Three Things We Learned from Cardiff City v Arsenal; We Hurt Ourselves
Arsenal continued to build on their previous win, with another one against Cardiff City. Arsenal fans were delighted as Arsenal garnered an away win, which has become something of a rarity in these parts but, there were moments we can learn from and build on.
With that said let’s look at the three things we learned from Cardiff City v Arsenal.
Individual Errors Are Killing Us
When Unai Emery was appointed many pointed out that if he could organize our defensive play, that in itself would be well worth the appointment. 4 games in and Arsenal are still conceding goals at an alarming rate. However, its not a systemic issue as it is individual errors from the players themselves.
Yesterday’s match was no different as both goals came about from poor decisions by individual players.
Camarassa’s first goal was a result of a poor decision and poor pass by Xhaka trying to hit Bellerin with a diagonal ball as the Spanish fullback raced up the side. Yet, in front of him was Guendouzi, as a simple option that could’ve still resulted in putting the ball out wide into the path of the streaking Bellerin.
The poor pass (and poor decision) led to a turn over that had Arsenal out of position to defend the goal. The cross into the box was defendable but Monreal first pushes Camarasa and his momentum carries him to far past him to recover and it results in a quality shot by Cardiff’s forward.
On the second goal Monreal, originally has Ward covered. He travels slightly with him to the inside and lets him go. I suspect he was thinking someone would pick him – like Guendouzi who at that point is deep in the box just in front of the two centerbacks. Guendouzi doesn’t react and when Monreal sees that no one has picked him, he’s behind Ward who essentially as a free header to goal.
Again, individual errors, In that case no communication between the two players who had the best chance to defend Ward on the header.
At some point questions are going to be asked of both the players making the individual errors and of the coach’s inability to coach those errors out of his players. There is a grace period for the coach. These aren’t his players for the most part and they may be unable to understand what the coach wants them to do.
For now, the blame still has to reside with the players. For now.
Mesut Özil looked lost until the 2nd Half
I don’t want to question too much of what Emery is doing. He is still unsure, at least so far, of who his best XI are. However, I’m still wondering why persisting of keeping Özil in a wide role.
Now before I go on, let me say, Emery’s system is a little different than Arsene’s 4-2-3-1. Width in attack comes primarily from the full backs. The 7 and 11 (wide forwards) tuck in and support the striker but is still not playing to Mesut’s strengths.
In two games, against City and yesterday against Cardiff, Mesut started out wide and wasn’t really involved the play. His touches were poor, and his vision seemed to be lacking. However, in both those games Emery adjusted and freed up Özil to roam more.
Yesterday, Özil was freed up in the 2nd half to drop a little deeper and float in between the lines rather than adhere to the wide play. He started to see the ball more and began to influence play.
It wasn’t vintage Özil, but it was better Özil and its what we need to see more of. Additionally, his overall work rate improved, and he was putting on pressure and even trying to win the ball more and was more effective in all phases of play. But there is still room to improve.
Hopefully, the interlull affords Özil some time to get his head screwed on. I am still of the mind that a lot of Özil’s poor play is down to his own mental state brought on by his international retirement announcement. Frankly, it always seemed like an ill-timed statement to make. I know he took the time to think about it but the statement and the flak it created in its wake feels like it has affected him some.
My hope is that some further time away from the game plus maybe a few extra sessions with the coaching staff will help him before the next match versus Newcastle.
Petr Cech and playing out of the back, not perfect together
The City match nearly gave us a heart attack against a quality team as we tried to play out of the back and Petr Cech fumbled his way through that. We thought it was improving over the last two matches but then yesterday occurred and well, let’s just say, you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.
Petr Cech is not a keeper who can play out of the back. That much is easy to see. He looks uncomfortable with the ball at his feet and always seems to be never prepared for it when it comes in from his centerbacks. Add to that some poor vision and poor passing and you’ve got a real recipe for disaster that sooner or later will hurt us.
https://streamable.com/anohs
It almost occurred in the 7th minute yesterday when he took a pass from Sokratis and played it straight up the center finding Arter instead of Guendouzi. He missed the call by Sokratis to play it up and nearly gifted Cardiff a chance to take the lead early.
Emery said in the run up to this match that after the international break additional players would be seeing time. Given the plethora of mistakes Cech is making in terms of playing out of the back – a style of play Emery wants – you wonder if Leno is going to start seeing some time – especially in the Europa cup where he can establish himself.
Whatever the case, you can’t see Cech staying in as the number 1 for a full season.
Extra take
Lucas Torreira is the real deal. He has had an instant impact every time he has come on the pitch and yesterday was no different. He finished with 26 passes, a 100% pass completion rate, 6 duels won, 3 tackles, 2 recoveries, and 1 assist. How’s that for impact?
Lucas Torreira (22) against Cardiff City.
Has to be a starter now.🇺🇾 pic.twitter.com/YUcp8lCfII
— – (@EmeryTactic) September 2, 2018
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