match report – Page 8 – Bergkampesque

Arsenal v Aston Villa: Three Positives and Two Negatives – Oooh Santi Cazorla!

February 24, 2013February 24, 2013TotalArsenal

Three positives:

Nacho’s wing-play and crossing: I thought Monreal had a good game today. Every time he comes and supports the attack on the left wing, Nacho makes himself available and exhibits excellent composure. His final ball is also very good, and it looks like he will be an improvement on Gibbs who still needs to develop further with regards to his delivery into the box. His pullback for Cazorla’s second goal was pure class, but there were more examples of good delivery into the box today: a very promising development.
Jenkinson’s composure and general wing-play: I thought Carl did well today. He put a number of sharp balls into the box, especially in the second half. He also played with good drive and hunger, and had some fantastic battles with Agbonlahor. One or two headers could have been better and his link-up play with Arteta was a bit rusty, but that is to be expected after not playing many games in recent months.
Cazorla’s finishing: Once again Theo, and especially Giroud, did not have their shooting boots on, but Cazorla was in fine form today and scored a brace in the process. The diminutive Spaniard was everywhere and seemed to revel in his free role today. He worked very hard; helping out the team as much as possible up-front, in the middle and at the back. It has been a while since we had a midfielder who makes such great runs into the box and Santi positions himself really well. Many a player would have blasted the ball for his second goal, but his composure and technique made sure that this chance was not wasted. In his free role on the wing we might get a new fox in the box, and today Santi has been worth his weight in gold: without him we would not have won today.

Two negatives:

As a unit, our defense still lacked organisation and structure: Once we scored the first goal, Villa were able to build up decent attacks on a number of occasions; and both our midfield and defense were not cohesive and well-disciplined enough to take back control, especially in the first half. The game flowed up and down, and we were wasteful in not scoring the second goal during that phase. However, Villa also had a couple of decent chances; and had they scored, it would not necessarily have been against the run of play. Diaby had started strong in the first 20-30 minutes, but faded away towards the end of the first half, and Arteta was turned over a few times as well. As our two ‘DM’s’, Arteta and Diaby have some way to go, and on days like these, I am still smarting about our loss of Alex Song last summer. I also felt the triangle of Mertesacker, TV and Szczesny looked unorganized, or should I say allover the place, at times. The Villa goal was a well-worked counter-attack by them, although our fullbacks did not cover themselves in glory: Jenkinson’s header should have been aimed better and Nacho should have closed down Weimann’s shot. However, from that distance he should not be able to score and I thought Wojcieh should have done better. Our defense remains an area in need of improvement.
Lack of clinical finishing by Theo and especially Giroud: Football is a team sport, and let me say first of all that both Theo and Giroud worked hard for the team; especially the Frenchman worked his socks off. However, both players lacked composure and clinical finishing skills in the box today, and especially Giroud lacks quality at the moment. It looks like he is trying too hard again, which seems to influence his decision-making and execution quite a bit. I like Giroud for his work-rate, but hard work will not be enough to make it at Arsenal, and the jury remains out about him. Theo made some good runs on the wing and put a few more than decent balls into the box, but him and Giroud do not have a great understanding between them as yet, which is also costing us at the moment.

In conclusion:

A vital win at this stage of the season and well-deserved, I thought.

Although, it should be said that Villa played also well today, and did not just park the bus against us. They soaked up pressure well and were regularly dangerous; especially on the break.

Santi made a real difference today and I am really happy he stepped up when our three midfielders; Arteta, Diaby, and to a lesser extent, Jack, did not have one of their best performances.

Eight days rest now, and time for the team to reflect on the last week and get ready for the all-important derby with the Spuds. We will need to be more solid in our defensive play, and dominate the midfield area better, as well as being more clinical up-front. Not much to do then! 😉

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.

Review + ratings: How much further will the once mighty Arsenal fall?

February 17, 2013February 17, 2013TotalArsenal

Arsenal have now been knocked out of the FA and Capital One Cups when fielding relatively strong starting line-ups. What does this say about our first team squad? There were no positives that came out of this game and there are no excuses that we were only able to generate two to three decent scoring opportunities against a Championship side. Our creativity and tactics are incredibly stale and we have no answer to teams who efficiently “park the bus” in front of goal. After today’s performance, I can only envision the doom that awaits us on Tuesday vs. Bayern Munich.

Arsene decided to field a veteran starting line-up in what appeared to be Arsenal’s best opportunity at lifting silverware this year. However, in typical Arsenal fashion, we started off the match very sloppy with a few misplaced passes and searching long balls to absolutely no one. Eventually, an Arteta interception led to some good link up play between Rosicky and Ox that eventually settled us down. From there, we started establishing our presence as the better team and knocked the ball around quite well. The majority of our attacks came from the right side with Ox and Coquelin threatening with good runs and link up play, but much like our overall game, the delivery in the final third left much to be desired.

For the first half hour of the game, Blackburn exerted high pressure on our back four, which made it extremely difficult for us to move the ball into their half. As a result, we had very few scoring chances during this period, and our best ones came from corners, which were, however, executed horribly time and again. Our best opportunity to take the lead in the first half was created on a quick through ball by little Mozart, but was ultimately ruined by an awful shot wide of goal by Gervinho. The only other decent attempt on goal in the first half, came from a Diaby header off a corner that required a brilliant save from Kean to keep the game level.

At the end of the first half, Arsenal had 70% possession and 12 corners, yet had absolutely nothing to show for it as the game remained 0-0.

For some reason, Arsene decided to swap Gervinho and Ox on the wings in the second half and our offensive play seemed to suffer as a result. Gervinho had been much more effective down the left in the first half, and Ox had linked up well with Rosicky and Coquelin down the right. As usual, we lacked creativity and penetration in the final third and our whole team was too stationary in the build-up. Our defence remained as untested as it did in the first half, and Blackburn continuously turned over the ball on misplaced passes.

However, the opposition did play with more attacking intent after the restart. The closest we came to scoring in this half came from a Rosicky strike that beat Kean, but unfortunately struck the crossbar.

With the game seemingly at a stand still, Arsene opted for a triple substitution to bring on our best three attacking players in Jack, Theo and Santi in the 70^th minute, to hopefully freshen our approach and have the same positive effect as they did vs. Brighton.

However, within two minutes of the triple substitution, Blackburn was able to capitalize on some questionable defending by Coquelin, and Kazim-Richards scored on a miskick.

The Blackburn goal finally inspired some urgency in Arsenal’s attacking play, but it was to no avail as Blackburn successfully defended their lead by parking the bus and clogging the box with 10 men (as they had all game). There’s no excuse for the horrible performance on our home turf and we never deserved to win that game, especially with such few scoring chances against a team like Blackburn.

