Reply With QuoteThere were 3 or 4 occasions in the first half where they were very close to catching us on the counter attack. A bad pass a shirt pull and the inside of the post helped us out. That is tolerable, given that it is a product of his decision to use Havertz where he did, which to be fair did work in the first half.Originally Posted by WES
Yes, and I'm sure Arteta will dissect the video of the match and understand what went wrong, meanwhile the rest of us just moan and offer dubious opinions.
But I'm not having that the first half was competitive a la Jason Burt. We controlled the game completely and they barely had a sniff other than one chance from a (another) Gabriel moment of madness. We should have been at least 2 up at half time or even 1 up if Trossard doesn't f*ck up with one of the misses of the season.
Fair enough we lost, but teams that choke or feel the pressure do not dominate the first half the way we did.
We're getting gubbed Wed night, of course
Most of what we created came from balls inside the full back to runs from deeper positions. Villa reacted to that in the second half by defending narrower and using the spare man in midfield. Second half, I think I can remember us having one shot on goal.
I wouldn't say we choked. I would say we weren't at our precise best in the box in the first half and were then pretty much outplayed in the second. I bet we were knackered, and I would also bet that Arteta didn't want to give Jorginho too many minutes as he is planning to use him in Munich.
Whatever.... it didn't work and now we are ****ed
