Bridge Over Troubled Waters?
Well, if we could only play Reading and Tottenham every week we’d be top of the table and have a killer goal differential. As it is, it’s a win and much needed one.
However, it does beg the question – what the hell happened a week ago and has been happening over the last few weeks? Surely, Reading are a better team than Bradford? Maybe, not on the evidence of it. But there was more urgency and commitment in this match then there had been even against West Brom nearly two weeks ago.
It leaves me with a lingering feeling of a team that has not been playing to its potential and on some occasions (admitted by the players themselves) taking an opponent too lightly. More than anything else these two items seem to be the one current theme you can identify that create self-inflicted problems for Arsenal.
When Arsenal started this season, even with the loss of Van Persie things seemed to portend for an upward trajectory of this club capped off by a match Arsenal should’ve clearly walked away feeling confident at the Etihad (Vincent Kompany gave the Gunners lofty praise saying they were the best team his side had played against) Then came the match against Chelsea and sporadic matches filled with fits and stutters. Losses. Draws. Accusations. Disgruntled fans. Lost players. It all added up to a run of games that put Arsenal on their worst footing since before Wenger arrived at the club.
Lucky for Arsenal that the league in general is poor. That Arsenal are only 3 points out of 3rd and 9 out of 2nd after having gone through such a sustained run of poor form, says loads about the quality of this league. That Arsenal still have the 3rd least conceded goals in the leagues and are still one of the best road teams also speaks lots about how poor the league is overall.
I’m not going to get carried away with the win. It was just that a single win. We need more. We need a sustained run of “professional” performances to get us through the holiday fixture and carry us over to the downward slope of the season.
And it didn’t hurt that Reading were so obliging to Arsenal. The combination of Podolski and Gibbs where the catalyst by which every goal scored by Arsenal occurred through. Reading were simply outclassed on that side.
Santi Cazorla, got the honor of being the first Spaniard in the Premier League to score a hat-trick and record an assist in one game. But it was in the end too easy for him. Not, that we should complain. He had time and space behind the Reading midfield and with the Reading back line stretched out covering the fullbacks there was enough room to maneuver and easily score his goals. His 3 goals now make him the team’s leading scorer and will hopefully do for him what I hope the win does for the whole team – build some confidence.
With confidence comes the ability to play to your level. Sports is as mental as it is physical and skill. Clearly Arsenal haven’t been anywhere near their potential. They boast one of the best Spanish midfielders who aren’t at Barcelona or Madrid. Their young English talent is widely considered some of the best in the league – Wilshere arguably the best. And the other players who support them – with a few exceptions – are good enough to be doing more than they have. And it has shown. Yes, there are other issues and we have discussed some of them ad nauseum. But in terms of the on the pitch product, Arsenal’s players have not been performing at the level you’d expect them to – especially given such a bright start to the season.
Additionally, it was nice to see that Arsenal from the get go were the better of the team. They did not approach this match with the drooped heads, slumped shoulders, and “going through the motions” approach so often seen when you underestimate the opponent.
No, there was a constant an attack that threatened a lesser opponent at every occasion. Arsenal had the desire and they played like it. It would be wrong to not notice the 2 goals scored from Reading which were the result of some the lackadasical approach Arsenal had been showing. Poor passing. Individual defensive mistakes. They were all a part of a few moments where Arsenal clearly took their focus off of putting an opponent to the sword. Sure being up 4-0 will do that. But as I’ve argued this league has clearly shown that even the lesser opponents will try and have a go. Good to see though there was a reponse and Arsenal stiffened up and ended it off of a Walcott goal.
About Theo.
So Theo got his wish. He played in the central role. He was occupying that false 9 role that Gervinho had been taking every now and then. What I noticed from the upfront three of Walcott, Podolski , and Oxlade-Chamberlain was how quick it was. The speed of the three created opportunities and space that haven’t been there for Arsenal in the last few games. It worked so well I definitely bears repeating against Wigan.
Now, I got worried about Theo when after the first half had ended he only had 15 touches. At the half it placed him last on the team sheet in that category even behind Szczesny. But as a central forward he will have to go long moments not being on the ball. And in reality it is as much about what he does with the ball as he does without it.
