Arsenal Observer

Predicted starting eleven against Chelsea

2015-04-25T15:05:00.000+01:00

#AFCvCFC

There is a lot to not like about Chelsea, which makes tomorrow a really important game for us. Points-wise, this game is not an absolutely vital one but, should we win, we strengthen our grip on second place, and send a really strong message to our rivals. While we are not going to catch Chelsea to win the title this year, a win would make it 9 on the bounce in the league and show that we really are capable of beating anyone. If we could remain unbeaten for the rest of the season then it would put us in a really good place for the start of the next campaign.

It's a sign of our improvement that, for the first time in ages, it feels like we're in with a good shout of beating Chelsea in this game, and are perhaps the better team at the moment. Having said that, we haven't won the game yet, and it's exactly this kind of fixture that has proven to be our downfall in the past - playing against an arrogant, anti-football team who will try all the gamesmanship they can muster to try and frustrate us. It's such a shame that Fabregas, who used to be our symbol of hope and of playing football the right way, has turned to the dark side. I think Chelsea have perhaps even overtaken Man United now in my rankings of most hated teams.

We will need to be right on our game and maintain our focus for the full 90 minutes so as not to concede a goal on the counter-attack, and need to maintain positivity, belief and momentum when attacking. Mourinho will be very aware that Alexis could every important in these aspects, so I await some dubious tactics from the arrogant one in stopping him play. At least Diego Costa, one of the most vile and abrasive players I have ever seen, is unlikely to be playing tomorrow, although we haven't exactly fared brilliantly against Drogba in the past. I suspect that he is not the same player he once was, but Gabriel will need to avoid any slips in concentration to keep him out and likewise with Bellerin and Hazard.

Predicted starting line-up: Ospina; Bellerin, Gabriel, Koscielny, Monreal; Coquelin, Cazorla; Ramsey, Özil, Alexis; Giroud

I feel that our starting line-up pretty much selects itself at the moment, which is interesting given that the majority of our squad is back to fitness, so our bench will contain the likes of Wilshere, Welbeck, Walcott, Debuchy, Gibbs, Chambers and Szczesny. Even with Ramsey playing out of position, wide on the right, it's difficult to see how these players are going to get back in the team. I wonder whether Oxlade-Chamberlain, when fit, might ultimately be a better option on the right than Ramsey, and whether Ramsey then might replace Cazorla in the middle. I also wonder about the futures of Wilshere and Walcott, as it feels like they both have plenty to offer, given the chance.

Right then, back to the game tomorrow... Let's wipe that smile off Mourinho's face and await the whinging and moaning about anything and everything in the aftermath. COYG.

Reading 1-2 Arsenal (AET): Through to face Villa in the final

2015-04-21T00:12:00.000+01:00

#RFCvAFC

We made hard work of it but eventually saw off a brave and battling Reading, thanks to two goals from Alexis. They weren't great goals, but Alexis has the determination that we so desperately need in these kind of tight games, and the directness that we so often lacked last season. While Alexis' opportunism got the goals and drew the attention of the pundits, I was impressed by the performance of Özil. While Reading were determined to give us as little time on the ball as possible, Özil was great at finding space and seemed to have the awareness and speed of thought to make the right decisions under pressure. Both Alexis and Özil are really beginning to look at home in this team, whether against the top teams or when battling against teams lower down the league(s).

Line up: Szczesny; Debuchy, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs; Coquelin, Cazorla; Ramsey, Özil, Alexis, Welbeck

While this is a strong team, Wenger took the opportunity to re-introduce Debuchy, Gibbs and Welbeck into the starting eleven, as well as continuing with Szczesny in goal for the FA Cup matches. Unfortunately it showed that Debuchy and Gibbs lacked match practice, and all three of Szczesny, Debuchy and Gibbs were at fault for the Reading goal. While Szczesny played well for most of the game, and his mistake wasn't the worst, his performance was in stark contrast to the consistency demonstrated by Ospina who, without being outstanding, has barely made any mistakes in his last ten games.

Bellerin and Monreal were missed for different reasons; Bellerin's pace offers an outlet which can ease pressure on the defence while also offering a threat going forward - particularly useful with Ramsey positioned on the right. Monreal, meanwhile, offers a bit more defensive stability and positional awareness than Gibbs. As well as missing these two, Mertesacker also went off with an ankle injury, to be replaced with Gabriel. One of Gabriel's first actions was to draw a great save from Federici from a corner, but he soon went on to put another good chance wide. Defensively, Gabriel looks a decent tackler, but was often a bit rash, diving in and leaving us exposed - reminiscent of Vermaelen. Hopefully this was just nerves in a tense game, and he will be more assured and confident when he gets a run of games in the team.

Aside from the defence, we really missed Giroud up front; Welbeck struggled to find space up front and lacks the physical presence to hold the ball up and lay it off to runners. When Giroud came on we improved a lot, as he provides an outlet for the other forward players, and they know that they'll get it back. I can't help but think that Ramsey is a little wasted on the right, but it's easy to understand why Wenger wants to keep him in the team, with his work rate and goal threat. Against Reading, however, I didn't feel that Cazorla was particularly effective in the centre, as they didn't allow him the space that he drives into in midfield. Ramsey, on the other hand, looks to release others, while also offering a combative edge to his game.

With Alexis and Özil now finding their ways to contribute effectively, our aims now are to ensure that the whole squad can be used effectively. Many players were rotated against Reading and every player brought in looked poor in comparison to who they replaced. While injuries have finally started to improve, being able to rotate our squad seamlessly is a real target to improve on for next season.

One thing that really does demonstrate our improvement is the comparison of our fortunes to those of Liverpool, who went out to Villa. Over the past year, many people have suggested that Rodgers might be a more up-to-date and forward thinking manager that could take the club further than Wenger can, with better tactical awareness. Similar arguments have also been made for Klopp, and yet both of these managers have fallen upon much tougher times this season, while Wenger looks likely to improve on last season. We need to be wary of Villa in the final - Liverpool, Chelsea and Man City have all shown that in FA Cup games you need to do more than just turn up, despite being favourites to win.

In the Premier League, Chelsea beating Man Utd makes our next game against Chelsea slightly less critical. It's an important test for us, and another chance to demonstrate that we've improved from last season but, even if we win, we still can't catch Chelsea with their seven point lead. And should we lose, we remain in second place ahead of the two Manchesters. It would be amazing to stick it to Fabregas, and a win would continue our great run while making second place seem within our grasp.

Let's not believe our own hype just yet

2015-04-11T12:56:00.002+01:00

#BFCvAFC #Bellerin #Walcott

Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of reasons to be positive at the moment, but the media would have us believe we're right up there with Chelsea competing for the title, when the reality is that we're still 7 points behind having played one game more. The moment we start believing that the hard work is done and we've arrived, is the moment we go to Burnley thinking we've already won just by turning up. There are, however, no easy games in the Premier League and, as Wenger stated recently, we need to match Burnley's work rate if we are to win this game.

It has been an absolute delight to see Özil and Alexis both able to be effective in the same team, but other players that have been vital to our improved performances also include Giroud (10 goals in 10 games), Coquelin, Cazorla and Koscielny. Against Burnley though, we have a slightly different test, in that we need to start using the whole squad and giving some of our key players a rest. I suspect that Koscielny and Cazorla may be given a well-earned break, and that Welbeck will be involved to give us more physical presence, along with Giroud.

Predicted line-up: Ospina; Bellerin, Mertesacker, Gabriel, Monreal; Ramsey, Coquelin; Welbeck, Özil, Alexis; Giroud.

Last seven games:

Arsenal 2-0 Everton
QPR 1-2 Arsenal
Man Utd 1-2 Arsenal (FA Cup)
Arsenal 3-0 West Ham
Monaco 0-2 Arsenal (Champion's League - we lose on away goals)
Newcastle 1-2 Arsenal
Arsenal 4-1 Liverpool

While we went out of the Champion's League, our performance against Monaco in the second leg was nothing to be ashamed of, with all the damage having been done in the first leg. In the other games we have managed to successfully negotiate some tricky looking fixtures. In an effort to avoid being swayed this way and that by the latest media trends, I wrote an article, earlier in the season (have a look here), trying to be as objective as possible about what might constitute a successful for Arsenal in 2014/15. My main conclusions were as follows:

'To improve on last season, we need to achieve more than 79 points in the league and get 3rd place or better. We also need to win something again, be it the FA Cup, Premier League or Champions League. And, most importantly (for me), we also need to eliminate the humiliating results. With our improved financial strength and resources, the expectations of Arsenal fans has rightly increased, meaning that just finishing 4th is no longer good enough, and the pressure on Wenger to deliver success is much greater.'

In these terms, this season is beginning to look like it could be a success. We're now averaging over two points per game, but our current form will need to continue if we're to reach 79 points or more. Having said that, this season is looking like 79 points would win us 2nd place, as it would have done in every Premier League season apart from the one just gone. We're in with a good shout of retaining the FA Cup, although Liverpool will no doubt be a tougher proposition at Wembley, as they will do anything not to lose to us for the third time this season (assuming we make it to the final). I think what is most pleasing is that we're finally showing ourselves to be more capable against the bigger teams, and we're miles away from taking the beatings of last season. A sterner test against Chelsea awaits, however.

It's been great to see the likes of Coquelin and Bellerin emerging over the past few months and establishing themselves in the team. A recent article in the Telegraph re-hashed some old news confirming that Bellerin is now our quickest player over 40m, but there was also an interesting quote from Wenger about why he selected Bellerin to play against Sterling:

“I picked Bellerin for his pace and low centre of gravity,” the manager said. “Raheem Sterling changes direction very quickly and Hector is short as well.”

I find this particularly interesting in terms of the debate about whether Debuchy should get back in the first team when he returns from injury. The surprise here is that Wenger chooses which full-backs to play based on the opposition they are to face. So, rather than having first and second choice full-backs, we have Gibbs and Bellerin who are quick enough to cope with fast opposition wingers, but we also have Monreal and Debuchy, who are more robust and positionally aware. I thought that we looked a lot more solid defensively, particularly aerially, when Debuchy came back into the team, yet against a fast and tricky winger like Sterling, I'd feel much more comfortable with Bellerin's pace in the team.

Aside from Bellerin, the article also invites the question as to who in the squad is slower than Mertesacker (over 40m)?! My initial thoughts were that it has to be either Ospina or Szczesny, but now I'm thinking perhaps Arteta?! There really aren't many other candidates!

While on the subject of pace, I feel I should briefly offer some thoughts on the Walcott situation. And how different it is to the last time he came to sign a new contract, when he was able to hold us to ransom somewhat. This time round, I feel it is the club who hold most of the cards. Personally I would like Walcott to stay, based on the glimpses of potential we've seen in the Özil-Walcott combination. If that ever gains consistency then there's no doubt that Walcott's runs off the ball, combined with his pace, could see him become a World-class goal scorer, provided he improves his finishing.

On the other hand, there are some very big ifs in there. We've been waiting for almost 10 years for Walcott to deliver on his potential, gain consistency and improve his finishing. If we consider the situation from Walcott's point of view then there is now doubt that this is the best club for him to develop. Nowhere else would have supported him through so many injuries, given him so many chances and so much game to improve while also offering Champion's League football every year. Also, no other club has Özil to spot his runs and put so many chances on a plate for him.

Should Walcott decide otherwise, I won't be too concerned. Wenger now has the funds to buy a World-class replacement, with Brahimi, Sterling and Pedro all possible candidates. Or, dare I say it, how about Oxlade-Chamberlain, Gnabry, or even Wellington Silva (!)

Walcott needs to improve on practice run before Monaco

2015-03-18T18:07:00.000+00:00

#AFCvWHU #MONvAFC

Since the huge disappointment of our loss to Monaco, our performances in winning our next four games have been really encouraging. Professional performances against Everton and QPR enabled us to brush them aside without needing to play our best, and against Man United we deployed a very similar system to the one that we used so successfully when we travelled to Man City.

By this I mean that we were happy to give up the lion's share of possession and organise ourselves defensively such that there was not much space between our defence and midfield, making it very difficult for the opposition to create any openings. With patience, the opportunities arise for us to score. Firstly, a mazy but forceful run from Chamberlain caused havoc in their defence, leaving Monreal with plenty of space to find a calm finish. Rooney equalised soon after from a dangerous cross from di Maria, cutting inside from the right to cross with his left foot. Di Maria's crosses had been Man United's only real threat to our defensive stance and, later in the game, Welbeck was able to capitalise on a terrible back pass to score the winner.

While this approach seems to be a great blueprint for playing away against the bigger teams, it's not going to help us against Monaco on Tuesday, as they have no reason to come out and attack us. The onus will be on us to attack in order to score an early goal, and I feel that this influenced our line-up against West Ham:

Ospina; Chambers, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal; Ramsey, Coquelin; Walcott, Özil, Alexis; Giroud.

If we are to stand any chance of winning against Monaco we need to play all of our most direct, incisive and dynamic players and I believe that Walcott for Cazorla was an attempt to give him some match-sharpness in order to unleash his pace against Monaco. What I loved about the team against West Ham was that every one of the front five players offers a different attacking threat, with Walcott's pace and runs behind, Alexis' pace and direct dribbling, Giroud's strength, finishing and interplay, Özil's creativity, vision and ability to play others in and Ramsey's movement and finishing. This is at the expense of Cazorla's ball-carrying ability and drive but has the potential to cause Monaco real problems with our pace, movement and one-touch interplay.

I could see Walcott getting in on goal with his clever movement, but he will need to drastically improve his finishing from what we saw on Saturday. It has been great to see the rise of Özil over the last month or so as he has really grown into the number 10 role behind Giroud. Earlier in the season I suggested that our main challenge was to find a system which could allow all of our best players (Alexis, Özil and Ramsey) to be at their most effective, and the game against West Ham was beginning to make this a reality. This game allowed us to fine-tune some of our movement and one-touch interplay, particularly between Giroud, Ramsey and Özil. Not only this, but Özil now seems to be putting in a shift defensively, meaning that we are not left exposed with him playing centrally.

