Best Chance Yet

Arsenal despatched of Everton in the FA Cup quarter final by 4 goals to 1 to book their place in the semi-finals. It was a rather commanding performance against an impressive Everton side who have been well guided so far this season by Roberto Martinez. More important than the result is going to be the confidence boost the squad is going to receive ahead of their game in Munich followed by an away fixture in the North London Derby on the weekend. The importance of this victory should not be understated. After some worryingly mild and indifferent form, the team showed great hunger and desire to secure a place in the next round of the competition. That same hunger and desire was missing a week ago at the Britannia in an utterly hopeless performance which cannot be repeated again. It’s one thing to be torn apart by an unplayable Liverpool side at Anfield; it’s a completely different thing to not muster a single good scoring opportunity against Stoke.

I digress. Back to the Emirates; the players looked rejuvenated and chased every single ball and challenged for everything. That’s quite surprising given that usually after an international break we tend to struggle in the immediate subsequent game. Mesut Ozil was rightfully given much credit for his performance against the Toffees but the man of the match for me was the Ox. Since he’s come back from injury he’s shown so much drive from midfield and out wide and has been our main source of attack in recent games. He’s definitely putting a strong case forward to be on the plan to Brazil for England.  Much credit also needs to go to Santi Cazorla who has been in impeccable form of late and was at it again against Everton. Two goals for Giroud will definitely do his confidence some good but he’s still a second choice striker at best in my eyes (I’m not getting into this again).

When I first saw the line-ups, I was worried about the partnership of Arteta and Flamini in the middle as I’ve raved on about on countless occasions in the past. This time it was to be different. That was all down to the fact that the boss had asked Arteta to play further up the pitch instead of sitting next to Flamini. He found himself outside the opposition 18 yard box on a number of occasions and had a few shooting opportunities. I can only guess that the same partnership will be carried on to Munich and as long as the positional play stays the same between the two then I have no problems with that.

Thomas Vermaelen made a rare start given the injury sustained by Koscielny and he put in a relatively solid performance. We’ll put down the couple of mistakes he made to a lack of game time. What was still worrying though was his tendency to break forward at any given opportunity. We cannot afford to have our central defender marauding through the middle to get on the end of attacks, certainly not against the defending European Champions. For this reason alone, I hope that Koscielny makes a timely recovery as he will be key to any miracles in Munich.

Perhaps a more significant result in the grand scheme of things was Wigan’s at the Etihad. That result means that we will face Wigan in the semi-final of the FA Cup and should we succeed, it’s either Hull or Sheffield United waiting for us in the final. So, Arsenal, Wigan, Hull and Sheffield United are left in the FA Cup. It seems almost ridiculous to suggest that we’re not the favourites. This has got to be our best chance of breaking our trophy drought, my grandmother knows it, my neighbour’s cat knows it, and everyone knows it. There’s no hiding behind that fact and should we not succeed, it will be failure of epic proportions. How can it not be considered failure? Look, I know it’s a cup competition and anything can happen on the day, but let me just remind you of the calibre of the teams left in the competitions. A Premier League side who are fighting relegation, a side sitting in 7^th spot in the Championship (albeit they are the defending champions), and a side sitting 11^th in League One.  If Arsenal go about their job with the same mentality that I’ve just taken up, then failure is going to be inevitable. As fans, we are going to underestimate all of those sides, and why shouldn’t we? If the unthinkable were to happen (like it did against Birmingham), then what next? I mean absolutely no disrespect to any of those clubs and they certainly must’ve been doing something right and have earned their place in the semi-finals. However, I’m sure that even they consider us to be the overwhelming favourites.

I can guarantee you that the press will be reminding us about Birmingham over and over and over again. It will be ringing in our ears until the Wigan game and then onto the final if we’re to succeed. It’s inevitable. Heck, I’m reminding you about it right now! Mental strength will therefore be key for us to succeed. There’s no doubting that we possess the best squad out of the teams left. What is missing is the psychological side of things. Master that, and the cup is ours.

