WHEN THE REDS COME CALLING: ARSENAL vs LIVERPOOL

“It is one of those games you always look for when the fixtures come out. You look for the bigger games and this is where you want to test yourself against the better players and this is a fixture that will have that...if we play the way we know we can I’m sure we will come out on top."

After getting our season back on track with a nervy yet deserved win at Crystal Palace, we face another testing tie tonight against Top 4 hopefuls Liverpool. The Anfield outfit have made a steady start to the season with back-to-back 1-0 wins over Stoke and Bournemouth, but will probably approach tonight's fixture with trepidation... they have only won once in 12 games at the Emirates after all. Arsenal have won five of the last six games against Liverpool in all competitions, and I feel it safe to mention that while the one defeat was a humbling 5-1 loss at Anfield two seasons ago, we got our own back with a 4-1 win barely four months ago on our own patch. In total, Liverpool have failed to beat Arsenal in 18 of the last 19 away games in all competitions.

 

Arsenal's injury situation remains unchanged, with Jack Wilshere, Danny Welbeck and Tomas Rosicky still unavailable for selection.

 

"From the Palace game we have no injuries and we have still Wilshere, Welbeck and Rosicky to come back. And we have no suspensions. So we should have a similar squad for the Liverpool game... Rosicky is progressing nicely but he is far away. Wilshere should be the first back from those players, he is making good progress."

 

The news coming from the Liverpool camp has been intriguing, not so much on the injuries front but gaining tactical insight into how Liverpool will set up for today's match:

"If you assess the games we've had against Arsenal, especially at home, we've had dominance of the ball. If you assess the last 10 games they've lost at home, the teams that have won have had dangerous possession. The winners have averaged four shots on target with 43 per cent possession. You can't dominate the ball, but you can dominate space. Tactically, we arrive with a good mind of how to win it."

 

Quite clearly then, emphasis tonight will be on ball retention for the away side, and justifiably so. Their best player so far has been Philippe Coutinho, and seeing as most of their attacking play goes through their diminutive no. 10, they'll need to get him on the ball as often as possible. Liverpool dominated possession in both league fixtures last campaign, more so at Anfield where they had 58% of it but we drew 2-2, and at the Emirates though this time it was nearly even (51%-49%). I think, though, this is an admission of the changes that Brendan Rodgers has had to make after losing Raheem Sterling, Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge (the latler through injury). In 2013/2014 when the three players formed such a formidable attacking trio, the football at Anfield was much more direct and was largely dependent on how quickly one could get the ball to Sterling/Suarez/Sturridge. In the 1-5 reverse that season, Liverpool had 46% possession and a pass completion rate of just 78%, but still managed a whopping 21 attempts on goal. This time round, however, we can expect build-up to be a little more measured and deliberate, with Coutinho buzing about in the final third much like we expect our own Mesut Ozil to play. Most previews are billing this as the clash of the no. 10's by the way, you can check out samples from Squawka for more on that. It's also interesting that Rodgers mentioned having at least four shots on target, and chance conversion for them will be key in this regard. Arsenal do have an unfortunate knack of conceding goals from the first shots on target, and Petr Cech has conceded thrice from five shots on target by the time Joel Ward was scoring last weekend.

For the home side, manager Arsene Wenger has again been speaking about his midfield selection dilemma, saying:

“It is tricky, because he (Santi Cazorla) is an important player in the build-up of our game. He is naturally a guy who brings fluidity, and gets you out of tight situations. My thinking [putting him out wide] was more about physical power in the centre of the park, to win the ball back and be capable of winning challenges. Santi is a more technical player. And also to get him higher up, next to Ozil, to play through the lines, find those two, and combine in the final third. It worked sometimes, and sometimes not. The first goal in these games is vital. But anyway, against West Ham, I changed in the second half and brought Cazorla back to central midfield.”

And my thought process is he will stick with Francis Coquelin and Cazorla in the middle, with both players performing very specific roles: Coquelin to win the ball back, and Santi to "get us out of tight situations" especially with the high press Liverpool are likely to use to stifle our game from deep. I fear Aaron Ramsey will start on the right, with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain making do with a place on the bench once again.In a game where possession appears more and more likely to be key, Ramsey's inclusion may not be such a bad proposition, and the likes of Oxlade-Chamberlain and Theo Walcott are potent impact subs if need arises.

