park the bus – Bergkampesque

Who needs strikers? Our midfield scores when it wants! :) — Who needs strikers? Our midfield scores when it wants! 🙂

Our game against Crystal Palace was a predictable one:

They parked the bus as expected
We played calm and disciplined in the first half, yet tiring them out in the process
We upped the tempo and intensity in the second half
Subsequently found the gaps and finished them off (with a small wobble between the two goals, though)
They were happy with a small loss
Both went their merry ways: Arsenal TotL and Palace continue their relentless relegation battle.

Mourinho can complain about 19^th century football by West Ham the other day – whatever that means – it is up to the big teams to crack open the panzer-positioning of the less fortunate/visionary teams. Wenger showed again how it should be done: patience, movement, crisp passing and occupying the ‘central tanks’ – CBs and DMs – constantly, so cracks can be found.

I felt we missed Jack a lot in the first half as he is a young master in both finding the cracks with his passing and entering them with his clever runs – with or without the ball – in these sort of games (especially when playing together with Ozil and Santi). For me, he has been our best player in January and hopefully he will be back soon.

During the first 45 minutes we did not get close enough to their box and played a tat too slow. But we did manage to work Palace really hard which will have used up a lot of their energy. Pulis has Palace working in an organised way now, and I was impressed with their discipline in the first half, as in sticking to the tactics and playing aggressively but not unfairly (although, how Jedinak escaped a yellow card for consistent fouling is beyond me).

Ox was finding his way during this half; and I don’t know what Wenger said to him during the break, but he played a lot better during the second one. In a 4-2-3-1 formation, the box to box player is so crucial in adding that extra thrust and dimension to our football, and ‘Ox-to-Ox’ did it brilliantly after the break. The second half was only a couple of minutes old, when Cazorla spotted AOC’s run into the box, whilst Giroud and Ozil occupied the defence. Our young Englishman controlled the ball with Bergkampesque feeling in his foot (as some TV commentators apparently called it), and finished off with composure and class: a brilliant goal.

Then we did what we tend to do a lot: not deal well with pressure higher up the pitch by our opponent, once they apply a change in tactics. I will not go into this too much as it will rekindle Saturday’s debate about my, and many a fellow Gooner, view, that we need to add defensive steel and organisation to our first team, now that Flamini ruled himself out for so many crucial games.

Both Arteta and Ox worked their socks off to readdress the balance, and they were helped well by other midfielders, but we lost our shape quite a bit. It made for an uncomfortable period in the second half in which CP could have even equalised. Szczesny came to the rescue with one of his typical ‘octopus’ saves, and then Ox-to-Ox put the game to bed with another fine team goal, completed by a cool, confident finish.

Giroud was rewarded for a lot of hard, thankless and often unspotted work throughout the match with a fine assist. He moved towards the midfield, away from the ‘D’, to create space and receive the ball with his back to the goal; a measured ball into the Ox’s running feet was enough to create a fine scoring opportunity, which the Englishman took with Henryesque calmness and confidence. What a fine second half attacking performance by our ‘new signing’! 😉

Northern or Southern Oilers to win?

So, we did what we had to do and are back where we belong: top of the league. Whether we stay there or not depends on tonight’s result between the oil-doped silverware buyers of the South and the North. The majority will want a draw in this game, as it will keep us top of the league. Some are even hoping for a Chavs win but this is the last thing we want right now.

Looking at the remainder of the games, the Southern Oilers have the easiest run of all three teams, and therefore the bigger the gap we can create between them and us now, the better. After tonight, of the ‘top teams’, they have Everton, Spuds and us at home and just Liverpool away. We have Liverpool, Spuds, Everton, and Chavs away, and Mansour City and Moyes United at home. Mansour City have Moyes United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Everton away still to come, which is a similar run in to us.

So a draw would be a good outcome and I would even prefer a home win. It would mean a gap between us and the Chavs of five points rather than four, which might turn out to be crucial in the end. Despite the fantastic attacking football by the Northern Oilers, they are, in my view, more vulnerable during the run in than the Southern ones. So for me, a home win, or a draw, are good outcomes, but an away win would be pretty disastrous.

Anyway, let’s prepare ourselves for Maureen’s 21^st Century football show tonight! 😆

Written by: TotalArsenal.

