Özil: Too Good for Arsenal

September 14, 2014

One of the phrases I hate seeing more than any other is “X is not good enough for Arsenal”, especially when X is in our current squad of players.

In recent years the list of players tarred with this particular brush is long.

Koscielny – shopping in Lidl while everyone else is in Harrods
Walcott – Should have bought Bale
Ramsey – rubbish and no future sell him to the Championship, hope he dies
Etc etc etc etc

Annoying in some cases disgusting and all proven wrong as these are players that have gone on to shut up most of their critics.

And now we have Mesut Özil, cast your mind back 12 months, Madrid fans welcomed Bale by chanting the name of Özil, we were ecstatic at his arrival, even got an instant song “you sold Bale we signed Mesut Özil” and then he forged a place in my heart with that exquisite left foot strike against Napoli, displays linking with Theo and Rambo, until it all went a bit quiet, he earned the wrath of the BFG on two occasions on the pitch in front of fans for taking silly risks in high profile games and gifting the opposition a goal at the wrong time, and missed that penalty against Munich.

Perhaps the key to Mesut’s dip in form lays at the feet of Walcott and Ramsey or more correctly the cruciate of Theo and the thigh of Aaron. With those two out of the squad he was left with very little to work with. Yet he still managed to chalk up a reasonable amount of assists and goals for a first PL season.

How does he compare to some of the PL other star names? Well i know how everyone loves a table (or ten):

Charts 1 copy

The raw numbers look poor, four players better on goals scored, three were better on assists, but the key to these may be in the number of appearances, the final column is perhaps the most interesting, chances created, under performing Mesut was only bettered by two players, one being Santi, who in that season got to play with Theo for a whole lot longer than Mesut. And if we look at the numbers in the next table the point becomes clearer.

Charts 1

As highlighted by the yellow cells some players did better on a per game ratio for goals than Mesut, games per assist only one beats Mesut, and what about that middle column, only one player bettered Mesut for chances created per game. See where I am heading here, or at least where my headline was going and the only player with more passes per game (so assume involved as much or more than Mesut) well he is an Arsenal player.

Could this just be a freak of first season form and actually because we are judging Mesut against players in their current teams and their current performance levels maybe this is why he is not being appreciated by Gooners.

So I looked at all the players mentioned above, and chucked in a few more for the laughs and a few more who are on the wish we would have signed/kept list. This next chart is only looking at Goals, Assists on a per game basis, and chances created per game.

Chart 2

Can you see what is occurring again here?

Only three players equalled his number of passes in any of their seasons in the PL, and two play for Arsenal, only three have bettered his pass completion, only two have bettered his games per assist, and perhaps most importantly only two have bettered his chances created per game.

You will notice I have not commented too much on Games per goal where he appears to be beaten by quite a few other players, well perhaps this is where the problem is laid bare most dramatically, rather than look at goals per game, how about we look at goals per shot?

Charts 3

Five players have a better shot to goal ratio, but all 5 have had many more shots that Mesut, could this be because they are playing with better players or is it because Mesut is not busting a gut to get not the end of things?

Özil is without doubt a subtle player and perhaps because so much of what he does is uncomplicated he is not appreciated or is it purely down to his work rate going backward? Whatever the resason it certainly can’t be his attacking contribution on the pitch, as shown above he is more than involved enough, so the only reasoned answer is finally we have a player who is not only good enough he could well be too good, maybe we aimed too high at Fortnum and Masons when we should have just upgraded from Lidl to Waitrose.

Written by Gooner in Exile

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Posted by Gööner In Exile

Wilshere MOTM, Pellegrini moaning and another draw

September 14, 2014

A 2-2 draw with City, Pellegrini making excuses for his team, Arsenal conceding stupid goals but scoring some great ones. Football came back after a fortnight and it was as enjoyable a game as could be hoped for, even though the result wasn’t.

It was a tough match at the Emirates yesterday 🙂

But Arsenal showed that they are tough too, albeit prone to moments of weakness. We began with a flourish. None of the hanging back and letting the game come to you nonsense. We went out to grab the game by the…. neck.. and City had no response beyond kicking out and disrupting the rhythm of play.

