Liverpool preview: first home win needed

It’s Liverpool at the Emirates on Monday and I’m cautiously optimistic about the outcome of this game. Not so much because we demonstrated brilliant football in the first two games (though our first half against Palace was pretty damn inspiring), but because Liverpool simply don’t look up to scratch.

They’ve won the first two games, however neither can be labeled as convincing performances. A late 30-yard strike from Coutinho and an offside goal from Benteke is hardly a sign of a swashbuckling style to come.

That being said, the players found out the hard way what complacency can lead to. This is the Premier League, where even the newly-promoted teams don’t go down without a fight. Seeing as form at home is usually key when mounting a title challenge, we should build a decent record to have a go:

“If you want to have a successful season you want to be strong at home. Normally we are strong at home. This is an opportunity to show that.”

Team news update

The news is that there’s basically no news:

“We have nobody back from the players who did not play against Crystal Palace. All of the players who were available at Crystal Palace should be available on Monday night.”

The closest to a return is Jack Wilshere, though the Englishman won’t help us before the international break:

“[Playing before the international break] is a bit too optimistic, it’s too early to think he would be playing for England. After the international break he has a chance, but before the international break he has no chance.”

The good bit is that Alexis Sanchez is now fully fit. Which is pretty amazing, considering he took part in both Premier League games, thus his preparation has been disrupted. But then it would probably be foolish to expect anything less from our Duracell Bunny:

“On Monday night he will not be short of full fitness. It’s surprising because when he has not got the basic fitness required, he has the mental resources to dig deep and be combative to fight. He also has the talent.”

As for Liverpool, Brendan Rodgers side has seemingly lost Henderson to a foot injury. The captain limped off at half-time against Bournemouth and didn’t take part in full training today. I expect Emre Can to take up Henderson’s place on Monday, effectively partnering James Milner at the base of the midfield.

Approach

This is what Brendan Rodgers said on how his side will approach the game:

“If you assess the last 10 games Arsenal have lost at home, it was about dangerous possession for the teams who won. They only averaged four shots on target with 43% possession. That tells you you don’t need to dominate the ball but you can dominate the space. That is important in the away games.”

If these words are anything to go by, it means Liverpool will cede possession and try to hit us on the counter. Quite how the brilliant attacking-minded Can and Milner will help them turn defense into attack quickly is anybody’s guess (maybe that’s what Rodgers been working on all week?), but that’s not the important thing here.

The important bit is that Liverpool will try to push us out of their half by pressing men in possession. Knowing we have a knack of attacking down the middle (no wonder, Ozil and Cazorla play there), they’ll probably try to congest the middle of the park.

Where does it leave us? In need of width. As such, I can see Oxlade coming in for Ramsey. The trick with Ramsey on the right in this particular case will not work again, as Liverpool are now playing with a back four. Oxlade, meanwhile, will give Gomez a torrid time and provide us with an outlet when things get crowded in the middle of the park.

The other possible changes Wenger may be tempted to make? Gabriel for Mertesacker and Walcott for Giroud. Both are unlikely in my opinion. In case with Gabriel it’s simple: Wenger seems to prefer Mertesacker at this stage. His aerial prowess and positioning can be vital when up against Benteke.

Theo up front for Giroud has the potential to be quite ineffective. With Liverpool sitting back Theo won’t have much space to thrive on, while I don’t fancy his chances in a direct battle with Skrtel and Lovren. Theo’s hold-up play is also whack, something that can only impede our flow in and around the box.

Predicted line-up: Cech - Bellerin - Mertesacker - Koscielny - Monreal - Coquelin - Cazorla - Ozil - Alexis - Oxlade - Giroud.

The verdict

Last time we faced the Mugmashers you all remember what happened. Our high-energy approach, crisp passing and lightning speed in possession proved too much to for Brendan Rodgers’ side to cope with. Our pressing game was spot-on and despite Liverpool’s best efforts to push us out of their half, they failed miserably, something that was down to Arsenal just passing the ball around their press.

Coquelin was one of the key figures then: his sweeping abilities broke up a lot of Liverpool’s attacks before they even managed to cross the halfway line. I expect Coquelin to be no less important on Monday.

However, we were caught out on the counter a couple of times. Liverpool no longer have Sterling to rely on in these situations, but Coutinho is still around. He mostly operates from the right, with a tendency to drift inside, so we’ll need Alexis, Monreal and Coquelin to be fully switched on defensively.

