Reading 1-2 Arsenal: into the final

That was nerve-racking. Much more than any of us would have liked. After the game I rushed for my validol. I know a couple of my friends who rushed to pubs or their secret alcohol stashes to ease the pressure.

But we made it into the final and, first and foremost, I want to clear up some points on the overall impression from the game. So here goes.

Some general waffle

I’ve seen quite a few Arsenal fans on Twitter complaining about the way we won the game. That it wasn’t a convincing gung-ho win over a supposedly much inferior opposition. To these guys I’ll quote Andrew Mangan (more commonly known as @arseblog):

“Firstly, I don’t think the changes to the team worked. Neither full back contributed a great deal to the play in general, and when you look at how Monreal and Bellerin have been playing recently that was certainly an area that weakened us.

Secondly, Reading played very well and tried to make it as hard as possible for us to play through them. Defensively they were very well organised and switched on. And thirdly, the occasion played a part. It was a semi-final and in my memory of watching this club, I can’t ever remember an easy game at this stage of the competition, regardless of the opposition. “

I’ll discuss the first point he made separately, for now I want to concentrate on the second and third.

In my opinion, Reading deserves huge credit for the way they played. They fought from the first minute to the last and, despite coming up relatively short on the offensive side (they only had three moments: the goal, the saved shot and the two-on-one against Koscielny), their defensive performance was nothing short of admirable. It wasn’t the “parking bus” performance, no, but Reading were hugely effective at their thing. They went into the game with a plan and executed it perfectly. Hats off.

And secondly, there are no easy games in the FA Cup semi-final. Andrew Mangan has been supporting the Club much longer than I have, so when he says that even the Invincibles never had an easy ride, well, that’s saying something. There are simply no pushovers at this stage. No one can “accidentally” make it into the last four.

And now, onto some less general points.

Martin Twatkinson, the ref

After some decent showings from referees (I still remember how godly Michael Oliver was in our 2-1 win against United), I started to forget how inept English referees are. Yesterday I was reminded about that.

He didn’t make any really costly decisions, no. We may have actually been cut a break when Debuchy’s handball went unnoticed. But to say the ref controlled the game would be very far off the mark.

Our players were bullied all over the pitch. Every one of our players (Debuchy included. Fresh from injury, mind you. Had someone broken him in his debut game, I would have gone through the roof) got his share. The extent varied, but one thing is sure: we’ve lost Mertesacker. He limped off with an ankle injury, one which is likely to keep him out of action for the remainder of the season.

And the ref allowed the bullying. Disgusting.

The changes

Apart from Debuchy, our changes didn’t work. Szczesny and Gibbs were at fault for the goal. The former had little to do apart from the goal, the latter was crap all-around. His passes didn’t connect, I do not recall him making a single good cross and Reading got in theirs from our left-hand side. Welbeck was just invisible while he was on.

I’ve already said a couple of times Wenger likes one romping and one conservative full-back. Bellerin and Monreal were such. Debuchy is conservative, so playing him with Gibbs (romping) made sense. Or, rather, it would have made sense, had Debuchy been fully ready and Gibbs was not utter shite all-around.

Wenger wanted to give Debuchy a run-out before we face Chelsea? I can understand that. What I cannot understand is why neither Chambers nor Bellerin made the bench. Furthermore, all theories should go to hell when it’s obvious Gibbs is out of form. Play your in-form guy, play Monreal. If that means two conservative full-backs, so be it.

I don’t want to see Chezza or Gibbs start in the final. Both did nothing to displace Ospina and Monreal and there’s no room for rotation or sentiment in the final. You should just play your best XI there. And ours doesn’t include either Szczesny or Gibbs.

You’ll say I have double standards. That I was fine with playing Fabianski in the final last year despite Szczesny being our number 1. And to this I’ll say: Fabianski deserved his place last year. He showed with his performances against Tottenham, Coventry, Everton, Liverpool and especially Wigan that he’s up for it. Szczesny did nothing of the sort and only United posed a real threat.

You can read more on why it was wrong to rotate yesterday here.

Width, goddamn width to our play

Like it was against Burnley, we couldn’t stretch the play. Alexis did his best on the left, but wasn’t sufficiently helped by Gibbs, our right flank was dead.

