The return of "Jack the lad" (our new number 10) how we've missed his quality, talent and enthusiasm for over a season. What can we expect from him? Why is his return so eagerly anticipated? 

What an excitement it is to have Jack nearing a return to the first team squad. It seems like an absolute eternity since he was last in the fold, but it's great that he is back, and barring any unfortunate and of course massively un-wanted set backs, he should make his first team return within the next week or so. This is fantastic. I really believe his talent has no bounds, he really can be as good as he wants to be, we could have one of the best players in the world of the future on our books. But why is he so good, what about him have we missed? 

Well firstly his technical, distribution ability is top class. You can really see when watching him, that he has been at Arsenal since he was a kid, because his game is based on supreme passing and technical ability. He seems to have a kind of "ariel view" of the pitch, because his vision to pick a pass is outstanding. During his breakthrough season 2010/11, some of the passes that he pulled out were mind boggling at times. One that sticks in my mind was his ball to Nicklas Bendtner against Ipswich in the Carling Cup Semi-Final, at the Home of Football, where he picked him out on the wing from 50, 60 yards away, a perfect pass. He also has the ability to make short, quick effective passes as well, ones which can aid the teams general play, and stop the team's movements from becoming bogged down, limp and ineffective (e.g. Vs Norwich on Saturday). I believe that on many occasions over the last year or so, we have really missed this ability in our game. That ability to just pick a pass, unlock the door that previously could not be opened in a game. I was watching the Under 21 game Vs Everton the other day, and this ability was once again evident in his play. He can just pick out a player, with a great "dinked" ball out wide, over the top of a defence, with his relative ease it seems, illustrating his supreme talent, and pure technical prowess. This is something which he did on many occasions in this game, and the first goal came from such a switched pass. I believe that having the ability back in our team, to effectively and quickly change the point of attack, with one of these "big diagonals" is going to be most useful. Because as I mentioned above, Saturday was a prime example of how we would have benefited. We simply could not get in behind their defence, we could not open the door at all. Our passing was slow, ineffective and predictable, and with Arteta (who is also undoubtably a fantastic distributor also) and Jack playing in union, I believe that we won't struggle in this department on many occasions again, as the range of passing that we are going to have will be great! 

Secondly, driving runs. I am sure like me, one of the most memorable and exciting performances that Jack the lad put in during his breakthrough season with us, was that against Barcelona in the champions league knockout round at The Emirates in February 2011. What a game that was, and what a performance it was from this young man (same age as me!). And one thing that stuck out to me, like the proverbial sore thumb, as well as his passing skill, was the ability he demonstrated against absolute top top class players, to drive the defence backwards with fantastic, powerful, meaningful dribbles. During this match, especially as they (Barca) began to tire, he really forced them back at times with these burts forward. And I feel that again this is something that we have lacked at times. At times our attacks can be very slow, laboured, lacking in territorial benefit in terms of getting up the pitch quickly. I believe that this is something that he can bring to the team. It is something that in fairness Abou Diaby possesses in abundance as well, as he showed against Liverpool earlier this season, and is someone else we missed greatly at the weekend, but other than that we do lack this in our side, that ability to really force defenders backwards, frighten them and open up the space coud be a real asset to us going forward for the rest of the season. 

Finally I believe we have missed, and now will gain from, his absolute dedication and tenacity. To me he is a player with English grit and determination coupled with Spanish flair and skill. It is this English grit which at times I suggest we have missed, and it was especially evident against Norwich on Saturday (and I hate to keep reminding us of that game, but I have to), we had no bite in the middle of the park, we were light-weight, out fought and out muscled. And even though Jack is not the biggest lad on the park, he sure is determined and he is not afraid to put his body into the fight, as we saw in the 2010/11 season, and at times maybe we saw it too much (I am thinking of his red card against Birmingham at the Emirates where maybe he was too aggressive and too eager to get the ball back from his opponent). But nonetheless this is something which we will certainly benefit from now that he nearing his return to the first-team sheet! I am very excited that soon we have two players of great strength and power in the midfield in Abou and Jack, although I doubt they will play together very often due to the form of Santi, and Mikel this season.

However as I have said numerous times on Twitter, squad rotation will never harm us, it will make us more effective. We have lot of strength in midfield at the moment, and with this addition from the treatment room, we will be a lot better indeed. Just think of the players we can call upon: Santi, Mikel, Abou, Jack, Rambo, Coquilen, and soon Rosicky (aka Little Mozart) as well. This is exciting for us going forward, and I hope you guys are you looking forward to seeing these guys available as well. 