That dangerous counter-attacking style Liverpool deployed last time is what made me consider Gabriel at centre-back: Mert was a bit suspect in April and sometimes struggled to keep up with the speed. We’ll see if whether Arsene is thinking along the same lines soon enough.

All in all, while I don’t expect us to cakewalk the game, I’ll be hugely surprised if we drop points. The quality of our squad is such that should we turn up with the right attitude (like against Palace), the three points should be ours for the taking.

So come on you Gunners.

Back with a review

Width to the rescue? Why I believe Arsenal need a left winger

In what was one of my first articles for GunnersTown (back in March) I argued we need a winger. The idea wasn’t greeted with open arms back then: I was pointed out we have Oxlade, Alexis, Walcott and Welbeck. 4 players for two positions is a balanced and healthy squad, right? Not exactly.

Fast-forward five months and our situation doesn’t look comfortable anymore. Podolski has left, Campbell is on the verge of following the German out of the door. Gnabry is on loan at West Bromwich, Cazorla proved he is not efficient on the flank. We still have 4 aforementioned players, though we could easily have lost Walcott. No one was sure he’d sign till he actually signed.

However, the situation is still precarious, despite us retaining Theo’s services. Firstly, because Arsene now seems to view Walcott as a striker, not a winger. I agree with the Frenchman here: I feel we are better suited to both play to Walcott’s strengths and compensate for his weaknesses when the Englishman spearheads our attack. Secondly, Welbeck is injured and no one can put a return date on him.

Where does it leave us? That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, we have two wingers at the moment of speaking: Alexis and Oxlade. While I have no qualms with either, surely two players for two positions is far from an ideal scenario?

The curious case of Aaron Ramsey

Ah, yes. I’m not sure Aaron featured on the right prior to my article in March, that’s why I haven’t mentioned him there. I’m pretty certain I wouldn’t have done it even if Rambo played there: he’s still a central midfielder, a box-to-box and only plays on the right to plug the hole.

Well, not really. He also plays there for ball retention and backtracking purposes. While it wasn’t the main point of my fellow writer’s article, Omar presented us with a curious example: as a student he was often asked to play on the wing despite not possessing the pace and agility to beat a man. Why was that? He was a good distributor and helped keep the ball in circulation, something that was highly valued in the team’s set-up.

But back to Ramsey. He is a team player, first and foremost. He will plug any hole that needs plugging: against Palace he played in three different positions: right wing, central midfield and at 10. I remember he even played right-back a couple of seasons ago.

However, that doesn’t make him a winger. Like our friend Omar, Rambo doesn’t possess the speed or trickery to be a traditional winger like Ox. It has nothing to do with manager’s instructions (after the Palace game Rambo admitted it was Wenger who told him to cut inside and find space between the lines). A player has a set of skills and Rambo’s set is not one of a winger. He may grow to become a wide player in time, as Dave argues here, however, we are dealing with here and now.

It doesn’t mean we won’t see him in this position. I’m certain we will. Though a handful of games is not really much to go by in terms of making a definitive judgement, it looks like Wenger will pick Ramsey for tough away games on the flank. There Ramsey’s positional discipline, work rate, ball retention and willingness to help out Bellerin can be invaluable.

We still need natural width, though

Why? Because we will play a lot of games at home. When we play at the Emirates, almost all teams (with the exceptions of City and probably Liverpool) will sit back and soak up the pressure. They will congest the midfield to try and stop Ozil and Cazorla from doing their job and we’ll thus be forced to stretch play. Ramsey is not the man here.

Not convinced? Look at the end of last season. Ramsey made his debut as a right winger on April 4th, against Liverpool. Either such a decision carried a surprise factor to it or simply because Liverpool played only three men at the back, it worked. But it almost never did after that game, especially in home matches. We played three more home games in the league after that and scored a grand total of 0 goals. That was as much down to poor finishing, as it was down to teams stifling us in the middle of the park, something we couldn’t address as Ramsey kept shifting inside to add to an already crowded midfield.

It wasn’t much better in away games either. We struggled against Burnley, Reading and United, scoring just 4 goals. The only exceptions were Hull away, West Brom at home (where Wilshere played on the right) and the cup final. So Ramsey had 3 good performances out of 9 possible.