What has made this week all the more pleasing was seeing Chelsea crash out of the Champions' League despite employing their usual dirty tricks, and then seeing them drop points in the League too, along with Man City, Spurs and Southampton. While on the subject of the Chelsea - PSG game, I was very impressed with Rabiot, who looked to combine defensive tenacity and strength with offensive drive and running power.

Anyway, back to Monaco, and I'm hoping for the same attacking line-up as we saw against West Ham, in order to keep building on the relationships and understanding between players in order to play one-touch, dynamic football with pace and directness. This will give us the best chance of getting an early goal.

Predicted line-up: Ospina; Bellerin, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal; Ramsey, Coquelin; Walcott, Özil, Alexis; Giroud.

Which Arsenal will turn up today?

2015-03-01T10:59:00.000+00:00

#AFCvEFC

So our frustrations continue...

Wenger often speaks of the importance of consistency, yet we've struggled to find much this season. Just when things were starting to look up, we lost to Spurs, and we've had to fight to win subsequent games against Leicester, Middlesbrough and Crystal Palace. Then, having won three games, we seemed to expect to be able to brush Monaco aside with ease, giving them less respect than we gave Palace in the previous game.

At least against Spurs it was an outstanding performance from them that beat us, and Harry Kane. He's looking like a World-beater at the moment, so it won't be too long before he joins the list of decent Spurs players and makes the move to Real Madrid. Which highlights the difference against Monaco; Berbatov is not that good a player, and wouldn't make it into our team, yet by giving them no respect, and not expecting to have to work hard for victory, we were unable to change this expectation and turn in a decent performance when we needed to.

I felt a bit sorry for Chamberlain as, while it was his mistake that has seemingly put the tie to bed, he did score a decent goal, and it was the lethargy and complacency that led to the first two goals that I found much more frustrating. Any player could make a mistake when the whole team is pushing forward to try to score a late equaliser, but there was no such pressure for the first goal; we just didn't close down the players on the ball. And for their second goal, Mertesacker's decision making gave us no chance. We're now in a position where we need to score early in the second leg to have any chance of progressing into the next round. An early goal might allow us to put Monaco under pressure, and if we could get a second before 75 minutes then it'd be very tense indeed for the last 15. This is incredibly wishful thinking, I know!

So, on to Everton, and we have a chance to bounce back. I'd like to see Gabriel given his chance in place of Mertesacker, following his abysmal performance. Aside from that, I'd quite like to see Özil continue to develop in his role behind Giroud. I think that Giroud has the kind of character to make him want to do everything he can to make up for his last performance, so I'd like to see him given the chance to put things right.

Predicted line-up (4-2-3-1): Opsina; Bellerin, Gabriel, Koscielny, Monreal; Coquelin, Cazorla; Walcott, Özil, Alexis; Giroud

Expectations shifting again, as we emerge from a turbulent November and December

2015-02-03T12:38:00.001+00:00

We began the season with high expectations, having won the FA Cup and gained 79 points in the league last season. On top of this we made some excellent signings, including Alexis, who could provide the cutting edge and directness that we lacked, so it felt like we had the foundations on which to build a genuine title challenge.

And yet, only a few months on, having had our worst start to a season many years, it was becoming harder and harder to defend Wenger's decision not to strengthen the squad in defence and defensive midfield. We began the season with only 6 defenders in the squad: Debuchy, Chambers, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal and Gibbs. Suddenly, our expectations had shifted from potentially challenging for the League, to having to really raise our game to retain hope of finishing fourth again.

For me, it is the times when I'm forced to lower my expectations that are most frustrating as an Arsenal fan. We now seem to be experiencing the opposite effect, having beaten Man City, as this encourages us to raise our expectations again, as we have finally shown ourselves capable of beating the bigger teams. It is these times, when we are surprised, and it becomes apparent that we might just achieve beyond our expectations, which are most enjoyable as a fan. We all thrive on the hope that is provided in these situations.

Before we get too carried away, I wanted to just briefly review some of our games from November and December, as these have been some of the most turbulent times I can remember in terms of my own shifting expectations, hope and frustration:

Tuesday 4th November: Arsenal 3 - 3 Anderlecht

Arsenal line-up (4-1-4-1): Szczesny; Chambers, Mertesacker, Monreal, Gibbs; Arteta; Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ramsey, Cazorla, Alexis; Welbeck

Comments: Otherwise known as Anderlecht's revenge, this game demonstrated the best and worst of Arsenal. For the first 60 minutes, this was our best performance of the season so far. And then, for the last 30 minutes, Anderlecht did to us what we did to them in the previous game. Our complacency cost us this game. It felt like the end of the World, but the reality was that we required 1 more point from our remaining two games to guarantee qualification to the knockout stages of the Champion's League.

Sunday 9th November: Swansea City 2 - 1 Arsenal

Arsenal line-up (4-2-3-1): Szczesny; Chambers, Mertesacker, Monreal, Gibbs; Ramsey, Flamini; Oxlade-Chamberlain, Alexis, Cazorla; Welbeck

Comments: A Koscielny-shaped hole in our defence is becoming more and more prominent. We also missed Debuchy, as Chambers really struggled against Montero.

Saturday 22nd November: Arsenal 1 - 2 Man Utd

Arsenal line-up (4-2-3-1): Szczesny; Chambers, Mertesacker, Monreal, Gibbs; Ramsey, Arteta; Oxlade-Chamberlain, Wilshere, Alexis; Welbeck

Comments: We seem to be finding new ways to lose games! Man Utd were there for the taking but we threw it away. We found ourselves 1-0 down without them having a shot on target! A very frustrating game, as the squad of players seem to have more different skills and options than it has in years, yet they're not quite clicking, and lack the confidence to take advantage of games like this. We miss Koscielny massively, as last year we looked able to hang on for 1-0 wins when necessary, whereas this season we look very fragile at the back. It looks like we're aiming for fourth place again. Great to have Giroud back.

Wednesday 26th November: Arsenal 2 - 0 Borussia Dortmund

Arsenal line-up (4-5-1): Martinez; Chambers, Mertesacker, Monreal, Gibbs; Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ramsey, Arteta, Cazorla, Alexis; Sanogo

Comments: We completely dominated this game, against World-class opposition. There is no better way to respond to our recent results than to put in a great performance like this. Expectations are raised again! Qualification secured.

Saturday 29th November: West Brom 0 - 1 Arsenal

Arsenal line-up (4-2-3-1): Martinez; Chambers, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal; Ramsey, Flamini; Alexis, Cazorla, Welbeck; Giroud

Comments: A good win away from home. The clean sheet is important.

Wednesday 3rd December: Arsenal 1 - 0 Southampton

Arsenal line-up (4-2-3-1): Martinez; Chambers, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal; Ramsey, Flamini; Oxlade-Chamberlain, Cazorla, Alexis; Welbeck

Comments: Another good win, another clean sheet. This time against a good Southampton side. Having Koscielny back is really important.

Saturday 6th December: Stoke City 3 - 2 Arsenal

Arsenal line-up (4-2-3-1): Martinez; Bellerin, Chambers, Mertesacker, Gibbs; Flamini, Ramsey; Oxlade-Chamberlain, Cazorla, Alexis; Giroud

Comments: Having had a few good results, this now brings us back to reality. Aiming for fourth place again, it seems! With Koscielny out again, and Debuchy still missing, it is becoming harder and harder to justify Wenger's decision not to sign another defender. Mertesacker struggled as the left-sided centre back. This was a game that typifies many Arsenal losses; once we concede an early goal, we are forced to attack more which, in turn, leaves our defence even more exposed.

Tuesday 9th December: Galatasaray 1 - 4 Arsenal

Arsenal line-up (4-3-3): Szczesny; Debuchy, Mertesacker, Chambers, Bellerin; Oxlade-Chamberlain, Flamini, Ramsey; Campbell, Sanogo, Podolski

Comments: A great win against a poor Gala side. Turkey isn't always the easiest place to travel to, but we'd already secured qualification, so the pressure was off. Podolski and Ramsey were the stars in this game with two goals each. Great to have Debuchy back, and the front three demonstrated the depth of the squad in the forward positions. I suspect, however, that these players wouldn't have played if we hadn't already qualified.

Saturday 13th December: Arsenal 4 - 1 Newcastle

Arsenal line-up (4-1-4-1): Szczesny; Bellerin, Debuchy, Mertesacker, Gibbs; Flamini; Oxlade-Chamberlain, Cazorla, Alexis, Welbeck; Giroud

Comments: Another solid win.

Sunday 21st December: Liverpool 2 - 2 Arsenal

Arsenal line-up (4-3-3): Szczesny; Debuchy, Chambers, Mertesacker, Gibbs; Oxlade-Chamberlain, Flamini, Cazorla; Alexis, Giroud, Welbeck

Comments: We were outplayed, but this was a professional performance. It was frustrating to concede a second goal so late in the game but, on the positive side, a point away to Liverpool is not a bad point. After all, Liverpool were a good side last season, and this is a better result for us than it is for them.

Friday 26th December: Arsenal 2 - 1 QPR

Arsenal line-up (4-3-3): Szczesny; Debuchy, Mertesacker, Monreal, Gibbs; Rosicky, Flamini, Cazorla; Alexis, Giroud, Welbeck

Comments: Good to return to winning ways.

Sunday 28th December: West Ham 1 - 2 Arsenal

Arsenal line-up (4-2-3-1): Szczesny; Debuchy, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal; Coquelin, Flamini; Oxlade-Chamberlain, Cazorla, Welbeck; Alexis

Comments: An interesting decision to recall Coquelin and now he gets a start alongside Flamini in a very defensive looking midfield. This was necessary in a hard-fought win.

Thursday 1st January: Southampton 2 - 0 Arsenal

Arsenal line-up (4-2-3-1): Szczesny; Debuchy, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs; Chambers, Coquelin; Oxlade-Chamberlain, Cazorla, Rosicky; Alexis

Comments: Argh! Just as things start looking up we lose again! Coquelin starts again, but this time alongside Chambers in central midfield.

Sunday 4th January: Arsenal 2 - 0 Hull City (FA Cup)

Arsenal line-up (4-2-3-1): Ospina; Bellerin, Chambers, Mertesacker, Monreal; Rosicky, Coquelin; Walcott, Cazorla, Campbell; Alexis

Comments: A good, solid, win.

Sunday 11th January: Arsenal 3 - 0 Stoke City

Arsenal line-up (4-1-4-1): Ospina; Debuchy, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal; Coquelin; Oxlade-Chamberlain, Rosicky, Cazorla, Alexis; Giroud

Comments: Well, we took a beating in this game. Debuchy got a well-timed nudge to send him into the advertising boards and dislocate his shoulder. Monreal got smashed in the face and blood was everywhere. All within the rules though, and great to see us put the Orcs back in their box. Stupid Orcs. A pre-Alexis Arsenal may have struggled in this game. His strength and determination to keep getting up and going at them again, despite being targeted and taken out so many times, allowed us to keep playing our game without having to lower ourselves and play their game. Coquelin was also a good player to have on the pitch to return some of the physicality back to Stoke, but he needs to be careful that he remains disciplined about this.

I find it interesting to reflect on our strengths and weaknesses from last season, and compare those to where we are now. Last season we had a strong defence and, at the start of the season in particular, we looked able to hold onto a lead and keep clean sheets. Ramsey was outstanding last season, scoring many goals from midfield, and we were very consistent in picking up points at teams lower down the league. Our weaknesses were playing the big teams, where we completely fell apart several times. This was compounded by injuries to Özil, Walcott and Ramsey, as our opponents discovered that they could use a high defensive line and compress the midfield, and we had no-one who could offer the pace and directness required to capitalise on the high defensive line.

Interestingly, we have now addressed many of these weaknesses. We looked solid against Chelsea, beat Borussia Dortmund, drew away with Liverpool and thoroughly outplayed Man Utd. We certainly haven't looked like getting smashed again against any of the big teams. On top of this, Alexis has added the work rate, desire and directness that means that teams can no longer play a high defensive line against us without being punished. Welbeck's pace has helped with this too; in fact, all of our signings have been great - Alexis, Welbeck, Debuchy, Chambers and Ospina. So why is it that, despite improving on our weaknesses, we've made a terrible start to this season?

Well, our defence has looked ropey at best, and Ramsey has been injured and lost the confidence to score regularly. While Alexis has been great, we've struggled to find a system that can accommodate both him and Özil and allow them both to play their best. So, actually, it seems that all of our strengths from last season have disappeared. Which is both a positive and a negative because, while it is incredibly frustrating, it shows that we do have the ingredients required to succeed - we just need to find a system that accommodates our strengths from both last season and this. It is only now that we're beginning to see this potential emerge, and long may it continue! We face a big test this weekend against a Spurs side rapidly gaining confidence.

Arsenal 5 - 0 Aston Villa: Composed team performance with five different goalscorers

2015-02-02T00:04:00.001+00:00

#AFCvAVFC

As is so often the case in football, a few good performances quickly silences the critics. The media's tune has quickly shifted from questioning Wenger's ability to take the club beyond aiming for fourth place, to suggesting that Coquelin is the player to complete our team, providing all that we were missing against the big teams, while the return of Özil and Walcott means that we have too much attacking talent for just one team.

Today was the perfect opportunity for us to slip up again; so often we feel we have improved, having dug deep in an important game, only to go and underestimate the team we face next and be brought back down to Earth with a bump. Instead, however, we performed with a confidence and composure to suggest that we are improving and can tentatively look forward to a positive end to the season.

