Premier League - Arsenal vs Ipswich Town Preview & Matchday Thread

[marko69]

Sticks head above parapet...

Muric for all his faults is decent at collecting high balls into the box, something they're likely to do tonight.

Woolfy is a good defender. His main fault is his pace and hestitancy in moving the ball forward. Maybe that won't be such an issue tonight.

Probably be proved very very wrong. But hope not.

Turned out to be quite prophetic , Johnny.

[hallamblue]

I think he did well but for a couple of wayward goal kicks into touch lol

[marko69]

I think he did well but for a couple of wayward goal kicks into touch lol

Very true

But keeping it 1-0 instead of 4-0 is more important. League One catastrophe Walton may have to wait a few games more.

[JohnnyB]

Sticks head above parapet...

Muric for all his faults is decent at collecting high balls into the box, something they're likely to do tonight.

Woolfy is a good defender. His main fault is his pace and hestitancy in moving the ball forward. Maybe that won't be such an issue tonight.

Probably be proved very very wrong. But hope not.

Turned out to be quite prophetic , Johnny.

There's a lot of biblical language on here atm - must be the time of year

I didn't watch yesterday's game which is probably no bad thing entertainment wise but the result was interesting in a couple of ways at least

- Muric makes mistakes but he also has real strengths, including collecting high balls into the box
- Woolfy has his uses
- Town can play low block. It's boring as hell but mostly effective. They should get it out more often when ahead
- without Axel, three at the back might be a good idea

[marko69]

There's a lot of biblical language on here atm - must be the time of year

Dear God, Joseph & Mary, mother o’ Jaysus……. I noticed that too.

[hallamblue]

I think he did well but for a couple of wayward goal kicks into touch lol

Very true

But keeping it 1-0 instead of 4-0 is more important. League One catastrophe Walton may have to wait a few games more.

I think the players will take an awful lot of encouragement from thst display, even though we lost. I hope McKenna has " learned from it" and adapts his approach, because that will be the key to survival tbh

[Blue Wilf]

Sticks head above parapet...

Muric for all his faults is decent at collecting high balls into the box, something they're likely to do tonight.

Woolfy is a good defender. His main fault is his pace and hestitancy in moving the ball forward. Maybe that won't be such an issue tonight.

Probably be proved very very wrong. But hope not.

Turned out to be quite prophetic , Johnny.

There's a lot of biblical language on here atm - must be the time of year

I didn't watch yesterday's game which is probably no bad thing entertainment wise but the result was interesting in a couple of ways at least

- Muric makes mistakes but he also has real strengths, including collecting high balls into the box
- Woolfy has his uses
- Town can play low block. It's boring as hell but mostly effective. They should get it out more often when ahead
- without Axel, three at the back might be a good idea

Muric was OK yesterday but not sure he is that good at taking crosses, Jonny. No better than Walton on that score for me. Muric certainly does not 'own' his penalty are like a 6 foot 8 bloke should and his distribution is still slow and woeful. Still - he is what we are going to get for the foreseeable so we have to get on with it. The low block is indeed boring but more effective than that gung ho we will score more than you which we keep playing and losing (exciting as it is to watch!). We just cannot score enough in this league. Will be interesting to see how KM plays on Monday as it is screaming 'low block' as they are far better than us on paper but I just know he won't play that way! If we manage to scrape something then great, but I can't see anything other than another loss I am very sorry to say. Problem now is that we will start to run out of games too in the next few weeks so we need something to happen in a positive manner. I am still feeling we will rue the lost points so far but the ship has sailed on those onwards and backwards we go!

[arana peligrosa]

Have at it, we used a different start formation than usual. 5-4-1 makes a welcome change from each and every same formation deployed before but the intent was clearly there in that we were hoping to shut them out for an entire 90 plus minutes and hope to come away with a goalless draw. To do that against one of the best club names in this division right now you got to go some but the thing is it very almost worked for us.

A defeat's a defeat, we lost the game and it guess were to be expected. On paper you can argue it's a respectable score but fact of the matter being we took nothing from it and collected zero points. Perhaps if McKenna had gone the other way and really put offensive plan into it other than overly defensive we may just have taken something from it but the plan there was clearly damage limitation.

Players such as Al-Hamadi, Broadhead and Smodzics should have been introduced to play before they appeared but once more the manager didn't seem concerned with actual victory, the idea was to keep the opposition score to a minimum or keep them out for 90 minutes with the defensive approach. Hope McKenna doesn't see fit to enforce the same tactics against future tough games we got lined up in the weeks ahead. The team needs victories damn it, the need for (maximum) points is going to be imperative by end of season. Cautious approach may limit opposition chances but prohibits our own attacking potential / opportunity. Why not just go for it.

[Blue Wilf]

Have at it, we used a different start formation than usual. 5-4-1 makes a welcome change from each and every same formation deployed before but the intent was clearly there in that we were hoping to shut them out for an entire 90 plus minutes and hope to come away with a goalless draw. To do that against one of the best club names in this division right now you got to go some but the thing is it very almost worked for us.

A defeat's a defeat, we lost the game and it guess were to be expected. On paper you can argue it's a respectable score but fact of the matter being we took nothing from it and collected zero points. Perhaps if McKenna had gone the other way and really put offensive plan into it other than overly defensive we may just have taken something from it but the plan there was clearly damage limitation.

Players such as Al-Hamadi, Broadhead and Smodzics should have been introduced to play before they appeared but once more the manager didn't seem concerned with actual victory, the idea was to keep the opposition score to a minimum or keep them out for 90 minutes with the defensive approach. Hope McKenna doesn't see fit to enforce the same tactics against future tough games we got lined up in the weeks ahead. The team needs victories damn it, the need for (maximum) points is going to be imperative by end of season. Cautious approach may limit opposition chances but prohibits our own attacking potential / opportunity. Why not just go for it.