It is amazing to think that Jack has never played with the likes of Rambo, Gervinho, The OX, Podolski, Giroud, Arteta, Cazorla, Santos, Mertesacker, Jenkinson. It just shows you how long the lad has been out for. But it is fantastic to have him so near to a return. It's important however, despite how much I have praised him here, to not expect fireworks from his straight away. It will take him a while to get anywhere near his level once again. That match "sharpness" will take time to return, but whenever it does we have one hell of a player on our hands!!!!! 

UP THE ARSENAL!!!!!!  

Tweet me @Mr_arsenal_blog 

                                                                  Welcome back Jack!! 

Mr Arsenal Blog's tactics weekly. 

22nd October - reviewing Arsenal vs Norwich. 

Well, that was an extremely frustrating game for us on Saturday. I can't quite believe how we lost that game, but the facts are this, we were poor, and we lost. It seemed we were complacent, and Arteta said it, "we expected to win", this concerns me. We absolutely have to improve for the game against Schalke this mid-week, if we don't we will loose. But what specifically was wrong with our game this weekend, and why did we become the first team to loose to Norwich this season? This is what I aim to discuss in this article. 

Firstly, before I start, the international break is NOT an excuse whatsoever for our loss. I have heard many people say this, both media and fans (both Arsenal and Non-Arsenal), but it simply should not be an issue. So, that's that out the way. 

On Saturday we were simply very poor, let's face the facts, we were playing a team that had not won a game yet this season, and quite frankly seemed to be in real "dire straits", whilst we had been in okay shape going into this game, so it was expected that the team would get a comfortable win at Carrow Rd. However the fluid, quick passing based game that we are very much used to seeing from our team, was (it seemed) a million miles away from our game. Quite frankly we never started, there were hardly any chances created. This was partly because of how Norwich played and how they tried to contain our threat, but also and probably more significantly as well, our passing was slow, predictable, and un-imaginative. We basically never, apart from Gervinho on one occasion right at the end of the game, got anyone in behind their defence. This shows a number of things. 1) We were not agressive enough with our passing, to look to get the ball in behind for players to run around on to. And 2) The passes that we did try to do were of poor quality. When The Gunners are at their best, the way we all love to see them play, (the sexy sexy football), we work the ball around the centre of the field, manipulate and suck their players in and then whip out, get it to the bye-line and hopefully square it effectively, to an attacker to tap in. This is something we saw many times last season with a certain United striker benefitting, and also this season as well. This what we absolutely did not do at the weekend. I cant remember any other occasions other than the one, and only one, that I mentioned above (for Gervinho). For the up-coming games this has to improve. The fact we did not break a team of Norwich's stature, especially with their form so far this season, is extremely concerning. To nearly 70% possession and not score, is worrying. We dominated the ball, we put in hundreds and hundreds of passes, but to no prevail. As I said, and I will reiterate this point, we hardly any threatened them, and with this much possession to not threaten them at all, is not good. I hope this improves, and to be honest it will. We wont be that poor again, I am sure (fingers/ toes crossed).  

Furthermore, and this is very much a regularly re-occurring theme this season, and to be honest a number of seasons before as well, this is our absolute lack of threat from corners and set pieces. Against Norwich. We had over 10 corners on Saturday, and we didn't not threaten John Ruddy from one of these moments. This is something which requires attention, I believe. I know that the club has a philosophy of keeping the ball, pass and move, interchaging of positions e.t.c. And this is clearly what we practice on the training field, and this season to be fair, we seem to have really been drilled in defending as well. But one thing it seems we do not to enough on, is offensive corners. I think I am right in saying we have only scored from one corner so far, Koscielney against City, and for the amount of them that we get, that would equate to an extremely low hit rate, thats for sure. I hope Steve Bould is given more of a licence to work on this because this is something that he was very effective with during his playing days, as we have heard many times with the near post flick on e.t.c. I hope the team starts getting more effective from these opportunities. We really have to, it's not good enough. On games like the one on Saturday, where we could not get any real chances, it would be great nick a goal from a set piece. That is what team of league winning quality and spirit do, look at City last year, often when they needed a goal to nick a win, they would nick one from a set piece, especially away from home, and this is my point. We must improve. 