Maybe this is what Pellegrini is trying to hide with his statements against the referee, who although did well to at least call the fouls (rare in the English game, especially when it comes to Arsenal) did not produce yellow cards as quickly as he should have. Check out Welbeck being taken out by Kompany before Debuchy had his shot, and I think Silva bundled Ramsey over during another move. Both were blatant, (ref played advantage) and Kompany had many more such fouls and I don’t think he got a yellow card all night.

I thought we did well to respond to that physicality with some of our own. We aren’t, and probably won’t be, very good at the dark arts, but we can handle ourselves on the field given a fair referee, which we did yesterday including with the supposed fouls that Pellegrini complained about.

We all saw the goals, have our own thoughts on our defending and fullbacks pushing up. I said in a comment that I think Ramsey and Flamini share the blame for the first goal we conceded. I also think we wouldn’t have conceded a second if Debuchy had not gotten injured, though of course we’ll never know.

As an aside, Debuchy has apparently not had a fracture, but has to undergo a medical exam tomorrow. He would have been suspended for Dortmund anyway. Let’s see how long we have to do without him.

Another injury doubt before yesterday’s game was Ramsey. He played, and ran his heart out as usual, but he was far less effective and involved in the game than his midfield partner Jack Wilshere, who ended the game with a goal and an assist. He also seems to be developing a good partnership with Alexis, who was brilliant as well yesterday.

Jack Wilshere has his detractors, and I suppose that is to be expected, partly as a consequence of his early hype. (I said partly LB. Don’t chew me out) His early promise is almost like a burden on him rather than cause to hope for better in the future for many. I don’t see it that way. He’s had his injury worries and missed a lot of football. Just over a season ago, Ramsey was in a worse place but has come back to become almost the heartbeat of this team (yesterday was the first time in a long time we played well when Ramsey didn’t) My hope is that Wilshere can do something similar. I am not alone in holding this hope of course, and a Ramseyesque emergence is not something that just happens, but yesterday adds to that hope.

I think the formation change  we’ve seen (blamed for Ozil’s woes) not only provides us some more stability in midfield, but also helps Wilshere. Last season it was tough to see where he’d fit in, but he now has the opportunity to make this midfield spot his own. He’ll still need to work on building an understanding with Ramsey. Still needs to be better at knowing when to release the ball. But his increased confidence and strength are now almost as visible as Nasri’s surprise and frustration as he bounced off him onto the ground where he’d have hit his chin if he had one.

I’ve never been one of the Jack the Lad guys. His being English means nothing to me. His being a Gooner though, does. I have been sceptical of that too in the past, but I think the way the team his shaping up, his recent comments, and hopefully, his continued improvement, makes him an important part of our success for years to come.

Written by Shard

 

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Is it time for round pegs in round holes?

September 11, 2014

I started to write this post after Alexis started up top against Everton, before we decided to bring Welbeck into the fold, and before we knew the extent of Giroud’s injury.

This is probably Arsene’s biggest weakness as a coach, I am not sure if it is due to pressure from above, the players or maybe even the fans but I feel that he is guilty on occasion of playing players because of their status rather than because they are best suited to the position, I’m not sure this was the case at Everton definitely more to do with a well holidayed Olivier Giroud, but far too often we see square pegs in round holes to get the best 11 names available on to the pitch rather than the best team on the pitch.

Before the Everton game I was convinced that Alexis wasn’t the answer to the centre forward conundrum but also that playing him there for any length of time would result in the team suffering overall.

Let me clarify I think Alexis can play up top he proved as much in his performance against Besiktas, but in our current style of play and because of his other attributes I do not see that position as being the best utilisation of his skillset. He is fast, he is hungry to win back possession and can score goals from wide, these three ingredients make him ideal to play on the wing. When he loses possession the defenders are not given time to clear their lines, he often wins the ball back and his presence on the pitch stops opposing fullbacks pushing on as much as they normally would. (Have you ever seen Kolarov so deep before?)

With Giroud now out until the new year there is a vacancy up top, I hope this is filled by Welbeck rather than anyone else, mainly because he is a centre forward and unlike Sanchez does not offer much more to the team than an end point for fast attacking moves. And if Welbeck isn’t fit? Then I’d rather play Sanogo or Podolski.

