Hello and welcome, to all our readers around the world.
Our curtain raiser at home against Crystal Palace game can only be summed up as patchy. Even though Palace didn’t have a man at the helm on Saturday, they had the entire team behind the ball which was more than enough for 90 minutes of football. Thankfully though, their time wasting tactics came back to bite them on the ar** with Rambo the man with tap in, in stoppage time. Ended the season as we started then, Koscielny & Rambo scoring crucial goals and crucial moments.
The team fielded was: Szczesny, Debuchy, Koscielny, Chambers, Gibbs, Arteta, Wilshere, Ramsey, Alexis, Cazorla, Sanogo. Same XI that we started off with in the Community Shield and one has to think that it was due to fitness issues that Giroud wasn’t started. This handed Arsenal Premier League debuts to Calum Chambers, Mathieu Debuchy and Alexis Sanchez. Chambers thus far has looked superb, very mature in his reading of the game and his passing has been immaculate. Whilst clearing as well, he tends to find an Arsenal player, rather than just hoofing it into the audience, or to the opposition defence. According to Squakwa.com, Chambers boasted a 92% pass accuracy and made 4/4 successful tackles. A very impressive debut. When Per is back into the line-up, I’d like to see Chambers tested in the defensive mid position since all his attributes signal the possibility of a very successful tenure in that position. Even with the yellow to his name, he looks very promising. Thanks once again, to Southampton.
Speaking of which, should Arsene possibly be arrested for robbery? £16m for Chambers is an absolute STEAL.
Throughout the game predictably, we maintained the lion’s share of possession. A lot of our attacking play went through Alexis (who was involved in both goals), looking to hook up with Debuchy, who needs to realise that once there’s no space to forward, or if the path is blocked, he can of course, look to the left. With time of course, our new signings will gel seamlessly with the team. At the moment, it’s visible that our marquee signing so far, isn’t quite on the same wavelength as the rest of the team. Perhaps the weight of expectations is weighing him down as he attempted too many dribbles on his own, losing it more often than not.
Someone though that I think needs a hell of a lot more time, with an impeccably desperate need for a loan, is Yaya Sanogo. He can’t sort his feet out, his touch isn’t remarkable and he’s trying a might too much, perhaps with the expectations of his first official league goal, still pending. I think loaning him out to another Premier League club would be ideal, which would then require us to pick up someone off the market for our frontline. I really wouldn’t say no to Eto’o who’s made his intentions clear about joining us, even if not for the best reasons. He’s a poacher and still pops up in the right positions and the right time. We can’t expect Rambo to do that for us all season. Giroud doesn’t look it anyway.
Our perennial weakness was yet again exposed on the weekend as Brede Hangeland danced around unmarked to nod home off a corner. Most bizarre however, was that no man was on the post. Personally, I’ve always had at least one man on the back post, where every keeper is blind to. Two men is even better but leaving both posts open? Questions galore. Our patchy game continued while even though we delivered wayward shots aplenty for Speroni to collect, Ramsey Jack and Alexis were all guilty of handing over possession multiple times. Given our weakness on set-pieces, you can imagine the surprise when our boys leveled on the brink of half-time off a dead ball. Alexis lifted the ball, only for Koscielny to keep his record of scoring important goals and important times.
Koscielny’s game was quite superb in fact. At one point, Szczesny came a mile off his line at one point, making a torrid hash of a clearance to the opposition which allowed them to take a pot shot from 40 yards out. Luckily for the Pole in goal, the Boss was prepared and intercepted the shot by sticking out a boot. He also made a last ditch challenge to stop an on-rushing attacker from finishing off the chance after recouping from Koscielny’s first block.
Going into the break level, we hoped Arsene to work his words of magic but after a 53rd minute forced change with Nacho Monreal replacing Kieran Gibbs (hamstring – 2 weeks), our second half was a mirror image of our first, with our attackers struggling to break down Crystal Palace following tactics left behind by Pulis, which probably included the ridiculous amount of time wasting.
With most of our players still coming back into shape, it’s a rather useful 3 points.
‘Til next time Gunners. This is A Gentleman’s Arsenal.
-Sir Gunner
A Gentleman's Arsenal 