Should we fail to win the FA Cup, questions will surely be raised about the future of the manager. Does Arsene Wenger deserve another deal if Arsenal doesn’t win the FA Cup from this position? Well, I’m neither brave enough nor knowledgeable enough to answer that question about the club’s longest serving and most successful manager. But one thing is for sure, questions will be asked. We’ve got ourselves two mountains to climb in both the Premier League and the Champions League and the FA Cup seems like a downward slope relative to them.  For the time being the focus will be on pulling off a miracle in Munich.

No pressure lads.

That is all.

@afc_gunnerology

 

Catching up on Norwich.

Sorry for the very very late post folks. Just playing catch up on a couple of the matches we’ve had so far.

Let’s have a look at Norwich first up. In a game that wasn’t world’s apart in performance levels, the score-line suggests very differently. You can thank some moments of absolute magic from the boys for such a lavish scoreline. Wilshere’s volleyed-goal that was preceded by some sumptuous one touch play is definitely contender for team goal of the season while Ramsey’s individual effort dummy-ing past two Norwich defenders was another one of very high class. Jack’s goal was arguably the best one to grace the Emirates since it came to life in 2006.

The high class of goals we witnessed is a direct result of the confidence these boys were riding on. On the back an unbeaten run, the sky seemed like the limit for Arsene’s Army. It also allowed us to maintain our top of the table status. Although the rest of the game wasn’t very tantalising, Arsenal’s counter-attacking move which was finished with a sweet header from Ozil increased our lead which arguably was against the run of play. Only 12 minutes later though, Johnny Howson caught Szczesny blind-sighted with an accurate belt at our keeper’s near post. 2-1. Ramsey’s goal 7 minutes from time, supplemented by Ozil’s  tap-in 2nd left the opposition in tatters by the end, a very different story which didn’t reflect the Canaries’ true efforts who threatened on several occasions.

There’s something about this Arsenal side though. Halving the deficit at 2-1 with 20 minutes on the clock, in seasons past, there has always been the inevitably realised fear of an an equaliser and perchance, even a winner from the opposition. These boys are working on something else though. At 2-1 down, we didn’t shake on confidence or falter. We played mature football and sustained the pressure while never looking to concede again. The boys gave a reason for faith with their unity, their compact style of play and acute awareness of the no longer dormant attacking threat of the Canaries. The eventuality of Arsenal’s 11 shots on target to Norwich’s 6 was vastly cut down in a small flurry of pressure in the Arsenal half, however, the boys held their line, they held their nerve. When have we been as consistent of years late? I can’t seem to remember.

There’s also a directly proportional relationship between an exponential increase in individual confidence and the team’s maturity, confidence and ‘never-say-die’ attitude. One such player that keeps cropping up is Aaron Ramsey, who shone yet again in this encounter. His pass success rate of 89% was only bettered by Arteta’s 95% while his  take-on success stood at (5/5) 100%. His ability to surge forward with confidence and beat defenders as if it were second nature to him, earned him a yet again well-deserved MOTM.

There’s another player that made a huge difference to our play. Santi Cazorla. If you notice the matches where Cazorla wasn’t playing, Arsenal’s attack is rather lethargic. When he was involved though the passing was sharp, effective and threatening. Granted this was his first match back, he definitely wasn’t back at full capacity which no-one expected anyway. I mentioned in previous posts though that both Cazorla and Theo Walcott bring two different types of pace to our attack. Theo adds his individual acceleration on and off the ball, making fantastic runs behind defenses whereas Cazorla’s passing is the effective weapon at his disposal. Santi’s incisive passing was the primary reason he was voted Arsenal’s player of the season in 2012/13 and I’m very excited to see how he is at full capacity when linking up with Ozil and Wilshere. We caught a glimpse of it when Cazorla made a pass to Jack whose goal I’d like to mention yet again. That’s how brilliant it was. Missed it? Just look to your right. A few frames faster, the goal has been embedded onto the wall of this page.