In my view our best attacking front three all fit would be Theo, Giroud, Alexis. The centre backs never push on, but the pace of Theo and Sanchez wide would be a constant question in the full backs mind and prevent them helping their wingers regularly. However Welbeck has a chance to stake a claim for the shirt with Olivier out but he needs to show the ability to assist link up play and to be better than Oli use his pace to get on the end of the return pass.

Theo is probably not the best at winning the ball back but if it becomes a new ethos in the team I can see Campbell giving him a run for his money before long if he does not add this to his game.

Santi and Ozil are not wingers, again they should be utilised where their attributes are used to greatest effect, unfortunately for them that means they compete for the same spot in the side, and if Welbeck is out I don’t want to see Theo or Alexis moved central to use one of Santi or Ozil out wide, if Theo or Alexis get injured I want to see real like for like replacements so Campbell or Ox.

Then we have the box to box midfielder that’s Aaron or Jack, and holding midfield well that’s Arteta or Flamini.

At the back we have three centre backs, although another body in there would have completed a capable defence, should an injury befall Debuchy I think i’d rather Bellerin be used than Chambers keeping him fresh for when he is needed in the more key central position.

So please Arsene let’s stick to players in their positions rather than finding a spot for them in the team.

This is how I see first and second choices from the current squad.

…………………….Szczesny
………………………Ospina

Debuchy…..Mertesacker…..Koscielny…..Gibbs
Bellerin…………….Chambers…………..Monreal

………………………..Arteta
………………………..Flamini

……………………….Ramsey
……………………….Wilshere

…………………………..Ozil
………………………..Cazorla

Sanchez…………Giroud……………Theo
Ox………………..Welbeck……….Campbell

That leaves Martinez, Hayden, Coquelin, Rosicky, Podolski, Sanogo to make up the squad numbers when absolutely necessary.

It is not an easy task keeping players happy, but squads need rotation in the modern game, so Santi will not be sitting on the bench for weeks on end, to play him ahead of a more natural and pacy winger is appeasement of the player rather than for the benefit of the team and the system. And I’m sure at this point many will be saying “but x is too good to be a squad player”, well Petr Cech is too good to be a no 2 keeper, Sagna too good to be a no 2 right back, or BSR too good to be no 2 striker, they all probably are, but what City have shown in the last few seasons is that ready replacements playing in their natural position in the attacking half of the pitch is much more important than like for like defensive cover.

What say you?

Gooner in Exile

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Posted by Gööner In Exile

Arsenal’s Weak Spots

September 10, 2014

Last night Aaron hobbled off with an ankle injury, and although we won’t know until later the severity, it made me wonder about our vulnerability to injury.

At the beginning of last season, I would have said the areas of most concern would have been injuries to Theo, Ollie or one of our defensive pairing of Mert and Kos.

During the season, we witnessed the meteoric rise of Aaron, and by the end of the season it could be argued he was our most valuable player. By valuable, I mean an injury to this player having the biggest negative impact to our overall play.

I think we have covered the CB pairing with the arrival of the phenomenally talented Mr Chambers.

Ollie is now covered by Welbeck as well as Sanchez, and to an extent both can play both Left and Right providing cover for both Theo and whoever is the best Left Sided option.

It is actually very difficult to isolate the weakest spot, as we simply don’t yet know how the new side will settle down, and who will ultimately play where and in what formation.

Ozil is as yet far from the pivotal player we anticipate he will become, and I’d say it is possible he becomes the most irreplaceable only if he becomes the fulcrum in the middle. If he continues to be deployed more from the flanks, then I don’t see him as being especially irreplaceable.

Again, it is very hard to assess the key players up top. Either Sanchez or indeed Welbeck could emerge as Key Men. Of course, Ollie could return rejuvenated and become a Must Player.

Overall, and it’s difficult at this early stage of the new look side, but Aaron does appear to me to occupy the “most essential player” slot right now, although overall when fit, Theo still shades it for me.

The other day, a chum asked me who I saw as our most valuable player this season. I answered Theo, but went further to add that my biggest single wish for the season was that either Mesut or The Ox would emerge to challenge Theo for that particular honour.