Gifted with speed Theo used it to affect. He was vibrant and moved off the ball to effectively create space and give him more opportunities. It was nice to see and hopefully the contract silliness will get worked out and Theo will wind up occupying this role and developing more.
So where does this leave us?
Well, as I’ve said its one game. The questions that were being asked should still be asked. Maybe they will be sufficiently quieted if we can enjoy a prolonged run of winning. But they shouldn’t stop being asked – you know the one’s I speak of.
Also, even if Arsenal go on an extended run – it can’t mitigate the fact that our depth is lacking. If we improve the club can’t say we’re fine with our players because in quite a few cases we aren’t.
In the end where we are depends on your perspective. Was it one win and doesn’t mean anything, and we’ll be back here again shortly –aka Much Ado About Nothing. Or was it the end to the tumult or A Bridge Over Troubled Waters. The choice is yours.
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got a theory on theo i want to share. it’s all about the money!
theo’s not interested in signing a new contract before the transfer window closes. if that window closes and he’s still an arsenal player who hasn’t signed a contract extension, he can go anywhere on a bosman. it’s all a deliberate ploy to get theo on higher wages. remember when sol campbell first got to arsenal? despite the top players being on 80k a week, sol was on 120k a week. reason being, arsenal signed him on a free and he was given the extra 40 quid a week as a “bonus” because arsenal didn’t have to pay a transfer fee to tottenham for him.
wenger should have stuck with his guns and gave theo until the end of the year (it’s not too late). now, if someone offers theo more than arsenal, he’ll leave. arsenal, after paying 16 million for a kid and developing him, will get nothing in return. it’s obviously why teams don’t let players contracts run down. this is a stall tactic by theo’s advisers playing on wenger’s emotions to keep the kid. i mean really, why would his contract negotiation take so much time at this point? he’s going to string the board along until the transfer window closes.
as for theo playing center forward, guess who’s going to give him that chance? maybe liverpool. no one else. but if he’s on 120k a week, do you think he gives a shit?
champions league draw’s coming up in a few minutes. i’m predicting malaga. we’ll see.
No, I believe the comments miss the mark. Balotelli is the very type of project that Wenger is actually quite capable of working on. He excels in extracting value from hidden jewels – particularly strikers – Anelka, Henry, Adebayor, van Persie. Balotelli is heading down Anelka street, club after club and never settling. He’s only 22, unfortunate enough to be domiciled in a racist Italy and subject to abuse during his upbringing. He’s angry, he doesn’t belong in his country of birth nor his country of adoption. He needs a manager that can see the bigger life picture and work on both the person and the player – that’s Wenger, give him his due. People forget Robin van Persie was anything but a straight forward case in his youth, Wenger liked his talent – go back and read about him. Wenger even nursed him through a rape case. Do you think he was a dream-boat in the dressing room?
As for Staggs question on Arsenal players that could be involved in a deal for Everton with Fellaini. I think you’re forgeting some of our surplus players aren’t duds at heart, they’re just duds at Arsenal. Moyes is capable of extracting enough value from players where Wenger can’t – and he can get guys to do a job. That’s what he does. Everton is a hard-working culture. Put Bendtner or Chamakh at the club and they could do a job. Even Denilson could become a more all-rounded player.
Sorry to say we’ve thrashed Arsenal FC to death and back. We all need an infusion of excitment. Wenger’s rambling about the young Brit’s is alarming, a remix of what he tried with the foreign kids. He still doesn’t get it. You need three superstars in your team to give it a compelling shape. Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit and Frank Rikjaard. Henry, Bergkamp, Vieira. Who have we got? Mr Nobody and his mates. Wenger has convinced himself he can emulate Fergie and create a team of younglings. Thing is, Fergie didn’t do that. His youngling team emerged, it evolved. It wasn’t an experiment that Fergie worked on in a lab. It emerged on the back of stars and was laced with stars. Wenger’s just a bit thick at the moment.
