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!
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