Why? Because Aaron Ramsey is not a winger and Debuchy didn’t want to get exposed and roam upfield. To his credit, I think he did admirably defensively, however, our attacking game suffered. Without Oxlade, Bellerin and (for the most part) even Walcott our flank was lifeless.

Wenger doesn’t want to shift Ozil wide? Understandable. Arsene prefers Santi to Ramsey in a deeper position? I’m fine with that. Then bench Ramsey and play someone who’s a winger, or at least closer to being a winger.

My personal pick (with Oxlade out) would be Theo. He improved things offensively yesterday after coming. He has nearly won us a penalty. Wenger fears Walcott won’t track back? Play a defender who’ll manage the defensive stuff on his own. Debuchy or Chambers. For obvious reasons it would be highly risky to play Bellerin behind Theo.

Or play someone else on the wing. Wilshere, Rosicky, Gnabry maybe. Just not Ramsey.

Ozil and Sanchez

These guys won us the match. Ozil completed 100 out of his 114 passes, created 9 chances (set the new record in the FA Cup’s history) and bagged two assists. Everything good that happened yesterday was because Ozil was on the pitch.

Sanchez, well, what can you say? He took us into the final with his two goals. These were his 21st and 22nd goals respectively. Alexis is only the third player in Arsenal’s history to score 20+ goals in his debut season, behind Ian Wright (30) and Thierry Henry (26). Five more and Alexis leapfrogs the great Frenchman:

“He has made a fantastic contribution this season. He looked to struggle a little bit to get into the game but he has that stubborn resilience and that individual potential that allows him to always create something special. He gave that again today.I'd hate to see the damage Alexis would cause if he did get into the game."

Final thoughts

Those who say we didn’t deserve to get through should watch the game again. 23 shots and 72% possession suggest otherwise. Were it now for Federeci, who made some brilliant saves from Gabriel and Ramsey, to name a few, the game would have ended in normal time. Why is it that opposition goalkeepers always have a game of their lives against us?

Anyway, it doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is that we’ll play in the final. And there we’ll face Aston Villa, who has beaten Liverpool. Thank God we avoided that “Steven Gerrard’s birthday is on the Cup’s final day” narrative.

Now, what did she wear?

Follow me on Twitter (@AlexBaguzin)

Reading preview: what did she wear?

It's the semifinal of the FA Cup and we take on Reading. I think that, while our opponents should be treated with respect, it's hard to argue Arsenal are the overwhelming favourites to win this one. The biggest challenge will be to keep the levels of concentration high:

“It is going to be their biggest game of the season so to mentally prepare that is going to be difficult, not just to match their physicality and mental strength but to do more, to be on the ball from the start."

These are Mertesacker's words. Arsene said something along the same lines:

“I’m playing my 10th semi-final on Saturday so that means we know how to prepare. We know as well that it is always tricky."

However, I think we can look at Middlesbrough and Burnley games as the most recent example of our mental readiness. We took neither team lightly and got the results in the end. I'm not sure we would have done it even last year. This season we finally realised no opponent can be taken for granted (did Monaco play a part?) and approach each game with the same intensity and preparation. Let's hope it's also the case this time around.

Team news update

Our only absentees are Oxlade and Arteta:

"We have a big squad available for selection and we just have Arteta (match fitness) and Oxlade-Chamberlain (groin) unavailable. Everybody else should be alright."

Today I've heard worrying rumours that Arteta has suffered a setback in training, while Oxlade will need an operation. Both can be thus ruled out till the end of the season. However, these rumours are unconfirmed, so don't panic just yet.

Especially since the other 22 senior players are all fit and available. Including Jack, Debuchy and Diaby. And that makes picking a squad fiendishly hard:

“Everybody feels that it’s difficult to get in the team. All the players have top, top quality. Of course it’s difficult for me as well to make these kind of decisions."

Nonetheless, let's try putting a squad together.

Defense

Szczesny will start in goal, this bit is clear. How our defense lines up is another question entirely and, personally, I'd like to see some changes to our usual back four of Bellerin, Koscielny, Mertesacker and Monreal. Mostly because I have the Chelsea game in mind.

