ARSENE WENGER; TACTICALLY SPEAKING (PART 1):

Greetings to you, and I trust you’ve all been well this past week. Many heartfelt thanks to everyone who took time out to read last week’s post, and for the positive feedback that received as well. I’ve had a rather unpleasant week that I would rather be left in the confines of history; therefore excuse the lack of a proper pre-amble…straight into the football.

As promised last week, this post will largely focus on Arsene Wenger and what I felt were five of his most key tactical wins over the 2014/2015 season.

1. Signings:

In what was arguably the first summer transfer window after which we were left with next to no complaints whatsoever, the manager brought in Alexis Sanchez, Calum Chambers, Danny Welbeck and David Ospina. The signing of a goalkeeper was necessitated by Lukasz Fabianski’s switch to Swansea on a free transfer, and we wasted little time in snapping up David Ospina from Nice after he starred for Colombia in the 2014 World Cup. It was tough going for the Colombian early on as he struggled with both injuries and lack of playing time, but once he got a crack at first-team action he took his chance with both hands as he benched Szczesny till the end of the season. Ospina out-performed the Pole in almost every statistic one can pull up: 8/18 clean sheets (3/17 for Szczesny), 0.61 goals conceded per match (1.24 for Szczesny), 3.18 saves per goal (1.4 for Szczesny), and the list goes on. Ospina was part of a much-improved Gunners back-line in 2015, and credit is due to him for it.

Danny Welbeck was a signing that perhaps split opinion. He’s quick, puts a good shift in, and can do a job out wide, but his goal return was poor (29 goals in 142 appearances for Manchester United). While his goal return is yet to reach the desired levels (8 in 33 last season), I feel he’s done nothing but improve our forward line. It was pretty evident that we needed an auxiliary centre forward to compliment Olivier Giroud after the 2013/2014 season, and Welbeck did exactly that for us. He, alongside Alexis Sanchez, also allowed Arsenal press higher up the pitch whenever we lost possession and improved our potency on the counter-attack due to his pace. Just a little more in front of goal Danny, that’s all we ask.

Calum Chambers was an interesting signing for me. I knew little of Chambers before he began deputizing for the then injured Nathaniel Clyne at right-back for Southampton last season, but what struck me the most even then was the ease which he showed when in possession. When he played in the Community Shield and subsequently in the league at centre-back, I was absolutely convinced his future was in the middle and not wide. He still looked as comfortable as ever in possession and solid enough without it, though the regularity with which he picked up bookings was particularly worrying (five yellow cards in his first five league appearances). His honeymoon sort of ended with that roasting by Jefferson Montero when Swansea beat us 2-1 at the Liberty Stadium, but he’s had a solid first season nonetheless. Looking forward to seeing more of him next season, perhaps at DM?

Alexis Sanchez. Haven’t we run out of superlatives to describe this guy already? Do you remember whom else they said that about? Thierry Henry. How many goals did King Henry score in his debut Arsenal season? 26. How many goals did Alexis score in his debut Arsenal season? 25. Arsenal’s 2^nd marquee signing after Mesut Ozil cost the club 32 million pounds, and 25 goals and 12 assists in 52 appearances later it was money well-spent. Over certain periods last season Arsenal were coasting simply on the brilliance of the effervescent Chilean, and he definitely deserved winning the Arsenal player-of-the-season award. In fact, my only regret was that he scored four braces but is yet to score a hat-trick for us.

 2. Loan Dealings, and the Signing of Gabriel Paulista in January:

Arsene Wenger also shipped a number of players out on loan for various reasons, and I feel he got each and every one of those loan moves spot on. Carl Jenkinson went to West Ham on a season-long loan where he established himself as the Hammers’ first-choice right-back, featuring in all but six league games and assisting two goals. In January, we moved the hashtag king Lukas Podolski to Inter Milan and he scored once in 18 appearances. Joel Campbell went to Villareal on loan and scored once in 16 appearances. Yaya Sanogo moved to Crystal Palace and scored once in 11 appearances. Meanwhile, Arsenal scored 55 goals in 2015.

The January transfer window also saw the signing of Gabriel Paulista from Villareal, another move which I felt was facilitated by injury troubles in defence, especially with Laurent Koscielny. The Brazilian centre-back has also acquitted himself well despite making only eight appearances, with a crazy 81% (17/21 aerial duels won) success rate in the air (Mertesacker’s was 70% and Koscielny was 56%). 

OF INTEREST THIS WEEK:

The club finally made the move official-Petr Cech has joined Arsenal on a “long-term” contract for an “undisclosed” fee. Hmmm. Anyway, having a living Premier League legend in goal excites me, and Cech is likely the closest we have come to replacing David Seaman. Which also got me thinking, when did we last make a signing of Cech’s caliber from a direct (ish) rival in the Premier League? Danny Welbeck was deemed “surplus to requirements” by Louis van Gaal, and before Welbeck it was Mikael Silvestre (remember him?) also from Manchester United in the 2008/2009 season. Before Silvestre came William Gallas in a swap deal with Chelsea for Ashley Cole in the 2006/2007 season. Meanwhile, we lost Ashley Cole, Kolo Toure, Emmanuel Adebayor, Gael Clichy, Samir Nasri, Robin van Persie and Bacary Sagna to Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United over the same period. What point am I driving at here? It’s nice to see the roles reversed for a change! This is a signing that signals at least the beginning of a shift in the balance of power in England’s top flight, and hopefully Cech will win us the league this season so that we can really drive this point home.

Also, Chelsea have today confirmed the signing of striker Radamel Falcao on a season-long loan from AS Monaco. Did you know that 324 players across Europe’s top five leagues scored more goals than Falcao (4) last season? That’s 190 forwards, 122 midfielders and 12 defenders.

Right, onto a therapy of pizza and assorted junk foods this weekend for me. Keep an eye out for part 2 of this post next week!