formation – Page 13 – Bergkampesque

Beautiful defending and the great sound of ‘2-0 to the Arsenal’

March 21, 2013March 21, 2013TotalArsenal

It is a legitimate thing to defend…in a legitimate way!

Last week was arguably one of the best we have had this season – first we won an away match against one of the best European teams (if not the best one), and managed to restrict them to no clear-cut chances, and then we won in Wales against Swansea with another brilliant defensive performance in which opponents had no shots on target. It’s not just that we won two away matches against tough opponents that made me especially happy, but also the fact that we managed to reply to our home defeats against those same opponents. And, all that without Jack Wilshere, Bacary Sagna, Thomas Vermaelen and Wojciech Sczszesny in the first eleven, and with Lukasz Fabianski on the goal after more than a year without an appearance.

These two victories could hardly be described as typical Arsenal victories in the Wenger-era. Both opponents had bigger share of possession (both teams had 55 percent), but neither of them managed to transform possession into something more efficient.

These victories could hardly be described as „park-the-bus“-type of defending, given that we had more dangerous attacks and counter-attacks than both Bayern and Swansea. Both victories had brilliant defending based on sound foundations, and I think that is exactly how we should do it until we get ourselves a world-class striker.

Remember, not so long ago, we were defeated by Bayern at home and against North London Chokers away. In both defeats, the most heard comment with reference to the Arsenal games in South-Slavic languages was that Arsenal have „neither head nor tail“, since our performances in front of both goals had been terrible and expensive.

There are some people who seem to confuse terms „quality defending“ and „anti-football“. Restricting opponents’ chances in a legitimate way doesn’t necessarily means that you are an anti-football coach.

If you are a responsible manager, you will do your best to use club resources (including players you have) in the best possible way. You can’t make a banana-split out of a lemon, but you can make a decent lemonade.

Let’s take a look at another last-16 CL match. When AC Milan played Barcelona at San Siro, they completely nullified all Barcelona qualities, and switched Lionel Messi off. Barcelona had all that possession they wanted but in both final thirds of the pitch, it was AC Milan who got what is really important: a clean sheet and two scored goals. When their manager Allegri abandoned his tactics from the first game, and his players like Ambrosini opted not to fight for every ball, the Italian giants were destroyed and Messi scored two out of four Barcelona goals (one of them should have been ruled out due to offside).

There is a similar example from our favourite season 2003-04 when we lost 0:3 against Inter at home only to beat them 5:1 at Meazza. Inter were managed back then by Hector Raul Cuper and he came at London without Christian Vieri but still demonstrated the highest level of quality defending, and got themselves a comfortable victory. We all know what happened in reverse fixture. Cuper was sacked, and Inter appointed Alberto Zaccheroni as their manager. Zaccheroni didn’t follow the path made by Cuper and, despite Vieri’s return to the team, and Arsenal playing without Vieira, Lauren, Keown and Wiltord, Inter managed to lose not just the game, but also a high aggregate lead against us, which Cuper had left to Zaccheroni.

One might say (and it could be true) that Arsenal’s success during the Wenger-era was based on George Graham’s defense, and Arsene Wenger’s midfield and attack; before adding that problems only really started when Wenger tried to apply his way of defending which neglected the physical part of the game.

It is a great thing when you can have both fluent attacking football and results; something that we had with Invincibles. But sometimes one of those things has to be sacrificed, and we all know which one any fan would opt for. Our performances during the Champions League campaign in 2006 were hardly breath-taking (especially second leg against Villarreal), but we managed to knock-out Real Madrid, Juventus and Villarreal without conceding a goal in six consecutive games (ten, when we count group phase), and we were unlucky to lose against Barcelona in the Final. Speaking of Barcelona, we were very close to knock them out from the Champions’ League in 2011, despite the fact that we failed to make a single shot on target in second leg.

Now, I mentioned above the terms ‘quality defending’ and ‘anti-football’. If there is a team that represents everything that Wenger’s Arsenal hasn’t been, it’s Stoke City managed by Tony Pulis. Their football has been more like rugby, as it is full of horrible tackles that go unpunished thanks to the lenient policy by Football Association towards the actions of the ‘Butchers from Britannia’. Is it because FA wants to preserve traditional English football? Do they keep Stoke City afloat as some sort of ZOO in which the last examples of traditional English football based on muscles, tackles and challenges can be seen? In the first match we played against Stoke this season, their players made three fouls that deserved red cards. They got none.

But there is this thing called karma for that too. When FAnchester United lost to Real Madrid mostly thanks to the fact Nani got sent off, they couldn’t believe that someone could give a straight red card to their player. When Pierluigi Collina backed referee Cakir, I realized that the biggest problem United had in that game was the fact that they are used to the criteria of another bald referee, who tolerated a life-threatening tackle by Nigel De Jong in World Cup Final in 2010. And that’s how karma works: Italians put their trust into Pierluigi Collina who gave penalties and red cards against Juventus despite the status Juventus have had among most of Italian referees, and they were rewarded with 4th World Cup title in 2006, where they showed classy defending and being runners-up at Euro 2012; while England – who consider Howard Webb as their best referee – failed to reach any Final since 1966, and will mostly regret the poor taking of penalties and stupid red cards being received by FAnchester United players.

