formation – Page 9 – Bergkampesque

Monreal & Gnabry instead of Gibbs & Jack? Ramsey to win it for Arsenal?

September 21, 2013September 22, 2013TotalArsenal

Arsenal vs the Orcs Pre-Match Report

That’s right the Stoke City Orcs have landed at Ashburton Grove, and this time it’s without their goblin manager Tony Pulis leading the charge. Under Pulis, Stoke played some absolutely deplorable football, so much so that their FIFA 2013 controls looked a little something like this:

This would be very annoying to any Stoke fan playing the game because an attempt at a low through ball would result in a sky ball hoof up to Crouch. But when you kill one, another equally evil manager, grows in their place…Mark Hughes. Mark Hughes has got them playing better football which would please the Stoke supporters. It’s something that should please Arsenal supporters as well because their old approach was our Achilles heel (RIP Delap’s towel). They are still a very dangerous team so Arsenal will need to be at their best today if they want to come away with the three points.

Let’s get in to it shall we:

Missing in Action:

Arsenal: Podolski (Hamstring), Ox (Knee), Arteta (Thigh), Diaby (Knee), Rosicky (Hip), Zelalem, Santi (Ankle), and Sanogo (back).

Bear with me here, now my theory is Santi is not in fact injured but he has been given time off. It’s not the first time Arsene has done something like this in the past. It is strange that Santi played the full 90 minutes against Chile and showed no sign of injury. It was also very strange that nothing was said about him until after the Sunderland game. Santi had a busy off-season with limited time off, so perhaps Arsene is being cautious and doesn’t want to run him into the ground this season. Arsene is also renowned for suggesting certain players are injured, in an effort to shelter them from reports suggesting they’ve been dropped. Now call me a conspiracy theorist all you want, but it does seem awfully coincidental that Santi goes missing right when Jack is fit and Ozil has been signed. Arsene would prefer the ‘injured’ story over endless stories and questions about Jack or Santi being ‘upset’ about dropping to the bench. I think if Ozil or Jack picked up an injury, Santi would make a miraculous recovery. Rested or injured? You decide!!!

Stoke City: Whelen (Hamstring), Muniesa (Groin/Pelvis), and Ness (Hip/Thigh) will miss this fixture.

Predicted Line-up:

I’m a bit torn for this game to be honest. We’ve got a good thing going at the moment but I’m a bit worried about some of our players entering the infamous ‘red zone’. Gone are the days where you could rotate your squad a little against lesser opposition. You can’t really get away with it anymore because every game is tough in the premier league. Gibbs has been in red hot form this season but based on his previous injury record (coupled with the ferocity of Stoke), I’d go with Monreal at left back. I’d give Jack a rest and put Gnabry out on the left. It may be a drop off in quality but that boy can play and could be an unknown quantity for Stoke. He scored a double midweek playing as a striker; add that to the match winner he scored last week and he’s in blistering form. I wouldn’t change much else though (partly because we have that many injuries so our options are limited, and I wouldn’t want to unsettle the squad too much.)

Previous Encounters:

Arsenal v Stoke 1-0

It took a deflected free kick from Lukas Podolski to see us over the line in this fixture. Although we were dominant in periods, Asmir Begovic denied us numerous times thanks to some brilliant keeping. We saw the emergence of newly signed LB Nacho Monreal, and based on the hype HH created from his excellent post Nacho did not disappoint. Shawcross did his best to intimidate the ref in an effort to overturn the goal (also thought he would have a go at Arteta to show just how big a w*nker he really is), but he did not succeed.

Have a look at the goal and aftermath here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKObQFVnq4M

Stoke v Arsenal 0-0

We were held to our second consecutive goalless draw. We defended well but despite taking over the game for large parts we were very toothless in attack. Santi was mesmerizing and Giroud nearly pinched it late with a magnificent lob attempt. You can see the highlights below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNvp9hQoisQ

Form Guide: Arsenal: : WWWWW Stoke: DWWWL

We’ve won 5 in a row now and seem confident in getting results when the heat is on (quite the change from previous seasons). Arsenal will be in a confident mood for this one.

Stoke have had a good start under Mark Hughes. They were unlucky to lose against Liverpool, they beat West Ham away, and they held ManchesterCity to a goalless draw.

This week I’ve dipped into the Arsenal Archive and pulled out this video clip. It’s the 1970-71 FA Cup semi-final against stoke city. Those old enough to enjoy it saw Peter Storey drag Arsenal back and force a replay (which we eventually went on to win!!!). Have a look at this article detailing how Arsenal denied Stoke FA Cup success in the 70s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3Sl5tmzbuM

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/stoke/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_8472000/8472714.stm

One to Watch:

Former Blackburn midfielder Steven N’Zonzi. I’ve found him officers; he’ll be at the Emirates on Sunday. Those who haven’t heard N’Zonzi is ‘being hunted by police for his connection with a roadside altercation with a cyclist.’ You can read all about it here:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2418523/Steven-Nzonzi-hunted-police-roadside-altercation-cyclist.html

I for one am glad I will not be at the Emirates for this one. The thought of getting mugged in the stalls by Pennant or N’Zonzi haunts me in my sleep. Those going to the game should jump on Arsenal direct; they’ve got a special on now for this game, here’s an image below:

In all seriousness though, N’Zonzi is a bulldog in midfield. Although he handed in a transfer request in the summer, he’s put his head down and stuck to the task. He won man of the match honours against both West Ham and ManchesterCity this season. He shackled Yaya last week…this week he has Ozil to deal with!

This week’s one to watch has to be AARON RAMSEY. I can’t say anything more about his season thus far that hasn’t been said already. He’s a menace all over the pitch thanks to his endless gut running, and more importantly he’s becoming a constant danger to the opposition. His importance to this squad can’t be exaggerated enough at the moment. With Giroud in top form (5 goals from 6 shots on target this season) and World Class Ozil on the pitch, we could fall in to the trap of becoming too over reliant on them. That sort of over reliance can easily be targeted by opposition managers. Aaron Ramsey isn’t allowing that to happen. Both he and Walcott will not allow opposition players to double or triple team Ozil. Bring in Santi and you have a nightmare scenario for any opposition manager. It’s the sort of situation which could see more and more teams drop off in the second half (good prediction midweek Alcide) as their press is stretched all over the pitch by Walcott, Ozil, Santi, Giroud, and Ramsey. We all know Ramsey’s history with Stoke so there is no need to explain why Aaron will be fired up for this one…and he’ll have a crowd full of supporters backing him every step of the way!

Key-Match up:

Arsenal vs Asmir Begovic

Before Begovic signed from Portsmouth in 2010 he was a keeper I wanted to see playing for Arsenal. While I am very happy with Szczesny, but Begovic is a top quality goalkeeper (probably not well liked in England considering he’s keeping Butland out), and he has proved it time and time again against us in the past. If he makes a couple of good saves early on, you’re going to have to pull something special out to get past him for the remainder of the game. Begovic could be the difference between a win or draw so let’s hope he’s having a bad day.

Pre-Match Finger:

This week’s finger goes to penalties!!! Like Szczesny they are getting on my nerves! It’s as though the umpires guess their decisions half the time because they aren’t in the correct position to be 100% certain. Please for the love of Christ (Dennis) get some 3^rd umpire technology. It’s not like it’s going to the slow the game down that much (some games you won’t even need to use it). Plus if you are going to overlook players rolling around on the ground and diving…it’s the least you can do! It’d kill two birds with one stone because we’d be almost 100% certain on the decision, and the refs can decide whether or not the person involved dived. It’s not fair that commentators can say “every forward does it”…it’s CHEATING!!!! The game should be doing all it can to cut it out and strengthen its image. I’m sick and tired of hearing “Man U won because player X went down in the box and player Z was sent off”. I don’t want to hear fossils whinge about the game changing either…it’s an improvement! The technology is there, USE IT!!!

