Post-Match Reaction: 3 Things We Learned from Dinamo Zagreb v Arsenal

Last night was awful. There is no way to sugarcoat it. Yes, the decision to rotate was good. To rotate so many – not so much. The performance of the players on the pitch was awful – even when you take into account the rotation, the talent level should’ve been more than enough to overcome Zagreb. The fact is as has been the case – they just didn’t show up.

There is so much we could dissect about last night. Suffice it to say we’ll stick to the requisite three.

Not showing up is the new soft underbelly.

In years past the often regurgitated story line was that Arsenal had a soft underbelly and our desire to pass the ball around meant we didn’t want to engage in the more physical side of the game. That notion has been recently put to bed as Arsenal have gotten tougher and seem more apt to mix it up if and when called upon.

However, that old trend has been replaced with a new one – not showing up in matches against teams we should be punishing. No discredit to Zagreb but had Arsenal decided they weren’t looking towards Saturday’s match with Chelsea, they likely would’ve been played off the park.

What happened has become more and more a regular occurrence – especially in Europe as Arsenal step out on to the pitch and fail to come to play. Call it, underestimating an opponent if you will. We do it time and again and in our last two (two-legged tie v Monaco counts as one) Champion’s league match ups we’ve failed to show the opposition the respect they deserve.

It has a habit of showing up in the league too. The tie against West Ham at the start of the season is one of the most recent examples of this worrying trend.

It’s not really new but it is becoming more and more consistent, especially as expectations increase on the team.

Oxlade-Chamberlain shows why he can’t displace Ramsey

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is an extremely talented player. He has speed and directness that you just love to see in a player. Unfortunately for the Ox, that seems to be all he has at this moment.

Without having a more ‘cultured’ bag of tricks to his skill set Oxlade Chamberlain seems to be able to do nothing more than run directly at a player and hope his speed catches them off guard. His close footwork still needs to develop and he needs to be able to find a way to be able to beat players when speed isn’t enough.

More importantly he has two glaring weaknesses that will likely keep him second on the depth chart to Aaron Ramsey. For one, he loses the ball too easily. Being a one-trick pony (albeit an extremely talented one) it’s easy for teams to figure out and play against. And when he fails in using his current skill set he loses the ball – often times in crucial situations.

Secondly and probably the biggest reason is that Ox is a defensive liability. He simply does not offer the team anything in defense. Case in point was the first goal last night.

In the image below, the yellow line is the movement that Ox should’ve taken. The red shows his actual movement – it continued after he stopped but you get the point.  Now some say Debuchy was at fault – however, Debuchy is providing cover to threat posed by Fernandes. If Debuchy is at fault for anything is that he is tucked in a little too tight. If he was say two steps over and back he might be in a better position to keep cover of Fernandes and also play the through ball by Machado.

All that being said – the expectation is that Ox is covering Pivaric’s run. But he stops/pauses and loses a step. Had he continued his run he’s in a better position to break up the pass or apply pressure to Pivaric when receives the ball. It’s a testament to his speed, that he was able to still get back but he was already woefully out of position.

Yes, Debuchy could’ve been in a better position. Yes, Cazorla likely could’ve gotten pressure on the pass quicker. But in the end it’s Ox’s hesitation that causes the chance and eventual goal.

Giroud the Master of his own Demise.

I’m not a Giroud hater. I think he’s a good striker for what he does. When he’s on, he’s an absolute beast to play against and when he’s off – well he’s crap.

Last night it was clear from the onset that Giroud is struggling and he is crumbling under the pressure. It’s a case of trying too hard to do the simple things you do well. Rather than just playing the game. It’s a simple concept you teach at the youth level. But pros are under so much pressure to perform and given the rancor about Arsenal needing another striker, it’s clear Giroud wants to prove he deserves Wenger’s faith.

However, last night he was just a mess. It was probably the worst display by him since he came to Arsenal. He just looked disjointed and not part of the squad.

Sure the call that resulted in him getting sent off was soft. But he put himself in a poor position in the first place when he decided to be petulant and show dissent to the ref. Again, maybe the ref should’ve warned him but dissent is going to cause some refs (like this one) to react harshly. From that point on, Giroud should’ve played within himself when he gets back to defend. None of this lashing out to win the ball.

The ref was woeful with his calls for sure but in the end, being petulant and out of control is a recipe for disaster. While we all want to condemn the ref for a poorly called match, let’s also condemn GQGiroud for acting like a child.

Extra Time:

With a big Premier League match against Chelsea looming on Saturday it’s quite acceptable to appreciate the need to rotate the squad. However, Wenger made some odd choices in his desire to rotate. None more than the choice to swap Petr Cech (Champion’s League winner) for David Ospina.

While Ospina did an admirable job for us, there is no logical reason to make this switch. With the League Cup tie next week, there is an opportunity to rest Cech and give Ospina a run. Not in a competition where getting off on the right foot was the emphasis.

Again, strongly get the need for rotation – totally disagree with this one switch.