Are we comparable to Arsenal this year?

[The_Green_Man]

Haha we wish!

Just watching BT Sports though and the build up to the Chelsea v Arsenal game and an interesting stat has just been thrown up by the pundits entitled "Wateful Arsenal". Apparently no team in the premiership has had anywhere near as many shots and shots on target than Arsenal this year however with a conversion rate of just 6% they have the worst conversion rate in the league as well hence the title.

I think in a sense we can relate to this as in all fairness we have been creating a good few chances this season however we haven't put anywhere near enough of them away which surprises me as when Sharp and Sammon arrived I actually thought that the problem would be more supplying the strikers as opposed to fluffing in front of goal but at the minute we seem to be getting the ball in the box and stuff but we aren't putting it away.

 

[BushBlade]

Haha we wish!

Just watching BT Sports though and the build up to the Chelsea v Arsenal game and an interesting stat has just been thrown up by the pundits entitled "Wateful Arsenal". Apparently no team in the premiership has had anywhere near as many shots and shots on target than Arsenal this year however with a conversion rate of just 6% they have the worst conversion rate in the league as well hence the title.

I think in a sense we can relate to this as in all fairness we have been creating a good few chances this season however we haven't put anywhere near enough of them away which surprises me as when Sharp and Sammon arrived I actually thought that the problem would be more supplying the strikers as opposed to fluffing in front of goal but at the minute we seem to be getting the ball in the box and stuff but we aren't putting it away.

I'd suggest the most similar thing is that every Arsenal fans know where there weaknesses are but the club seems to do nothing to address it.

 

[blade too long]

we ve signed more players than Arsenal
theyve only brought in petre cech

 

[DronnieBlade]

No.

UTB

 

[William Henry Foulkes]

I'd suggest the most similar thing is that every Arsenal fans know where there weaknesses are but the club seems to do nothing to address it.

But.when Gary Neville made what seemed like reasonable points about this Wenger rebutted with the evidence.didn't he?

 

[Kenilworth]

I believe the real comparison is that once the beer is done we put the Arse back into watching football.

 

[Bladesman]

Arsenal are usually reluctant to spend money in the right areas (a bit like us). They needed to buy a new striker and a defensive midfielder but ended up getting a new keeper.

You throw in their constant injury problems and they wonder why they struggle to win anything.

 

[BushBlade]

But.when Gary Neville made what seemed like reasonable points about this Wenger rebutted with the evidence.didn't he?

I don't know WHF but perhaps we have different opinions on what evidence is. There's certainly a difference between being eloquent and being right.
Football isn't science, it's not always logical and sometimes intuition can play a big part. Football is a simple game but the dynamics of any team can be complex.
The hard facts are that Arsenal have almost £200m in reserve, lost at home to West Ham, have just lost two in a row and look no more likely to win the league than Southampton.

 

[William Henry Foulkes]

I don't know WHF but perhaps we have different opinions on what evidence is. There's certainly a difference between being eloquent and being right.
Football isn't science, it's not always logical and sometimes intuition can play a big part. Football is a simple game but the dynamics of any team can be complex.
The hard facts are that Arsenal have almost £200m in reserve, lost at home to West Ham, have just lost two in a row and look no more likely to win the league than Southampton.

Three days after being described as arrogant by Gary Neville, Arsène Wenger refused to accept criticism that his Arsenal side are not defensive-minded enough.

After Arsenal’s 0-0 draw with Liverpool on Monday, the Arsenal manager was on the end of a scathing critique from the Sky pundit and England coach Neville, for what he perceived as Wenger’s failure to bring in a powerful defensive midfielder and inability to change tactics when up against the Premier League’s top sides.

Neville said: “To think that you are not going to adapt your team, to change to impact on the other teams that you’re playing against and their strengths. It is either naive or arrogance.”

In response, Wenger said: “I don’t know what that has to do with arrogance. I just try to do my job and I leave it to other people to assess my work.

“Everyone’s entitled to their opinion. I could prove to you it’s not necessarily right but let’s not go into that debate.

“You know, in football you have to accept that anybody can be right. [But] since January, we have conceded fewer goals than anybody else."

I really don't follow this stuff at all and I've no idea how I came across it at the time, but it looks like a strong refutation of the point at hand.

Fwiw I think it has a wider relevance - and a bearing on United, in that some of the criticisms of the way we are now playing focus on a similar lack of solidity. We sacrificed that cautious solidity, often described as negative under Clough, for a more enterprising 4-4-2.