Our tactics have been stale for quite some time, and our players constantly beat a dead horse with a stick by sending in crosses into the box clogged with opposition players, and standing and contemplating how to break down a “park the bus” defense.

Player Ratings:

Szczesny (7.0) – Szczes was not at fault for the goal today and made the initial save. However, with two shots on goal, typically I would hope that we would not concede. Not much else can be said.

Monreal (7.0) – He got involved a fair bit offensively and made some nice runs forward and found himself on the end of some nice, leading passes. However, his crossing and balls played in the final third need to be better. Good aggressive play when without possession of the ball, Nacho was one of the few bright spots in today’s performance.

Vermaelen (5.5) – Part of me still thinks that he could have tried to jump and clear Kazim-Richards’ fluke goal. It almost seemed as though he just stood on the goal line and watched the ball go in off the post (granted the shot bounced quite high). Still, I’m not sure what kind of coverage our back four were playing when the goal went in and Vermaelen was not marking anyone.

Koscielny (6.0) – On the Blackburn goal, he ran over to try and compensate for Coquelin’s awful coverage and unfortunately Vermaelen did not run across the pitch to cover for Kos. Aside from that, he made a nice surging run in the first half to keep the play alive and was aggressive in pressuring Blackburn for turnovers.

Coquelin (6.0) – His awful defensive coverage on the Blackburn goal spoiled an otherwise good performance. His crossing was also very poor, but aside from that Coquelin was aggressive in his challenges and won the ball back cleanly on numerous occasions. He ran forward to join the attack and was composed when carrying the ball up the pitch.

Arteta (5.5) – He had a few nice interceptions that prevented Blackburn from setting up in our zone, but was largely invisible today. He was nowhere to be seen in coverage on the Blackburn goal and misplaced some passes late in the game, which is very unusual for the Spaniard. He also should have done much better with his shot on goal that hit the side netting in extra time. I’ve come to expect a lot more from Arteta and he never really seemed to settle into the game and lead the play from the back.

Diaby (5.0) – Lots of misplaced passes today and several turnovers from holding the ball for too long at the edge of the opponent’s box at a crucial point in the game. He’s supposed to be a great box-to-box presence that can run with the ball up and down the pitch but not once did we see that ability today. Diaby did have a quality header on goal that was turned away by a great diving save, along with stripping the ball off a Blackburn player on one counter attack and a good link-up play with Rosicky in the first half.

Rosicky (7.5) – Little Mozart was our best starter on the pitch today and every time he touched the ball, he tried to make something happen. Too often, Arsenal fall victim to sideways and backwards passing, but Rosicky made sure that we pushed forward as often as possible. Rosicky was unlucky to not have anything to show for his hard work, as Gervinho wasted his perfect break away pass and his own shot struck the crossbar.

Gervinho (5.0) – His brutal shot wide of goal after Rosicky played a perfect ball to him in stride highlighted Gervinho’s afternoon. Gervinho often found himself overwhelmed in the opponent’s box and never took on defenders effectively. His passing was also a little off and most of our attacking play from the left side came from Nacho in the first half. Gerv did make a couple nice plays in the first half by dribbling the ball past defenders into empty space, but never really threatened the opposition. His form dipped even further after AW’s decision to play him on the right in the second half.

Giroud (6.0) – Our big CF was also invisible today and was not making his typical good movements to get into scoring opportunities. The center of the pitch was so clogged that we tried to focus our attack down the wings, but we really could have used a more mobile striker to make some runs behind their defense. Giroud also did not really find himself on the end of any headers, though he did work hard to try and get involved in the game chasing down balls out wide on the pitch.

Oxlade-Chamberlain (6.5) – Ox made several nice runs with the ball today and drove our team forward down the right flank, but his corners and crossing left much to be desired. His general play in the final third was wanting and he took some questionable shots on goal that were well wide of the mark. Just like Gervinho, when he switched to the left side in the second half, he became invisible and ineffective.

Wilshere, Walcott and Cazorla (Incomplete) – Jack and Theo each found a way to get through the stubborn Blackburn defensive shell, yet both were unsuccessful in scoring or creating a goal. If Theo’s header had gone anywhere but right at the keeper, he likely would have scored and Nacho should have taken Jack’s over the top pass first time in the air. In the end, all three had a minimal effect on the game and we were unable to solve Blackburn’s “park the bus” defense. If all three were afforded more time, they may have been able to get Arsenal on the board, but it’s tough to make a significant impact down 1-0 with only twenty minutes of playing time.

Whether you want to blame today’s performance on players who were rusty and did not have a sufficient run of games to find form or on a bad bounce that led to Blackburn’s goal, one thing is clear: there is no excuse to only be creating so few quality scoring opportunities against a lower division team. Losses in cup matches are always possible, but to lose in the manner we did today was a disgrace. Any momentum we may have had from the previous two league games has now vanished and squad morale will be low going into our David vs. Goliath match this coming Tuesday.

Another season goes by and likely another year without silverware. How much further will the once mighty Arsenal fall?

Written by: Highbury Harmony

Sunderland Review: Szczesny & Sagna our Fiercest Warriors in Impressive Team Display

February 10, 2013TotalArsenal

We always knew Sunderland would be a tough, physical matchup considering their track record of being a solid defensive squad, and the pointless International friendlies that were scheduled midweek. Fortunately, Arsenal were able to escape the Stadium of Light with a much needed three points that catapulted us over Everton to fifth place before their clash with Manchester United later today. This game was a true test of our character since we had to weather out the storm for 28 minutes with only 10 men.

Before the game even started, we were thrown a curveball with Koscielny not feeling well and Sagna having to deputize for him at the CB position, with Jenkinson filling in at RB.

The first half began with strong physical play from both sides, with both Cattermole and Jenkinson making some careless challenges resulting in yellow cards. The physical play continued throughout the half with Sunderland players targeting Jack and Theo at every possible opportunity. It was a pleasure to see Ramsey, Jack and Arteta respond with some physical play of their own and take down some Sunderland players in the process. Arsenal was full of attacking intent and we came at them with pace and astute passing that broke down their defense on numerous occasions. As Sagna pointed out in an interview with Arsenal.com earlier this week, the free flowing nature of our attack often leaves us susceptible to counter attacks, and Sunderland had a couple quality chances themselves to get on the board. Theo was particularly dangerous with the ball at his feet and Sunderland seemingly stood still and watched him, as he easily maneuvered around their defense and created a few quality scoring chances. However, Mignolet was looking like he’d be impossible to beat after making some fantastic saves and us being too wasteful in front of goal; we were all left wondering if this would eventually come back to haunt us yet again.

Fortunately, after several missed chances, Santi was finally able to give us the lead in the 35^th minute on a fantastic cross crease strike.