Normally at this point I would discuss and name my man of the match, but this week I am not because there were hardly any moments of quality in the game. The usual candidate this season, Santi, he was nullified and was no where near the form he has shown so far this year, Gervinho was effectively non-existent, and when he did get the ball he did some stupid and gave it away, Giroud hardly touched the ball. The one man who I thought could make a difference, The OX, came on and went off again basically straight away, so all in all, there wasn't a man of the match. It was a dire game. The only thing I will say on a positive note, is that it was good to Serge Gnabry given a run towards the end. This young German, is super super talented, and I am sure we will see much more of him this season and beyond, I hope we see him more alongside his countryman, Thomas Eisfield who has been doing very very well for the Under 21s, and also did well for us in pre-season. 

Saturday, was a day to forget. But every season, along the journey, there are always days like this really. It seems to happen to most of the big teams, and it shows why the Premier League is such a great league, everyone can loose to everyone on the day. We were very poor, that is the facts, but we will bounce back, hopefully on Wednesday against a very useful German side in Schalke. Seems like ages since our last home match (Olympiacos) and I can't wait to get to the Home of Football once again!!! 

COME ON YOU GUNNERS!!!! 

Tweet me @Mr_arsenal_blog 

Early season report of Arsenal and the rest of the premier league. Patterns emerging?? What can we expect for the rest of the season. The signing of the season and my predicted final league table. 

What a fantastic product the Premier League is. The season is only a few months old, but already we have had many great goals, controversies, end to end matches, players on great form and upsets "left right and centre" across the league. Some teams have surprised us both positively and negatively, and the same names are at the top once again. How is the season going to shape out? I expect the table by the end of the season to look very very similar at the top, as it did last year and many years before, but I do expect a number of teams to finish higher than expected, and some lower.

However let us start with The Arsenal, how have our team fared so far? I would say that we have had a strong start, but could do much better, and must look to do better. We must not forget that we have only lost one game so far this season, not a bad start at all, especially when you consider that Manchester United have lost twice. However some of our performances have not been convincing and despite being much more solid defensively on the whole this season to date, we are still far to weak at defensive set pieces, and our own loss this season, came as a direct of this problem. I am someone who believes massively in our team, in our club, in the infrastructure in this club, however if I could say one thing, it's that if we are to reach our potential and to win a cup or even the league this season we must not be vulnerable for set pieces. We have tightened up a lot in open play, we really don't look vulnerable when we don't have the ball anymore, and this is very pleasing indeed. I hope that we can maintain this, and of course, develop it some more. If we do this we have shown the signs of: character, technical quality, team spirit, goal scoring ability and strength, needed to be a very successful team indeed. If we continue to improve as we are, we will be up there at the end of the season and if we challenge this season and maintain this strength we can, I believe create a very strong dynasty once again, for our club. This has to be our ambition, we must look to continue to grow and improve this season and beyond. People said we would not survive without Van Persie and without Alex Song, well I tell this to them, we have and we will, and this will continue. Players like Carl Jenkinson I believe symbolise what our club symbolises, a determination to succeed and to come back from whatever criticism and stick we may get from wherever, he has been superb!

I am very proud of the way we have started this season, but as I said, I am aware that we must improve. We may not win the league this season, and to be honest we most probably won't. But if the start of the season is anything to go by, we have the strength, the talent and the ambition to prove people wrong and fight to get as close as we can, to the top. Perhaps win the FA Cup or Capital One cup along the way and go on a good run in the Champions League, and show that we mean business, and that we are not just "happy" to be in the Champions League.

But what about the rest of the league? When I watch teams other than the Arsenal play, I watch as simply a fan of the game, a fan of our league. I love watching it. There are a number of sides that I have been watching with great interest so far this season. Swansea had a great start, topped the league even for a while at least, Everton have played some fantastic football, beat Manchester United on their opening day, West Brom have played way above what anyone expected of them and are looking in great shape. However the likes of QPR have struggled. When a team spends big money on trying to develop a team, create a successful period for their club, to stave of the threat of relegation people take notice. That is exactly what QPR did, and I was expecting them to do well this year. However they simply have been awful. They sit at the bottom, unable to register 3 points, and Mark Hughes is rightly under huge pressure to turn it around. I do believe however that QPR's quality will come through and they will be safe, perhaps with Redknapp at the helm. Its been a similar story for Liverpool, they too struggled last season, of course higher than QPR but struggled nonetheless, and many expected (for some reason) them to be a lot better this season. Despite a demolition of Norwich and a brave performance against Manchester United, where they were very unlucky, they have not started well. Brendan Rodgers is however a very intelligent, young, dynamic manager and over the a number of seasons will probably rejuvenate the club. I believe that Norwich, Villa and Reading will be going down. The choice of Villa is probably a brave one, but I just can't see them picking up enough wins, and they look in trouble, they really do. Lambert did great at Norwich but I cant see the same occurring at Villa Park.