Pre-Match pat on the back:

This week’s pat on the back is going to Arsene Wenger. It may be early days but he’s got the squad looking in tip top shape again. I don’t think there has been a manager in recent history that has copped as much flack as Arsene has. Once upon a time Arsenal fans adored Arsene, but as trophies dried up the supporter base began to turn. He’s not perfect, he’s not without fault but he’s still got his magic hat! He deserves to go out on top, and I hope this Arsenal team can start delivering for him!

‘Ask the opposition’ returns again this week. It is designed to get some friendly banter from our opposition fans and get their insight for the match ahead. This week the answers were kindly provided by Jowlermonkey and Waddos_Legends (both from the StokeCity board on www.not606.com . Let’s see what they’ve written for us this week:

1) You cleared out quite a few players during the transfer window. How do you rate your transfer window (ins and outs)?

JOWLERMONKEY: Glad to see the back of some players, fantastic that we now have a left back, needed to buy another striker.

WADDOS_LEGENDS: Our transfer window was quite good with the exception that we did not address one of our weakest positions and that is we needed two fresh young fresh strikers. Marko Arnautović was a great signing and he looks a beast so I’m really looking forward to what he can do in front of goal. We have another one coming in January from the USA, Juan Agudelo but we needed another sooner as we cannot score goals.

I was pleased to see a lot of the “Pulis Deadwood” players moved on and also pleased we at last bought in a recognised left back in Erik Pieters. Stephen Ireland was another great signing and the retention of Jermaine Pennant was another good piece of business. Loaning out Cameron Jerome for me to Crystal Palace was a mistake.

2) How is Mark Hughes travelling? Will he take you places? Better than Pulis?

JOWLERMOONKEY: I didn’t want Mark hughes, but said i’d give him his chances to hang himself. much better than Pulis.

WADDOS_LEGENDS: Early days yet to see if Hughes will take us places but we are certainly playing better football under Hughes than we ever did under Pulis. i actually feel confident going into certain games now especially away from home as before I looked on all away games as we were going to lose. Our current league position and points tally does suggest we are on the up!

The football under Tony Pulis was dire and towards the end he lost the Stoke crowd. The attendance is still suffering now and it will take a few seasons to change this back.

3) What player/position is your weakest?

JOWLERMONKEY: Strikers, neither good or hungry enough.

WADDOS_LEGENDS: As mentioned above our weakest position is in front of goal and Jon Walters as probably cost us 4 points so far this season so I would have to say him. Missed a 88 minute penalty at Liverpool this season away and 2 clear cut chances on Saturday against Manchester City.

The player just loaned out to Wigan Ryan Shotton is Stokes worst player now that is still technically on the books!

4) Which Arsenal player would you like and why?

JOWLERMONKEY: Wilshere, fast dynamic, good feet.

WADDOS_LEGENDS: The only Arsenal players I would like to see in the Stoke shirt would be either Ozil or Santi Cazorla, as I don’t think any other player would slot into our style of play and these 2 players are top players.

5) Which player/position do you feel is our weakest?

JOWLERMONKEY: Defence.

WADDOS_LEGENDS: I feel Arsenal are weakest at the back, can’t name one player in particular but this is definitely an area you struggle in hence why you brought in the ex-Stokie and old school friend of mine ” Steve Bould”.

6) Özil, will he live up to the hype?

JOWLERMONKEY: Fantastic player. Will need to be protected but has always produced the goods.

WADDOS_LEGENDS: Ozil already is showing his brilliance and will definitely live up to his reputation as a class act!

7) What is your prediction for the match?

JOWLERMONKEY: Hoping for a draw but you should beat us comfortably.

WADDOS_LEGENDS: Stoke have yet to get anything from the Emirates in the duration of our stay in the premier league. Again as i have said above I’m more confident this season and I predict a close game with 1-1 being the outcome and us picking up our first ever points there. No doubt Ryan Shawcross will be booed from start to finish as per for the “Ramsey Incident” but this helps him to lift his game and fire up his sparring partner Robert Huth!

Prediction:

Stoke have had an impressive start to the season but I do not see them troubling us at home. We’ve beaten them 5/5 at the Emirates, and Mark Hughes has lost his last 6 games at the Emirates (in that time he’s managed Blackburn, ManCity, Fulham, and QPR…how on earth does he keeping getting jobs??). Crouch will be isolated up front so they’ll only get joy out of set pieces (we’ll have to lift our game in this department because we let Marseille have a couple of cheapies midweek). A comfortable and assured performance should see Arsenal victorious 2-0.

For this week’s psychic prediction I contacted ‘Eagle Star’ for the third week. He better lift his game though otherwise I’m going to have to consult our very own Jgc-damus. Here are his responses:

Oz: Will Arsenal beat the Stoke City Orcs?

Eagle Star: Hmmmm 1-1 I feel.

Oz: The way they play it wouldn’t surprise me if they went for the draw. Will we concede from a set piece?

Eagle Star: Dangers…yes, score…no!

Oz: Can you please put a curse on Ryan Shawcross. I’m not sure what but maybe some Paranormal Activity type scares when he’s at home.

<insert Shawcross Scared pic>

Eagle Star: That’s not my area of expertise Oz but I can contact someone who is.

Oz: You’re a star Eagle…get it????

Eagle Star: <disconnected…and blocked>

What is your prediction?

Theo or Giroud…who will score?

Will we shut down their set piece game?

Written by: Oz Gunner

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Flamini or Jack, Koz to shackle Fletcher, Ozil’s debute? Sunderland pre-view

September 13, 2013TotalArsenal

Intro:

Welcome back BK’ers. Arsenal returns after another typically boring interlull. Just to recap:

Our players departed to various corners of the globe two weeks ago. Unfortunately for us the Earth is not flat so Arsene’s attempt to send Bendtner off the edge of it failed. The Great Dane did however inform Arsene that not only is he the world’s greatest striker, but after conquering England, he and his fellow Vikings have overtaken Europe after storming the shores on massive flotillas; and now he’s asked the kit designers to change his name to ‘Bendtner-the-Great’!

We beat our knuckle dragging rivals 1-0 thanks to this goal by GIROUD!!!!

Today we lock horns with Paolo Di Canio’s Sunderland. Although they’ve lost their past seven league games, Sunderland have had a decent record against us in recent seasons. They knocked us out of the FA Cup two seasons ago, we drew 0-0 on opening day last season, and we scrapped over the line with a 0-1 win in our last meeting. They are a different team this season, though. They’ve lost Mignolet and Sessegnon, but gained Mannone (best of luck, just not against us), Liverpool striker Borini, and Napoli defender Dossena.

Let’s get in to it shall we?

Missing in Action:

Arsenal: Podolski (Hamstring), Vermaelen (Back), Ox (Knee), Arteta (Thigh), Diaby (Knee), Rosicky (Hip), Zelalem (shame really, I would have liked to see him make a cameo against West Brom). Thankfully, Walcott is okay to play after he escaped injury following a tackle from Ukrainian defender Oleksandr Kucher. Sanogo will also miss the game (heaven forbid we need to chase victory in this one).

