Mr Arsenal Blog's 1/2 term report. What has gone good and bad for Arsenal so far? Where can we improve?

We are now at the mid-point of the 2012/2013 Barclays Premier League season, and to this point Arsenal have been one of the most "talked about" teams in the league, with many pundits and so called "experts" (Stewart Robson to name but one), having plenty to say about Arsenal and in particular Le Boss, Arsene Wenger. On the face of things it has not been the greatest of seasons so far for Arsenal, as I write this we are 7th in the league, although with a game in hand on those above us. We were eliminated from the Capital One Cup by a League 2 side and beaten at the home of football in the champions league for only the 2nd time since the move from Highbury. So on the face of it all is not really very well. Whilst there are issues that need to be rectified, I believe much of this can be misleading. In this article I will access what issues we have had, and also look into how this can hopefully be rectified, with one eye firmly set on the impending January transfer window.

So, let's dive straight into it. As I said above, many people have had lots to say about Arsenal so far this season and not much of it has been positive, but as I have said many times football has a habit of looking disastrous in defeat, and also has a habit of being taken out of proportions in times of difficulty. So let' me first try and put things into some kind of perspective. In the table below you can see how the team compares to other teams in the Premier League, in terms of many different statistical sections based on their play so far this season. It proves the point that it many ways we not by any means in bad shape at all, in fact far from it!

We have the 3rd best defence, the best possession percentage, 2nd best passing accuracy, have put number of crosses into the box in each game e.t.c So therefore, as we can see from this chart, it is a big surprise that an Arsenal team's achilles heel if you will, would actually revolve around scoring goals, as opposed to conceding goals, which is what we have spent a lot of time talking and moaning about over the last 5 years or so. But why is this?

Well firstly as I have written on this webpage countless times so far this season the quantity of our possession and the quality of our possession have been two completely different things. Yes we have the 2nd highest accuracy % for our passes, and yes we have the highest % of average possession for the entire league, however the way in which this possession is actually used is more important and this has been, in my opinion, has been an issue for us this season. In a number of games we have had so much possession, made so many passes, kept the ball excellently, but have not won the game and in some cases have lost the game (e.g. Norwich away, United away and Bradford away). This is because our passing, whilst making lots of passes in and around the middle of the park, is not penetrative enough and therefore doesn't threaten the opposition defence enough. This is something which certainly needs to improve. This is not really a personel issue, more of a mindset issue, the players must start looking to get the ball forward quicker, rather than just playing it around the middle, because that is easy to form up against and ultimately therefore easy to stop, and keep out.

Another reason I believe Arsenal have struggled relatively to score goals, compared to previous seasons is because of a lack of intelligent movement on and off the ball. Given our formation of only playing with one striker, you really require the advanced midfield player and the wingers to make runs beyond the striker, in behind the defence. This has rarely happened for Arsenal this season, therefore making it difficult to score as many goals as we have been used to. Gary Neville was talking about this on the Monday Night Football on Sky before the Reading match (where we won 5-2), and this was interesting to hear. He outlined how that whenever he played against Arsenal, he always knew that when a defender went out to mark an Arsenal player, another would run off the ball, into the space that the defender has just vacated, thus creating an overlap. This season we have not had enough runners beyond the striker, and beyond the ball. We need to get one player running into space, dragging the defenders out whilst someone else runs into the space that the defenders have just been dragged from, the movement has got to be more intelligent.

As much as Santi Cazorla has been brilliant for us so far this season, I don't think he is the sort of player like Cesc was for us, and what Rosicky was for us last season, who runs and charges forward off the ball. He is more of a ball player, someone who gets on the ball, and likes to manipulate it around the field, which is great! I therefore believe we need a "runner" in this position. Would love to see Diaby fit of course, Rosicky too, either of these could fit this mould, and then I would play Santi on the left with Jack, Mikel as the 2 deeper players and then either Rosicky or Diaby playing in "the hole" or the "Cesc role" if you like.

All in all it has been an up and down season for us so far. On the face of it seems we are miles off, but in reality I don't think we are. We need to re-discover that intelligent movement and passing that I talk about. Statistically there really is not much wrong, other than our goals scored and shots to goals ratio. Therefore we can see that we have to improve our ruthlessness and also improve our movement and efficiency on the ball. As Gary Neville said in this same clip (which I will link below). I believe that we are a quality player up front, short of being a very very good team again. You can see that our defence is good, our midfield is good (all of which is outlined in the stats), what is missing therefore is that clinical, ruthless edge up top.

This is why it is so frustrating that RVP left, because you put someone back into this team (considering we have added Podolski, Cazorla and Giroud in since last season), we would be a very very good team). This shows that we are not far off, and therefore the January transfer window is really key for us this year. If we can get a quality forward through the doors, to really help improve our goal scoring stats, everything will take care of itself, and I genuinely believe we can challenge towards the top. Everything else is taking shape OTHER than the goal-scoring, which of course whilst it's massively important is very fixable in my opinion. On the whole, we can do better, we must do better, but there are many reasons to look forward with excitement and anticipation for the rest of the season because this team is very capable of being very good, it just needs a slight sprinkling of gold dust up top, which hopefully can arrive in January!

Let's hope we see a productive January transfer window, and a successful end to the season with Arsenal finishing as high as is possible. We have only lost one more game than the team in 1st place (Manchester United), but have been let down by the number of draws that we have had, therefore given that little extra quality we can turn these points into 3 points. I also hope that we can see some decent runs in the FA cup and Europe.

UP THE ARSENAL!!!!

@Mr_arsenal_blog

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAsYAB-kD6w - Gary Neville talking about Arsenal.

Mr Arsenal Blog's Tactics Weekly. 

19/12/12 - reviewing the Reading game.

Well, after what can only be described as an absolutely disastrous week for Arsenal, with the loss to Bradford, media speculation about tensions/moods within "The Camp" e.t.c. It was absolutely imperative that the boys put out a statement against Reading at the Madjeski Stadium on the Monday Night Football. The team had to show that they are still capable of playing fast, exhilarating, attacking, fluid football, like as Jack said "The Old Arsenal" did, the Arsenal that we have been so used to watching during the "Wenger Years".

What was pleasing is that we did indeed see this once again in patches. In the context it was against a very poor team in Reading, however the movement the speed of passing, and the freedom of expression that we have been so lacking recently seemed to return. It is a bit of a cliche but "you can only beat what's in front of you", and that we did in style because we put five past them. This was great to see. Only real negative from this outing was that we were un-able to keep a clean sheet, which is frustrating to be honest because Reading hardly really threatened and the two goals they did score were massively sloppy on our part, to say the least. The top teams are clinical at one end, which on this occasion we are, but are also clinical at the other end in the sense that they will never let the opposition back into, no matter how many goals they themselves have scored. This is slightly irritating. However take nothing away from the boys as this was a magnificent performance all in all, and what is important is that it was a massive response and a huge improvement on the last game. That is what we ask of the players, and that is what they gave us.

The main difference between this performance and the: slow, bogged down, limp, un-imaginative, rubbish that we had to sit through last week Vs Bradford was speed. This is something that I have talked about so many times this seasons. When Arsenal play with speed, with intelligent freedom of movement in the final third, it is very hard to stop us. Against West Brom last time out in the league, this was evident as we played better, but against Reading this went up another couple of levels more, which was great. It is all very well having great passers of the ball in the midfield, in Arteta, Wilshere and Cazorla, which of course they are, but if you do not have intelligent and effective movement and freedom further up the field, it is near on possible to break any team down. As was evident against Bradford. Against Reading we moved the ball effectively, manoeuvred the ball into good areas, got players running of the ball into space, and at last we looked much more effective and much more threatening. The fact we had 17 shots on target and 28 shots overall outlines the increased attacking threat that we showed.

I actually believe that Theo made a big difference playing through the middle because of his pace. Why? Well because of his pace playing off the shoulder of the defender, and his potential to run in behind, meant that the defenders had to play against him deeper to decrease the space that he could run into. Not only does this mean that he was a threat to their defence, it also meant that there was a heck of a lot more space in front of the Reading defence for the likes of Santi, Jack, The OX, Podolski e.t.c. to exploit, and exploit it they did. The way in which these players linked up was fantastic, and this was in my opinion down to the space available which in turn was caused by Theo pushing the defence back, with his pace and threat.

I also thought that our wing play was much much improved against Reading, which was also a key reason as to why we looked a lot more threatening in the final third than we did against Bradford (although to be fair, you couldn't be much less threatening than that). The likes of Podolski, The OX and Gibbo and Sagna breaking from defence, were very effective in beating their men and getting good balls into the box, which was great to see.

In terms of the Mr Arsenal Blog's man of the match there is only really one candidate, Santi Cazorla. He was absolutely immense in the game, he created chances, took shots on and of course scored a very well-deserved hat-trick to return to the capital with the match ball firmly placed under his arm!! However having said that, I thought the whole team played well. Apart from the mistakes that led to Reading's two goals, which of course on any other day could have cost us, they all played well. I thought that it was great to see Podolski have more of an impact after what can only really be described as a quiet few weeks, I thought he had a great game. Same really with The OX, who also looked much sharper than he has in recent matches. Also, special mention to Mikel who I think is starting to really look comfortable in his "anchor man", defensive midfield "role" in the team. During this match he made many key interceptions and tackles, and also was his usual influential self in terms of passing. Hope this continues.