The return of the Ox simplified things. However, unless he can play on the left, the situation is still not ideal. All our wingers (Alexis, Oxlade, Theo & Welbeck) are right-footed, which means the left winger will have a natural tendency to cut inside on his strong foot, no matter the manager’s orders.

If Oxlade can learn to play on the left without doing so, I think swapping him and Alexis will make sense. Thus Oxlade will be able to give us width on the left and Alexis on the right. Or the Chilean will continue to cut inside, but unlike on the left, he’ll have a more attacking-minded full-back to either overlap and provide width or put crosses into the box for Giroud’s or Sanchez’s benefit.

The Ox showed signs of ambidexterity when he scored against Chelsea, cutting in on his chocolate leg and cannoning a shot past Courtois, that’s why I think this idea of mine is not completely impossible.

However we will have problems with stretching play on the left if the Ox doesn’t adapt or, indeed, isn’t even given a chance to adapt (a likely scenario I think you’ll agree). Monreal is improving in offering himself as an outlet, however he is not even on Gibbs level, let alone Bellerin’s.

Where does it leave us? In need of a left-footed winger. Here Tim also makes a case for Wilshere on the left. Which is not out of realms of possibility either. Jack’s left-footed, a dribbler and it will be easier for him stay wide. Guess we’ll see.

However, this is also the part where I lament we weren’t apparently in for Pedro. He is not my first pick on the left, however he can play on the left, he is near ambidextrous (almost 40% of the shots he takes is with his left) and he is not overly expensive. I do hope Wenger has someone better up his sleeve. If a wide forward comes in, we’ll finally be able to see Alexis at centre-forward. Reus would be my personal pick. If he can stay wide, his left foot isn’t exactly chocolate – he takes 25% of his shots with it. Moreover, out of 16 goals Reus scored last year, he scored 7 with his left. That proves he is pretty comfortable with either leg.

Right, that’s it from me for now. Most likely back with a review.

Until then

Crystal Palace 1-2 Arsenal: signed, sealed, delivered

Do you know where this phrase originated from? No? Neither did I until very recently. Until I started studying common law, in fact.

The phrase refers to an agreement called “contract under seal”. This type of agreement is an unusual one: it places the written form above the consideration (consideration is that something you offer in return to a person who does what you wish of him, e.g. pay money for something you bought is the consideration necessary for the contract of sale to come into force). The only requirements for the contract under seal to become valid are that it must be signed, sealed (by both parties) and delivered to the said parties. Hence the phrase.

Back to football matters and well, Arsenal delivered. Yesterday we saw a much better performance (and a much better result) from the lads. The difference between the game at Selhrust Park and the display at the Emirates a week ago was so striking it was almost as if another team played against Pardew’s side. The scoreline didn’t really do justice to us and it’s one of the few complaints one might have from the game.

Team selection

“Arsene’s selection will be indicative: he’ll pick the players he trusts to deliver in these circumstances. If that means hurting egos, he’ll do it. No time for compromise and experimenting: pre-season is over.”

Arsene did just that. Alexis and Bellerin came straight back into the squad, Cazorla was moved centrally alongside Coquelin, Oxlade gave way to Ramsey on the flank & Walcott was nowhere to be seen. Arsene’s most trusted players got the nod, lined up exactly the way they did against Liverpool in April and ground out the result.

The performance

It was a dazzling show of skill and nimble footwork all the way through the first half. We moved the ball quickly, created openings and overloads and, most importantly, conjured up clear-cut chances.

Our first sight of goal came in the 6th minute already, after a lightning-quick counter saw Ozil send Alexis one-on-one. The Chilean dithered, however, and as a result both the initial shot and the rebound were blocked.

Minute number 9 and we created two chances: first Ramsey’s long-range effort is saved by McArthy, then Alexis fails to even test the keeper after robbing Ward on the left.

On the 16th minute we finally found a breakthrough. Alexis’s unrelenting pressing enures Ozil has free reign on the left, the German crosses and Giroud meets the cross on the volley with a semi-bicycle kick. A thing of beauty from the Frenchman.

Minute number 23 and we should have been 2-0 up. Alexis pops up on the right, his low drive is parried by the keeper, but neither Ozil nor Ramsey smash the rebound into the net.

3 minutes later, another chance for Alexis and another chance he should have made the most of. The Chilean is given all the time and space to bury a header into the net, instead he blasts over.

