match report – Page 10 – Bergkampesque

Jack and Santi pull the strings, all our attackers on the score sheet, a secure Pole in Goal, and much more.

It was great to see Thierry and Sol together attending the match, and the collective singing of Arsenal supporters at the start of the game was an absolute joy too.

It has been said many times in the last few days: this was a game Arsenal had to win, and win we did!

We will never know whether we would have won so comprehensively if hothead Adebarndoor had not been so reckless against the smallest man on the planet – let alone Arsenal; but that’s not for us to worry about.

The sending off was deserved, and of course it made a big difference to the outcome game.

However, Arsenal were 1-0 down when the Togolese was sent off, and there would have been every reason for the Spuds to lay siege in front of their goalie, and fight with their lives to not concede a goal during the entire game. With Sandro and Huddlestone in the centre of their midfield and a half-decent CB-couple, they would have had a chance to survive an Arsenal onslaught. But, for whatever reason, the Spuds did not keep their lines tight, and Arsenal were fully able to profit from it.

Arsenal managed to score five goals from the described above scenario, and a lot was down to us dominating the midfield – after a bit of a rugged start – and using the flanks really well. The team did us proud and Arsenal can now build further on this fine win.

All in all, I saw five improvements/positives and two setbacks/negatives.

I will start with the setbacks.

Setback One

Quite surprisingly, the Spuds targeted regularly our right-back area, rather than mainly focussing on the left-back area; where Arsenal have been most vulnerable this season. Vertonghen’s ball over the top for their first goal was a clever move by the Spuds and both Sagna and Mertesacker should have anticipated it; but they did not. And they were also too slow to react to the situation that ensued: Szczesny did brilliantly to make a safe, and the rebound should have been for one of our defenders. Instead, it was Adebarndoor who was there first.

Arsenal almost conceded a third goal from our right-back area once again; when Bale was not dealt with properly and he was allowed to move into our penalty box. Had he not been selfish, and passed the ball to Defoe instead of shooting at goal from a tight angle, the final score could have been very different.

Sagna and Mertesacker will have to work hard to get a better understanding between each other in the next few weeks, but they are both fantastic defenders and I am sure they will sort it out between them.

Setback Two

Shielding our defence by our central midfielders has been an issue recently, and once again we failed to do so today. For the second goal, Bale could move towards the area in front of our ‘D’ with ease, as Arteta was caught out of position – he was too high up the pitch – and the Welshman was able to shoot unhindered, despite Koscielny’s last ditch attempt to throw himself in front of his shot.

I noticed the same problem in recent games against Norwich (which led to us conceding a goal), and in the second half of our recent away game against Schalke 04 (but that time Arsenal got away with it). Arsenal will need to work really hard on protecting the back-four better.

Improvement One

Szczesny back in goal was a big improvement. Wojcieh looked happy and healthy in his bright yellow outfit, and the rest of the team looked a lot more confident with him behind our back-four.

Improvement Two

Arsenal’s attackers are not just hitting the net more now; they are also working together a lot better. This newfound collaboration was epitomised by our fourth goal. Giroud wins a header and Theo is ready to move forward with the ball; he passes it perfectly weighted to the Pod; who crosses the ball beautifully towards the right hand side of the pitch; where Cazorla puts the ball coolly past the flabbergasted Frenchman. A super team goal, and with goals by Cazorla, Theo, Giroud and Podolski today, we can definitely say that our goal machine is starting to purr properly now.

Improvement Three

The central midfield combination between Cazorla and Wilshere made another step improvement today. They are starting to find each other a lot better, and shared the ‘play maker’ role between them throughout the game. When Jack moved forward to pull the strings, Cazorla would become another attacking player; and when Cazorla was orchestrating our attacks, Jack often sat a bit deeper. I bet, with a bit of luck in terms of fitness, we are going to see at Arsenal over the next few years, one of the best central midfield partnerships in Europe.

Improvement Four

Today, our crossing into the box was a lot better than usual, especially from our right wing. The partnership between Theo and Sagna is starting to resemble that of last season, when Arsenal were so lethal from the right. Theo was brilliant today, despite a couple of fluffed opportunities. His cross into the box for Mertesacker’s equaliser was simply sublime, and his semi-assist for our fourth goal showed another good side of Theo; but the crowning on a great performance was his killer-cool finish for our fifth goal.

Improvement Five

I thought the way Arsenal saw out the game during the last ten minutes was great. Of course, this was made a bit easier for us by the Spuds having only ten players left on the pitch, as they were simply too knackered to chase the ball for long. Nevertheless we did well to play the ball round, and keep our shape and discipline till the final whistle.

In Summary

A great and much needed win, and with Everton, Chelsea and MU losing, it has been a very good Saturday for the Gunners. Let’s hope we can build on this further with a great performance against Montpellier on Wednesday.

Total Arsenal.

Mannone is growing in stature – Wilshere is growing in form – Walcott in the middle is a rapidly growing Theo-ry – Our inability to hold onto the ball is a growing worry – Arsenal lacking defensive shape and discipline is a growing concern.

