Chelsea Vs Arsenal FA Cup Semi 18/04/09

Pepe LeFrits

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

We may have lost because of the defensive injuries but we still should have won that game.

Wenger got that so badly wrong. My faith in him is at an extremely low point at the moment. He bottled it. I hate that phrase, but in this particular case it is accurate. He talked the talk about going out to attack but when it came down to it he set the side out to stifle Chelsea. In the end all it did was stifle Arsenal.

Fabregas; playing in a too advanced role. Nobody to pass to. Wasted.
van Persie; playing in a left wing role. Wasted.
Adebayor; playing up front on his own with no support. Wasted.
Walcott; our only real outlet, and when he did beat Cole he only had Adebayor to aim at. Wasted.
Arshavin; on the bench for 70 minutes. What the ****?

Taking off van Persie and Adebayor - wtf? Wenger threw the FA cup last season and he did again today. If the FA cup doesn't matter to him, then why are we so far off the ****ing pace in the league?

The most infuriating thing was how unbelievably obvious it was that the system wasn't working, yet Wenger refused to change it. Making a mistake is forgiveable, refusing to fix it isn't. Chelsea didn't even have to play well to win. We were useless.

you said a mouthful there pepe! 100% spot on!

CHD

G'wan the Chelsea!

Beau x1

CHD wrote: »

G'wan the Chelsea!

God I expected to see you somewhere in this thread rubbing my nose in it.

CHD

Beau x1 wrote: »

God I expected to see you somewhere in this thread rubbing my nose in it.

2-1

la na na na na na

growler

by no means a classic but obviously delighted to see chelsea go through, lets hope everton can manu today and ruin their "win everything" plans !

Like most chelsea, baffled by wenger's tactics, no arshavin and only in the dying minutes did they try and test Cech with some fast crosses, made little sense to me and to a lot of the arsenal fans i know.

oh well, get barca out of the way and then beat utd twice to nick two cups off them, now that would be sweet :-)

smuckers

well done blues, now bring on Barca we can take them its going to be tough too, but we've done it before.

iregk

tony1kenobi wrote: »

Chelsea did well adopting their usual boring dirty tactics.

You obviously watched the game with some depth in vision then.

What I saw was this. Wenger for what ever reason didn't want to win it. I along with everyone else am baffled by his lineup and tactics. Chelsea would win that game all day with that Arsenal turnout.

What really confuses me is why he did it? Arsenal are way off the pace in the league and have only recently cemented their top 4 spot. They are not winning the league and are by no means guaranteed a CL final spot let alone a win. So here is a tournament where you can get to the final and play either a worn out United side or Everton, i.e. great chance of silverwear (your first in 4 years!). Why oh why wouldn't you go hell for leather to win it?

Now the pitch. That pitch has some serious problems, the run off the ball was awful and it was obvious Chelsea adapted and changed to suit it. Arsenal didn't. Its the same problem under Wenger, no plan b. The pitch was no suited to on the floor passing so Chelsea went high and low and behold two goals from Lampard long balls. Arsenal tried to keep it on the deck and it just didn't work out. Why didn't they adapt to the pitch and change their style of play?

Strange match but I can see the final being a good one. Everton are a good side who I've a lot of time for and always try to play a good game.

yahoo_moe

iregk wrote: »

Wenger for what ever reason didn't want to win it. I along with everyone else am baffled by his lineup and tactics.

I think he felt he was protecting a weakened back four a bit more by playing 5 in midfield and Diaby ahead of Arshavin. Nasri apparently was knackered, which I'd believe, so we'll discount him. It was unlucky that Diaby had possibly the worst day in his Arsenal career but still.

Chelsea would win that game all day with that Arsenal turnout.

I have to disagree - I think Chelsea were there for the taking. Arsenal were muck from about the 20-minute mark onwards and Chelsea didn't have a huge amount of clear-cut chances. They were certainly the better team on the day but I think Wenger gambled on waiting till extra time to make changes and lost out to the late goal.

itsjaybud

Without a doubt Chelsea where there for the taking on saturday and its such a pity Arsenal couldnt capitalise on it. I wouldnt hold out much hope for them against barca in any of the two legs tbh.

Drogba is always a danger but i dunno i just feel he isnt as lethal in front of goal anymore and now needs 3/4 chances before he actually scores one.

Anyway Chelsea go through to the final and with such a quality mid-field player that Frank Lampard is he could make anything happen for them.


I want to forget about it now and worry about going to old trafford at the end of the month!