Balotelli and Fellaini.
can’t compare balotelli to van persie either. difference being that van persie always put football first. balotelli is a thug who just also happens to be good at football. no one is questioning his talent. it’s the other stuff. another difference between the two is at 22, you could see that van persie was a maturing, not a problem child. can you say that about balotelli?
as for everton signing arsenal players, it’s the same as anyone else signing them; no one can afford an arsenal player’s wages. even the players on loan won’t sign new contracts elsewhere as they would almost certainly have to take a paycut; unless they go somewhere that they can afford to match arsenal’s wages. it’s why players like bendtner and denilson go on loans every season. likewise, it’s why players like arshavin, chamakh, and squillaci prefer to sit on the arsenal bench.
nicely done, dag. gotta agree with richard and what he says about the league not being poorer. there’s more parity is probably a bit more accurate. like steve alluded to, the other teams are following the wenger mold, finding ways to bring in high-quality foreigners at low costs.
as for theo playing center forward, it was interesting. i give him an overall grade c for the game. theo was a bit of a novelty as reading had no idea what to expect. he could have been titi henry or titi camara. wenger was clever to pick reading to give theo his chance. for me, reading is not a legitimate bpl team. proper bpl center backs will beat him up and taken his lunch money. as strikers in this league go, he’s a runt. more importantly, he lacks the school yard fighting skills that little guys like jermaine defoe have been mastering for years. on the flip side, it was his first run out and he has nothing to be ashamed of. to lead the line against bpl teams at 5’7″ is a tall order. well see.
carib, i liked your post as well as the link. gary neville’s assessment is spot on. the current arsenal attack isn’t as dynamic as the old guard’s. there’s always a proper run to make. when coaching, i would often ask guys why they made a certain run to a certain space at a certain time. it makes them think; especially when you’ve got the game on video and the whole team sees it. they also learn how good off the ball movement can collapse defenses.
your assessment was fairly close to my with one caveat and i’ve griped, pissed, and moaned about this since hleb left. i didn’t like fabregas or ramsey right behind the center forward. they weren’t suited for that role. ask yourself what was genuinely different about santiago cazorla’s performance against reading than any other game this season (other than the goals). for me, he stayed nearer to the center forward more on monday than at any other time this season. in all the other games, it was as if wenger had given cazorla carte blanche to move wherever he pleased on the pitch at any time.
cazorla would pop up next to sagna, vermaelen, podolski, arteta, and behind the center forward only occasionally. on monday, he was close to theo and it was nice to have him there. for me, the ideal guy to have in that position must have four qualities:
-be able to play with his back to goal
-be able to go by defenders
-be a good passer
-be a good goal scorer.
ramsey has none of those qualities while cesc only has two as real strengths. contrarily, hleb could do three of those things well while bergkamp could do all four. the trophy success arsenal had reflects directly on the quality arsenal had in the #10 position. cazorla, like bergkamp, also has all four qualities. arsenal just need for him to stay closer to the striker instead of popping up next to sagna at random times. arsenal don’t need him there. his presence, linking midfield to attack, gives defenses a real problem.
put it this way, if cazorla was at arsenal last year, i believe van persie would be at arsenal this year; especially after bring in podolski at the beginning of the summer.
Steve, of course we’re dreaming. What is there left to do?
The limits of Wenger’s ambition is 10m pound transfers and 3rd or 4th place. If that’s an area you’re keen on exploring fire away. I’m guessing by the almost complete lethargy on this site and the numbing discussion on many websites that fans are all punched out. And they find Wenger-world to be a topic not worth discussing.
Let’s put this in context. Thierry Henry cost around the 10m pound mark in 1999, and in todays money that’s about 23m pounds. So Wenger is still spending in 1999 money – even though we are stabilised financially (in debt terms) and have a 60,000 capacity stadium generating revenue from the highest ticket prices in the world. Does that add up?
Why aren’t we boxing against Manchester United? They are on financial steroids. On the contrary they’re encumbered with mega debt from the cynical structure of their ‘sale’ to US owners. But no, despite this, they still skillfully compete for the majors while we have our spirits dumbed down to aim for 4th or maybe 3rd.
Mario Balotelli and Marouane Fellaini are very getable for Arsenal. If we don’t buy them it’s wholly a question of the managers choice, not due to our ability.
If you talk cost, Balotelli is a bit like Henry, he is now damaged goods due to his attitude. This will reduce his price. Henry was damaged when Juventus offloaded him and we benefited via the price. Ditto Balotelli. He would likely go for 18-20m, maybe less, and this is less (in real terms) than what we paid for Henry in 1999. As for the risks, Wenger often takes risks on strikers. Striker is the role he loves and has always spent a bit of money on. Anelka has always had an attitude. Henry came with attitude and as we said ‘failed’ at Juventus. Wiltord wasn’t exactly an ‘easy’ character – in fact how many French players are?