A lot of supporters expected Arsenal to bounce back from a bad performance/result instantly, just like we used to do in previous seasons. But, right now, Arsenal are suffering from structural problems that need time to be resolved; whilst in previous seasons we often only had to work on our focus and attitude to bounce back again.

Our current team is struggling to get a coherent system of football working in which players understand and find each other automatically; one that works in all areas and makes us fluent and deadly efficient, and in which substitutes can fit without too many adaptation issues. Clearly, this is still a work in progress, but progress was made nevertheless last night.

Schalke surprised me tactically: why attack us and try to dominate the game from the first minute, when their tactics at the Emirates had worked so well for them a fortnight ago? I cannot imagine Stevens not being aware how much Arsenal crave space, so it must have been a deliberate strategy to attack us and try to score a goal early. I applaud it though: it is exactly what a good game of football needed, as the game had a lovely flow to it and some very good football by both teams was on display last night. Schalke’s opportunism gave us the space to attack, and boy did we revel in it: it was just what the footie shrink had ordered!

Theo showed Giroud how to stay calm and focussed when an opportunity comes your way for the first goal, as he persevered with strength and good balance to put the ball over the line. Luckily Giroud took his second opportunity with the pounce of a hungry tiger, after great wing-play by, the otherwise mostly ineffective again, Podholeski.

Arsenal almost played the perfect first half against Schalke tonight. The defence was far better organised and mostly solid, our midfield was gradually winning the individual battles, and our three attackers combined well to score two very valuable away goals in Gelsenkirchen. But just before the end of the first half, individual fatigue by our best player of the season until now, and a collective lack of concentration gave the Germans an opportunity to pull a goal back: a real shame!

Cazorla is clearly in the ‘red zone’, because if there is any player at Arsenal you would bank on not to give away the ball at that moment, and in that situation, it has to be out little, energetic Spaniard. Holtby did brilliantly, though, to both see Huntelaar in space and to deliver the ball perfectly weighted to him in a flash; and although we should have done better defensively, it is fair to say that was a fine goal by Schalke 04.

The second half saw us trying to regain possession, but we were simply not fit enough to deal with Schalke’s midfield dominance. Cazorla struggled to get a foothold in the game, Arteta tired a lot towards the end, and Jack also lost some of his sharpness in the second half. Our defence struggled to keep its shape and were put under more and more pressure. The equaliser was almost inevitable and totally deserved by the Germans.

Arsenal somehow held on for an important point, and could well have clinched all three points at the very end, but Theo did not see Giroud in the perfect position to score the winner, and went instead for goal himself from a difficult angle. He should be forgiven for that though, and it in the end a draw away to Schalke 04 is a decent result.

Observation one – one step forward:

Mannone had another very decent game. Red Arse wrote a great post last week about Arsenal goalkeepers’ situation and since then Mann1 has put in a couple of assured performances against the horrible Mancs and Schalke 04. I am warming to Vito and I hope he will get a couple more games at least to further build his confidence.

Observation two – two steps forward:

Wilshere came through his next test with colours. He oozes class and is simply a joy to watch. Clearly, he was still rusty at times and needs to improve his match fitness further, but he made such a difference in midfield for us by helping out Arteta in the defensive department, whilst supporting Santi in setting up attacking moves. So great to have him back: he is our ideal lynchpin.

Cazorla and Arteta struggled to keep up with the tempo of the game for most of the second half, and this is all down to fatigue. It is so frustrating that we still cannot use Diaby and Rosicky to come and help out, and give the super-Spaniards a bit of a break before something or somebody breaks them.

Observation three – three steps forward:

Theo through the middle with Giroud next to him, or in front of him; in a 4-4-1-1 or 4-4-2 formation, could actually work. I really liked the way Theo and OG created opportunities between themselves last night, and with plenty of practice and playing games together they could become our two-headed goal monster we so desperately need.

Observation four – one step back:

Our inability to hold on to the ball in order to release the pressure being put on our defence is a big worry at the moment. Giroud needs to improve on his first touch, and shield the ball a lot better so he can give the rest of the team a break; by holding on to the ball and passing it back to somebody in space. I also felt that both Podolski and Theo were weak in holding on to the ball and find a pass to another player far too often. Especially when our midfielders were clearly running on their reserve tanks, it was important for our attackers to help out more in keeping possession.

And you know who we desperately missed yesterday? Alex Song. The way Arsenal left the defence unprotected just outside the centre of the box, on a few occasions in the second half, was just amateur-like; and could have easily cost us yesterday. I also feel strongly that Song would have helped us tremendously in holding onto the ball better.

Observation five – two steps back:

Our defence, even with TV5 instead of the shirt-swapper at LB, still lacks shape, discipline and organisation. Koz had a good game and so did Mertesacker and Sagna, but Vermaelen struggled again. And, as a unit, it was nowhere near what is required to compete successfully at top level.

Vermaelen’s confidence is shot: the lion of Flanders has turned into a pussycat. But I have written enough about TV5 in recent posts, so won’t go back into that again.

On a final, Arsenal unrelated, note: as a football romantic, I am absolutely delighted that, over two games, the properly run football clubs of Ajax and Dortmund got the better over the cup-buyers of Citeh and Madrid. There still is hope for football! 🙂

Total Arsenal.