I'd like to see Debuchy and Gabriel get the nod on the 26th ahead of Bellerin and Mertesacker. The former seems to have hit a wall and is anyway not experienced enough for me to face the double challenge of Azpilicueta and Hazard. The latter is more robust and quick than Mert to deal with Drogba/Remy/Costa. Not that Drogba (who is the most likely candidate is quick, he's just a bully. Not sure Mert will deal with it).

In order for these two to perform at the Emirates in eight days, they need to get some minutes against Reading. So I'd pick Debuchy, Gabriel, Koscielny and Monreal.

Midfield

Coquelin can't be given a rest simply because Flamini is unreliable and Arteta is out. However, Cazorla, Ozil and Ramsey have played quite a lot lately and I wonder whether any of them might use a break.

Also, I have a feeling Wenger will start Wilshere. In what capacity, if so? Definitely not at Ozil's expense. That means either Santi or Ramsey should give way to Jack. Wilshere for Cazorla is the more obvious solution, since CM is Jack's natural position and he possesses more or less the same qualities as the Spaniard: technique, passing range & and the ability to dribble past opponents.

But we also know Wenger likes to play his footballers into form by putting them on the wing, thus I do not exclude Wilshere slotting in for Ramsey.

Attack

I think leaving Ramsey on the flank isn't wise anyway. We need a proper winger there. So I'd either play Welbeck on the right or Walcott, should Wenger decide to give Giroud a breather and deploy Danny centrally.

This latter scenario is quite possible, in my opinion. We know how Arsene shuffles his pack a bit for cup games and Welbeck for Giroud will make perfect sense. Or, rather, it will be very typical for the boss.

Playing Welbeck will also enable Arsene to finally start Walcott on the right. This way the balance will be preserved: without the ball Theo will swap places with Welbeck, thus effectively becoming our de-facto CF, while Welbz will help out Debuchy or Bellerin in defense. And then the Englishmen will again swap places when we win the ball back.

The verdict

As it's quite often the case with Arsenal, we have the required quality to beat the opposition. A casual look at our squad will also tell you we have an abundance of options. The trick will be not to just show up for the game, it will be to really take Reading seriously and play with them. Run around, pass the ball, take the shots. Put the nominal hosts under pressure early on, like we did against Liverpool.

And after that it will be down to our finishing. Reading are struggling for form at the moment, failing to win any of their last 6 Championship games. They sit 18th in the table and have absolutely nothing to lose in the semi-final. That's why they'll be dangerous. I expect them to shut shop and try to withstand our pressure while playing on the counter. Of course the situation may change should we go 1 or 2 up, but my bet for their initial approach is defense first.

That's it for now. Here's for a good showing that will book us another trip to Wembley in May.

Come on you Gunners

Follow me on Twitter (@AlexBaguzin)

The right-back dilemma

Funny thing life is. Had someone told me a year ago we’ll have a tight-back dilemma I would have laughed.

At the time we had Sagna as our only recognised full-back. He had a pretty good season along with Koscielny, Mertesacker and Gibbs and, despite some sound thrashings, Arsenal’s defensive record was one of the best (my rough guess is behind Chelsea and just a little worse off than City).

Sagna played a big part in keeping our goal under lock and key, thus helping Szczesny amass 16 clean sheets and become the joint winner of the Golden Glove. The thought of the Frenchman leaving was terrifying. Most were still not convinced Arsene was ready to spend and spend big on reinforcements (count me in on that front) and the prospect of seeing a hard-working, but far from impeccable Jenkinson week in, week out sent goosebumps down my spine.

Sagna left to warm up City’s bench when his contract expired on July 1st and for almost three weeks every Arsenal fan was nervous as hell. It was less than likely Wenger would buy anyone before the World Cup Final and yet, and yet. Most feared Wenger would want to play his usual brinkmanship game till August 31st.

Those fears turned out to be unfounded. Amid rumours linking us with Micah Richards and Serge Aurier, Mathieu Debuchy made his grand entrance on July 18th. Most were underwhelmed Arsene chose experience over youth (namely, Debuchy over Aurier), I was excited. I’ve seen enough young prospects to feel a genuine sense of relief when Mathieu was unveiled. Jenks became solid back-up instead of an unconvincing №1.