Afaict Wenger's idea is not converting playmakers into defensive midfielders: he's using them to deprive the opposition of possession and "defend" that way. Neville's views are (possibly) outmoded.

You do need a feel for the game, its history, traditions, and players, and I'm the last person to advocate an unquestioning scientism, but intuition is often based on dogma or convention and can be outright refuted by evidence; when it is you should acknowledge and innovate.

 

[Cyprus Blade]

we ve signed more players than Arsenal
theyve only brought in petre cech

Arsenal are 92nd and we are 88th in the summer transfer buys tables on Sky (4 in to their 1)

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

if only we could................"

 

[BushBlade]

Three days after being described as arrogant by Gary Neville, Arsène Wenger refused to accept criticism that his Arsenal side are not defensive-minded enough.

After Arsenal’s 0-0 draw with Liverpool on Monday, the Arsenal manager was on the end of a scathing critique from the Sky pundit and England coach Neville, for what he perceived as Wenger’s failure to bring in a powerful defensive midfielder and inability to change tactics when up against the Premier League’s top sides.

Neville said: “To think that you are not going to adapt your team, to change to impact on the other teams that you’re playing against and their strengths. It is either naive or arrogance.”

In response, Wenger said: “I don’t know what that has to do with arrogance. I just try to do my job and I leave it to other people to assess my work.

“Everyone’s entitled to their opinion. I could prove to you it’s not necessarily right but let’s not go into that debate.

“You know, in football you have to accept that anybody can be right. [But] since January, we have conceded fewer goals than anybody else."

I really don't follow this stuff at all and I've no idea how I came across it at the time, but it looks like a strong refutation of the point at hand.

Fwiw I think it has a wider relevance - and a bearing on United, in that some of the criticisms of the way we are now playing focus on a similar lack of solidity. We sacrificed that cautious solidity, often described as negative under Clough, for a more enterprising 4-4-2.

Afaict Wenger's idea is not converting playmakers into defensive midfielders: he's using them to deprive the opposition of possession and "defend" that way. Neville's views are (possibly) outmoded.

You do need a feel for the game, its history, traditions, and players, and I'm the last person to advocate an unquestioning scientism, but intuition is often based on dogma or convention and can be outright refuted by evidence; when it is you should acknowledge and innovate.

I'm not really sure how half a season constitutes evidence. Arsenal's improved defence after Christmas coincidenced with bringing in Coquelin, an out and out defensive midfielder.
Coquelin is fine against average PL teams but isn't great against the best sides. He's also the only proper defensive midfielder they have. They need a top quality defensive midfielder if they have ambitions to win major trophies.
I doubt Gary Neville's ideas are outmoded as it isn't that long since he did his coaching badges. Wenger, on the other hand, apparently hasn't changed his methods much since he was winning the league and is tactically well behind the best managers in Europe. That's why they keep losing to inferior sides and getting knocked out of Europe early.

 

[JJ Sefton]

You can compare us to Arsenal, but then you can compare me to Ryan Gosling. The result, however, might not be what you'd wish for.

 

[Lord Bos of Eckington.]

Haha we wish!

Just watching BT Sports though and the build up to the Chelsea v Arsenal game and an interesting stat has just been thrown up by the pundits entitled "Wateful Arsenal". Apparently no team in the premiership has had anywhere near as many shots and shots on target than Arsenal this year however with a conversion rate of just 6% they have the worst conversion rate in the league as well hence the title.

I think in a sense we can relate to this as in all fairness we have been creating a good few chances this season however we haven't put anywhere near enough of them away which surprises me as when Sharp and Sammon arrived I actually thought that the problem would be more supplying the strikers as opposed to fluffing in front of goal but at the minute we seem to be getting the ball in the box and stuff but we aren't putting it away.

Arsenal - Premieship - Flimsy

Sheffield United - League 1 - Flimsy

UTB

 

[jt64]

Haha we wish!

Just watching BT Sports though and the build up to the Chelsea v Arsenal game and an interesting stat has just been thrown up by the pundits entitled "Wateful Arsenal". Apparently no team in the premiership has had anywhere near as many shots and shots on target than Arsenal this year however with a conversion rate of just 6% they have the worst conversion rate in the league as well hence the title.

Meaningless statistic given conversion rate doesn't take into account quality of chances, if a bunch of them are Giroud taking speculative shots from 30 yards because nobody is open this is fine