Overall I was extremely happy with the way that Arsenal played on Monday night Vs Reading, and to score 5 goals, away from home in the Premier League is absolutely no mean feat, so the lads can be very pleased with that. Moving forward we have the game against Wigan away on Saturday which has been a bit of a tricky hunting ground for us over the years to be honest, so hopefully we can put in an equally good performance, hopefully minus the mistakes at the back, and get another good win. With the West Ham game on the 26th cancelled this is a very important game because our XMas period is now not as congested, so the lads have much more time to recuperate and recover from this game, so let's hope that they make it a good one!!!

In other news, today the club announced that it had secured the future of five key young players: Jack Wilshere, Kieran Gibbs, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlin, Carl Jenkinson (all English) and Aaron Ramsey (Welsh), all of which Arsene hopes will develop into a "British Core" of the team who we hope will all grow into top players. Clearly Jack Wilshere is the stand-out name there, and in my opinion certainly has the MOST ability however Gibbs for example is also getting a lot of experience now, and should grow into a fantastic LB! Many people have raised their eye-brows at Ramsey being given another deal because of his lack of form, which I can see is fair enough, however this is not a contract for NOW, this is a contract for 5 years, and this boy I don't care what some say, he has a great deal of potential and a great deal to give over the next 5+ years, I have no doubt about that, he will be a key player. Granted he is going through an extremely difficult patch at the moment, and seems to have lost confidence. But I believe he has shown that he has ability (before his injury and early last season), and will be a great player for this club, so him signing new deal is also great news! Of course The OX and Carl also have big futures ahead of them too, and have also equally shown lots of promise in their Arsenal careers to date, and of course are both England internationals! That's great!

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/five-young-internationals-sign-new-contracts

UP THE ARSENAL!!

@Mr_arsenal_blog

Mr Arsenal Blog "Guest Page"

I have recently set up a guest page which is: mrarsenalblogguest.blogspot.co.uk.

If anyone would like to write an article for it, then please contact me on Twitter (@Mr_arsenal_blog), and then I will let you know my email to which you can send an article for me to put on the page!

Hopefully will spark some good discussions!!

Ollie

@Mr_arsenal_blog

Arsene Wenger an Arsenal legend, perhaps nearing the end of the road at this club. How to solve a dilemma like the Arsenal boss? 

12/12/12 

Arsene Wenger is club legend, who has collected 11 major trophies over his tenure. He has re-shaped this club from top to top, overseen a period of unparalleled success and change at this club, and in my opinion has well and truly "built" Arsenal, into the club and the brand that it is today. Without Arsene Wenger I don't believe we would have the stadium we have, play the brand of football that we have enjoyed since his arrival, as an apparent unknown, and we definitely would not have seen players such as Patrick Viera, Thierry Henry, Cesc Fabregas e.t.c. grace the pitch at Highbury and latterly The Emirates. He is also of course revered for masterminding arguably the greatest league season in English league history, 2003/4, where of course we went the entire season without loosing a game in the Championship, an incredible achievement, to win the Premier League with an astonishing 90 points, 11 points clear of 2nd place Chelsea. Besides that he has led us to a number of other league titles, FA cups, a champions league final, which we unfortunate not to win, in 2006 and a number of other cup finals. Furthermore he has led us to the knockout stage of the Champions League for 13 seasons on the bounce, and incredible record.

It is therefore astonishing, when you read it like that, that this great chap could be under severe pressure from many fans to step aside from his job, a position which has seemed completely safe for all these years. However we are now on a run of 7 years without a trophy, for our great club to celebrate and pressure is at an all time high really on him to rectify this.

Many people feel that he has lost his winning "touch", something which was so revolutionary when he first arrived. Some say he has become "stale and complacent" however the impact that he had upon his arrival will go down in history. It is well known how he changed the club in terms of training methods, dietary programes and of course style of play. But in the present many people feel that he has failed to develop this philosophy further since his arrival  and therefore is too easy to "second guess" for opposition managers and coaches alike.

It is an incredibly difficult topic I believe for Arsenal fans to discuss because this is the man, as I said, who has in many ways, built the Arsenal that we know, watch and love today. As I said without him our club would have a completely different complexion, and therefore the club is a credit to him. He really is a Mr Arsenal, he has said on many occasions that this is the "club of my life". This is why it is extremely difficult and emotional really for me to be writing this because this man has just been incredible for this football club, and to be honest I do still believe in him. I do think he has been let down by a combination of players, board members e.t.c. over the last few years in that players have been allowed to manipulate him and basically stick two fingers up and him and leave. Whilst the board have perhaps not allowed him the freedom to bring in the quality of personell that he acquired when he first joined (e.g. Viera and The King), and the quality of player that was already at the club to work with on his arrival.

However I do believe he has it in him to re-create the success and trophy winning ethos that has brought him so much success during his Arsenal career, and we must not forget this, but questions are certainly being asked now, stronger than they have ever been asked before, and until a trophy is brought back to the home of football and placed in the cabinet, or until a proper and prolonged challenge for the Premier League and Champion League titles especially is brought about, these questions will continue to get larger and larger, and more and more fans will jump on the "Wenger out" band-wagon. This is the sad fact of football!

I would like to make one thing very very clear before I continue in this piece, and that is that I am absolutely NOT a "Wenger-outist" (as I like to put it), I do not believe that Arsene Wenger should be sacked at this moment in time because as I said I do believe that he has it in him to re-create such success. He definitely needs to add some more quality to the team, and he also perhaps needs to consider tweaking his philosophy and his tactics here and there. For now, in my opinion he is definitely the right man for the job, for what he has achieved in his career at this fantastic club, and also for what he is capable of. There is certainly no one out there who is available NOW (and that is a key word), to come in, who is more capable that Mr Wenger himself. Besides changing a manager mid-season is rarely a success and never really achieves anything other than a short-term response or revival. This has been clear at Sunderland for example.

However in the more medium-term looking forward to the summer, I am beginning to feel (and this is something which seriously saddens me), that perhaps it is time for a change, and new impetus to be fed in to the club, I believe we need some new ideas into the club, a fresh start, to really move the club forward again. Wenger is very capable of doing this, however a slightly honed philosophy and new impetus would be beneficial in order to achieve this. In my opinion there is only one man that can deliver this, and that is Mr Josep Guardiola or as he is more commonly known, Pep!

This is a young man (41 years of age), who in my opinion revolutionized the club of Barcelona, in a similar fashion to what Arsene did to The Arsenal back in the late 90s. He is a man who shares a similar philosophy to Wenger and to Arsenal, but who perhaps has more modern, contemporary methods, which I believe would suit us going forward. What is this? Well we all know that Arsenal and Barcelona share one thing, that is there belief in keeping the ball, attacking and playing good exciting football. However during Guardiola's reign he took this to a completely new level. It is very easy to forget that during the late years of Frank Rikkard's reign at FCB they were not massively successful. This changed when Pep arrived, and what followed was incredible period of success for their club, which was built around Guardiola's insistence of a specific defensive system. He acknowledged Barcelona were not the best defensively, but were going forward, therefore if they could find a way of holding onto the ball for longer, and winning it back whenever lost it, they would be extremely difficult to beat. This was achieved through the pressing game that Barcelona played during Pep's reign and to an extent this season since his departure. I believe that apart from a few games every now and again, Arsenal do NOT do enough off the ball, in terms of hassling and harrying to win it back, whenever they loose it, that is why we often concede on the break. Guardiola would I think change this. Of course Guardiola would also change a few things with us on the ball, however I feel where his philosophy would help us most is off the ball. Football is about defending as an entire team, this is something I believe has not been achieved at Arsenal in recent years, and is something that Pep would insist on and therefore bring into the club.

What I am trying to put across here, is that Arsene and Pep are in many ways very similar. But Guardiola would revolutionize the way we play in a very subtle way. He would perhaps also bring in more top quality players to help the club move forward, however that would be for time to tell. It has been reported today that Pep has highlighted Arsenal as the Premier League side that he would most like to manage. I feel that this is down to the philosophy that we (Arsenal) effectively share with him, the philosophy of attacking football, with an emphasis on youth development and preparation. I do feel that we are the club most suited to him and I believe he knows that.

As I said I am NOT a Wenger-outist, as I acknowledge the massive intelligence of the man, and am forever grateful for what he has achieved and what he has brought to our club. As someone of my age Arsenal with Wenger is (apart from the first 4/5 years of my life) all I know, it is therefore extremely hard to imagine anyone else sitting in his chair at the stadium on the match-days.