Arsenal line-up (4-1-4-1): Ospina; Bellerin, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal; Coquelin; Walcott, Ramsey, Cazorla, Özil; Giroud

Thoughts on the game:

Aston Villa started the game aggressively trying to close us down in midfield, but we coped with this really well. The main reason for our downfall in the second half of last season was teams pressing us in midfield and pushing up their defence because, without Ramsey, Walcott and Özil, we had no outlets to break beyond the opposition defence. This season, with Alexis, we have been less susceptible to this tactic and, while Alexis was absent today, some of his passion lived on in Ramsey, Giroud, Cazorla and Coquelin, who all matched Villa's aggression and determination in a tight midfield. With the return of Özil's vision and Walcott's pace, we were constantly able to break free of Villa's defence, causing them all sorts of problems and leading to our first goal, from Giroud.

Özil's one-touch flick on to Giroud, to provide the assist, demonstrated exactly what he offers the team that no-one else can. While Cazorla is currently seeing a lot of the ball, driving forward and dribbling effectively, no-one but Özil can do so much damage with so few touches. This was also evident in Özil's goal, where he took just one touch to move the ball away from the defender before placing the ball past the goalkeeper with his second. The timing of his run was immaculate, and demonstrated that he does have pace and desire, it just often goes unnoticed as he is so economical in when he applies it. With Özil there are no wasted touches of the ball, and there is no wasted effort.

Making Özil's job easier was Walcott, who was constantly pushing back defenders with his running off the ball, opening up space for Özil and Giroud, in particular. Yes, he still lacked some composure when through on goal, wasting at least a couple of chances, but his goal was taken very well indeed. If he can become more clinical when through on goal then he will become very dangerous indeed. It was nice that both Walcott and Özil were able to cut inside and attack through the middle when they wanted to, and we are starting to see that Özil can be effective when positioned on the left, as well as in his favoured central role.

Coquelin put in another convincing performance, combining tenacity, athleticism, positioning and tackling ability to effectively shield our defence. He is helped out by the work rate and chasing of Ramsey and Cazorla ahead of him, but he makes it his business to defend, so is rarely caught out by being too high up the pitch. I was impressed by his ability to read the game today, carefully choosing the right moments to sprint forward to cut out a pass or make a tackle to regain possession, and then quickly passing it to a teammate to start an attack.

Our defence were well protected today, allowing them all to put it quietly convincing performances. Ospina strengthened his claim to be our first choice keeper with some commanding claims from crosses, and he made a couple of very good saves towards the end of each half. Bellerin is also staking his claim for a first team place, putting in some good tackles and quickly breaking forward to put in decent crosses. Great to see him score his first goal for the senior team too.

So, overall, this was a really pleasing performance from the whole team. We were working hard for each other which, in turn, made everyone's job easier and allowed us to keep an important clean sheet. We scored five great team goals, with five different names on the scoresheet. While Ramsey will have been disappointed not to be one of those names, he is putting in a lot of effort and his performances are gaining in composure and confidence. The goals will come.

Finally, I think it's worth mentioning some of the players who weren't playing today: Alexis, Wilshere, Welbeck, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Arteta, Debuchy, Gibbs, Gabriel, Chambers, Szczesny. For a start, this is just one player short of a very strong team. Most of these absent players are arguably first choice, yet it's very difficult to say who would have been left out of today's team to accommodate them. Things are starting to look up!

Arsenal conclude transfer business with Gabriel, having let four strikers go

2015-01-30T23:45:00.000+00:00

#WelcomeGabriel #WelcomeBielik #AFCvAVFC

At last we've signed a defender! Gabriel is a 24 year old Brazilian who cost £11.2million, from Villarreal. His arrival, along with that of Bielik, a young but physical midfielder, and the recent emergence of Coquelin, has gone some way to addressing the weaknesses in our squad in central defence and defensive midfield. Having also let four strikers (Podolski, Sanogo, Campbell and Afobe) leave, our squad is now looking a lot more balanced and less top-heavy. Hopefully one or more of the loaned out strikers can still return, more experienced, to make the break through at Arsenal.

Wenger's comments in his press conference earlier today suggested that, unless an exceptional player presents himself to Arsenal, at a bargain price, begging us to sign him, our January transfer business is now complete. A summary of our transfers can be found here.

Back to Gabriel, and it seems that we could have found ourselves another Koscielny; quick, strong in the tackle, good in the air, physical and with the anticipation and reading of the game to know when to step up and make interceptions. What's more, he's only 24 and versatile, capable of playing at both left and right back. While this is all sounding rather too good to be true, this transfer is not without risk. Not only has Gabriel not got any Premier League experience, he has only played in Spain for one year, so it could be difficult for him to adapt. It sounds as though he can also be prone to the odd mistake, which he will need to cut out quickly.

With his versatility, I'm hoping that Gabriel could be able to effectively replace both Mertesacker (right) or Koscielny (left) if required. My other hope is that he has the potential to be the long-term successor to Mertesacker and will become a permanent partner for Koscielny. This hope, however, will depend upon his ability to lead and organise the other players around him, as this is a real strength of Mertesacker. It has not gone unnoticed that this quality hasn't been mentioned by Wenger, or by any of the La Liga experts at Sky or other sources - I suspect that this could be an area for development, but look forward to being proven wrong!

On to the Villa game on Sunday, and Gabriel goes straight into the squad. We need to avoid complacency against a team out of form, so that we can make the most of any points lost by Man City and Chelsea, as they play each other tomorrow.

Alexis is a doubt with an injury, and needs a rest, which makes it a great opportunity to get Theo and Özil back in the side. My predicted line-up (4-3-3) is as follows:

Ospina; Bellerin, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs; Ramsey, Coquelin, Cazorla; Walcott, Giroud, Özil

Brighton 2 - 3 Arsenal: Arsenal capitalise on the weekend's games with hard-fought victory

2015-01-25T23:23:00.000+00:00

#BHAvAFC

Arsenal line-up (4-3-3): Szczesny; Chambers, Koscielny, Monreal, Gibbs; Rosicky, Flamini, Ramsey; Walcott, Giroud, Özil

This was a game where the result was much more important than the performance. The first half was comfortable, but Brighton really made us work for it in the second. The result, however, never really looked in doubt, and puts us in a great position to retain our trophy, with Chelsea, Man City, Spurs and Southampton all going out this weekend. It was great to see the return of Özil and Walcott to the team, as their creativity and pace (respectively) could potentially add a lot of options to our team for the remainder of the season.

Thoughts on the game:

The first goal was really well taken by Walcott and helped us to take control of the game.
Özil's goal was also well taken, with three quick touches that made it look like he had more time than he did.
Özil was positioned in the front three, high up the pitch, which made it hard for him to gain possession and influence the game. I would have liked to see him play deeper, with more opportunity to pick out the runs of Walcott. On the plus side, he did work hard and chase back, and some of his one-touch passing was a level above the rest.
Rosicky played well, effectively replacing Cazorla as the player to dictate the game and make driving runs forward. His goal was well taken too.
Ramsey still looks far from his best, but he always keeps running, works really hard and is composed on the ball. A great run at the end of the game should have led to a goal, but the important thing, for now, is that he's beginning to find goal scoring positions again.
Chambers, Flamini and Koscielny should all have done better for the first goal from Brighton. Perhaps we missed some organisation and leadership from Mertesacker.
For me, Gibbs outshone Chambers at full back. While Chambers always looked slightly off the pace when there were 50-50 balls to win, Gibbs always looked like he would get there first.
Great to see Alexis keep getting up and running at Brighton. Not only did he cope with their physical approach well, he seemed to be loving finding out what the FA Cup is all about.
There was a great tackle by Coquelin on Ince at about 90 minutes. Their players had been flying in on Alexis, and Coquelin's reply was well timed, hard, and helped us to maintain our dominance.
Akpom showed a lot of potential and was a useful outlet. He's got plenty of pace, an ability to take on defenders and a decent shot, but he needs to gain a bit of composure and improve his decision making.
Great that this should be Monreal's last game at centre back, with Wenger all but confirming the arrival of Paulista.

Thoughts on Man City 0 - 2 Arsenal, and predicted line-up against Brighton

2015-01-25T14:24:00.001+00:00

#MCFCvAFC #BHAvAFC

So, after a turbulent couple of months, things are beginning to look up again! How quickly expectations have risen as we demonstrate the discipline required to fell one of the giants.

Arsenal line-up against Man City: Ospina; Bellerin, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal; Coquelin; Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ramsey, Cazorla, Alexis; Giroud

Some observations and thoughts on the game:

Alexis worked hard, but the best thing about his performance was that he made himself subordinate to the team. Recently, he has been positioned wide left where, at the start of the season, he found it difficult to influence the game. This led to Wenger playing him through the middle and he quickly became our main man, inviting suggestions that his performances were carrying the team. He now seems able to be effective from out wide, still able to close down the opposition, put crosses in and cut inside and play more directly when appropriate. This more disciplined approach is allowing Cazorla to flourish centrally, and could potentially allow Özil to play in his favoured central position on his return to the team.

Alexis' work ethic and determination is beginning to rub off on the rest of the players, with Giroud, Cazorla, Ramsey and Oxlade-Chamberlain all pressing, chasing back and putting the Man City players under pressure. This defending from the front allowed Coquelin and the defence the protection needed to shine. Bellerin also benefitted from this, as he was never left exposed. Another aspect to our game was that we were prepared to let Man City have the ball, and didn't feel the need to push forward and over-stretch ourselves. It's been widely reported that our possession in this game was the lowest in any game since Opta Stats began, and yet it was undoubtedly one of our strongest performances. It has also been reported that it was the players who were key to deciding these tactics, which demonstrates great togetherness and reflectiveness.

I think it's worth noting that, while this performance was great, we didn't actually create many clear-cut chances, with our goals coming from a penalty and Giroud's header from a free-kick. Only Giroud's headed chance early in the first half springs to mind. We were slightly fortunate to win the penalty for the vital first goal and, had we not scored first, Man City could have grown into the game and put us under real pressure. Giroud is a good player to have on the pitch in games like this as he provides a physical presence and is such a threat in the air.

Coquelin has been putting in quietly decent performances for a few games now. What impresses me most is his alertness, combined with his awareness of where the opposition players are. These qualities are allowing him to position himself such that he reduces the options for the opponent on the ball. He is a more robust tackler than Arteta, and more astute than Flamini in deciding when to make a tackle and when to close down angles. Also impressive is his ability to play the role differently at different parts in the game; in the first half he was mainly sitting back and taking up positions to close down angles, whereas in the second half he was pressing further up the pitch, trying to win the ball and start counter attacks.

While I'm reluctant to get too carried away with his potential to be our first choice defensive midfielder just yet, it is really encouraging to see such a mature performance against a team such as Man City, away from home. The support and protection from the attacking players ahead of him was vital in this, and makes you wonder whether the likes of Alex Song could have looked a whole lot less clumsy with the protection that comes from our attacking players closing down the opposition. I suspect, however, that Coquelin's alertness, awareness and positioning are separating him from previous pretenders to the defensive midfield crown. Where he needs to improve is with his distribution; he needs to learn when to play the simple pass and when to go for something more ambitious. He does have the vision to spot runners further forward but, as yet, hasn't quite managed to execute the pass. There also remain question marks about his discipline, and I'm unsure of how quick he is - while it's great to be in the right position to defend effectively, it would be reassuring to know that he also had great recovery pace to call upon when necessary.

On the subject of recovery pace, Bellerin is slowly establishing himself as a competent right-back. However well protected he's been recently, it's reassuring to know that he has the pace to get back and put in a tackle if left exposed. There have also been a few moments when he's looked a real threat going forward as he's prepared to take defenders on when he sees the opportunity.

Ospina is quietly taking his chance as our first choice goalkeeper. He is a good shot-stopper and looks assured with balls into the box, making it hard to see Szczesny making it back into the first team any time soon. In a similar vein, the performances of Oxlade-Chamberlain and Cazorla make it difficult to see how they can be dropped to accommodate Walcott and Özil. Oxlade-Chamberlain is becoming very effective in the wide-right position as he is able to track back and defend but also willing to beat his man going forward and put a decent cross in.

Cazorla's performance was fabulous, showing real tenacity to chase the Man City players, win the ball back and then drive forward, much like Wilshere at his best. Bizarrely, this game made me see the potential in the Ramsey-Wilshere axis that Wenger tried to establish in this 4-1-4-1 formation earlier in the season. While Cazorla was undoubtedly outstanding against Man City, I'm still excited by the prospect of having Alexis, Özil, Ramsey and Walcott all in the same starting line-up. I can't help but feel that getting Özil back and at his best is the key to improving this team further and would allow us to capitalise on the pace of Walcott and Alexis, as well as the runs made by Ramsey, with devastating effect.

On to today's game against Brighton, and it is vital that we capitalise on the results of the other big teams over the weekend. With Man City, Chelsea and Southampton already out of the cup, we have a great chance to retain this trophy.

My predicted line-up is as follows:

Szczesny; Bellerin, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs; Coquelin; Walcott, Ramsey, Cazorla, Özil; Giroud

I think that Wenger will take this opportunity to re-introduce Walcott and Özil to the team and give Alexis a well-deserved rest. While it may make sense to rest Koscielny too, I think that Wenger will want to take this opportunity for him and Mertesacker to regain the understanding they developed last season.

Arsenal 3 - 0 Burnley: Alexis the main man again in improved performance

2014-11-02T23:10:00.001+00:00

#AFCvBFC

Arsenal line-up: Szczesny; Chambers, Mertesacker, Monreal, Gibbs; Arteta, Flamini; Oxlade-Chamberlain, Alexis, Cazorla; Welbeck

That's now three good results on the bounce, and it was nice to see a half-decent performance for a change. Our last two performances against Anderlecht and Sunderland have been very poor, but this demonstrates that it is getting the three points that is the most important thing. Despite poor performances, good results give the team confidence, which then leads to better performances, hopefully allowing us to build further upon this sequence.