We paid the price for failing to make our utter dominance count on the 28th minute. Ramsey is fooled on the right, Bolasie chests the ball down for McArthur who rolls the ball into Ward’s path and the full-back fires an unstoppable low shot past Cech.

I saw some blaming the keeper for this goal and, frankly, I find it astonishing. Ward’s effort was impeccable, one in a million, while Cech’s view was partially obstructed. If there’s someone to blame, it’s Koscielny. The Frenchman just stood and watched how Ward lashed out his right foot at the ball. No closing down, no throwing yourself under the shot, only a half-arsed attempt at a block. It’s the second time Kos did it in a week and the second time it cost us. Someone have a word with him.

The goal knocked the wind out of our sails somewhat, but we still created two moments of danger before half-time. First Giroud fired his effort wide after Alexis and Ozil set him up, then Ramsey’s beautiful flick at the near post was palmed away by McArthy. Even at the break, not something we deserved.

Second half almost saw us fall behind on the 48th minute after Wickham struck the post despite Bellerin’s last-ditch attempt to stop him and then Puncheon fired the rebound sky-high.

We responded immediately. Ramsey passed the ball when a shot might have been a better option and then, on the 55th minute, Alexis scored. He met Bellerin’s cross with a thumping header and Delaney put out a foot to change the direction of the shot. But it was too late. 2-1.

Palace woke up and Puncheon could have equalised, but produced a really weak effort after getting rid of Bellerin. Our response took almost ten minutes to conjure up, however when we did, Ramsey should have put the game to bed.

Pardew’s men spent the remaining half an hour trying to equalise, but, mercifully came up short. Some weak efforts from corners and a vital late tackle from Arteta ensured we got the points. We even could have made it 3-1, only for McArthy to save brilliantly from Cazorla and Oxlade-Chamberlain in injury time.

Wrapping it up

“We have shown our strong response and we have shown different aspects in our game that are vital in the Premier League. We had a good, fluent game in the first half and when they came back to 1-1 it was a mental test to see how we could respond. We managed to find a second goal and after that in the second half of the game we just had to dig in, fight, and we did it as well. I’m pleased because we have shown many different aspects that will be very important in the season.”

We had stand-out performers all over the pitch: Bellerin keeping Zaha and Puncheon quiet all day, Monreal whipping in some crosses from the left, Coquelin the usual beasty self alongside Cazorla pulling the strings. Ramsey played much more like Ramsey we know and love, creating 4 chances for teammates (all from open play) and helping out Bellerin too (the Welshman Completed 4 tackles, two of these on the right). Arteta also made a telling contribution when he came on to shore things up.

Alexis could have a better game in terms of finishing, however, I think it’s to be expected with his level of rustiness. His sheer willpower to make something happen was the difference yesterday, though: the Chilean set up Ozil for the first, scored the second, forced mistakes, took shots. I expect him to be unstoppable when he regains full fitness.

However it was Ozil who stole the show with his magnificent display. In the 82 minutes he was on the pitch, the German completed 54 passes out of 55 attempted (!), notched an assist and was robbed by Alexis and Ramsey of two more, before himself robbing Souare to the delight of even Palace fans. Mesut was at the heart of everything good yesterday, much like Alexis, so even the simple act of being more clinical with his chances can get us the extra goals we need.

Finally, to round off a perfect weekend, Chelsea got smashed to pieces by City at the Etihad. It was delightful to watch. Aguero ripping into Chelsea’s defense time and again, Costa and Cahill being treated by City’s doctors because Chelsea had none capable of treating players on the pitch, Cesc and Hazard being invisible, Costa getting nutmegged by Fernandinho. And of course, the post-game reaction from the Classless One. Not to mention how he basically blamed Terry and yanked him off at half-time. Beautiful.

Right, enough said from me. Back when something of note happens.

Enjoy your week

Crystal Palace preview: only a win will do

If there are positives to be gleaned from a defeat, then the discussion it generates is surely one of these. While you can praise your team after a win only so many times, there are endless ways to dissect why it has lost.

Of course it’s all a bit exaggerated: there is no sure way of knowing why the team lost, especially for the fans. The players or the manager can be closer to an answer, but I firmly believe even they don’t always understand why a certain result came about. Sometimes things just happen, there is no reason. The stars aligned in such a way on the day.