The second half started exactly how the first half finished, with both teams trading chances and plenty of physical battles. Jack left the field in the 50^th minute after being fouled by N’Diaye and it was more of a precautionary measure by Wenger, since he had played a full match midweek vs. Brazil. Twelve minutes later, Jenkinson fouled Sessegnon after he was beat and collected his second yellow card of the game and was sent off the pitch.

From there, Sunderland took the game to us and continued to challenge our defense and threatened to score. Steven Fletcher had the best chance to equalize on a clear one on one with Szczesny but was denied by aggressive play from our stopper. Sessegnon gave us trouble on both flanks all game and had a few quality chances to score but some poor decision making kept them scoreless.

Theo had the best opportunity to give us a two-goal cushion when Santi sent him in on a clear break, but the post denied his chip shot over Mignolet. Arsenal was able to hold onto the clean sheet and the crucial three points, thanks to some outstanding saves by Szczesny and headers/clearances by Giroud, Mertesacker and Sagna late in the game.

Player ratings:

Szczesny (9.0) – My MoTM and the main reason Arsenal were able to keep a clean sheet. Szczes was certainly the difference maker today as he made 6 quality saves, with three late in the game (Fletcher one on one, in addition to Fletcher and Bramble headers). Good aggressive play on challenging shooters and jumping for high balls in our 18-yard box by our young keeper.

Monreal (7.5) – Nacho is already looking like he’s played with Arsenal for a while and adds stability to the LB position. His phenomenal first touch on controlling balls in the air was there for everyone to witness and he made all the right passes and runs in the offensive zone. Sessegnon did beat him in the first half, however he was trouble for us all night and the defensive lapse never even led to a shot on goal.

Mertesacker (7.0) – The BFG positioned himself well to make some great clearance headers at the end of the game and kept our back line well organized throughout the contest. His one major mistake came in the second half when he cleared a ball right at Fletcher that gave him a clear chance to equalize. Fortunately, Szczesny bailed him out.

Sagna (8.5) – I thought Sagna did a magnificent job filling in for Koscielny at center half. He was very disciplined defensively and never risked his positioning by venturing forward to join the attack. He added a nice physical presence in the heart of our defense and made some game saving clearances in the second half. For me, he was the one of out best players on the pitch today, and it’ll be interesting to see if he’ll get another chance at the CB position.

Jenkinson (6.0) – In the first half, Jenkinson was very steady, joined the attack well and mitigated any risks by clearing the ball out when under pressure. However, in the second half he was beat by Sessegnon on two occasions and one eventually led to his ejection from the game. Both of his fouls were rightfully penalized and they were careless tackles that he could have avoided with better positioning. The sending off put our team under a lot of pressure to come out with the three points and his rating is reflective of this. He might deserve more of a break since it was his first PL start in a while, but I would have to like to have seen Jenks be more disciplined in his tackling.

Arteta (7.5) – Our squad is more organized when he’s in the lineup and he sets up the play from deep with astute passing and vocally dictating to players where the open spaces are. On counter attacks, he would often aggressively challenge the opposition and concede free kicks to allow the rest of our team to catch up. He effectively killed some time near the end of the game by holding on to the ball and not rushing the play up field for a counter attack. However, he made one visible mistake when he questionably held on to the ball and lost possession against a pressing N’Diaye right in front of our back four.

Ramsey (8.5) – Has there been a player who has made greater improvements over the last few weeks than Ramsey? Much like Arteta, he was aggressive in challenging the opposition on counter attacks, defended the RB position against Sessegnon once Jenkinson was sent off the pitch and ran up and down the field the entire game. In the first half, he made some good penetrating passes in the offensive zone and had a great shot on goal that was met by a fantastic diving save. His rating would have been higher had it not been for his wasted breakaway shot right at Mignolet just before the first half.

Wilshere (7.0) – He never really had the opportunity to settle into the game and establish himself since Sunderland’s focus was to foul him and take him out. Still, in the 50 minutes he did play, he effectively drove our team forward and helped dissect Sunderland’s defense. However, Jack uncharacteristically had some misplaced passes in the final third that led to quick counters for Sunderland in the first half.

Cazorla (8.5) – Santi was all over the pitch and his rest last week vs. Stoke seemed to rejuvenate him. Our most dangerous player offensively, he was the main beneficiary of Sunderland’s defense zoning in on Jack. He was given space to move around the pitch and played some dangerous balls in the final third and opened up Sunderland’s stingy defense. His goal in the first half proved to be the match winner and his slick pass to Theo in the second half would have been a nice complement to the performance he put in today. With that said, his shot over the bar near the end of the game was very questionable and it gave Sunderland one more chance to attack down field for the equalizer.

Giroud (7.5) – Defensively, Giroud did all we could ask for from a striker; he ran up and down the pitch to help out at both ends, pressured Sunderland’s defense to rush the ball up field and made some crucial clearances with his head when we were down to 10 men. His movements were great as he got himself into prime scoring areas but his finishing left much to be desired. He had a beautiful pass that sent Ramsey in alone and was involved in other dangerous link-up plays that led to quality scoring opportunities. However, he was also at fault for holding on to the ball for too long and getting stripped, in addition to a few other misplaced passes that stopped our attacking momentum in the first half. His decision to shoot (well over the goal) on a quick break near the end of the game, when he had open men to his left and right, thankfully did not cost us. Hopefully Giroud’s finishing will improve in time for the critical clash vs. Bayern in the CL.

Walcott (7.5) – Theo’s darting runs with the ball really helped set the tone for Arsenal in the first half. He created so many scoring opportunities for himself that it was disappointing to see him miss on all four of his clear scoring chances. Much like Giroud, his lackluster finishing could have cost us on other days, but fortunately not today. Even though he did not score, his overall performance was solid and he contributed an assist on Santi’s goal. Also worth mentioning was that he honoured his defensive responsibilities today, especially when we were down to 10 men and helped Ramsey defend Sessegnon.-

Diaby (6.5) – He came onto the pitch at a disadvantage since we were down to 10 men, 12 minutes into his substitute appearance. It’s difficult to make an immediate impact coming cold off the bench and it was evident in some early give-aways by Diaby. As the game continued, he started being more careful with the ball and was involved at both ends of the pitch. His physical presence in the midfield was exactly what we needed to see out the one goal lead.

Miquel (Incomplete) – He made a late cameo appearance to help protect our one goal lead. It would have been nice to have seen him play more minutes to help discover if we have a quality fourth choice CB. I believe that had Jenkinson not been sent off and if we had been winning by more than one goal, he would have been brought on as a substitute earlier in the second half for Jenkinson, with Sagna being pushed out to RB again.

Final conclusions

With both Chelsea and Tottenham winning their home games today, it was vitally important to return from Sunderland with three hard fought points in the bag. Arsenal played a game of two halves, but both halves contained really good stuff.

In the first half, we were able to dominate play for large periods and create a number of fine opportunities, and some of our football was simply sublime. However, we were wasteful and only scored one goal which kept Sunderland in the game.

