He only scored two goals on headers last season. It was a ridiculous tackle. What is he trying to gain? The best Vermaelen can do as he's sprinting at full speed towards the corner flag in his own third is to put it out for a Liverpool throw, and Gerrard dives in with two feet to take him out and give us the throw.
Cannon, not sure where you got your numbers but there was no drop in Arteta "in tackle winning % " yesterday. As a matter of fact, he was at 100 % in term of tackle winning % (3/3) better than the first 2 games (4/6 & 2/4). Actually, in term of both tackes and winning % of tackles as well as interceptions he ie well in pace to easily beat Songs number ( 2.8 tackles and 2.1 Int) last year. Currently Arteta is at 3 Int a game and 13 tackles for 3 games (3.3 a game) and winning 9 out of these 13. Anyway, beyong the raw numbers (that already prove a lot), Arteta is a much better all around player than Song. To the risk of repeating myself, he has the positional intelligence and tactical acumen that Song totally lacks. It is not an acident so far the team seems much more confident and solid defensively with him (and Diaby) as the 2 holding midfielders. I don't think it is even fair to compare Song to him.
I used Opta's numbers which have Arteta at 3 for 7 in tackles yesterday and 9/18 this season. Where are your numbers from? There is no way that Arteta's tackling was 100% yesterday unless my eyes and memory are suddenly failing. That alone suggests some questionable stat recording to me. I also don't care about tackles a game. Only successful tackles really matter unless we're giving out wins based on effort and not goals now. I don't think Song was a better player at all although I do think that in this league it is hard to get by with Arteta in that role with no ability to win aerial duels unless you think Diaby will play every game to win them for him which is pretty damn unlikely. That is even assuming that he can match Song's defensive numbers over the season which I have serious doubt about but it is too early to make a real prediction about that yet. As mentioned earlier, I think it is beyond silly to expect the team to improve on last years goals against when you are letting teams as poor as Liverpool have 19 goal attempts, more possession, and 10 corners. The team has three clean sheets but the deeper stats show problems that make those defensive gaines a more likely consequence of the opponents level/tactics than a fair reflection of Arsenal's defensive prowess.
That poor Liverpool team did manage to get a 2-2 draw against Citeh. And outplayed Citeh quite convincingly too. Their side is at a mess ATM but they aren't as bad as what people make them out to be, they are just suffering from not having a proper striker at their side.
The first 30 minutes Liverpool looked good. They were very sharp, but once Podolski scored (completely against the run of play), they became deflated. It was almost as if they knbew they couldn't win anymore and at best could try to score and play for a draw. If Suarez is contained, they are pretty toothless.
Not really about the match, but I noticed that Santi, like many other Spanish players, has an Elvish tattoo on his forearm, to continue the trend. It reads either as "Nesso" in Quenya, or "Ensso" in Sindarin. It's difficult to tell, since both use the same tehtar, but pronounce the vowels differently. Anyway, it's on his right arm, just above the wrist. I'll crawl back in my hobbit hole now.
Cannon, I get my numbers form FourFourTwo-StatsZone. I have used them for a while now and have found their numbers pretty accurate. My problem with your reasoning is that you are emphasizing the (low) quality of the opponents for the defensive results. I totally disagree with that. This 'Pool team was close to beat City last week. Sunderland and Stoke are the same teams who, while playing a defensive scheme against Arsenal have often been able to score against us in past years. You are largely ignoring not the obvious improvements in the Arsenal defensive shape, discipline and commitment. I am not sure what you mean by " deeper stats". As an example of deeper stats, by the same token, AFC had 23 shots and 7 corners against Sunderland, so If they never scored, if we are using the same rational,i guess that was not in large part be cause of Sunderland defensive organization? Finally, since we are using numbers, AFC gave up 49 goals with Song as the nominal DM. There is no doubt in my mind, we will improve that number this year. AFC is well on track anyway to shatter this pathetic record.
He was living in Barcelona when I first started reading the blog. From a number of clues I've gotten the impression that his background is in broadcasting, so maybe he's shed some of his original accent. When his brother ("The Mugsmasher") is on the podcast he sounds, to an untutored American ear, a lot more "Irish".
people are stupid. Pool tried to overrun us and Arteta made one mistake that was the yellow card. To compare his positioning to Song is akin to comparing Precious to Halle Berry. Mofos just wanna talk sh*t to talk sh*t
Every commentate, even the arsenal haters were analyzing artetas performance as exemplary. Leave it to "arsenal FANS" to say he wasn't good smh
Just finished watching the match. Important win to say the least. By nature you'd want to hand motm to one of the goal scorers, and while both had very good games, the title for this one has to go to either Arteta or Diaby. I'm leaning towards Diaby. Stunning performance from him. Embarrassing distribution from Jenkinson in the first half, but defensively he was good and continued the second half with a good display. Giroud does a lot of good things, but I fear for him if he doesn't bag a goal soon. The only player that disappointed me was Chamberlain. Sterling looks to be a good player for Liverpool. I liked him. Suarez was living a nightmare yesterday. Good player, but what an awful day for him.
i haven't read this thread at all, but Arteta was a badass on Sunday (imo). his tackling was impressive, and in critical positions on the pitch.
When Sahin was subbed off didn't one of the commentators say something like, "unremarkable, but did little wrong." ? Just want to make the comment that my ignorance kept me from being excited about the signing of Arteta last season. What a player.
Giroud's body language was bad towards the end of the match. I agree that he needs a goal. He is doing a lot of good things, but he could be in a bad place mentally if he keeps missing chances.
i had no idea what kind of player he was until i got to watch every match. amazing how that works in every sport.