So… nothing new learned there, then.

Ask me if I'm bothered.

Fergie did it for so long as does Mourinho. Park up with men behind the ball, stay solid and then catch us on the counter. Worked like a treat as we would always get sucked in.

However, of late the games against United have been much more open. Last season at the Emirates it should have been a simillar score at half time and we also beat you in the cup which again was a lot more open than what it used to be

Good article. There is arrogance and then there is lvg. What he did on sunday reminds me of a rookie manager.

Even Moyes copied the Fergie blueprint to beat us

But playing a pressing game against us considering we had one of the quickest players in football as our main striker was suicidal

comment by Castor Troy (U8700)
posted 2 minutes ago
But playing a pressing game against us considering we had one of the quickest players in football as our main striker was suicidal
----------------------------------------------------------------------

It was beyond stupid. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. We wasn't pressing as a team and that's just rank bad, as it's pointless doing so if you don't do it collectively.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but we should've watched the West Ham and Olympiakos performances and followed the blueprint that has been followed by many other's before them.

Arsenal are a very dangerous animal when you play into their hands, and we did exactly that Sunday. It was like watching a washed up drunk trying to take on a 10th Dan in karate.

Slow turgid football under LVG.

Considering the money spent and the lifeless brand of football we are playing, and that we are only a few points above Liverpool, LVG should be next in line for the sack frankly. Quite jealous that Liverpool are getting Klopp.

I generally have no issue with Van Gaal and have mostly defended him, my posting history will indicate so.

Sunday however, was his fault no doubt and I can't defend that selection and tactical 'set-up' if there was any emphasis on tactics because it didn't appear so. It was like watching someone turn up bladdered for an interview unable to answer any questions.

I still firmly believe Van Gaal is currently the right man for the job, I'm a massive admirer of his leadership skills and how he has steadied the ship.

Hopefully, he will have learnt his lesson from Sunday.

Sometimes you have to admit that other teams play the possession game better than yourselves and we needed to counter that on Sun. There's no shame in admitting we are not as good at Arsenal in a technical sense, but usually we trump them through organisation, being intelligent and more of a team. We failed in every aspect Sunday.

Moyes was Fergies Poodle but LVG is very much his own man so I am glad to see a different style adopted against us.

There are just some teams you don't go toe to toe with. City are the same, play like that against them and Aguero will be scoring 5 or so again

Also you should have played Valencia

He is normally very physical with us and would have dealt with Sanchez far better.

Also would have played Bling at lb as we had Ramsey on that side and played Young further up

*blind

Even our swash buckling cavalier sides of yesteryear would've found an Arsenal side in that mood a handful.

Playing a 4-2-3-1 with a sole pressing pivot (Schweinsteiger was like a dog chasing cars, on his own), Carrick as a ????? doing his best 'split condom' impression, not protecting what he should be protecting, Mata and Depay for some reason offering no protection to their full back (Mata normally works harder than given credit for), Rooney just being Rooney, and Martial the only threat, you know you're destined for a good hiding.

Playing a side such as :

De Gea
Darmian Smalling Jones Blind
Schneiderlin Schweini
Mata Fellaini Young
Martial

That above team would've at least competed rather than rolling over and letting Arsenal have a ride on the chocolate motorway.

Comment deleted by Site Moderator

The philosophy seems to be to dominate midfield possession and bore the opposition and the fans into submission. It didn't work - your DMs were woeful and Arsenal bossed the midfield. Also you defence arguably had only one player in their natural position. After 10 minutes you should have sat back with all 11 behind the ball and hung on. After 3 it was far too late to react - in fact LVG didn't react till the second half. Actually similar slowness to react and inflexibility got us raped at Tottenham the week before. When it's blindingly obvious that you are headed towards and iceberg you need to change course pronto.

Comment deleted by Site Moderator

The tactics were dreadful but it's not the first time that has been the case under LvG and it probably won't be the last.

Blaming individuals is harsh when they've been told to do a specific job that was wrong form the out-set i.e Schweini pressing Santi halfway inside Arsenal's half.

I don't think it was just a bad day at the office as some posters were saying after the game, I think that sort of result has been coming it's just Arsenal have been the only team clinical enough to expose us.

Once Cech made that brilliant save from Martial the game was over for me, if we'd gone at 3-1 another goal, before the 80 minute mark, would have seen us back in the game IMO.

We left ourselves with to much to do and Arsenal could have scored 5-6 if there finishing had been better, Ramsey, Ozil and Giroud all had good chances at 3-0.

The scary thing is that LVG is well into his 60's and has managed everywhere and if the boneheaded denizens of this site (myself included in that) could see how to play against Arsenal why couldn't he?

I'm often a paid up member of the 'managers know best' club but it is genuinely baffling to see the very obvious mistakes managers make. LVG really needs to look in the mirror and ask if he really understands his squad and the limitations it has.

Literally 5 days before Olympiakos showed how to beat Arsenal. Sit back and break. Simple. Maybe LVG's ego is such that he can't allow himself to be an underdog and play underdog tactics.

If that's the case, it will be a frustrating 3 years under LVG.

I think it's a bit of both and Arsenal really playing out of their skin in that first 20 mins.

It's not like we were trying to go toe to toe with them. They just caught us sleeping at the start of the game and while the tactics weren't particularly great it wasn't as if they were really bad either as there were many poor individual performances.

Comment deleted by Site Moderator

Ah yes, the old 'my players didnt follow orders'. Bastian is one of the most experienced players in the league. He was all over the place in the first half. In fairly certain he wouldn't have chosen to have been so manic.

He was all over the place against Barca last season as well.

I think he was trying to drive the team forward but ended up leaving massive holes.

That aside, we couldn't hit them on the counter as we kept losing the facking ball.

Best analysis of the game. Surely after two goals we should have seen a change. Even if not of personnel but at least of the game plan. We really should have lost by more. Fergie that blitzkrieg loving manager once played 7 defenders against Arsenal. It was like watching Arsenal v Barca on song or Arsenal V Bayern, a k a football magic. Has he learnt considering we have City and our defence-loving Sergio to come? He can even practice it at Everton since we do need those 3 points and unless we wrote off the two games and hoped to just win against CP and CSKA, he needs the win.