We’ve lacked midfield presence since we last won anything. So there’s a correlation. Fellaini would offer that presence and immediate impact – he’s EPL proven like Arteta. It really should be a no brainer. Cost, he might tip the 20m mark – 23m maybe. We could work in to the deal some of our surplus players. With his light squad and injuries Moyes really needs bodies as much as money NOW. So a cash plus player deal would have attraction. It’s very do-able. It’s really ALL about motivation – not money.
What’s the point of signing the British 5? It’s like the never ending journey of the recent young foreign brigade that was going to take us to the promised land. It didn’t happen did it. It the young brigade don’t have serious leadership – and big game players in the first team it will all come to the same sad end. Wenger’s recent comments really worry me again. It’s like a remix of the same song. He needs to give this team some serious firepower now. He needs a striker like Balotelli – fast, powerful, mobile. A player to build an attack around. Not Giroud, not Walcott. He needs a midfield powerhouse now. He needs a guy like Fellaini that is powerful mobile and contributes at the back and in attack.
Say those two cost 40m pounds (and it could well be less if we worked good deals and included cast-offs), 40m could totally re-energise this team. It’s not as though this team is intrinsically bad – it’s not. It just needs an infusion of serious power, the type we used to have in Anelka, Henry and Vieira.
Perhaps the real issue is that this ‘new football style’ post-invincibles is simply not good enough.
I mean ManU aren’t on financial steroids…
for me, henry wasn’t a problem at juventus. he was a young player who was poorly mentored there and poorly utilized. he couldn’t be a striker at juventus because they had better finishers then henry. they looked at his pace and couldn’t resist the urge of playing him on the flank. thierry was so green back then. he needed to be mentored. in italy, they’re not interested in developing players and henry needed more development. italians only sign players when they play well against them, which was the case for henry in the ’97-’98 season in the champions league. there is no comparing henry to balotelli.
balotelli is his own biggest problem. he’s talented, big, strong, and fast, but lacks discipline. the whole world is at his feet yet he’ll continue to search for a way to fuck it up. bringing him would totally ruin the dressing room and he would, single-handedly ruin any ambitions arsenal might have the potential to achieve. he almost blew the title for city last season. the kid’s a cancer. he needs a lot of things that i’m not interested in seeing arsenal try and give him. give me a demba ba. he’s got all of the qualities to balotelli for 1/3 of the price and none of the headache.
agree totally on Balotelli.
ZERO interest in him.
Kiwi, who exactly would Everton want from Arsenal?
Please don’t tell me you think we are going to give them a player, or players that everyone that supports Arsenal want to see gone!
If you are talking Theo Walcott maybe, I’d say they might be interested, but they wouldn’t be interested in his wages, so Theo would walk away from them after the season.
Who else? The vast majority of our players are way over paid.
Ox-Cham? He might be of interest and use to them…
Koscielny? maybe Ramsey?
Other than that, there is NOBODY at the Arsenal, that would interest Everton, that we would want to swap for Fellaini.
Having read the article and the comments and watched the game I’ve some agreements, disagreements and observations. Overall, of course, I’m just glad that we’re back to winning ways and that people are commenting. The way the match played out should give us a good footing for going on through the festive period and it’s interesting to note Richard’s comment about using the Boxing Day transit strike to our advantage.
First off, about the league….it’s weak at the top but stronger in depth. In my opinion the first part can be pinned onto the effect of the silly money teams hoarding talent while the second is due, in large part, to one, Arsene Wenger. The insistence on his (our?) “values,” have trickled down towards the mid-level teams and year after year, the newly promoted ones. More and more teams (often coached by foreigners) are bringing in continental players who have the technical qualities to win points for their clubs. Players NONE of us are thinking about come in and make big contributions–last year it was the French and French Africans at Newcastle, this season, for example a team that lost its manager and “star” British midfielder (Swansea), assembled by an up and coming international manager (Ladrup), a no name guy from Spain (Michu) can make the (not so) mighty Arsenal look downright silly on our own perfectly manicured pitch. Of course, there’s still a place for the Fat Sam and Tony Pulis teams (who know the value of a hard won point) but it’s ever dwindling….Meanwhile, here in Spain, the EXACT opposite is happening with the Mourinho effect trickling down from (frankly woeful and no fun to watch) Real Madrid. The teams I’ve seen (except Barca, of course) stand around until somebody (auditioning for the big teams….) does something before (finally) moving a bit. I think they call it “playing on the break.” Late night nil-nils get tedious no matter how good the tapas might be. Bringing it back to England, my thought is that Rafa B. and his boy ‘Nando, better start producing or Jose could be back at Chelsea, sooner than later….