Plenty of positives to take from our Norwich encounter and while it wasn’t exactly top class opposition, they weren’t push-overs either so making a clinical use of our chances will certainly do the boys a world of good. Here’s hoping the boys can carry on that mentality when a poor spell comes around.

Points to improve?

You could argue that with Flamini and Arteta on the pitch together, creativity was rather scarce. Having constricted Arteta to defensive duties last season, his attacking flair has diminished and therefore pairing him with Flamini adds defensive strength but cuts sharply into our attacking nous, which really is our strongest point. Hopefully it’s something Arsene picks up on. While Flamini is our arduous  yet steady rock, allowing waves of attacks to crash (or he crashes/crushes them, either works!), Arteta has become the one to get the ball moving to other areas, although, with defensive duties in mind, he has faltered in pushing the ball forward. My thoughts are that Arsene is trying to work the double-pivot, much like the Xabi Alonso-Sami Khedira combo or the recently successful Javi Martinez-Bastian Schweinsteiger duo. As I read in a report earlier this year:

“Martinez and Schweinsteiger are both defensively conscious, willing to dribble and happy to enter the opposition’s penalty area, but also equally happy clearing from the edge of their own.

They combine that ability with pace and power, making them difficult to overload both technically and physically.” 

For us though, Martinez’s strength and Schweinsteiger’s positional discipline can be covered by Flamini whose recent exploits in Italy tactically and technically sharpened his positional awareness ten-fold since he was last at Arsenal. With Arsenal’s similar high defensive line, Arteta rather, should be playing a similar role to Martinez in the way that Martinez is able to charge forward with the ball and man-mark players. Being a defensive player, he could be able to drop off and mark zonally like Martinez does. However, I don’t think Arteta has those capabilities. He’s often found positioned horizontally to Flamini when rotating the possession, crowding our midfield instead of increasing our space through our possession of the ball. My slight concern is that top teams will figure this out and crowd Arteta and force him backwards where errors can and will be made, leading to unnecessary goals. Note, I’m not banging on Arteta’s positional discipline. I’m merely stating that it’s not beneficial to have him play alongside Flamini. He’s now also been left partially inept since Flamini stepped into his role, for Arteta, it often seems like he’s found just rotating the passing which in some ways is beneficial, rotating possession between players, but if it’s aimless, it won’t bear any fruits. If he’s not attacking or defending with dogged tenacity to break up attacks, what is he doing? In this sense, I think Arsene should forego the double-pivot he seems to be attempting like Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, as our player’s just aren’t built that way.

There’s one other concern that I have with the boys, and I do apologise for sounding negative, however, it’s their organisation when off the ball. With Flamini barking orders at the players, harrying them into positions, we seem to have an ounce of sense to our approach. Heck, we even seemed to have it under control with up to 3 players hustling an opponent on the ball at one given time. Certainly that’s what we saw on the pitch against Norwich. Then Flamini was injured. Jack did provide us with a different option to push forward but we were often left unawares of how to handle ourselves when off the ball. I just hope that our reasonable compact style of play and maturity can hold against larger teams, otherwise off the ball, we could be left quite exposed. Breaking down the opposition was a difficult prospect for us even against Norwich, after Flamini came off.

Here’s hoping the boys can sustain the pressure off the ball and push forward with venomous tenacity when required.

I’ll be catching up on Dortmund and Crystal Palace soon.

‘Til next time Gunners. This is Arsenal.

-Sir Gunner

Play the Right Game.

Lee Mason failed his duties in consistent decisions last night in our clash with West Brom. Coincidentally, our second set of points dropped with a factor of inconsistent refereeing involved.

I counted at least 4-5 tackles made on Jack Wilshere last night and only one was given. A ratio of 11:6 fouls were given in favour of WBA yesterday which I think was shocking refereeing. There were shouts for penalties by Arsenal but fair play to Mason on those, but the countless fouls was simply absurd. At least he wasn’t as bad as Anthony Taylor was on the opening day of the campaign. But Mason still pushed the line.

