Stoke City hosted the Arsenal in their 2012-2013 Premier League home opener and judging by the huge grin on Stoke manager Tony Pulis’ face as he jogged off to the showers the hosts were more than happy with a dour 0-0 draw at full time.
Stoke City’s game plan was to close space whenever the Arsenal midfield had possession anywhere near the half-way line and try to kick, pull, shove, and basically harass Arsenal off the ball. When they won possession, the instructions were equally clear; look long quickly to “Crouchie” for the knock-down or a flick-on header and have Walters try to smash and grab a goal.
After that first 20 minutes, whether they had a goal or not, they would sit back in defense and rely on Shawcross and Huth to soak up pressure and try to hit Arsenal on the counter. They were also obviously instructed to take a 90 minute game and compress it down to about 30 minutes of actual game play by taking at least 30 seconds on every free kick, throw-in, and goal kick. Arsenal’s traveling support cottoned on to this tactic and began loudly counting any time Stoke’s keeper, Asmir Begovich, took a free kick. By my estimate, Stoke’s keeper wasted 10 minutes of game time all on his own.
To Stoke’s credit, their six minutes of hard work nearly paid off when the exceptionally mediocre Walters did smash home a Crouch flick on, only to be rightly ruled out for offside.
Just one minute later, The Arsenal response was swift as Giroud played a lovely pass for Podolski who was in on goal. Stoke fullback Andy Wilkinson slipped to the ground and with yards between him and the ball, somehow managed to desperately scramble in front of Podolski’s shot to get in a perfectly timed intentional handball block. How referee Lee Mason missed this only he will know as it was obvious from every angle that the only possible way Wilkinson could have blocked that shot was by throwing his hand out. Replays confirmed that the Stoke player denied Arsenal a goal with his hand and it remains to be seen if the FA will take any further action for Wilkinson’s unsportsmanlike behavior. Or if the Daily Mail will now run an anti-handball cheat campaign.
The rest of the first half and in fact the game followed that familiar pattern as Arsenal poked and prodded the Stoke City defense in vain. In terms of final ball or end product however, Arsenal may have four of the top ten dribblers in the League (Gervinho, Walcott, Cazorla, and Diaby) but only one player in the top 10 of the League in terms of creating goal-scoring chances (Cazorla). If you take Cazorla out of the equation Arsenal’s top three dribblers have combined for 21 dribbles but just 5 key passes in the first two games of the season. Lots of huff and puff from the Arsenal attack but as Arsene would say “lacking a little bit that final quality.”
Moreover, midfield maestro Cazorla not only leads Arsenal in terms of chances created but also in shots per game and again in this game took the lion’s share of the Arsenal shots — getting Arsenal’s only two shots on goal. Podolski and Giroud have surprisingly few attempts on goal for Arsenal and are combined for fewer shots and fewer key passes than the Spaniard.
If you take all of the Arsenal forwards as a unit (Cazorla, Giroud, Gervinho, Walcott, Ramsey, and Podolski) they have created 18 goal scoring chances and have taken 32 of Arsenal’s shots. 9 of the goal scoring chances have been created by Cazorla (50%) and 10 of the shots have been taken by Cazorla (31%).
This wouldn’t be much of a problem except that over their careers Cazorla, Giroud, Gervinho, Walcott and Ramsey are not efficient finishers: they need a lot of shots in order to score goals. Cazorla, Walcott and Gervinho all needed around 10 shots per goal last season and though Giroud was better at 7.6 per goal, Arsenal need to be looking at how they can either be more efficient (easier said than done) or start feeding one or two players the ball more so that they can start scoring goals. I would recommend giving Podolski more chances, as he was the most efficient of Arsenal’s current forwards needing just 4.6 shots per goal.
As the Arsenal defense, Stoke have somehow become a parody of themselves both on the pitch and in the stands. On offense, they were a “direct” team last year but they have become “directly direct” this year. Peter Crouch is now the sole focus of their offense and despite being forced into having extra width on the pitch due to the League’s change of rules, Stoke created an insane 70 aerial duels in yesterday’s match which you can compare to the 29 that they created in the same fixture last season.