Written by MickyDidIt89

 

 

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Arsène helps out world cup winners and a quick look at our new signings‏

September 8, 2014

Morning all

Champions League – is it so important for securing top talent? Many’s the time I read how top players want Champions League football and will only transfer to clubs who have qualified. Manchester United’s failure to qualify seems to have proved that theory wrong. Falcao’s last minute signing seems to prove, that some top players will actually sign just for the wages a club will pay.

On a reported £300,000 a week, on a one year loan, could certainly be a good reason. If United fail to qualify next year he could be on the move again. United have reportedly paid £6 million for a one year loan with the option to buy at the end of the loan. Falcao is a top player, we know that, many Arsenal supporters were broken hearted that Falcao signed for United instead of Arsenal, and in return all we got was United reject Danny Welbeck.

Arsenal are not known for the multi buying of Marquee players. Last years signing of Mesut Ozil was a massive statement by the club, that they are now in the market for Marquee signings. Again this season the pattern changed again, Arsenal sorted out this seasons Marquee signing Alexis Sanchez very early in the window, replacements for Bacary Sagna  in Mathieu Debuchy from Newcastle also went through quickly.

Replacing our No 2 keeper Lucas Fabianski with Ospina also an early addition, showed that Arsenal were not just looking for bargains as in previous seasons. Arsene Wenger has always kept his eye open for young players who could fit in with the Arsenal system, and once again he cast his eye over Southamptons  youngsters. As we know in the past Arsene has found Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlaid Chamberlain, and they have fitted in well, this time Arsene saw a young man who many of us hadn’t, in Calum  Chambers. At 19 years old, with only limited first team games for Southampton he caught Arsene’s Eye. Arsene paid £16 million for Chambers which seems a lot for an unknown talent, but being English maybe that bumps the price up.

Chambers came in early pre season, so was used in warm up games, and for the Emirates cup games, he has made an impression from the off. He was probably not intended to be used from the start of the season but because of world cup inclusion from our German contingent, Chambers was used and certainly impressed. I expect that he will now be used as cover for this season. Brought at first as a right back, so I would have assumed he would have been cover for our new signing Debuchy but has now shown that he is an excellent Centre back as well.

Chambers has now caught the eye of England Manager Roy Hodgson and been called up to play for his country in the Euro qualification matches. He came on as a sub in England’s first friendly and had a good début performance. and I am sure will be an inclusion for the foreseeable future.

My comment at the start of this post, was I am sure you know, tongue in cheek about Danny Welbeck, when I said ‘all we got’, I imagine one or two of you felt I was a little hard, on the contrary I was a very happy bunny. Its my opinion that United have made a huge mistake off loading Welbeck to us. He’s an England international and now that Sturridge has picked up a thigh injury, our Danny has stepped up to the plate. Two signings and straight away England players as well.

Of course both these players have already been involved with England, but not as Arsenal players, and I am wondering if our Arsene is working his magic once again. World cup winning teams of the past have had Arsenal players in key positions. France’s world cup had Petit, Henry and Vieira where Germany’s world cup winners had Ozil, Mertsacker and Podolski now we have England that got knocked out early this time round, but certainly could be a force next time round.

I remember Wenger saying, that we wouldn’t believe the job offers that he had received, and I am pretty certain that one of those offers might have been the England job. Obviously Arsene would have said no, he had started a job at Arsenal and wouldn’t feel that he should leave until the Arsenal were back up there challenging.

But maybe he promised to help as much as he could and now with Walcott, Gibbs, Wilshere, Chamberlain, Welbeck and  Chambers, England have almost a full team of Arsenal players or is it a coincidence?

Have a nice day.

Written by Steve Palmer

 

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Reasons to be Cheerful

September 5, 2014

This site prides itself upon reasoned good sense. Between us we have hundreds of years of Gooner-dom, we are Arsenal through and through.

I resent people coming onto the site calling themselves “Proper Supporters” and casting aspersions upon our bloggers just because they are critical of the goings on at The Emirates, these fellows know sweet FA about our bloggers.  However, this week has seen an unusual level of negativity on Arsenal Arsenal.

But today let’s look at the positives ….. Doomers look away 😀

1. We are unbeaten in 6 games. Why are so many saying we are worse than last season and playing rubbish? Three away games, two home games both of which have been won and a win at Wembley. Pretty good I would say.