Because Arsenal would have torn us to shreds and it would have been double figures against us?!

[Bluemike]

Turned out to be quite prophetic , Johnny.

There's a lot of biblical language on here atm - must be the time of year

I didn't watch yesterday's game which is probably no bad thing entertainment wise but the result was interesting in a couple of ways at least

- Muric makes mistakes but he also has real strengths, including collecting high balls into the box
- Woolfy has his uses
- Town can play low block. It's boring as hell but mostly effective. They should get it out more often when ahead
- without Axel, three at the back might be a good idea

Muric was OK yesterday but not sure he is that good at taking crosses, Jonny. No better than Walton on that score for me. Muric certainly does not 'own' his penalty are like a 6 foot 8 bloke should and his distribution is still slow and woeful. Still - he is what we are going to get for the foreseeable so we have to get on with it. The low block is indeed boring but more effective than that gung ho we will score more than you which we keep playing and losing (exciting as it is to watch!). We just cannot score enough in this league. Will be interesting to see how KM plays on Monday as it is screaming 'low block' as they are far better than us on paper but I just know he won't play that way! If we manage to scrape something then great, but I can't see anything other than another loss I am very sorry to say. Problem now is that we will start to run out of games too in the next few weeks so we need something to happen in a positive manner. I am still feeling we will rue the lost points so far but the ship has sailed on those onwards and backwards we go!

That's exactly right Wilf, its the points lost against Brentford, Leicester, West Ham, Everton, Crystal Palace and Bournemouth that will send us down and we were pretty much masters of our own downfall, sadly I firmly believe the damage is already done.

[JohnnyB]

There's a lot of biblical language on here atm - must be the time of year

I didn't watch yesterday's game which is probably no bad thing entertainment wise but the result was interesting in a couple of ways at least

- Muric makes mistakes but he also has real strengths, including collecting high balls into the box
- Woolfy has his uses
- Town can play low block. It's boring as hell but mostly effective. They should get it out more often when ahead
- without Axel, three at the back might be a good idea

Muric was OK yesterday but not sure he is that good at taking crosses, Jonny. No better than Walton on that score for me. Muric certainly does not 'own' his penalty are like a 6 foot 8 bloke should and his distribution is still slow and woeful. Still - he is what we are going to get for the foreseeable so we have to get on with it. The low block is indeed boring but more effective than that gung ho we will score more than you which we keep playing and losing (exciting as it is to watch!). We just cannot score enough in this league. Will be interesting to see how KM plays on Monday as it is screaming 'low block' as they are far better than us on paper but I just know he won't play that way! If we manage to scrape something then great, but I can't see anything other than another loss I am very sorry to say. Problem now is that we will start to run out of games too in the next few weeks so we need something to happen in a positive manner. I am still feeling we will rue the lost points so far but the ship has sailed on those onwards and backwards we go!

That's exactly right Wilf, its the points lost against Brentford, Leicester, West Ham, Everton, Crystal Palace and Bournemouth that will send us down and we were pretty much masters of our own downfall, sadly I firmly believe the damage is already done.

You may well be right. I for one wouldn't want Town to play low block against every team that is superior to us (pretty much all - that's the reality) but the ability to switch tactics in games may have secured a few points. Notably B'mouth, B'ford and Leicester. However, are our defenders strong enough to withstand sustained pressure? Town could have done that in these games and still conceded. I guess we will never know

[marko69]

Not going to lie, had to go away and google “low block” and the “AI” generated a reply. But I’m not sure if i can believe the reply. Will explain.

The answer was: A modern term in the game of football used by Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola. It’s not dissimilar to Parking the bus but it’s more complicated.

Fair enough.

It then went on to say that Jose Mourinho “coined the phrase” parking the bus! in 2004! WHIT??? Naw he didnae!

I first heard the saying on a bus to Hampden Park for the 1991 League Cup Semi vs the now defunct Rangers Fc. Old guy on the bus saying the only thing Hibs can do is “park the bus in defence” or the game will be lost.

So…… erm
AI ??

[The Odious Mr Rossi]

Not going to lie, had to go away and google “low block” and the “AI” generated a reply. But I’m not sure if i can believe the reply. Will explain.

The answer was: A modern term in the game of football used by Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola. It’s not dissimilar to Parking the bus but it’s more complicated.

Fair enough.

It then went on to say that Jose Mourinho “coined the phrase” parking the bus! in 2004! WHIT??? Naw he didnae!

I first heard the saying on a bus to Hampden Park for the 1991 League Cup Semi vs the now defunct Rangers Fc. Old guy on the bus saying the only thing Hibs can do is “park the bus in defence” or the game will be lost.

So…… erm
AI ??

Nothing anybody says or does these days is new - it's all been said and done many times over the years.
But what an obscure old guy said on a bus 30 years ago was hardly going to make headlines, whereas Mourinho was a famous and often quoted man, so I guess it may be correct to say that he coined the phrase (for popular use). Believe me, AI works and is being used to good effect in some highly technical scenarios - but like anything else it has its weaknesses: its a bit like accounting, you can get it to tell you anything you want it to by pointing it at only favourable information.

[marko69]

Typed in these words exactly:

“If Peter Falk was alive today, what age would be be?”

Copy & pasting the AI response:

“If Peter Falk were still alive, he would be 106 years old, as he was born on September 16, 1927.”

This must mean my granny is 105 as she was born in 1928!

No joke, i know guys taking gas rate values for central heating boilers using AI
The thing can’t even work out Columbo’s age if he was alive today!

They’ll need to get their gas rate equation notebooks out!