Sunderland: Lee Cattermole, Craig Gardner, Phillip Bardsley, Connor Wickham will all miss this fixture through injury. Wes Brown will most likely miss this one but with O’Shea missing due to suspension he may need to suit up.

Predicted Line-up:

Once again this should be best the available one. Ozil will make his debut in place of Rosicky. Santi will start out wide but drift in every now and then like he usually does with great success. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Flamini started in place of Jack, in fact I’d probably prefer if given Jack’s midweek involvement. The Gibbs/Nacho LB mystery still remains. I prefer Nacho in away games but I think Gibbs will start. If Ozil was settled in I’d be adventurous and go with Gnabry out wide instead of Santi, however, we need to assert ourselves early this season so a safety first approach should be in play.

Previous Encounters:

Sunderland v Arsenal 0-1

Arsenal took the lead at the 36’ mark thanks to a beautiful strike from our mighty Spaniard Santi Cazorla. Late replacement Jenkinson was sent off after 62’ thanks to a second yellow. After that we had to dig our heels in and fight to keep the Black Cats at bay. This was the game we first saw the partnership of Mertz and Sagna. Boy did Sagna do well on short notice.

See Santi’s goal here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfIE6tPykhU

Arsenal v Sunderland 0-0

A stubborn Sunderland could not be broken down in this one. Resolute defending and a shocking miss from new boy Giroud saw the game finish goalless. It’s fair to say we’ve seen better football matches than that one.

Form Guide: Arsenal: : WWWWL Sunderland: LWDLL

Four wins in a row and we are travelling nicely at the minute. A win against Tottenham should see spirits high in the Arsenal camp, not to mention the buzz created by Ozil.

Sunderland is yet to pick up a league win this season (2 losses and a draw). They did progress in the capital one cup after trailing by 2 goals against League One outfit MK Dons.

This week I’ve dipped into the Arsenal Archive and pulled out this video clip. It’s a collection of Tony Adams’ favourite FA Cup moments. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvczIuCn5YM

One to Watch:

Ex-ManCity footballer Adam Johnson will need to be shackled in this one. Despite the fact that I don’t rate him highly, he is still an incredibly gifted footballer. If Gibbs or Nacho give him space he could fire in some bullet crosses, and with Fletcher hovering in and around the area he should not be given an inch.

Club record signing Mesut Ozil will have all eyes on him today. Arsenal fans will be sitting on the edge of their seats, eyes popping out every time he goes near the ball. On the other hand, journalists will be sharpening their pencils as they prepare to label him a flop if he doesn’t break the game apart. All I know is I’m bloody excited. If he scores, Arsenal fans the world over could develop a repetitive strain injury in the wrist…fear not though we have two!

Key-Match up:

Steven Fletcher vs Laurent Koscielny

Last season Fletcher was Sunderland’s key signing in the transfer window. After a reasonably large sum of money was exchanged for the former Wolves striker, Fletcher shot down his critics by scoring 5 goals in 4 games. This won him the Barclay’s player of the month for September. Last week marked his first match back from injury and he did it in style scoring against CrystalPalace after coming off the bench (albeit in a loss). I don’t know what it is about Fletcher but he just seems to be one of those strikers that can make you pay if given the smallest sniff (almost Bent-esque). Koscielny along with his partner in crime big Mertz will have to be on guard for this one. I have no doubt ‘Bosscielny’ is up for the challenge though, he’s fast becoming a world class defender. If he played for Bayern or Barca he’d probably already be labelled one.

Key Stat: Last season: Koscielny finished second in the league for aerial duels won (only 2% behind the monster Samba, 6% more than Cahill, and 14% more than Vermaelen). Have a look at his tackle and interception stats:

Pre-Match Finger:

This week’s finger goes out to…International breaks! I’m sick of them! Yes I know Australia is useless at football (6-0 to Brazil…way to go guys) but there are just too many negatives. We at Arsenal know better than most that when our players jet-set across the globe not everyone will come back in one piece. If I decide to watch an International match I’ll do it to keep an eye out for our players. I don’t care if they score 6 goals! I’d rather them sit on the sideline or hover near the corner flag staying away from the action. With our thin squad the last thing I want to hear is Ozil/Santi/Kozzer has come back injured so we’re going to have to rub horse placenta on him. Arsene must lose plenty of sleep when his players fly the coop.

My next bone to pick with International games is their timing! We build up a head of steam, we’re choc full of confidence, 4 wins on the trot then it’s “I’ll see you in two weeks, Arsene.” Worst of all the injuries and roadblocks seem to happen during friendlies, cheers FIFA we didn’t need Ozil for 6 months anyway. Lastly the controversy; every time there’s an international round something happens that takes away from the game itself. We might care a bit more if we didn’t have to witness unreliable refs, diving, handball decisions not called, and worst of all…racism.

Then once in a lifetime a miracle happens…Australia make it past the group stages of the World Cup. A nation unites and everyone screams “Lucas Neill is the best defender in the WORLD!!!!” (funny thing is, Liverpool actually fell for it!). It’s a change from the usual “Soccer is a game for girls: they’re weak, they dive etc.” Then Australia gets knocked out by Italy thanks to a dive. It’s okay though, because it’s an excuse for the whole country to get drunk and cheer for a game no one normally cares about. The next day it’s “who cares, soccer is shit anyway.” To be continued…if Australia become half decent again.

As for Zidane, you can have a finger too! Suggesting Ozil left Real Madrid because he “lacked the will to fight”…buzz off you imbecile, perhaps he should go around head butting players then?! Although, I would have been a lot happier if he head-butted Bale and Ronaldo before he departed the club.

Pre-Match pat on the back:

This week’s pat on the back is going to Jack Wilshere for copping the criticism he received after his display against Ukraine. He was subjected to some rough tackling during the game (when isn’t he?) but the backlash from the game has been completely ridiculous. It’s the English media’s fault not Jacks. They’ve built him up to be Jesus Mk II.

But when he has a bad game he’s no longer the ‘Super-kid’ he was once heralded as; instead, they start questioning his ability or wonder if his injuries have left him as a shadow of his former self. The good thing about Jack, though, is we know he can shake it off and come back fighting. He’ll dust off those injury cobwebs and make those who doubted him look very senseless.

‘Ask the opposition’ returns again this week. It is designed to get some friendly banter from our opposition fans and get their insight for the match ahead. This week the answers were kindly provided by Adam from www.a-love-surpreme.com and Paolo’s Pecs (a Sunderland moderator for www.not606.com . Let’s see what they’ve written for us this week:

1) How do you rate your transfer window (ins and outs)?

ADAM: There’s been a massive turnaround over the summer, with 14 new signings and 7 first-team departures. Yet the transfer window overall has been greeted with a mixed reception as some of the deals feel like they are desperate and only short term solutions to the problems. In saying that, Jozy Altidore looks promising as does Italian international Emanuele Giaccherini and Czech right-back Ondřej Čelůstka. On the other hand, it was sad to see Danny Rose return to Tottenham and Simon Mignolet’s departure is like watching your girlfriend leave you and yet still be on good terms.

PAOLO: I think we have found some good talent, but I do worry that some of the lads are only a slight improvement, when with the financial backing we have we should be going forward in leaps. We’ve lost a little of our pre-season optimism already, Cabral looked superb v Fulham then hasn’t figured, Altidore looks a handful but not a natural finisher, funnily, the last minute unknown Celutska looks a real gem, as does Diakite when used.