Jack was clipped, trampled and hooked time after time but Lee Mason turned a blind eye. It seems that he saw some contact with the ball, however, the follow through on many occasions is something that just isn’t accepted in modern-day football, yet it occurred time and again. I would PARTIALLY understand if Mason allowed such conduct on both sides. Then I would deem him a clueless referee. However, it almost seemed like he was biased as every touch and every dive on and by WBA players was awarded by Mason. Inconsistent decisions. That renders him as a rather poor referee which is something we’ve seen in a few referees in many matches, not just against Arsenal. Out of the 15 attempted tackles, WBA completed 14, of which at least 4 more should have been fouls.

Looking at the match stats, it would be hard to tell where Arsenal went wrong. This is not taking away from WBA however, as they’re no push-over team. They’ll take points left, right and centre from the top teams, just as they always have. Their recent 3-2 against Man U was just as telling about their potential. But there was something lacking about Arsenal. I noted two key points.

1. A lack of width in our attack. 

Looking at the concentrated area of play for Arsenal, 64.45% of our play was concentrated throughout the centre of the park.

Last season and this one so far, Arsenal has used the wingers usefully. Players like Gibbs would feed the man in front of him or play the over-lap, similarly Sagna would play the same role. However, playing central midfielders in front of Gibbs and Sagna didn’t help our cause. Unfortunately, that’s not something Arsene could help as our wingers are all out. Hopefully, we’ll see Santi Cazorla back after the current 2 week international break and that will help us out on the left wing. Theo will not be travelling with the English squad which is fantastic news for us as it allows him to continue his rehabilitation and be back in time for our next game. With that, you’ll see defences playing deeper with fast movement on and off the ball by Theo and Santi.

2. Playing two deep-lying midfielders

The other problem I saw yesterday was playing Arteta with Flamini in the deep-lying roles, side by side. It seemed to work very well against Napoli but playing both of them side by side is in effect, having two defensive midfielders. Arteta’s role last season was to play that defensive role and break up the attacks while starting a new one, keeping the ball ticking over, maintaining possession. However, next to Flamini, he played a very containing role which didn’t allow the team to transition from defense to attack, effectively.

As a result, our passing didn’t allow our attacking players in Ozil and Wilshere to push forward with the ball, but rather pass the ball around with ineffective possession. Almost reminiscent of seasons past. Passing between Flamini and Arteta became very horizontal, across the pitch, rather than moving forward as indicated by the heat map (courtesy of Squawka.com) and the passing combination of Arteta and Flamini in the second map (courtesy of Arsenal.com). That allowed the WBA to strangle us as we were far too predictable and one dimensional. There needs to be a player that allows that link between defense and attack to be fluid, who allows forward movement rather than horizontal movement. Playing Arteta and Flamini together restricts our play to a defensive method, which is again highlighted by the heat map where there is a higher concentration in our own half of the field, rather than the opposition’s.

In my opinion, we should have seen either Rosicky or Gnabry start on the wings which has proven effective in the last few fixtures. They would be starting instead of Arteta which would have seen either Rosicky or Wilshere drop into the centre. If Gnabry started, then Ramsey would be pushed back into the centre which is his preferred area and would definitely have been a might more effective than switching out to the right.

Of course, from what I’m saying, it may sound like we were absolutely hammered since I’m harping on the negatives. Rather, my objective is to highlight areas in which we can improve so that we may restart a period of consecutive wins and gather the points we need that will be crucial in each competition come May next year.

But for now, let’s rest and recuperate. I can’t wait for the league to start again. We’ll have players back. They’ll be playing with Ozil. We’ll still be top of the table. Exciting times ahead (hopefully).

‘Til next time Gunners. This is Arsenal.

-Sir Gunnr

Arteta insists that the cavalry will arrive.

What’s one thing that’s different about this transfer window for Arsenal? Besides the fact that we’ve successfully moved players on, it’s the fact that there have been players like Giroud and Arteta that have insisted that new signings would make the squad far more stronger than it is.