Arsenal didn’t win the majority of those duels, in fact Crouch was 18/21, but they did well enough to keep both a second consecutive clean sheet and deny the opposition a single corner kick for second consecutive game. There’s also a different quality to the clearances on this Arsenal team so far this season. Less trying to play the ball out and more just directly getting the ball away.
On defense, Stoke are now almost entirely reliant on the good will (or intimidation) of the officials. Wilkinson’s disgraceful intentional handball was only one of the two offences for which he could have been sent off. In the 62nd minute, Wilkinson managed to escape what should have been his second red card of the game when he went in two-footed on Thomas Vermaelen as the Arsenal defender collected the ball on the edge of the box. This is one the FA will not have a look at since referee Lee Mason issued a yellow card.
Their longballism and parking the caravan on defense ensures that the crowd almost never has to worry about what their team is doing on the pitch and frees them up to watch the opposition manager for 90 minutes or to pay close attention to the opposition bench and boo when a player who had his leg broken by one of their players — two years ago — is substituted on late in the game. They even have special dances that they do whenever Arsenal come to town and there’s a budding economy around Arsene Wenger masks. Clearly, they are supporters who are more interested in their circus atmosphere than in their club playing any actual football.
Arsenal fans on the other hand do care about football and are starting to get a bit worried after two consecutive 0-0 draws. I looked back in the history books and the first instance I can find of Arsenal starting the season with two draws is 1978-79: those two games, though, generated 3 goals for and 3 against. The next closest example is the 1971 title winning team which started the season with two draws and just two goals for and against. I stopped looking at the records at the 1959 season because I have to get to work and if anyone wants to find a season that Arsenal started with two 0-0 draws I’m sure we would all be much obliged.
I’m not hitting the panic button just yet. Arsenal look better than their goals haul (0) suggests and as highlighted earlier just some small adjustments in playing style will almost certainly start seeing the goals go in. If the defense can stay as tight as we have been so far then surely the season will start to look much rosier.
Regardless, Arsenal are only a few points off last season’s champs and already two goals to the better defensively than they were last year. Next up Liverpool who have the League’s second worst defense having let in 5 goals already in just two games.
Nuff said.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27453474@N02/7865430536/
Clearly, they are supporters who are more interested in their circus atmosphere than in their club playing any actual football.
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So painfully true for them. Stoke fans are a complete disgrace to humanity.
Although, since their actions suggest poverty and a lack of education, perhaps pity is the better response.
how rude…
I know, right? I mean, I just can’t imagine how classless you must be to boo a young man for getting his leg broken. You say “rude,” and I agree, but that’s probably an understatement.
Ramsey refuses to speak to shawcross because of this incident ,this is sport and the boy must realize that these things happen and by reacting to shawcross in this way is only fueling flames to the fire just like mr wenger . Ryan shawcross did not play for weeks after the incident he was so distraught , he is NOT a malicious player . stoke fans boo him because of his attitude toward a fellow pro who does not go out to intentionally hurt anyone,, GOOD LUCK for rest of your season
Wow, Trev, those are some interesting moral insights. So not only do you claim to know the intentions of another human being (a mind-reader!), and make that claim despite Shawcross’s history of seriously injuring fellow professionals (Adebayor, Jeffers, and Walcott come to mind), you also make the assumption that it’s worse to fail to acknowledge an apology than it is to have your leg violently broken in half by a studs-up high lunge. Isn’t it in fact far more understandable that you would, oh I don’t know, think poorly of a fellow professional for ending your career?
If you think Ramsey is the same player as he was before the injury, think again.
Studs up tackles are a staple du jour for Stoke: Wilkerson should have seen a straight red card.
Shawcross didn’t play for weeks because he was suspended, and he wasn’t distraught, he was crying because the ref gave him a red card.
WOW!!
And i thought the goonies in this country were mad.
What a crazy red neck!!
Totally agree. Tony Pulis is just frightful!
Bunburyist,
Poverty is no excuse for exhibiting poverty of ambition and more importantly poverty of spirit. They ate a disgrace to themselves and their two bit shithole of a town.
You’re absolutely right.
What a load of absolute rubbish, if you read this blog on a regular basis, you are no wiser about football now than you where when you were born!
Speaking from experience, are we?