However I am beginning to feel that a change could, perhaps, be worthwhile. Not necessarily is this change absolutely needed, because as I said the boss isn't a bad coach all of sudden, however perhaps a new perspective a new voice, and a tweaked strategy could benefit the club, and give us a better chance of winning major honours again. That is the key for me, I am not saying that with Arsene we would never win anything again, however I feel that with a new voice or new ideas we could perhaps get there quicker, because of the change that would perhaps come about with Pep at the helm. This team, this club, perhaps could do with this change.

With Guardiola currently on sabbatical until this summer, and it is been clear that he will NOT be taking up a job until then, at least he will not start work until then, and bearing in mind the immense qualities he has as a coach, and the success he has had demonstrated so early in his career, I believe this is perhaps too good an opportunity to pass up. After this summer it will be extremely hard to get him, because he will be in work, that is for sure. Arsene has done an un-believable job at this football club, and is a man who  I will love, respect and thank, in equal measure, for the rest of my days, but with someone who could lead this club for many years to come and perhaps take the club back to success available, should we turn it up? This is the dilemma. I do hope that Wenger would stay on at the club, perhaps in a "technical director" like position as I feel his work at the club merits this and we can benefit from having him still at the club in some way. However perhaps it is time for us to have new impetus on the coaching side! Given Guardiola's age he could feasibly go on to surpass Wenger's tenure at the club too, given suitable success that he is no doubt capable off!

To summarise Wenger is an astonishing man, but Arsenal I feel could this summer take the opportunity to go in a slightly different direction with a manager that has a very similar philosophy but would make changes all the same. Whatever happens what I want is for Arsenal to be at the top of the English game once again, how this happens I am not bothered. It is sure going to be a very interesting 6 months or so!!

Thank you Arsene for all you have done, but this summer it may be time for change!!!

UP THE ARSENAL!!!!!!!!

@Mr_arsenal_blog

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQfsqbj0Skc&feature=plcp - my thoughts on this situation in video form!

Mr Arsenal Blog's tactics weekly.

10th Dec - reviewing the WBA game.

Well, that feels better. Today I can at least write more positively because we got a good win, rather than a sole destroying and depressing home loss, that I was forced to write about in my last instalment of this feature. This time around we put in a good performance all in all, kept a clean sheet, looked more confident and together as a team, and ultimately got a comfortable win. Was also good to see the likes of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlin start to play towards the level we know they can. This is good to see! However why were we better on Saturday compared to last Saturday? What changed? This is what I hope to make clearer now.

First things first, the speed of our play was unrecognizable compared to the rubbish that we played last week against Swansea. This came from a much more dynamic, progressive midfield performance and a much more intelligent performance from the front 3, in terms of movement and also in the way that they tried to take on their opposition defenders. It was much better to watch that is for sure. I thought that the midfield three of Jack, Mikel and Santi, were much fresher than they were last week against Swansea and the way that they moved the ball was much more dynamic and much more efficient. This allowed us to move the ball quicker up the pitch, and really push West Brom back towards their own goal line. Against Swansea we were so predictable and Swansea found it relatively easy to get the ball back, because our passing was not quick, and not efficient. This was key. I thought Mikel and Jack's work-rate was also much better this week. They chased the ball all day when we didn't have it, and they both put in a real shift for The Arsenal, which was great to see.

What was also good to see was the defensive side of the game. As I have said in previous articles, what has been somewhat surprising this season, is the fact that our defence has been more reliable this season than other attacking side of the game. This has certainly not been the case in previous seasons, where you would always expect us to score goals, but also let too many in at the other end of the pitch. Against West Brom, we scored twice and we also kept a clean sheet, so that was absolutely great. But our defence on Saturday was fantastic. We looked threatening in our attacking, and we also were hardly threatened at the other end. Think that Mertesacker and Vermalean seem to be starting to be really comfortable and confident together, which is absolutely fantastic. Anyone that follows me on Twitter, or have read these blogs, will know that I am a big fan of Mertesacker and he has been in great form this season, think he has been absolutely excellent so far this term. However Vermalean has had in all seriousness a very mixed season so far this season, however thankfully he seems to be getting back towards what we know he is very much capable of. On Saturday they were both fantastic. Why? Well because we hardly saw them. This is always a great sign for a team defensively, when we don't see much of the defence, it means they are not making any real mistakes, or not really giving the oppositions chances. This was great to see! Hopefully it continues!

The only negative point that I took away from the game on Saturday, was the amount of chances that we squandered on Saturday. And before people jump on the bandwagon, I am not only look at Gervinho here, I am looking also at Oxlade-Chamberlin who mis-hit a good chance, Jack Wilshere who missed a chance from real point blank range and then as I said Gervinho who also should have scored. It does frustrate me that we leave chances on the field. On Saturday we played really well, but had to rely on two penalties, which red tinted glasses of, perhaps should not have been given, so these missed chances on most occasions would have cost us the three points. So I really hope that this improves, and that the players become perhaps more composed in front of goal, so that we can be more sure of results like we got on Saturday, without relying on two perhaps dubious decisions, which we know we very very rarely get (we didn't get ONE penalty at home last season), so it is clear that we cannot rely on referees to get us out of trouble (unlike another red club you could argue). Hopefully composure and calmness in front of goal, will come, and of course when it does we will start to really bang in the goals!

Finally my MOTM for Saturday was my favourite player, Mikel Arteta (who by the way if you didn't know is now on twitter - @m8arteta). I think that his work-rate was absolutely fantastic, he chased the ball all day long, tracked back whenever needed, and also he stayed true to his skill set of producing great passes. However on Saturday his passes were much faster and more dynamic than the last few weeks, which was partly down to better movement and dynamism in front of him and also a more progressive mindset in my opinion. Was great to see. Of course he also won us the match with two very composed and intelligent penalties! Think not only did it take guts to take the penalty on the face of it, it also took a lot of nerve to stand up and take the 1st one, having missed a key one against Fulham. So that was great to see.

Looking forwards, we have a very important game tomorrow night up at Bradford in the Capital One Cup which we have to progress in. Many people call it the who gives a f**k cup, however I believe that its an extremely important cup for us, each year at the moment, because it gives us both a chance to win a trophy and end our agony of not winning for 7 years, but also because of it's position in the calendar  it is a chance to really put wind in our sails for the final months of the season. We saw a couple of years ago when we lost it, how our confidence dropped, so if you flick that around, if we were to win the cup in February I believe our confidence will be given a huge lift because not only would we have ended our drought, it would also give us real impetus and momentum to play well for the rest of the season, and also experience what "winning is", creating a real winning mentality and experience of winning titles at the club, which is in my opinion missing (you could argue). So let's hope that we put in a good performance tomorrow night, and most importantly get through to the next round, and looking further into the future, hopefully we can pick up some silverware in this competition at Wembley early next year.

UP THE ARSENAL!!!!!! 

@Mr_arsenal_blog

P.S I have recently set up a "guest page" for this blog, which is mrarsenalblogguest.blogspot.co.uk and if you are interested in writing an "Arsenal blog" on this page, then please message me on twitter (my account adress is above) stating your interest, and hopefully I can get you on!

Frustration, Frustration, Frustration. Good players but no run of form. Finding the right formula to get success for AFC.

In property terms there is a widely used phrase of location, location, location however unfortunately if we had to coin 3 words to describe Arsenal it would be: frustration, frustration, frustration. Now I am someone that thinks about the game, set-ups e.t.c almost constantly and at the moment I am really struggling to work out why it is that Arsenal are struggling to put a run of good form together. It really is hard to pinpoint the issues. Why? Well because I simply do not accept people's opinion when they say that we do not have good players, because quite frankly we have some very very good lads at the club who can play to an exceptional level, however at the moment it is not working. Therefore we need to find the right formula to rectify this.

However I can notice a few issues that need to be rectified. Unusually for Arsenal in recent years, these issues do not surrond issues at the back as I do believe that on the whole our CBs have done well this year, especially Mertesacker. But the area that ironically that we are actually strongest in, the midfield, is in my opinion the real issue that is evident to me. Because we have many good players in a central midfield role and because of the space that was made available after Songo's departure, we have tried to get as many of these players on the field at once, this has meant that we are really struggling for balance in our midfield. We lack of point of difference in my opinion.

Now to re-wind a bit at the start of the season we were actually playing particularly well, and in all honesty we played Liverpool away and City away and played both of them off the park, surprisingly especially at the home of the champions. In recent weeks we have lacked that real spark and imagination, and as I said balance. What is therefore missing? Well in my opinion it is one thing. Abou Diaby! At the moment we are playing Mikel Arteta and Jack together, both of which are exceptional players on the ball, however neither of them really have that physical strength or size that you would associate with most midfields in world football, at least in "top" sides. Abou delivered for us at the start of the season, and it is in my opinion no supprise that since he returned "home" to the physio room at Colney, our form and performances have significantly dipped. So basically it is going to be really good for the team if we can get Abou back, but knowing his record this seems unlikely which is extremely extremely frustrating, because this lad in my opinion has the ability and the talent to be an absolutely TOP TOP class midfield player. Therefore should we buy someone in this area in January?