2. Problems in midfield. Much has been written about players not gelling or being unable to play together (I am as culpable as any!). At least we have brilliant players who will definitely gel at some point, we have the most creative midfield in the PL. Time will show why Mr Wenger decided we did not need the genius of Fabregas.

3. Injuries. Walcott is returning as is Diaby. Don’t laugh, we have a huge squad and with the signing of Welbeck cover for every position (I know, I know – CB?) Last season our season suffered when Theo got hurt; we lost pace, now we have Sanchez and Welbeck pace will not be an issue.

4. Ambition. Arsenal have just spent ￡85m in the window. We have three times spent more than our previous record signing (pre-Ozil).

5. Had the squad been injury-free it would have supplied Gibbs, Walcott, Ox, Wilshire, Welbeck and Chambers to the England squad – 6 young men and the future of our national team. Add in Ramsey and we can be proud of our British core.

6. Youth. Walcott, Ox, Ramsey, Szczesny, Wilshere and Gibbs all started in the team as teenagers. Now we have Chambers who appears to be another youngster with a bright future. We are set up for many years of success.

7. Experience. Most of our young men have 100+ PL games already. Add in the older members of the squad and we have battle hardened squad to take us to success. Some of our players are easing themselves into good form and we struggle when Ramsey etc are half a yard off the pace but it will come.

8. Centre Backs. We have one of the best CB partnerships in the PL. Pace and wisdom. Many point out the weakness should injury befall either of our CB’s but Chambers looks the real deal and it should be remembered that Tony Adams captained AFC at 21. Chambers is the nearest to the Great Man I have seen at Arsenal for over a decade. He will be adequate cover. Should both CB’s get injured I accept we will struggle.

9. Attack. Let us start with Ozil. The man has been criticised about his lack of impact. He has played 3 games since winning the WC, of course he isn’t up to speed! Mr. Wenger clearly realised that at the moment Sanogo is not good enough – he has the attributes but appears to try too hard and this makes him look clumsy – so Welbeck was bought. Should we have paid twice as much to get Falcao for a season or three times to get Cavani? Perhaps, but Mr Wenger has clearly decided that OG, Walcott and Sanchez is a formidable forward line, and he is right.

We have Podolski and Campbell to come on as impact subs.

10. Oxlade-Chamberlain. This will be his season. He can play almost anywhere; behind the front three, on the left wing, right wing, central midfield and some have suggested (including Mr.Wenger) that he has the talent to become a defensive midfielder. With his pace it is quite possible.

I could and probably will go on giving Reasons to to be Cheerful but in essence we have reasons to be confident and not slam the club when things are going reasonably well. Sure there are areas to improve upon – there always will be but we are not going to do an MU and not even make the Europa.

We are the 5th most expensive team in the PL and will be fighting as ever for a top 4 place. We have the capability to win the title and with a bit of luck, a tail wind and  some good form for our players we may well do so.

Oh, and in the last 3 months we have won Two pieces of silverware. Why worry?

written by Big Raddy

 

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Posted by Erik the Red

Arsenal versus Manchester United

September 4, 2014

Three things inspiring this short conversation starter…………………….

 

  1. Watching England, and comparisons between Rooney and Welbeck as Central Striker.
  2. Both AFC and Utd signed defenders from Southampton in Shaw and Chambers.
  3. Both added World Class Forwards in Sanchez and Falcao.
  4. Yesterday, 26 posted his combined AFC/Chav XI.

Few things to consider.

Falcao is on epically massive wages, and something of a crock, so how will that pan out in terms of team morale.

It’s a tricky one to select a combined XI given LVG’s penchant for a 3-7 formation, so let’s settle on a 4-3-3, but you can muck about if that’s your thing.

I realize that squad depth will be a major factor over the season, and here we have to choose just one starting XI.

Finally, who did the better summer transfer business?

MickyDidIt89

 

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

On what planet is Chambers not an upgrade for Vermaelen?

September 3, 2014

It has been very interesting to watch Chambers’ assimilation into the Arsenal fold. People like me made bolshie assertions that the sixteen million pound signing from Southampton would feature no more this season than Jenkinson did last. Other, wiser bloggers like Shard saw the folly of my statement and took me to task.