I’m not worried so much about these draws as much as I’m with the fact that against Stoke we were playing with both our Plan A and Plan B at the same time. Also, our squad doesn’t look as deep to me as someone portrayed it. When we needed to pile up the pressure in front of the goal, what we did was densify the midfield by taking out Podolski and putting in AOC, because we didn’t have a striker on the bench. I’m not counting Walcott as a striker either.
Heh, stoke bunch of retarded dimwits and one is in here by the name of mbob, his reply makes my head hurt. Everyone knows stoke are just bullies and their manager is definetly their leader. A shit manager with no tactics at all…..just kick the ball in the air and fight to get it into the goal, knock over anyone but put it in the net. I’d expect this to be used as an away game tactic but the fact that they employ it at their homeground infront of their equally retarded fans makes it even more ridiculous. Just hope relegations knocks them soon!.
2009 January-February: four goalless draws in a raw in the league. At this time we were looking for the new balance between the defence and the attack due to absence of an important midfielder. And do you remember who was the main striker at this time who played in all our games?
Btw, we started playing well after that and finished above Vila with Arshavin rejuvenating our season
But I am worried about Giroud. I just hope he has enough character to withstand the pressure. In terms of his skills, Wenger must have seen enough to be convinced by his abilities.
Don’t worry about the O.G. – had his last attempt on goal been not 2 feet lower, he’d be a hero now and the back pages would have read, “Rv Who?.” The margins can be small in this game and he has not had a ton of service – as Tim points out, Cazorla is the most active in taking and creating chances right now.
Rather look at the way Giroud is taking them – in addition to the shot from range, he got nicely into space and took a flying scissor kick off a corner. He’s brimming with confidence, and given enough time I think he will impress. A lot of his goals in France were poacher’s goals, and if he maintains this confidence, he will have added an additional threat to his game.
In fact, the whole team seems to have a good spirit, patting each other on the back, and plenty of thumbs up coming from Poldi, and claps all around. The formation was wrong in the first game, but is getting better, & hopefully, as that is sorted out, the mids will play more between the lines and create more chances for our strikers. Poldi has only had 4 shots in 130 minutes, and Giroud only 5 in 153. As the midfield serves the new guys more balls in the box, I think we’ll all be happy Gooners. Give it time and the goals will come.
Giroud also provides what Chamakh was supposed to – a direct route on goal. He fights for, and wins, a good share of headers. This helps in many ways, not least because now even a long clearance from Arsenal’s defense does not necessarily mean lost possession. Arsenal’s utilization of Giroud combined with Stoke’s simplified tactics to produce the 70-aerial-duels stat.
Last season we started 0-0 Newcastle and 0-2 bindippers. Much worse.
The true measure of Stole’s impotence was the number of corner kicks they created for themselves — zero, wasn’t it?
You figure that with all those long balls, at least one would be dangerous enough for an Arsenal defender to knock it out, or for it to accidentally bounce off a defender, but…no.
So it wasn’t just directly directed directness. It was directivity to the minus one, completely useless and limp.
As are stoke — all abs, no steel.
In bigger news, there’s a new demi-god in town. Henry has a son, and the NY Post actually has a funny line about it: “There is no word yet on the baby boy’s name, size, or if he will play for the U.S., France or Bosnia.”
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/soccerblog/birth_bulls_captain_thierry_henry_edKl5tDwPJlh9hm8dHVZNM#ixzz24lxz8LhN
We aren’t scoring, because in the end, chemistry matters. And chemistry can only come from spending time together, developing a sort of telepathy out on the field.
So our defense is doing well – no surprise. This is season two for that crew, longer if you consider Gibbs, Vermaelen, Sagna and Kosielny have practiced together for probably three years.
For me, when you look at the players that have either left or been out with long term injury, and then the wild variances in background for the new players that have been brought in (ex – Cazorla, Spain, La Liga… Giroud, French, Ligue Un…. Podolski, Germany, Bundesliga) I would suspect it’s going to be a long 9-10 games before we start to develop any kind of offensive chemistry and scoring regularly. Hopefully we haven’t lost too much ground by then.
Well, looks like the Stoke fans did a good job at getting under your skin again judging by the warm comments from your “highly educated fans”. you guys just don`t get it do you ? Carry on with the abuse and in return we get the motivation to continue to wind you all up. (Childish maybe…but it obviously works!)
