Well, right now to be a Gooner is to be blessed. Against Sunderland we witnessed a breathtaking first half performance and a clinical and efficient second half, resulting in a top of the table spot that is the icing on the sweet sumptuous cake that is Arsenal FC.
All this considering, we were lacking Santi and Poldi, and our German new signing had suffered a stomach bug and so really wasn’t at 100% AND had only trained once before with the lads. Which reminds me of some two snippets of good news; Olivier Giroud, last night after the game, tweeted that he is fine so that’s a relief, and reports are emerging that Arteta and Poldi have been responding exceptionally to treatment and are likely to return by beginning of October, which is in about two weeks. On the down side though, we lost Santi for three weeks it seems.
I am not going to repeat what has been said, rather I am going to explore an issue that has been overlooked, which is rather puzzling. The partnership between Wilshere and Ozil in the middle of the park.
Yesterday was Jack Wilshere’s best performance in an Arsenal shirt this season by a mile. And this was on the back of a poor performance for England. He played with the swagger, tenacity and confidence that once left the mighty Barcelona in defeat at the Emirates a few seasons ago. This was largely thanks to Mesut Ozil. Before the game, Wenger said that he believes Ozil will bring out the best of Wilshere. Anyone who still has doubts of that needs to re-watch that game.
I will take you back to a discussion we had sometime back regarding Wilshere’s best position in the team. I remember many argued that he is most natural in the number 10 role behind the striker but I insisted that Jack is a free spirit who best plays as a box to box, taking the ball in deep positions and surging up the field at will. I think I am vindicated on that front.
That aside though, yesterday we saw some of the best football from Arsenal, in a while. And before I go much further, let me state for the record that my man of the match is Aaron Ramsey, not just because of his goals but the boy was fantastic in attack and defence for the full 90 mins. Not even Arteta can displace him now.
Anyway, back to the issue at hand. Our midfield was dominant, and this will only get better as Ozil gets to play more with his team mates and Wilshere recaptures top form. Not to forget that once Santi, Rosicky and Poldi are reintroduced into the side, things will get very bad very fast for our opponents. In fact if I was Arsene I would take Giroud, Theo, Santi, Ox and Poldi and put them in a special training regime that focuses on movement off the ball and finishing, so as to capitalize on the unbelievable quality behind them. Yesterday, Theo should have given Ozil his first three assists in the league.
I was pleased we won 3-1 away but I still came out dissatisfied. I mean let’s be honest, based on the game alone we should have scored at least 6 goals (counting Theo’s three misses). Now consider if we were full strength and in this kind of form. We could realistically have gone in to double digits. That’s how much confidence and expectation I have in this team.
We play Marseille on Wednesday and for me every minute between now and then will be excruciating. I am now a junkie whose fix is watching the Arsenal ruthlessly annihilate their opponents. So for now, mine is to try and deal with the withdrawal symptoms until Wednesday.
Written by: Marcus
Bergkampesque 