Eight days later we signed Calum Chambers for a ridiculous fee of 16 million. I say “ridiculous” not because it’s that inflated (Luke Shaw was bought for 25 million. 25 million pounds for a defender who has never heard of Tony Adams), but because Calum became (and remains still) our most expensive back-four acquisition. He cost us more than Debuchy, an experienced right-back, №1 for the French national team. A 19-year-old kid who had one good season at Southampton. Poor old Jenko was shipped out on loan five days later. His smile when he held West Ham’s shirt was the most painful thing I’d seen in quite some time.

Debuchy banjaxed his ankle a month into the campaign and the real fun started. A kid under the name of Hector Bellerin emerged, had a debacle of a performance against Borussia (not that he was alone, mind you) and was seemingly consigned to history books. Until mid-January, that is. On January 11th Debuchy was cynically shoved into the advertising boards by Arnautovic and dislocated his shoulder. Chambers was down with illness and so Bellerin got a second chance.

And now here we are, with a very real right-back dilemma on our hands. Who is the current number one, who has a future at the Club and who (if anyone) will be sacrificed when the current season ends? Let’s try and figure it out together.

Mathieu Debuchy

I’ve seen very little of the Frenchman I have to confess. I simply do not have the time to watch the Premier League all weekend long and thus couldn’t pass judgement on how well Mathieu fared in his only full season at Newcastle. I’ve heard from some Newcastle fans he’s left a generally positive impression there and most were sad to see him go.

The Frenchman was described as sometimes having disciplinary issues (got one or two reds in his rather short stint with the Magpies) but overall was considered a very solid right-back of a conservative type. One who prefers to stay back in order not to get caught out of position, nonetheless with a good shot and decent crossing ability (an ability Sagna never mastered). What is more, Mathieu was portrayed as an able aerial fighter and this quality was of great importance to us. Someone (I think over on Arseblog) noted that Szczesny’s two favourite recipients were Giroud and Sagna when the Pole opted to clear his lines and thus it was vital for Bacary’s replacement to be good in the air. And despite Debuchy’s height of only 5 ft 10 inches he’s pretty impressive there from what I’ve witnessed.

Two serious injuries hampered Mathieu’s season greatly, but I remain convinced he is our current №1. He reminds me of Arteta a great deal. Experienced, disciplined, never loses his head under pressure. I’m sure that, once fully-fit, Debuchy will play the vast majority of remaining games and this trend may well continue for several more seasons, as the Frenchman only turns 30 this July. I’m fine with Debuchy as our №1. He was bought as a direct replacement for Sagna, and he looks an upgrade to me.

Hector Bellerin

This kid means business. Despite only turning 20 a couple of days ago, a phrase dropped by Mikel Arteta at the outset of the season is bandied about:

“I think he's a top player.

He can be the right back of Arsenal for many years in my opinion, provided he gets the chance. Mentally, he handles what is requested to play at the highest level. He's got pace, he's got technique, and he's a very positive guy.

I talk to Hector a lot. He's been around for years and we've been talking to each other for a long time. I know him well because he's taken part in pre-season a few times with us already.

He's a very confident guy and we treat him as any other player because he's part of our squad. Hopefully he's going to become a top player at the club.”

Getting such high praise from one of the most level-headed players at our Club speaks for itself. And it’s fair to say Bellerin not only got his chance, he grabbed it with both hands.

The young Spaniard had a pretty rough introduction. He started his first senior game against Borussia and, unless I’m much mistaken, his second start came against Stoke away. Not pleasant at all.

But Bellerin recovered. He played some brilliant football in our 4-1 win against Newcastle, starting the move for the first and getting an assist later on. As Debuchy got crocked in a 3-0 win over the Orcs at the Emirates, Bellerin came on and hasn’t looked back since, making 8 Premier League starts in 10 games, bagging two brilliant goals in the process.

The Spaniard has been a true revelation this season:

“He’s one of the surprises of the season. He was at Watford on loan last year and didn’t get the games. He’s just 20 years old, if you look at what he does at 20 years of age… Maybe he still has some experience to gain but defending one against one is good and going forward is good as well. He [also] scored an important goal in a big game and that always shows that the guy has the mental quality to be there.”

It’s interesting to see what happens next year. Will Hector be shipped on loan to gain experience? Should we do that? I don’t think we should. Bellerin showed he is ready to play at the level required, keeping and playing him at every possibility should be our priority. I won’t go as far as to say that Debuchy is injury-prone, God knows he is the unluckiest person on Earth to sustain two such horrific injuries in one season, but he can’t play 50+ games a year. And that’s where Bellerin comes in.

