Leicester 1-1 Arsenal: poor performance highlights our problems

Evening folks.

So, yesterday we've dropped points against Leicester. As if this in itself wasn't enough, the Foxes actually could have nicked a win in the dying seconds, but for a brilliant save from Szczesny and a miss from Drinkwater. There was also that one-on-one, which nearly resulted in me having a heart attack, but some bloke put the ball into the side netting. However, let's start at the beginning.

The line-up

It featured some surprises alright. The defense was the same as from our midweek game, however midfield and attack were tampered with by the manager. Oxlade and Wilshere (amazingly) dropped to the bench. The only explanation I can give is that both Englishmen were called up to Ruy Hodgson's side and so they need a little R&R. Ramsey and Sanogo came in.

Our formation? Seemingly 4-1-4-1: Flamini in the holdnig role, Ramsey and Cazorla centrally, Alexis and Ozil on the flanks. Now, say whatever you want, but there's a reason Ozil said he's not at his best on the left: he really is far from his prime there. Who would have thought?

The first half

We tried to dominate the game by seizing control of possession and two problems became exposed immediately:

1. Leicester looked very dangerous on the counter, using our left flank to great effect. No surprise: Ozil is not the one to track runners. He switched flanks with Sanchez as the half progressed and that addressed the issue somewhat.
2. Sanogo isn't technical enough to lead our line. Every time he received the ball he looked at a loss at what he should with it. This caused if not downright anger among the fans, then definitely confusion. With such quality players to feed him, it was frustrating to watch every move break down because the Frenchman is obviously inept. Not his fault he's being played, though. However, I was surprised that Sanchez wasn't trusted to spearhead our attack after a brilliant showing from the Chilean against Besiktas.

Our domination finally found an outlet, when Sanchez slotted home around the half-hour mark. However, the excitement was short-lived, as Leicester immediately came up with a response. A move down our right led to a cross and poor positioning from Koscielny led to that cross' connection with Ulloa's head. 1-1.

Now, a word for Koscielny: though he was at fault for the goal, he suffered from a concussion minutes earlier, but, instead of being subbed, the Frenchman was patched up, given a swimming cap and rushed back into action. An unwise decision from whoever made it led to that equaliser, not Koscielny's poor positioning. Laurent was subsequently taken off and Chambers came on.

The rest of the half wasn't very interesting. Arsenal tried to break down Leicester's organised defense and Leiceister tried to hurt us on the counter. However, I'd like to note how atrocious of a referee Anthony Taylor was. Hammond alone committed at least five cynical fouls inside the first 45 minutes, but didn't receive a yellow. Under other circumstances he would have been sent off midway through the half.

The second half

As we clearly lacked fluidity during the first period, I thought Arsene would make a change to shake things up. The situation wasn't hopeless, like it had been a week before at Goodison, but it was also unclear how we were going to win the game. Unless Sanchez and Cazorla pulled a rabbit out of their hat. I wasn't much counting on Ozil, as the German looked unconvincing on the flank. Really isn't his position.

However, no changes were made and the trend continued. Sanogo missed an opportunity after finding some space early on, but, apart from that, not much went our way. I was dying to see Ox introduced at the expense of Sanogo, so that one of the two our players who really tried to make something happen (Sanchez) would be shifted infield and play as CF. The fans on the stands were apparently asking Wenger (quite loudly and not very politely) to sign a striker.

Nothing happened until around the 70th minute, when finally Ox and (surprisingly) Poldi were thrown into the mix for Sanogo and Cazorla respectively. In an even more surprising twist, Podolski tried to play CF and Alexis remained on the flank. Do you know how many passes Poldi made? Four. Four passes in almost 20 minutes. No wonder he's not playing CF week in, week out.

The only presentable chance we created was when Ramsey's headed effort was saved by Schmeichel. I really think the Welshman should have nodded the ball back across goal, as Sanogo was waiting for a tap-in, but there's just no guarantee the Frenchman would have taken his chance.

We actually could have lost the game as I've mentioned above, but, mercifully, we didn't. 1-1 and this result raises a lot of questions.

The aftermath

Outrage. Public outcry from Arsenal fans. Immense pressure heaped on Arsene to buy players today. But the man himself is to blame for this. Sure, @arsenalvision made a good point on Twitter on how we just haven't clicked yet and I agree. We all saw glimpses of how deadly we can be against Besiktas, so the quality is definitely there, as I've written in the preview. But it's also about how many (good) players we have to cover up for others and how we perform using the system Arsene chooses.

I was scared out of my wits when Mert went down in pain, after Ulloa hacked him down. Chambers was already on and we had no defenders on the bench. Not even Bellerin. At this point I'm not even sure it was the right decision to let Jenks go, when we are in such a spot of bother. With rumours linking Hayden away from the club and Miquel with one foot in Norwich already, we don't have ANY back-up at centre-back.

We also have a problem up front, if we are willing to rely on a target-man system without Giroud. Sanogo just isn't ready and we have no one else. Remy joined up forces with Chelsea, Cavani is not for sale, Mandzukic is already in Atletico. Even forwards like Balotelli, Cerci and Hernandez moved clubs, so it's not like there were no striker available.

Though there is a silver lining to the proceedings, with Borussia re-signing Kagawa, which may well cause the domino effect and let us have Reus. At the expense of Podolski, most likely. There are also rumours this morning linking us to Carvalho and Falcao and I hope there's something stirring there. We'll see in a day. Maybe that's the reason behind Kroenke's sudden appearance in London. We need some hard cash for Falcao.

That's it, back tomorrow with a review of our actions during deadline day. Hope I'll be here discussing three grand signings. Fingers crossed.

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