I was wrong to think that this season young Callum would only be, at best, the second choice right back. But I was not the only one; I share this error with none other than Arsene Wenger.

Unknown-1

Wenger made clear, shortly after signing him, that he had noticed Chambers when we played Southampton and decided then to buy him as a right back even though he was obviously aware that he could play central defense and defensive midfield. At this point no one really cared or took that much notice as we were all still drunk on the news that we had signed Alexis Sanchez.

We then arrive at the Emirates Cup: Benfica being the opener. With first choice right sided centre back, namely Mertasacker, still on the Copacabana and our Belgian back up in the all too familiar surroundings of the sick bay, Wenger opted for Chambers and Monreal to play in the centre of the defense. Yet again, no one took too much notice; they were both obviously just holding the fort until the more experienced players returned.

Koscielny was available but Wenger must have wanted to give Monreal a bit of practice in the doomsday scenario that he might be needed to play there. The idea of Nacho playing CB in a competitive game probably scares the life out of many but he scares me far less than had Miguel been forced into that role. Monreal played as was expected against Benfica but it was Chambers who caught the eye of many a fan.

It was around this time that the Vermaelen to ManU/Barcelona story was starting to gather pace. In Wenger’s Friday press conference he was pressed on the subject to which he replied: should Vermaelen leave, the club will find a replacement because the Belgian is “an important player in our squad”. It is this promise that people are now waving at Wenger and blaming him for not fulfilling, some even going as far as saying that he has been negligent.

But wait, let’s look at the dates?

Wenger made that statement on the 1st August and the game against Benfica wasn’t even played until the 2nd of August. Now it may be true to say that Chambers caught the eye of many a fan in that game but we still had a way to go before outrageous questions such as: should he keep his place ahead of Mertasacker were being banded about. The blue touch paper had only just been lit at this point; the media rocket that propelled him into hyper space with all their grandiose expectations had not fully started in earnest.

Much of the hyperbole was justified: demands for an England call up seemed realistic even Arsenal’s new Tony Adams is not so wild but I for one certainly feel that it went a bit too far. The downward trajectory was inevitable and it started, in my opinion, with the statement pointing out that the nineteen year had played just two competitive games as a CB and had only ever played right back for Southampton.

The truth, as they often say, is somewhere in the middle. There is no doubt that Chambers has been a fantastic buy; he has got quality centre back written all over him, certainly good enough to play the same central defensive back up role that Vermaelen played last season.

The question now is: if he has this unexpected skill set in his locker what else is hidden? Could he be equally adept at playing HM? We have been given a tantalizing glimpse; watch how smoothly he plays the ball along the ground oooh, the accuracy. Add precision passing to the ability to defend and you have got the essentials of a very good HM. I wait with bated breath on that one.

So where are we? There is no doubt in my mind that Wenger misjudged this one; he did not realise how good Chambers was as a CB, who did? But the thing is, mistakes don’t always have to turn out badly, sometimes they can turn out well and they certainly did when we signed Callum Chambers.

Written by LB

 

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Posted by LB

Leicester 1 Arsenal 1. Still think we can win the League?

September 1, 2014

There are a few things in football that are certainties. I don’t mean the kind in which a particular team is certain to win the league; this often turns out to be wrong. Neither do I mean the kind in which the club with the largest wage bill like Manchester City fields a team that is certain to beat a lesser light such as Stoke City.

No, the kind of certainties I am talking about are the smaller ones, the kind Arsenal encounter against teams like Leicester: you could have bet your mortgage that they were going to park the proverbial bus and try and hit us on the break and unsurprising to everyone, or at least it should have been, that is exactly what they did and they did it well.

As predictable as it was Wenger fielded a team designed to be able to find a way round such a stubborn defense. The team selection made complete sense to me: with the defensively able Flamini sitting in front of the back four whose principal jobs were to be alert when the breaks inevitably came. The rest needed to possess super close control, precision passing and all be capable of scoring; in other words, there was no need for Wilshere. Or so I thought.

It also made sense to give Sanogo a start; it was only Leicester, the team who had been embarrassingly knocked out of the Capital One cup in the week by a team from a division I had never heard of.