Calum Chambers

We bought Calum as a right-back & that was exactly the role he played for almost four months non-stop. Right now Chambers has amassed 35 games overall (28 starts) and at one point I was really worried about his energy levels. It was pre-Stoke, December 5th, if you want the exact date. Chambers made 21 appearances by that point. That means in less than three months, as he was back-up to Debuchy from mid-August to mid-September. I was not alone in expressing concerns, especially after Calum’s rather weak performances against Swansea and (subsequently) Stoke:

“For a 19-year-old player, he has played too many games. They all hit the wall after 15, 17 games. You have to give them a breather, refresh and get them back again. At the moment, to have that responsibility in every single game is a lot on a player of that age.”

However, these bleak performances weren't representative of the quality Chambers undoubtedly possesses. They say the first impression sticks and my first impression of Chambers was the Community Shield game against City. He played that game in central defense alongside Koscielny, as Mertesacker hadn't yet returned from his World-Cup-winning escapades with Germany.

And Chambers was brilliant. He was calm on and off the ball, his distribution from the back was superb and the way he snapped into tackles left people in quiet awe:

"I saw him there (at centre-back) when I bought him and I play him there. For a 19-year-old he had an outstanding performance today. The kind of performance he delivered today is very promising. It's impressive because he hasn't got a long history in this position because he was a right back and I think if all goes well he has a good career in front of him.'

And this is where I think Calum's future lies. At centre-back, not at right-back. I've included him here because he played a vast majority of games at right-back and is a more than able stand-in, but for me he is a central defender.

If Debuchy's qualities remind me of Arteta, then Chambers is a ready-made replacement for Mertesacker if there ever was one. Not Gabriel, not Koscielny: Chambers.

He's tall, he's calm, he's good in the air and good at positioning himself. His distribution is decent and, most of all, he relies on his positional awareness rather than his speed to break up attacks. True, his performances at centre-back were largely unimpressive (bar Community Shield), but that's because he played alongside Mertesacker, not Koscielny.

The prospect of seeing Chambers pair up with Kos is mouthwatering. To me it's more enticing than a pair of Gabriel and Koscielny. I mean it. Chambo and Koscielny may not be a pair for all games (just like a Mertescielny axis isn't), however it's a partnership with great potential. Hope we see those two play together on a more regular basis next season.

Carl Jenkinson

Poor Jenko. That's the second time I've used this phrase, but really, Carl's future doesn't look all that bright. He was in a bad spot already after Debuchy and Chambers came in, the emergence of Hector Bellerin left him fourth in the fight for the right back spot. Wenger denied Hector's performances will have an impact on Jenko's future, but is that because Arsene's mind was already made up when he loaned Carl to West Ham? Or do these words really mean AW will be able to find a place for Jenkinson in the current side? Right now I can see only two ways of that last option coming to fruition:

1. Wenger views Chambers ONLY as a centre-back, sends Bellerin out on loan to gain experience and regular playing time. Thus Jenko becomes back-up to Debuchy and gets his fair share of games to demonstrate he's worthy to become our number 1 right-back. In this case Jenkinson will have to jump higher than Bellerin AND wait till Debuchy either retires or is consigned to a substitute role
2. Wenger does something drastic with the personnel he has to clear room for Carl. Like, for example, viewing Bellerin as a right winger instead of a right-back and playing Chambers either at CB or DM. Jenko will still have to deliver and out-wait Debuchy's tenure at the Club

Both options don't seem very likely even to me, truth be told. Which sees me retrace my steps and explore the first scenario: Jenko will be sold when the current season draws to a close.

And this fills me with sadness. I really like Jenkinson. I like how he fares at West Ham, I love the fact he's an Arsenal fan. I know that in him we have a man giving it all for the shirt simply because the shirt means a lot to him. I'm not saying it doesn't for Bellerin or Chambers, but with Jenko I'm sure. Just look at the emotions flowing through the guy when he scored in our last PL game last season.

I'm aware football doesn't always have fairytale endings. Sometimes even managers as soft and understanding as Arsene Wenger have to make harsh decisions. That's the reality of competition. However, as I've stated above, I have a soft spot for Jenko.

