Daily Bits and Bobs

Next seven days key to our season? Rotation worked for once….

Posted on by rico

Morning all.

Rubbish way to start the week! 8am and I was in the dentist chair for an hour. Feel sorry for me, no, I bet you don’t! I don’t care, I have broad shoulders and I’ll get over it…

Anyway, Wath wrote a post ahead of the Chelsea game asking the question, would our season be over if we lost to them. In came a sponsored post that morning so being selfish, I earned myself a tenner and kept this one. Good job I did, I needed that to pay my dentist!

A little bit of tweaking and the same question could be asked today, not about a one off game, but two in six days.

As Wath said in that post, asking such a thing may sound dramatic and harsh at this stage of the season but would a tomorrow and then again on Sunday to Utd, basically be the end of our chances of winning the league and qualifying for the Champions League knock-out stages?

We have lost already to West Ham at home, drawn with Liverpool and lost to the so called hot favourites to win the league and before that game, an awful performance in Zagreb saw us lose our first Champions League fixture against a side who we really should be battering.

But Saturday, everything seem to click. Theo scored his eleventh goal in last twelve appearances (I think), Alexis announced he was back on top of his game and Ozil was simply awesome. Santi was pretty darn good too…

Scoring five goals in one game has been a long time coming. As we so often say, we create the chances but we just don’t take them. Saturday we did, in fact we could have had more. So could Leicester and credit to Ranieri who clearly likes to entertain the fans and he and his team did. Had it not been for the post and crossbar, they would have scored a couple more too.

But not all sides/managers will play that way, especially when the travel to The Emirates and that’s where imo, we must improve. I don’t think LvG parks the bus in a way that Mourinho does but I doubt his side will play as open as Leicester did at the weekend but either way, we have to find a way through, behind and around a defensive set-up if that’s the way Utd present themselves.

We certainly need to beat them on our own turf next Sunday, in fact looking at our league fixtures up until Christmas, we really should be winning them all. The toughest on paper are Utd this weekend, City at home in December and Southampton away the same month. We travel to Swansea next month too but I fully expect us to beat them.

We are constantly being told about the mental strength in the side and the spirit yet all too often that’s gone missing when needed. When things get tough, or when we are loosing, the players heads seem to go down and their performance drops or certain players appear to sulk and can’t be bothered to give their all. That didn’t happen on Saturday though and despite going 1-0 down quite early in the game, there was something different going on. No heads went down, in fact totally the opposite and it made for a great game.

That’s the kind of spirit and togetherness which can win the league this season but the players have to do that against the so called bigger and better clubs, (no disrespect to Leicester meant) the defensive and boring clubs who don’t care how they play the game, as long as they don’t lose. Or those who are prepared to let us have the ball for most of the game and then hit us hard on the break. There’s nothing wrong with playing that way of course as winning a match, or sometimes simply not losing it is what matters but as far as Arsenal goes, they, well, Arsene Wenger, has to find a way to beat that system. Do that and managers like Mourinho etc will have to rethink their tactics…

For so many years we haven’t really had a great record against the clubs around us and then from nowhere we get a performance that gives us fans belief that the team has clicked and it’s on the way up. Sometimes it’s after grinding out a result like at Utd in the FA Cup and at The Etihad last season but that always seems to be after Christmas when we out of the Champions League and way out of touch of the league leaders.

This last few days have seen us win two matches, both away from home. Rotation was successful at WHL and then the first eleven secured maximum points at the weekend so have we turned a corner? Fringe players looked quite rusty in the FA Cup match but as the game went on they improved so the more playing time they get, the better their football will become hopefully.

Before though, all too often we seem to struggle playing twice a week but why is that..?

Well maybe it’s because we just don’t have the squad depth in quality to play twice a week and when rotation is required, it doesn’t work as the performance against Zagreb proved. On paper that Arsenal team should of won but we don’t play on paper and we lost.

We have all discussed the complacency in the side and all too often the players look like they think it’s all to easy playing against a team that’s considered second rate, yet that side is full of players who are prepared to get stuck in put themselves about a bit and when that happens, we struggle because our commitment wasn’t there from the moment the game kicked off and all because the game was supposed to be a walk in the park.

Olympiacos are considered to be one of those sides which Arsenal should beat comfortably. My brother went to watch them just a few weeks ago whilst holidaying in Greece and apparently their number 11 Pajtim Kasami, who is very quick, and their number 7 Kostas Fortounis are quite good but the rest are very average….

Another two matches in a short space of time and again rotation will be crucial.

Perhaps we’ll see if we’ve turned a corner and just as last week, we can win two matches on one week.

Have a good Monday, hope yours started better than mine….

rico

72 thoughts on “Next seven days key to our season? Rotation worked for once….”

  2. scottfromoz says:

    Morning all.
    We need to string a few in a row now…..I know that’s stating the obvious, but it’s what’s required.
    We will be putting 3 or 4 past the Greeks, without question 🙂

  3. rico says:

    Amazes me how poor our corners are Brian, or is it the movement from players in the box.

    Also, when Ollie doesn’t play, we don’t have a lot of height in the box other than Merts and with his lack of speed I wonder if he should even go up for them…

  8. tsgh says:

    Very good read Rico..

