Well, right now to be a Gooner is to be blessed. Against Sunderland we witnessed a breathtaking first half performance and a clinical and efficient second half, resulting in a top of the table spot that is the icing on the sweet sumptuous cake that is Arsenal FC.
All this considering, we were lacking Santi and Poldi, and our German new signing had suffered a stomach bug and so really wasn’t at 100% AND had only trained once before with the lads. Which reminds me of some two snippets of good news; Olivier Giroud, last night after the game, tweeted that he is fine so that’s a relief, and reports are emerging that Arteta and Poldi have been responding exceptionally to treatment and are likely to return by beginning of October, which is in about two weeks. On the down side though, we lost Santi for three weeks it seems.
I am not going to repeat what has been said, rather I am going to explore an issue that has been overlooked, which is rather puzzling. The partnership between Wilshere and Ozil in the middle of the park.
Yesterday was Jack Wilshere’s best performance in an Arsenal shirt this season by a mile. And this was on the back of a poor performance for England. He played with the swagger, tenacity and confidence that once left the mighty Barcelona in defeat at the Emirates a few seasons ago. This was largely thanks to Mesut Ozil. Before the game, Wenger said that he believes Ozil will bring out the best of Wilshere. Anyone who still has doubts of that needs to re-watch that game.
I will take you back to a discussion we had sometime back regarding Wilshere’s best position in the team. I remember many argued that he is most natural in the number 10 role behind the striker but I insisted that Jack is a free spirit who best plays as a box to box, taking the ball in deep positions and surging up the field at will. I think I am vindicated on that front.
That aside though, yesterday we saw some of the best football from Arsenal, in a while. And before I go much further, let me state for the record that my man of the match is Aaron Ramsey, not just because of his goals but the boy was fantastic in attack and defence for the full 90 mins. Not even Arteta can displace him now.
Anyway, back to the issue at hand. Our midfield was dominant, and this will only get better as Ozil gets to play more with his team mates and Wilshere recaptures top form. Not to forget that once Santi, Rosicky and Poldi are reintroduced into the side, things will get very bad very fast for our opponents. In fact if I was Arsene I would take Giroud, Theo, Santi, Ox and Poldi and put them in a special training regime that focuses on movement off the ball and finishing, so as to capitalize on the unbelievable quality behind them. Yesterday, Theo should have given Ozil his first three assists in the league.
I was pleased we won 3-1 away but I still came out dissatisfied. I mean let’s be honest, based on the game alone we should have scored at least 6 goals (counting Theo’s three misses). Now consider if we were full strength and in this kind of form. We could realistically have gone in to double digits. That’s how much confidence and expectation I have in this team.
We play Marseille on Wednesday and for me every minute between now and then will be excruciating. I am now a junkie whose fix is watching the Arsenal ruthlessly annihilate their opponents. So for now, mine is to try and deal with the withdrawal symptoms until Wednesday.
Written by: Marcus
Bergkampesque 
Always good to read your views, Marcus, especially when they are so positive hahaha 🙂
Re Jack….. far too early to say what his best position is and he played on the left and in the hole rather than deeper (as I saw it on a bad stream). Back for more tonight. 🙂
nice one @ Marcus
i said this before and will repeat as it’s very relevant to your article.
JW is a top top talent and has the potential to be world class. However, how much of it was down to Cesc , when he really looked top notch ?
with OoooooOOooooZil, coming in , he will make a lot of players look top notch once more – that’s the thing with proven world class players, they get the best out of players around them, lift everyone around them and make them go that extra yard.
JW, needs a lot more games under his belt before we can see him back to his best, same was the case with Ramsey, although, i’m hoping by the time we play Dortmund, JW is back where everyone wants him to be.
let’s all give some Slack, i know i know, he’s very frustrating but worth noting that OooooooooZil is used to this with Ronaldo as Ronaldo’s conversion rate is somewhere in the region of 13% ! Theo is at over 20% 🙂
the leaders of the EPL play Marseille – let’s go there with the champions mentality and let everything else take care of itself.
Marcus
JG bas claimed I always simplify things, mostly in a postive way! 🙂 .. Since he is my new Gerry to follow-on after, let me see if I can simplify
1. football is simple, it’s also like war
2. The goal on attack is to focus forces in places your enemy is weak and then execute. Do so, and capture the castle (a goal). In general this requires movement of forces, probing and eventually finding the weak point when the oppositon fails, for any reason to respond.
3. In defence, of course, the opposite is true, one seeks to constantly diffuse the forces and numbers of the opposition, mixed with careful counterattacks to rob the initiative (the ball).