What could possibly go wrong?

Well, the answer to that question is our game plan in which we were supposed to stroll home with all three points, that’s what went wrong.

It was a very frustrating afternoon in which a collection of some of the best midfielders in the League managed to play as disjointed as a chicken after Sunday lunch.

If that is the best team we can field for the next four months and let’s be clear here — it is, then we have got a lot more problems than any of us dared imagine.

Things, of course, didn’t start off this gloomy, the team took to the field with their game plan in tact, followed the script by laying siege to the Leicester goal and got the break through. It wasn’t pretty but we were ahead and I thought that this is one more game in which the players could use to iron out the rough edges on their quest for the Holy Grail of Wenger Ball.

But the one step forward made by Sanchez scoring his first league goal was reversed with the two steps back caused by Koscielny’s injury. Should he have stayed on, shouldn’t he have stayed on, I don’t know, the fact that he did stay played a huge part, in my opinion, of Leicester getting an equalizer.

Can someone remind me how it is that we thought, and I am as guilty if not more, of thinking that the arrival of Ozil and his play last season was something akin to the second coming. Genuine question, I am seriously struggling to remember what it was. Perhaps the first assist when he squared the ball to the on rushing Giroud, this could turn into the “Life of Brian” sketch of “What have the Roman’s ever done for us”. It is interesting to note that he was playing on the left wing that day, just saying.

You all saw the game, we huffed and we puffed but it is just as well that it came to an end after 90 minutes rather than the next goal wins or they could still be playing now.

I want to give special mention to Szczesny whose fine save towards the end of the second half kept us in the game. I also thought Sanchez did very well down the left. I am going to keep a little something back before Sanogo gets both barrels as I want to see what happens when he scores; so much changed for Sanchez when he got his goal against Besiktas in the week that I want to see if the similar uplifting feeling has the same effect on the young Frenchman – but I am not holding my breath.

Not the easy win that some of us foolishly expected and still miles away from the idyllic flowing football envisaged by many, the good news is that Stan is in town, and you know what that means?

New Toys……….Yippee.

Written by LB

We were lucky enough to have two posts for today, here are kelsey’s thoughts.

Are Arsenal just wobbling or is it worse than that ?

Every man and his dog can see the deficiencies in our squad and it wasn’t pleasant viewing yesterday as it was obvious that the whole balance of the side was wrong and I feel that Wenger is still experimenting with his best formation.

Let’s be absolutely honest Leicester deserved to win the game and bar a couple of fine saves by Szczesny we would have lost.

We only know one way of playing and that is Wengerball and it just doesn’t work anymore.

For all the flack Giroud gets he does a good job against the majority of teams, but when you look at how close we came last season, the opening games are showing me that we have regressed.

We have more money than for many a season and the buying of Sanchez showed that we can buy quality players but one can’t honestly say that Sanogo or Campbell are at this moment of time the type of player to fill the void and score vital goals when we are playing against a resolute defence.

People talk how much we miss the speed of Walcott especially down the flanks but at this moment of time no one knows for sure when he will be ready and fully fit to play and at a guess that could be several weeks or months judging by our track record.

We have had all Summer to address the problem and Debuchy is a more than adequate replacement for Sagna and Chambers impresses a lot but was he meant to be playing so regularly at this early stage of the season.

Just look at all our games so far, have we been convincing ?

Winning ugly doesn’t apply as for all our possession, in the majority of games, we have failed to take our chances time and time again. But more alarmingly, every single team has sliced through our defence on the counter attack and IMO we have been fortunate not to concede more.

When I hear our manager speak it’s all double dutch to me or the same old excuses like fatigue from the World Cup or a player needs time as he is still recovering from an injury, or negotiations are extremely difficult when trying to secure a player, but the latter applies to all clubs.

We were predictable to an extent last season but there were times when there was far more fluency to the team.

Why does Wenger keep playing players like Ozil out of position? He adds absolutely nothing out on the wing.

Podolski, regardless of what we think of him has been out of favour and invariably has been a sub, but now our manager states he is an option at Centre Forward. A week ago it looked likely that he was being sold or at least offered in part exchange.

Many of you will say that we are only three games in but just look at our forthcoming fixtures which on paper will provide a much bigger test.