    Theo’s agent needing a tenner? Hmm? 🙂

    Play a proper no.6 who is composed on the ball and all the top players like Sanchez, ozil come into form…

    Scott- you will be surprised with our win ratio plus goal scores (winning with more than 2 goals) over last 3 seasons when MA08,Per and Kosser play more than 70 minutes…

  10. scottfromoz says:

    Ginge, you know I’ve always liked Arteta…except against really quick teams.
    Kozzer….well, I say he’s the best CB in the game and Merts is very, very harshly treated by fans, IMO.
    I might be surprised at the stat, but not as surprised as most 🙂

  12. Madhav - Indian Gunner says:

    Very good post Rico…
    Like Scott pointed out, sometimes we do mistakes in the very basics… We are careless in zonal marking, leaving the opposition player to jump (Best example is Gibbs in the Zagreb game)… Even when watching England play, I have noticed Gibbs defending badly an aerial ball… Wonder we give player oriented training… Like identifying what a player has to improve in a game and train them in it…

  17. potter says:

    In a recent article Wenger said that pitches were too good and smooth for the ball to lifted and played accurately. Perhaps we should have 1 day a week on the marshes to teach them how to play that style.

  20. malaga gooner says:

    afternoon rico and the house
    good post
    now is the time to go on an unbeaten run,utd may be top of the league, but there nothing special.
    lets see how good this mental strength wenger keeps going on about, time to start showing it

  24. rico says:

    What worries me tomorrow is Flamini is injured, Arteta missed training but Coquelin is back which means AW could be forced to play him. He then, not being fully fit, get’s injured and we are snookered for the Manc game…

  26. potter says:

    I wonder how good our spies have been and whether we have developed a scheme to cope without Le Coq. Maybe play Gabriel in front of Per and Kos. A kind of not quite 3 at the back.

  27. malaga gooner says:

    rico this is what we talked about through out the transfer window

    how wenger ever thought we has enough cover in the DM position is suicidal

  30. Gdna says:

    Morning all, good post rico.

    I hope AW does not rush FC back for the game tomorrow. The mistake was made in the summer to rely on MF and MA who should not be at the club. Might as well gamble with CC as the DM and leave FC on the bench. The idea that Man U aren’t good enough is the wrong one, they will give Arsenal a good game. They got players who can hurt any team on the day, its who manages the minor details best wins these big games.

  31. tsgh says:

    Mg- its 27.1% but it depends on when we play… over 4 years.
    2 years ago when ramsey was in form it was 42% our highest since 2007…

    If its 12;45pm our win ratio is 12%; 16:00 is 76%; I don’t have the 3 ok figures… will check later

  35. Tai says:

    Great post Rico…

    I’d take the matches as they come…Olympiacos is as much as important as Man U…we need victories in both.

    It’s still early days but I know our team improved more than we all are willing to give credit for…

    Bellerin is proving he could end the season as best RB or thereabout, barring injuries. Gabriel is one monster and of course, Cech…these three players have improved this team tremendously…Of course, Coquelin has shown better stuff this season than last.

    And Walcott…while some love to slate him, I’ve always loved Theo for his intelligence…one with his pace should usually stray offside but he ever times his runs to perfection and is undeniably a world class finisher. At Leicester he showed why Wenger has decided to play him upfront. And that explains why Le Prof refused to buy a striker that’d derail Walcott’s coming as goal machine. We wait.

    Man U is one club in the EPL that Arsenal refuses to subdue mentally…no matter the coach, players and form, Man U usually have that edge. I hope this coming Sunday ends up one of those rare moments we triumph…

    Good afternoon All.

  36. Joaquim Moreira says:

    The squad is not deep enought.It is a certainty.
    Olympic and Zagreb, was to make between 9 and 12 points. Still, do not guarantee the second stage.
    MU also play midweek.
    No Arteta, Flamini and Coquelin, Ramsey must play the position and not give rise to “inventions”.

  37. Tai says:

    Giroud may be ‘shit’ to some …but my instincts tell me he has the best minute/goal ratio in the EPL…at least he has for Arsenal…Ts, can you help?

  39. tsgh says:

    Lol Tai… I don’t know that one bro.

    Not sure as he has only scored 5 in last 13 games.

    Last season he had the 4th best in EPL re. shoots to goal ratio. 4th higest scorer and that is without him taking our penalties unlike Aguero..

  42. Joe says:

    Evening all, I agree with MG we should play Ramsey as the DM tomorrow and save the Coq for sunday.
    But it’s strange that we are always playing big teams after CL games and generally away.

  45. Tai says:

    I’m talking about this season, Ts, Rico….

    Giroud has three goals and has played less minutes than Theo who has two.

  53. allezkev says:

    Night Rico…

    Rick, I see that 19 year old Glen Kamara could be in the squad tomorrow on the back of doubts over Coquelin…

  58. Joe says:

    For the Manu match.
    I have said this many times it doesn’t matter who we buy the PMGO will make sure we don’t win the PL.

  60. Joaquim Moreira says:

    rico, Olympiakos has and had more Portugueses coach in the last seasons.
    Olympiakos is not easy….
    and we will see tomorrow

  61. Micko says:

    tsgh 9.24, so does the ball boy, what’s the worst that could happen……he gives his all but lets the ball down, fcuking embarrassing.

  65. tsgh says:

    Morning Rico, Adam and all…

    Time for AW to redeem himself. No night for telepathic formations that can be ‘spoofed’ from a mile away…

    we know Olympiacos will line up 4-3-3 but with 10 men behind the ball but relying on counter attack. the won 5-1 last weekend and so confidence must be high

    Kassami is a decent CDM. we all know about Ideye and Finnbogason upfront. But I like their playmaker Fortounis from youtube clips I must add. 🙂

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