Napoli review: Özilmandias

Good day to you.

Tuesday evening saw us take on Napoli, and, whatever I was expecting from the game, this was not it. It's not so much about the victory, rather the style we pulled it off with. Arsenal were in control of the situation for the entire game and I cannot recall any moment of danger near our own goal.

Arsene made a couple of changes to the side that played against Swansea, with Rosicky coming in for Whilshere and Arteta substituting Gnabry. The last one wasn't as straightforward as the first and saw Ramsey move to the right flank.

The hosts played in full gear right from the start and our two-goal lead by the quarter of the hour mark was as deserved as it gets.

The first move saw Sagna flick a pass towards Giroud, who chested the ball down and kept the defender at bay, all the while waiting for Ramsey`s run. The Welshman didn't disappoint and mere seconds later cut the ball across goal. At first I thought he mistimed his pass, but then I saw Ozil running towards the ball completely unmarked. His first-time shot from the edge of the penalty box swerved past Reina and into the net.

The German celebrated his first goal for Arsenal with gusto, but the combination itself should not be forgotten in the light of this goal. I especially liked how Giroud did the bulk of the job flawlessly, thus setting up Ramsey.

The second goal came seven minutes later, this time Giroud being the scorer. We capitalized on Napoli`s mistake from the throw-in, which saw Giroud take possession in their half and make a quick pas to Ozil. The latter made a run towards the byline, waited till Giroud got into a good position and executed a return pass. All that was left for the Frenchman, was to poke the ball home.

After that the game calmed down. We probed till the half-time whistle came, Ramsey driving the team forward, but the third goal didn't come. Napoli, in the meantime, were listless, unable to wake from their coma and restricted to shots from distance.

The second half wasn't much more interesting, than the thirty minutes leading to it. Napoli played with more purpose, but were still a long way from scoring. We sparked the game up occasionally on counter attacks and were actually much closer to scoring a third, than Napoli their first. Ozil stood out, his delivery from corners and free-kicks creating opportunities. We didn't take them, but it didn't matter in the end. The game petered out and we took the the points.

The manager summed it up nicely during the press conference, saying we went for it, got  what we wanted and calmed down, content to let Napoli move it around.

A really great win, we now top the group with six points. 180 minutes against Borussia to follow.

In other news, Wenger seems to have been offered a new contract which, if signed, could see him remain at the helm till 2017. On the back of some outstanding performances it looks well placed, but Arsene himself was quick to play down any talk, saying he's got to prove his worth first. Here we go round the merry-go-round. The matter has been discussed at length already, so I'll leave it at that.

Until later

Napoli preview: finally, some options

Today we host Napoli in what will no doubt be a thrilling encounter.

The Italian side is yet to lose a game under Benitez, and that's saying something about their current shape. They provide a stern challenge, probably our first real test since Spurs came to town. The players they have are top quality guys, something we had a chance to see for ourselves, when the two teams met in the Emirates cup.

Even Arsene Wenger expressed his surprise at how quickly they made the transit from defense to attack. He pointed to Insigne, Gamshik and Higuain as their most dangerous players, whose abilities make it possible to pull off such counter-attacks. Arsene therefore warned our players against any complacency and defensive mistakes.

Both managers have also paid tribute to one another, recognizing their achievements. Rafa named Arsene the best coach in the league and said he isn't at all surprised Arsenal are currently occupying the top spot. He also wished Wenger all the luck to win the Champions League, though later, rather than sooner.

Arsene, in his turn, spoke highly of Benitez abilities, saying it's no wonder Napoli has beaten Borussia and adopt such an attractive (and tactically brilliant) style of play. He hailed Benitez further still, when he said the Italian side now stand a real chance of winning Scudetto.

It'll be interesting to see, how the game unfolds from a strategic point of view, seeing as both managers have an extensive knowledge of one another's play style. Don't think it'll be the case of canceling each other out, so we're most likely in for a thrilling contest, end-to-end stuff.

In terms of availability, everyone who played against Swansea should be ready, while we also have good news, regarding Rosicky, who's back in contention for the game. I say, if he's fully fit, he should start. We have Gnabry (and maybe Whilshere), who could use a breather. Both have been brilliant recently, but the former played a lot of minutes (especially for his age) and the latter may have sustained a knock and in this case, it's better to take no risks. We'll need him in the long run, so taking a gamble on him for the sake of just one game won't do us any good.

I'm also slightly concerned for Mertesacker`s and Flamini`s states. Both have put in quite a shift recently, so it may be a better option to use them only as subs, while Arteta and Vermaelen get some playing time under their belts. Besides, the more technical Spaniard might prove more useful in this particular game.

Whatever the manager`s thoughts are on the starting eleven, I think Gnabry will be our only youngster in the whole squad. It's good to finally have some options for a change.