Alas, my point is, ‘quality defending’ and ‘quality football’ are not mutually exclusive terms; just like ‘beautiful football’ doesn’t necessarily means ‘quality football’. Being called ‘one-nil-to-Arsenal’ again wouldn’t be the worst thing that could happen to us.

After all, if we continue with performances like the previous two fixtures, we might even earn a new nickname: ‘two-nil-to-Arsenal’!

Written by: Admir.

Is Wenger-ball being Bould-dozed over?

March 19, 2013TotalArsenal

We have all witnessed a significant change in the way Arsenal played in our two most recent games against Bayern and Swansea. Arsenal have played more compact and conservative, and we are playing not too dissimilar from the way we did during the first few games of the season.

Our full-backs are not bombing forwards as much anymore, and usually only one commits himself forward at any given time. Defence and midfield play closer together and move more up and down the pitch as a ‘double-bank’; and we also don’t play with a high defensive line as much as we used to do. Our two DMs stay closer together and operate more as a horizontal unit in front of the back four, and don’t often allow themselves anymore to get stretched vertically in midfield.

It now looks like we regularly have two sections in the team: ‘the back-seven’ and the ‘front-four’. The former makes us more solid and organised in terms of protecting our goal, and the latter is left with the task to somehow create chances and score goals.

During our first four games, we proved to be very solid at the back but we also did not create enough chances/ scored enough goals. It looked like Bould – who apparently had been given the task to make us defend better – had made us very solid at the back, but at the expense of our attacking endeavours, as well as our style of football to some extent.

Although Arsenal were not playing badly, especially if you take into account the large number of changes in personnel within the first team, but we were not scoring enough goals; leading to too many draws and us dropping too many points in the process.

I reckon Wenger changed our style of play by making the second DM play in a more advanced midfield position, in order to support our attack better: instead of a unit of seven and a unit of four, we played more with a unit of six at the back and a unit of five up-front. On top of that our FB’s were encouraged to constantly support our attackers and even one of CB’s was asked to join our attacking efforts.

We started to create more chances and score more goals, but gradually we also became weaker at the back and began to leak more goals; especially, and bizarrely, at home. Wengerball was not working very well, as we often gave games away during the first halves of our matches, whilst not being able to produce enough goals to compensate for this; despite some gutsy and productive second half performances.

Now that we are out of all cup-competitions and we still have a good chance to make it into the top-four, Wenger and Bould seem to have changed tactics again. I reckon Arsenal will be set up very similar to how we played against Bayern and Swansea for the rest of the season.

I reckon Bould will be most pleased with this, but Wenger will see it also as the best way of getting into the top-four this season. It won’t be pretty at times, and there is still a risk we will not score enough goals to get all three points from all our remaining games, but it is our best chance to get back into the CL again next season.

Wenger-ball will be kept on hold and I am sure Arsene and Bould will have another go next season, but for now it is the Bould-dozer that rules.

I reckon the next nine games will be an important building period for the team; as in becoming more solid and learning to defend and attack as team. Then come the summer, Arsene and Bould can get a couple of quality additions to tweak the team to the next level.

Written by: Total Arsenal.

Jenkinson, Gibbs & Koz excel – Santi is king – Fabianski impresses

March 14, 2013March 14, 2013TotalArsenal

Five conclusion from a faith-restoring victory over Bayern.

Violently happy Coz we love you! :) — Violently happy Coz we love you! 🙂

The boys did us proud tonight – I am absolutely delighted with their performance. If this team had been playing together for a while longer and we had just a bit more quality up-front, we would even have nicked it.

Conclusion 1:

Our first priority is to get the defensive side of our football right; then we always have a chance, because we know how to play footie and score goals. The difference in performances of our defence during our home and away game could not have been much bigger. We hardly gave away any space behind our defence and between defence and midfield tonight, and were confident in the air and on the ground. Koscielny was superb and his pace and energy gave Mertesacker a chance to organise the defence, and focus on his own positioning. The full-backs were magnificent, especially Jenkinson did us proud. They had drive and passion, speed and strength, and helped out up-front as well. Their performances give us real hope of what could be in the future. Fabianski did everything right and did not flap once. I also really liked his verbal communication skills and willingness to give his fellow players an ear full when they deserved it.

Achieving a clean sheet against, and at, Bayern is a fantastic achievement by our ‘back-five’.

Conclusion 2:

Arteta and Ramsey did a great job defensively in front of the back-four. Yes, there were a few bad clearances, especially by Arteta at the start of the game, and some of the passes were not sharp enough, but they worked hard and denied Bayern space in the centre of midfield. Unfortunately, it meant that Rosicky remained isolated up-front a lot, but at least Ramsey tried to support him as much as he could; and it is exactly how we managed to create the first goal. Of course this will remain the seemingly eternal dilemma for us: 4-3-3, as in 4-2-1-3 or 4-1-2-3, can either make us too defensive or too attacking, and we need the right balance of players/skill-set to get it exactly right. We switched to 4-1-2-3 in the end, when Cazorla replaced Ramsey by moving towards the middle, and it almost worked out for us.