Thus, what Ozil does is simple, whether with Jack or Santi or AR or all three. He adds another threat. A *major* one that cannot be ignored. The more you watch Ozil, like a cobra, the more hypnotised you become and the more you lose sight of the rest. If you must diffuse our attack you can no longer focus on just Santi, or just AR if he’s going well.
We now with the emergence of AR, the arrival of Ozil, OG lifting his game (even before Ozil), and Jack getting healthier have way more to focus on. Last year it was shut down Santi and shut down Arsenal to an extent. With AR lifting his game it became two. With OG lifting his game, it became three. With Ozil it becomes four, but more like about six given his range of movement and skills.
Suddenly also, Theo and JW have more space and time, and thus look better.
Add in Flamini and focus too much on one or another and you can get stung, offensively or defensively, anyway.. someplace Arteta will help on the offensive stinging where needed.
Thus, JW will come into his own now much more free of focus with Ozil around. Equally, moving him wider at times will help, he will be able to master a smaller area of the pitch before being asked to become general of it all. A natural progression I think… and at the foot of a young master.
The real question is does the arrival of Ozil, the rise of Ramsey and the need for Flamini steel spell the end of a regular Arteta?
Just some thoughts
cheers — jgc
ARgh, bloody first word, JB… siiiiigh… jgc
cheers Professor JGC,
answer to your real question :
it actually works in Arteta’s favour , the arrival of both OooooOOOOooZil, Flam’s and rise of Ramsey – it allows him to fight for his place, take it in a positive manner, remain fresh and keep the MF fresh as well, whenever someone needs a breather, that is not saying he is not good enough to be in the starting 11, he could even play alongside Flam’s in big games in my opinion but for now, i see him being eased back into the team and be back to full match fitness and at his peak , sooner rather than later
also, worth noting that Flam’s has already notched up 2 yellows in 2 games, i think it’s 5 before xmas and you get a suspension ? that rises to 10 after xmas, no ?
i expect Flamini to be on the bench after Arteta is back to full fitness and match sharpness, and Flam’s to be used more as a sub and so on – it’s a great selection dilemma and a very healthy headache for AW to have.
it will be even more interesting when in 3 weeks, you have the likes of Poldi and Ox almost ready for a come back ? – mouth watering
should Podolski be training more and more as a CF/ST and used up front more ? i would certainly like to say , YES.
jack played left wing…switching into no. 10 with mesut….so i dont quite think you were vindicated
JB
No disagreement actually, the “good problem” is always just that, good..
IMO, Arteta against most teams, especially parked buses, Flamini against either more physical teams or top teams off the bench as impact sub… Plus all the rest and rotaiton too dependingo on form
cheers — jgc
Team news: Who is fit to face Marseille?
Arsène Wenger has revealed the following team news ahead of the Champions League game in Marseille:
on Olivier Giroud….
We have a few problems. Some with Ozil but the main one is Giroud, who has a knee problem. He will have a test tomorrow and hopefully he will be fit. But it will only be decided tomorrow.
on options up front if Giroud is ruled out…
I have not really thought about it that much but the obvious solution is Walcott. We’ll see.
on Per Mertesacker…
There is good news. Mertesacker will be available again after illness.
on Mesut Ozil…
He was ill and has some tight muscles after Saturday. But I think he will be OK. We are optimistic.
Copyright 2013 The Arsenal Football Club plc. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to http://www.arsenal.com as the source
cred
let’s dissect the coded injury news :
everyone is available from the weekend Plus BFG
i was hoping for an update on the rest of the squad but fair play to AW, he’ll do that this thursday / friday.
.. But of OG doesnt show up there’s a reason why Theo is up front instead of Akpom et al…
🙂
cheers 00 jgc
So,
the real question, do you rest some for Marseilles while also introducing others, or do you save rotation for Orcs?
Does it depend on tonites scoreline?
IMO, rotation vs Orcs and no, but..
cheers — jgc
pick the strongest possible 11 against both the French and the ruby players.
after that, we can afford to rotate and give a few players a much deserved and earned breather vs West Brom – Nacho, Arteta, TV 5, Gnabry , Jenks should be able to give 4-5 players a wee break or least keep them on the bench.
i’m confident that OG will be there on Wednesday, why wouldn’t he be ? it’s in France and with OooooooooOOOooooZil playing behind him, he will be fully fit and raring to go.
the injury and reaction by Giroud was more out of frustration and disappointment at not finding the back of the net, i reckon !
a week from now vs West Brom
we can look to rest the following :
Viviano or Fab – Sczny
Gibbs – Nacho
BFG/KOC – TV
Flamini – Frimpong
Ramsey – Arteta
OoooOOOooZil – Rosicky/Eisfield
Theo — Gnabry
JW — RYO
Giroud — Yaya / Akpom
Bench : Theo–Giroud—JW—Flamini e.t.c e.t.c
game changers on the bench , if need be but plenty of quality there to see of West brom minus lukaku.
forgot Sagna ,
Jenks – Sagna
sorted.
but the beauty about winning and then going on a bit of a streak is that everyone wants to keep playing every game – success is like a drug, which makes one overcome all the tiny niggles and so on !
