is not to blame; but I cannot help thinking that someone like Lehmann may be able to stop that goal.
August 31st, 2010 at 5:36 pm
@Tee Song, http://younggunsblog.co.uk/2010/08/analysis-arsenals-new-pressing-tactic/
At the very top, you need a goalkeeper who can “steal” you some points here and there during the season.
Rather, Almunia/Fabianski cost us about 7-8 points last year by my (unscientific) estimates. That difference alone puts us in touching distance of Chelsea, if they simply stopped and handled the shots/crosses that were unexceptional.
What makes me sad is we do not have a goalkeeper who can “steal” us some points – the only time we had that happen was last year Mannone v. Fulham, where Vito stole the game by standing on his head. Brilliant. He obviously can’t do that consistently, or he’d be our starter and he’s not.
What happened to Sneezy – has he been loaned out?
August 31st, 2010 at 1:23 pm
@Brahmabull, Just off the top of my head I remember that Almunia earned 3 against Liverpool
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/report?id=270112&cc=5901&league=ENG.1
He also kept us in the first match against Barcelona with 8 saves.
He’s a good keeper, with a huge problem personality wise. I think we’d be more forgiving of him if he was just as flappy but more crazy about it.
August 31st, 2010 at 2:09 pm
@Tim, If last week’s performance is anything to go by, someone must give Mooney his crazy pills every weekend.
Oh Dear. Hello everyone. Yep nothing happened in London today except Spurs bought a Dutch Master, Arsenal 17 year old goal-keeper have been called up to the Senior England Team. Hleb is coming home,(silly boy for leaving). Traore is on loan, and March S did not join Arsenal. I’m I upset, not really. End of Window. No more what if’s or buts. We have three new signings, and we had three senior departures. Equilibrium state.
Lets talk about the two goals we have given away so far this season. Liverpool goal( Arshavin miss pass), Blacburn goal, Clichy not marking his winger and Kozzeer lack of top body strength. In my opinion, neither the blame of our goal keeper. We have Manuel for the autumn, nothing else to do but accept what the situation is and get behind Manuel.
Tim: As a Catholic girl, you made me say my prayers early when I read your blog. Good on you.
Lonodn Out
August 31st, 2010 at 1:27 pm
Margarette,
It is nice to know that you are catholic. I had one other question: Are you hot? Just curious, as my name suggests. Would you indulge my curiosity? I ask because I like hot catholic girls.
August 31st, 2010 at 1:42 pm
@Curious George, Oh behave.
August 31st, 2010 at 2:36 pm
@margarette adrien, I don’t think Clichy could have done a whole lot to prevent the goal. I mean he had no one supporting him. He had to look at the ball (and the Diouf that spits) sometime!! Thats gives more than enough time for a striker to sneak in.
August 31st, 2010 at 2:39 pm
@Akash, A lot of people have been blaming Clichy but I think with no support he was in no mans land. He had to look at the what the “spitting” Diouf was doing and also what the Striker Diouf was doing. As a defender there’s only one way that ends, with a goal.
I think Sagna (notwithstanding his performance rest of the game) was at fault to start off and then Kos. Song probably for not tracking back. But Clichy was pretty much in a no win situation with no backup support.
August 31st, 2010 at 4:42 pm
@margarette adrien, I have to say, I get a little tired of the amount of blame Koscielny and Clichy are getting for that goal. Absolutely, they both could’ve done better. But if Arsenal had 3 vs 3 position on an opponents goal, most people would be a little disappointed if we didn’t score in that situation. Fair play to Blackburn for capitalizing on a good opportunity. Kalinic stopped around the penalty spot, looking for the cutback which forced Verminator to move a little higher to cover him. This opened up the space for Diouf the younger to cut in between TV and Clichy to receive a perfectly placed and timed pass from Diouf the spitter. If this had been Arshavin skinning a defender, RvP stopping at the penalty spot and Theo ghosting in from the right we’d all be lauding RvP and Theo’s intelligent movement and Arshavin’s inch perfect pass.
For me, the focus should be more about how we left the back door open and allowed such an easy goal. Koscielny and Clichy simply made the last of a series of mistakes. All three of our midfielders were caught high up the pitch and we failed to pressure Samba quickly enough and our defenders were left stranded as a result. See my post above.
August 31st, 2010 at 5:45 pm
@Tee Song, Let’s not forget Sagna doing his best Assou-Ekoto impersonation.
Wow, didn’t see the Rafael Van der Vart deal coming. All those ‘creative’ mid field pretenders at Sp**s can now park their asses. My only hope is that he continues his poor WC form for Sp**s.