A Tale of Two Cities

Matchday 11 of the English Premier League saw a Tale of Two Cities being played out. Over in Manchester, league champions Manchester City-with their unbeaten home record at stake- rallied from a goal down to grab all three points with only two minutes to go. Even more ruthless were Manchester United, who at 2-0 down and playing away from home had it all to do. Come full time however, and Aston Villa were left reeling after a Chicharito hat-trick meant they left the Villa Park with all three points. Vintage United performance. We, unfortunately, find ourselves on the opposite end of the scale. 2-0 up and cruising after 23 minutes, you would expect a team of Arsenal’s caliber to simply see the game out. True to form however, we then proceeded to self-destruct and as a result Fulham almost pulled off a memorable win at the Emirates. Forget that Arteta missed a penalty late in stoppage time; we really should have been home dry by then. It was almost criminal the way we threw the three points, yet you could get the feeling that Arsenal fans have come to expect no less. Just as United fans know they will win regardless of the situation their team finds itself in. It’s just the stuff that champions are made of (pardon the cliché).

Now you definitely know that something is wrong when you spend the entirety of the game on the edge of your seat and with crossed fingers just hoping that the team doesn’t choke. And let’s be honest, this didn’t just start this weekend. It’s been more or less a recurring theme with the Arsenal in our last 7 trophy-less years. Our most recent final, the Carling Cup (now Capital One Cup) against Birmingham last year is a case in point. We change the players, but the result is still the same.

We seem to lack the tenacity to grind out results at times; we don’t approach games with the mentality that says “We’re winning this game no matter what”. Some might say its die to lack of a back-bone in the team; others might say it’s down to a lack of leadership but these are all old excuses really. The captaincy has changed almost every season but the same frailty still remains. The belief just isn’t there, and this needs to be addressed with urgency. A player lacking confidence is bad, but a team lacking confidence might be catastrophic. Now more than never does the team (and the fans) need a pick-me-up to get us going again. Like stringing together a run of consecutive wins for example, this would represent a record that the players would like to keep going. Or maybe a player stepping up and putting in performances that would make other players look up to him, a talisman in the mould of RvP last season. I do understand that these are solutions that have been tried and tested and have only had short-term success.

Therefore I looked to the beginning of the season, and at that time it looked like a certain Steve Bould had sorted this out once and for all. Our defence had gotten that air of invincibility again; we did not look like conceding at all and we were defending as a unit. The result was defensive solidity, and a short streak of good form. Things have, of course, gone horribly hay-wire since. One can only imagine then, that something has gone wrong at the top. The rumours of the apparent rift between Wenger and Bould strangely coincided with the team’s dip in form as well. Players aren’t playing for one another anymore, and an example of this would be how Podolski doesn’t defend as much as he used to before. Might it be that Bould isn’t being given room to exact his influence on the squad as much as he did before? Sadly, we can do no more than to speculate.

We miss our Arsenal, we want our Arsenal back Le Prof.

4-4-2 ANYONE?

Following our most recent debacle against Manchester United, our record in the last five Premier League matches looks something like this:

ARSENAL VS:	RESULT:	SCORERS:
Chelsea (h)	1-2	Gervinho
West Ham (a)	3-1	Giroud, Walcott, Cazorla
Norwich (a)	0-1	----
QPR (h)	1-0	Arteta
Man. United (a)	1-2	Cazorla

That’s 6 goals in the last 5, a return you would expect from a Stoke or Sunderland, but not us. Indeed United have scored 14 while Chelsea have scored 13 over the same period. It’s simply not good enough.

All I’m doing is highlighting an already obvious problem that we’ve all witnessed especially since the Norwich game; we have become the personification of the term “toothless”. Podolski hasn’t scored (or looked like scoring) since his free kick against Southampton, Giroud has only scored once, Gervinho has looked lethargic at best since Chelsea…the list goes on and on. Most have complained that our attack has gone limp, is one-paced and over-reliant on little Santi, which is all true really. Now the next obvious question would be what to do about this. Glad you asked. Well this writer would like to suggest a change of formation; a subject that has brought up mixed opinions of course but that I (and a few other bloggers) feel is worthy enough to have a look into. 