Oxlade-Chamberlain was our most improved player and is starting to look like a decent wide player, able to break at pace, take players on and put in decent crosses. We still, however, look like we lack understanding in our attacking play and are still being carried somewhat by Alexis. What a great couple of goals from him, with the headed goal, in particular, demonstrating the fight and grit lacking in some of our other players. That's now 7 goals in 9 league starts for him.

I thought that we looked better when Ramsey came on, as his running made our team more dynamic and gave the player on the ball more options. Before that, too many players had roles that were too similar and they were getting in each others' way rather than complementing each other. For example, both Arteta and Flamini were sitting back, with neither really making runs into the space ahead of them, in order to link midfield and attack. It was a similar story further up the pitch, with Chamberlain, Alexis and Cazorla all coming inside and dropping deep together, leaving Welbeck isolated up front. Ramsey, in contrast to this, was constantly making runs to get into space and give the player on the ball more options. While he is not the best defensive midfielder, he never stops running and is tenacious, so we didn't suffer defensively.

Our attacking players still need to develop more understanding, so that when one drops deep the other two make runs in behind and stretch the opposition defence. This was about the only thing missing from Chamberlain's game today but Cazorla, on the other hand, was really struggling, often slowing our play down and looking lethargic. It started to look like nothing was going to come off for him in this game, and he started to lose belief in himself. Walcott's return will be important, and I look forward to a line up that contains Alexis, Özil and Walcott all together. My choice would be to play Özil centrally, as I feel that Alexis could be really effective positioned on the left, but with the freedom to cut inside when necessary - I felt that he did a lot of this in the game yesterday, despite being positioned centrally.

I thought that Monreal was pretty good today, but he has a long way to go to be able to effectively replace Koscielny. This is a tall order, as there's not really anyone else in the league who can offer the same dominance, mobility and assurance that Koscielny provides.

Right now, Alexis is the main man and carrying the team. It's really interesting how players can really thrive when they are main man, and while Alexis' confidence is now sky high, Cazorla seems to be suffering and unsure how to contribute. Yet it was only a couple of seasons ago that it was Cazorla who was thriving, when he was our best player and main man. We currently have a wealth of strong attacking players, with the quality to be the 'main man' in a Premier League team; Alexis, Cazorla, Özil, but also Ramsey and Wilshere. Our challenge is to find a way that all of these players can contribute effectively to the team.

The 'main man' in a team tends to be someone who the other players look to pass to, to dictate the play, to create something that makes the difference, and it is always a challenge to get more than one man in a team to take on this role. It's worth remembering that this problem was also very present in the Invincibles' squad, as we saw Reyes struggle to fulfil his potential when in the shadow of Henry. Fabregas was only really able to become the main man after Henry left. Some players prefer not to be the main man, but to be subordinate to the team, and struggle when they are expected to be the main man. I wonder where Özil fits into this...

If we are to create a successful team then we need as many of our key players as possible to be able to take responsibility for making things happen at key moments. We need players who are happy being subordinate to the team - the oil in the engine - allowing others to have the limelight. Bergkamp was that rare player who was able to play both of these roles seamlessly, taking responsibility when necessary, but also supporting other key players.

While our recent results have been quite good, they have all been games that we are expected to win. Where we really need to start improving is in picking up some good results in the games where we aren't the clear favourites to win. While we haven't had any of the collapses that were so demoralising last season, we are yet to have any results that exceed expectations. The next couple of fixtures look promising, against Anderlecht and Swansea, before a couple of tougher fixtures against Man Utd and Borussia Dortmund. These will provide us with our next opportunity to finally win some games where we are not the favourites.

A reasonable target for this season might now be to finish second or third in the league, which would demonstrate improvement over last season. Liverpool, Man Utd and Spurs are having their own difficulties, and Man City look fallible, but it's already difficult to see anyone catching Chelsea, despite only being 10 games in. While aiming to finish second or third isn't the most satisfying goal for the season, it seems that we finally have the depth and variety of players required in attack, and what we really need is for our attacking players to develop the understanding necessary to win the league next season. We will also need to fill the glaring gap in our squad at centre back, and improve on Flamini and Arteta in defensive midfield.

Briefly on to transfer speculation: With Rabiot signing a new contract at PSG, the Sami Khedira transfer rumours continue to persist, but I struggle to see what he would really add to our midfield over and above what is already offered in Wilshere and Ramsey. He perhaps has more physical presence, but I'm not convinced he has the positional discipline and tenacity that would be required to improve our team. The Hummels rumours are much more exciting as, alongside Koscielny, we would at last have a serious defence. This would be a signing of the calibre of Özil and Alexis, and it would be refreshing for this statement to be made in defence. I'm reluctant to get carried away, but this move makes a lot of sense to me, from an Arsenal point of view.

Anderlecht 1-2 Arsenal: Alexis wasn't celebrating after that shambolic performance!

2014-10-22T23:03:00.000+01:00

#ANDvAFC

Arsenal line-up: Martinez; Chambers, Mertesacker, Monreal, Gibbs; Flamini; Alexis, Ramsey, Wilshere, Cazorla; Welbeck

This game was in contrast to both of the last two games against Hull and Chelsea. This was the worst performance of the three, and yet the best outcome, putting us in a strong position to at least qualify for the next round of the Champions League. Wenger considers it important to win your home games, and then pick up one or two results away from home too. So far we are on track to do this, although at the moment it's impossible to see us getting a result against Dortmund, even at home.

Alexis was again our best player, always giving 100%, chasing lost causes and fighting to win the ball back. After the Chelsea game, Mourinho suggested that you often need a bit of magic from your best players to make the difference in tight games, but in that game it was Chelsea's Hazard that provided it, followed up by Fabregas and Costa. I thought we played quite well, but the difference was that the necessary magic from our best players, Özil and Alexis, remained elusive. In contrast to this, the magic from Alexis was very prominent in the game against Hull, without which we would have taken nothing from the game. Not since Overmars, or arguably Arshavin, have we had a player capable of running directly at defenders with the same combination of pace and close control, and it is a welcome addition to the skill-set of our squad from last season.

Aside from Alexis, pretty much everyone else this evening was below par. We looked jaded from the weekend but, more disappointingly, it seemed as though the players thought they just had to turn up to get a result against this Anderlecht team. Even after they scored, there was no response from us; we weren't able to find the energy to raise our game. Sky Sports seemed intent on informing us how bad this Anderlecht team were, with such a poor history in the Champions' League, but I thought they actually played quite well, which we weren't expecting. They had some good young players; athletic, physical and well organised, with pace to threaten on the break. We, on the other hand, had plenty of possession, but with no cutting edge, and very little understanding going forward.

Defensively, it is getting harder and harder to defend the decision not to bring in an extra defender over the Summer. Wenger suggested at the recent AGM that a defender will be signed in January, but he also stated over the Summer that a replacement for Vermaelen would be signed, should he be sold. We are in such obvious need of a defender that any teams we buy from will be able to charge way over the odds, knowing that we can't afford not to sign someone. What we really need is a defender that really wants to play for us, but the only way that is going to happen is if we can offer them first-team football. Mertesacker organises the defence well and is good in the air, but his lack of pace means I think that we could improve on him in the position alongside Koscielny. We can only hope!

Bizarrely, the poor results against Chelsea and Hull couldn't really be blamed on us being short of defenders, as it was elsewhere that the team was lacking. Today, when our defending was shambolic on several occasions, we were incredibly lucky to take all three points. It feels quite strange to be on the right side of a great escape, smash and grab result, when so often it is us that lose due to a lack of concentration, or get caught on the counter-attack having had the lion's share of possession. I feel that it was quite telling to see Alexis shaking his head at the final whistle, reluctant to celebrate after such a poor performance. He recognises that our performances need to improve quickly but, to take a positive from this game, it is often said that getting results when you perform poorly is a required quality of a great team, and that is exactly what we did this evening.

Spurs (H), Gala (H) and now Chelsea (A). 4-2-3-1 or 4-1-4-1? Predicted line-up.

2014-10-05T06:56:00.001+01:00

#CFCvAFC #COYG

Chelsea away is arguably the toughest Premier League game we will face this season, and follows a draw and a win in our last two games against Spurs and Galatasaray. This is a massive opportunity to show that we've improved compared to last season, particularly away from home against the big teams, and put to bed the demons still lingering from the equivalent fixture last season. It is also, however, a chance to go 9 points behing the leaders after just 7 games, effectively waving goodbye to our title aspirations already. There is a lot at stake here, to say the least.

In reviewing the Spurs and Galatasaray games, the optimist in me says that a draw and a win from two potentially awkward fixtures is pretty good. It maintains our unbeaten record in the league and, at the end of the season, we aren't going to be highlighting a draw against Spurs as the disappointment of our season or the reason our hopes faded.

On the other hand, the pessimist in me suggests that a point shared was a much better result for Spurs than it was for us, and that Galatasaray were so bad that anything other than a win would have been an embarrassment.

The main positive that I took from the Spurs game was that we demonstrated a leap forward in squad depth, albeit only in the midfield. We were able to lose Ramsey, Wilshere and Arteta without the team being any weaker for it. After they were replaced by Cazorla, Sanchez and Flamini I felt that, if anything, we looked stronger than before! This is not to mention that we were already missing Giroud, Walcott and Debuchy, and Podolski is still nowhere near a look in. In the past this many players lost would have finished us off, and there aren't many squads who could have coped so seamlessly. This is not to ignore, however, that we are still so thin at the back, and that the shear number of injuries we get is still a massive concern.

Against Galatasaray it was wonderful to see Welbeck's first hattrick for the club, with three composed finishes. His pace and strength is going to be a threat against many opponents this season and his performance will have done his confidence the world of good ahead of the Chelsea game.

And so we arrive at the Chelsea game, with the biggest question, for me, being whether Wenger sticks with the 4-2-3-1 that allows Özil to remain in his favoured central position, or whether he favours the more cautious 4-1-4-1, which he seems to have preferred in the bigger games this season, until recently. While the 4-1-4-1 suggests that one of the midfielders is playing further forward, it is actually more defensive, because Özil is pushed wide left, with a more defensively aware midfielder taking his place in the centre. One reason for Wenger adopting this formation was to accommodate both Wilshere and Ramsey in the starting eleven but, with Ramsey injured, this isn't necessary in tomorrow's game. However, Cazorla performed admirably alongside Flamini in the midweek game against Galatasaray, and deserves to be in with a shout for a starting role.

In a similar way, I think it's about time Ospina got his chance to start a League game. Not so much due to his performances, but more because Szczesny hasn't been filling me with confidence. While he's a good shot-stopper, and good in one-on-ones, his distribution too often loses us possession in key areas, and he's not nearly commanding enough when collecting high balls into the box. I suspect, however, that this game is too big for Wenger to risk a change.

So it seems to me that there are two possible line-ups for the Chelsea game:

4-2-3-1:
Szczesny; Chambers, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs; Wilshere, Flamini; Oxlade-Chamberlain,
Özil, Alexis; Welbeck

or 4-1-4-1:
Szczesny; Chambers, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs; Flamini; Alexis, Wilshere, Cazorla, Özil; Welbeck

My heart says to go with the 4-2-3-1, but my head suggests Wenger will go with the 4-1-4-1. At this point, I'd take a draw, but I'm dreaming of a win - How good would it be to see Mourinho, John Terry, and Diego Costa all get what they deserve?!

From despair to renewed hope and back, but what would constitute success for Arsenal in 2014-15?

2014-09-23T22:20:00.002+01:00

Before sinking into the despair brought by being knocked out of the Carling Cup by Southampton, let's pause to remember just how good the weekend just gone was. Things suddenly started looking very bright again, with Özil looking like the player we hoped we'd signed, a spectacular (Arsenal-style?!) collapse of Man U, Lampard scoring against Chelsea to cost them two points, Liverpool losing, Spuds losing, Everton losing and Man City dropping points. This demonstrates just how quickly things change in football, with it difficult to see any positives for the season ahead after our defeat to Dortmund last Tuesday night.

Such polarised highs and lows are reminiscent of last season and provoke all too familiar emotions. It is very hard to remain objective in reviewing our performances, when the temptation is to extrapolate the latest high or low and project it onto the remainder of the season. This inevitably leads to either unavoidable doom, or to unrealistic hopes of success, and rarely retains any sense of balance, reality or perspective. Having said that, many Arsenal fans feel that the likely 3rd or 4th place finish is not good enough, and deserves our feelings of disappointment and impending doom. On the other hand, many others would argue that finishing in the Champions League places year on year, while managing the budget restrictions imposed by a stadium move, is a remarkable achievement. There certainly seems to be a lot of disagreement among Arsenal fans as to what are reasonable expectations, given our resources, and what constitutes a successful season.

This seemed to be particularly the case last season, where Arsenal signed Özil, and topped the league for long periods, giving the fans much hope of a return to former glory days, and going some way to satisfy the demand for big-name signings. This was quickly followed by some hideous and humiliating defeats and even a top 4 position became in doubt. By the end of the season, we finished 4th, with 79 points, and won the FA Cup... but was this season a success?

Never before has my mind shifted so much during a season, in terms of whether I thought we were doing well or not. One minute it seemed very promising, with everything moving in the right direction, and the next I was left wondering whether Wenger was the right man to take us forward. The humiliating defeats certainly took their toll - there's nothing worse than having to face a smug Chelsea fan having just been spanked 0-6 the day before. Or a Liverpool fan, having been spanked 1-5. 3-6 against Man City and 0-3 against Everton weren't too clever either. Months on and these results still make me feel angry, and I suspect that these will stay with me for a good while longer yet.