Childish maybe…but it obviously works!
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I get that putting on silly masks and spending the entire game singing about the opposing team is “childish,” but is that really your adjective to describe booing a young man because he got his leg broken? Wow.
You Stokies are frightfully backwards!
Perhaps we should amend your statement thus:
“Childish, backwater half-wits maybe…but it obviously works!”
Agree completely. Oh, and judging by your presence and the nature of your comment, something we’re doing works too!
BRAVO seems to me these boys are forgetting the days of boring boring arsenal
Stoke fans abusing Arsenal fans – whatever, we don’t care, have at it.
Stoke fans abusing Aaron Ramsey – that’s just a dick move.
“Ooh, but he won’t talk to Ryan Shawcross, it’ll hurt the poor lamb’s feelings.”
Most people rightly care less about Shawcross’s poor widdle feelings than Ramsey’s ravaged leg and career.
It was good not to have stomach cramps when the opposition have the ball in our half. First time in yonks! Bodes well especially once we start scoring.
You forgot to mention pennant’s blatent penaty and arseholes from the away end throwing stuff at shawcross.
Borong game to be honest can’t say i ‘m happy with a point, we should be beating these mediocre teams at home.
If you think arsenal deserved to win you must be as delusional as wenger thinking you’re title condenders.
Muchos love.
Did you learn how to spell? Do you know what “school” is? They invented this thing called a “dic-tion-ary”…
You mean Pennant’s blatant dive?
In Stoke they spell it “blatent”.
Keep it up guys ! You`re doing a great job…ha ha…
On a serious note, I`d welcome your comments on how Geoff Cameron and Maurice Edu are rated as US players ? How do you think they`ll fair in the premiership ?
Probably not too well.
Also on a serious note, and since you’re from Stoke: Can eugenically castrated males still get an erection? It appears so:
You wrote: “Keep it up guys! You’re doing a great job…haha”
So, only with men, then?
They are good at what stoke do, defend, win headers, and put in tough tackles. Edu actually can thread a pass every now and again, but im guessing tp doesnt really practice those tactics.
Cameron was Stoke’s most active defender playing in the defensive midfield role — I thought he was a fullback, but it looks like he was deployed more centrally based on his passing and tackling patterns. He topped Stoke with a near perfect 7/8 tackles and a very impressive 6 interceptions.
He was also one of Stoke’s worst passers only completing 58% of 24 passes. He also has the ignominious distinction of being the second consecutive central midfielder to be abused by Arsenal’s dribble-happy midfield and is now second in the League in being dribbled past with six to his name, just two fewer than Lee Cattermole who was dribbled past a whopping 8 times when Arsenal drew against Sunderland.
Most MLS teams play a style similar to Stoke. The tackling here is so aggressive that the league instituted a video review panel and retroactive punishments are doled out for offenders even if the official issued a yellow card. And not only that but the first 10-20 minutes of every MLS match is a game of head tennis.
Still, it’s pretty popular and my local team routinely sells out 38,000 seats to their home games.
Sorry, thought I was talking to “highly educated” Arsenal fans….it appears not to be so….hey, ho. looking forward to getting under your skin for your home game..Oops! .really sorry you won`t be there like at the Brit…ha,ha
I count that as four posts from Stokie so far. The truth must have hurt. Well done, Tim.
As for Stoke fans, why are you always going on about “under the skin” and “don’t like it up them”? Why are you so obsessed about putting things up other people’s bums? And do you have scabies?
No one can seriously believe that Aaron Ramsey was booed for breaking his leg. This is no more credible than suggesting that Patrice Evra was booed by Liverpool supporters for being racially abused by Suraez. Football supporters have for as long as I have been around been guilty of what is sometimes referred to as tribal warfare. It may be that London clubs have evolved beyond this primitive behaviour but it still pervades in the north. I am one of the poorly educated Stokies, but inspite of my poor upbringing I am embarrassed by the behaviour of some of my fellow supporters. Whilst such partisan behaviour can hardly be condoned, the booing is a response to the Arsenal supporters constant berating of Shawcross. Some supporters feel aggrieved too that Ramsey refused to accept an apology from Shawcross. When Ramsey was taken off the field at Stoke on a stretcher – after having his leg broken – he was applauded off by the majority of Stoke supporters. It’s a pity that we’ve now descended to this level of hostility. Those who choose to boo, do so in the knowledge that it will be well publicised by the media, and stir up more vitriol, which is presumably exactly what they hope for.