To be more specific, I think a change to having two strikers is needed now more than ever. It would also be beneficial to all parties involved; not least of all Theo who’s been playing (and finishing) more and more like a striker in recent weeks by the way. Another advantage is that it allows for squad rotation and “tinkering about, which when translated means everybody will be happy now. The flexibility of this formation is also a definite plus. I took the liberty of dreaming up a few possibilities and this is what I came up with:

4-3-1-2:

Possible line-up:

Szczesny

Sagna, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Gibbs

Diaby, Arteta, Wilshere

Cazorla

      Walcott, Giroud

I particularly like this formation because it gives us greater attacking quality and intent while still maintaining control in midfield. I’ve gone with Diaby and Wilshere in because they are both good tacklers and can complement each other going forward as well. Diaby’s great technique and dribbling ability make him a great box-to-box midfielder and Wilshere’s tenacity and hunger for the ball looks a good enough combination for me. Cazorla will be in his usual playmaker role, but this time with two targets up front in the form of Walcott and Giroud. While this formation looks to lack pace n midfield, Walcott will provide pace where it matters most, and with Giroud’s aerial ability their partnership is bound to flourish. 

Chamberlain, Gnabry or Ramsey could come on for either of the midfield three, while Podolski/Gervinho could come on for either striker.

A more attacking version of this would of course be the diamond (4-1-2-1-2) formation, where Diaby and Wilshere would simply be moved further up the pitch. Rosicky for Cazorla is also another option.

There are more variations of the 4-4-2, but this appeared to be the best in my humble opinion as it is most in line with our style of play. This also doesn’t have to be used as our starting formation; we could start with our conventional 4-3-3 but convert to the 4-3-1-2 when the going gets tough. Walcott down the middle would catch out tired legs, or even centre backs on yellow cards with his pace, while also benefiting from knock-downs from Giroud and/or one-twos with any of the midfield three.

Enough said, now over to you Le Prof.

WHY THIS JUST MIGHT BE OUR SEASON.

WHAT I’VE LEARNT SO FAR: WHY THIS JUST MIGHT BE OUR SEASON

So while the rest of the football world turns their attention to the international matches, I (with many others I’m sure) find myself hung over like a teen after a night out. Wanting nothing to do with this rather annoying international break then, I took some time out to pen down five reasons that I think are going to play a key role should we finally win something this season:

i.                    Strength in depth:

In seasons past, we’ve often had to contend with the tag “injury-ravaged”. We often had a first 11 as good as any other team around, but our bench was somewhat short of quality. It was genuinely difficult for Wenger to rotate the squad even if he wanted to, and he couldn’t “mix things up” in order to deploy a “plan B” when things began to go pear-shaped. Take our 8-2 mauling at the Old Trafford last season as a case in point. With six players missing in the regular line-up and no quality to adequately replace them, the Arsenal just couldn’t turn in a performance. Outings like these cruelly exposed one of our major weaknesses…lack of strength in depth.

This season, however, finds us in very good stead. With new signings coupled with some players coming back at just the right time, we have genuine premiership quality in just about all areas of the pitch. There is stiff competition for places in the starting 11, not to forget quality players from the academy coming through as well. This way, no one gets complacent, team performances get better, and more importantly the manager has options that he can use whenever he wants a change of tact.

ii.                  No longer a “one-man team”:

Again in previous seasons, Wenger has never been afraid to build the team around a certain player. Thierry Henry, Cesc Fabregas, Robin van Persie, all these former greats have enjoyed being called the “talisman”. However, we somehow always managed to find ourselves losing a “talisman” with almost every transfer window, and this meant grooming another “talisman“ as well as changing the club’s system of play. While this seemed to work for the most part, whenever the “talisman” struggled then the team struggled too. Last season, van Persie scored 30 (41%) of Arsenal’s 74 goals in the league. Of the ten games that we lost then, he failed to score in seven of them.

It then comes almost as a relief when, at the beginning of this season, Wenger came out and said that this season he would look to spread the goal-scoring burden across the whole team. It then makes it harder for teams to stop us from winning games, and also lifts some pressure off poor Giroud who has taken a lot of stick from the fans and the media alike.