A big minus point of Arteta was his inability to keep his composure towards the end, leading to him giving away a number of avoidable free-kicks, which allowed Bayern to simply see out the game.

Conclusion 3:

Cazorla’s drive, overview and composure was magnificent tonight. He was at times absolutely faultless and never was in hiding throughout the night. For me, he was the best player on the pitch tonight – Jenkinson and Koz were not far off either, though – and what a player Arsene has signed with him. On the other hand, Rosicky had a rusty night of football; plenty of hunger and willingness, but not much came off and he often lost out in the one-to-ones with the Bayern midfielders. However, he was often left isolated, and he did not play often in our team this season; which caused a number of his passes going astray.

Conclusion 4:

We lacked that bit of extra quality up-front to properly finish off Die Lederhosen tonight. Theo put a few great crosses into the box – one leading to the first goal – but he faded in the second half; and his partnership with Giroud is still not working out properly. Giroud scored the goal and worked his socks off, but (still) lacks composure and physical strength; just that little bit extra that would make him a great rather than a good striker.

Conclusion 5:

The entire team was well organised, very focussed and disciplined, and played with great passion. After a number of negative, and often humiliating results recently, the boys did us more than proud. We probably were too defensive for too long of the game to complete the miracle, but it was the best strategy for us on the night.

As per the start of this blog, if this team had played longer together, and had a bit more quality up-front as well, Arsenal could have completed the turnaround tonight. Alas, it was not to be.

Finally

I reckon this unexpected, and almost heroic away-win will do us a world of good. Our next game is away against Swansea and there is every reason to play the same back-five and same ‘double DMs’ as tonight again. It would be great if Podolski returns to the team against The Jacks and Cazorla can replace Rosicky in the middle. I would start Giroud centrally again, but maybe give the Ox or Gervinho a start on the wing instead of Theo.

Tonight, Arsenal regained tremendous confidence and our reputation in Europe, and at home, has been restored a bit again. A real shame we did not make it through, but we simply left ourselves with too much to do after our disappointing home game against the Germans.

However, as this is a painful and necessary transitional year for Arsenal, it is victories like these that will help us to gradually get back to the very top again. A couple more players of real quality this summer and we should be able to go all the way.

Written by: TotalArsenal.

Bayern preview: Rosicky & Cazorla to run the show / 4-1-2-3 / attack, attack, attack!

March 12, 2013March 12, 2013TotalArsenal

Less than 24 hours to go and I am getting really excited about the up and coming CL fixture against Die Lederhosen. Normally I would be approaching this game with a sense of both anticipation and apprehension, but I feel simply relaxed going into this one. Would we have had a better result in our home game, I would feel a lot more apprehensive and nervous right now; but today, us Gooners can afford to just look forward to the match without the heavy weight of expectation on our weary shoulders.

This is a game in which we have nothing to lose, other than our pride; but then again, there is nothing more important than always doing the shirt proud.

We should not expect to win tomorrow, but nevertheless try to do so by giving it our all. Funnily enough, Bayern will be wary that our team can play with the potentially lethal combination of low expectations and yet full commitment and desire. It will allow Arsenal to express itself once again, and to play to its strength; playing fast, aggressive, attacking football without worrying too much about letting one, or even two goals in.

As Arsenal need to score many goals to go through – we need at least three – Arsene has no other option than to go all out on attack with his team. If we can set up our team to score three; we would also be able to score a fourth in case Bayern would score a goal against us tomorrow – something which is highly likely to happen.

I believe our chances to get through are less than 10% as scoring at least three goals against an in-form Bayern is a very difficult, if not impossible, task. But this The Arsenal and Wenger has managed to surprise everyone before in Europe. He does not have to worry about our defence too much tomorrow evening, and can pick a very attacking formation.

We also know that Arsenal cannot play another way. It goes against Arsene’s nature to set the team up defensively, as in trying to contain the Germans, and we also do not have the players for this. So it will be all out attack and play with pride for the shirt.

It is a blow that Jack and Podolski will not play tomorrow but a big boost that Gibbs is available again. Diaby is 50/50 which does not come as a surprise to anybody. Bayern will be missing Ribery and especially the excellent, and uber-experienced Schweinsteiger in the centre of midfield; and Robben might also not be fully fit.

But let’s not concentrate on them. Let’s focus on how Arsenal can beat the Germans tomorrow. I think we have a decent chance of winning, but it will probably not be enough to go through. These are the key formation and line-up choices that could win us the game tomorrow:

Play an attacking formation which suits us: 4-1-2-3, with one DM and two AM’s. Despite Jack’s absence we still can pick our AM’s from Rosicky, Cazorla, Ox, Diaby(?) and one to two others like Arshavin, Ramsey or even Coquelin;
Attack constantly through the middle and from the left wing: Gibbs and Gervinho come into the team and let’s hope they hit the ground running;
Give Theo a free role on the right: there should be plenty of space on the right wing, especially if and when we can switch the attack from left to right, or middle to right when we are attacking from there initially;
Play with both Vermaelen and Koz as our CBs, as they are our fastest options for our all-out attack approach tomorrow;
Play with a high tempo and constant pressure; closing down the Germans relentlessly, and hopefully take one of our early chances to further boast belief that we can do it;
As the midfielders will run themselves into the ground, we will need to have strong and ready replacement on the bench if needed, which is probably around 65 minutes into the game.