I am not convinced about this because if we did this we would have to take one of the quality players we have in midfield out, and I am really not sure if that would be a good thing. It is therefore perhaps more sufficient and crucial that we find this balance from within. Jack and Arteta for the time being at least, need to develop more of an understanding, and get one of them playing a more deeper defensive, quarter-back like role. This is going to be important in my opinion. As I said before on my blog, I am not convinced about the whole "defensive midfielder" thing, I think it is more important to have two balanced players, that "sit and go" effectively. This is something we had with Arteta-Diaby and have not managed to replicate since Jack and Mikel have been playing together. Let's hope they can develop this.

The second thing that has been lacking especially this season, and to be honest actually for a number of seasons, is a lack of running of the ball!! We don't chase down the ball enough in midfield when the opposition have it. At the weekend Swansea worked their socks off and got a result, when we had the ball they chased, they harried they hastled and they pressed us. We never seem to do this. We have to acknowledge that we don't have the players in midfield that can just sit of and stop players coming through, and therefore we have to actively chase the ball down and therefore hold on to the ball. We allow teams to play, and we cannot allow to do this, because as I said we don't have the players to sit of a team and just pressurise them when they get to the box, we have to pressurise them ALL over the pitch, and win the ball back quickly.

Finally what has got to improve is our movement off the ball. Watching the highlights (or lowlights) from Saturday again, we gave the ball away so much because players had to gamble on passes, because there no real options for them to pass to, because our players were not moving around enough. Sky Sports just showed a stat that showed in passing terms we are 1st and 2nd in the league for all their different statistical collections of passing. Therefore we can pass the ball, it is just key that we start making more effort than we did against Swansea, and give the opposition more to think about, by moving clinically off the ball! Would it help if we tried a different shape, perhaps two up front, to give oppositions more to think about?

I am as always extremely confident that we will turn this around because we do have good players. But I just think we have really missed Diaby, and have not worked to get the right balance in his absence. And finally on the ball we have become static and predictable because our movement is too slow and at times non-existent.

Let's hope this changes.

UP THE ARSENAL

@Mr_arsenal_blog

Mr Arsenal Blog's tactics weekly. 

02/12/12 - reviewing the Swansea game.

Well, what a horrible performance and result for us yesterday against Swansea City at The Emirates, and you could argue to make things worse, as I am writing this, we have drawn the same team away from home in the FA cup to be played in January. The performance yesterday was very poor indeed, and is to be honest the coming together of the things that have been wrong for much of this season, and things that I have been discussing on here for weeks now.

As I have been saying on here, our passing has been lacking penetration and direction in recent weeks and months. And this was absolutely the case yesterday against Swansea. We all know the way that Arsenal play, we like to keep the ball and we like to attack, that is fine. However, what has been a problem recently especially in games such as Norwich, Villa and United away, is the way in which we use the ball. Against Swansea yesterday the team's passing was once again limp and un-imaginative, and therefore naturally we had absolutely no penetration across the field. Against Aston Villa for example we had 650 passes, did we score? NO. That is so poor, we have to use the ball much much better! It is so frustrating to have to KEEP talking about the same things on here, but there really is not much else to talk about.

This has been a real issue this season, however we have usually had the majority of the ball because we are good at holding on to it. However yesterday we just kept giving it away, and this led to something which we hardly ever see which is the opposition team actually having more of the ball than us at The Emirates, and I believe that just shows you how poor we were at passing the ball, and also shows how poor our movement was. And this was the other main issue with our performance yesterday. As I said we were unimaginative and limp, and this was emphasised with the lack of movement in our team. If you want to play the way that we want to, keeping the ball, playing possession football, moving opposition teams around (like we always have in the past), you have to give your team-mates options to pass to, by moving intelligently, getting into channels of space and putting your man under pressure. This was NON existent yesterday.

If you are going to play like Stoke and just hoof the ball up the field then this is not an issue, you will get a certain amount of success by winning the ball in the air, and get men beyond the ball. However this is not the way we play and quite frankly, hopefully, we will never play like that. However to play like we do and be successful, you have to have intelligent movement, otherwise you will just keep loosing the ball because the opposition will get men around the ball and win it back, as happened yesterday. It was very frustrating to watch it back that is for sure.

This is something which is very un-usual for an Arsenal team to be limp in attack and have no movement. We have been so used to watching our team spreading opposition men all over the place with quick, intelligent passing, and effective movement too. It is also somewhat telling that we have conceded only 16 goals in the premier league compared to United's 21. But what's the difference? Well they have effective movement, they use the ball well, and they score goals. This has never been a problem really for Arsenal before. But this season it is, and why is this? Well because our passing is slow, un-imaginative and not precise enough. It is therefore quite frankly SO easy to stop, and with all due respect to Swansea who played well, they should not be able to have such an easy win, we should be putting teams like that to the sword, especially at home. But we are not because our passing and our movement is not at all effective. Defensively we are actually doing okay on the whole, but going forward I don't know what's happened. People are having a go at people like Arteta for not passing forward, but let me make something absolutely clear, movement and effective passing go absolutely hand-in hand. Without effective movement you will never have effective forward passing because there is absolutely no one to pass to, that is what we saw yesterday. We have to start making more of an effort on the ball to get into space, drag defenders out of position like we used to, and therefore goals will come. Until we do that however there will be more frustrating blank performances. I hope this is not the case.

Quite frankly I don't want to talk about this anymore, it is too frustrating. So to put some good news on the table, we are only five points behind 3rd place Chelsea, who by the way are in crisis, and we have a relatively good fixture list for the next few weeks. Therefore if we start to improve, which to be honest shouldn't be too taxing after yesterday, we will pick up points. However as yesterday showed we cannot afford to take ANYONE for granted. We are in a position that we are not used to being in (10th place), however as I said it is very congested in the table, and we are not far behind, but having said that there are teams that are NOT far behind us now, so we cannot afford to keep playing like this. In the week we have a VERY tough game away in Athens, and in a way I don't want us to play a strong team because the players did seem to have nothing in the tank, at least I hope that's the case, because the lack of movement e.t.c did look like a tired team, and I hope it is that rather than a lack of desire and effort. However the game in Athens is an important one, because we have to finish top in our group, so whatever team Le Boss puts out, we have to win. I wouldn't expect a full team to play however and I really hope that people like Eisfield are given a game instead of Cazorla who was effectively invisible yesterday and does seem to be knackred, he has played every game this season so we have to start giving players with great talent such as Eisfield a chance to prove what he can add to the team, and rotate this players in. Because we have a very busy Christmas period as always, and players WILL have to be rotated, so I expect the team in Athens to reflect this.

Anyway lets hope we get two good wins this week in Athens and in another tough game against WBA at home. Luckily they seem to have dropped a bit, but as I said we can no longer afford to take teams for granted, and have to come out absolutely firing and show that we can still score goals to go with what IS an improved defence.

UP THE ARSENAL

@Mr_arsenal_blog

A tale of sloppy play in the midfield and beyond against Everton, could be worse though! 

As you have probably realised I only do my Mr Arsenal Blog's tactics weekly feature, once a week, so tonight I am just going to do a more generic article based on tonights' game, and talk about something that has been becoming a real issue in recent weeks. Tonight, in my opinion, was always going to be an extremely tough match, against I side which I have a huge amount of both respect and admiration for. They have great players e.g. Fellani, Baines, Jelavic e.t.c. But what I admire about them is the way in which the club is run, they have stood by their manager for long time, and got results from a shoe string budget. They had started this season very well, and beat United (on the traitors debut) there on the first weekend of the season. Therefore a point from this game, is not exactly a disaster! Therefore, as I said in the title to this piece, it certainly could be a lot lot worse!

However, what is really concerning me at the moment, and is something that to be honest has been of a real concern to me throughout this season to date is something that has never really been a problem for us in the past, in fact in my opinion is has usually be the opposite. This is that, this season we seem reasonably comfortable without the ball, Steve Bould has undoubtably had some kind of an impact (there is still a long way to go by the way, but its an improvement), however on it we seem to keep panicking. In the past when we were under pressure from a team, especially at home, when we used to finally got the ball back I would invariably sigh a huge sigh of relief, and think "good we have it, now we will hold on to it". Now when we get the ball back under pressure, we seem to quite frankly get scared, panic, make rash decisions, over complicate the passes, and then give it away again!

Bringing it back to the game that we saw tonight, this was again very much on show. We would be under pressure, eventually get it back but then play a pass that is not on, and give the ball back again, or pass it straight to a defender and put ourselves quite frankly under more pressure than we already were before. It's really a worry because we have many players in the side, that are extremely gifted technically  and who all can pass well! But for some reason or another they just seem panicky on the ball and it seems especially in away games, we just keep giving it away, and therefore inviting teams on to us! It wouldn't be so much of an issue if it was in our attacking 3rd that we give the ball up, however as we saw tonight, we gave it away just outside the box, in their attacking 3rd and thus conceded a totally avoidable goal!!