JB
Agreed. Main questions are:
A. When will AW choose to rest
B. Will he do it in parts, a few at a time (some vs Orcs, some WBA), or wholesale?
C. Will we get a huge early lead vs Marseilles or Orcs that changes that?
For those we will have to watch and see!
Cheers — jgc
1: should be starting with the strongest 11 vs Ruby players and then assess at the 60th minute mark, depending on the match situation – ideally, we’re up 3-0 by HT and he can introduce his first change with the 2nd one at 60th and then the 3rd near his favourite 70th minute mark.
3: Wholesale for me, with a strong bench – i say that, by keeping Bradford in mind, we started with a strongest 11 and still came short….going by the changes i have outlined above, gives us a very good chance of beating West brom – if the starting 11 can’t finish the job then enter the game changers off the bench.
5: Marseille, we should keep the changes to a minimal, taking into account the goal difference as well, so no not for the French but for the Orcs, certainly.
TA,
Thanks.
JB,
Agreed.
geoffchase,
Agreed. I rather enjoyed the cobra analogy.
Nice work Marcus and Totes I thoroughly enjoyed last nights post as well. Don’t know why the comments have been slow …. Oh yeah the boyz are still on a welcome Ozil bender from the weekend!!
😆
I agree that the energy and precision of Ozil has sharpened every one and given confidence to every ones own playing abilities. Basically the spirit of the team added to ozils technical ability is raising the technical and self belief of the team to the next level!!
And hell I’m waffling all this after just one game with Ozil!! That’s unbelievable right!!!???
😀
Imagine in a few games time? Imagine after a few more good results on the bounce!! But as JB says …. One game at a time!!
JB and JGC I think AW will go for the split rest approach rather than the wholesale to keep the consistency of the team and so they don’t lose to much shape.
This Liverpool Swansea game is a cracker! 😀
not a cracker but a comedy of errors and disaster by Jojo Shelvey (what a numpty for a player) ehhh
Well I said a cracker JB not a cracking game … Jonjo could easily pass as gonzo’s lovechild lookswise and he’s trying his best to blow himself up too
😆
Fantastic read Marcus. I totally agree. We are in fantastic position and I can’t wait for Wednesday. 🙂
Michu you beauty!!
it’s the “JoJo ” show alright
come on, get another one you Swans !!!
agreed @ Fozzie Mark 3
Like the post Marcus. And I agree with the premise that all the players will want to perform with Ozil in the team. But, like I have said, we only beat Sunderland, and though we might have scored 6, in fact we only managed 3, and they had plenty of chances too. Stoke will be tougher on Sunday, and Marseilles will be different before then. We will know more about our potential at the end of this week
The winning habit is with us though, no doubt about that; and confidence levels are high, with Ramsey in particular. For me it is not the time to rotate; we need to keep the winning streak going and get new folk familiar with their team mates. We should not fear overplaying at this point in the season, and I hope we are able to bring people like Arteta back to the team shortly to ease matters – I agree with earlier comments that he will take Flam’s place (when fit) in most games. I hope we don’t rush Arteta, Pod and Ox back – the only thing worse than our injury record, is our record of people getting injured again after coming back too soon!
Elsewhere, the defence looks ok, with Verm back – it must be about time for Gibbs to get his seasonal strain though!! And we are where we are up front – gambling on Giroud’s durability. Our mid-field squad is just about perfect to my mind now. The only ‘problem’ for me is that there are precious few opportunities to see the youth prospects. On this count I am almost as excited about minor cup games this season – a chance for us to see Gnabry, Ryo, Eisfeld, Akpom et al in competitive action against decent oppositions.
So much potential, but a slip up now would have all the old doubts come flooding back. The priority for us to keep the run going, instil the confidence deeply, and create a sense of fear in other top sides about the prospect of facing us.
Evening guys
Looks like Marcus came and went 🙂
A new blog will be on in about an hour, and I promise you all, it will be a cracker! 🙂
mama mia mama sita – bring it on
Mugsmashers up to first … Booooooo
😦
thanks to JOJO Jonjo show (ex- scouser) arghhhhh
never mind, only ahead with 1 point though.
game goal difference, i’ll take that.
New Post New Post 🙂
Introduction at start of post.