Predicted line-up for tomorrow’s game:

The defence is more or less a given, as I cannot see us play Mertesacker in a game like this and Szczesny has been rested: Mannone – Jenkinson – Koscielny – Vermaelen – Gibbs.

The midfield probably will see the most substitutions during the game; I expect at least two for that area. I reckon we will start with: Arteta as sole DM, and Cazorla and Rosicky as our double AMs. Arteta could be replaced by Ramsey if he gets tired, or Coquelin will get a chance. I expect Cazorla to play the full 90 minutes and Rosicky to be replaced by the Ox or Diaby after 2/3 of the game.

Up-front it will most probably be Gervinho – Giroud – Theo. They will have to help out defensively of course, but their main focus has to be on creating danger in attack and scoring goals. There will not be much on the bench to replace one or two of our attackers, so they will have to give their all for 90 minutes. The Ox could come on late as an extra attacker or to replace one of the wingers. It should just be enough to be a real threat against the Germans.

Predicted line-up/preferred line-up:

Ars v bay final — Giroud will be our link-up striker, helping out midfield if and when he can. Theo and Gervinho will combine wing-play with moving into the centre to support the Frenchman, if and when possible.

I really hope we will approach this game with a very attacking mind-set and game plan/formation.

If we approach the game with anything less, Bayern will smell blood and give us a bloody nose of huge proportions: it could become a real nightmare leading to a demoralising loss.

We have no option but to play to our strength, which is attack, attack, attack and make the best of it, and who knows we might just do it. I don’t expect it, yet I would not be totally surprise if we did it. Remember we are THE Arsenal.

Now bring on Die Lederhosen and let the Canon roar!

Come on You Rip ROARING Gunners – Do us proud!

Written by: TotalArsenal.

Let’s move from 4-2-1-3 to 4-1-2-3: give Arsenal its identity back!

March 9, 2013March 9, 2013TotalArsenal

When will Arsenal rediscover its beautiful football again?

It has been a while now since Arsenal played the sort of football that makes us all purr like a cat; the sort of football that makes the crowd go ooh and aah!

I reckon ever since Fabregas’ last season for us, Arsenal have been struggling to find their identity again. And when I say, Arsenal; I really mean Arsene. Last season we played more or less continuously Plan B: the ‘feed the Dutchman he will score’ scenario. We became very dependent on him, and despite my absolute loathing of the self-celebrating traitor now, it is fair to say that he played a big part in Arsenal finishing third last season.

This season, many of us will struggle with describing what our plan-A is. Arsene has tried a number of different player-combinations up-front, in midfield and at the back. We have seen glimpses of both effective and beautiful football, but it has been pretty ordinary most of the times. This season, I have been to Norwich and Wigan away and Blackburn at home; and last season I watched Fulham, QPR and Blackburn at home, and their was little beauty/ real quality of play to be seen in any of these matches: a far cry of how we used to play!

Whilst driving back through black and bleary motorways from London last night, I thought deep and hard how and when we will get our beautiful game back. Is it simply a matter of buying more quality players, as in players who can reach the heights of Bergkamp, Henry, Fabregas and Pires again; or is it a matter of getting a couple of solid, quality defenders/midfielders who will allow the rest to play Wengerball again?

Having analysed our recent games a bit, it is clear to me that both Wilshere and Cazorla are more than capable and willing to lead our game back to Wengerball. They are working their socks off to get this team going. However, their efforts have been wiped out by big, and mostly unnecessary, defensive mistakes. On top of that, with our strike-force still finding its feet and going through a big goal-lull at the moment, we have been unable to do a ‘Mancs United’; simply outscoring the opposition.

A simple answer to the main question in this post is to go and buy both top quality players and a couple of solid defenders. Like everybody else, I also believe that without adding these sort of players in the summer – as early as possible, ideally – we will not make much progress next season.

However, as Arsenal cannot buy any players until then, and we have still 10 games to play and with a top-four place at stake – and going with the answers in yesterday’s post, most of you believe we are still going to make the top-four this season 🙂 – let’s talk about what can be done NOW to get back to both beautiful AND effective football again.

Arsene has said on a number of occasions that his team has been playing with the handbrake on. I agree with him, but what can he do about it? For me, the answer lays with the ‘2’ of our 4-2-1-3 formation.

I would like us to play 4-1-2-3 for the remainder of the season. I cannot see us fix our defensive issues any more without buying a quality DM and CB, or at least one of them during the summer. I also cannot see us change to 4-4-2, 4-5-1 or even 3-5-2 during the remainder of the season; the change would be too drastic, whereas moving the ‘2’ forwards can be done without too many adjustments.

So I say, let’s focus on playing our game as much as possible in the opposition’s half and scoring as many goals in the process. Allow Arteta to play as our deepest laying midfielder; or maybe even move Vermaelen there. In the ‘2’ we can play Cazorla and Wilshere or Rosicky and Ox, or even bring back the Siberia working camp exiled Arshavin.