As you can see from this heat map below, the number of un-successful passes (here marked with the red arrows), in our own half especially, is quite frequent. And what is concerning about this is that this is from the first half alone!! This is something which has to improve. This heat map does not include the pass from Sagna, which led to their goal, because that did go to Arsenal player, but was then given away. It was a ridiculous pass, because the ball should have just been bolted up the pitch clear. I am pretty sure that most of you reading this that either play football, or played football at school or for local club or whatever like I used to, were told at a very young age to NEVER pass across goal. Because if you misplace the pass, or the player you pass it too (as in this case it was Arteta), mis controls it, the team will be in BIG trouble. As it proved.

This is very concerning. I don't know whether it is down to a lack of confidence, lack of leadership or what. But what is clear to me, is that we have a lot of technical quality, players that know how to pass the ball well and effectively, but for one reason or another we are just so sloppy on the ball at the moment, and as the season progresses we simply have to improve on this.

As I said before however, going away to Everton and getting a point is no disgrace that is for sure, as I can guarantee that you that a number of so called "big" teams will go there and get mullered and loose, therefore we shouldn't be too annoyed. But it is just frustrating how we seem to keep making the same mistakes on the ball at the moment, which is very unlike Arsenal. Today we actually seemed more comfortable off the ball than we were on it, which is virtually un heard of in recent years. Vermalean and Mertesacker had great games today, and are joint man of the match today for me, because without them picking up the pieces and tidying up what was going wrong from in front of them, we probably would have most likely lost this fixture!

Next up is Swansea at home, and to be honest that is a team that you absolutely CANNOT afford to give the ball away to, because they are good on the break, and have some very gifted footballers who are very capable of breaking us down if we give them the chance! So the key for it is, for the boys to stop panicking on the ball, don't play the passes that are clearly not on, and don't pass it AT ALL when on your own line or thereabouts (Mr Sagna), just get rid with a good old fashioned hoof, re-group and then play from there. If we had done that tonight, we probably would have come away with a win (even though we probably didn't deserve it).

Anyway, enough from me, i'm off to my bed! Hopefully we will get a good win on Saturday, in my absence (I will be at Twickenham for England Vs NZ), so hope to check my phone and see that we have got our passing boots on!! If we do, we should get a good win!!

UP THE ARSENAL!!!!!!

@Mr_arsenal_blog

A underestimated shining light in our side this season, a very impressive German international at The Arsenal. 

For me there have a been a few players that have stood out this season for us, and a number of players that the fans would probably list as these stand out players of the season so far. For me one player that is surprisingly under stated in these terms, is a German international, no it's not Podolski, it's Per Mertesacker. I emailed into the Arsenal Fans Forum on Arsenal Player last week and raised the point that, some people still don't rate him and that I can't understand this. Last season before his injury we had the 2nd or 3rd best defence at home in the league, and this season I think he has been absolutely superb. His performance at Manchester City stands out for me as his best performance, but on the whole this season he has been excellent, and of course he scored against the enemy last week, which instantly makes him a legend, and what a header it was by the way! 

Per Mertesacker's strength and experience I think has really shone through this season so far, and I think it is clear that he is really starting to get comfortable in the Premier League, and in my opinion this is fantastic news. I don't want to make it sound like I am saying that he is as good or better than this person because that is not what I am saying, but I do think he is the closest we have had to Tony Adams (Mr Arsenal), since his retirement. He does have some similar qualities. No, he's not the quickest player in the side as many fans seem to love pointing out, but what he certainly has in his locker his extreme strength and intelligence, but also he compensates for the fact that he is not the quickest, by using his body and positioning himself very intelligently to as I say compensate for his perceived lack of pace. In my opinion he is superior to all of our CBs! Apart from Sebastian Squillaci of course!! (What a player). 

Another area that I think he has shone in recently is his composure and intelligence on the ball. I was reading some stats recently about this, and Per is our 2nd most accurate passer behing Mikel (who by the way is one of the best passers in Europe, according to the stats), sitting around the early 90%'s. Which in itself is very impressive. But when you watch the Arsenal matches in recent weeks, we sometimes look a bit panicky in the midfield on the ball, but when the ball go backs to him I almost feel more relaxed when he gets the ball. Because he is just so calm and composed on the ball which is fantastic for a team that tries to play in the style and philosophy that we do. 

Finally I believe that his discipline is better than the rest of our defenders. Why? Well a classic example of why I think this was the Fulham game at home a couple of weeks back, where we drew 3-3. Now I know conceding 3 goals at home, does not seem great on a defender, however I think it wasn't really his mistakes that led to these 3 goals. This brings me on to the issue of discipline. Sometimes when I am sitting in the stadium I see the likes of Koscielny and Vermalean, Sagna e.t.c. Charging forwards almost completely forgetting their defensive duties, and this was a real issue against Fulham, we saw the likes of Koscielney, Vermalean and Sagna, completely out of position, and then Mertesacker using his experience and discipline to stay quite deep, because what happens? Well we loose the ball they (Fulham on this occasion), play the ball into the space, which sucks out Mertesacker to try and cover the space others have left him isolated with, which leaves caps in the centre, which is EXACTLY how Fulham scored their second goal. Now you could say that Mertescaker should perhaps be ordering these players back, however my point is Mertesacker's discipline is key to us. 

All in all, my point here is, that Mertesacker is in my view a vastly unfairly under rated player, and in some quarters harsly criticised. The fact is he has over 90 caps for Germany and is only 27 or so. You don't get that if you are slow, clumsy, dim witted, as I heard on several occasions from fans, and I think that this season he has been absolutely superb! And I would like to think that people will start to give him credit that he deserves. I know that Saturday was a very disapointing result, however he was our best player, and he kept Benteke who is an extremely dangerous and strong striker by the way, under control for the 90 mins, and made some superb interceptions and sliding tackles. He was MOTM for sure! This lad is for me an unsung hero in our team, without him I think we would be in trouble, because as we saw Vs Chelsea earlier in the season the Koscielney Vermalean axis is a bit shaky, Mertesacker provides balance to the defence. And in my opinion this is starting to become more obvious!!!

UP THE ARSENAL!!!!!! 

@Mr_arsenal_blog 

Mr Arsenal Blog's Tactics Weekly.

24/11/12 - reviewing the Villa game.

Well, what a frustrating game that was. Arsenal were expected to have a reasonably comfortable victory against a Villa side which was right at the foot of the table. But, as we saw earlier in the season against Norwich who were at the foot of the table, it's never easy in the Premier League regardless of what position in the league the teams you are up against are. Teams in this league will fight for every ball, every 50-50, it's such a competitive league. You have to stand up to that, and I think we did that, we weren't really dominated as such, they had chances and went closest, but we also had a few chances. The issues for us were, like previous away games, stemming from a lack of quality in the final third.

It was in many ways, similar to the Norwich game away in the sense that we lacked precision and efficiency in our passing and our movement. When we got far up the pitch, the crosses were not of a good quality, and to be honest I cannot really remember one time in the game where he played a cut back from the bye-line. Last season this was something that was very effective from us, getting to the bye-line, cutting it back for someone to tap in. We did not get in behind them much today at all. And this is once again down to this issue of precision and efficiency of our passing, and also the tempo and speed of our passing. We have to start getting the ball in behind defences more away from home. The amount of chances we are creating away from home is worrying. At home we seem to be creating more chances, and therefore we have to start imposing ourselves more on the opponents, and stop passing it in such a lackluster and un-imaginative fashion.

What was most frustrating about the game today was the fact that because we were so sluggish, our two main attacking players high up the pitch, Giroud and Cazorla, kept coming so deep back down the pitch, to collect the ball. This meant that there was hardly anyone in the final 3rd, therefore we had no chance to create chances. This was extremely frustrating. We are at our best when the likes of Santi gets in between the lines, and Giroud or our wingers make runs down the channels. Today Giroud and Cazorla seemed to spend most of the time in our defensive 3rd picking up the ball. It is fine when Giroud tracks back so well when we don't have the ball, his work rate is fantastic, however when we have the ball the likes of him, Theo, Gervinho, The OX whoever are the wide players have to be up the pitch getting into dangerous areas, moving into channels, causing the defence problems, so at least we have a chance of getting the ball up the pitch into dangerous areas, in the hope of creating some decent chances.

Today was a poor performance from Arsenal but there is one positive we can take from this, and that is the fact that we got a clean sheet, and Koscielny and Mertesacker deserve credit for this, they were are two best players on the night. They both made some important interceptions, clearances and most impressively made a lot of very important tackles, in particular Mertesacker, who made a sensational sliding tackle on Aghbonlahor in the first half, in the penalty area, when he was clean through! Was great to see. Therefore I give the Mr Arsenal Blog's MOTM to Mertesacker. It was a close one between him and Koss but because Koss missed a sitter in the first half, which would have won us the match by the way, Mertesacker is the one!