In the second half, Arsenal’s resolve was tested by the combination of Jack’s injury and Jenkinson’s sending off. We have often been questioned by the media and pundits if Arsenal are a club that has what it takes to grind out wins like today’s; there was a willingness to fight for every ball and defend our lead at any cost. All the players played well in protecting our lead, but a special mention to both Szczesny and Sagna who fought with pride for the shirt and led the team by example.

Arsene should now be able to rotate a few players for our game against Blackburn in the FA Cup. This means that some of our key players may be rested for ten days before our CL round of 16 tie with Bayern.

A good result today and perfect preparation for two important games coming up.

Written by: Highbury Harmony.

Arsenal v Stoke: Lucas finds the Pod-hole, Nacho impresses, bullies get bullied

February 3, 2013TotalArsenal

Stoke parked the bus but Lucas found a way through the Pod-holes.

In a way it was nice to see a team park the bus against us again, as it allowed our team to control the game and find its shape and rhythm. On the other hand, the lack of space combined with the disciplined defending of Stoke showed up our lack of guile and penetration on too many occasions yesterday. We know that Theo works best on the wing when he can combine his speed and good first touch with being played into space, and Ox is not that much different; although he is better able to take on a defender from a standing still position.

Yesterday’s game screamed out for Gervinho. As said many times before, he is the only player who is comfortable with attacking a congested flank and get himself into the box with the ball. This is such an important commodity to have when teams park the bus against us, and I felt we missed him yesterday.

It took an ugly goal – a deflected free-kick by Podolski – to find a way through the parked layer of busses yesterday, but who cares. It was exactly what we deserved and the happiness on the Pod’s face, combined with the joyous, collective team celebration – good to see Nacho joining in straightaway – told us all what it meant to the players.

Nacho impressive debut.

Nacho did fantastically well! He was still a Malaga player less than 48 hours before the kick-off, and yet Nacho was able to boss his area and contribute to our attack as if he never played for another club than Arsenal. First impressions are very good: he is fast, hard as nails if needed, reads the game well, good crosser of the ball, and has both stamina and desire to keep supporting our attack. Highbury Harmony aka The Gooner already told us what a good player Arsenal had bought and yesterday’s performance showed indeed a lot of promise.

The Ox’s horns still need strengthening, and the whole team lacked composure up-front.

Alex was played on the left wing against Stoke, and I thought he did ok. The Ox missed two very good chances of which Podolski would probably have converted at least one. This is where he really needs to start improving now: converting chances/ scoring goals.

When a team parks the bus, it is important to take your early chances, and Arsenal had a spell of just a couple of minutes in which they had three decent opportunities: Ox missed; Giroud inexplicably headed towards his fellow players in the box, whilst there was a decent gap on the keeper’s left side to head towards, and Koz headed a decent chance straight at Begovic.

It is fair to say that as team Arsenal were not clinical enough and on another day we could have ended up with just the one point. However, after having scored a great number of goals in the last dozen games, this is not an area we should worry about much at the moment.

Diaby and Arteta properly protect our defence, but they should also have supported Jack and Giroud more in the middle of our attack.

It was good to see Arteta back in the deeper DM role, which he combined well with Diaby. Defensively our midfield did a great job, as they never allowed Stoke out of their trenches even when they wanted to. However, with our flanks being restricted by Stoke during large parts of the game – despite Wilshere’s constant endeavours to find a way through – I would have liked to see Diaby or Arteta to move more into the area in front of Stoke’s ‘D’. Especially Diaby has the qualities to hold onto the ball there and play other team mates in, or penetrate the Stoke bus himself and have a shot at goal.

We were surprisingly physical and ‘together’, and the quality on the bench made the difference today.

I really liked the way we handled Stoke today from a physical point of view. Our approach was perhaps epitomised by Arteta’s fair but hard tackle on Owen late on in the game. It was the sort of tackle we have had to endure many times in our encounters with the Orcs in recent years. It was good to see Arsenal handle the physical side really well, as it looked our players had mentally prepared themselves for a tough battle, and yet not a single yellow card was collected by the team.

But ultimately, it was the quality on our bench which made the difference. The combined arrival of Podolski and Cazorla brought new impetus and thrust, which meant we did not relent our attacking efforts and kept trying to find a hole through the parked bus. Eventually our efforts paid off, and with Chelsea losing and Everton drawing unexpectedly at home against Aston Villa, this hard fought win really helped our push for a top three/four finish. Well done to the boys.

Written by: Total Arsenal.

Report: Podolski breaks free, Ramsey surprises, Jack & Santi lead, Giroud rewarded.

January 24, 2013January 24, 2013TotalArsenal

A fantastic day to be a Gooner and we were treated to a classic Arsenal display. Lukas Podolski was fantastic and led the way for Arsenal with a beautiful goal and three assists. Interestingly enough, Arsenal have registered at least five goals in each of the last three Premier League games (prior to today’s match vs. West Ham) in which Lukas Podolski has scored in; and today was no different.

Throughout the entire match, Arsenal dominated possession and dictated the flow of the game. It was necessary to come out of the gates strong and Arsenal were up to the task, immediately settling in as West Ham gave us plenty of time and space to knock the ball around. Unfortunately, Arsenal were to concede first after an unnecessary challenge by Gibbs. The subsequent free-kick led to a string of corners that eventually led to Collison scoring for West Ham.

However, Podolski immediately responded with a cracking finish from his left foot to bring Arsenal back into the game. From that point on, we never looked back and came very close to scoring again with some beautiful build-up play. Unfortunately Gibbs’ final pass was a little too far forward and Podolski missed the open net while lunging forward with his right foot. The first half ended with two free kicks, one of which belonged to Cazorla who curled a beautiful shot around the wall, but was met with an even better diving save by Jaaskelainen.

As the second half loomed, the typical questions began to haunt the loyal Arsenal supporters. Would we become complacent after showing good effort in the first 45 minutes? How long would it take for us to settle into the second half? Would this be another game where we dominated possession but had difficulty finishing our chances?

Those fears were quickly quelled as Theo started off the second half with a blazing run down the right flank. Despite no one getting on the end of his cross, Podolski was able to gain possession off a poor clearance by a West Ham defender and sent a nice ball to Gibbs, whose shot was blocked and cleared out for a corner. Off the ensuing Walcott corner, Giroud moved into open space at the near post and met the kick with a beautiful one-time finish into the back of the net. Jaaskelainen stood in the net rather stunned, as he could not believe Giroud was allowed so much space. This goal set off a flurry of action all in Arsenal’s favour; notably, when all three of Arsenal’s summer signings connected on a beautiful Santi ‘back-heel’ goal. Instead of explaining it, here’s the video in case you missed it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jwyu6yn4Xko

Arsenal scored four goals in a brilliant start to the second half and Podolski found himself assisting three of them with beautiful balls to Walcott, Giroud and the aforementioned Santi goal. Not to go unmentioned was Jack’s magnificent distribution to find Podolski and set him up for those eventual assists.