In order to avoid such severe ups and downs, I think it's worth considering what would constitute a successful 2014-15 season for Arsenal. This will help to retain some perspective through the difficult patches, and keep a lid on disproportionately high expectations when things seem to be going our way. Or maybe I should be embracing this as a key part of what being an Arsenal fan is all about.

Most of what I've mentioned so far is in terms of on-field success:

Premier League position
Premier League points total
Victories/Defeats in key games (against the big teams (and Spuds))
Silverware
Getting through the Champions League group stages

Most of these can then be thought of either in absolute terms or relative to the season before. e.g. A third place finish this season may not constitute absolute success this season, but it would represent improvement on last season. I feel that improvement on the season before is a key factor to consider when deciding whether a season has been successful.

It is also worth considering the underlying structure and resources of the club when considering our success:

Financial strength
Debt
Squad harmony
Stadium capacity
Youth development
Training facilities
Medical staff

Our financial strength also provides a context for our on-field success. For example, some may argue that it's a bigger achievement to finish in 4th place with no net spend on players than to finish 2nd having spent £100m. Others may argue that, by finishing in 2nd, you have at least been genuinely challenging for the title.

Most fans are in agreement that Wenger brought success in his first 5-6 years at the club, winning Premier League titles and FA Cups, but there is much disagreement about whether or not the following 9-year trophy drought was necessary in securing the club's long-term future. For me, there is no doubt that, in terms on on-field success, those 9 years represented failure. There is also no doubt that in terms of financial strength, stadium capacity and debt, we have made greater improvement in those 9 years than any other club. It is only over the last year, however, that our on-field success has improved, with winning the FA Cup, and that other underlying factors have improved, with the appointment of Shad Forsythe on the medical staff, and with squad harmony seemingly approaching levels of former glory.

So where does this leave us in terms of targets for the season ahead?

To improve on last season, we need to achieve more than 79 points in the league and get 3rd place or better. We also need to win something again, be it the FA Cup, Premier League or Champions League. And, most importantly (for me), we also need to eliminate the humiliating results. With our improved financial strength and resources, the expectations of Arsenal fans has rightly increased, meaning that just finishing 4th is no longer good enough, and the pressure on Wenger to deliver success is much greater.

Wenger has 3 years left. Two things that I would love to see him achieve in that time are Champions League glory and the retention of a Premier League title. These would be incredible achievements and would leave Wenger's success in no doubt. These are big dreams but, with our improvements over the last season or two, on many fronts, it finally feels like we ought to start dreaming big again.

Finances looking good ahead of Villa game - predicted line-up

2014-09-20T07:25:00.004+01:00

#AVFCvAFC

We've just announced profits of £4.7m for the year ending 31 May 2014, with turnover increasing to over £300m. I'm intrigued that, while profits are just £4.7m, our cash reserves have increased from £119.6m to £173.3m. In delving deeper, this seems to be because we received payments for transfers that had previously been agreed, so this increase in cash didn't count as profit. Also, we have credit arrangements on some player purchases, meaning that some of this cash is already spent, and therefore misleading.

A massive positive is that the money made from player sales reduced by £40m, and our wage bill increased by £12m, and yet we still made a profit. This is because our operating profit from football increased from £25.2m to £62.1m. This means that we are able to sustain our increased spending on players and wages, allowing us to compete for the very best players, without needing to sell any of our own. It's also worth noting that the group's net debt reduced from £93.2m to £32.6m. Interestingly, to further improve our financial situation, we now require more on-field success, in order to attract and negotiate better sponsorship deals. As on-field success becomes more and more important in improving our financial situation further, perhaps the board will make it a greater priority than before.

The full financial report can be found here.

The Dortmund loss in midweek was massively disappointing, mainly due to how thoroughly we were outplayed, rather than the result itself. 2-0 flattered us, and this was the toughest game of our group, so there is still plenty of hope that we can progress. Often it is a case of trying to win your home games, and then any other points gained are a bonus. After that performance, though, it's hard to imagine us beating Dortmund in the return match, even if it is at the Emirates. Let's, however, maintain some perspective; while it was the performance that was so disappointing in this game, it was only three days after the Man City game, where our performance seemed so promising, with a very similar line-up and formation.

Many have complained about Bellerin starting the Dortmund game, as it highlights Wenger's irresponsibility in the transfer window, in not signing more defensive minded players, and in letting Jenkinson go out on loan. It's worth noting here that with Debuchy and Chambers, we are stronger in the right back position than we were last season, and Jenkinson is injured anyway. To be fair, not many teams have a third choice right-back who is better than Bellerin, and he actually played quite well in what was an immensely high pressure debut. Our deficit is actually in central defence and defensive midfield, where we able to field our first choice players, in Koscielny, Mertesacker and Arteta. I feel that we desperately need backup at centre back and, particularly in games like this, Arteta isn't quite good enough to be first choice.

Others are blaming Özil for the defeat but, while he didn't play well, he certainly wasn't the only one. Suggestions that he is wasted on the left seem slightly naïve, given that he's actually spent as much time during the matches in the centre and on the right. They also ignore that he was positioned on the left successfully throughout the whole of Germany's World Cup winning campaign.

All of the negativity following the Dortmund game makes this Villa game all the more crucial, and it doesn't help us that they are in their best run of form for years! Second in the league, with 10 points from 4 games, having beaten Liverpool last weekend, Villa will be full of confidence going into this game. I can't say I'm looking forward to Agbonlahor vs. Mertesacker either; Koscielny will need to have a good game. At least keeping possession should be easier than in Dortmund, which should offer us some security. Another plus is that this is an opportunity to put the Dortmund game behind us, and get back on track.

Predicted starting eleven: Szczesny; Chambers, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs; Arteta; Alexis, Ramsey, Wilshere, Özil; Welbeck

Arsenal 2 - 2 Man City: Thoughts on Özil, defenders and 4-1-4-1

2014-09-14T22:56:00.003+01:00

#AFCvMCFC

So the six first team defenders we had, to cover the back four positions, has now become five, following a nasty looking sprained ankle for Debuchy. We don't yet know how long he'll be out, but Chambers is an able deputy for Debuchy, which actually makes us better prepared for an injury at right back this season than we were last. However, a further injury at right back, or any injury at centre back, will force us to call upon the 19 year-old Bellerin to play at right back. Having recently broken Walcott's club record for sprinting 40m, Bellerin certainly doesn't lack pace, and is effective going forward, but he has next to no Premier League experience.

4-1-4-1 remains, and now seems certain to be the formation we use for the rest of the season. While this pushes Özil out wide on the left, Wilshere made the most of his opportunity to play through the centre. Having Wilshere and Ramsey together in the middle of the park gives us plenty of running, grit and determination with which to press the opposition and fight to win the ball back. While they lack defensive discipline and positional sense, with a dedicated defensive midfielder behind, there is no confusion about who is meant to be staying back to defend. Both Ramsey and Wilshere are free to attack at will, while also being able to contribute effectively to our defending as a team. Wilshere was great at driving forward with the ball, looking to play quick one-twos and play other people in. He was rewarded with an assist and a goal which very few players in the league could have executed.

Welbeck had a good debut game. He offers pace and strength and gave Kompany plenty to think about, which is no mean feat. It was a breath of fresh air to see both him and Alexis working so hard to put pressure on the Man City defenders and win the ball back. They both offer a huge threat on the break with their pace, but just lacked some sharpness and understanding, often with the final ball just missing. It was good to see Welbeck go clean through on goal after some opportunistic play, capitalising on a mistake by City, but the chipped finish wasn't quite right, clipping the post. A ruthlessness in the box and when through on goal is what Welbeck needs to develop, and this was highlighted by the first Man City goal by Aguero, who was clinical in converting his first chance of the match. This goal seemed to knock the stuffing out of us a bit, but up until then we had been playing some great football and dominating the game - all very familiar!

So with 4-1-4-1 seemingly established, and allowing Alexis, Wilshere and Welbeck to shine, where does this leave Özil? He had a quiet game out on the left, working hard, but unable to influence the game either defensively or offensively. With Özil's favourite position being the number 10 role, through the centre, it's worth questioning why Wenger is insisting on playing him on the left. It seems that Özil and 4-1-4-1 may be incompatible, and yet he's played enough games to suggest that he remains one of the first names on Wenger's team sheet. Pires was a creator that played wide left but with the freedom to come inside, and I feel this is what Wenger intends for Özil. It seems that in this 4-1-4-1 the width is provided by the full backs, and the two wide midfield players are actually quite free to roam and influence the game where they see fit. I think that it is actually Wenger's faith in Özil's ability which strengthens his belief that he can learn how to become effective in the position. When questioned by the media about this left midfield position, Wenger has often referred to Zidane's success as a creative player on the left for Real Madrid; he believes that the very best players can adapt.

Alexis seems to be making the most of his freedom in the equivalent right midfield position, popping up on the left side of the box to score with a sensational volley. It's great to have signed a player who is so quickly able to influence games; Alexis is demonstrating what it means to be the finished article, as opposed to a player with huge potential.

So this game was both encouraging and frustrating. Not only were we able to dominate possession, we were creative enough to open up the defence of a top team, and yet still subject to defensive lapses. We scored two good goals through opening up their defence and forcing opportunities, but then made mistakes to give two soft goals away. I tend to blame Flamini for the first goal, for failing to track the run of Aguero, but he certainly isn't the first defender to be beaten by Aguero's subtle, yet razor-sharp, movement - Aguero really is a master of his Art.

Flamini's role as the '1' in the 4-1-4-1 was very interesting to me. It seems that while the width is provided by the full backs, this inevitably leaves us exposed at the back. However, it seemed that when one full back went bombing forward, Flamini would drop back into central defence, allowing Mertesacker or Koscielny to cover the missing full back. This makes this role incredibly important to our defending against quick counter attacks, and it was wickedly exposed for the first goal. This player needs to be competent both in midfield and defence, with passing ability, positional sense and the pace to recover. I wonder whether Chambers, with his ability to play both as a defensive midfielder or as a centre back, makes him an ideal candidate for the role? Or William Carvalho, perhaps?! (please!)

It's difficult to blame any one in particular for the second goal, but I wonder if we suffered from the loss of Debuchy. Debuchy is very strong in the air but also, Chambers had not long been on the pitch, and Man City made the most of any doubt about who should have been marking who. It didn't help that Szczesny then pushed the ball off Flamini's head and into the net, but you can hardly blame him for trying to keep the ball out. Had he not attempted the save and it had gone in off Flamini we would be questioning him then, too.

Generally, the performance in this game was encouraging, and this is not a bad point. With Liverpool losing at home to Villa, and Spurs also dropping points, there were many positives to be taken from the weekend. The big games seem to be coming thick and fast at the moment, but today's performance gives me confidence for the Dortmund game later this week, with more cohesion both defensively and in creating openings when attacking - bring it on!

Picture: Taken from the Daily Mail

Predicted starting eleven against Man City

2014-09-13T08:00:00.004+01:00

#AFCvMCFC #COYG

I can't wait for this game! After an international break it always feels like it's been way too long since the last Arsenal game, and what a game to come back to. We've had tests and chances to show that we've improved this season, but this is the biggest yet. Beating Man City 3-0 in the Community Shield was really satisfying, and yet there still remained some doubts. Yes, we played well, but the impression I was left with was that Man City either weren't quite ready yet, or didn't really take the game very seriously. That will not be the case this time.

As usual, there's a mixture of excitement and despair among Arsenal fans at the moment. There is hope that Welbeck might be the missing link; the player that can be a physical presence up front, offering good link up play, while also providing the pace to get behind defences and offer a threat on the counter attack. Yet there also remains some doubts, mainly about whether Wenger will put his trust in Welbeck given that this may 'kill' Sanogo, a player that Wenger has demonstrated a fair amount of belief in. But then why sign Welbeck at all? If indeed it was actually Wenger that signed Welbeck, and not Gazidis... I can't say I'm too interested in such lines of speculation, but I'm eager to find out how Welbeck will be used, and if he'll make the team tomorrow.

Whatever team we field, they will have to be at their very best for us to beat Man City, as they have shown themselves capable of brushing aside a decent Liverpool outfit already this season, and they're bound to be up for this game after our recent Community Shield victory. Having said that, Man City's form this season has been quite polarised; having beaten Liverpool 3-1 they then went on to lose 1-0 to Stoke, and while they beat Newcastle in the first league game, they were well beaten by us in the Community Shield. At the very least, we need to show more defensive stability, and more attacking threat, than we did in the big games last year.

A key aspect of our recent victory over Man City was that, with them playing 4-4-2, our three central midfielders of Arteta, Ramsey and Wilshere were able to overrun their pair of Toure and Fernando. Yet Pellegrini seems intent on staying with a 4-4-2 formation which is rapidly going out of fashion in the Premier League. While many expect us to switch back to our 4-2-3-1 of last season to allow Ozil his favoured 'number 10' position, there have been no hints of this in the games leading up to this. I fully expect to see Arteta just behind Wilshere and Ramsey in 4-1-4-1, with the aim of dominating central midfield again. While this pushes Ozil out wide, it gives him less defensive responsibility, and therefore more freedom to attack and use his creativity. 4-4-2 vs 4-1-4-1 may be the key to this game, more so than any individual match up of players.

Key questions:

Is Ramsey match fit? If not, expect Cazorla to take his place alongside Wilshere.
Is Ozil match fit? If so, will he play through the centre in 4-2-3-1, or wide left in 4-1-4-1? If not, expect Cazorla to take his place.
Will Welbeck start his first Arsenal game? If not, I imagine Wenger would play Alexis as the striker. He can then accommodate Ozil, Cazorla, Ramsey and Wilshere in midfield.