Imagine Wilshere loses his race to Ramsey and/or Cazorla in a year. Imagine we'll have to sell him because of his high wage demands, a rather peripheral role and a contract due to expire in 12 months. Would any of the parties be happy with such an outcome? Wilshere, a fan of the Club? Wenger, the guy who nurtured Jack, made him who he is? The fans, for whom Jack has become iconic, almost an idol?

Same with Jenko, only the extent is lesser.

The verdict

Quite an Arsenal we have, don't we (pun intended, of course)? Four players for one spot. Some in a more privileged position than others, but those others are unlikely to give in. You can almost write a script and shoot a movie about our situation.

If it wasn't so complicated for everyone involved. Competition is great, it brings out the best of everyone, but there will still be those who miss out. You can't keep everyone happy, at least I can't see how we can do this. I hope Arsene has an idea or two.

That's it for now. If you stuck with me for the duration of this article, I take my hat off. Hope I gave you something to think about.

Cheers

Follow me on Twitter (@AlexBaguzin)

Burnley 0-1 Arsenal: 8 on the bounce

Well, that was tough. Tougher than I expected. We took the points for the eighth consecutive game without really being troubled after we scored, but found chances hard to come by to double the lead. You can see why Burnley drew with Chelsea and United and took all three points against City at Turf Moor. Although it seems these days any half-decent side can overpower Pellegrini's men.

The game wasn't much it terms of actual football happening, so I'd rather do my usual trick in these circumstances and break the review into points of interest.

The squad and approach

I was really surprised to see an unchanged starting XI. Before the game kicked off I thought that maybe at least Ramsey was moved infield with either Cazorla or Ozil wide, however I was wrong even here. Aaron once again played the role of a winger.

The only changes to the side that bested Liverpool a week ago were Szczesny for Macey and Chambers for Gabriel. Both filled me with joy, as I was nervous to have a rookie goalkeeper even for one game, while I've already expressed my point of view concerning Chambers. He should at least make the bench because of his versatility. Should the need to sub Bellerin/Debuchy arise, there must be a right-back at the ready. And as having three defenders on the bench is too much, one of them should be able to fill in at two positions. Chambers is the only such player.

However, the respective omissions of Arteta, Wilshere and Debuchy left me scratching my head. Did Arsene decide to just give them one more week, or does they genuinely miss out due to the high level of competition?

The latter option seems unlikely to me. Surely at least the skipper could be reinstated at Flamini's expense? However, it looks weird when three players of this calibre don't even make the bench for the second game running.

As for our approach, we went with a rather unusual one, namely: we put a lot of effort into scoring an early goal. Sanchez blasted a shot wide early on and the combination which led to Ramsey smashing the only goal info the net saw four shots from four different players.

After the goal we just fell back, kept our shape and exercised what can be called "sterile possession". Whether it was sterile because we were content with it or because Burnley pressed us all over the pitch for the duration of 90 minutes, we will never know.

Burnley's moments

They had a few. The two most dangerous happened during the first half. No, three.

The first one occurred at 0-0 when Vokes bursted down our right only to be denied by some brilliant goalkeeping from Ospina. The other two were from free-kicks.

And I have to say these were some dodgy decisions from Mike Dean. I'm not implying he was on Burnley's side, he was, as someone on Twitter nicely put it "shit all around", but these free-kicks were both flimsy calls, to say the least. To me the situations which led to what Dean viewed as fouls were just common duels. Coquelin and Koscielny won both, the ref whistled and Ospina found himself putting some solid walls of players together.

The first kick was blocked by the wall (was it Coquelin?), the second resulted in Ospina going full-stretch to deny Trippier. Good job by the Colombian.

Burnley had one more decent moment I can recall, deep into the second half, after Bellerin got fooled on the right and Boyd needed to only hit the target. Luckily, he swung his leg at thin air.

Bellerin "hitting the wall"?

I may be seeing things where there really is nothing to see, but I didn't like the way Bellerin played yesterday. I definitely didn't like his defensive contribution.

Firstly, he was caught high upfield several times, the most damaging could have been at 0-0, but, luckily, Ospina interfered. Secondly, the young Spaniard looked flimsy in one-on-one situations. Whether he faced Barnes, Vokes or whoever played at right-back for Burnley, I grew less and less sure of his ability to cope as the game went on. He was again at fault at around 70th minute, when Boyd failed to get on the end of a low cross. Cross, incoming from Bellerin flank after Hector was roasted there.

