If you think that our goals last season were almost entirely scored by four players – beautifully spread out between them – and three of them have hardly played any football this season, there is every reason to believe we can at least continue – if not improve further – our two goals a game average. Last season we did not score many goals from the mid-mids: Rosicky, Wilshere, Ramsey and Arteta (except for his well taken penalties) seldom or never got the ball over the all important line.
But this season, we finally are getting goals from our central midfielders and this is a great sign of good things to come. Ramsey has been in red and white hot form, and Jack and Ozil have also scored a few goals already. And yet, the midfield is not fully clicking as we would like them to do; and so there is plenty of scope for further improvement.
With the likes of Rosicky, who unfortunately is less successful in finding the net, Ozil, Ramsey and Wilshere, we have four footballers who can play in various positions and be both finisher and creator whenever they feel like it. The more they will play together the better they will become as an attacking unit, and once they hit top form they will become unplayable.
Add Ox, Pod and Theo to the mix and it becomes even more interesting. The idea that we have three to four footballers who can score goals regularly and pick a defence splitting pass at any moment in the game, is simply fantastic. On Tuesday we saw some fantastic through-balls from Wilshere, Rosicky and Ozil, and it was good to see Jack in fine form again.
Some are wondering what has changed in Jack and the answer is nothing, other than simply hitting form; or maybe his body is finally starting to feel good again. One thing is certain for me: it has nothing, niente, nada, rien, niks, nichts, to do with a change in attitude by ‘Jack the lad’. Being a huge fan of SJW, I have studied his behaviour and persona a bit, and I am convinced he is the total professional who gives his all in every game!
With Jack hitting form now and Theo returning to the first team, there is further opportunity for Ozil to get settled into the team and learn to master the art of being the advanced central midfielder in our 4-2-1-3 formation. This still seems to be a bit of a new challenge for him, especially when we play the stronger teams and we tend to sit back more. But I am sure Wenger will work with him on this, and his fellow midfielders will help out as well.
As you know, I am a big fan of treating every game as a cup match – OGAAT OGAAT! – and we should not look further than the next game against Cardiff. But I am also looking forward tremendously to us playing the Southern and Northern Oilers next month and to see how our midfield holds up against theirs.
If, with a bit of luck, we can keep our team fit for a while, and can play with our strongest midfield and defence and OG is available in those games, I reckon we can beat them both.
If we win those midfield battles, or are at least equal to the Oilers’ midfields, I reckon we will win the league: December will tell us a lot, imo.
Will that finally shut up ‘those in the know’ – the Hansens, the Shearers and other perfect cures for insomnia – about Arsenal’s chances to win the title? Aah who cares, you should only rate an opinion of someone you rate as a person, and the rest is water of a duck’s arse stuff.
Let’s OGAATly play Cardiff on Saturday and work our socks off for another three points; that will bring us to 31 points and will put pressure on our desperate chasers to stay in touch with us (all playing on Sunday).
Let’s do it for Pat and show him our love and let’s help him beat that bastard called Cancer – Victoria Concordia Crescet! Pat we are thinking of you!
Written by: TotalArsenal.
Bergkampesque 