We have so many quality players to play in the double advanced midfielder positions, that we could see an instant, and much needed, positive impact.

Arsenal would be buzzing with attacking intent again, and the likes of Podolski, Walcott and Giroud would get plenty of service to start adding to their goal tally once more. In the process Arsenal might find its new identity again, and in the summer we can add the necessary steel at the back and in midfield, and add another quality flair player as well.

Let’s hope Arsene will be a bit braver now, and will try something different for the remainder of the season: throw the handbrake away and let the team go and enjoy themselves again. There is still plenty of quality in the team and it is time to allow them to throw the shackles away and dictate play again. Yes we are likely to concede a lot of goals in the process, but as recent games have shown to us, this will happen anyway.

So, we might as well go out there and play the sort of football that we are capable of and will bring joy to our Gooner hearts again. I also reckon, it is the best way to secure a top-four spot this season.

But what do you think Arsene should do to give us back our identity again; to start playing beautiful and winning football once more?

Come on You Rip Roaring Gunners!!!!!!!!!!!

Written by: TotalArsenal.

What to do with Olivier Giroud?

March 6, 2013March 6, 2013TotalArsenal

Olivier Giroud has been at Arsenal for seven months now: he has played 39 games (all competitions), scored 14 and produced 10 assists. You could say, not a bad return for a first season in the Premier League. The only problem for the Frenchman is he plays in the position a certain treacherous Dutchman used to occupy, and the former Montpellier striker has, at least until now, not succeeded in making us forget him – not that this is necessarily his responsibility alone.

It is still early days, and I find it quite hard to give an accurate assessment of Giroud’s qualities and likely progression of his football career at Arsenal. His strength are his work-rate, aerial ability, and shooting skills, although the latter is good but not great.

I am yet to be impressed with his hold up play and passing: his first touch could be better, and for a very tall and well-build striker he struggles often to shield the ball from opponents, and win many one-to-ones. On the plus side, Olivier makes good runs and is a good team player, which is reflected in the number of assists he has produced until now.

Of course, we have been blessed at Arsenal with a number of truly fantastic strikers, especially in recent times: Wright, Anelka, Henry, Bergkamp, and Van Judas were all phenomenal. I doubt that we will add Giroud to the list of Arsenal striker-greats anytime soon, although I repeat it is still early days to make that judgement.

Giroud reminds me more of the Adebayor or Bendtner type of striker: very physical and strong in the air, with a good shot; but not with the touch and timing, the elegance and ruthlessness of some of our more illustrious strikers. What sets him apart from the other two strikers, though, is his phenomenal work-rate and continuous team play.

I watched him live at the Emirates against Blackburn and away against Norwich this season, and in both games I was underwhelmed by him. His performances against Bayern and Spuds were also below par as he was unable in both games to add a bit of magic; a bit of quality that would get us back into the game again.

But then I was unimpressed by most of our team in those games, and I also realised how little we played as a strong unit; Arsenal have been anything but a well-oiled machine with purpose and good telepathic relationships between the players in most of our recent games.

It so often looks that Giroud is trying too hard: he is desperate to play really well and make us all love him with his goals and assists, but by doing so he seems to regularly lose his composure and focus in the game.

As this is his first season and Arsenal are going through a big transition as a team, and his work-rate is always fantastic, I feel we need to give him the benefit of the doubt and allow him to rediscover his form again during the remainder of the season.

Come next season, it is very likely that Giroud will find strong competition from a newly signed striker who might become first choice immediately. But if that were the case, I am sure Giroud would fight with all he has got to claim back the central striker role.

And even if he would lose out to this newly signed top-striker, Giroud will still be a fine squad player to have. He could still start a number of games and give the new striker a break now and again; and he could also become our ideal super-sub. Whether he would accept such a role is an entirely other matter!

But there is also still a possibility that he will start to properly flourish in the next couple of months and show us all that he is more than worthy of the top-striker spot.

How do you think Giroud’s Arsenal career will develop over the next few years?

Written by: TotalArsenal.

What to do with Arteta, Rosicky and Diaby – Is Arsene paying the price for selling Song?

February 24, 2013February 24, 2013TotalArsenal

Since the departure of Fabregas, almost two seasons ago, Arsene Wenger has struggled to find the right combinations in midfield.

Last season, he experimented desperately to get enough creative spark in his beloved 4-2-1-3 formation. He tried Ramsey as his lone creative/attacking midfielder (CAM) but it did not work out. If and when Rosicky was fit, he was played as our CAM and the team often played a lot better as a result. But Tomas Rosicky’s anagram of ‘Sick Room Stay’ seems to always follow him, as he was once again more injured than available for Arsene. Wenger was hoping either Wilshere or Diaby would return to fitness, but they also remained in the treatment room, and in both cases for the entire season.

Ultimately, Wenger found a solution in asking Song to become our lynchpin player between defence and attack, which included producing a significant number of assists. Song did a great job at this and together with Theo and van Judas he saved our season, in terms of goals and assists. Many fans criticised some of his defensive performances, but these were the price to pay for the invaluable support he gave to our attack.