In other news, the manager has also spoken of his desire to fill in the gap in his CV and win the Champions League. He named bad luck as a reason for out recent failures in Europe and, looking at who we faced in the knockout stages recently, it's hard to disagree. Double trouble from Barcelona, tough games against Bayern Munich and Milan is hardly a dream of any team at this stage.

Arsene also cited the lack of quality in our squad as one of the reasons we were unable to go through in these encounters. The quality which we now possess, so fingers crossed we can really achieve something this year.

That's it for today. Back tomorrow with a review. Until then

Swansea review: a worthy replacement

Good day everyone.
Saturday saw us win 9th straight game this season and 12th in a row away game. What made the result even more satisfying, is the fact that we retained the top spot in the league, while a blunder from Spurs ensured we are now two points clear.
It was a day of surprises, because not only did Tottenham share the spoils with Chelsea, but both clubs from Manchester lost their respective games. After that, BBC was quick to note, that the last time Arsenal were eight points ahead of United was in 2005. The day kept getting better.
September 28th marked another occasion. It was on this day that Arsene Wenger joined the club 17 years ago. Later the man has noted, that a win was better than any cake. And while I think, he could have both things, I'm still joyous at how committed Arsene is to our cause.
The first 45 minutes were rather dull. Swansea was dominating possession, but chances were few and far between. The closest they came was when Michu seemingly left the ball in play, only for some bloke to squander the opportunity to send the ball into an empty goal. The linesman, however, raised the flag seconds earlier, to signal that the ball did indeed went out of play. Replays proved him right.
Other than that, Szczesny dealt with everything thrown his way (which mostly came down to claiming crosses) with composure and relative ease.
Our best (and probably only) good chance came in the dying moments of the half, when Gnabry sent Giroud clear, only for the Frenchman to roll the ball wide from a devastating position. I'm not inclined to blame him, however, cause a couple of minutes prior to this opportunity, Giroud went down in pain, nursing his ankle. The moment was made even scarier, when Bendtner started warming up. Luckily, it didn't go beyond this.
The second half wasn't much better for the first ten minutes or so, but we did have more of the ball this time around. The goal came basically from nowhere, and I was as surprised as Swansea defenders were. Giroud miscontrolled pass fell to Ramsey, but the Welshman seemed ready for such a surprise.
He slid a pass for the onrushing Gnabry, whose first-time shot found the bottom corner. Truth be told, such a finish reminds me of Theo Walcott at his best. The timing of the run, the quality of his finish and the relative ease, with which Gnabry converted his chance didn't suit his young looks at all. He didn't look like a youngster, fresh out of the academy, rather a seasoned pro. His unconstrained joy at proving his worth was all the more welcome.
The next frenetic five minutes saw Ozil spurn a wonderful opportunity after Ramsey set him up, before the Welshman took matters in his own hands.
Aaron flicked a pass towards Whilshere, continued his run and, after some fancy backheel passing from Giroud, was set up nicely to smash the ball into the roof of the net. It marked 8th goal for Ramsey this season. I've run out of superlatives to describe how brilliant Aaron is this season. He is in out-of-this-world-good form.
After that, we kept the tempo of the play down, basically gave the ball away and seemed content to let Swansea come at us. The overwhelming sense of confidence in our back four, complemented by Flamini`s and later Arteta`s presence played a bad joke with our clean sheet in the end.
The warning signs were there alright, first when Dyer lashed out a low shot, which Szczesny had to go full-stretch to palm away and then Whilshere gifted Bony a chance, which he, mercifully, wasted.
The goal came in the 81th minute. Davies stormed down our right flank, passed the ball to Bony, kept running, received the return pass and sent the ball into the net. Sagna is partly guilty of this goal, by letting Davies make the run in the first place, but honestly, it was a good combination from Swansea, so let's give them credit where it's due.
After that, they did their best to find an equaliser, but never came close and we snatched all the three points in the end.
Once again we saw a side of our game, which isn't all that attractive, but necessary to achieve results. We played well on counter-attacks, took the few chances we had, and dug in defensively the rest of the time. It's very pleasing to witness us deliver performance after performance with that level of defensive discipline and commitment. It bodes well for the future.
The manager expressed his delight at the current form of the team, while also picking out Gnabry and Ramsey. Enough has been said about the latter, but it's interesting to see Wenger express such confidence, that the young German is ready to step up and play on a regular basis. Once Rosicky and Cazorla return, it leaves a dilemma for Arsene to solve, namely: who should be dropped from the first team. We're not quite there yet, but Gnabry had certainly proved he can play on the flank week in, week out.
That's it for today, back tomorrow for Napoli preview