2) Can Vito Mannone fills Mignolet’s shoes between the sticks?

ADAM: It looks like Mannone will be providing competition for Keiren Westwood this season who’s waited patiently for a run in the first team. Mannone looked decent in pre-season however neither him nor Westwood will be as good as Mignolet in my opinion.

PAOLO: Not on any level. I had a chat with Vito in Tesco (bit surreal) and he seems a decent lad, I reserve judgement on him, but I think replacing Mig will take years, we are all seeing his impact at Anfield already.

Mignolet should be an Arsenal player, simple as that, even we said it ‘he should go to Arsenal, Liverpool are not good enough for him’. We’re not a bitter bunch at all…

3) You’ve had a slow start to the season, how do you think Paolo Di Canio he travelling? Will he take you places?

ADAM: I think Paolo will be either be a huge success (Europe) or we’ll be in a relegation dogfight, there’s no in between with him. Hopefully it will be a success but at the moment it’s not looking good.

PAOLO: Jesus, how long is your column… There are minor divides already, I’m still all for, love the natural enthusiasm and agree that discipline is needed. Some say he’s OTT, and there points are justified, some say he is short tactically, and we have failed to impact 2 of 3 games.

I do think he’s learning, and I do think, given patience, he will get us moving. How far? Top 10 regulars maybe, not this season though.

4) What player/position is your weakest?

ADAM: We lack creativity in central midfield although hopefully the signing of Ki Sung-Yueng will change that. We also look very light defending set-pieces as there’s not much physical presence in the team.

PAOLO: Centre mid, we can’t get a balance and lack creativity. Seb, who I like, is not worth his shirt at the minute, he is not strong enough or quick enough in the head to play CM.

5) Which Arsenal player would you like and why?

ADAM: Laurent Koscielny or Mesut Özil would be nice but realistically I’m a big fan of Rosicky and he’d be perfect for us, given our need for an attacking centre-midfielder. Despite smashing a penalty over against us a few years ago, his composure, long shots and determination to come back from a long injury have always impressed me.

PAOLO: Cazorla, driving force, creativity. We are desperate for that. I lived in Marbella for 3 years, watched Santi many times, and the man is a magician at times. Top lad too, used to just turn up at local schools and kick ball about with kids. His son, supposedly, is ridiculously talented, aged 5 or 6 or whatever. Sign him up!

6) Which player/position do you feel is our weakest?

ADAM: Arsenal had arguably one of the tightest defences ever under George Graham but Arsene Wenger’s era has been plagued with defensive frailties. Plus, there’s very little cover at the back as Sagna while playing well there so far isn’t a natural CB and Thomas Vermaelen is struggling for form. Arsenal don’t seem to like it when teams are rough and physical against them either although that is slowly changing now.

PAOLO: I think you lack a genuine holding midfielder, and think both of your wing backs can be got at. CB I think you have good players, but none of them perfectly complement each other.

7) Özil, will he live up to the hype?

ADAM: He made a very successful transition from the Bundesliga to La Liga and plays well at International level so he should be a huge success; I just hope he struggles on his debut!

PAOLO: Yes, and then some. Phenomenal natural talent, if he is half a Bale, I’m a fit blonde. He, Santi, Jack one midfield? I will be covering my eyes a lot on Saturday.

8) What is your prediction for the match?

ADAM: We have to put on a good performance eventually and that may be due against Arsenal. We have a decent record against you at home as well so (as long as Özil isn’t at his best) I’m going for 1-1.

PAOLO: I’m an eternal optimist, you have to be following Sunderland. 3-0 Arsenal…

Prediction:

I think we’ll account for Sunderland pretty easy. They have a very unsettled squad at the moment, and while we also have a plethora of injuries our squad seems pretty settled. I think Ozil will be a handful and I look forward to seeing both he and Santi working in tandem. I’m going to go with a very solid 0-3 victory, with Giroud scoring a brace early and Santi getting on the score sheet late.

For this week’s psychic prediction I contacted ‘Eagle Star’ again (he thinks I write for le-grove so if things go sour BK will not suffer his magical wrath. Terry may suffer from more warts on his pecker. But it’s uncertain whether that can be attributed to magic, or just the ‘dark arts’ strip club he works at on weekends). Here are his responses:

Oz: Will Arsenal dispatch Sunderland this week?

Eagle Star: Thank you for coming back. Here for some more free predictions huh?! After our last discussion I watched the Tottenham game and I must say Arsenal played well. I’m seeing a 0-2 victory.

Oz: sounds good. Our new signing Ozil is going to debut in this one, how will go?

Eagle Star: I think he’ll come close to scoring.

Oz: Now you predicted we’d sign 4 players after the Tottenham game, what happened to the other two?

Eagle Star: As I keep telling that pest James Bond Arsenal tried to but couldn’t close.

Oz: So you’re JB’s insider?

Eagle Star: ….I’ve said too much, see you next week Oz.

What is your prediction?

Will Ozil make a dream debut?

Can Mertesacker and Kozzer keep Fletcher at bay?

Written by: Oz Gunner

Giroud injured – Who to play: Pod, Bendtner, Sanogo, Akpom or Theo?

September 10, 2013September 10, 2013TotalArsenal

Giroud, Giroud, Giroud is on fire: but what are we going to do if he gets injured?

Among fellow Gooners, the overriding feeling with regards to our current team is that Arsenal are now very strong in midfield, good to very strong at the back, but a bit light in attack.

The big question we are all asking ourselves is what we are going to do if Giroud (knock on your mini-hampton Glic) gets injured.

There will be a new post later this evening, but for the sake of a bit discussion, I would like to ask BK readers to tell us who we should play instead of Giroud and why.

Before you do so, however, I would like to point out that Giroud’s role/contributions in our current team/line up/system of football are as follows:

Giroud’s main role is to be the central attacking hub up-front: he is the pivot to many of our attacking moves and provides his fellow strikers and midfielders with a ‘base’ up-front. For that he needs to be good at playing with his back towards the opposition’s goal, not get outmuscled easily, be able to shield the ball well, have a good first touch and pass the ball accurately. It is fair to say that OG is not the finished article in these areas, but he is constantly making progress;
Although OG will always be judged on his goals, in our current system we should also judge him on his assists, as well as his ability to make space for others and allow them to join our attack. The latter is a lot harder to measure, but is nevertheless key to this role in our current formation/system of football;
As a result, we should look to replace an injured Giroud with a player who can do the same, and not focus entirely on the ability to score goals or produce assists;
Giroud puts himself about across the pitch, is a force in defending set-pieces for us and continuously works hard to put pressure on the opposition defenders and midfielders.

You might believe there are more attributes/aspects Giroud adds to our team, and if so, please share them with us.

But, taking the above into account, and assuming that Arsene will want to continue with our current 4-2-1-3 system as much as possible, who should replace Giroud in case of injury, and why: Akpom, Bendtner, Pod, Sanogo or Theo, or….?

Also, if you would like to make your predictions for the coming season, please go to:

https://bergkampesque.com/2013/09/07/arsenal-to-win-the-treble-manchester-united-to-finish-fifth-benteke-season-top-scorer-southampton-to-win-fa-cup-make-your-predictions-here/

Finally, to support a locally based new band, have a look at this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6i0736Nm5og

Written by: TotalArsenal.

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What to do with Lukas Podolski?

August 25, 2013August 25, 2013TotalArsenal

Note for TA: this blog was written prior to yesterday’s game against Fulham.