I never said that your friends booed him because Shawcross broke his leg. I said that your friends “boo when a player who had his leg broken by one of their players — two years ago — is substituted on late in the game.”
I will amend that to state another fact: after being called out for this condemnable behavior you and other Stoke supporters begin to point fingers at Arsene Wenger, Aaron Ramsey, and a handful of Arsenal supporters who “give stick” to Ryan Shawcross in order to dissemble your own reprehensible behavior and claim no responsibility for your actions.
Look deep into the well of your own souls for a while. Would you want your son subjected to that behavior just because he didn’t publicly accept an apology?
I think there is something fundamentally rotten in Stoke and people are starting to get a whiff of it all over the globe. English commentators, who have no love for Arsenal or Arsene Wenger, ripped you and your fellow fans when they booed Aaron Ramsey on Sunday. Everyone is now seeing that Stoke is a classless organization with horrid fans. Is that how you want to be remembered?
Stoke was once a great club with a great history in English football. What it’s become now is just a sad parody of English provincialism.
To Tim, I don’t understand your hostility towards my post. You seem to have a totally polarised view of my hometown of Stoke, and the people of Stoke. If you were to view some of the Stoke forums such as the oatcake.co.uk you will see that Tony Pulis and his brand of football are not universally popular, far from it. Many of us were prepared to accept that this was an effective way of maintaining our place in the EPL when the protagonists of the ‘passing game’ such as Tony Mowbrey’s West Brom, and Ian Holloway’s Blackpool failed in their first year of top flight football. That has of course all changed with the success of Swansea City, proving, for the moment at least, that success can be achieved with a ‘passing game’ on a very modest budget. Pulis had promised that Stoke would evolve once the team had established itself in the EPL, but that has not happened and many of the supporters are becoming frustrated. But to get back to Aaron Ramsey, I would contest that most Stoke supporters find the booing of the victim to be quite abhorrent, but the booers can easily make themselves heard and cannot be drowned out by the silent majority. What are we to do?
Goally -deffender – defender – midfielder – side – side – crossfield – back crossfield – back to the defender – back to the other defender – back to the goally – defender again – another defender – midfielder…. and eventually when you do try to waltz it into the box you get tackled (and oh yeah Wenger insists that some other player trying to take the ball off a player needs a red). Mix it up – you are so predictable – do you not understand why teams just let you have 99% of the posession – because you can not do anything with it.
There is no point in trying to emphasise that Shawcross was distraught coming of the pitch and tried to apologise on numerous occassions but hay I just can not get rid of the image of a Ramsey in desperate agony and all of his team mates ignoring his plight to try to win a GAME by getting someone sent of. It is a good job that Glenn Whelan did not prioritise a fellow professionals distress over 3 points. Probably not the players fault they are just machine of the Wenger (“Try to get somebody sent off”) regime – and I am not suggesting for one second that he did not deserve to go – just shocked that not one of your players cared of Ramseys welfare until the 3 point were won ( oh and for the rest of time).
So please dont slate Pulis without looking at your own players priorities.
PS I think that you will be good again when you get rid of Arsene Wenger.
I wonder what Glen Whelan thinks when he hears Stoke supporters booing Ramsey.
It’s funny because I remember lots of Arsenal players helping Ramsey that day, talking to him, and I also remember all of them supporting him through a hellish year and a half of recovery, while Shawcross received messages of sympathy from all and sundry, and Stoke fans and players made ridiculous excuses for the tackle as “part of the game” / “no malice,” before then deciding that the right thing to do was boo the young for having the audacity to ignore the thug who has just about ruined his career.
You’ve got no class, so please save your lectures about the nobility of Glen Whelan and poor old sad Shawcross.
Start by admitting it was a terrible challenge, and stop defending some mind-reading shit about how it wasn’t intentioned, and maybe Ramsey will accept an apology. In the meantime, he’s got no reason to dignify you scumbags with a response.
