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
3 December 2012
2 December 2012
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
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
28 November 2012
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
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.
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
26 November 2012
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
24 November 2012
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
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
18 November 2012
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
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
10 November 2012
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
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
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