For those who said that we relied too much on one player before, this takes care of that then.

iii.                Change of system:

So this season we lost Alex Song to Barcelona. Most of us (this writer included) thought that we had to replace him or else our season would collapse before it even began. Right? Wrong. Even I stand corrected.

The conventional style of the game dictated that teams had to have a no-nonsense, tough-tackling, out-and-out defensive midfielder who would act as a foil for the back-line and break up the opponents’ attacks easily. Chelsea has Mikel, and Barcelona has Busquets (and now Song).

 However, the modern game is such that this is no longer a requirement in football. Clubs such as Manchester United, Manchester City and Real Madrid have all enjoyed success without having an out-and-out defensive midfielder, and hopefully we will add ourselves to this list. With Song having departed, Wenger now fields Diaby and Arteta as the deep-lying duo in the middle of the park, and this has proved to be a master-stroke (thus far). This new system has proved to be more effective and efficient, with Arteta playing as the deep-lying midfielder, Cazorla orchestrating all our attacking play and Diaby acting as the box-to-box player. The midfield is looking more solid than ever, and with Wilshere soon returning from injury our midfield will be unplayable.

iv.                Santi Cazorla:

Three games into the season and this Spanish midfielder is already looking to be one of the best buys of the season, turning in two man-of-the-match performances against Sunderland and Stoke and scoring his first goal for the club in the third game against Liverpool last weekend. He has so far been given a free role in the hole behind Giroud, and his vision, passing, dribbling and ability to shoot from range has rightfully earned him great praise.

The midfield metronome operates best in the little pockets of space that opposition midfielders leave while attacking, leaving him well-placed to spark off counter attacks. His close control and quick feet make him good on the ball and at keeping possession in tight spaces, and his vision for a pass means that he rarely is off-target with his passes (long or short). In fact, he completed 65 of 72 attempted passes against Liverpool, translating to a stunning 90%. His movement in that free role is also evident; he received 71 passes in the same game. His play-making abilities are remarkable; in the previous game versus Stoke he completed 93% (27 of 29) of his passes in the attacking third of the pitch, and his 14 attempts on goal also go to show that he has an eye for goal.
I could go on and on with more mind-boggling statistics, but bottom-line is this: Santi Cazorla is proving to be a real gem in the midfield three for the Arsenal this far, and with only three games gone we are probably yet to see the best from him. He could prove to be the game-changer in big games like he proved against Liverpool, and I just can’t wait to watch him in action for us again.

v.                  Steve Bould:

Out of our three summer signings, the signing of the season thus far is…none of them. It’s Steve Bould! Three games into the season and we are the only team yet to concede a goal, who would have thought it? The new assistant manager has gone about transforming the team into one defensive juggernaut, and the outcome is simply outstanding. Especially when you think that it’s been done without two of the back four in Koscielny and Sagna. Our start to this season (defensively) is the best we’ve had in the last 10 years.

SEASON:	GOALS CONCEDED (AFTER 3 GAMES)
2002/2003	4
2003/2004	1
2004/2005	4
2005/2006	2
2006/2007	3
2007/2008	2
2008/2009	1
2009/2010	4
2010/2011	2
2011/2012	10
2012/2013	0

This defensive improvement is no better embodied by one Kieran Gibbs, who has successfully completed 81.8% of his attempted tackles so far this season.

Individual records aside though, and a few statistics will show why we’ve been this successful in our defending so far: in our previous game against Liverpool, Jenkinson completed 4 tackles; Vermaelen, Mertesacker, Gibbs, Arteta and The Ox completed 3 tackles while Cazorla, Diaby and Podolski completed 2 tackles. Podolski made four clearances from his own penalty box, and in fact his average position on the pitch was even deeper than that of Gibbs! It’s clear then that this season we are defending more as a unit, rather than leaving most of the defensive work to only the back-line and defensive midfielder. Should we continue to do this, more clean sheets will definitely be coming our way.

Hope this kept you occupied during this boring period, till next week then!