back now from London and the game and, well, it wasn't exactly a great day to say the least. Some random observations from being at the game---
1) it's shocking how little positional awareness Moreno has. I don't know how it looked on TV but he literally cannot stick to his position, there were many times that he was wandering around and somehow just "ended up" in central midfield, totally out of position. it's like there is some magnet pulling him from his position. Incredibly frustrating. I mean I have taught my dog to "stay," if a dog can stay in a spot, why can't an intelligent human being?!
2) Can is a cracking player. imposing, really fast, fantastic on the ball. He's going to be the rock in midfield for years to come. Lost his head in the second half but before that I think he was our best player. I don't know what they said on TV but when he went in for the challenge on Welbeck he and one of our players were pointing at the ground or something, maybe they were suggesting that Can slipped and ran into Welbeck, that it wasn't intentional. I wasn't very close so I couldn't tell.
3) the almost-goal in the first half was almost a dead ringer for the Meireles goal we scored a few years back---anyone remember that? it was towards the beginning of the season, right before Meireles got sold, it was even in the same half, we were even wearing the black away kit! Suarez was in Markovic's position and he just squared it to Meireles, who was in Sterling's position, and he tapped it in. They were literally almost identical goals, had Sterling managed to score.
edited: okay I remember that wrong, it was Suarez's goal, on a pass FROM Meireles. so it was the other way around. Still almost an identical goal.
Some other observations not necessarily related to us:
4) I hadn't been to a game in so long, I had forgotten what it's like in the ground after a team scores. on TV they show all the replays of the goal etc, so you never see what is going on on the pitch for that minute or so until play starts again. In the ground the other team just gets back into position and waits for the celebrating team to stop celebrating and start again. I had forgotten how awkward it is.
we just kind of stood around watching them celebrate. sort of depressing.
5) Sanchez is an absolutely cracking player. He's got the same Suarez touch but he also has that speed that Suarez never had. seemed like every time he got the ball he made something happen.
6) Ramsey must be one of the most overrated players in the league. he does nothing.
7) absolutely terrible atmosphere at their ground. I mean terrible. It's really weird actually, being with tens of thousands of people and it's so quiet. felt almost like I was at the tennis. Made me think that there is some bigger problem in football, I don't know if it's just ticket prices or what, but it seems that no one sings anymore at any grounds, period. Not at our games. Not at Arsenal's ground. No where. it's really terrible and takes enjoyment out of the game. I don't know what the solution is. but something needs to change.