It is however sure going to be a very interesting season in the Barclays Premier League, I expect the top 4 to be the same as it was last year, but probably in a slightly different order, and I also expect one of the Manchester clubs to finish lower than expected, as I believe that there is a weakness in both teams. Manchester City however will probably go and buy more in January, so they are my favourites to win the league, and I expect us to continue to improve, and it may just be that without the expectation that the other "top 4" clubs have to succeed and the pressure that brings we will improve on last seasons' 3rd place finish.

This is what I think the Premier League table will look like, with the top 4 and the bottom 6 to be very very close in terms of points:

1. City
2. Arsenal (brave I know) COYG!
3. United
4. Chelsea - (started well but lack of options up front will hurt them)
5. Everton
6. Spurs
7. Newcastle
8. Liverpool
9. Fulham
10. West Brom
11. West Ham
12. Stoke
13. Sunderland
14. Swansea
15. QPR
16. Southampton
17. Wigan
18. Villa
19. Reading
20. Norwich.

Do tweet me your thoughts @Mr_arsenal_blog - i do reply to comments.

Mr Arsenal Blog's tactics weekly. 

6th October

Welcome back to my weekly tactical review of The Arsenal's premier league games. Apologies for there not being a blog last week, but I had many things to sort out and simply didn't have time. Apologies. Well, what a great comeback that was by the boys this afternoon. We started the game so brightly, created many many chances to score the 1-0 we didn't take them, however we were looking very threatening and very sharp indeed. However which ever way you look at it, we were not clinical enough at all, were hit with the "sucker punch", and we were punished. This is something that we must improve on, because it seems to happen far far too much, and it could cost us at some point the victory, luckily today we pulled through. In the end we won the game (3-1), which is excellent, but what were the key tactical points we can analyse from this game? Why did we win the game? Why were we put under pressure at certain times? Was there a tactical experiment on the part of Arsene Wenger at the end there? I will discuss these things now.

First things first we have to talk about the issues that Andy Carroll caused our defence throughout the game, How should this have been dealt with? Well for a number of years Arsenal have often been vulnerable to teams who play with a big strong, physical centre forward who looks to get on the end of long balls into the penalty box. This was the case today. As soon I saw the Hammers' team sheet today, it was clear that this was going to happen, as often as possible, to really subject our defence to pressure in behind, especially between the centre half's and the goal keeper. Sure enough for lots of the game, West Ham bombarded the box with balls for Carroll to either attack himself and shoot, or, lay it off to the likes of Kevin Nolan in that "second striker" role, or Diame e.t.c, whipped it from the wide areas through Vaz Te or Matty Jarvis. The way Arsenal dealt with this was going to be key to the way in which this result panned out! As it happened we were sceptical in dealing with him at times, but overall despite the fact that he did cause us lots of problems I think we did deal with him reasonably well. He is the sort of striker that will always cause problems for any defence. But I do think we could've worked harder in the centre of midfield to really hassle and harry West Ham to stop them having the space and time required to launch those balls into the box, and at times we were guilty of allowing too much space for Carroll to get into good attacking positions for his team. But I was pleased with how we always fought for the second ball at the back.

One thing that a team must do in terms of their defensive organisation is to communicate constantly and create and maintain, a flat back 4. For lots of this season we have been disciplined and strong off the ball. However there was that moment today where Kevin Nolan was played through by his team mate in behind the back 4, was clean through on goal, and would surely have scored, were it not for a great tackle by the big man, Per Mertesacker at the back for us. The reason why I mention this in this review, is because of the way in which he was played onside by Carl Jenkinson on the right hand side. This could have been a really big moment, and could really have cost us, thus it's something that we have got to be mindful of in future weeks and months, in the games ahead. The back 4 must stay disciplined, and not switch off and allow people in behind them, onside, like we did with Nolan today, and probably should have gone 2 1 down. That clearly would have changed the game completely!