A big shout out to Ramsey as well, who proved me wrong and played well today as the deepest midfielder. He looked more effective than he has been all season, with his playmaking from a deep position and his determination in defending.

The only unfortunate blemish on an otherwise amazing second half of football was an injury to Daniel Potts, which left him unconscious on the field and required him to receive immediate medical attention. I wish Daniel all the best and hope he has a speedy recovery. Compared to our last game vs. West Ham, it was evident that they were missing Diame’s presence in their midfield: their offense looked flat, they could not retain ball possession, and our midfield was able to boss them around all game.

Before I begin on the player ratings, I’d like to explain how I arrive at the number a player receives. For me, a 7 represents that a player has sufficiently done what has been asked of him and not much more. An 8 signifies that the player has contributed more than the average player, but that either his performance has room for improvement or I’ve seen better games from him lately. A 9 or higher is reserved for outstanding performances and is usually accompanied by tangible statistics on the score sheet. Ignore previous ratings from past articles, as I’ll look to be consistent from here on out in the new rating system.

Player Ratings:

Szczesny (7.0) – Once again, Szczesny gave us the stability we needed in goal and was never really tested. He couldn’t have done anything more on Collison’s goal and dealt with all other potential dangers around the goal well.

Gibbs (7.5) – He played solid at both ends of the pitch, contributing with good challenges and runs down the left flank. He conceded two unnecessary free kicks, one of which eventually led to a goal and I’d also like to see him improve his crossing.

Vermaelen (7.0) – He also played well in the first half and cleared the danger when Collison intercepted an errant Ramsey pass and tried to push West Ham forward. Unfortunately, Ramsey clipped Vermaelen as they both went for a goal line clearance. Hopefully he’ll be ok and he was taken off the field for precautionary reasons. Difficult to rate him any higher, since he only played 45 minutes.

Mertesacker (7.5) – He had a couple errant passes in the first half that took away the momentum we were trying to build early in the game. The BFG eventually settled down and cleared away all WHU approaches through the air in the 2^nd half. Solid and defensively reliable, he led the line to leave WHU in an offside position on numerous occasions.

Sagna (7.5) – Sagna defended wonderfully throughout most of the contest, and Ramsey fortunately covered his only lapse in defensive coverage. Aside from that, he linked up well with Theo on the right and was involved in the offense from the right side. He took the bulk of the defending down the right since Theo was often nowhere to be seen in his defensive assignments.

Ramsey (8.0) – While I did not find Ramsey to be outstanding, I was still very impressed with his overall performance today, compared to past appearances. He started off with a questionable challenge on Noble and quite a few errant passes that led to quick West Ham counters. Aside from the early blunders, he filled in admirably at the holding midfield role. He was determined and dependable defensively (goal line clearance when the game was tied 1-1 is noteworthy), sprayed the ball all over the field and made nice simple passes in the final third. The beginning just appeared to be him shaking off rust and he certainly built confidence as the match continued. Hopefully he can build on this performance, and I think he more than justified another start at the holding midfield position for this weekend.

Wilshere (8.0) – Jack was great right from the start, driving our team forward, quickly challenge West Ham players when we lost possession and trying to play dangerous balls in the final third. He made a smart pass to Podolski in the first half that brought us even, and several of his passes in the second half split West Ham’s defense and eventually led to more goals. He also played some beautiful long passes to Theo when he was at full speed, but unfortunately the chances were not converted. The downsides to his game included giving the ball away a few times and occasionally being indecisive on the edge of the opponent’s 18-yard box. Despite playing further back in the midfield, he still had a big influence on the game and perhaps my rating is a bit low, but I’ve come to expect big things from our number 10.

Cazorla (8.0) – Santi gave our offense good shape today and he carried the ball forward more opposed to his typical quick, short passes. He adds good variety to our attack since he’s not afraid to take a shot from distance, yet can also deliver some devastating through balls. His back-heel finish was something to behold, and as stated earlier, he capped off a beautiful build up play between Giroud and Podolski. He’s also very astute defensively and can strip the ball from the opposition because he thoroughly understands the direction they look to move the ball to. However, Santi also fell victim to some errant passes and could have done more with a few opportunities he had at the edge of West Ham’s 18-yard box.

Podolski (9.5) – Prince Podolski started off the game working hard to deny West Ham a free kick; his incredible work rate continued until he was substituted in the 69^th minute. His overpowering finish in the 21^st minute really gave Arsenal life, as we were down 1-0 after dominating most of the game until then. Podolski got himself into all the right positions today and was the recipient of some beautiful passes from the midfield. He rewarded the midfield’s work by producing equally nice passes to Theo and Giroud (both across the goal for relatively easy goals). Podolski was definitely our best player on the pitch and he even did all the little things right today too – he contributed well defensively, had a surging run in the 1^st half, was getting on the end of clearances by the West Ham defenders and was playing smart, yet dangerous passes in the final third. The only minor faults in his game were trying to be too cute with passes in West Ham’s 18-yard box in the first half, and not finishing better on Gibbs’ pass (albeit it was slightly in front of him and on his right foot).

Giroud (9.0) – Every time Giroud steps out on the pitch, we can be confident that he will put in 100% effort and do anything to help his team win. Though his finishing can be questionable and he often rushes his chances, you can never fault him since he’s contributing in some other way. He won countless headers today and knocked the ball to his teammates, held the ball up well, linked up with Podolski on numerous occasions that led to Arsenal completely breaking down West Ham’s defense and he scored two goals. His over the top chip pass to Podolski was fantastic and he’s starting to make those types of passes a regular part of his game.

The only shortcomings in his game today were passing in the 18-yard box a couple times when he should have shot the ball, and not clearing a corner far enough which eventually landed right in front of Collison, which he turned into a goal. Aside from that, he was brilliant and I can certainly see why Bobby P has so much faith in him.

Walcott (7.5) – Despite scoring a goal and adding an assist off a corner kick, I felt Theo was a little wasteful with his chances today. Jack sent Theo in twice on stretch passes where he was on near breakaways at full speed, and he failed to even get a shot on goal. On a couple other occasions, Theo had open opportunities to put away goals in the opponent’s 18-yard box and also failed to convert. If the contest had been tighter this would have been unacceptable, but fortunately we won by a large margin. His defensive contributions left much to be desired and he was often waiting up field for the midfield to send him on breaks.

However, he did track back wonderfully at the end of the second half, going all the way across to the left side of the pitch to cover for Podolski and defend a West Ham counter. Theo also looked more confident with the ball at his feet today and dribbled around Reid and O’Brien several times in the first half. His surging run down the flank got Arsenal into the right frame of mind in the second half and began the onslaught that we were all treated with.

