Morning all.
Our two goals were good and enough to secure maximum points but our defending is sometimes laughable. Merts faffing around in the penalty box was not something you’d expect to see from an ex German international defender. Koscielny too, in fact his inability to stay on his feet hardly helped matters when Swansea scored their only goal, but neither did Petr Cech, who will look back on that knowing the better option would have been to stay back on his line.
That and other comical stuff aside, we won and but for Fabianksi, the victory would have been far more convincing. Watching Kolasinac, albeit just the highlights, is a pleasure, he’s so good. His little bit of fancy footwork before his pass to Alexis is something we don’t see too much of from this Arsenal team, let alone a big strong defender. Alexis too was on form and very unlucky to see Fabianski tip his cracking shot over the bar.
Koscielny had a good chance to get on the scoresheet but embarrassingly for him, he couldn’t even get his head to the ball, let alone score. Abraham had the ball in the net but the linesman rightly raided his flag. Phew.
Further chances came for both sides, the best of course being from Arsenal but it stayed at 2-1. Ramsey and Kolasinac grabbed the goals and that was enough.
Arsene Wenger will be thrilled as now we’ve closed the gap on Spurs who lost at Old Trafford yesterday lunchtime and there’s just one point between us and a place in the top four, not that it means much at this time of the season, or in May really. We should be challenging for top spot, not top four but already, that is a near on impossible task. We’ve dropped too many points and we’re about to hit November, a month we’re renowned for collapsing in.
However, things might be different this season as we’ve no Champions League to worry about. Whilst City, Totts, Utd and Liverpool will probably have to field strong sides this coming week, especially City who face Napoli away from home, Arsene Wenger can again rest his best as squad players face Red Star. We’ll be heading to The Etihad well rested while Pep’s players will have had a tough match in Italy and a bit of travelling.
All the Frenchman needs to do is have a plan how to nullify a City side which has the best attacking players in the Premier League.
And if West Brom can score two against City, there’s no reason we can’t.
Just have to find a way not to concede and that’s the tricky part…
Morning all.
Nice post, Rico.
Big few weeks coming up.
Massive, I’m fact.
Thanks Scott, shame there’s an international break between playing City and Totts…
Yep, as we will already be nice and fresh.
Still, we will have no excuses at all if we can’t get results.
Our guys need to stand up to be counted.
I put this on the last post as you were doing this one , but I think it is still per.tinent.
I would like to think that we have got enough to struggle through but I fear for players like Holding and Chambers who might well find a lot of responsibility falling their way. Should Kos and Mustaphi fail to get fit enough and in Kos ‘ case the calf finally gives out , these two will be thrust forward . We know that both are prospects but both need playing time and the first mistake will be jumped on .
On paper when you look at the centre back position we have 5 recognised players and should be covered, however when you analyse them one by one doubts creep in.
1 :- Koscielny :- Seems incapable of shaking off his injury and is currently playing at about 70% of his capability.
2 :- Mustaphi :- A bit reckless prone to tackling on the floor , tailor made for the more easily falling players that we will be facing . I expect one penalty at least against City and if Delle Alli gets in on the act one for them too, although being at home might save us..
3 :- Holding :- A prospect , making mistakes positionally,a bit slow to recover not blessed with pace fallable to the Sterlings and Sanes’ of this world not to mention Aguero.
4 :- Chambers :- Another prospect Was low on confidence when he left on loan , has been injured and had no playing time , Bound to be rusty. In my mind definitely a central player that tends to get turned too easily when out wide , likes to see players and ball coming at him . The first mistake and both his and the crowds reaction will define his future.
5 :- Mertesacker :- Not much to say here , bags of experience tall and unfortunately not suited to play against small nippy players with tiny turning circles. Back in the day would have been the perfect sweeper and with his positional sense which is his greatest asset he could probably have played into his 40’s.
Ater this it’s the makeweights those that can step in but that’s about it. Elneny , Debuchy , Monreal etc.
On paper we have enough but all are fallable in one way or another.
5 games in 14 days, including Spurs and United.
Mustafi will hopefully be back as apparently he’s training, Chambers too. I certainly fear us having to play Merts because City will destroy him if the midfield leave the defence exposed.
Wenger has to make sure they don’t. If Ramsey starts, he needs to defend first, attack second if City start well. Imo anyway.
Good analysis, Potter.
Gabriel, or his replacement, would have been damn handy.
Rico, you’re right, and I’d say that goes for every player-we need them all to put in a shift.
That goes without saying Scott, but our midfield is very weak imo. Good going forward, but not so keen on doing the defensive work.
Mind you, neither is Wenger.
Yep.
That’s where the old boy needs to sort things.
Get that right, and our backs automatically look a bit better.
We should approach this game like we played against Bayern at the Emirates 2 years ago and triumphed 2-0
Thanks Rico.
Yes !……… my plan before season and TW opened, we would buy quality players and play our youngsters in CC, EL and rest the big guns for the games like the up and coming two, where our opponents would be fatigued from playing CL and we would be fresh as daisies !………………where did it all go wrong ? …………………..well that`s easy !………………our away form in EPL……………not forgetting only playing the Holy Trinity in last two games !…………………oh and the selling of Gabriel and not replacing……………………….and the little detail od extending Wenger`s contract !……………………..any other input in to why it went wrong will be greatly appreciated…………………….. hahaha
But we know Wenger will go for it Ogban. We’ll be left wide open in midfield and in defence and we’ll get spanked… 🙂
I don’t think Wenger had much choice but to leave Ozil out Lc, he was playing poorly and was getting a lot of stick…
Yes Rico more Keystone Kops defending for Kos ,the not an alehouse player ,but not all that much cop either and the rest of the usual suspects providing comical antics not seen since the days of kids Saturday morning matinees . Plodding Per the BFG was yet again getting caught out dozing in the danger area and rather fortunate to get away with it. We could have gone in 2 -0 down at half-time. I don’t fancy the plodder and Keystone Kos against the City strike force tbh. How Wenger expects to win major trophies with his comical defence is something that only he knows. Then again he probably doesn’t expect to win any top ones not having done so since the last time that the cows came home. It’s all about over achieving in the pro quota on expenditure targets and Wenger is top dog according to Ivan the liar in that league. How exciting .