Now on to a little rant! Anyone who follows me on twitter will know that today I was getting bit fed up of people moaning and bitching about some of our players, before the game had even started. This is something which, I am sorry, but I just cannot fathom how people can blame an individual before the game has even started. And then when the game is on, whatever the person does they are on their case straight away. It just makes no sense to me at all! Aaron Ramsey is the player that I am referring to because the treatment that he gets, is most bizarre. It really is. If another player does something wrong, or something stupid people don't seem to make much of it, but if he does something, everyone is on his back straight away. When I sit in the Emirates most weeks when Ramsey's number is put up on the subs board there are often groans. I just don't get this. Today he was probably our best midfielder, Santi and Mikel probably gave the ball away more than he did, furthermore Ramsey tried really hard to get up and down the pitch, and worked hard for the team, and also had chances to score as well. He did okay! So I just don't get the treatment he gets. Yes he is not the best midfielder in the squad, but the lad has talent, and I guarantee you that these people moaning and bitching about him, will be singing his praises in the years to come, because the lad will absolutely prove these doubters wrong, trust me! I know he is not the finished article, and is not an accomplished player, but give him a chance to prove himself. It does help anyone to bitch and moan about a player, in fact in time it will make it worse because it will get to their confidence. I know many people who rate him, like me, and many people that don't. The jury does seem to be out on him, but he's still a young lad. He does not have the experience that Mikel and Santi have, and doesn't have the quality of Jack, but he is good enough to play his part, hence the boss plays him!

Anyway, hopefully we can win the next two games this week, because it is an important week for the team, and we need 6 points!!! Hopefully the conditions will be better than they were tonight, and we get more tempo and accuracy to our game. The players rested today will come back in, and hopefully Theo will be fit too, because he was the player we missed the most today, no doubt! His pace would have made a difference!!

UP THE ARSENAL

@Mr_arsenal_blog

Mr Arsenal Blog's tactics weekly. 

18/11/12 - reviewing the NLD.

Well, what a day that was yesterday, I am sure that all of you like me, have still got a great big smile on their face! It was a fantastic game, and I thought that Arsenal did really well indeed. Of course we had a bit of fortune in the game through Adebayor's ridiculous tackle, which was rightly ticked of for a red card, but even so you can only beat (or in this case dismantle), what is in front of you. It is a cliche I know, but the way in which Arsenal upped the tempo in their game, and really cranked up the pressure on Spurs, after the sending off, was very impressive in my opinion. But what did Arsenal do well? Why were they able to kill of Spurs as they did?

Firstly as those of you that have read my previous few tactical reviews will have seen, I have spoken a lot recently about the lack of penetration and efficiency in terms of our passing and attacking play. However yesterday this was certainly not the case. Our passing was excellent. The way we worked the space that the extra man allowed was excellent, and to be honest you could really see that we had an extra man because we used the space really well to our advantage. It is not always easy to play against 10 men, as the boss said afterwards, however not yesterday. Arsenal really worked the space well with good, effective, quick passes. Furthermore a couple of weeks ago at Old Trafford we hardly got any balls into the box at all, but in the game yesterday, and also against Fulham last week, we've really started to deliver balls into the box, and it is therefore no surprise that we have started to score some more goals. The ball of the game was certainly Theo's FANTASTIC stood up cross into the box, for Per's goal (his first ever goal for the club, what a time to get it by the way), it was a fantastic delivery, and Theo did really really well to get that ball into the box, because he was under pressure in the corner from Naughton. But the main point is that one of the reasons why we managed to kill of Spurs with 10 men, and to score 5 goals against them (AGAIN) is because we really used the ball very well. Our passing was penetrative, fast, and unlike some games this season it was not bogged down, limp, un-imaginative, and easy to stop. This was great!

Furthermore the space in Spurs' attack that Adebayor's sending off gave our Spanish maestro Santi Cazorla, even more space than he normally works into, and this was absolute fantastic for us. He is my. This allowed us to move Spurs around all over the place, and Santi was just brilliant. He is my MOTM for this week. Before the game I was slightly concerned to be honest, that Santi would not be sharp because he had only been back in the country for 24 hours at the time of kick off, so I was concerned, however I need not be concerned because he was absolutely key. The sending off certainly helped us in this regard, because it gave him more space up the pitch to hurt Spurs in that area. And it worked. For Giroud's goal his run and cross was brilliant. He showed such desire and determination to keep playing when fouled, which exactly what you want to see from a player in such a match. And the way in which he took his goal, which was throughly throughly deserved by the way, was fantastic. I am just so excited that he it at our club, he's been brilliant so far, and the combination that he is form with the other spanish maestro and Jack, is very exciting, and as the Sky Sports commentators said yesterday you wouldn't swap that midfield trio for many in the Premier league, that is for sure. Hope they continue to develop an understanding, and if they do, let me tell you, we will be in fantastic shape, because all three of them are fantastic players. But this was absolutely key for us yesterday, the way the space that Adebayor left was worked by the likes of Santi. This was a very good adaptation by the players to the situation, and it was of course very effective.

As I said Santi is my MOTM however to be honest, all the players were excellent yesterday. Mertesacker's goal was fantastically taken, and apart from Spurs' 1st goal where he lost Defoe, he did well. Kos seems to be back to his best he controlled the defence very well, and really tidied up at the back when he needed to. TV5 looked much better at LB as well, but of course when Gibbo is back he will move back to CB, but if Mer and Kos keep playing well, they'll be a decision to make for the boss in that regard. Theo was also excellent, Arteta and Jack too. Podolski scored and had a great assist, it was a very good all round performance. This was encouraging.

I hope this game gives the team a LOT of confidence to push on and move back up the league, however there is still a lot of improvement needed. The defence for their 1st goal was poor, the defensive shape disappeared, and defoe was allowed to run un-opposed. And for the 2nd goal we didn't press the ball very well at all, and the chimp punished us. Regardless of this, it was a very encouraging game and hope we can build on this!!!

UP THE ARSENAL

@Mr_arsenal_blog

Mr Arsenal Blog's tactics weekly. 

10/11/12 - reviewing the Fulham game.

Well, that was frustrating. But first things first, Ivan Gazidis, Peter Hill-Wood, Stan Kronke were NOT on the pitch today, did not concede 3 sloppy goals, and did not miss last minute penalty, so would like to make it clear that it is not their fault! This reaction every defeat of "sack the board", "Ivan Out" e.t.c is just stupid, yes we need to spend more money e.t.c to win title, but in all 3 defeats we have had this season in the league, and the game today, we have had the players and the quality to have performed much much better, but they didn't today, and didn't in the other games too. Whose fault WAS it though? What went wrong? What were the main issues and positives as well?

Put simply once again we were sloppy. Unlike the United game last week, we did actually create chances and did actually look like scoring more. But it was a return to the old Arsenal at the back. Going into this game we had the best premier league defensive record, which of course is a great improvement on how it has been over the past few seasons, and it seemed Steve Bould was making a good impact on the side (especially at start of season), but certainly not today. I do wonder sometimes whether the words "defend" appear in some player heads at times. Over and over again today the Fulham right winger was in acres of space on the side, why? Because our shape was poor. In fairness Thomas Vermalean is NOT really a LB, he's only there because Santos has been playing like someone that has never seen a defensive drill before, not alone been part of one! So we have to give him (TV) some kind of slack on criticism, because he is a good defender, but today he kept coming in field as if he was playing CB, and every time Fulham attacked the space, which meant that someone like Koscielny or Mertesacker had to go out to the side to cover, which left space in the middle. This is what happened for their 2nd goal. Space was on their right, (our LB slot), they broke into it, our defence was sucked out to the ball, the cross came in and they scored. Our 2 goal lead, which to be honest was probably a bit harsh on the visitors, was squandered, back to "square one". That was one problem that we seemed to have for much of the match, leaving space on the wings, in our defensive 1/2. This is something that must improve for next week. Because I do not want to see that chimp (Gareth Bale) running into those areas because he will punish us. In fact I just want Gibbs to get fit again, we have missed him greatly. He was having a great start to the season! Come back quick please Gibbo, we need you mate!

As I said, going forward we were okay today, much better than we were against Schalke at home, Norwich away, United away and to an extent Vs QPR at home. So I am not massively concerned by that after the game today. But one thing which I noticed yet again today, is the quality and efficiency of our passing. As I said in a previous article, at times we lack efficiency and precision. That was again the case today. It is all very well having the ball, but you have to do something with it. Against United last week, this was a big problem. Today it was not as bad, credit for that, but it can definitely definitely improve! We still persist on passing the ball around the back, and all the way down to the keeper, which is something that absolutely infuriates me when watching it, because you just loose any kind of momentum (if there were any), and also the more you do that, the more you give the opposition time to form up defensively, and then stop you. We have to be more efficient with the ball. At times today we put ourselves under pressure because we were not using the ball efficiently. Trying to pass out around the back, was the reason for their penalty, and we must stop doing this. Even when there is no pressure on us, passing it around with Mannone, what is that going to achieve? It's just not a useful and efficient use of the ball. As I said before the game, we have to start imposing ourselves more on the opposition, make them move around, move their defenders out of position trying to stop us, like used to be the case whenever we played. Last month or so, since the international break and since Diaby got injured, we have really missed that ability to get hold of the ball and either move it quickly in terms of passing, and move with it quickly up the pitch, forcing defenders back. As Abou did with aplomb against City and liverpool away earlier in the season. Today however, our passing was often laboured, slow, limp and in a way more importantly, mostly in the wrong areas of the pitch.