How to get the best out of Podolski: Combine him with Gibbs and Ramsey!

Back in 2012 when Arsenal announced the signing of Lukas Podolski well before the opening of the transfer window, I was more than excited. The prospect of him playing alongside Theo and RVP convinced me that we were well on the way to concluding our trophy drought. However, the cruel nature of fate made sure that that summer window didn’t go as I hoped. I won’t go into details lest I awaken sleeping demons.

Anyway, my point is, even though we ended up losing RVP, in the back of my mind I knew that even though Poldi wasn’t as good, he could go a long way in replacing his goals. His first season was satisfactory at best. He started well but as the season wore on he seemed to lose his ability to influence the proceedings of a game. He was then dropped from the starting eleven and spent the rest of the season as a substitute. His goals didn’t dry up as his finishing ability is currently second to none in our team. Towards the end, injuries and suspensions to fellow attackers meant that he was our starting striker for the last three games; and to be honest he didn’t do badly.

The new season has begun and it is obvious that Wenger has picked up where he left off last season. Poldi has been involved in both games but only as a very late substitute. For a man who has over a century of international caps before the age of 30, and for one of the world’s best national sides, it is quite bizarre how his club career is panning out. In a time when Arsenal’s squad is thread bare owing to departures and injuries, Poldi’s omission is more than just a little baffling. But I do understand Wenger’s dilemma.

Poldi’s case is a strange one. On one hand, Podolski is one of the best finishers around. Even when he is having a poor game, for him it usually still is ‘one chance one goal’. He is also quite the crosser, especially from that left flank. On the other hand he has little to no influence on a game and therein lies his problem. Podolski’s movement is poor wherever he is played. He doesn’t know how to make runs, has no discernible dribbling ability and his pace is average at best. Podolski seems to spend 90% of his time on or around the halfway line, whether he is played on the left flank or as our target man. Every single time he is played up front the situation arises where a full back will make a run down the flank, but when he gets to the opposition box Podolski is nowhere to be seen and has no intention of getting into the box.

He has no grasp of how a striker should move whatsoever. This makes the team play around him. On the flank, Gibbs does a better job as a winger than the German. This, to me, is the reason why Poldi is second choice. It seems that his best position is as a second striker in a 4-4-2 formation, where he would play between the hole player and the main striker, because there his movement is limited but opportunities to shoot are plenty. Sadly, that is not how we play.

However, I have another suggestion. Wenger can start him on the left but he drifts inwards. Yesterday’s game against Fenerbahce showed that this can work so long as it is Gibbs who plays behind him. Gibbs was outstanding on that left flank, sending in crosses and even getting a goal. Ramsey was also outstanding, covering him perfectly when he went forward. This means that in this set up, Gibbs can do all the wing-work while Poldi drifts in, without having the pressure of being the main CF on him.

Whatever Wenger does about him, he should do it soon, because Podolski’s stature is such that he is not a bench warmer. If this continues, it is very conceivable that he will look for game time elsewhere.

Written by: Marcus.

Pod delivers, Giroud, Rosicky & Theo show their team-value, Santi and Ramsey class: Fulham Match Report

August 24, 2013August 24, 2013TotalArsenal

We’re only happy when it rains – We’re only happy when it gets complicated! 😉

I was not very confident for our encounter with Jol’s Fulham today. I believed a combination of our fatigue from playing/travelling midweek and Fulham’s good start, as well as an ‘in-your-faces’ approach to the game by them, could prove too much for us. I was hoping for a win but counted on a draw.

My biggest concern were the lack of defensive midfield skills and formational indiscipline, as was so apparent against Villa last weekend. But I did not need to worry, as I had somewhat forgotten that Arsenal play more compact and disciplined in away fixtures compared to our home games, with defence and midfield moving up and down the pitch as a well-drilled double-unit, leaving very little space between the lines. This meant Fulham were given very little chance to penetrate the centre of our midfield and pounce on our potential frailties there.

It also helped that we played with three in midfield, where Fulham tried to play in a more traditional 4-4-1-1 formation; as a result, the Cottagers were often outnumbered, outmanoeuvred and outsmarted by our boys today. It was clear that Arsenal are a team and Fulham are a collection of individual players who still need to get used to each other.

Our team:

First Half

Arsenal started with the right tempo and clearly had the bit between the teeth. After ten minutes, Rosicky produced a fine ball over the Fulham defence to Theo; the Englishman did not hesitate for a moment and shot towards goal from within the box, but Stockdale was equally responsive and made a decent save. Arsenal then put a lot of pressure on Fulham with a number of Walcott corner kicks in quick succession, and it was really good to see that we were a real threat from these set-pieces.

It was also good to see that Szczesny was successful in finding OG on a number of occasions, but unfortunately the Frenchman’s headers did not end up near a fellow Arsenal player in most instances.

We were playing well and dominating early proceedings, but it still needed a bit of fortune to get the ball past the inspired Stockdale. Ramsey tried a shot from well outside the box but OG was in the way, despite him trying to make himself sparse. The Welshman’s drive hit Giroud’s leg, which fortuitously led to the Frenchman assisting himself. He pounced on his gift like a tiger and lifted the ball over the goalie with both style and composure: 1-0 to the good guys!

As can be expected, this early adversity gave Fulham new impetus to have a real go at Arsenal in this game, and we lost a bit of our initial concentration and intensity of play. However, Szczesny was focussed and decisive when he had to be and made two fine, instinctive saves from efforts by Taarabt and Duff in quick succession.

Good link up play by OG then led to a decent shot with the outside of his foot by Santi from outside the box, but it was not hard or precise enough to trouble Stockdale. At this stage, Cazorla was still looking a bit rusty, and he gave away a dangerous free-kick just outside our box. Our wall was poor but somehow we got away with it as Riise’s ball is smothered in the wall, and a relieved Szczesny can make an easy save.

During the second part of the first half, Arsenal start to look a bit tired and Fulham find more and more a way through the centre of our midfield. Luckily, Taarabt is desperate to shoot himself from outside the box on a number of occasions when there were better options for him, and all his efforts are wasted or dealt with by our Pole in goal.

Ramsey picks up an unnecessary yellow card which put him in a precarious position for the rest of the game. Luckily, the team played some fine counter football and especially Theo showed great composure and drive at this stage of the game, although his ball to Gibbs, after a run to the Fulham box all the way from midfield, was the wrong option.

Cazorla also started to find his feet and composure in the latter part of the first half. He was more and more enjoying his free role, and when he found himself not far outside the Fulham box with the ball, he had the vision to place a precise ball into Theo’s path. The Englishman takes an instant shot which is parried by Stockdale, albeit towards the outside of the Fulham box. Podolski is at the right place and the right time – after he started the attack in the first place with his ball to Santi – and shoots the ball high and precise into the Cottagers’ net: 2-0! And the fans sang with all their heart: ‘He scores when he wants’ 🙂

The goal was reminiscent of a Bergkamp goal more than a decade ago:

Second Half

Fulham came out with renewed desire and impetus – Jol is good at pep-talk – hoping to score an early goal in the second half, as to get the crowd behind them and start an onslaught on the tired legs and minds of our Gunners. But it is all quite toothless and Jol’s substitutions also do not have much impact, at least initially.