Koscielny (7.0) – Much like Vermaelen, Kos only played 45 minutes and was never really tested. He cleared the ball well when needed and helped the defensive line play West Ham’s forwards offside quite a few times.

Santos and Oxlade-Chamberlain (Incomplete) – Both were decent in their cameo appearances and moved the ball around quite well. Both players lacked the final end product and each could have scored if they had been more composed with their finishing. Still, they did not have enough game time or touches to accurately assess their games.

Overall, it was a fantastic match to witness and Arsenal were by far the better team by a wide margin. The connection between our three new recruits today is very promising, and we started to look like the Arsenal of old; penetrating and breaking down defenses with precise passing and finishing off some fantastic link-up plays in the final third. Ramsey’s work as the holding midfielder gives us more versatility in case of injuries and is perhaps a position that he can grow into (however it remains to be seen how he’d fare at that position against a better side).

We must not fall prey to the continual inconsistency that has plagued us this year and not waste such an outstanding team effort in our next game. For now, we can rest easy knowing we played some beautiful football today and got a much needed three points in style.

Written By: The Gooner

Ramires out-cheats and out-muscles our midfield: just the sort of player Arsenal are missing!

January 21, 2013January 21, 2013TotalArsenal

Lack of leadership & organisation cost us again – Ramires out-cheats and muscles our midfield

Lack of leadership & organisation cost us again

Once again, we were beaten yesterday by a set-back. Yes it was a blatant foul by Ramires on Coquelin, and yes Mertesacker should have stepped up quicker, and yes Sagna should have been stronger, and yes Szczesny should have been nearer to the goal-line to have a better chance of saving Mata’s fine goal; but these things happen sometimes. Just like it took our defence ages to organise themselves and adjust mentally to what was required after Koz was sent off against Man City last week, Arsenal once again were unable to cope with early adversity on Sunday.

I accept that Mertesacker is a slow turner and lacks pace in general, but I have always felt he was our best defender because of his organisational skills and special awareness/positioning. I have also said on numerous occasions that Vermaelen is not a good captain, but a great first soldier for the team. Against Chelsea we lacked organisation and order, and this was not just down to our CB’s not leading the team.

Both our DM’s were out-foxed and out-battled by the Chavs’ midfield and as a result did not offer enough protection to our defence. But for me, the main culprits are Vermaelen and Mertesacker, the former as the captain, and the latter as the one who simply depends on his organisational skills for being in our defence in the first place.

After we conceded the first goal, Arsenal were all over the place: our shape and discipline were gone, and Chelsea were able to control the ball for large spells without us having any say in it. Wilshere tried desperately to organise things but was in the wrong position to do so effectively.

The second goal, a penalty scored by FF, was a direct result of the lack of discipline and organisation in our midfield. Ramires was allowed far too much space in our box, and Szczesny, who had spotted the danger, had to cover far too much space. The Brazilian danced around him and when the Pole decided to outstretch his long leg, the former decided to cheat and fall over it.

It was never a penalty, but you can see how the referee was fooled by it. But the most important lesson to learn is that our team deals badly with unexpected set-backs, and it has cost us dearly again.

Ramires out-cheats and out-muscles our midfield

Both Diaby and Coquelin were taught a lesson today by the hard as nails and cheating Ramires. I loved the way Coquelin did not give up and put everything into his game yesterday. However, it was also clear that Coquelin has some way to go, and we only have to look at Ramires’ performance to realise what we are missing at the moment. I thought both Ramires and Mata were a class apart yesterday yesterday; by far the best players at Chelsea at the moment.

Mata’s first touch and finish were sublime for Chelsea’s first goal, but there is so much more to his game that stood out. His positioning and constant movement are simply fantastic, and so are his positional awareness and work-rate.

Ramires’ is also hard-working and has great positional sense, but on top of that he is streetwise and hard as nails. He put fear into Diaby and Coquelin, even though they both did not give into his bullying too much. Both Diaby and Coquelin missed the battle-preparedness of Ramires, and most of all, the experience of the Brazilian. He got away with far too much yesterday, though, as the referee was incredibly lenient towards him, but his overall performance made the difference in the match in my view.

It is hard to put my finger on what exactly makes the difference between the displays of our DM’s and Ramires, but a lot has to do with timing; as in knowing when a hard tackle has to be made, and when and who to rile of the opposition. We got this in the past from players like Petit and Vieira, and also from the career-self-destructor Flamini.

Many of us agree that we miss a beast of a DM in our team. We need to find a Ramires type as soon as possible: an experienced one, who can also guide Coquelin to the required level.

It also fair to say that we are simply missing ‘beastliness’ throughout the team. We only collected one yellow card yesterday: compare that with the number of cards by MU against the Spuds yesterday, and you know what I mean.

I don’t mean raw nastiness, but the ability and determination to fight and be very physical when needed; to leave a foot in now and again and rile the opposition a bit; to not just rely on the technical and tactical aspects of our football but also battle for every ball. Wilshere has it, Vermaelen has it, Sagna has it, Giroud has it, but too many don’t have it, and the addition of a traditional DM with some footballing skills, and ideally also, a beast of a CB, would make a world of difference to our team this season.

No Arsenal team should be called ‘a bit timid’, and no Arsenal team should lack leadership and organisational skills when things are not going our way.

It is time for Arsene to sort it out and he only has ten days left to do so.

Written by: Total Arsenal.

Like Arsene’s zipper, Arsenal eventually come through – report & player ratings

January 17, 2013January 17, 2013TotalArsenal

Arsene Wenger’s much-maligned zipper was a direct correlation to the team’s performances the past few weeks: a constant struggle, a lack of shape and pieces fitting together and frustration in the lack of consistency. However, today we ended up getting the result we deserved after several missed opportunities throughout the game. The line-up changes paid immediate dividends with Santi out wide, Coquelin as the defensive midfielder and Jack playing in the hole. Jack Wilshere’s capped off an inspiring performance with a goal in the 86^th and rewarded a full 90-minute collective team effort from the squad.

Unlike past games this season, Arsenal started the game off with purpose and urgency. Despite Swansea’s immediate pressure, we quickly established the tempo and our passing game, thus forcing Swansea’s defense to turnover the ball on numerous occasions. However, some questionable defending eventually led to a Swansea scoring opportunity that was fortunately wide of the mark by Graham. Arsenal was able to win back possession of the ball many times, but our passing and decision making in the final third left much to be desired. Our defense would be tested once again as Sagna had a mental lapse and allowed Routledge to sneak in behind him. Luckily, Vermaelen covered him and neatly broke up Swansea’s offensive push.