What is a positive despite what I have just said was the fact we scored 3 goals, and also the fact that Giroud played very well. He is my MOTM today that is for sure. I thought he was fantastic physically, technically  scored 2 good goals, and could have had 3/4 (missed a sitter as well), and also helped out defensively admirably when required, tracking back to help out the defence. Was very impressed with him indeed. He now has 6 goals, which is not a bad return, especially when you consider that Rooney, who is supposedly England's best player has one goal! Giroud also has 5 assists. So I think he is really beginning to come into his own at Arsenal and if we use the ball more efficiently and effectively, and get the ball into the right areas, he has shown he can score them. I believe he will be our top scorer, and is going to prove the doubters wrong, and become a very important player for our team! Obviously I hope so, because quite frankly I am sick and tired, of hearing the letters R V P mentioned over and over again. Hope Giroud can continue this form. He has scored 3 goals this week, all from headers. What does that show you? YES, he can head the ball. So lets use the ball for efficiently, get into the right areas, deliver it efficiently, and he has shown that do this, and he can score!

I know many people reading this will probably be angry after today's game myself included. And many will be questioning: the team, the boss, the defence, the tactics e.t.c. e.t.c. e.t.c. However it sounds stupid, because we did make mistakes which is annoying, but what I believe is encouraging is that these mistakes are EASY to fix. The 3rd goal for them was ridiculous  That ball had to just be hoofed up the pitch, problem solved! 2nd goal, Vermalean was no where to be seen, so stay in position (Gibbs will help with this when back). And the 1st goal was a mixture, firstly don't leave man on his own in the box because he (Berbatov) will score, and secondly if you do the first thing effectively, you can clear the ball, problem solved? Is a switch to man-marking needed? Well that is for the boss and Steve Bould to decide, but zonal-marking doesn't seem to be working. As I said before I am not the one to say whether it is right or not! But the point is, we scored 3 goals, should have had a 4th, and the goals we conceded were poor, and easy to fix. Therefore I am not overly concerned about us, and urge you to not be either. We are in a bit of a sticky run of form, but you have to remember also our fixture list hasn't been the easiest, and I believe we will pick up wins soon, HOPEFULLY starting with a violent dismantling of Spurs next weekend!!!

THEY CAN DO IT, so let's hope the lads do!

UP THE ARSENAL!

@Mr_arsenal_blog

Francis Coquelin - a fabulously talented Arsenal midfield player who can contribute in many ways to the team and help solve lack of "bite" in the middle. 

08/11/12

Much has been made of Arsenal's "engine room" since the departure of Alexandre Song to FC Barcelona this summer, with Mikel Arteta stepping in to play that deeper role to great effect for much of the season. However to be honest I do not see him playing there long-term with Arsenal, in fact I see a young Frenchman with fantastic qualities ready to step in when needed. Francis Coquelin was taken to very fondly, I believe, last season when he covered both fall-back positions to a very commendable level, when we were completely decimated by injuries that area of the team. This for me sums up the man, he is someone who has great commitment and desire, coupled with fantastic qualities that in my opinion will only grow, develop and get better over time, and I hope that we can find a way for him to play more games in the Premier League and Champions League this season to really give him the experience that he needs to reach the potential which I genuinely believe he has.

Some of you may have read my article about a month or two ago regarding Mikel Arteta's switch from a more advanced midfielder to this drawn back "anchor man" role that he has played in this season. (If you haven't seen it, here's the link:  http://mrarsenalblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/the-adaptation-of-spanish-magician.html). In this article I discussed how I feel that Arteta perhaps epitomizes the "modern" defensive midfield player, as well as how I felt that this role in football is really developing from big strong, perhaps defensive minded, players to more technically gifted "smaller" players but who are also capable of "breaking up" opposition play too. I feel that Francis Coquelin too fits into the mould of a "modern" defensive midfielder, and in many ways actually reminds me of Busquetes in the qualities that he has (lets hope he can develop to that level), and he could also take up this mantle that Song left.

Since I wrote this article a few things have changed. I still believe that Mikel Arteta is very capable of playing this role in the team, and I still rate him as a players generally very highly indeed (he is my favourite player). However, since Diaby has got injured against Chelsea back in September, I believe Arsenal has lost a lot of "bite" in the midfield, and I feel at times this has meant that Mikel has struggled to impose himself on this role, as well as he was earlier in the season against the likes of Liverpool and City away, alongside Abou Diaby, where they both played very well indeed. Since Jack has returned, I had expected us to have more physicality and bite in the midfield, but against United last Saturday this was very much lacking in my opinion. Now this brings me on to the main topic of the article, Francis Coquelin. I believe that when Diaby is back fit (how long this will be you can never know) he will start most games because, as he showed at the beginning of this season, he is quality. I believe that he brought real balance to the midfield as he provides strength as well as his skill, whilst perhaps not be the traditional "defensive" midfield player, by offering a more varied game, which I think really benefited us, because of the way we play. We have lost this balance since his injury.

For this reason I would really like to see Francis Coquelin given a go over the next few weeks as I believe has very similar attributes actually. He, like Abou, is a very agile player who possesses great strength, as well as technical quality and skill. His passing is good, and his ability to cover the pitch is also very good, due to good pace. I think he should be given more of a go in the premier league and to be honest I don't really understand why he has not started more games this season, other than the Carling Cup, because anyone can see when we played a midfield of: arteta and Ramsey, that there is not really any bite in there, whereas when Diaby was alongside Mikel they complemented each other very well. And perhaps Arsene Wenger playing without someone with strength in there was a mistake. As I said I think Abou and Mikel together is actually a great partnership, and they really seemed to be developing a great understanding together. Since that partnership has been broken, through injury to Abou, it is in my opinion no coincidence that our form has dropped. We lack bite in the "engine room" which I am sure everyone understand is a vital area of the pitch for any team.

Therefore how can Coquelin be fitted into the side? This is an important question, because as I have said I believe we can really benefit from his presence at the moment. I feel that until Diaby is back we should play a shape like this:

        Arteta Coq/ (Diaby) - when fit.


Walcott    Wilshere   Cazorla

I feel that this would provide more physicality in the midfield, and perhaps provide some of the balance that we have missed since Diaby's injury, which was actually really crucial at the beginning of the season when Abou was in the side. Would also enable Arteta to play again in a more "free" role like he was last season.

Going back to the shape that I showed above, I think it would also be interesting to see how Cazorla could be used as a kind of inside winger, like Na$ri used to play, because firstly it would us to eventually get Cazorla, Mikel, Abou and Jack in the same side, and secondly it would give us great ability to dominate the midfield, because we could really pack out the midfield when we don't have the ball, due to the fact that he could easily "tuck inside", and this could lead to us winning the ball back effectively if the right pressing game is used. Furthermore the amount of "fluidity" we would have given this shape, would be great. Because you could have Coquelin or Diaby, Wilshere, Arteta and Santi all interchanging positions freely. This is something which Manchester City did to good effect last season with Silva and Na$ri playing on the wings, and I think it would give us a good balance to be able to have good amount of technical quality as well as the physicality that Coquelin could bring at least until Abou is fit again.

To conclude, I believe that Francis Coquelin should be valued as a very very talented player and someone who can perform for Arsenal. He impressed me against Schalke, was probably the only player to do so that night, he showed his calmness on the ball, and also his strength off it. It was this physicality that we were missing in defeats against Norwich and United. We didn't have the strength that Abou was providing earlier in the season, which provided great balance with Arteta. Since Abou has got injured, Arteta has been more isolated. Coquelin could help with this over the next few weeks and months (depending how long Abou is out for). If I were the boss I would be playing him more, I just think without Abou we have looked to have no real "power" and go-forward in the midfield.

UP THE ARSENAL 

@Mr_arsenal_blog

Mr Arsenal Blog's tactics weekly.

5/11/12 - reviewing the United match.

It has been in all honesty a very disappointing few weeks for the Gunners. Whilst I believe the defeat to Manchester United game has been taken out of proportion (for reasons that I will explain), the defeats to Norwich, and the manner of the defeats, is extremely concerning. We have to improve the level of performance that we are showing at the moment, but I have to make one thing absolutely key! Whatever your opinion of what happened up at Old Trafford on Saturday lunch time, there is a perspective to put it in, and in my opinion in many quarters there has been a completely stupid over-reaction to the game. The game was of course disappointing, as it always is if you loose to the Mancs as us fans quite clearly hate loosing to them! But why did we loose this game? Well in simple terms, because they were the better team and deserved the win! But I will now answer that question in more detailed fashion, with a tactical look at the match.