Predicted line up (4-1-4-1): Szczesny; Debuchy, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs; Arteta; Alexis, Ramsey, Wilshere, Ozil; Welbeck

Transfer Review: Ins > outs in best transfer window for a while

2014-09-07T20:48:00.000+01:00

#WelcomeWelbeck

It's times like these that I become so much more aware of how my Arsenal bias, and hatred for anything to do with Man Utd, affects my views and opinions. I've spent the last few years trying to justify the viewpoint that Welbeck isn't any good, and then he goes and signs for us, forcing me to rethink my opinions in a more objective (or pro-Arsenal) way! While Danny isn't the high-profile striker of the calibre of Cavani or, dare I say it, Falcao, he does have some qualities that will add to our striking options and will provide genuine competition and cover for Giroud.

I feel that for a transfer window to be successful, the squad needs to be stronger after the changes than it was before, and weaknesses in the squad need to be addressed. Before comparing the ins and outs of the transfer window, I think it's worth reminding ourselves of the squad's weakness from last season, which was our results against the big teams. There were several qualities lacking in our squad which culminated in some catastrophic games, including:

Lack of pace (particularly with Walcott injured)
Lack of direct runners, willing to commit defenders and take them on
Lack of cover for Giroud
Lack of physical presence and pace in defensive midfield
Lack of cover at centre back

My main memories from the bad games are ones of teams playing a high defensive line against us, knowing that we had no pace in attack to punish them. This compressed midfield, which meant that our creative midfielders struggled to keep possession. When possession turned over we were particularly vulnerable on the counter attack, with pushing players forward, and we had little recovery pace available in defensive midfield.

While addressing these weaknesses was vital, there are some other factors which also contribute to whether the transfer window was a success: Squad cohesion and continuity, Squad Age, Value for money etc.

Ins and Outs:

A detailed breakdown of our transfers over the past few years can be found in the 'Transfer History' tab to the right, or you can click here.

The most significant transfers out of the club were replaced, pretty much, like for like, with an extra couple of transfers in:

Out	Age	In	Age	Comment
Fabianski	28	Ospina	26	Like for like replacement. Fabianski started to come good last season, and was an exemplary professional, but Ospina is the more experienced goalkeeper, playing regularly for Colombia. Ospina is 3 years younger.
Sagna	31	Debuchy	29	Like for like replacement, but Sagna was also our 4^th choice centre back. Debuchy, while he can’t play at centre back, is preferred to Sagna for France. Debuchy is also 3 years younger.
Vermaelen	28	Chambers	19	Similar roles in squad. Vermaelen was perhaps a stronger individual defender, but Chambers seems to be more alert and aware of his position within the whole defence. Both players are prone to mistakes and diving into tackles recklessly but Chambers, at just 19, is likely to overcome this with experience. Chambers is able to play right back and centre back effectively, and is 9 years younger than Vermaelen.
		Welbeck	23	You could argue that Welbeck is a replacement for Bendtner but, given that Bendtner played nearly no part in last season, it is more like an additional player. Welbeck provides strong cover for Giroud, in that he has many similar qualities, like Strength and good hold-up play. However, while Giroud may be a better finisher, Welbeck offers pace, a willingness to run at defenders, and the ability to punish teams who play a high defensive line by making runs behind the defence.
		Sanchez	25	Sanchez is the star signing of this transfer window, and goes a long way to addressing the weaknesses evident in our squad last season. He is able to play in any of the front three positions and offers pace, hard-work, creativity, power, directness and a willingness to run both at defenders and behind defences. At the start of the Summer, given the choice of one player for us to sign, I would have chosen Sanchez. He has plenty of experience but at 25, he is only just entering his prime.

There have also been some less significant transfers out: Jenkinson (on loan, age 22), Bendtner (age 26), Miyaichi (on loan, age 21), Viviano (returned from loan, age 28), Eisfeld (age 21), Kallstrom (returned from loan, age 32)

Also, some players who have been out on loan have now been sold permanently: Park (age 29), Djourou (age 27), Miquel (age 21)

Some of these exits are compensated for by the return of Joel Campbell (age 22), Coquelin (age 23) and Martinez (GK, in place of Viviano, age 22) from their loans, the promotion of Bellerin (RB, in place of Jenkinson, age 19), and the potential return of Diaby from injury (!).

So, numbers wise, we have fewer players than before, but with the promotion of some younger players this is not a problem. Quality wise, Welbeck and Alexis (and Campbell, too) are a step up from the players that they replace in the squad. More importantly, these are two players that really do address some of the weaknesses of the squad from last season. Both Alexis and Welbeck are quick, powerful, prepared to run at defenders as well as making runs behind, and between them they provide good cover for Giroud. These improvements have cost us an estimated £37.4m (see Transfer History for more detail), but ~£15m of this was to replace Sagna and Fabianski, who left us for free. Generally, I think we got very good value with our transfer business.

It is clear that we have a much stronger squad than last season in terms of the range of qualities the players offer, but we have failed to address our weakness in defensive midfield and our cover in defence. We are arguably even weaker in defence as, while Chambers can cover both right back and centre back, we only have three good centre backs, whereas last season Sagna was a reasonable 4th choice centre back. However, Chambers is a stronger back-up right back than Jenkinson was. An overview of our squad depth can be found in the 'Squad Overview' tab to the right, or you can click here.

The age of our squad has also reduced by 30 years: The total age of Ospina, Debuchy, Chambers, Alexis, Welbeck, Campbell, Martinez, Bellerin and Coquelin is 208, whereas the total age of Fabianski, Sagna, Vermaelen, Bendtner, Viviano, Jenkinson, Eisfeld, Kallstrom and Miyaichi is 238. While 30 years sounds like a significant reduction, across a 25-man squad the squad's age will obviously increase by 25 years every year. Effectively, we have only slightly reduced the squad's age.

In terms of squad demographic, we have added two more English players in Chambers and Welbeck, but also added some South American players in Alexis and Ospina - last season our whole squad, apart from Miyaichi, was European.

Overall, I'm pleased with this transfer window, but would hope for Wenger to have his eye on a defender and defensive midfielder in January to complete the squad. This does, however, feel like the most complete squad that we've had in a long time - Wenger's challenge now is to find a system which allows all of our best players to contribute effectively to the team.

Post-Leicester thoughts on formation and transfer jealousy

2014-09-01T15:45:00.000+01:00

#LCFCvAFC

So, after a disappointing result away to Leicester, it's transfer deadline day, and calls for Wenger to sign a striker have reached fever-pitch.

Firstly, some thoughts on yesterday's game:

Starting line-up: Szczesny; Debuchy, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal; Flamini; Alexis, Ramsey, Cazorla, Özil; Sanogo

So it seems that 4-1-4-1 is here to stay, and Özil remained on the left side, despite revealing in a recent interview with the Telegraph that he feels strongly that his best position is the 'number 10' playmaker role, through the middle. He also mentions that he prefers the right, where he has played for Real Madrid, to the left, where he was positioned for Germany in the World Cup. This makes Wenger's insistence on Özil playing on the left all the more strange. Some possible explanations are that Özil is just positioned there while he is regaining full match fitness, that Wenger wants to make space for both Wilshere and Ramsey to play in the two central midfield positions, or that Özil is positioned on the left as this allows Arsenal to break more quickly when we regain possession of the ball in our own half.

Sanogo was chosen to lead the line as centre forward, and while the line-up suggested that Özil and Alexis were the wide players in our formation, they often came inside to find space and help to orchestrate our attacking play. Sanogo offers a more physical presence up front than Sanchez, and it seems to me that, when Wenger chooses either Sanogo or Giroud to play as centre forward, their role is less about scoring goals and more about occupying defenders, providing an out-ball for our midfielders, holding up the ball and playing in our supporting midfielders, running beyond, to score the goals. So, for me, the responsibility to score goals in this system lies as much with the four midfielders as it does with the striker. With Alexis now with two goals in two games, he seems to be doing his bit.

A strength of ours last season was our solidity against the teams in the lower half of the Premier League and this was apparent again yesterday. 4-1-4-1 means that there is less confusion about which midfielder should be staying back to defend and, generally, I felt that we looked quite solid defensively. The way we conceded our goal was unfortunate as Koscielny had just been involved in a severe clash of heads and shouldn't have been on the pitch - a fully fit Koscielny wouldn't have been so confused as to where that cross was heading, and would have competed much more strongly to clear the ball. Koscielny went off as soon as the goal was scored, replaced by Chambers. While we looked fairly solid for the majority of the game, we did start to leak more opportunities as we were pushing harder and harder for an equaliser.

We seem to have been doing just enough to get by recently, picking up reasonable results without playing anywhere near our best. Our fighting spirit has been called upon several times, but our formation and system of play has looked quite incoherent, with players seeming confused about their role in the team. Compared to the Everton game, I actually felt that we looked more coherent in our forward play yesterday, and yet this was the day when we got found out.

We undoubtedly have some brilliant players, particularly in Özil, Ramsey and Alexis, and Wenger's challenge is to find a system in which these three can all perform at their best and contribute effectively to the team. While Özil and Alexis were positioned as the two wide midfielders, it was actually Debuchy and Monreal who were providing the width by overlapping, with Flamini dropping back to cover defensively. Özil and Alexis had quite free roles - free to go wide, come inside, swap wings - play where there were opportunities. While this looked incoherent against Everton, it was this freedom that led to our first goal against Leicester. Özil broke down the right (not the left, where the formation suggests), with Sanchez initially popping up on the left, then joining Özil on the right, then drifting left again, into the box and holding his run brilliantly to create the opportunity to score.

From this point in the game, Özil played on the right and Sanchez on the left. Having these two players positioned wide, but with freedom, gives us much more opportunity to break at pace. Quite often when we won the ball back in our own half, Ramsey was the player driving forward through the centre with the ball. Having Özil and Sanchez out wide meant that there were always plenty of options for him to choose, and these are two players with the awareness to pick out the runs of others, and make the breaks count. Sky Sports were eager to point out that we had 24 shots on goal in yesterday's game, more than in any game we played last season. This statistic, however, is quite misleading, as there weren't many clear-cut scoring opportunities.

I feel that Ramsey's suggestion that we need to be more clinical is about right. Having said that, I think it's wrong to suggest that this is purely down to the striker, be it Giroud, Sanogo or Sanchez. If our system is to be effective then we need goals from Ramsey, Ozil, Wilshere and others. Having said that, it's easy to imagine that a striker of the calibre of Falcao or Cavani may well have made the difference yesterday. While Sanogo was not as bad as some are making out, getting into some decent positions, he missed a few half-chances and missed one great chance to score, with the keeper making a good save.

What makes this more frustrating for Arsenal fans is that in recent years there are several players who, reportedly, we have had the opportunity to sign, namely Suarez, Higuain, Jovetic and, more recently, Fabregas, Balotelli and Remy. For me, it's not the failure to sign these individual players that's most frustrating, but the failure to find a system that makes the most of the players we already have. For example, we are far from playing as well as we played against Napoli, or Norwich, last season, yet we have added Alexis to our squad. Alexis has made a great start, but that doesn't automatically make us better than before.

It is frustrating seeing other teams, and particularly Chelsea, making the most of the players they have, and displaying the kind of free-flowing attacking play that we have been well-known for in the past. Chelsea have been particularly ruthless this transfer window, signing Costa and Fabregas - two World-class players in positions where they were most lacking last season, but what makes it worse for us Arsenal fans - much worse - is seeing Fabregas being so instrumental in their good play. I'm not sure if I feel better or worse that we could have signed him but chose not to! Perhaps it could have been us that scored this goal:

http://t.co/DlRIfdjaJt

I must admit that watching this is like rubbing salt in the wound. All sorts of emotions are exposed when I see Cesc Fabregas a the heart of what looks like a Chelsea team in with a decent shout for winning the league. And he could have been playing for us! It invites us Arsenal fans to bring into question Wenger's judgement.

So why did he turn down this opportunity?

Well it seems that the main reason is that this time last year we spent £42.5million on Mesut Özil, who fulfils a similar role in the team, but is yet to find the same place in our hearts. And this season we have chosen to spend our money on Alexis Sanchez. If, at the end of last season, you had asked what qualities our team lacked, then I would have mentioned pace (particularly with Walcott injured) and players that are willing to run at defenders and take them on. It seems to me that we couldn't have done much better than adding Alexis, where these qualities are concerned.

If you look at the Chelsea goal again, the main players involved are Hazard, Schürrle and Fabregas. I would choose Alexis over Hazard for his ability to run at players, and I would choose Walcott or Ramsey over Schürrle for their ability to make intelligent runs to break behind the defence and score. And if you describe Fabregas' contribution to the goal, one of vision and perfectly executing a one-touch through ball, then you find yourself describing exactly the qualities that Özil possesses. My point is that it is not the individual players that we lack in scoring this kind of goal, but the free-flowing understanding between our attacking players.

While I would be delighted for Wenger to add a few more players to the squad, particularly in the key positions of centre back, defensive midfielder and striker, what we most lack is the system which gets the best out of the players that we already have. Let's wait and see what Transfer Deadline Day brings, but without losing all hope should we not sign every one of the superstar players we've been linked with.

Predicted starting eleven against Besiktas, with thoughts on Sanogo and Alexis

2014-08-27T08:06:00.000+01:00

#AFCvBES #COYG

So, right on cue for our most important game of the season so far, Giroud breaks his foot and won't play again until the New Year. Alexis started as the central striker in our last game against Everton but was replaced at half-time by Giroud, with the latter proving to be much more effective in the role. It has been clear for well over a year now that we need backup for Giroud in the squad, but it's still unclear what Wenger's plans are. In such a high stakes game, we will see what Wenger considers to be his strongest available eleven, and therefore gain insight into what his plans have been for this eventuality.