We start to look quite tired after sixty minutes, but once again our attackers come to the rescue. OG collects a ball brilliantly from defence at the half way line with three fine touches. Once again, Theo is there to collect his pass and drive forward towards the Fulham box. Theo plays the ball to Santi who takes it to the by-line, after which he lays it back to the onrushing Podolski. The German is allowed to take a first touch which enables him to trigger his brilliant left cannon of a foot for a well placed, and yet very hard, shot into the keeper’s left corner: 3-0 to the yellow and blues, and game well and truly over! 😀

The fans go crazy and serenade the likes of OG, Ramsey and Podolski with great passion: you can sense the happiness of the away support all the way into our living rooms. As John Lennon sang: Happiness is a warm Gun(ner). 🙂

Fulham do not give up entirely, and despite some very fine positioning and reading of the game by both BFG and Sagna throughout the game, they get caught out for once by a bit of magic from Berbaflop. The naturally blasé Bulgarian received the ball with his back to the goal near the by-line; he takes a touch, turns and shoots/passes towards goal – all in one, smooth move. BFG is too slow to react and Szczesny is only able to get his hands to it, but he parries it across his goal line, where Bent is very grateful to slot the easiest of chances into the net: 1-3.

Bent, apparently a big Arsenal supporter, has now scored against the mighty Red and White with five different clubs. I wonder how he feels about this unenviable record?! 😕

Fulham tried to push for a second goal after that but Arsenal brought on Jack and Nacho to firm up our midfield and defence. There were even further chances for us to score a fourth goal, but especially Theo lacked the killer-instinct of The Pod to take full advantage of his own hard work as well as the opportunities that came his way.

Conclusions:

The Pod announced himself onto the new season with two goals of the highest quality.
Giroud, Rosicky and Theo worked very hard, and often unselfishly, for the team today, and especially the Englishman showed a different side to his game against Fulham.
Santi grew into the game and together with Ramsey he was real class today: both produced a master class in modern midfield football play and made the likes of Sidwell and the former Spud-Smurf look very ordinary.
When Arsenal play away, we are more compact and disciplined in our defensive duties, and as a result, we appear to be less dependent on having a strong DM in our line-up. However, it remains to be seen whether this is the case against the stronger, and more settled teams.
Sagna impressed once again at CB and it looks like he and the BFG could form a very fine partnership if need be.
The FB’s, Jenks and Gibbs, played with good discipline and were full of energy and enthusiasm throughout the game.
Today’s game was ample evidence that we have a number of attackers who can score and produce assists, which makes it hard for the opposition to eliminate our attacking threats. This could become a real strength again this season.
The team already has good fitness levels, the players find each other relatively easily at this stage of the season, and there is a really good togetherness in the team.
More players are required to add strength in depth.
The team would still benefit from a quality attacker: especially a winger who can also play in the middle, or a nr.10 who can also play on the wing, would be very welcome.

A good game to watch, some pride restored and some real pluses to take from today.

Written by: TotalArsenal.

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Arsenal’s 2013-14 formation options: With Suarez and without him

August 15, 2013August 15, 2013TotalArsenal

What is Arsenal’s ideal formation and starting XI this season?

Is Suarez coming or not? Who will replace Gervinho? Why haven’t we bought a DM? These questions have been asked too often over the past few weeks. So let’s bring the focus back to what should be most important: what happens ON the field.

There are infinite options for how a team lines up on the field. Ideally, the formation a team uses is specially designed to get the best out of the players the team has. The 4-3-3 that Arsenal currently uses was designed to really get the best out of two players in particular, Robin van Persie and Cesc Fabregas. However, both of these players are gone now and the question has been asked since the departure of van Persie: should Arsenal change formation to get the best out of the players we still have?

In my opinion, there are a few formations Arsenal could use to get the best out of our current players, but some depend on whether Suarez arrives or not. Therefore, there are two scenarios: with Suarez, and without Suarez.

With Suarez:

Suarez’s ability to play as a second striker (also known as a supporting striker, or SS), gives Arsene the option of lining up with two forwards who could play well off each other. There are pros and cons to every line up.

Possibility 1:

Pros:

1) Giroud’s excellent link up play will create lots of chances for both Suarez and himself.

2) Allows Santi to play out on the left (arguably his best position).

Cons:

1) Rosicky has no spot in this line up.

2) Santi and Walcott (along with our other wingers) would have to work a lot harder defensively.

3) Suarez has to take less shots and be more of a team player with lots of passing (not necessarily all bad, but could reduce his goal talley).

This line up has more cons than pros, but allows for a very dangerous attacking two, and possibly a more solid defense with the wingers being forced to play further back. Santi could also play as an SS with Poldi or Ox on the left. Also, Poldi and Suarez both can player either SS or ST. Finally, we could have Wilshere as part of the “defensive” two in the midfield and not have him worry as much defensively because we would have more defensive wingers.

Possibility 2:

Pros:

1) A dangerous front three with many different players who could play in a multiple of those positions.

2) Our wingers wouldn’t have to work as hard defensively (a pro for Santi out left more than anyone else).

3) Rosicky still has a spot in the team.

Cons:

1) Without a strong DM, it’s still a risk to play Jack as one of the two in the DM pivot.

2) We have no World Class AM like we used to have with Fabregas.

This is essentially the formation we play now, but with the option of Suarez anywhere across the front three. It has fewer cons than pros, but we still lack the WC AM really required to unlock the full potential of this formation. If we brought Cesc back, this would be our perfect formation. This formation could also have Rosicky at AM, Ox on either wing, Poldi in the middle, Suarez in the middle, etc.

Possibility 3:

Pros:

1) A more solid defensive midfield.

2) We could get the best out of multiple attacking midfields (Suarez/Santi, Suarez/Rosicky, Rosicky/Santi, etc).

3) Our outside backs could go forward more freely.

Cons:

1) Basically no room for the wingers in our squad.

2) Not much aerial service for Giroud.

3) Suarez would have to play a deeper role.

This would be a very strange change of formation for us, but it has a good number of pros and cons. It would give us lots of attacking power through the middle, but it basically eliminates wingers from our team. However, with the Ox’s and Santi’s ability to play AM and Poldi’s and Theo’s desire to play ST, we wouldn’t necessarily be entirely removing them from the team. The strangest and least likely of the three, but maybe it could be an option in games against teams with very weak midfields?

Without Suarez:

With the Wenger’s desire to not spend, we may end up with no signings (or at least, not more than just Sanogo). Wenger says this squad could win the title, but maybe part of the reason he thinks that is because of a new secret formation he has up his sleeve? Let’s explore our options.

Possibility 1:

Pros:

1) This is a formation the team is familiar with.

2) This allows Santi to play freely.

Cons:

1) Still no WC AM.

2) A relatively weak defensive midfield.

3) A lack of options up front.

This is basically the same formation as last year. Obviously changes could be made like Rosicky in the middle and so on.

Possibility 2:

Pros:

1) A solid defensive midfield.

2) Space on the wings for the outside backs.

3) We could get the best out of multiple attacking midfields (Suarez/Santi, Suarez/Rosicky, Rosicky/Santi, etc).

Cons:

1) Basically no room for the wingers in our squad.

2) Not much aerial service for Giroud.

This is the same as the 3^rd formation with Suarez, but this time minus him. A strange formation, but it could be used in times when we need a goal or against teams with a weak midfield. More of a formation you’d use in times of need than a regular thing. Not ideal without Suarez.

Possibility 3:

Pros:

1) We would be more solid defensively.

2) Allows Jack to play more with less risk defensively.

Cons:

1) The front three would have to do most of the creating and would be very isolated.