So, onto the topic of stupid money….you guys are freaking dreaming when you talk about Arsene Wenger spending it all on a Cavani or Balotelli or Falcao or (even) Fellaini. At the risk of beating my own dead horse, CLEARLY the plan is to let the those teams buy those sorts while we go local. It seems a flawed one to me, not to mention a stunning reversal of past policy, but I guess there’s an idea of loyalty and how these guys (if they come good) won’t go jetting off to our league rivals (or the continental big spenders). Or something. If anybody can explain it to me, I’m all ears…..
Which brings me to January. With his name on the back of the shirt I won in the one year of the YAMA fantasy league (gosh how I miss those days, including, of course, the Game Day Chat….), I fear we will similarly see the backside of Bacary Sagna if PSG toss us some Euros. He is my favorite player at the club and the drop from him to Jenkinson is a lot bigger than people seem to think. He should get the 100k/week which Theo will refuse.
But (of course) being English and a forward and (after one match) capable of leading the line, Theo is likely gonna demand quite a bit more and likely get it from one of ‘Pool, City or Chelsea. It’s ridiculous and a bad move for everybody. Lionel Messi just re-upped with Barca, and if Theo is to us as we are to Barca, he should do likewise. Maybe Arsene is right and he’s not only interested in money. I doubt it. If he lacks a footballing brain, why would we expect him to have a mature philosophy about what’s truly important in this life? In my mind, he’s already gone, as I just can’t see Arsene paying him (nor any of those fantasy transfer targets others have mooted) more than he himself makes.
Instead, I think the maximum we should hope for is Llorente or the Crystal Palace kid (Zaha) or the big lanky defender/DM from Montpeillier (Yanga-Mbiwa) to go with the Henry thing. There was a defender from Atletico I also liked named Miranda (Portuguese)….. These are the sorts of players we MIGHT be in for…. A little (early) business, clearing the books, rearranging some loans, etc. Anybody who even turns on Sky on deadline day, I’d say, needs to get a life (as we say)….. A more likely January scenario is dropping from the cups so that we can focus on our (CL) relegation fight. Boring, sad, but maybe enough to sell seats (once again) for the season to come….
But then again, WTF do I know (AKA, “hope springs eternal”)…. Maybe we win some games, Theo commits, His hero Henry returns AND we do something about the defense (Djourou, Squill out, or out to pasture, the guy with the two names or somebody else in….) plus a lucky draw tomorrow in the CL. If those planets line up maybe we could even think about trying to make it a round or two further (for the big ears or) in the FA tournament. Now that the attack (and the goals) have been (like jesus himself..) resurrected, could we PLEASE think about actually playing more than just the Full Monty defense(!!) For me, that means Kos in and somebody out…. which might mean “iIl-njury” time for Verm the Worm. Question: If you cut him in two, do both halves keep wriggling?….
Ah, shit, there’s my word limit. Until next time….
Slightly disagree with your assessment of us not buying a big name. Agreed that this is unlikely to happen next month, but if we are still floundering come Summer, I guarantee a big name will be brought in to stimulate season ticket sales. It may be a “Board” decision rather than Arsene’s, but it will be done to keep the masses quiet.
Llorente or Huntelaar would be disaster buys as they bring no more than Giroud, would need time to acclimatize and does not fit the AFC Plan A style of football. Giroud is more than sufficient to fill the seldom used Plan B mode.