The Cameroonian’s partnership with Arteta had become a very strong one, and if Arsene could have added a new CAM during last summer, or JW10 would have returned to full fitness from the start, we finally would have had a strong and consistent midfield to kick-off the 2012-2013 season.

Inexplicably, Song was sold late in the summer and no replacement was brought in. Yet, Arsene did bring in a quality CAM in Cazorla, and luckily, JW10 finally returned to full fitness as well. Initially, everything looked great as both Arteta and Diaby started the season strong, both individually and as a ‘double DM tandem’.

However, Diaby became injured once again and Wilshere took his place once he became fully fit. With our defence not firing from all cylinders, and Arteta not the prototype DM many of us have been asking for, Jack was forced to stay back and help out on the defensive side a lot – and I would say too much. At the same time, Santi struggled to really give shape and purpose to our attacking play, and it became clear that the balance in our midfield was not right, once again.

During the January Transfer Window, we were linked with a number of typical, hairy-arsed DM’s, but regrettably, nobody was signed. Diaby has returned and has played a number of games recently. However, he is a shadow of the player we applauded so much after his game at Anfield, at the start of the season. Furthermore, and even more worrying; his partnership with Arteta has gone flat, as both players struggle to protect the defence properly, or support our attacking moves with the necessary impetus and gusto.

Rosicky has been fit for a while now, but does not seem to be able to get a foot into the first team anymore. This is surprising, given that he signed a new contract not so long ago and Wenger has always liked him. Rosicky had a decent game against Blackburn last weekend, but did not start against Bayern, and did not feature at all against Aston Villa. What is going on here?

I know that Song is not every Gooner’s favourite player, but I feel we are missing him badly at the moment. I am convinced that if Arsene would have asked Song to play as a sole, traditional DM, he would do this with gusto, and be very good at it as well. But he was sold and not replaced, and I feel strongly that this is biting Arsene badly in the arse at the moment.

So what to do with our midfield and with the likes of Diaby, Rosicky and Arteta?

I was glad to see Jack being played in the CAM position this Saturday, but just as against Blackburn a week ago, both Diaby and Arteta did not provide him, or the defence, with the required quality of support. This is a worry, and on top of that Diaby is injured again, and God only knows how long it is going to take before the lanky Frenchman is fully fit again.

We cannot buy a DM until the next TW, so we have to make do with what we have. I guess the easiest solution for Arsene is to put Jack next to Arteta and play Cazorla as our CAM. Another option is to combine Arteta with either Ramsey or Coquelin. For me, they are both not ideal but either of them should have a run of games now. Another option is to play Rosicky as our CAM, or even next to Arteta, but Wenger does not seem to want to play him regularly anymore.

However, Wenger will need to get this balance right as soon as possible: our defence needs better quality protection and our attack the right level of thrust and creativity. If he gets it right, we will finish in the top 3/ top 4 this season; if not, it will most probably be ‘Channel Five – Thursday Night’ for us.

Written by: Total Arsenal.

Bayern Review: No Discipline, No Leadership, No Cohesion, No Cutting Edge.

February 20, 2013TotalArsenal

One of the few positives: Jack stood out once again.

Key conclusions:

We are seemingly incapable of learning from our mistakes, and keep giving away games before they even have started properly;
Arsene cannot settle on a formation and style of play at the moment, resulting in a continuous lack of cohesion, and systemic and focused approach to our football;
Theo, alone up-front, did not work;
We lack extrovert leadership;
We lack quality in certain areas;
We lack a beast of a DM;
Our painful period of transition is to continue for quite a while.

After a promising start, Arsenal gave once again the game away with a couple of defensive mistakes. Against MU away, and Liverpool, Chelsea and ManCity at home we did exactly the same, and in top football this is utterly self-defeating.

I really thought our defence would be fully prepared for this happening again last night, and therefore would focus from the start. When I say defence, I do not just mean the back-five of Szczesny and his four defenders in front of him. Of course defending is a team responsibility and for both goals the rest of the team deserve at least some of the blame.

Our two ‘DM’s were wrongly positioned to block of the midfield runner on goal, Kroos; and for the second goal we simply missed height at the near post. Especially Van Buyten/Muller’s goal was bad to concede: really amateurish and it effectively meant the game was over without it ever having started properly. This has now become a very worrying pattern and I struggle to see how we can get out of it any time soon. With big games coming up against Everton, Spuds and MU, this is the biggest worry we currently have.

It is so disappointing that nobody seems able to organise our defence properly. All our defenders are good but nobody seems to have the overview and leadership skills to make us a strong unit and organise our defending. Our defence is a combination of individuals and is crying out for an organisational leader like Adams or Campbell used to be for Arsenal. Vermaelen, as our captain, comes short, and Mertesacker is also disappearing into his own shell far too often.

At least there was fight left in us. After conceding the second goal the team tried hard to get back into the game, and some healthy aggression was on display. We were not producing anywhere near enough decent chances, but at least were able to get back into the game after a big mistake in the German defence from one of our corners, early on in the second half. Well done Podolski for being in the right place and accepting the double gift – it should never have been a corner in the first place – with both hands.