Another interesting tactical point from this game, arose from a substitution that The Boss made after we got to 3-1 in the lead. He took our winger Lukas Podolski and brought on the centre half Laurent Koscielney. Thus we went to a 3 at the back system and it also seemed that Walcott went to a more central striker role. I found this very interesting indeed, and I believe that whilst this was clearly intended to really close out the game, which is not something we see often from The Gunners in the Arsene Wenger era. However in addition to this I believe that Arsene may have been "tinkering" a little bit, and perhaps experimenting with a new tactical idea. What would this mean for the team? Well if we say that it was 3-2-3-2 kind of shape with, 3 centre backs 2 wing backs 3 midfielders and 2 strikers, what could this mean for the side? Well firstly obviously on the face of it would allow us to play 2 strikers which is something that we have not done for some time. This could be good, at it would also allow us to play Theo up there alongside another stronger striker. This is something City have tried as well as the likes of Italy and Juventus in particular as well. I don't like this shape however, as I believe that it leaves you very vulnerable in the wide areas, both offensively and defensively, think it can leave you very narrow in attack and then defensively I believe you could get caught out easily and get outnumbered. Will be interesting to see whether or not Arsene does ever use this shape!!

However on today's game overall (as you can see with the picture below, we dominated the game created many many chances and deserved the win. I believe that the three goals that we did score were of a great quality. It is a pleasing win, especially when you consider that on the whole we dealt with their arial and physical threat, and in the way players like Santi moved the ball around was fantastic. Hope we can continue to get wins at tough away grounds.

Now leaves me to discuss my man of the match and my man of the month for September. Man of the match today for me Santi Cazorla. This player just epitomises what is great about Spanish football right now, and he isn't even guaranteed to play for them, which is quite a thought! But today he once again showed his incredible balance, technique, vision, awareness, skill. Put simply the boy has got it, whatever "it" is, he has it! He can do everything, and I am so excited he is playing for The Gunners, and I hope that people up and down the land, and around the world begin to acknowledge just how good this lad is. He is TOP TOP class. Some of the passes he has made and the vision he has shown, for example his pass through to Giroud today, have been incredible. Such a great player!

My player of the month for September, easily could be Santi because as I said he has been fantastic for us really all season. But it is in fact Carl Jenkinson. I think he has been absolutely exceptional all season so far, and his improvement on last season is just staggering quite frankly. Against Man City he was outstanding, against Chelsea last week despite the fact that we lost he was exceptional. His work rate is great, he is extremely athletic, and defensively he has improved immensely. He doesn't lunge into tackles and get manipulated as maybe he did last season, and all in all he has been great for us. When Sagna is fit and ready for the first team, the boss is going to have a real headache to decide who to play at RB. To be honest on the evidence of the season so far, I would play Jenkinson, I think he has been nothing short of outstanding.

Now we have the international break, and after which we have Norwich away, where hopefully we will play well again and get a good 3 points.

Thanks for reading, and GOODBYE!!

UP THE ARSENAL!!!

Do tweet me your thoughts @Mr_arsenal_blog 

The adaptation of the Spanish Magician - Mikel Arteta. Attacking midfielder to midfield "anchor"/ "holding midfielder". Sign of the times? 

With Arsenal this season we have seen a few new things come to the fore in terms of the tactical shape and personel set up, especially on the defensive organisation side of things. But one of the most striking changes, has been Mikel Arteta's switch from an advanced midfield role, to the "anchor" role holding up the midfield and supporting the defensive side of things, as Alex song was supposed to be doing for the last few seasons. This is certainly a big change for a player, but one that to this point (at least), Mikel has taken in his stride and has been effective. "If you want to play at a top-level club like Arsenal you have to adapt to different roles and situations" - the man himself said in the Arsenal magazine (issue October 2012).

The role of such a midfielder is in short to support the attacking ambitions of a side, whilst being mindful that (As Arteta put it in the Arsenal magazine) that "when you have the ball you have to be thinking about what happens if the move breaks down, and make sure you don't get caught in possession". This is the essence of the role that he has taken up, having to support the team in terms of attack, picking out players in more advanced areas of the field, with his unbelievable passing ability, giving them support, whilst also being diligent in being aware of what is needed defensively. He has take up a role as part of the "spine" of the team, supporting the two centre halves when need be, and covering ground around the middle of the park to win the ball back, if and when Arsenal loose it. It is a very important role indeed, and one in which to be honest I don't believe has been covered properly at our club for some time (hence I said Song was "supposed to be doing" that role!)