Oh and please just somebody admit that Arsenal where crap at the weekend because I will state that Stoke were crap. If we had an ambition of trying to win the game – you were there for the beating.
You definately need some confident attacking players.
Good Luck …. in getting rid of him.
Finally, one media outlet actually calls attention to the behavior of Stoke fans:
http://www.express.co.uk/ourcomments/view/342434
Is it really illegal? Really?
Okay, admittedly, the illegal thing is going a bit far, but it’s nice to see a British reporter of all things publicly point out that the behavior of Stoke fans is despicable.
The nation that produced the Magna Carta…
Seems my comments can’t make it past the Sky censors once again.
In response to Pulis’ cynical comment that the Stoke supporters booing of Aaron Ramsey is beyond his control. He promotes a style of football that appeals to a large segment of his fan base and for that he bears some responsibility when the lack of common decency on the pitch is lacking in the stands. Pulis belongs to a group of British managers (McLeish, Allardyce) who get recycled to teams whose owners lack courage and imagination to actually want to play football. A team of Stoke persuasion will never be better that a mid-table shrub.The good news story of the season is Swansea and an owner who would never ever hire a British retread. McManaman seemed shocked that Swansea owners plucked a Landrup out of the sky in preference to a British manager. Everton are a team that knows how to get stuck in the right way and still play a possession game.
Stoke supporters can come on here to defend the indefensible with their limited language and a limited understanding what is right and wrong.
They think TP is greatness and AW is rubbish. Booing a young man for not accepting an apology!!!! Wow!!! Stoke is the Arkansas of England.
As for Edu and Cameron. I was happy both of them moved to the premiership and expect both to play allot. That is a dream come true for an American player. But I’m not happy about the supporters they are representing. Not after what I saw yesterday. This whole rift over Ramsey should be so over with by now, but those morons won’t let it go. They day would have been forgotten, even with the Wenger bashing, if they hasn’t booed Ramsey, again.
It is futile to get into arguments with supporters of a club which has a culture of violence in their game. The supporters continue with that intent online as well. It basically comes from the guilt, knowledge and envy that their club is a club of limited ability. They know what happened to Ramsey was wrong but because the manager is a wanker who will never admit that his player was doing what he did based on the coach’s instructions of getting “stuck in” the supporters end up being nincompoops both in the stadium and online.
The media also is full of apologists of Stoke. Actually, I have no problems with their style of play. My problem is with this attitude of getting stuck in and consistent foul play. I have no problem if Stoke want to park their bus and play for a draw. That is their prerogative because they know that with their players of limited ability, if they try to play football they will get a thrashing. So they end up playing the way they do. The issue I have is more with referrees condoning their persistent fouling and being lenient with dangerous tackles. The media also is full of Stoke apologists who talk up their “spirit” and their “tough attitude”. Then they lament that Englad team has no creativity. Well guys, you can’t be condoning rugby style tackling and then complain that England cannot win anything internationally. Firstly, this whole culture of “hoofing” the ball needs to be done away.
Regarding the booing of Ramsey, I think the best way to shut up the crowd is to score. I think Arsenal gained a lot from the Stoke match. Yes, we didn’t win the game but we finally showed the Stoke guys that gone are the days they can just push us around. You wanna play rough then we can match that. Start shivering Stokies, this year at the Emirates and next year at Shitannia you are gonna be spanked. That will burst your bubble and hopefully make you get rid of your juvenile manager who has hoodwinked you into thinking that your team plays football. Wake up before you end up relegated.
We went to their house and we pushed them around. they might be snarling, rancid, odious beasts, but we’re no wallflowers ourselves anymore. We are a tough team and i think the best rejoinder we gave those assholes in their stands is that a team they thought was made up of pussies came to their house and basically negated their strengths. Stoke can’t even bully a player of the stature of Cazorla anymore, and I hope we can contribute to their relegation this season. And relegation is where they should be in May. No more ridiculous home field advantage with these ubiquitous premier league pitches. Maybe we can put in a cheeky bid for Shawcross at season’s end, when the fire sale begins upon-trent.
Here’s to Stoke getting relegated this season: Olé!
I’m satisfied for everything Arsenal players gave in this game. If Giroud managed to score from his beautiful lob shot, it would be perfect. Feel so sorry for him. He deserves that goal.