After that we had a good spell, and it was really important to keep the pressure on Bayern. We managed to do that for about 10 minutes, and I was hoping for Wenger to make earlier-than-normal substitutions to sustain our momentum. He did not do that and the game was finally lost by conceding another goal. This was the best worked goal of the game, but it still needed a big slice of luck by the Germans to go in.

Who knows what could have happened if Giroud had finished a half decent chance inside the box, after Rosicky’s fine diagonal pass and Theo excellent first touch and cross, had put him in a scoring position. Unfortunately, it fell to his ‘wrong’ foot and his effort was directed straight at the keeper.

Our defensive play failed us and cost us the game, we did not dominate midfield enough, we did not create enough chances, and our ploy to play Walcott up-front did work for us either. Bayern were too strong and indeed out-classed us for large parts of the game.

However, we showed fighting spirit in short spells and Wilshere grew into the best player on the pitch in the second half. We will never know whether we could have made this a proper contest if our defence had stood stronger and got proper hold of the game.

There is no doubt, though, our midfield needs further strengthening with a beast of a DM: having two deeper laying midfielders with defensive responsibilities will sometimes work, but in games like these it is so important to have a strong physical, athletic presence who can protect our defence and move on play quickly and effectively.

Giroud on his own up-front has clear limitations, and so does playing Theo there. We were not able to launch the Englishman into a promising position anywhere near enough, and we also missed proper wing-play last night. I still believe that playing Theo and Giroud together up-front is our strongest option currently, as their combined strength could become a force to reckon with. I thought it was a mistake to play Theo alone up-front: the team has not settled at all on this formation and many automatisms were missing last night.

How many times last night did we see a player being ‘dumped’ with the ball in an isolated area, surrounded not by fellow players but by ant-like Germans, trying to nick it of him as soon as he receives it? What has happened to us playing as a close unit, our triangles, our cohesive play based around possession and passing, and us taking collective responsibility?

Jack, once again, tried to take the game by the scruff of the neck but too many of our players were not able to follow suit. We lack that sort of extrovert leadership at the moment, and relying on Jack alone to drive us on is not going to work.

In order to start winning our encounters with top-teams, significant improvements will have to be made:

Leadership, discipline and organisation in our defensive play;
More physical presence in midfield, allowing Jack to be freed up to run the show;
More extrovert leadership throughout the team;
More quality throughout the team, especially on the wings and up-front, so we can produce better chances and take them more regularly when they occur;
Settle on a formation and train the entire squad to understand it, including every player knowing how they should play in their position(s)/what their roles and responsibilities are. Also, Arsenal need to improve significantly on both playing the pressing game and keeping hold of the ball ourselves by passing it round.

I thought, naively in retrospect, that this team was able to raise itself for the game last night, and would show step improvements in most, if not all, of the above mentioned five areas. They did not, and a lot more work will have to be done in the next six to twelve months.

It all remains to be seen whether Wenger and Bould are able to complete the transition in that sort of time span, and it is a certainty that the patience of the fans will be tested to the absolute limit for quite a bit longer.

Written by: Total Arsenal.

Angry and hurt Wenger will get Arsenal to do us proud today

February 19, 2013February 19, 2013TotalArsenal

Today’s game against Bayern will show us what Wenger is all about. I expect us to play fantastically well and win with a margin of two goals against the Germans.

Wenger gets ridiculed a lot lately, and of course he deserves at least some of the criticism in the press and by a particular section of the fans. But he will prove to us all once again why he has been our manager for such a long period.

The players let him down badly on Saturday. Eight internationals, an experienced PL player, and two promising talents: all did not turn up. I have no doubt that Wenger is very disappointed in the players he sent out there against Blackburn, but he is normally not the sort of man to come out in public with strong criticism of his own players. However, quotes after the game indicate he feels let down by them:

‘The top level is about consistency in every single game and that’s what we could not show. Coming after the Sunderland game we came out with a flat performance and that shows that, mentally, we are not capable at the moment of preparing in exactly the same way for every game. I think we have a great team but this shows we still have to show more maturity on the mental front. We have to understand what it means to win big games. [Blackburn] was a big game for me.”

Wenger has also been irritated by the press and he decided to snap back today. All good in my opinion.

Lots of people have been talking up Bayern and with good reason, but our team is due a fantastic performance and with Sagna, Mertesacker, Wilshere, Cazorla, Theo and Podolski likely to return to the starting-11 tomorrow, we will see what our team is all about. Wenger will have made his feelings clear in the strongest terms to all our players, and he will demand a passionate, powerful and totally professional performance against Bayern. And he will get it from every player he will send out onto the pitch.

This is the team I reckon will start tomorrow:

There is so much quality in this team, and with the right focus and energy we will show the Germans, and the rest of Europe, what The Arsenal is all about. And I expect them to do us proud tomorrow, and to unite the fans once again.

And if I am wrong, you are welcome to come back to Bergkampesque and tell me what a deluded fool I am. 🙂

Written by: Total Arsenal.

How Arsenal should beat Bayern: tactics & ideal line-up

February 18, 2013February 18, 2013TotalArsenal

For those of you who don’t know this yet: Bayern Munich have spent every single day of the season at the top of the Bundesliga table. They currently have a record of 17 wins, 3 draws and 1 defeat; with 55 goals for and 7 against. They kept 19 clean sheets in 30 games in all competitions, and only once did they have less possession than their opponent (1-0 victory at Lille).