I was talking January only….Clearly, the poop is just a few bad results from hitting the fan. Lotsa talk out there about giving AW the benefit of the doubt if he achieves “the minimum” (avoiding CL relegation) and things seem to be looking up (or stabilizing or something). The best way to do this is dropping out of the cups, toot sweet….Already we’re looking at a nice little holiday break with the convenient cancelling of the Derby with West Ham on Boxing Day. I guess “the collective” wants to respect their brothers and sisters and their “industrial action”…. Far better to play the Hammers after we’ve got our weekdays free and they’ve secured their 40 points…..
In other words, it’s hard not to be cynical…. Regardless, it seems deals get done early these days and finalized at the opening of the window, with only the most tortured drama lovers following the media trolling as the month rolls on. As such I hope to ring in the new year with a win at Southhampton and some sort of announcement, Henry + Somebody. Agree about Huntelaar and don’t see the logic there. Llorente, I think, is a big enough name and actually (from the little I’ve seen of him) pretty good running and with the ball at his feet. Plus, he’s on very modest money at Athletic. I like Giroud but (if Theo goes or even just refuses to sign) I think we’re exceptionally limited and the pressure on the big guy (who might actually be carrying a “real” injury….) only grows. Or maybe Bendtner or Joel Campbell (or Park) back from loan is the answer? In a similarly ridiculous vein, I don’t believe I need to mention Chamakh nor Arshavin, nor a certain (too old) free-kicking Brazilian full back at Barca, who might be a (much) more glamorous version of what Andre Santos brings us on the left. Oops, I guess I just did…. (On a more serious note: Selling Bac to France before the season’s out is bad business no matter how much it brings in….)
Good Times, eh….
Still cant get excited about Llorente. Although more highly rated than Giroud, is way too similar and doesn’t bring the movement and pace a la Walcott. Ba would bethe man for me.
No way they sell Sagna in January as all hell would break loose if we finished outside the CL spot. They (The Board), are very wary of making any “false” moves at this time so I can see us keeping both Theo and Sagna in the interim.
Think about Zaha as our January “IN” and will be touted as Theo’s replacement when he departs in the Summer. Think about “maybe” a DM to replace Diaby/Song from the Lique 1.
Oh well, life in the big city of dreams we call AFC.
after arsenal lost to olympiacos, zaha posted on twitter that he was done watching arsenal. what does that mean? maybe nothing. we’ll see.
Carib.
I can’t see Arsenal letting Theo Walcott walk away on a free transfer at the end of the season. It goes against every fiber of their being, and everything they stand for…
if he doesn’t sign an extension, he will be sold… probably within the league, to a rival team.
In: Mario Balotelli and Marouane Fellaini
Out: Chamakh, Walcott, Bendtner, Arshavin, Denilson and Diaby
Cost: in signing fees and salaries, likely neutral or positive
Five of the six ‘leaving’ contribute zero to Arsenal. Walcott is simply playing games and hedging his bets and is a poor ‘Arsenal type’ player.
Balotelli and Fellaini are core players and will get the hearts a fluttering. You can build a team and rapid robust style around them.
Kiwi.
Please, tell me what Theo has done wrong? He is still young, and has produced goals and assists every year for the past 3.
You build your team around players like that.
I wouldn’t take Balotelli, if he came on a free… he’s everything wrong with football, and has the worst attitude ever.
If you can get anyone to take Chamakh… fantastic.
If we can get a few million for Arshavin… fine. He needs to move on, for his own sake, as he isn’t used, and was never used properly by Wenger.
If you can anyone to actually pay for Bendtner… fantastic.
Denilson? he doesn’t play for the club… but we’re probably paying him. He doesn’t exist.
Diaby? If you can get anyone to pay anything for him, fantastic. He simply can’t play football for more than a few weeks without getting injured. A shame.
I would pay Everton over the top for Fellaini… just pay more than anyone else will.
You build around players like him.
Can we get Laudrup as manager? Swansea play more like Arsenal used to, than Arsenal does!
what WILL happen?
Probably selling Arshavin for a few million to that White / Non-Gay team, Zenit!
Theo being sold when he refuses to sign a contract, probably to another EPL team.
Sagna being sold…
IN?
who knows. Maybe Nobody of note.
I just don’t believe Wenger and the Board will spend on anyone significant.
Why would they start now?
I think we will win 2 and draw 1 of the next 3, be in 4th or close to it, and Wenger will
go on his spiel about “mental strength”… and how his young players are coming together…
and he doesn’t want to bury these players that have earned it.