To top that off, the Arsenal boys are looking forward to new signings. If that really is the care, then they must love Sanogo at the moment. Speaking of which, I wonder if he’s heard of “Wham!”

This is what our team Captain had to say:

“If the club can target players who will improve the team they are going to be very welcome because that is what we want — a better team, better players to compete and win trophies.”

He seems fairly sure that Arsene will bring a top talent in. He added:

“The club is working on that. It is in their hands and I am sure they are going to do it.”

Arteta, and therefore surely the rest of the boys, are expecting signings. Arsenal fans all around the world are expecting signings. Yet all we have to show so far is Sanogo. We could even struggle to have anyone before the Champions’ League qualifier.

“If we can add something, we will do. But it’s very difficult to predict if something will be sorted out before we play in the Champions League qualifier.”

Comments like these make Arsenal fans restless in our sleep, subconsciously biting our nails and using our Arsenal tailor-made pace-makers prematurely. The best assets we have on our side are faith, hope and patience. What more can we do without driving ourselves insane?

‘Til next time Gooners and Goonerettes. Keep the faith.

-Sir Gunner

A small preview with Arteta on the Tough Toffees.

Before coming to the Emirates on a very last minute deal a couple of seasons ago, Mikel Arteta spent 6 seasons at Goodison Park. In that time, you would have expected him to know a thing or two about his former team-mates and manager, David Moyes. 

Speaking to the official matchday programme, he said, “They just never give up. I know the way David Moyes will be preparing them for the next few games, because they still have the chance to qualify for the Champions League and that would be massive for them.”

“They’ve been a very good team. They sold Joleon Lescott and myself in recent years and maybe people thought they’d have a problem, but they’ve been able to keep Maourane Fellaini, Leighton Baines and Phil Jagielka – all very important players for the team – and also have guys like Steven Pienaar, Kevin Mirallas, and Nikica Jelavic.”

“It’s a strong squad and some of them have been playing together for a long time together. They have experience of these situations and it will be a difficult game.”

Everton have looked very promising this season, with players like England left-back Leighton Baines racking up a league high 102 chances for teammates this season alone. Other players such as Fellaini, Pienaar, Osman, Jagielka and Mirallas have caused all sorts of problems for the opposition. The Toffees look to exploit the wings almost explicitly which also leaves no surprise to their danger from set-pieces. 

My concern about this game is that Everton have all the deadly qualities that our team have fallen short on, on many occasions. Set-pieces, balls being crossed in from the wings, quick counter-attacks. We’ll be relying on Arteta and perhaps Ramsey to cover our defence as the latter boasted an impressive display at Norwich. 

With Fabianski sustaining a rib injury against The Canaries, Wenger has indicated that he will leave it to the 11th hour to decide his keeper, even though he opined that his keepers are all of exceptional standard. This shows Wenger’s ruthlessness with his players (in reference to Szczesny here), revealing that unlike previous years, players will have to work hard to come back to their spot in the team. Mertesacker is also available for selection after he served his suspension following his immediate sending off against WBA. Personally, I think that even though Vermaelan is our Official Captain, Mertesacker should walk back into the side as his partnership with Koscielny is on the cusp of blossoming into a fine, steady pairing. This would leave Arteta as Captain. 

Arteta on Captaincy: “Being captain of this football club gives you more responsibility, and it’s a big privilege. It’s something very serious, just look at the captains this club has had in the past.

“I always try to influence my teammates in a positive way, making we sure all play together and for each other. When we put our talent to the benefit of the team we have a great chance to win games, and that’s what I tell our players all the time.

“When the group does well, the benefits will come for everyone, and when we win we’ll all be happier than when we draw or lose.”

Here’s hoping that Arteta or even Vermaelan if he retains his spot, can lead us to another set of infinitely valuable 3 points as this match and the contest against Manure are our potential slip-ups in the final run-in. 

COME ON YOU GUNNERS!!