The game continued with Jack driving our team forward and Diaby fluidly joining the play with him, but we still had issues penetrating Swansea’s well organized defense. Once again, Swansea took advantage of some poor marking by our back four and Bartley was able to turn a free header that beat everyone but the crossbar. A little later, our defense was again tested and Vermaelen and Mertesacker were caught too far apart, but Vermaelen once again saved the day with a last minute diving tackle. Despite all the defensive lapses, we dominated possession and were really pressuring Swansea when they had control of the ball. Our best scoring opportunities in the half came from an early Theo cross to Giroud, who really should have done more with the header; and from a corner, where the ball somehow landed on Vermaelen’s foot who was denied by a diving Vorm.

Arsenal began the second half rather sluggishly and failed to build further on a positive performance in the first half. Swansea looked more composed and settled into the game, until Diaby intercepted a pass and sent a quick long ball to a wide-open Theo who wasted his breakaway chip shot wide. From here on out, Arsenal were by far the better side and completely dominated possession and scoring opportunities. After numerous missed opportunities by Theo, Giroud, Wilshere, Santi and Vermaelen, we were finally able to get on the mark late in the game. Santi delivered a nice pass to Giroud who beautifully one-touched it to Jack, who put Swansea away for good.

Player ratings:

Szczesny (8.0) – Did not concede any goals, was pretty much non-existent as Swansea barely threatened and took no risks on chances that were somewhat on goal. Gives our team plenty of confidence when he’s in goal.

Gibbs (8.5) – I thought Gibbs was one of our top players today. He was often isolated on the left hand side with Santi drifting centrally a lot and was still able to influence the game on his own out wide. Notably, he won the ball back in the 2^nd half against three Swansea players near their corner flag and produced some great runs down the flank.

Mertesacker (7.0) – Questionable defensive coverage in the first half that almost led to a Bartley goal, in addition to another where Vermaelen fortunately saved both with a crucial diving block. Aside from those defensive lapses in the first half, Mertesacker was again a steadying presence for the back four and always makes the easy, simple passes.

Vermaelen (8.0) – Two crucial defensive plays where he denied Swansea clear chances at goal. He also found himself in the right places off corners on several occasions and while it would have been a delight to see him score that sitter at the end of the first half, he is a defender after all.

Sagna (8.0) – Recovered well from his early defensive lapse and actually stripped Routledge of the ball on the same play, before clearing the ball out. He pushed forward very effectively and linked up well with our offense. Produced a beautiful cross that Walcott slightly missed and unfortunately hit the post. Had the presence of mind to run all the way across the field to challenge Graham and cover for Gibbs in the second half, when he saw that Santi was central and Gibbs was on his own.

Coquelin (8.0) – He played a very aggressive game and always had a move forward mentality to his game. Produced a nice effort on goal in the first half and was fairly involved offensively. This performance should give him some necessary confidence going forward, but he did fall victim to several turnovers. However, I believe the turnovers are a result of his lack of playing time, opposed to a knock on his ability.

Diaby (8.5) – What a difference one game makes. His performance today was a stark contrast to the one vs. Man $hitty. He established his presence in the center of the park early on and won numerous headers, made several good runs into space and was making all the right passes (had one poor pass in the 2^nd half and a poor first touch in the 1^st but was pretty much perfect). His quick long pass to Theo suggested that he hadn’t missed a game all year. If he can continue this form and stay healthy, Arsenal will be a force to be reckoned with.

Wilshere (9.5) – There isn’t much more that can be said about this lad that hasn’t already been said. He almost played a perfect game and gave our offense the shape that TA desires, and was so influential on his driving runs and ability to penetrate Swansea’s well organized back four. His goal in the 86^th minute relieved Gooners all over the world and I’m sure everyone will agree that he, of all people, deserved to score today. The only knock I can maybe place on him was a turnover of a Szczesny pass in the 1^st half, and over-dribbling at times in the opponent’s box that led to lost scoring opportunities or deflections once he did decide to shoot (Chico’s block in the 2^nd half). Aside from that, he was just fantastic and boy I’m relieved to have him back and performing at the level he currently is at.

Cazorla (8.5) – He was much more effective from the wing position and seems to thrive in a secondary creative role. Santi gives us a different look out wide and stretched the defense in the second half with his passing and fluid transitions with Jack. A lot of space opened up for him because of the attention Jack was commanding and Santi often drew away defenders himself, opening scoring opportunities for Giroud. His defensive contributions often go unnoticed, but his sneaky ability to win back the ball cleanly is a joy to watch. I would have liked Santi to be more deadly in the final third; though you can’t really fault him as he almost always makes the right decisions, even in tight spaces. Also, he drifted far too centrally, almost to the right side of the pitch at times, and he’ll have to be more disciplined in his positional play against a top team like Chelsea this weekend (Gibbs won’t be able to cover Ivanovic and Mata on his own).

Giroud (8.5) – He always gives a full effort every time he’s on the pitch and his ability to hold up play is something Arsenal has not been blessed with in past seasons. He had several good scoring chances on goal, but seemed to often shoot right at Vorm. However, he has a knack for getting himself into good positions and his one-touch pass that set up Wilshere was beautifully done. Also of note was that Giroud’s determination regularly caused Swansea defenders to rush passes which eventually led to turnovers further down the field.

Walcott (7.0) – My rating of Theo’s game might be harsh, but if you’re auditioning for the striker role, you better finish off the majority of chances that you’re given. Despite getting himself into good positions to score, he wasted three chances wide, shot another right at Graham’s chest and missed a flick on header that hit the post. Fortunately, all can be forgiven after Jack scored late, but I’ve come to expect better finishing from Walcott. The end product wasn’t there today, but he certainly worked hard in his defensive responsibilities to help Sagna on the right.

Overall, a great team performance and Swansea were fortunate to not have lost this game by a larger margin. If we can continue to maintain high pressure and dominate the midfield, we should definitely see more positive results like this one in the future. Today’s line-up was what many of us have been calling for and I’m excited to see Jack dictate play and excel in the advanced midfield position. Here’s calling for some consistency going forward and a healthy squad.

Written by: The Gooner

Dean spoils it, Jack and Bacary immense, none the wiser about Theo, Diaby rustier than Titanic!

January 13, 2013January 13, 2013TotalArsenal

Post- match thoughts: Arsenal v Man City.

Today’s match was totally spoiled by referee Dean at the very start of the game. Koz should have known better, but who would have thought he would be given a red card by Dean on top of conceding a penalty?! I cannot believe that an experienced referee can opt to give a straight red and a penalty for the same offence in one of the ‘Super Sunday’ matches, so early in the game: what a total disappointment! Letter of the law or not, it was very harsh on Arsenal; and what should have been a fair and fantastic battle between two ‘footballing’ sides became a damp squib.