Fellaini, yes. Balotelli? Would not touch him with a ten foot pole. If Mourhino couldn’t control him at Inter, and his mentor, Mancini, at City, do you really expect Arsene to bring out the best in this talented but churlish man child. Wenger’s man management is average at best.
The major difference in our performance was our movement off the ball in the final third.While I agree with Dag that Theo did a good job in that respect, I would also contend that I have seen Giroud do the same in many games. What changed however, is that our MF’s, particularly Cazorla, and forwards were flooding the the open spaces presented. So much so, on a few occasions we actually had two Arsenal player’s getting in each other’s way.
Would not hurt to watch a brilliant analysis by our former arch enemy, but astute analyst, Gary Neville, prior to the game.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAsYAB-kD6w
So, the question to be asked is, why were we not doing this all season. Time and time again we saw crosses going into the middle with only one AFC player contesting it against three and four defenders. Why did it take so long to see this in action? Were we practicing this on the training pitch since the start of the season? If we were, why did it take so long to be implemented?
I take the win gleefully, but don’t take it as us turning the corner. It’s just another exciting 5-2 victory, great goals and inept defending in a few spots. The score could easily have been 8-4. Like Neville said, this was our scariest combination on the field in terms of pace of creativity. Add a Diaby or Diaby like player to the mix, move Cazorla to the left and put a Ba, Cavani or Falcao up front and we could be an excellent team. If we had kept Song and RVP we certainly would have had the potential to compete for trophies.
The major factor in playing Theo through the center is that few teams will be able to play a high line against us because of his raw speed, thereby compressing the game in our favor in the opposition’s territory and reducing pressure on our back four.
Now, let’s see which team is selected for Wigan and how they manifest themselves on the pitch.
I like Ba… would be a good signing.
I really like Cavani, would be a really good signing.
Falcao is a DREAM. He is the best available player out there, and would change the club going forward… changing the culture… that we aren’t trying to win… and the speed and talent would change the way we play.
If we had Falcao, Ox and / or Theo, the speed alone would cause absolute havoc on the opponents…
But I don’t even think its remotely possible that the club spend 40 or 50 million on one player.
We have the money. And we could buy Falcao and Fellaini, and be a completely different team…
we beat the worst team in the league… we have 3 games in a row, that we should beat coming up…
the problem is, we are no where near good enough to win a trophy, let alone the league with this current team…
and wins against the shite of the league, only mask that for the delusional…
So, we could end up in 4th place!!
wooooweeeee!
again, is that what we are? playing for a chance at 4th place?
time for the club and manager to put their big-boy pants on, and actually attempt to compete for something besides profit.
otherwise, get the f*ck out of the club. please.
well not a bad article, however I disagree with your opinion the premier league is poor this year. I think differently i tell you why because you have 8 or nine teams that are competitive rather than spain or italy where two teams just dominate. the fact we are still in the mix shows how competitive the league is. I think the huge problem for the team has been the midfield three have not had a lot of game time together to get that empathic football of being able to pass a ball and know your team mate will get it and pass it on now after six games the three of wilshere who is getting stronger game by game arteta solid as usual and cazorla are starting to find that sort of understanding. yes it did help having a striker that could go on last shoulder but I think it was the dynamism of these three that built the foundations of this win. Next up Wigan always a tough game and a banana skin for us in the past but if we play like that I can’t see Wigan causing us to much problems. Now last season we won this 4-0 to start a december where we took 13 points from 18 so far we have 6 from 9 and with loss of west ham game looking more likely we might end up having fifteen point up for grabs in december win the wigan and we have 9 from 12 taking us into homes games against both hammers and newcastle hopefully hammers one will be postponed means we can work on training field for the newcastle game. if we do take 12 from 15 points or fifteen from 18 it will have been productive for us chelsea have villa everton and norwich to go this month three tough games for them and potential for dropped points. everton have wigan westham and chelsea. the spuds have villa stoke and sunderland with stoke being their toughest game.this means we could potentially close that two point gap on the teams above and even leapfrog them into the top four. Also remember we have utd everton city to come to us with only chelsea and tottenham away as the big guns and these games will be pivotal for our season. January is our big month with Southampton City Chelsea and liverpool to play with city and liverpool at home.