We are into the last day of the transfer window so let’s see what happens, if anything at all, and even if we buy,we will get “the player needs a bedding in period”.

I really think whoever we play in midfield the balance is wrong and there isn’t enough physical presence and again the system we play leads us to be alarmingly cut open by every team we have played so far this season.

Dreaded injuries reared their ugly head yet again and at this moment of time it is not clear how serious they are to Kos, Ozil and Oxlade- Chamberlain.

Silent Stan was in attendance yesterday though I don’t suddenly see him changing his track and even expressing an opinion.

I have to say after careful consideration and allowing for the fact that one accepts that Wenger has total control on absolutely everything, there are too many issues on the field that he should have addressed earlier.

I would like to be proved wrong but my gut instinct tells me we are in for a a very difficult season.

kelsey

 

 

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Posted by LB

Transfer window, are we finished?

August 26, 2014

Morning Gooner’s.

Less than a week until the transfer window shuts, and still speculation into who else will join the four new players we have signed. So far we have Sanchez who in the couple of games we have seen him, looks to be a fine live wire. Up next we have Debuchy a right back replacement for our beloved Bacary Sagna. Debuchy has had a quiet start, no fireworks but looks to be a sound buy. Debuchey doesn’t appear to have the attacking flair that Bacary had, but I see that as a plus, as I like a full back to be a defender that defends.

Next up we have our replacement goalkeeper Ospina, replacement for Fabianski who has moved on for regular first team football. I have to say that this was a disappointment to me as although over the year’s Fabianski was nicknamed Flappy for quite a few errors I feel that he has had rather a tough time of it, as Szczesny’s understudy. But he’s gone, and Ospina has taken up residence, still yet to be seen on the firing line due to injury, but rumoured to be good enough to give Szczesny a run for his money.

Next up we have young 19 year old Calum Chambers from Southampton. Not a lot known about young Calum, only that he is down as a right back, Wenger paid 16 million for this lad so he must feel that he had the talent. Surprisingly Arsene has included young Calum in every game since he signed, granted Per Merts had been given an extended holiday after winning the World cup, but what has surprised me more is that Arsene has played young Calum as centre back, and what has surprised me even more, is the fact that he has played exceedingly well. I like what I have seen of this youngster, his decisive intelligent play, seems to be more than I was expecting, his versatility will be very useful in the future.

Of course we cannot forget Joel Campbell, now although Joel has still not played in our first 2 games, Wenger has stated that he will be staying. Joel has been out on loan since Wenger found him, as problems with visa’s scuppered his early chances, but now that has all been sorted, and of course his inclusion in the World cup has brought this young man to the fore, still slightly a raw talent, but under the watchful eye of our leader, I can only see a promising future.

So far our Manager has secured 4 signings but in all honesty they are not additions, they are replacements, so our squad has not really been made larger, but depending on where you read your news from, Arsene has stated that our recruitment has not necessarily ended. If of course this is true, the mind boggles. Many still believe that we are a holding Midfielder short of a strong team, and many others still see Giroud, Sanogo and an unseen Campbell as still being light up front. I feel that so far from what I have seen of our starting first 2 games, that both positions could definitely be strengthened.

Of course, over the past few seasons, 4 signings would have been every Gooners dream come true, but we are now The New Arsenal Football Club, we are not a penny pinching football club anymore. so who knows what may be in store, 1 week in football seems an eternity at times, but also an opportunity for maybe a couple more bodies.

Arsene has said in the past, that too many signings in any window, can be hard to get balanced,  and can even give a destabilising  effect. Wenger has passed the amount already, so maybe talk from skinflint days gone by, when sponsors money was not available, but from the opening 3 games we do look a little unstable.

Supporters are insufferable, they ask for a signing, and get 4, they then feel we still need more, I believe if we brought eleven they would still feel we need just one more just in case. Personally I am ecstatic with Arsene’s business this window, sad of course with Sagna’s departure, but he was getting on, and at the end of the day Arsene let him go for free so he should have a very good pension.

I for one, am a very satisfied supporter, of course should Wenger feel he needs one or two more, i certainly wouldn’t shake a finger, forwards and upwards and COYG’s

Written by Steve Palmer

 

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

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