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