Arsenal's defensive record (so far I must stress) has been very good we have conceded 4 goals in all competitions, in 7 games this season. I believe that whilst the likes of Steve Bould, Thomas Vermaelen, Per Mertesacker and Co should take a lot of credit, I also believe that Mikel has also played a big part in this record, with the way in which he has curbed his attacking instincts, and really worked hard to police and cover the middle of the field. If you look at this "heat map" below (which is taken from the Liverpool game earlier this month), you will see that Mikel rarely moved beyond the centre circle of the pitch, and spent most of his time in and around the middle of the park, and also covering deeper as well.

I believe that this shows how disciplined in this role, Mikel has been. You would have to say that it cannot really be easy for a man, that has played most of his time in England as either a "number 10", a "left sided" midfielder, or (as he was in theory last season) the more advanced of two deep lying midfielders (alongside Song), to suddenly discipline himself to not be dragged forward as he has been used to and probably feels naturally inclined to. If you compare this heat map (Arteta's) to the one further down outlining Abou Diaby's movements in the same game, playing the role Arteta was playing last season, you will see the change in discipline that Mikel has had to come to terms with with in preparation for his role this season. You will see that there is still a defensive duty for Abou, but you see significantly more activity further forward than with Arteta. I believe he deserves immense credit for this transition, and it really actually highlights what a great team player he is, that he has taken up this role with such discipline and success, when he is clearly not experienced in this particular position.

Having said all that, many of you will have seen Andrea Pirlo's performances in the Euros for Italy and also Bastian Schweinsteiger's performances for Germany over the last 3 or 4 years, in a similar role to what I am discussing regarding Arteta. You could certainly argue that these players given in example, are very much similar to Arteta in terms of their technical prowess, and also in regards to their physical build e.t.c. Therefore are we seeing a slow transfomation in football of this "anchor - man"/ "holding" midfield player from your big powerful, strong players e.g. Viera, Makelele e.t.c. to your more technically minded perhaps skilful types (Arteta, Pirlo and Sweinsteiger)??  Is this perhaps part of the continuous adaption of the game we love?? I actually think it is, especially in the English game but also around Europe, we are seeing more and more teams become tactically and technically stronger, and this is allowing players who before you would never play in certain roles taking up these roles, and perhaps banishing the stereotypes or perceptions, of what a player in any given position or "role" on the park, should be! Nowadays playing this deeper role, as Mikel puts it, is: "not only about how strong physically you are, it's about being aware, anticipating, being able to read the game and assess what is happening". This for me sums it up nicely, and outlines how this particular role in the modern game is changing!

Thanks be to Mikel for taking up this mantle for the team this season, and let's hope that his transformation to this more defensive role continues to go by as seamlessly as it has done to this point!

Hope you enjoyed my blog and found it of interest, thank you for viewing, and GOODBYE!!

Tweet me @Mr_arsenal_blog - I do try and reply to all thoughts. 

UP THE ARSENAL!!!

Mr Arsenal Blog's "tactics weekly".

23rd September

Welcome back to Mr Arsenal Blog's "tactics weekly". Well, what a game that was, Manchester City Vs. Arsenal. I thought it was absolutely enthralling and to be honest NOT good for my heart that is for sure. In the first half Arsenal were absolutely outstanding, looked solid and created many chances and were without a shadow of doubt the best side out of the two, but then (as often happens in football) we were slapped with the old "sucker punch"!! In the second period, Man City changed themselves about tactically, brought on another central midfield player in Jack Rodwell, who has recently joined from Everton, clearly intended to stop us dominating in midfield as we had so evidently in the first half. This worked. We struggled a litte bit in the second half to play with the same speed and vision as the first, but in the end got our reward for a solid and impressive showing overall, when Koss The Boss slammed home from a corner kick on the turn!! So, what were the key tactical observations of Arsenal today? Who stood out from our line up, and what can we take from the game?

Firstly, much was made before the game of the shape with which The Arsenal would set up with for this match. The selection of Aaron Ramsey raised a few of the proverbial eye brows, as it meant that we were playing, effectively, with four central midfield players on the pitch. Many people have questioned Ramsey's ability over the last year or so, but I have always been clear in my mind that he is certainly a very talented player and one that is improving year on year, and playing with and being selected for the Olympics with Team GB, I believe, will have given him a massive amount of confidence to express himself and play for the Arsenal first team. But on to the tactical side of this selection. Playing four central midfielders, I believe, allowed us to really be comfortable on the ball, interchange positions easily, and change the point of attack. Also defensively I believe it helped us as well, because when we lost the ball, Ramsey or Cazorla, or whoever was on the wing at that specific moment, could tuck infield and really pack out the midfield and minimize the amount of space that Manchester City had to play in. I believe this worked, especially in the first half. In the second half it changed slightly, mainly down to the fact that as I said above City brought on Rodwell which meant that they had another man in the middle of the park to really stop us from playing so much in the middle, which nullified us. But all in all I think that Ramsey helped us a lot today, I was very impressed with his composure on the ball, his passing, his work rate as well, and I expect to see a similar system played in the big games where we need to be really disciplined in the midfield e.g. Vs Chelsea next weekend - (come on you gunners!!). The movement of these players in the midfield, in the first half I believe really helped us to create chances, thus it was a key tactical observation of this game, Arsenal Vs City.