2) The connection between the midfield and front three is weak.

This formation is not perfect, but would allow Jack and Ramsey to make space in the hole between the oppositions’ wingers and fullbacks. This would also allow Jack to play with less risk defensively. This could work well and we could be countered on less, or it could backfire and leave us horribly exposed depending on the way this formation is played.

Overall, the best option is probably to not get tied to one formation. The first and second formations with Suarez are probably the best two, but neither is perfect. The best formation would almost be 4-2-2(wide)-1-1, if Wenger could find a way to make the very loose midfield compact defensively.

I’ll leave the question to you guys: pick your ideal starting 11 and formation, one with Suarez and one without (it doesn’t have to be one of the ones I mentioned above). Do NOT include room for other signings in either of those line ups.

This post in meant to get people away from the TW for a little while so everyone remains sane (at least for one more day). 😉

Thanks for reading. 😀

Written by: Dylan.

Message from TotalArsenal:

All bloggers, regulars and new ones, are invited to join Bergkampesque this season for the UMF League AND/OR the BK BOING! FF League. Please check out these links for more info and how you can join us.

https://bergkampesque.com/umf-explained/

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Go on, join us for the fun, pride and prizes, and it is all free! 😛

Did we finally see the strong squad Wenger has been on about?

August 13, 2013August 13, 2013TotalArsenal

Here are my thoughts on Arsenal’s final pre-season friendly against Premier League rivals, Manchester City.

In today’s match, Arsenal started slow and ended slow, but really played some great football for the middle 60 minutes of the game.

Our first goal was an early one. ManCity was putting us under huge pressure and it seemed as though we were going to be torn apart, but Arsenal wasn’t going to just lie down and die. Aaron Ramsey took the ball off the foot of a City player, ran at the City midfield, got his head up, and played a through ball right onto Walcott’s foot. The pass was incredible: perfectly weighted, right to Theo’s foot, and it was a pass that took great vision to spot. However, the run dictates the pass; and Walcott’s run was brilliant. Theo was patient (which was important so that he wasn’t offside), waited for Clichy to turn, and as the ball was played he used his speed to make a diagonal run across the face of Clichy, go in on goal, and chip Joe Hart. Great run, great pass, great finish.

Our second goal would again see Ramsey and Walcott combine to embarrass Joe Hart once more. The City midfield was relaxed and Aaron made a run into the space between Manchester’s midfield and defenders. Santi played a straight forward ball to him, and rather than try to be fancy and dribble through the defenders, Aaron played a quick ball back to Theo; Theo one touched it back to him right through two defenders, and Rambo rounded the keeper and placed the ball calmly into the net. Ramsey and Walcott both looked very mature, calm, and unselfish for this goal which was fantastic to see from two players who have been known to dribble too much.

Not long after that, Arsenal would grab a third. City were slowly passing around the ball in our half, one of our defenders made a good tackle, the ball rolled to Santi’s foot, and Santi played a quick ball to Theo. Theo received the ball and quickly turned. He saw he had space and ran with the ball down the touchline. He saw the chance to play a long ball and sliced a humongous cross all the way to the other side of the field, putting so much power on it that he actually fell over. Giroud saw the ball coming, opened up, touched it by the City defender, and chipped Joe Hart: a world class finish for a striker who looks set for a big season.

Giroud would later score a beautiful volley, but it would be called offside. It would’ve been another Walcott assist and it was indeed a beautiful cross from him. However, an interesting part of all of these chances is how quickly we turned defense into offense, something some say we’ve lacked without a true DM. However, Ramsey especially is learning how to do this very well, and bringing in Gustavo would give us another player who is absolutely brilliant at doing just that: something to make note of. 😉

City would pull one back in the 79^th minute. A long through ball saw Negredo touch the ball past Koscielny and calmly finish the chance. In fairness, Arsenal had made a large number of changes and most of them were youngsters, but that doesn’t excuse Kos’ relaxed defending on this goal. We’ll give him that one, though, as he had a great game overall. Let’s hope this doesn’t happen when we play them in the league, though.

A final interesting point was that Sebastian Perez made his debut for Arsenal in this friendly, but without officially signing for Arsenal (or at the least, it hasn’t been announced yet). Perez looked very committed to Arsenal already though; even picking up a very professional yellow card to stop a Manchester attack. For those who don’t know, Perez is a 20 year old Columbian defensive midfielder on a week’s trial at Arsenal. He looked fairly impressive with a few smart turns and tackles, but from what I saw he looked more like a box-to-box midfielder than a DM.

However, all I’ve seen of him was this 23 minute debut, and I did hear that he started as a number 10 and slowly moved his way back through the midfield to DM, so that could explain it. I expect he’ll be signed soon, and that’ll be a very nice signing, but for the future.

Speaking of which, Wenger made comments after the game, admitting that our squad is thin. This seemed odd to me, as it would have been the perfect time to gloat about how his squad was “capable of winning the title”. However, it’s good to see Wenger admit this, and it seems as though he is ready to make not just one, but a few signings.

Overall, the team played well on Saturday and hopefully this win will inspire the team and lead to us starting the season strong.

For now, here are some questions:

1. How did you think our squad looked on Saturday?

2. How many signings do you think Wenger will make?

3. Can this squad handle the fixtures that lead up to deadline day without reinforcements?

Thanks for reading. 😀

Written by: Dylan.

Gibbs, Nacho, Sagna, Vermaelen: who could be our ‘New DM’?

July 29, 2013July 29, 2013TotalArsenal

Do Arsenal already have a new ‘Beast of a DM’ in their midst, and will he break up the wall of RamTeta?

With Coquelin on loan, Frimpong disappeared in to the background, and no news of a new signing, we are looking rather thin in the double DM-pivot at the moment. Wenger said this week there was a lot of competition for the midfield positions, but I cannot agree with him from a skill-set point of view; how many of our midfielders can actually defend?

The wall of RamTeta is likely to form the core of our midfield once again next season. Many are not entirely happy with this, and want a typical beast of a DM to boss the midfield whilst the rest join our attack as much as possible. Although I would really like to see how Ramsey and Arteta will fare next season, I also want us to get a proper, yet capable of football, DM this summer.

We have discussed the external options in previous posts and we might well still get a DM: your guess is better than mine.

But as others have mentioned on BK in previous comments, there are one or two, or even three or four potential internal options for this crucial position. I am looking for a player who can defend first and for all: strong on the ground and in the air; he also has a fine engine with tons of stamina; has Presence!; reads the game, and positions himself, well; is a decent to good passer of the ball; and ideally has a fantastic long distance shot too.

My four internal candidates are:

Gibbs
Nacho
Sagna
Vermaelen

Gibbs

Our young English LB is a versatile player with plenty of scope for growth. Both Gibbs and Nacho are too good in my opinion to be back-up for each other, and I would not be surprised if we see them play together regularly in the future. I can see Gibbs do the DM position, although I reckon he might miss presence and be too injury prone for such a ‘body on the line’ position. But he could be further developed into a DM by Arsene…

Nacho

Our one and only January signing has really impressed me, even though he is not the fastest of LB’s I have seen. I love his toughness, defending skills, ability to read the game, and general attitude. Monreal would have the Presence! to put fear into the opposition and he is a tough tackler and battler in the air; he is also a good passer of the ball and very organised/disciplined. It remains to be seen, though, whether he can read the game, and position himself effectively, in midfield.