Arsenal, already out of sorts without its anchor, Arteta, as a result of a muscular injury, found it hard to adjust to the new reality of having to play with ten men, and MC smelled blood. Despite the introduction of Mertesacker, who usually helps the team to keep organised and focussed at the back, Arsenal were unable to bring some necessary organisation to our defence after Koscielny was sent off. By the time Vermaelen and Mertesacker had restored some order, Arsenal were already 2-0 down.

All game we struggled for control and shape, but we will never know how we would have fared if Arsenal had been able to play with 11 against 11 for the entire game. With Theo centrally up-front, it is so important that at least two midfielders push higher up the pitch to find him, or one of the two wingers. The surely knackered Cazorla struggled once again to put his stamp on the game, and to give us shape and focus from the key position that he holds. I find it unbelievable that Rosicky remains on the bench at the moment, but enough has been said about that!

Jack battled all over the pitch, and was so desperate to conduct our play from the back. But the players in front of him did not make the runs needed for him to pick them out, and without any proper wingers we were predictable and ineffective. Shall I say it again: Jack is enormous for us and our best on-field leader.

It was good to see that he did not have to fight on his own today. Vermaelen recovered strongly after the first 30 minutes and was immense in the second half. The same can be said about Sagna who played like the old warrior again, and what a beast he was for us today!

Diaby was very rusty and in my view it was a mistake to play him in Arteta’s role after such a long absence. The deepest midfield position is such a crucial position, both in terms of shape to the team and protection of the back-four, and I reckon it would have been better if Wilshere would have played there today; with Diaby in the more open role normally occupied by little Jack.

It is so hard to evaluate Theo’s performance today, especially as we played with 10 men for almost the entire game. As I have written in previous posts, I don’t believe we can play with Pod on the left and Theo in the middle without proper wing-play from the right. It was disappointing that Wenger had to take Ox off, and I believe it would have been better to take Pod off instead.

However, Theo’s inability to come for the ball in the air, and even on the ground, and to shield it so our other attackers and midfielders can come closer to the opposition’s box was very evident today. And when you play with ten men, this is an absolute necessity in my view.

In hindsight, it would have been better to take either Pod or Ox of for Mertesacker and replace Theo with Giroud. The Frenchman would have given us more support in my view.

I was not impressed with Theo today, but then I was also disappointed about the lack of shape in our team for most of the match, and the poor support we gave him; although having to play with only ten men had a lot to do with this, I reckon.

The sending off makes it a lot more difficult to give a fair verdict of Theo’s performance, but I reckon Wenger will be scratching his hair tonight on what to do with regards to his formation and strike-force, going forward.

Once Kompany was also sent off as well, which probably would not have been a red card if Dean had not given Koscielny one earlier, the balance of the game, which had evened out in the second half, turned towards us, as we pressed more consistently for a goal. However, regular misunderstandings between the players, and a lack composure by a number of individual players in front of goal, meant that we did not manage to score, despite trying very hard.

We should be encouraged by the second half performance, despite some of the shortcomings of our team as described above. Dean spoilt the game though, and I hope he will not get away with it this time.

Written by: Total Arsenal.

Little Jack the real leader, Theo and Giroud not gelling yet, why no Rosicky?

January 7, 2013TotalArsenal

Having watched the second half again last night, I felt a lot more positive about the whole game than I did when I watched the game for the first time. In the first half, Arsenal tried as hard as in the second half, but the belief was not there and our football looked a bit ‘theoretical’ as a result. We pressed them in numbers and tried to find openings, but the midfield and our attack looked like separate sub-teams.

This all changed in the second half, when we took the game once again to Swansea with plenty of energy, focus and with more invention. Swansea scored their goal against the run of play, and our defence should have done better in avoiding the chance happening in the first place and dealing with it as well.

We did not give up though and kept pushing for the equaliser, driven on by the real leader in this team: little Jackie Wilshere. Our goals came in quick succession by substitute Podolski and the other ‘driver’ yesterday: Kieran Gibbs. Podolski showed his predatory instinct with a fine turn and ferocious shot into the corner of the goal which left Vorm shapeless, and Gibbs’ goal was a Bergkampesque beauty; converting a fine ball over the top by Giroud with venom and precision in the roof of the net.

Before the goals, Arsenal had been close to scoring on several occasions but we lacked quality in our finishing: Giroud, Theo, Cazorla and Podolski all missed decent to great chances.

Why no Rosicky yesterday?

Cazorla is one of our best footballers, and I would always play him as long as he is fit. But Arsene has given him the responsibility to shape our attacks and direct our play, and I feel he is struggling in this department recently. He is no Fabregas that is for sure, and I reckon it is Wilshere who is mainly directing our football at the moment with his drive, overview and passing ability.

I am wondering more and more whether Cazorla should play on the wings, at least for a few games, and give Rosicky a chance to play in his position. I reckon we would get a far better shape to the team and become more inventive and effective as a result. But Arsene did once again not even use him as a substitute, and I am starting to wonder whether Rosicky is in line for being sold during this TW. Given the Czechs’ fitness problems I would not be too sad about that, as long as he is replaced. However, I think we are missing a trick or two at the moment, and Rosicky could really lift this team with his drive and ability.

Theo and Giroud not gelling yet

With Ramsey on the left, and Theo playing a lot closer to Giroud than usual, we did not have proper wingers yesterday. A lot of wing-play came from the wing-backs, and especially Gibbs did really well yesterday (if only he could learn to cross!). It was also good to see Sagna back with confidence and drive and I hope he will improve further against Man City. The cross of the game came from the much maligned Ramsey, who worked hard to get himself a bit of space and time to cross all the way from the corner flag onto Giroud forehead at a perfect height. But Giroud is once again trying too hard to convince his (few) doubters that he really is a good striker, which seems to affect his finishing.

Ollie works so hard for the team and tries to help as much as he can, but it is clear he is one of these players who needs to play regularly to be at his best. Theo also struggled to have a real impact on the game, as Swansea did not allow him, and the rest of the team, a lot of space during most of the game.

It was also clear that Giroud and Walcott have some way to go to become a strong partnership, but I do feel we need to keep playing them together for a while (maybe with Rosicky and Cazorla, or Ox and Pod, on the wings in a 4-4-2).

Second half offers hope of better times to come.

This season we seem to be a second half team. We play a lot better after the break which indicates to me that as a team we are not gelling enough on the pitch, and Wenger and Bould need to do a lot of work at half time to get the players to perform better both tactically and personally. It does seem to work, though, but we need to get the same level of performance for 90 minutes, if we are to beat the Northern and Southern Oilers in our next PL fixtures this month.

The second half performance offers hope of progress in terms of drive and spirit. But our defending needs to improve significantly, and Mertesacker will play a key role in this. He did not have a good game yesterday, but just like Giroud he is one of those players who need to play regularly to be at his best. We need his organisational skills and reading of the game to give us back shape and unity in our defence. Let’s hope he is back to his best again next weekend.

Written by: Total Arsenal.