Second point that I have to make from this game is the issue of "zonal marking" at set pieces. Now those of you that know what this is, will know that the Manchester City goal came from a corner, and many seem to believe that this was directly because of this "zonal marking" system that we were implementing. Now Gary Neville and Jamie Redknapp on the Sky Sports "pannel" at the game were also talking about this as a real big issue from the game, and basically said that they were not supporters of this tactics. Now, I am not going to sit here and type and tell Redknapp and Neville (who by the way is the best pundit around), however I am not so sure we should just write of an implementation of a tactic, based one goal where to be fair Vito Mannone should have done better and dealt with the cross before it even got to Joleon Lescott (who headed home at the far post). The system works essentially by the defence standing in a line, and then attacking the ball as it is crossed in, rather than marking an individual. It basically requires the players to get up and stay strong, and head the ball away and beat the opposition to the ball. I think that we should see how it goes on that front, but you have to say that in 5 premier league games we have only conceded 2 goals, and only one was from a set piece so something must be going right, especially when you consider that one of our fixtures was away at Stoke, who are arguably the most effective at corner time! So it is probably not right to just "throw in the towel" and just change our system. Either way it sure is an interesting conunderum for Arsene Wenger and Stevie Bould to consider, however it was a key tactical point from today's game, and sure if we concede more goals in the same manner that we did today they will HAVE to change this system, but for now should continue (in my opinion).

I believe that our Gunners did us proud today, as other big teams in and around us in the league, will go to the Etihad Stadium this season and quite frankly get entirely out played, out fought, out powered e.t.c. e.t.c. However we didn't we bossed the first half, were unlucky not to score in that period but had ourselves to blame for not finishing of some great chances that we did have. Despite these chances we went behind, but then had the courage and the team spirit (which I believe can no longer be questioned) to carry on playing, trust in our principles and each other and get through, equalise and in the end deserved to win! For these reasons it is very hard once again this week to pick out my Mr Arsenal Blog's man of the match as there were many standout performances all over the park. Santi Cazorla was magical once again, his balance his distribution his ability on the ball is just fantastic, and quite frankly I just relish watching him every week in my club's kit, he is one hell of a signing. Carl Jenkinson's improvement in the last year was so evident today as well, and he deserves strong consideration. I thought defensively he was solid and disciplined and when called on out wide especially by Scott Sinclair in the first half he showed them the line, was disciplined and more often than not won the ball back well, and then dealt with it calmly and cleared his lines one way or another. He was also much improved going forward, and was like a thing possessed at times he really was, powering to get on the end of passes and looking to get the ball into dangerous areas. I was mighterly impressed! Koscielny of course got the goal for us, and also played very well, as did Gibbo who seems to have added an extra dimension to his game this year, but it is defensive colleague Per Mertesacker who is my man of the match today. I thought he was absolutely outstanding, the amount of tackles and interceptions he made was staggering (7 in fact), he was strong, disciplined, played the ball well when he needed to and just played with such discipline and calmness which to be fair should be expected from a 80 cap German international! He saved our bacon on many occasions today he really did, especially in the second half when City turned up the pressure, and for these reasons, for an outstanding performance he is my man of the match.

As I said the fact that the decision of who should be man of the match is very difficult every week at the moment, and that is a sign of what I keep banging on about: the strength, depth and the ability of our squad at the moment. The only player that was a let down today to be honest was Gervinho, but only because of his finishing his all round play was quite good and he can't be questioned for his effort or work rate that is for sure. It is very exciting have such a strong squad at the moment, and I am just so excited to think that we can add Wilshere and Rosicky to this midfield, Sagna to the back but these guys have ALL got a fight on to get in the team, as it is going to be very difficult to displace any of our guys at the moment as they are all on good form. And this is what can make us successful, as I keep saying competition breeds success, and that is what we have in abundance at the moment it's very exciting!!!!