I don’t know about you but when I have to do tedious tasks, like completing spreadsheets, peel potatoes or listen to MotD analysts, my mind often wanders to Arsenal moves and goals as a coping mechanism.

Our second goal against Pool-victors Hull, for example, serves as the perfect tedium killer. Every time I think of that goal a smile forms in my face: the way the Hull players wanted the ball over the line, the perseverance of Nacho and Ozil, the sharp combinations between Ramsey and Ozil whilst moving constantly, and the beautiful, beautiful measured ball into the box by the Welshman to the German, followed by a fast, precise, deadly finish by Ozil. Stuff of day dreams.

Watch it again, from about 58 seconds onwards:

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

Arsenal currently have five fit, multi-talented midfielders who can combined so well in tide spaces that we seem to have finally cracked the Park The Bus approach of some of the teams coming to the Emirates. Of course it helped that we scored an early goal against Hull, but it was also clear to me that they just could not deal with the movement and passing of our midfielders on Wednesday.

And if the movement and passing is good now, just imagine what it will look like in the future. Ramsey and Wilshere maturing further, Ozil settling properly into the team, Santi in his best form again, Rosicky coming in to replace tired legs at the start or during the games, and Ox returning fit and hungry to the team. Add to that the super talents of Eisfeld and Zelalem, and one or two others, and you know the future is bright.

It does make me think, though, what sort of football Arsene and Steve are aiming to play mid to long term: is this it or will we see another dimension added to our game?

I mention Steve Bould on purpose as I am equally impressed with the current defensive shape and discipline of the team. What initially seemed an awkward relationship between two strong-willed and passionate characters has slowly developed into one of great strength and depth. In recent seasons, there often was an obvious split in the team of the ‘defence seven’ – GK, defenders, and two defensive minded deeper laying midfielders – and the attacking four with the a limited amount of integration between the two ‘blocks’.

It worked for us when we needed to get results, but it was often hard on the eye, and was always going to be an interim measure as long as Wenger is ultimately in charge.

Now, after a summer of stability through keeping all our key players (except Gervinho, who I reckon we should have kept at least another year), and adding the extra dimension of Ozicle and the steel and extrovert leadership of the foxy Flamini to our talents, Wenger and Bould have evolved the team to the next – yet I feel not final – stage.

There is a lot more fluidity to our play and our team no longer look like two autonomous, task-orientated units. Only when we play the bigger teams, we still struggle a bit with playing as an integrated, holistic defending and attacking team. This is something the team will get better at the longer the players are together, and our two games against the Oilers will show us how far they have come.

We can look forward to the likes of Santi, Jack, Mesut, Aaron, Alex and Tomas becoming more and more a free moving, all conquering midfield attacking machine this season, with Flamini or Arteta offering defensive support behind them and Giroud being the pivotal, holding attacker up-front. On top of that, they get constant support from one full back at a time. There is growth in Gibbs and Jenkinson, and Nacho and Sagna are solid, safe pairs of hands for us.

Mid to long term, other than adding some strength in depth in some key areas (CB, DM, RB, CF), I can see us getting a top quality 24/25 year old left midfielder/winger. He would add another dimension, especially if and when combined with Theo on the right. That for me would be the next stage of growing our team into an all conquering machine again. It would give us variety in our approach to opponents and style of play.

We have not been lucky with our purchases for the LW/LM position in recent years; in fact, it seems to have some sort of curse ever since the one and only Pires left us, with Reyes, Arshavin and Gervinho, and to some extent Podolski, all failing to properly make it there. Let’s hope Arsene’s can find the final piece of the jigsaw in 2014 – either in January or the summer – and this team will become even better.

But what do you think fine fellow Gooners:

Have Arsenal found the cure for PTB teams now?
What style of football would you like Arsenal to play and are we there yet?
Is the LW/LM an area in need of real improvement (rather than adding cover as in the DM, CB, RB and CF positions)?
Who would be your nr.1 choice for the LW/MW?
Who would be your nr.1 priority purchase in January?

Let’s have a heated debate! 😛

Written by: TotalArsenal.

Tag: park the bus

Ox-to-Ox does it – Why Arsenal don’t want a Chelsea win

Mesut, Aaron, Jack, Santi, Tomas: ideal cure for PTB.