The Besiktas game is high stakes for two reasons:

1) Money. This game could be worth up to £34million to our football club, if you take into account prize money, gate receipts and TV money for the extra games. That's £3million for each of the three extra home games in the group stage, plus potentially an extra £25million should we progress further in the competition.

2) Champions League football and, in particular, the draw this competition is for potential transfer targets between now and the end of the transfer window. It is a strong possibility that some players are waiting to see that Arsenal will be playing Champions League football this season before sanctioning a move to the club.

I'm fascinated to see whether Wenger chooses Alexis or Sanogo to lead the line in tonight's game. Wenger chose Alexis in the recent game against Everton, which perhaps makes him the favourite, but this didn't work very well at all. Wenger has previously trusted Sanogo in some pretty important games, most notably the game against Bayern Munich last season, so it's not inconceivable that he will be trusted with the role again. What is clear is that, whoever is selected, the team needs to be set up in such a way that doesn't leave the front man isolated, as Alexis was against Everton.

My thoughts are that Wenger is likely to choose Sanogo as his front man, provided he is fully fit. Sanogo played as the front man in all of our pre-season games and was particularly impressive in the game against Benfica, scoring four goals. Admittedly, he was very poor when he started as the front man against Crystal Palace, but I don't see why Wenger would play Sanogo (and not Alexis) as the front man throughout the whole of pre-season, if he isn't serious about using him there in the season ahead. Also, with striking options short, this allows both Sanogo and Alexis to play, sharing the goal-scoring load and allowing for them to support each other, with less isolation.

I suspect that, with Ramsey suspended, Ozil will revert to his number 10 role behind the strikers, which will again help to fill the void between midfield and attack. On the left I would expect to see either Cazorla or Oxlade-Chamberlain, although Campbell may also be involved as he would provide extra goal-scoring threat. Perhaps the same argument could be made for playing Podolski, especially now that Wenger has confirmed that he is staying at the club.

With injuries to Gibbs and Arteta, Flamini and Monreal will be in the team. I would also expect to see Koscielny back in the starting line-up alongside Mertesacker, having been rested against Everton. While Chambers has been hugely impressive so far this season, Koscielny and Mertesacker is undoubtedly our strongest centre half pairing, and will be less risky in such an important game.

Predicted starting eleven (4-2-3-1):

Szczesny; Debuchy, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal; Flamini, Wilshere; Alexis, Ozil, Cazorla; Sanogo

Everton 2 - 2 Arsenal: Match thoughts and a defence of @_OlivierGiroud_

2014-08-25T16:11:00.001+01:00

#EFCvAFC

I went into this game hoping for more than a draw, as this was our first real chance to demonstrate that we've improved from last season, away from home against a top-five team. Having watched the match, however, I feel that this is a point gained rather than two points lost. I'm not sure that our performance demonstrated much improvement, but in the same fixture last season we got thoroughly beaten. We certainly demonstrated some heart and desire to get anything from this game, and I'm left wondering whether we had one eye on the more important Besiktas fixture on Wednesday.

Starting line-up: Szczesny; Debuchy, Chambers, Mertesacker, Monreal; Flamini; Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ramsey, Wilshere, Ozil; Alexis

Flamini for Arteta was a forced change, due to injury, and I suspect that Mertesacker for Koscielny was to give Koscielny a chance to recover from a niggling injury. This is also with a view to the Besiktas game on Wednesday, giving Mertesacker valuable game time, Koscielny valuable rest, and providing a way to keep Chambers in the team following his excellent start to the season.

With Ozil lacking match fitness, he was given game time, but on the left, maintaining the Wilshere-Ramsey partnership, just ahead of Flamini, in central midfield. The other significant change was that of playing Alexis in the centre, instead of Giroud (or Sanogo). It could be that Giroud was given a rest before the Besiktas game, or that Wenger wanted pace up front, to avoid Everton playing a high defensive line and compressing the midfield, as worked so effectively against us in the equivalent fixture last season. Oxlade-Chamberlain also offers more pace and directness than Cazorla.

It's easy to say this with hindsight, but playing both Monreal and Ozil on the left seemed to be asking for trouble when facing Coleman and Lukaku, two players who caused us huge problems in our last game against them. While we started the first half positively with lots of possession and some neat passing combinations, we never really looking like breaking through the Everton defence, and it wasn't long before our left side was exposed. Ozil failed to track Coleman's run, and he was left with an easy headed finish to make it 1-0. Everton seemed well-prepared for going one up, as their game plan of sitting deep, drawing our midfield forward, and playing on the counter-attack worked a treat for the rest of the first half.

Everton didn't have many players that would get into our team (Coleman and Lukaku), yet every player had well-defined roles and, as a team, they looked strong and organised, with a well thought out game plan. Arsenal, however, seemed to lack cohesion. Many of our players seemed unsure of their role, as if they had just been asked to go out and play. With so many changes to players' positions, it will be interesting to see, as the season progresses, what our first choice line-up looks like. Does Wenger see Ozil's best position as being in the centre or on the left? Is Alexis most effective out wide or through the middle? Does Wenger see the Ramsey-Wilshere pairing as an essential part of the midfield? Of course, it may be that there is no best option, and that different line-ups are better against different oppositions. This would represent a shift in Wenger's approach, as he has previously insisted that we focus on our own game, rather than adapting our team to counter the opposition.

With Alexis through the middle, there was confusion in how we were pressing. With Everton sitting deep, drawing us into their half, Alexis was chasing the ball and gesturing for our midfielders to press with him (this is brought with him from Barcelona), and yet our midfield was resisting, aware that should they all press then we would be left exposed on the counter-attack. It is a credit to Alexis that he was so eager to work hard to win the ball back but, without the support from the rest of the team, a lot of this effort was wasted.

Everton got a second just before the end of the first half. While Mertesacker had been given the unenviable role of marking Lukaku, a quick ball forward caught him out. A combination of a slip and a slight foul allowed Lukaku to break free from Mertesacker, Chambers rashly dived in, missing both player and ball, allowing Lukaku to run straight into the danger zone. He fed Naismith, who was offside, and slotted home. While the goal shouldn't have stood, it doesn't excuse our poor defending and Everton had played for exactly this since their first goal.

Giroud, who has been the brunt of a lot of criticism recently, replaced Alexis at half-time. It is very rare for Wenger to make a change at half-time; the last player I remember being subtituted so early in a game was Eboue, so I'm hoping this isn't indicative of how Alexis will develop at Arsenal! I think that more likely is that either he was injured, or Wenger took him off with half an eye on the hugely important game on Wednesday against Besiktas. Giroud instantly made a difference, providing a different option for our midfielders and offering more variety in attack. Suddenly, Everton's defenders had a real physical threat to deal with, who may try to run in behind, or could also collect the ball with his back to goal and look to play in midfield runners. Our midfield looked much more purposeful with so many more options available.

Towards the end of the game it was noticable the Mertesacker gave Ozil a gee-up as he went up for a corner - nice to see his leadership skills in action, and Ozil seemed to respond positively. While these two players looked tired in their first game back, it will be a real asset to have three (or two, if Podolski leaves) World Cup Winners and the winning mentality and team spirit that comes with it. Despite having performed well on the left for Germany, Ozil was less able to influence the game from there than when he's been deployed in the centre. I suspect that he will be played in the centre again once his match fitness returns, but this raises questions about whether Wilshere will get into the team.

When Cazorla and Campbell were brought on, we started to look even more dangerous, though a big part of this was due to Everton tiring noticably in the last ten minutes. Campbell was always positive on the ball, looking to try things and take risks; more often than not, this led to a positive outcome, even if it wasn't what was intended. One example was an ambitious diagonal cross which, despite hitting the first defender, led to us winning a corner and maintaining pressure. It was no surprise that Ramsey was the man to get the first goal back, showing great desire to run past two Everton defenders and meet Cazorla's low cross. Then, at the death, Giroud capped a great centre forward's performance by out-jumping Sylvain Distin to score with a header.

Everton must feel hard done by not to come away from this game with three points. While we started positively, we didn't ever really look like scoring, and they were the better team for the majority of the game. We showed great character and desire to keep fighting right to the end but, had it not been for Everton tiring so severely, we wouldn't have taken anything from this match. If we are serious about our ambitions of winning the Premier League, we need to start playing much better.

So, after a match which has been so positively influenced by Giroud's contributions, I'm left musing over why it is that he bears the brunt of so much criticism from the Arsenal fans. While Giroud is not without weakness, I suspect that there are some other frustrations and misconceptions which contribute to this disproportionate criticism.

Firstly, Giroud is our only option as a centre forward. It may be that Alexis develops into the role, and Sanogo might be able to do a job there soon but, so far, both have failed to convince. My feeling is that it is Sanogo and Alexis that need to improve in the centre forward role, not Giroud, if our squad is to become complete. Either that, or Wenger needs to sign another centre forward to complement Giroud.

While Giroud offers a lot of qualities to our forward play, he is very different to previous Arsenal centre forwards, and very different to Suarez and Aguero, who have recently been the best centre forwards in the Premier League. Giroud lacks pace, which means that he can't break beyond defenders in the same way that Henry and Anelka used to do, and he can't play in such an opportunistic way as Suarez or Aguero. Let's not criticise Giroud for not being Suarez or Henry - after all, this criticism could be directed at every player in the Arsenal squad, and most other forwards in the Premier League.

Having said this, Giroud's lack of pace definitely caused us big problems last season, particularly in the games against the other top 5 teams. It seemed to be a common theme in these games that teams would play a high defensive line to compress our midfield, with no fear of Giroud breaking away from their defenders. This was particularly effective with Walcott out injured, as our midfield struggled to maintain possession when tightly pressed as there was no out-ball; no one to capitalise on the space left behind the opposition's defenders. It is clear that if Giroud is to be our centre forward then we need to have other players with searing pace in the team, so that the opposition can't play such a high defensive line and our midfield has the space in which to play. I feel that a front three of Alexis, Giroud and Walcott provides a good balance; Giroud offers the physical presence, heading ability, and ability to hold up the ball and play in midfield runners, while Walcott and Sanchez provide the pace, movement, directness, crosses and finishing.

Giroud has looked a bit rusty so far this season, with several missed chances and poor finishes springing to mind, particularly against Besiktas. However, it is the mark of a good centre forward that they keep getting in the right positions and getting opportunities to score, and Giroud has certainly been doing this. Also, his record of two goals in two starts so far this season is not to be sniffed at. As his match fitness returns, so will his sharpness and confidence.

One of Arsenal's strengths last season was the consistency with which we picked up points against teams lower down the table. Previously this had been a weakness, but Giroud gives us the physical presence required against those teams. I think it's worth highlighting that Giroud played exceptionally well at start of last season and consistently worked very hard for the team, but he tailed off in the second half of the season when he was overplayed. This remains a problem for us as, while we have gained Alexis, who may develop into a possible alternative to Giroud, we still lack quality cover.

So, while our striking options have plenty of room for improvement, let's consider not just Giroud's weaknesses, but also remember all the qualities that he brings that our other squad members lack: Physical presence, strength, ability to hold up the ball, heading ability, powerful shot, instinctive finishing, etc. If you're still feeling dubious, have a look at the three videos below. After all, Giroud was heavily involved in my two favourite Arsenal goals from last season, and scored another decent goal, with an instinctive finish, against Tottenham:

Goal vs. West Ham
Build up play in Wilshere goal vs. Norwich
Goal vs. Tottenham

Photo: Stuart MacFarlane. Taken from www.mirror.co.uk

New signings provide positives in tough game against Palace. 3 points gained

2014-08-16T23:47:00.000+01:00

#AFCvCPFC

A 2-1 win at home to Crystal Palace means that we are now 3 points better off than we were at the same stage last season. We had plenty of possession throughout, but made really hard work of forcing a win. Going forward we really struggled to create any clear chances, partly due to Crystal Palace's organisation, but also because we lack match sharpness.

Team line-up: Szczesny; Debuchy, Chambers, Koscielny, Gibbs; Arteta; Sanchez, Ramsey, Wilshere, Cazorla; Sanogo

Some observations and reflections from today's game:

We had 78% possession, yet were unable to create many chances from open play. While we had lots of the ball, we tended to give the ball away as we approached the opposition goal, either by players taking too many touches or our final ball not being precise enough.
Sanogo, having started ahead of Giroud, struggled to provide a goal threat, while also struggling to provide options for our midfielders going forward. When Giroud came on he at least engaged the Palace defenders more.
Having been great at dominating midfield against Man City in the Community Shield, Ramsey and Wilshere struggled to create much going forward in today's game. This seemed to be a problem with finding space between the Palace defence and midfield - Ozil is better suited to this.
Arteta looked to lead by example by refusing to take too many touches, speeding up our play with one-touch passing where possible.
All three goals came from set-pieces.
Our defending was poor for the Palace goal. It would be easy to jump to the conclusion that had Mertesacker been playing we wouldn't have conceded this goal, but it was Koscielny, not Chambers, that was at fault for the goal.
Szczesny looked unconvincing when defending set-pieces though, admittedly, he seemed to be a target for the Palace players.
While we were really struggling to create chances from open play, it was encouraging that we were able to score two goals from set pieces. Over the course of the season, the ability to score these kind of goals will gain us many valuable points.
Chambers was outstanding at centre back, with good positioning and concentration throughout. If he is just as strong at right back and as a defensive midfielder then he will find himself a regular starter sooner rather than later.
Our other new signings, Debuchy and Alexis, both showed commitment and desire, despite looking like there is work to be done in developing understanding with team-mates.
Debuchy enjoys a battle when defending while also providing options going forward.
Alexis was constantly looking to get involved, finding space and getting stuck in to the physical battle. While he is not the biggest of players, he is hard to knock off the ball, gets straight back up when knocked down, and actually gave away several fouls when hounding the opposition players, trying to win the ball back.
While he got caught in possession several times, there were also several glimpses of Alexis' class. In particular, there was a moment of chest control from a long ball, and a quick one-two and swerve past a defender which provided a directness that was often lacking last season.
While it seems that we most need to sign a central defender and a defensive midfielder, it was in attack that we were most lacking in today's game. Sanogo is at least a few games away from providing a genuine threat to Giroud's starting place and Giroud is lacking match fitness. It would be interesting to see how Alexis would fare as a centre forward but, while Walcott is injured, Wenger seems to have settled on him playing wide right.
Cazorla struggled to keep the ball, let alone provide a threat going forward.
Gibbs' injury is a cause for concern, but Monreal looked strong when he came on.