All in all this is one we can look forward to with cautious optimism, and even though the result will not define our title challenge, it will certainly be an indication of our credentials.

Enjoy the game!

*Additional quotes from Arsenal Media*

AND THE SEARCH FOR A STRIKER CONTINUES...

“There’s a shortage of top class strikers in the world. It confirms that there’s a difference between financial power nowadays and the availability of top-class players... It is simple. For any deal, when you want to buy something you go to see the owner and if he doesn’t want to sell, he doesn’t want to sell. You cannot buy. In our job it is exactly like that. When the players are not free you cannot buy them because it’s the club who decides, the person who owns the contract who decides."

So it's been seven weeks since the opening of the transfer window, and clubs especially in the Premier League have been a busy lot. I mean, even the lesser lights are now wielding greater financial muscle, and with the massive 5.1 billion pounds television rights deal which comes into effect next season, the situation is likely to persist. Stoke City, for instance, have signed nine new players, headlined of course by the 12 million-pound acquisition of former Inter Milan and Bayern Munich winger Xherdan Shaqiri. Leceister have signed Gokhan Inler, Crystal Palace signed Yohan Cabaye, Swansea signed Andre Ayew, West Ham signed Dimitri Payet, Aston Villa signed Andre Ayew's younger brother Jordan, West Brom acquired the services of Salomon Rondon, even Watford have the luxury of fielding proven quality midfielders like Etienne Capoue and Valon Behrami (he had a spell at West Ham before moving to Napoli). Chelsea have signed Asmir Begovic, Baba Rahman, Pedro and Radamel Falcao, United have brought in Memphis Depay, Sergio Romero, Morgan Schneiderlin, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Matteo Darmian so far, City have brought in three new players, and Liverpool SEVEN. The Emirates, in sharp contrast, has been rather quiet with Petr Cech the only new arrival thus far, and the pressure is understandably on Arsene Wenger to show his hand in the market.

Here's the thing though- ask any Arsenal fan where he/she feels the squad needs strengthening, and nine out of ten will tell you we need an Aguero-esque centre-forward. But, as the manager says, take a look around at what is on offer and it's difficult to find one who is an upgrade on what we currently have. Our alleged pursuit of Real Madrid's Karim Benzema culminated in the striker's agent saying he is "1000% staying in Real Madrid", and what many media outlets peddling this transfer neglect to mention is that Benzema signed a new five-year deal only last year. An interesting read from the Evening Standard suggests that Real Madrid are only using our reported interest to demonstrate that they still are capable of holding onto some of their best players, after losing the likes of Angel di Maria, Wesley Sniejder and Gonzalo Higuain in recent years. Another name that has been bandied about is Gonzalo Higuain, but he's no longer available after signing a contract extention in June. Another name mentioned in this regard was Jackson Martinez, but then he signed for Atletico Madrid. So... Charlie Austin perhaps? The forward scored 18 league goals last season and has two in two so far for QPR in the Championship. Okay, okay, I kid.

All the same, a new striker will not be easy to find. It comes as little surprise then that the manager was talking about getting 10-15 more goals from the likes of Ozil, Cazorla, Ramsey and Oxlade-Chamberlain in the build-up to the Community Shield clash against Chelsea. He again challenged Mesut Ozil to score more after the win at Crystal Palace, and emphasizes on his priority being to get the most he can from his current crop of players before bringing new faces in:

"I’m always more focused on developing the team, the players we have and getting everyone on board that we have at the club. We want to develop players as well rather than overthinking whether to buy."

When you look at it, Alexis Sanchez scored 16 league goals last season, Olivier Giroud managed 14 and Aaron Ramsey 10. No one else managed to get into double figures, and the manager is therefore right to want to get more from his players. Last season we all bemoaned the lack of mobility and tenacity from Mikel Arteta and Mathieu Flamini, and many thought we should dip into the murky waters of the transfer market to sign a new defensive midfielder. The answer, in the end, lay within through Francis Coquelin. Wenger did, however, go on to say he's not averse to making new signings:

“I’m not against buying when it is a plus for your team. If it’s just to buy a player at the level of the players that you have to make people happy, I’m not ready for that. If it’s somebody who brings something that you don’t already have in the squad, then of course you want to do that.”

