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

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