I’m getting sidetracked, though. My point was that defeats generate debate and, as a result, people make educated guesses. Different (sometimes contrasting) points of view make for entertaining reading and allow you to form your own opinion better.

That’s not to say I wouldn’t have traded it all for a scrappy 1-0, because it’s not the case. I simply illustrated that if you are willing to listen, odds are your opinion straight after a defeat and a week later can vary greatly, sometimes they are even placed at the opposite ends of the spectrum.

Anyway, back to the task at hand: Crystal Palace. I wish we played someone else straight after a defeat, since I still remember how hard it proved to win at Selhrust Park last season: the pitch was awful, our attacking game wasn’t exactly fluid, while our defensive performance nearly cost us at the very end. Beggars can’t be choosers, however, so we’ll have to work with what we have.

Team news update

In terms of personnel it means no Wilshere, Rosicky or Welbeck. Wilshere is recovering from the ankle injury and is on schedule, while the situation with Rosicky and Welbz is different:

“Tomas has had surgery on his knee. His agent said he will be out for one or two months, but it will be longer. How long exactly, we don’t know yet.”

December is the mooted date. Not exactly an ideal scenario, but mercifully midfield is overflowing with players right now, so Rosicky’s absence is not the end of the world.

While on Welbeck Arsene said the following:

“It is much slower than expected. It was a bone bruising at the start. You think that it will be quite quick. He is an important player for us and the fact that he is not available is a bit of a concern.”

Welbeck played stoically at centre-forward from September till December and then it all went downhill for the Englishman. He really hasn’t featured much since the turn of the year and the fact Arsene can’t even put a return date on him is worrying.

Coupled with the fact Akpom, Gnabry & Sanogo all went out on loan, Podolski has been sold and Wenger is willing to let Campbell go, I do think another attacker is incoming. You simply don’t rely on just Giroud, Walcott, Oxlade and Alexis for an unknown period of time, waiting for Welbeck to get better. I’m pretty sure the trio of Alexis, Giroud and Oxlade will play when fit, something that leaves Theo as our only real option from the bench. It’s not a healthy situation and I’ll be hugely surprised if it’s not addressed by September 1st.

As for Palace, the Eagles will have to make do without Speroni (their №1 goalkeeper), Williams and our old pal Chamakh. However they still have plenty of players capable of doing the damage (including their latest acquisition, Yohan Cabaye), so we’ll have our work cut out. You can read a more detailed analysis of the threat Crystal Palace poses and the ways to nullify it here.

Squad and approach

It’s safe to say what we did last time didn’t exactly work. ArsenalColumn puts it down to positional indiscipline rather than on-field partnerships, however I don’t think it should serve as a shield for certain individuals. I’m looking at Ramsey and Cazorla first of all. The former is a mixed bag, the latter was mostly ineffective due to being shunted out wide. Something that’s unlikely to happen again in the light of Alexis’ return.

So here’s the question: who misses out? Arseblog suggested a Cazorla-Coquelin duo isn’t the long-term answer and I tend to agree to an extent: Cazorla is 30, he won’t play for Arsenal as long as Ramsey or Wilshere probably will, so building the team around him can only lead to dissatisfaction from Aaron and Jack. Something that may cause them to think about their own future. It’s not like they will want to sit on the bench and wait till Cazorla leaves, is it?

However, I’ll say a very simple thing: Cazorla and Coquelin dovetailed nicely and consistently last season, something we are yet to see from Francis and Rambo. I’m not saying this partnership is doomed, but I’m not willing to risk it. If Ramsey wants to play, he has to prove he can consistently deliver for the team. Right now Coquelin is indispensable, so I firmly believe the player next to him has to adapt to Le Coq. If he doesn’t, he shouldn’t play.

With Bellerin available once again, the rest of the team picks itself really. I’d go with the following: Cech - Bellerin - Mertesacker - Koscielny - Monreal - Coquelin - Cazorla - Ozil - Alexis - Giroud - Oxlade.

However, there’s another factor at play. We all know how Wenger trusts his players to get over their mistakes. I still remember how four days after losing to Monaco Arsene fielded an almost identical team, with the exception of Gabriel for Mertesacker and Oxlade for Welbeck (Ox has only just returned from injury before Monaco, so it’s fair to say he would have started against the French outfit had he been fitter). I fully expect Arsene to start Bellerin and Alexis, however, the Chilean might start for Santi. If he does, it’ll be an indicator Wenger gives Ramsey the chance to make amends. If we see Ramsey dropped and Cazorla moved back infield, well, I’d say Wenger’s patience with Rambo have run out.