Good afternoon Rico !
Kolasinac the only player i rate so far….
Well…….before the old man ruins him.
I said it was ten, but apparently it`s 13……………………how do we manage to get this record whilst being shit ? hahaha
https://twitter.com/OptaJoe/status/924302383051694082?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fdailycannon.com%2F2017%2F10%2Farsenal-set-impressive-new-emirates-record%2F
That’s a pretty good summation of where we are with our central defenders Potter…
With Man City and Tottenham coming up I wonder if it might have been prudent to rest Koscielny yesterday?
Good afternoon all and thanks for the post Rico.
my take on yesterday and in general are ,our expectancy in some cases is that after the occasional really good performance (not result) some still believe that consistency will return but the biggest failings IMO is that especially in defence and midfield we are buying below standard players for a club who Gazidis only said a few days ago were always challenging for trophies, AW keeps putting players out of position and therefore not getting the best out of them and yesterday though he is still a decent keeper Cech showed he is past his best and we sold the wrong second string and Mertesacker will get out run every time and Kos is still playing with an injury so by his high standards, he had an iffy game.The next two PL games will tell us alot as to how good or bad we are.We have got out of jail far too often this season by conceding first in too many games.AW doesn’t know about defending or zonal marking and what does Bould and now Lehmann actually do?.Sir Chips insulted the intelligence of most fans at the AGM which shows the Board don’t care a flying fig about the fanbase,. but for the time being we are snookered.
Hi Jack, I bought a rosette from you once.
Sad state of affairs ain’t it. The board don’t represent us and the shareholders don’t respect us ( the major ones )anyway. We ceased to be fans some time ago , just customers high paying ones at that.
Afternoon all.
Nope, we cannot win when we cannot outscore Man City nor our defence can keep out their attacks.
Man City has also a Keystone Kop defence.
But the big difference is Fernardinho is coming good and awesome in sweeping in front of Back-4 as an enforcer.
Whereas Xhaka is not a libero or enforcer but a holding midfielder whose forte is his fine reading of game, standing in front of Back-4 to anticipate and closes down all those passing channels and gaps between defenders. That was his role at M.Gladbach. With Ramsey playing as no. 8, given a free role to go box-to-box in support of attack, Xhaka is left holding the can as the defensive midfielder playing as a sweeper.
Our defence can’t handle the movement and pace of Sane-Gabriel Jesus-Sterling, especially with Sane attacking our right-flank with an off-form Bellerin.
Our defence averages 2 o 3 clear scoring chances gifted to opponents and Man City will certainly snap them up.
Not forgetting David Silva and De Bruyne will be probing our defence all the time, especially with both Ramsey-Xhaka unable to protect our Back-Line nor dominate the Midfield.
Will Wenger willing to set-up with a defensive 2-3-5 (like M.Gladbach against Bayern Munich) and then hit Man City on the break with a speedy Alexis as lone striker, sacrificing Laca with a formation like:
….Bellerin … Chambers … Koscielny … Holding … Kolasinac
……………..Coquelin……………..Xhaka………….Monreal
……………………Ozil…………………….Alexis
Unfortunately our Achilles heel has always been and will continue to be our defence, It’s unbelievable that our idiot manager has never prioritised building a formidable defense….had he done so, who knows, we may have won the premier a few times since we last won it.
Funny that he,s now already claiming that the team have silenced their critics after recent comebacks from 1 goal deficits, and to type has praised their mental strength. 6 wins v teams placed 12th, 14th, 15th, 17th,18th and 19th hardly fills me with any confidence, that a corner has been turned, considering the fact that of the 3 teams within the top 10 we,ve played, we,ve only picked up a single point.
It,s true, The fixture list will never allow Wenger to get sacked. There will always be enough shit teams for Wenger to save his ass.
Afternoon Alex, all.
Neither do I Jack, when you look at City’s attacking force, Kos and Per just doesn’t work for me at all, not under Wenger. In fact apart from Kolasinac, who is yet to be hypnotised by Wenger, we are weak.
Kelsey, do you have any idea which comments from Herb disappeared please?
I don’t know Dublin, the next three league fixtures might…. 😉
Merlin just mentioning all them City attackers fills me with dread……….so many …………………….so skillfull……………..so fast……………..we will be over run completely but shade it 7-0 !
🙂
Ditto those comments LcM. LOL.
??
7-0 might be not far wrong Lc…not to us though… 🙂
Night all.
No Rico sorry.I haven’t been on here for a few weeks.
Morning all.
35 degrees here today, and I’m not boasting!!
I hate this weather.
Morning all.
Sunny and bright like last few days, but not 35 degrees !
🙂
Morning all.
Jack Frost paid me a visit overnight. Brrr…
Dry and sunny in Norfolk , that’s the good news , the bad I have a total flat tyre on my car and I can’t get down to change it . Even if I did get down I won’t be able to get up again afterwards.
Did you fill the waterbed with anti-freeze ? …………………………and under garments !
😆
Sounds like you need the AA Potter…
Anti freeze in a waterbed! What are you suggesting LC?
(Made me laugh though?)
Morning all. Mr Frost visited us too, first time this year, this winter! Blue skies and cold temperature. Nice if you like the cooler climate.
New post up.