This season is certainly Bayern’s best in a very long time and it could become the best Bundesliga campaign ever.

So why are Bayern that good?

Key to their game is the last statistic I mentioned – possession. The man who runs the show in the middle of the park is Bastian Schweisteiger. In my opinion he has established himself as Bayern’s most important player over the last couple of years. Despite earning a lot of criticism after missing the penalty against Chelsea, and playing a very bad Euro 2012, he got back to full fitness and form in this season. He is an exceptional passer of the ball and directs the play to the wide areas most of the time. He also has a very good shot, and is never shy of joining the attack and appearing in the opponent’s box himself. He is simply perfect at running the show.

He also enjoys a good partnership with Toni Kroos, who plays directly in front of him. The young German has a very free role. He is a very good striker of the ball and will look for cut-backs or little one-twos and through balls, to set up chances for himself and the players around him. Both Schweinsteiger and Kroos move around a lot and they seem to be everywhere.

The most important aspect of Bayern’s style going forward is their wing-play. With Robben, Ribery, Müller and Shaqiri they have 4 wingers who have everything a winger needs: pace, trickery (Müller a little less), good crossing, good shooting from distance, and they all like to get into the box to score themselves.

Another key to their wing-play are their full-backs: David Alaba and Philipp Lahm. These two go on the attack whenever Bayern go forward and try to link-up with the winger ahead of them. They either create the space the winger needs or get a good cross, pass or shot away.

The man lurking for all those crosses and through-balls is their centre-forward. Mario Gomez played this role in the last two season scoring 80 goals in 97 games. This season Gomez’ faced a long injury break, and Bayern reacted before the season by bringing in Mario Mandzukic, who scored 16 in 24 games this season. Both of them score most of their goals from inside the box which is the final part of Bayern’s wing-play. These are two of the most prolific goal scorers from inside the box, and seem to be able to score out of every position with every part of their body.

All this going forward is only possible with a decent protection at the back. At this time last season Bayern had already conceded 14 goals and lost 5 games in the Bundesliga. The biggest change regarding this aspect has been the arrival of Javi Martinez. The Spaniard sits in front of the two CB’s and provides all the cover that Schweinsteiger and the full-backs need in order to go forward. On top of that he is very good on the ball himself and also has the ability to create chances with good build-up play from the middle of the park.

How to beat them

I think there are two teams we can learn a lesson from: Borussia Dortmund, who have beaten Bayern five times in a row before their draw in this Bundesliga season; and Chelsea, who of course won the Champions League Final against the German giants. Key to the successes over Bayern for both of them was their disciplined defending.

Their wingers had to work back more than they worked forward. They always doubled-up with their fullbacks to keep Bayern’s normally so effective wing-play to a minimum. This also left the opportunity to run counter attacks and this is exactly how we can hurt Bayern as well.

Our ideal line-up for the Bayern match:

I think that Arsenal should start against Bayern with a 4-2-3-1 formation because I cannot see us winning with only one holding midfielder. So I would slot Wilshere in next to Arteta, to stop Kroos and Schweinsteiger from operating through the middle, but also to double-up on the wings. In addition, Wilshere will be able to apply a lot of pressure on Schweinsteiger as soon as he gets the ball. Especially at the Euros, he made a lot of mistakes when he wasn’t given any time on the ball and that might be a factor we could capitalize on. Wilshere will be able to win a lot of balls in this position and play or run the ball forward.

The most likely way for us to win this match is on the break, which is why Theo should play up front. His pace and goal scoring form will be exactly what we need. I want to see Ox on the right because of his commitment towards defense. He will track back against David Alaba a lot more than Theo would and with his pace he will be a great support to Theo on the break. Podolski has shown time and time again for Germany how reliable he is on the left wing, when it comes to defending duties. He should also play, because he knows really well how most of his opponents play.

Podolski and Santi are not the quickest players, but should be great support on the break. Santi should also play attacking midfielder to direct the play, when we manage to get stuck in Bayern’s half. He seems to always find the right pass to put Theo, or Ox, or Pod into scoring position, and is very deadly himself, of course.

I would love to keep Mertesacker out of the starting line-up because of the pace of Ribery, Müller, Robben and Shaqiri (last two could feature as subs), but now that the Verminator has to play left-back there is no other option than to play him. With Mandzukic, Martinez, Dante and Boateng Bayern have 4 real targets for set pieces, but I think with Mertesacker, Vermaelen and Koscielny we have good cover.
Yes I haven’t mentioned our in-form striker Olivier Giroud yet. I think he is at his best in games where we control the game and can put a lot of balls into the box, but I just can’t see that happen.

I believe that Bayern will control the game and our main priority – even at home – should be counter attacking. Just like we did against Barcelona two season ago.

With the above formation and tactics we could beat Bayern, but I am really interested in hearing your views on whether, and how, we can beat them on Tuesday as well.

Come on You Gunners!

Finally, I want to thank the host of this blog for giving me the chance to express my opinion on our Champions League tie with Bayern Munich.

Written by: Nik (A Gooner based in Germany).