The verdict

Only a win will do and I think everybody involved understands that. That’s why I think Arsene’s selection will be indicative: he’ll pick the players he trusts to deliver in these circumstances. If that means hurting egos, he’ll do it. No time for compromise and experimenting: pre-season is over. We can’t drop points again, not because it’ll put us out of the title race, no, but because a draw or a loss can have lasting psychological ramifications.

So come on you Gunners.

Back on Monday with a review

P.S. Sorry for the prolonged and unexplained absence: I went on holiday for two weeks and didn't have a working Internet connection.

Thoughts on the Emirates Cup

Not much else happening at the moment, so I decided to go ahead and give you my thoughts on the Emirates Cup weekend. We’ve won the Cup by grabbing two wins, conceding no goals and producing a smashing performance against Lyon. One which spelled an end to Arsenal fans’ ongoing “buy Lacazette for 35 million” tune, simply because the Frenchman did nothing of note. Our youngsters were much more impressive than Alexandre. First things first, though.

Emi Martinez, what a great goalkeeper

I remember a period in November when both Szczesny and Ospina were injured (good luck to Szczesny during his loan spell with Roma, by the way) and Martinez was thrown into the limelight. The young Argentinian came in, kept three clean sheets in a row and left everyone in quiet awe. He was calm, commanding and professional. Then came the drubbing at Stoke away, which led to Arsene quickly putting Emi out of the firing line, but few fans doubted Martinez was the real deal by that point.

Martinez demonstrated his ability again on Saturday, making a couple of fine saves to keep the score at 0-0. His concentration levels didn’t drop after we effectively dispatched Lyon inside a 9-minute frenetic spell and by the time the final whistle blew I almost wished Emi wasn’t 3rd in our pecking order. He’ll most likely go on loan this season to play regularly and I can’t see where he fits in with Cech, Ospina and possibly reinvigorated Szczesny next year, but I hope Martinez has a future with us.

Aaron Ramsey

Him and Ozil were at the heart of everything good as long as the duo was on the pitch. The Welshman worked tirelessly next to Coquelin and his occasional defensive indiscipline can be forgiven because he contributed so much at the other end.

He directly assisted Iwobi for the 3rd, scored the 4th, was instrumental at starting the attack for the 2nd by relieving the pressure, freeing up space and finding Giroud, who in his turn set up Oxlade and it was Ramsey’s tricky exchange with Giroud and Ozil that led to the German scoring the 5th.

Last week’s performance in Singapore left me firmly believing Cazorla will be preferred to Ramsey when we face Chelsea: this time around I’m not sure at all. Rambo has unbelievable engine, almost telepathic connection with Ozil and is simply unplayable on his day. He’s given the manager a proper selection headache.

Mesut Ozil

I won’t concentrate on his connection with Ramsey, won’t go over Mesut’s ability to slice open defenses with passes. I even won’t mention the fact he got further 2 assists (setting up Giroud and Ramsey). What struck me most was Ozil’s willingness to shoot more, get into the danger areas more and, frankly, adopting a very direct approach at times. There was that instance when Cech booted the ball long following a corner and I was fully expecting Oxlade or even Ramsey to be furthest. Instead, Ozil was closest to the opposition’s goal.

I feel like a proper pre-season put the German in the mood. The prospect of having him in the squad for the entire campaign genuinely excites me.

Santi Cazorla

He had a quieter weekend than I expected him to. However, that didn’t stop the little Spaniard from scoring from a direct free-kick after coming on as a substitute.

Another detail is that Santi was pretty unnoticeable against Wolfsburg alongside Arteta, but immediately sparked into life when Hayden came on for Mikel. Isaac liberated Santi from staying behind and sweeping up; something which enabled Cazorla to really start pulling the strings late on.

I think if we want him to impact games from his deep role, it’s essential to provide Santi with a true sweeper, like Coquelin.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain

Like Ramsey, Alex is another senior who had a truly exciting weekend. It is my firm belief he should be a regular starter on the right flank.