Swansea preview: keep at it

Good day to you.
In a few hours time we take on Swansea in what will be our second away game this week.
No doubt those who featured in the cup game will play little to no role this time. Which is understandable. It's those, who were rested, that should be the ones doing the job this time around. On this front, the news is mostly good. There were some doubts over Flamini and Ramsey, but both seem ready to start the game.
The ones, who already were injured, though, cause some concern. Cazorla won't make it before the break, Rosicky will only return on Monday and still has a question mark over his head, when it comes to picking him for the Napoli game. Walcott is the worst of the lot. As you may remember, only a day or two ago he seemed ready to join the action in two weeks. Now it's three to five weeks for him on the sidelines.
It really is a blow, especially since it's not clear, when Podolski makes his comeback. In the meantime, Gnabry seems to be our best option, but his participation in today's game is out of question. Who can we substitute him with? The way I see it, there are two options. Either Monreal as a left winger with Whilshere on the right, or it's Ozil on the right, Whilshere on the left and an Arteta-Ramsey-Flamini trio in the middle of the park. If the latter's the case, than Ramsey will have to play under the striker.
I gotta say, the second variant looks a better one. We won't have to stretch Monreal to the limit (a full game on Wednesday, remember?), plus the Spaniard is not really a winger. Neither is Whilshere, but here you go. We don't exactly have a couple of flank players queuing up for the game.
Though our squad is a bit light on options, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect us to win this game. Our recent form had been brilliant, our away form even better and Swansea isn't Chelsea or United. They too had a cup game, so both parties are in roughly the same conditions. It's not easy to take points on their stadium, never was, but we have reasons enough to be optimistic. Come on you reds.
In other news, Kroenke had recently spoke up and, once again, expressed his desire for Wenger to stay, saying our manager`s got the right vision and values in mind. Wenger himself was quick to play down any talk about contract extension, so we'll have to wait for something more solid, before we put the hands together for our new-old manager.
Kroenke has also aired his intention to win the Premier League, going on to say it's a "cool" thing to experience. Not only for him would it be cool, mind you.
Another point he raised, was about his laissez-faire attitude to running our football club, stating it's not going to change, cause pumping money can lead not only to positive things.
I always liked our self-sustaining model, but it wasn't it most fans were angry about. It was about Kroenke giving too much power to our manager, and the consequences it can lead to. Luckily it didn't lead to anything bad, though it didn't look like it on August 30th.
It's just further confirmation, that while Kroenke is the majority shareholder, things aren't going to change. For better or for worse. If you're interested, you can read the interview in full here, here and here.
Until later

Some thoughts on the game + squad condition

Morning everyone.
Yesterday we played West Bromvich Albion in Capital One Cup and proved victorious. Whether a win in a penalty shoot-out counts as a win, I don't know, so it's hard to say, whether we just extended our away winning streak to 11 games or not. Either way we are through to the next round, which will see us host Chelsea. Not an easy one, but we can put it out of our minds for the time being.
As a game was, forgive me, so insignificant, no one cared to air it, so no real preview and review from me was possible. As expected, the manager played a youthful side, with only Mertesacker starting his second game inside four days. Flamini was an unused sub, while the likes of Vermaelen, Monreal and Arteta, who have recently lacked practice, all started. The rest of the team was made up of youngsters, though we did see Bendtner pull on an Arsenal shirt for the first time since 2011.
WBA yielded a stronger side, but the whole affair was still a tedious one and it lasted for more than two hours. Glad we won, though, our unbeaten (at least) run continues. Here's what Arsene had to say after the game. In a nutshell, he talked about how important it was to give young players a chance, while also resting some senior players. He also talked about Bendther, and was mostly positive. He did mention some chance the Dane missed, but apart from that, all good.
The most important part was, for me, resting our key players. While promoting young talents is undoubtedly important, giving Whilshere and Co a much needed breather was just pivotal. Even more so, knowing how shallow or squad is due to injures, which hit us. I already said we may count ourselves unlucky, but Walcott`s knock looks like a last straw. We now officially don't have any flank players, so I don't know, what happens next. Seems, Gnabry is in for some starts, which is ridiculous, given the status of our Club.
Walcott`s injury doesn't seem long-term, though, which gives us some hope. He will miss up to two weeks, which really isn't that much. An operation is due, but fingers crossed, he's in for a swift recovery
Some other returns are also on the books, with Rosicky, Cazorla and Podolski all set to join the first-team action in a week or two. They can actually make their comeback in time for the Napoli game, which means they are only two games away. We'll surely have more info on this before the Swansea encounter.
And finally, FA has warned Flamini for his unsporting behavior during the game against Stoke. I never noticed anything back then, but it turned out, Flamini threatened to knock out one of the Orcs (Wilson?), after the latter's yet another foul on Whilshere. I'm mentioning this episode not because I think Flamini was wrong, on the contrary. He stuck up to Whilshere, and that is a truly great thing he's done. All summer we thought we needed someone to protect Whilshere and here's the man for the job. He may not be your typical DM, but it doesn't matter. Well done Mattieu.
Until later