Was Bellerin too sure of himself after a brilliant showing against Liverpool? Was it the approach of the opposition, some particular skills demonstrated by Barnes or just good old exhaustion? I remember Arsene expressing concerns in late December as to Chambers' physical and mental condition. Wenger noted, that all young players "hit the wall" after 15-17 games and need a breather, a period to recharge his batteries. Bellerin played slightly less this season, something around 12 games, but it's not exact science we are dealing with. The Spaniard may have hit his personal wall a bit earlier. If so, remove him from the firing line, reinstate Debuchy. Or give Chambers a run of games, if the Frenchman is still not ready.

The width

I'm sure Wenger noticed what I did: that Bellerin was, largely, not coping with Burnley's threat. So why did he keep Hector on, despite having Chambers on the bench?

To this I have only one suggestion: Bellerin was the only player giving width to our attacks. Monreal sat back more than usual to keep an eye on Ings, Sanchez looked refreshed and up for it, only for his knack to drift infield impeding us from stretching the play. And Ramsey? He is not a winger. Simple as that. He fared well a week ago, which was, in my opinion down to the opposition and to Rambo's more disciplined approach to his duties as a wide man.

This time around he was less disciplined, preferred to move inside on a number of occasions, and so Bellerin was handed an enormous task of playing as both a winger and a defender. No wonder he wasn't particularly good at both.

I felt that, as soon as we stretch the play, we'll score that second and put the game to bed. We needed someone to get behind the opposition's fullback and get crosses in. That's where Oxlade would have come in handy. But even without the Englishman we had options.

We could have subbed Ramsey for Welbeck, or Cazorla for Welbeck and moved Ramsey to play alongside Ozil or Coquelin. We, or, rather, Arsene, could have let Walcott come on. Finally, he could have just swapped Ramsey's and Cazorla's/Ozil's positions. He did nothing of the sort, as a result we (unsuccessfully) tried to break through the overcrowded midfield and thus played into Burnley's hands, while also deriving Giroud of service. The Frenchman tried dropping deep to collect the ball and gave up after a few failed attempts. And so Arsene chose to sub off Giroud and bring on Welbeck.

Again, I can only guess why Wenger did nothing to stretch play. My bet is that the Frenchman didn't want to interfere and fix what wasn't really broken. We coped with Burnley the way it was, and so Arsene decided to hold onto what we had and not try and score the second goal.

"70% of the Earth is covered by water, the rest is covered by Francis Coquelin"

Man of the Match, hands down. 11 interceptions (league high in a single game), 9 ball recoveries and two successful tackles. The interceptions stat is particularly impressive, since Burnley only enjoyed 31% possession and made only 194 passes. That means more than every 20th pass Burnley made was intercepted by Coquelin!

As if this wasn't enough, Coquelin actually started the only attack that led to a goal by intercepting (surprise!) a pass and vigorously attacking the space in front of him. He then celebrated no less brilliantly.

I could rant on about how good our Coq was, but I feel no need. I'll just give you the manager's take on Francis:

"First of all he’s shown his individual quality winning the ball and passing it quickly, and he’s very strong in the challenges. He also contributes to the balance of the team and that’s very difficult to measure. You know that the balance of the team sometimes depends on one player who has some characteristics that the others don’t. He looks like he has hugely contributed to that."

And the link to the usual "By the numbers" section over on Arseblog.

The verdict

It was not the best of performances from us, but important thing is, we won. Won where others dropped points and dropped these points for a reason.

Our eighth consecutive win didn't see us bridge the gap to Chelsea, unfortunately. The Blues scored an 88th minute goal from their only shot on target to get the points at Loftus Road and thus we trail Mourinho's men by seven points having played a game less.

We didn't get room for manoeuvre from behind either, as United thrashed City at Old Trafford. As a result we have put some distance between us and Pellegrini's side, but are still a single point ahead of United. Tough.

Then again, when wasn't it? You want a high place, you battle to the very last moment.

And remember, we are playing Reading in the semi-final this week. We are going to Wembley, guys.

Have yourselves a very good week.

Until later

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