Morning all.
Maybe it’s time to halt the complaining for a day or two and look at things with a different perspective. Yes, we got off to a slow start, but did anyone expect anything less? Yes, there has been little activity in the transfer window but we all know how Arsène Wenger operates by now. Let’s start the day with a brighter feel and look at some of the positives.
Difficult circumstances.
We suffered a grim defeat at home on the opening day of the season and managed to scrape a point at the King Power Stadium. After two games, 32Red UK had us at 11/1 to win the league, on a par with Liverpool who were also at 11/1 with Marathon Bet and 10bet.
Hardly a dream start but let’s be fair here. It wasn’t exactly the greatest scenario to be starting a Premier League campaign. Our core group of players – Laurent Koscielny, Olivier Giroud, Mesut Ozil, Aaron Ramsey, and Alexis Sanchez – had all progressed to the latter stages of international tournaments in the summer and were granted extended breaks.
Pair that with our annual injury blows – this time Per Mertesacker and Gabriel Paulista – and tough fixtures against a rejuvenated Liverpool side and the reigning champions, Leicester City, and it’s a gruelling task for any side to go out all guns blazing and claim maximum points.
Positives to take from the two games? We almost came back from 4-1 down against Jürgen Klopp’s men to make it 4-3, and we managed to shut out a Claudio Ranieri side that breached the opposition goal 68 times last term.
Wenger’s hand should be forced.
Ok, we know that there are some serious frailties in the squad, but luckily our boss can see it too. The weaknesses are so blindingly obvious that even Wenger’s stubbornness shouldn’t be able to overlook them. And isn’t it better that this is happening now, when the transfer window is still open?
What if we’d got off to a blinding start which vindicated Wenger’s decisions and led him to stick with his frugal philosophy? Without those two tough opening games, Calum Chambers and Rob Holding may have gone on to form our core centre-back pairing only to come unstuck against stronger opposition down the line.
When Liverpool broke through time and time again it forced Wenger’s hand, and he has confirmed that there will be a centre-back signing before the transfer window closes but is yet to say who it will be. Probably because he hasn’t come close to convincing anyone yet, so expect him to pay over the odds for West Bromwich Albion’s Jonny Evans on deadline day.
It has also become clear that Sanchez is out of his depth in the central striker role. Many of us never thought we’d say this, but we need Giroud back, and fast. When Wenger attempted to sign Jamie Vardy at the beginning of the summer the idea was to have a prolific goal scorer in the striking berth. The Chilean isn’t the answer to this problem, but there is still time to dip into the market and find someone who is.
Fixture list taking a positive turn.
We have the perfect opportunity to silence the doubters and gather some momentum now. 32Red have Manchester City at 13/8 and Manchester United at 11/4 to win the title, but they must face each other straight after the international break. We have clashes with newly promoted teams Hull, Burnley and Middlesbrough coming up before crucial ties against Tottenham Hotspur and Man United in November.
This is the ideal time to get our title challenge underway and give those title rivals something to fear. After two matches we have an average pass accuracy of 81%, shot accuracy of 56%, and a total of 17 big chances created according to Squawka. When Ozil gets back into his groove and Giroud re-enters the fray, expect these figures to be converted into goals.
An in all, things could be a lot worse. There is little doubt that there will be new signings coming in the next week, with the latest reports suggesting that Wenger has made an offer for Deportivo’s Lucas Pérez. If we add a new central defender as well, this little blip will be a distant memory in a few weeks’ time.
Written by Ed Roche.
Morning all.
Positivity….I love it.
Of course, a few comments will bring us back to reality, or what people believe that to be.
The reality is Arsene is our manager, and Stan is our owner.
Giroud is our CF and Gooners will whinge, so let let’s move forward.
Oh, and FIRST 🙂
Scott,
There’s another post up now… 😉
Good morning afternoon all,
Great article, let’s just home Wenger will be able to fill the gaps in defense and forward positions….the longer it takes it won’t really solve the problem because these new additions will take weeks to be ready for premiership games, by then we might have lost even more games….a lesson too hard for an old dog to understand.
Have a lovely day everyone
Can’t take any credit for it Simon….
Rico, I’m on the new one 🙂
You’re getting slow in your old age hahahahaha.
Arsene needs a rocket right up his arse.
No excuses, no blaming agents or other clubs demands, just get it done.
Interesting debate on Sky Sports this morning about forward, backwards, sideways and back to the keeper passing game….
Rico, there’s no question we stuff around too much, and all in the name of possession.
In my humble opinion, better the opposition have it ten years out form their goal, than us ten yards from ours.
Still, what do I know?
I feel much better now. 🙂
We certainly do faff around Scott but that might be because there’s little movement or pace ahead of the defence when we are in possession…..
If p,ayers are going to get booked for manhandling at set pieces, AND for intimidating officials, I’m trying to see a negative for the Arsenal.
We win with both if these, if, ands it’s a massive if, those officials do their job each and every game.
So will my bank balance Adam…. 😉
I kind of surmised that Rico. 🙂
True, Rico, but it’s also because Wenger wants us to keep the ball at all costs.
Sometimes, a shot from 25 yards is called for 🙂
There’s another post up now. Sorry for all the confusion… 😉
I thought you might Adam… 😉
Doesn’t do us much good though Scott, but as you say, that’s the Wenger way… Boring as it is…
Why is Arsenal always make a slow start? Wenger is the reason.I bet most goner fans are sickand tired of this guy. If Arsenal cant challenge surely its time for him to go asap.
As to what he does after retirement/sack,who cares. We fans only wantArsenal to win
and start winning asap.
WENGER OUT. WE SHOULD BE FOCUSING ALL OUR ATTENTION ON THAT
Interesting article , by coincidence the wife and I are doing some wallpapering this afternoon as well.
The two positives taken from the first couple of matches could be countered with :-1 we should not have been 4 – 1 down in the first place against Liverpool and against Leicester we can thank the referee for the clean sheet and the point. Whilst I can take the point that on Giroud’s return we might actually score but if nothing else it’s highlighted the fact that an injury to him leaves us seriously short.