Firstly a big issue was the way in which we used the ball. An Arsenal team will always plenty of the ball, however on Saturday it was effectively 50/50 between the two teams, therefore we both had basically the same amount of possession. This shows us one simple thing, United used the ball much much better than we did, they were more precise and they were more efficient. These for me are two key words to sum up, in part, why we lost the game. They had seven shots on target, we had three. Why is this? Well, I would say it is down to these two words that I mentioned. When we had the ball we were neither precise enough, nor efficient enough. We gave ball away cheaply in midfield which clearly stops you from getting up the pitch to create chances to score a goal, and when we had the chance to create a clear-chance, we fluffed it in the sense that the final ball or pass or cross was not precise enough. Its quite a basic thing in football really, when you have the ball in order to score you have to be precise with your passing in order to work the ball round the pitch effectively and break the opposition down. We did not do this, they did. As a result they had more of the chances, we failed to create much. Simple!

The idea of efficiency very much stems from this issue. When we had the ball in the game we were not efficient with the way in which we used it, instead the ball spent most of its time when in our control, in the middle of the park being played sideways. From an oppositions point of view, this fine, it's ideal. Because until starts moving towards their box, and play is looking dangerous they are fine. United were happy for us to have the ball but when we got into their half, more often than not, they quickly won it back, thus completely nullifying the threat posed! We have to be more efficient with possession! It is all very well having half the ball, but if it is only in the middle of the park and not getting in behind the opposition, it is near on pointless! This was clear on Saturday. We had plenty of the ball, but weren't efficient with it. United had basically the same % of the ball, but used better to their advantage and therefore won the game! We only got 3 shots on target in the whole game, 2 coming in stoppage time (and one being the goal), so you see that we didn't use the ball in an efficient way, United did. Again very simple!

United's second goal came to be fair, at a time where Arsenal were finally starting to look dangerous, after a practically completely one-sided first half. We were finally starting to get the ball in good areas for the likes of Santos and Sagna to get onto out wide on the overlap, with Cazorla as per usual the main player of passes to these players in wide spaces. However when this goal came, it was once again as a result of an opposition set piece (a corner). Once again we used zonal marking, which has been much debated about this season, and once again were beaten to the ball in the air, by an opposition player, who scored. The worrying thing about this was that the player that had won the ball in the air, was not a towering 6ft 7 Crouch like person, it was Patrice Evra, effectively the smallest person inside the stadium! This is simply not good enough. With the likes of Vermalean, Mertesacker, Giroud in our team, all big lads, we should have had no problem whatsoever beating someone of Evra's size in the air, with all due respect to the French international! This is something that must be worked on, and I am not saying that zonal marking is wrong, Arsene and Steve Bould clearly know more than me, but it certainly needs some kind of tweaking  It seems that most of the goals that we have scored this season has been from set pieces, once again!!

The first goal came from a poor error from the skipper Vermalean. It was a scuffed clearance, which he who must not be named, latched on to and finished expertly passed Mannone. This is the sort of goal that we must not be conceding. You have to give credit to Purse Strings for the way that he tucked it away, but we cannot afford such strikers that chance. And this shows you the "small margins" that I often talk about, in the game of football! Despite our lack of real chances, and despite the fact we were pretty poor, had Vermalean not made this mistake we would have a point, and had we defended the set piece better, in theory we could have got a win, as Cazorla scored in the last minute! But clearly as I said this would have been un-deserved. In games such like these, you cannot make these mistakes. As I said, and I want to make this very very clear, United deserved it, but had we cut the errors it would have been a completely different story, and instead of all the doom and gloom rubbish going round Arsenal, we would be happy with the lads work on Saturday, at a very difficult ground to go to in the Premier League. For this reason I believe that all the doom and gloom is far over the top. Yes we were not at our best, but to be fair United were not brilliant, they didn't have to be to beat us, because we made mistakes. Thats what is frustrating!!! There has been lots of talk on twitter and in the media about Arsenal's shape, the players e.t.c but I believe it is more simple than that, we have to use the ball we had better, and stop making errors. Regardless of the shape or tactics, you have to be precise and efficient on the ball to create clear chances, and you have to not make stupid errors that allow he who must not be named and Evra, to score easy goals!

Once again it is difficult to choose a Mr Arsenal Blog's man of the match, as we were not great, but the person I am going to give it to is: Mannone. I believe that he didn't really have a massive amount to do in the game, but when he did, he made a great save from VPs shot in the 2nd half, which actually led to their 2nd goal from the resulting corner, and the on whole wasn't at fault for anything! I think he is a player that needs more support from our fans, because apart from the goal against Norwich at Carrow Rd, where he palmed it into the path of the goal scorer Holt, he hasn't really done anything wrong! It is disappointing that in a game where we concede 2 goals the best player in my view was the goalkeeper. Santi deserves praise for his goal, and for some good passes in the 2nd half, but was very much nullified by United, and cut a frustrated when he scored at the end, with a cracker!!! He has been very quiet in the last few weeks, I hope that changes in the next few games, and especially of course for the game against Spurs!!! lol.

Anyway, it was disappointing game, but we must keep the faith! We do have good players, and with the likes of Diaby and Gibbs (to replace the clueless Santos), we will be much better indeed. We could also of done with the pace, and directness of The OX out wide. With these players coming in again, and the players we have, I am not really that concerned looking forward for the rest of the season! We will be fine. We must add a few in January however!

Don't listen to the gloom merchants!!!!

UP THE ARSENAL

@Mr_arsenal_blog

Mr Arsenal Blog's tactics weekly. 

27/10/12 - reviewing the QPR match.

Well that was frustrating, but what matters is that we have won the game, and take three points from this match, moving us up to fourth in the table (for today at least). It was absolutely fantastic to see Jack Wilshere back in the team from the off today because (as I said in my article about him this week) we have missed him so much in the last year or so, and it's brilliant to have him back in our side, and hopefully he will make a difference to our form for the rest of the season. Was of course also great to have Bac back in the side as well, he is also a quality player. But in terms of the game itself as I said it was very frustrating, and for the most part it was a very slow game, lacking in quality. There were flashes of the talent that made Jack such a big hit in his first season with the club during his time on the pitch, but apart from that it was largely non-eventful. But why was this? This is what I will discuss now in this feature.

It is difficult to discuss anything other than what I discussed after the Norwich match and what we saw against Schalke in mid-week to be honest, other than the fact that we got a win this time rather than nothing. However as I said once again we were far too slow in our attack and despite the fact that we actually had more chances than last week, which you would expect from a home match, we still are not creating enough clear cut chances to score goals. We only really started to look dangerous towards the end of the match, after QPR were down to 10 men, which is a concern! The main reason for this was once again the lack of penetration in our passes, the lack of proper movement in the attacking 3rd, and the lack of quality balls into the box. I think this could be partly down again to what looks like a tired Santi Cazorla, who seems to be lacking the same guile and creativity that we saw earlier in the season which is worrying, but I am hoping that we can give him a bit of rest in the week so that he is back to his energetic best against United next weekend. I think we are also struggling without a proper winger on the field, which is why I was very pleased to see Theo (sign da ting) come on the pitch in the 2nd half, as I hoped we could finally see some proper wing play, and get some balls into the box. However it was actually Arshavin who put the best ball into the box of the match, which led to our goal. It was a a lovely floated ball, into a dangerous area, and was something that we certainly missed throughout the match, up to that point. Furthermore once again it was a concern to see us caught out down the left hand side defensively on a number of occasions. Andre Santos has had a shocking week, and in the first half especially he looked extremely vulnerable to the QPR attackers. I really hope that this is something which is worked on enormously on the training ground this week, as we absolutely cannot afford to go to Old Trafford being so vulnerable on one side of the pitch, because they will quite simply work it to their advantage with ease. I hope this improves!

But the main talking point from this game, and rightly so, was the return of Jack Wilshere to our team. Because it was a largely un-eventful game it is difficult to discuss much else other than the fact that this incredible talent was once again showing us what he can do, at The Home of Football, for the first time in nearly 18 months. His ability on the ball is just fantastic, and it's absolute fantastic that we can now have him in our side. The way he covers the ground with his dribbling, the way he just strokes the ball round the park, just makes him such a top talent. He is without a doubt the only English player that would look at home a Spanish national side. His technical ability is just outstanding. What I also love about him, as I said in my article about him, is his grit and physicality that he brings to the game for us. And this was once again evident in the game against QPR. He is never afraid to put his body on the line to win the ball back, or to hold on the ball for his side. This is fantastic, because at times we really lack "bite" in our midfield, and now with Jack back in the side I think we really have this.

On to the man of the match for this match. It is quite a difficult call for this game, because not much real quality was showed overall, however I am going to give the man of the match award to Arshavin, simply because he came off the bench, seemed hungry to change some perceptions, played a fantastic ball for the winning (and only) goal, and also tracked back and fought well for the ball when we were holding on at the end, which is not something he has been renowned for!!! I hope we can now see him come back to what he is capable of doing, and what he showed in the early times of his Arsenal career, and not the lethargic, care free performances we saw at times last season. On the whole I thought he was impressive off the bench yesterday, he has taken a lot of flack, so I think it was impressive!!!

Next it's Reading in the cup, then to Old Trafford next week, where hopefully we can show RVP what a stupid move he made!

COYG

@Mr_arsenal_blog