Another two goals for Robin van Persie continued Arsenal’s resurgence with a 2-1 win at Norwich City having gone behind to Steve Morison’s opener, the Wales forward pouncing on a slip by Per Mertesacker. Join Football Burp in taking a sneaky peak at various reactions from the notoriously fickle world of online fans’ forums…

Norwich City

sgncfc from services.pinkun.com/FORUMS/PINKUN/CS/forums said…

“The fact is that no one in the ground thought we would hold on. Clearly the players were as surprised as anyone when Morison scored as they spent the next 75 minutes being as outclassed as they had been for the previous 15 minutes before the goal.
I have never seen a Lambert team so obviously set out to not win a game. All our players were nervous in possession and it was quite clear from the first whistle that none of them actually thought we could stop Aresnal from winning.
That worries me quite a bit for the rest of the season.”

ChrisAcle08 from www.not606.com/forumdisplay.php/48-Norwich-City said…

“I would argue that the reason for the poor passing today was because of the system employed. It is incredibly hard to link the play from back to front with it being so congested in our own half. You have to punt it clear at times an over the past few games Morison has performed brilliantly at holding up the play long enough for others to join in the attack. However I felt that he struggled today. He was not so dominant in the air as he has been of late. To be fair to him some of Ruddys kicks up to him, from the inevitable pass backs, were poor and made his job even harder, especially in the first half.

I’m not having a go at anybody inparticular. The system that has served us well kept us in the game all match. If we employed a different system with the personel we have at our disposal we would be looking at a goal difference of minus double digits by now. Bearing in mind that nobody has tanked us yet that could well be our saving grace come the end of the season – it will be the equivalent of another point.

It is just such a shame that Russ’ mistake has gifted them a goal. I can just see the MOTD hihglights already in my head – glowing report of his performance, highlights reel bringing praise from all quarters until the blooper that has ultimately caused our demise. Second half especially I thought the boys were right in the zone and to be fair there weren’t that many clear cut Arsenal chances after the break. Then again, we looked pretty toothless up front today.”

Mahogany from services.pinkun.com/FORUMS/PINKUN/CS/forums said…

“Having 1 up front doesn’t mean we’re playing negatively, we’ve attacked every game. Holt and Morison doesn’t seem like a good combination to me, not enough pace and offer a similar threat. Today I thought we did lack something going forward in the first half, but that was because we only played 1 winger. With Bennett and Pilks playing we are almost in a 433 but if necessary they can drop back to help defend.

Maybe if Jackson starts looking like the player he did at the end of last season, or Vaughan come back or we bring in another forward then 2 up front would make sense, but for now I’d stick with 2 attacking wingers + 1 striker.”

Arsenal

redwhiteAustrian from arsenal-mania.com/forum said…

“Kos did well as RB, although didn’t support Theo much but that wasn’t necessary, as Theo’s had one of his best games in recent months for us. Gervinho was everywhere, created many chances, totally raped his opponent on many occassions, but sadly, couldn’t put away any of his numerous chances. That’ll improve though, I’m sure of that.

Robin was pure class again, as were Vermaelen and Santos (I thought), Merte had a solid game bar that absolute shocker in the 17th minute. Anyway, I hope he cuts those mistakes out now, they’re becoming far too aparent in recent weeks.

Arteta wasn’t as decent as he usually is, his passing was off, his first touch as well. Ramsey had an average game, not bad but not good either.
Song becomes more and more a vital body for us in midfield, keeps the balance well and had quite a solid match.

All in all pleased with the performance, could and should’ve been higher than just 2-1 in the end though, but getting three points was important and we got them.
Third successive win after an international break, that’s something to build on.
Dortmund can come now.”

gzagee from www.goonersworld.co.uk/forum said…

“When are we going to see how effective he is? Against what type of player will he shine? Against which type of opposition will he excel?

We’ve played all sorts of opponents this season from the finesse teams to the long-ballers and not once have I seen PM play an outstanding game.
He’s played all kinds of strikers and he’s not excelled. I was told he’ll be most effective against the big six footers and every time he’s marked any he’s been shockingly dire, marked by another poor performance today.
Steve Morison is neither blindingly quick nor does he possess any great skill but he made PM look so awful Vermaelen had to be assigned the duty.

I watched PM play for Germany last week and early in the game his mistake nearly allowed the Dutch to score.

I no longer HOPE he improves he f**kin NEEDS to improve.

Or bench him and let him be back-up.”

mo50 from arsenal-mania.com/forum said…

“Vermaelen is just something else. I’d love to see a comp. of his performance. This guy does everything, and I mean everything right. I’m so glad we’ve tied him down to a long term deal, because he has all the tools to become the best. The mindblowing thing is that was a standard performance for him.

Arteta looked like he was tired, which is ironic because he just had 2 weeks off. To be fair, our whole midfield was off today, and considering the amount of chances we still created it shows how potent our attack can be. 3 people ( and Santos too) were causing havoc on an entire defense.”