Sagna

Our French monsieur Reliable is a tough defender who reads the game well. He has plenty of Presence! and stamina and, as he has shown in recently friendly games, is a good communicator. Bacary is also a decent passer of the ball and offers forward thrust if needed. Is it time to move him into a more central position i.e. CB or DM?

Vermaelen

Many on BK have suggested to make TV our DM. Apparently, Wenger has said that TV will remain our captain, and as a captain needs to play, and Koz and BFG seem to be our first choice CB-pairing, it makes you think whether the Belgian could be turned into a DM…. Tommy has everything for it, it seems: great defender and tons of Presence!; reads the game well and is a good passer of the ball; he also has plenty of thrust and a great long distance shot. A captain needs to play and we need a beast of a DM; is TV the answer?

And there is one more question: if Arsene were to turn one of these four players into a DM, should they take the first team place of Arteta or Ramsey this season?

Plenty of food for thought, I hope!

Written by: TotalArsenal.

Thoughts on Arsenal after watching Dortmund v Bayern

July 28, 2013July 28, 2013TotalArsenal

I watched the Dortmund – Bayern German ‘Super Cup’ game yesterday to see how they would get on and what sort of system of football they would play. If anything, it proved to me once more that both managers and football systems are equally important as (the quality of the) players. I also wanted to see how their systems of football compared to what we have seen from Arsenal this early season, albeit against weaker opposition.

Dortmund were deserved 4-2 winners, as they played the better football throughout the game, except for a couple of short spells when Bayern were able to assert some pressure on them. Dortmund played very similar football to us, operating as a solid unit in front of their back-four and turning from defence into attack in a flash, with quick balls over the top for Lewandowski or, the once again very impressive, Reus to capitalise on – they should have been 3-0 up after just twenty minutes played.

When Die Borussen had the ball in front of the Bayern box they were able to play the passing triangles to pick holes in a surprisingly weak Lederhosen defence, and get themselves into fine scoring positions.

Bayern were less comfortable in controlling the game by playing the ball round in order to create well thought-through attacks, and they were also sluggish in their turn-arounds most of the time. They really missed Schweinsteiger to help them control midfield; the not fully fit German only came on when it was already too late.

Bayern seemed to be playing in a 4-1-4-1 formation which is a reflection of Guardiola’s desire to keep the ball as much as possible in the opposition’s half. But, to his agitation, his players did not work hard enough, and the Dortmund midfielders were very good at keeping the ball and passing their way through Bayern’s midfield with relative ease.

They did not seem to miss their own traitor, Gotze, much as Gündoğan took over from him almost seamlessly. This is once again proof how good a manager Klopp is, who focuses on the system of football he wants to play and then fits players into it, rather than the other way around.

It was also interesting to see that most goals were instigated from the wing, and how much havoc was created in both Bayern and Dortmund’s defence from these areas in general. Good wing play, whether from the wingers or the full backs, is absolutely essential, and both German teams are very well equipped in these areas.

Comparing Arsenal with both of last season’s CL finalists, I can confidently say that our system of football is pretty similar to that of Dortmund.

In the last four games, we have seen a pattern of:

Playing relatively compact at the back with two DM keeping everything tight and organised;
Quick turn-arounds from defence to attack with balls over the top as well as diagonal balls to launch a winger from our own half (mostly Theo).
Better organised in defence, with Mertesacker leading it and both Koz and Sagna playing good too;
Good use of the wings with mostly ‘proper wingers’ using speed and skill to get behind defences;
Good, intricate and patient passing of the ball whilst trying to find a deadly opening when playing in and around the opposition’s box;
Being very direct when chances occur, having led to us scoring a lot of goals in pre-season.

I really like what I saw from Arsenal until now and it shows what Arsene and Steve can do with this team when they can have, and keep, them together. We now need to see how our team will hold out against tougher competition and we will have ample opportunity to test this in the next two weeks.

Although I would be delighted to add a super quality player to the squad this summer – especially somebody who won the CL recently would be very good to add – I am just as keen to get solid back-up for the likes of Arteta, Mertesacker (or Sagna if he is to become our fourth choice CB), Giroud and possible Szczesny, although Fabianski has been doing more than okay until now.

This, rather than the signing of three or more world-class players as so many seem to want, is key; and I am confident it will happen this summer.

If we can strengthen our spine and add one quality attacker, Arsenal could go far this summer, and I don’t think we would be far away from Europe’s club finalists at all.

Written by: TotalArsenal.

Mikel and Aaron could be in trouble

July 23, 2013July 23, 2013TotalArsenal

Mikel Arteta and Aaron Ramsey were two of our best players in that unbeaten run at the end of last season. Arsene devised a double pivot system that saw them sit in front of the back four, leading to one of the best defensive records we have had in years. Arteta was the last line of defence in front of the back four, and Ramsey played a box to box role but mostly spent his time alongside Arteta, shielding our defence from attacks.

This system worked wonders defensively, but I must admit our offensive quality suffered.

Thing is, though, Arteta ideally is not a DM despite the fantastic work he’s done there for us. Arteta, at Everton, played as the ‘hole’ player for the better part of a decade and was their star man. His passing, vision and goals made Everton tick. Again, while overall he has performed admirably there, at times he suffered, especially the recently concluded season. This is the main reason Wenger introduced Ramsey alongside him: to give him some much needed support.

As it turned out, this was a match made in heaven, because Arteta’s strong point is reading the game and Rambo’s is tackling, so they seem to compliment each other perfectly.

This is all well and good, but you have to remember one thing, Wilshere was injured. You can play around with the tactics and formations all you want, but the fact remains that a fully fit Jack Wilshere is one of the first names on the team sheet. Not only that, considering what Santi achieved last season, he has made the hole position his. Add that to the fact that Arsene Wenger came out and admitted that our midfield needs a physical DM and has made it a transfer priority this summer, you realize that these two players are in danger of losing out.

Like I said earlier, Santi and Jack are not about to lose their positions in the team or be moved around to accommodate anyone, simply because they are our two best players. What stacks the odds against Arteta and Ramsey even more is the fact that Santi and Jack showed that they can work together to devastating effect. You do not need to look past our 5-1 hiding of West Ham to see what I mean. Considering that Jack is fully fit and so is Santi, we are looking at a situation where Arteta and Ramsey would be fighting for one spot, DM.

Let’s face it; neither is good enough to make the DM position their own. Not if we indeed are building a team to challenge for trophies.

Last season Mikel showed that he can not shoulder the defensive burden alone. Ramsey, on the other hand, does not have the defensive talent to do it alone (despite his energy and his eagerness to tackle; 80% of his tackles ended in him conceding fouls). Neither has the physicality or defensive acumen to dominate the defensive half of our midfield like Vieira did for us, Wanyama did for Celtic, Essien did for Chelsea, Sven does for BVB and so on and so forth.

Wenger has realized this and that is why he’s chasing the likes of Fellaini; and with the bounty we have right now, you wouldn’t bet against us. If reports are to be believed, we triggered Fellaini’s release clause of 23 million pounds and had a 19 million pound bid rejected for Lars Bender. Even if it’s not them we end up signing, we have seen the amount we are willing to shell out for a DM. Do you really think Arsene Wenger is going to spend 20 million on a player who will come and sit on the bench? I don’t think so, and that is why following all logic, it seems that Arteta and Ramsey’s time in the starting 11 is soon coming to an end.

On the bright side, though, they’ve shown what they can do for us and therefore will provide solid cover AND competition for whatever combination is preferred.

Written by: Marcus.

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