COME ON YOU GUNNERS!!!!

Do tweet me @Mr_arsenal_blog - I do try to reply to all comments or views.

Mr Arsenal Blog's "tactics weekly"

17th September

WHAT a performance on Saturday, The Arsenal sure did deliver for us and I thoroughly enjoyed it! Why did we do well however? What were the key tactical points, the key performances that we can take out and discuss from it?

Clearly in a game where you win 6 - 1 the "attack" has to be key. The way that they attacked moved and almost "toyed" with Southampton, was incredible. But what was the most significant for me was the way the midfield and the attack moved and integrated together. For me the movement and link up between the attack players (Cazorla, Gervinho, Podolski and The Ox) completely bamboozled the Southampton defence. Can you imagine being the opposition manager trying to work out how to mark the opposition? Because you have no idea where each player will actually pop up!! This balance was a key point in our win. Yes Gervinho started as the CF, however Podolski, The Ox and Cazorla also popped up in the middle as well as on the wing and in "the hole". Southampton didn't know where to turn next. Couple those things with Gibbs rampaging around the "corner" from the left, and Jenkinson (who by the way his improvement over the last year has been superb) from the right and Arteta and Coquilin/ Rambo pulling the strings behind, and you start to get the picture as to why Southampton were so bamboozled by us!

Furthermore as far as "off the ball" action is concerned, as I discussed in my feature last week after the Liverpool game, our shape was excellent. This was evident again. As our Skipper (The Verminator) said in his programme notes on Saturday "I think you can see, that the whole team - not just the defence, but every area - is working really hard at shape and organisation". And as I said last week, the whole team has to get into the right discipline defensively, and NOT just the so called "defenders". Every time we lost the ball we got into 2 banks of 4 and were disciplined in this shape, and more often than not we won the ball back eventually without any real issues! This was down to the whole team defending, players like The Ox and Podolski tracking back and likes of Arteta and Coquilin in the middle working their socks off to keep the shape! Once again this was very evident. As the skipper says, the whole team has to defend and this is what so far this season I believe we have really got the knack off, and for me that is excellent. Because we all know that Arsenal can score and WILL score. But in the last few years, we have always let in stupid goals. If we can maintain this shape when we do not have the ball, we will go FAR! This for me is obvious. I just hope we maintain this, and keep concentrated throughout, throughout the season!

As I have a banged about on twitter, the amount of options we have at the moment is absolutely outstanding and in my opinion this is the best "squad" that we ever had. I genuinely mean that. YES the team itself is not as good as the 04 team e.t.c, but the squad has so many options which quite frankly excites me. This again was key against Southampton. Diaby could have played, he was rested in came Coquilin and Rambo later on, Giroud was rested so on came Gervinho/ Podolski, Theo came on later on, Koscielney was on the bench. Wilshere is coming back, Rosicky is coming back, Sagna is coming back. There are players available in every position! And this means we can rotate and keep players fresh and ready for the whole season, and shouldn't "burn out". Competition breeds success. This is excellent. And for this reason I believe that we will go far. The Southampton game outlined this, we made a number of changes, left players on the bench e.t.c and STILL scored 6, this is very very exciting in my opinion. The team seems ruthless and hungry, and I believe this comes partly from increased competition because the players know that they will get dropped if they don't perform. This makes me excited!

Finally I wish to talk about the Mr Arsenal Blog's player of the week. Now after a game where the team wins 6-1 it is very difficult to decide on this, but for me because of the vast improvement that he showed on Saturday, Gervinho is my player of the week. He was just like a player "re-bourn". I was just so pleased with the composure and the intelligence that he showed throughout, because so often his decision making or "final ball" if you like, was off the boil which often cost us goals and ultimately (and more importantly of course - points)!   On Saturday however he was played through the middle and he caused the opposition absolute chaos throughout through his movement, his intelligence and at last his distribution. He was putting the ball into the right areas when he needed to, and he also shot when he needed to and got 2 goals. This was something which seriously frustrated me last season that he didn't shoot when he should've or when he shot when he should have passed. His improvement shone through on Saturday, and this was massively pleasing! He is my player of the week. However, special mentions must go to Gibbs, Podolski and Santi "The Magician" Cazorla, who were all also absolutely outstanding and through remarkable (at times) link up play, they carved the opposition to shreds.

Tweet me your thoughts @Mr_arsenal_blog - I do reply to all comments!!