The Ox had two complete performances. He did everything you could ask of him: he pressed, he harassed defenders, he powered past them with the ball, he provided width by hugging the byline. Finally, he added end product to his game. For me, Oxlade is becoming an Alexis Sanchez and I struggle to come up with a better compliment.

Youngsters: Alex Iwobi, Chuba Akpom, Jeff Reine-Adelaide, Isaac Hayden

All four looked spectacular. Iwobi only played for an hour against Lyon, but what a game he had. Alex scored a cracker with his left foot, he scored another after being wrongly flagged offside, he chased down defenders, he took them on with the ball at his feet. He even tracked back and in fact defended more than Gibbs, who had an underwhelming performance in my view. Iwobi was nominated for MoM, though brilliant performances from Ozil and Ramsey ensured he didn’t get it.

Chuba Akpom replaced Iwobi and cracked a shot off the outside of the post, he earned the free-kick that Santi scored from and was a constant threat down the left side. His second cameo was less spectacular and will probably be remembered for that late moment he failed to get the most out of, but he looked sharp and up for it, chomping at the bit.

Jeff Reine-Adelaide was probably the revelation of the weekend. He showed some really slick moves to set up Akpom and Walcott, demonstrated ability to escape his markers and looked very physical, more than you’d come to expect from a 17-year-old. His style eerily reminded me of Diaby, ghosting past opponents.

Hayden cut a less dramatic figure, something that can easily be explained by his role: he subbed Coquelin and Arteta (position-wise). And he looked very good, let me tell you that, snapping into tackles, intercepting the ball and basically doing all the dirty work, thus liberating Cazorla to work his magic. Hope we’ll see more of Hayden in that role, in Capital One Cup maybe.

A bit of tactics

I usually leave it for people better equipped on that front than yours truly, but this time I decided to share my thoughts for whatever they are worth.

The idea is very simple: I noticed how heavily we relied on our pressing game during pre-season and how bleak we looked against Wolfsburg, something which was down to the wrong personnel, in my view.

Which lead me to contemplate a following thought: will some of our established regulars make the squad if they cannot play the pressing game properly? Such an approach is heavily based on energetic players closing down opponents and passing angles all over the pitch, while it also needs to be coupled with a high line of defense to suffocate opposition.

As such, players will be left behind. While Arsene is unlikely to sacrifice his philosophy of one romping full-back and one more conservative (Bellerin & Monreal, please, not Debuchy & Gibbs), adopting a high-energy pressing tac will most likely spell an end for Mertesacker (Gabriel for him), Cazorla (Ramsey or Wilshere) and, alas, Walcott. Yes, Giroud is simply a hard worker, much like Welbeck, Oxlade, Sanchez and Co, so Theo falls down the pecking order. Community Shield should give us a better idea which squad and approach Arsene prefers.

Harmony

“I can understand this question (about whether Arsenal is on the market for a striker) because we are in the transfer period but I can only repeat what I already said. I would not like it to be too detrimental. Just watch the game and enjoy the game that you see.”

Everyone was throwing around the word “cohesion” recently. Here’s another word for you from yours truly: harmony. Squad harmony. It’s very important and here’s why.

Keeping our squad happy is going to be a tough task already this season. We have a big squad, with fierce competition in every position (Cech, Koscielny, Coquelin, Ozil and Sanchez are the only sure starters for Wenger, it seems).

Now imagine we buy a world class striker. Let it be Benzema, just for the sake of the argument. I’m still not sure he’s much of an upgrade on Giroud, but that’s a different story.

Having coughed up a considerable sum for Benzema, Arsene will do so with one intention only: to make Karim a regular. Who’ll suffer as a result? Everyone else in attack. Welbeck’s chances for that central striker role will plummet, leaving poor Danny competing with Alexis or Oxlade, Walcott’s chances will do likewise (and I’d still pick Oxlade over Theo on the right), while Giroud, who is a similar type of forward will find himself benched having done little wrong. Akpom can kiss his hopes for first-team minutes altogether.

This can have a highly detrimental effect on our squad. Morale-wise. Wenger has shown he can be ruthless when he bought Cech, benched Ospina and shipped out Szczesny on loan, but buying Benzema will be a bit overboard. It will be doing a disservice to every other attacker, since it will diminish chances and increase an already fierce competition.

Wrapping it up

Phew, it’s already pretty long, so I’ll leave it here. Will most likely be back with a preview for Community Shield.

Until then