While we didn't play our best, the bottom line is that we won 3 important points on a day when two rivals (Man Utd and Everton) both dropped points. However, if we have serious ambitions of winning the League, we need to play much better.

Photo: Stuart MacFarlane. Taken from www.mirror.co.uk

Prospect of centre-half pairing of Chambers & Monreal giving me nightmares

2014-08-13T08:31:00.000+01:00

#VermaelenFCB

Firstly, let me wish our former captain, Thomas Vermaelen, the very best of luck for his future at Barcelona. It's very hard to hold anything against him when he gave 100% in every game, took lower wages to avoid going to a rival Premier League club, and didn't involve himself in any media speculation. He really is a true professional; he has shown the utmost respect to Arsenal and will be remembered fondly. While causing us some problems in defensive cover, the deal also represents good value for Arsenal. In comparison to our £30m spend on a 25 year old Alexis Sanchez, receiving £15m for a 28 year old Thomas Vermaelen, with just 1 year remaining on his contract and unable to get into our first team, seems remarkable.

Wenger always seemed to go for centre backs who were quick, strong in the tackle and powerful, most notably Toure and Campbell. Vermaelen, for me, encompassed all of these qualities, but with the extra benefits of being strong in the air, able to score goals from set pieces, and always having the right attitude. We saw this positive attitude right from the start; when other defenders would start to look nervous when left one on one with an attacker, Vermaelen seemed to love that situation. When one on one he was one of the best. And yet Mertesacker, who has a distinct lack of pace, has forced his way into Wenger's plans ahead of Vermaelen. This, for me, is symbolic of a change in Wenger's approach to his defence. While in the days of Toure and Campbell, Wenger would put fast and powerful individual defenders in the team knowing that should we lose the ball, they can recover quickly, it now seems that the partnership of Mertesacker and Koscielny carries more weight.

Now let's consider our current squad, where our main area for improvement from last season is our results against the big teams:

Having said yesterday how impressed I've been with Chambers' start to his Arsenal career, it seems to me that starting a Premier League game against a big club, with Chambers and Monreal at centre back, is asking for another 0-6 drubbing. The sale of Vermaelen has made this possibility all the more likely, especially when you consider that Mertesacker has only just returned from the World Cup, and Koscielny has been struggling with injury.

While I am sure that this is not what Wenger intends, the pre-season playing of Monreal at centre-half suggests that this will be the chosen pairing should we not find a replacement for Vermaelen. This approach is similar to that used last pre-season, where Sagna was deployed at centre-back in preparation for him providing centre-back cover for the season ahead. However, Sagna was our most natural defender, and this is far from how I would describe Monreal.

A few weeks ago, Wenger was saying that should Vermaelen be sold, a replacement would be bought. However, this seems to have changed, with more recent comments to the media suggesting that a centre-half will be bought only if the opportunity arises - it seems that central defenders are in short supply. So, either Wenger has been impressed enough by Chambers to make a central defender less of a necessity, or Wenger is adjusting his messages to the media so that we are not held to ransom by the clubs we are negotiating with. I very much hope that it is the latter because, while he has impressed me hugely, Chambers is not so good as to compensate for playing alongside Monreal.

Another key development when considering possible additions to the squad is that Arteta has been made club captain. For me, this suggests that Arteta is very much part of Wenger's first team plans, so he is unlikely to now bring in a player that would relegate Arteta to the bench. We have Flamini to provide cover in this position too, so I suggest that the signing of a strong CDM is unlikely. While I'm quite pleased with the appointment of Arteta as captain for sentimental reasons, as he seems to have the dedication and commitment required, I will be disappointed if we don't strengthen this position for the season ahead. For me, the issue is not cover - both Flamini and Arteta provide solid cover - the issue is that neither are quite at the level required for our first team. Arteta is good positionally and good on the ball, but lacks pace and bite, whereas Flamini offers bite and tenacity, but also lacks pace, and doesn't offer enough when on the ball. This was highlighted in our game against Chelsea last season, where they pretty much allowed Flamini to keep the ball with no pressure, knowing that he offered no threat to them offensively.

My hope is that we sign both a centre back and a CDM, but deep down I've always thought that just one of the two is more likely. More recently, I'm beginning to think that we may end up facing the season ahead with neither.

Photo: Taken from www.telegraph.co.uk

Change to 4-1-4-1 offers new solidity in Man City victory

2014-08-12T23:59:00.002+01:00

#CommunityShield #AFCvMCFC

How good does it feel to come away with a 3-0 win against a top Premier League team?! The main thing that we need to improve from last season is our results against the top teams, having been on the wrong end of some severe drubbings last season. On that front, this latest result is undoubtedly a step in the right direction and that, for me, is more important than the fact that we picked up our second piece of silverware in 3 months.

While beating any Man City team is no mean feat, there is no doubt that they were missing several top players, including Aguero, Kompany and Fernandinho, among others. What had a bigger impact though, was that Man City didn't look at all interested! It's difficult to tell if this was due to Toure and Fernando being overrun in the middle of the park (us playing well), or City not being ready.

We continued with the 4-1-4-1 formation that we used in the Emirates Cup and, especially in central midfield, this allowed us to dominate possession. This is particularly impressive given that we were up against Toure and Fernando, two dominant midfielders, and promises much for the season ahead. So 4-1-4-1 has been used all pre-season, with either Arteta or Flamini used as a dedicated holding midfielder and Ramsey and Wilshere playing just ahead of them. This may just be a result of Ozil being unavailable, and when Ozil is back I suspect Wenger may revert to the 4-2-3-1 of last season, with Ozil in advance of a double pivot. However, this only allows one of Wilshere and Ramsey to play in their favoured positions, and I wonder whether Wenger is beginning to see some benefit to playing both Ramsey and Wilshere just in front of a CDM. Both Ramsey and Wilshere offer more bite and aggression than Ozil, and it may be that in games against the big teams, this formation offers more solidity. Perhaps Ozil could play on the left, as he did in Germany's successful World Cup campaign, with Alexis right and Giroud/Sanogo up front. Or Ozil left, Walcott right and Alexis up front? We certainly seem to have lots of options, and that's without mention of Cazorla, Podolski, Rosicky, the Ox, Gnabry, Campbell...

Back to the game against Man City:

I was impressed by Debuchy; he looked worthy of being Sagna's replacement. Perhaps he doesn't quite have the same defensive awareness and pace, but he is very strong in the air, loves a defensive battle and, in the first half, showed that he is more composed than Sagna going forward, delivering several dangerous crosses. Composure was a common theme among several players, exemplified by both Cazorla and Ramsey's finishes. Ramsey looked strong throughout, picking up from where he left off last season.

Chambers also impressed me again. Initially I assumed that Chambers was just a signing for the future, but in every pre-season game he has shown himself to be ready to compete at the top level. This game was no different as he looked confident and at home playing against last year's Premier League winners. What really stands out for me is that, so far, the boy doesn't seem to have any weaknesses! He seems calm and unflustered in possession, with sharp and precise passing. He's quite quick, strong and athletic, strong in the air, and good positionally, maintaining concentration for 90 minutes. He often read the game well, stepping up to intercept and cut out danger. Only once did I notice him get drawn out of position and then exposed by Dzeko. A thoroughly outstanding start to his Arsenal career. Monreal, however, was a different story. He and Chambers played the entire second half together, but I'm yet to be convinced that they can be a successful centre-half pairing. More on that tomorrow...

I thought Alexis had an interesting game. There's no doubt that he's exciting to watch, and he always gives the impression that he can make things happen; I've no doubt that he'll be a stunning player for us this season. I felt in this game that he seemed to be trying out different ideas, but in doing so seemed to lack some conviction in his decision making. I think that he's been given more freedom than he's been used to at Barcelona, and so you could see him flitting between several roles: running at defenders, looking for final balls to play team-mates in on goal, getting to the by-line to put crosses in, being involved in deeper build-up play etc. I thought he was most effective when playing passes forward for the front-man to hold up, and then sprinting past the defence to collect the return pass and be through on goal. There was one moment in particular where he ended up through on goal - the keeper was out quickly to make the save, but the move seemed to bypass the Man City defence entirely! I think that, given time, Alexis will get a feel for how his abilities complement those of the rest of the team in the most effective way. He will then be able to gain a confidence and conviction in his decision making that will terrify opposition defenders.

Finally, I felt this game provided further fuel for the Sanogo vs. Giroud debate. Giroud's goal was stunning, and I feel that he provides a more physical and direct threat to goal than Sanogo. Sanogo, however, seemed more involved in effective build-up play, playing sharp one-two's with Alexis, and being involved in both Cazorla and Ramsey's goals. Sanogo also offers more pace and is therefore more likely to get played in on goal, yet his finishing lacks some composure. It will be exciting to see how this competition develops as the season begins, but we can at least be happy that we are in a better situation for strikers than we were last season, with Sanogo coming on in leaps and bounds.

Photo: Taken from www.theguardian.com

First our hopes are raised. Quickly followed by questions!

2014-08-06T00:03:00.001+01:00

#EmiratesCup #Sanogoal

So it's difficult to read too much into friendly games, but it's always nice to get a taster of how the new players might fit into the team, and how existing players might change their roles for the season ahead. It's also our first chance to see us against first-class opposition.

On seeing the team-sheet for the Benfica game, I was excited about seeing how the new players would perform - Chambers, Campbell, but also Sanogo, Bellerin and, to a lesser extent, Martinez in goal. However, the main things that struck me were that Monreal was playing centre back, we were lined up in 4141, without the double-pivot of 4231, and that Oxlade-Chamberlain was positioned on the left. It seems to me that in our first 11, Ozil will start in the CAM role, with either Giroud or Sanchez up front, and the right will be taken by Walcott or Sanchez. Our left-sided forward position is up for grabs with neither Podolski or Cazorla entirely convincing in the role last season. So the main question for me, going into this game, was whether the Ox could make this position his own.

Some observations from the Emirates Cup games:

Joel Campbell was immediately lively, good at finding space, making intelligent runs, and prepared to take risks - he was prepared to run at the opposition defenders, but with this came some times where he gave the ball away. His finish for his goal was well taken and he found the space well. Generally I thought that he was better than the Ox, who I'd initially had such high hopes for. This was still the case when they swapped sides. I'm pleased to hear noises from Wenger that Campbell is part of his plans - he provides strong cover on both left and right wings and his willingness to run at players offers us something different. It remains to see whether Campbell also provides cover as a central striker.
Chambers impressed at centre back. I felt that in the Benfica game it didn't look like Chambers had too much to do, but he always seemed to be in the right position and always looked to be alert, with high levels of concentration. This, along with his athleticism and pace, make him a very strong prospect in this position. Chambers also seemed strong in the air, with sharp, unfussy passing. Also encouraging are the noises from Wenger that, despite Chambers being an able deputy at centre back, he will sign another replacement for Vermaelen should he be sold.
Monreal didn't convince me at centre back. He often looked like he was trying to catch up with the play, defending in a reactive, rather than proactive way.
Bellerin looked a good prospect, so we're looking very good for right-backs! He was composed on the ball and posed a real threat going forward.
Sanogo impressed me and, by scoring four goals, he's made a strong case for being taken very seriously in the forthcoming campaign. I felt that his build-up play was good, making himself easily available for passes from the midfielders and then winning the ball with his physical presence. He engaged defenders by looking to make things happen, rather than looking to give the ball back at the first opportunity. He looked like he has the physical presence to play a similar role for us to Giroud, providing an out-ball for our midfield, holding up play and playing in runners. However, he has the potential to offer more than Giroud, as he seems to have more acceleration and willingness to take his man on. Just as I was beginning to doubt his final product, be it a finish or a final pass, he got on the score sheet, and from there his confidence increased. While I think he still needs to work on his decision-making and ruthlessness in front of goal, his third goal demonstrated exactly that. Good movement to find space, good first touch and composed finish. With confidence high, he also showed a combination of power and willingness to take on defenders reminiscent of Adebayor at his best. At the very least, Sanogo has shown himself worthy of deputising for Giroud when the Frenchman needs a rest.
Sanchez's arrival was eagerly awaited and, with expectations so high, it's difficult to really impress. He made a solid start, combining some touches of class with high workrate and willingness to chase defenders. He seemed to perform best as the central striker, but this could be due to the ineffectiveness of Giroud, who didn't seem ready for these games. However, this gives us a third option for who to play in this position.
Wilshere and Ramsey didn't particularly impress in midfield together. This is an important season for both of these players, and it remains very difficult to imagine both of them playing in our midfield. For me, at the moment, it is one or the other. How I hope they can prove me wrong!
Debuchy looked a decent signing. Used to playing at this level, good defensively, going forward and strong in the air.

So, all in all, this was a strange weekend of football. Yet there was something about the 5-1 win, excitement and raised expectations, followed by a 1-0 loss and failure to score, bringing us back down to Earth, that seems vaguely familiar. Quite reminiscent, on a smaller scale, of our being top of the table early on last season, followed by a series of terrible results that raised important questions about our team.

I feel that these pre-season friendlies are a time to be positive and look for signs of hope for the season ahead, but I'm also hoping that the game against Man City on Sunday provides us with some convincing answers.