And I believe him too. I don't think Arsene is reluctant to spend, it just has to be an upgrade on what we already have. Look at his acquisition of Petr Cech for example, whom he signed despite us having good quality with Wojciech Szczesny and David Ospina beforehand. The Pole has since been moved to AS Roma on loan. We currently have Giroud, Theo Walcott and Danny Welbeck vying for the central striking role, and that's a lot. But if we manage to bring a new face in, someone better than all three of them, then I'm all for it. We just have to find the right someone first.

*Photo courtesy of Getty images*
*Quotes courtesy of the Evening Standard and Arsenal Media*

FINALLY OFF THE MARK: CRYSTAL PALACE 1-2 ARSENAL

“It was a bad result, but the most important thing in football is to bounce back, keep your faith in your game, and we did that today.”

Doesn’t it feel good? No, doesn’t it feel great? Doesn’t it feel good to bounce back, to get three points in what was always going to be a difficult away fixture? Doesn’t it feel especially great that our first goal of the season was that peach of a scissors kick by Olivier Giroud? But best of all, did it not feel great to pick up three points then have the luxury to kick back, relax and watch Jose Mourinho getting stuffed in Manchester? I’m sorry, I digress. But wasn’t it great to watch? Anyway.

Arsenal finally got off the mark in a pulsating, sometimes nerve-jangling 2-1 win over Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park. A Gunners side riding on the intoxicating wave of optimism following a highly successful pre-season was humbled in a 0-2 reverse at home to West Ham was coming up against a Palace side high on confidence following a morale-boosting 3-1 win at Norwich; and to quote Arsene Wenger: “To lose today would have been a big blow mentally.”

THE LINE-UP: The line-up featured two changes from last weekend’s chastising defeat: Hector Bellerin came in for Mathieu Debuchy at right-back, and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain made way for a returning Alexis Sanchez. That Bellerin was picked ahead of Debuchy was no major surprise, as the Spaniard’s pace would be ideal to deal with Palace’s threat on the flanks, and he possesses greater attacking impetus. The second change was a little more puzzling. The Ox was the only player who looked capable of creating and offering something different against a resolute West Ham defence, but seeing as someone had to make way for Alexis it’s only unfortunate that it had to be him. I don’t think it sends the right kind of message to a player who looks in-form and is tipped to achieve great things this campaign. He’s done nothing to warrant losing his place in the starting line-up, yet finds himself a victim of circumstance all the same. Ramsey therefore took his place wide right, with the manager choosing to restore Coqzorla partnership that served us with distinction last season down the middle.

THE SET-UP: Ramsey had 96 touches (led all players) but you can bet only a few came on the right. The Welshman regularly drifted in-field, popping up in space between the Palace lines which helped push them back earlier on in the tie. He also looked to help make up the numbers in the box, and that showed as he had four attempts on goal, only one coming from outside the box. He may not be everyone’s cup of tea as a winger, but his efforts certainly lent credence to a more potent Arsenal side with four attempts (two on target) and four key passes. He could have kept the ball better though; he had a passing accuracy of 77% and was dispossessed twice.

Alexis on the other flank looked more of a threat, and gave the Palace back line no end of trouble all game. He had seven attempts (led all players) and with only two on target, will probably look back on this one and realize he should have buried a few of the chances that came his way. Palace blocked 7 Arsenal attempts yesterday, 3 of them from Sanchez alone, including one goal line clearance. He was also dispossessed five times, which perhaps is testament to his rustiness more than anything else.

After a tepid outing last weekend where all the focus post-match was on our midfield balance, I think this time round Coqzorla acquitted themselves admirably both on and off the ball. Santi Cazorla, in typical Cazorla fashion, made 82 passes with a 91.5% passing accuracy and was by-and-large in control of proceedings from deep. Coquelin, meanwhile, was under scrutiny after his passing was brought under disrepute by most of us (myself included). Much like the Arsenal, Coquelin bounced back with a 92.7% passing accuracy from 55 passes. Also, last weekend he was 2/5 on long balls… yesterday he was 5/6, yes, 5/6 on long balls! The only outfield player with more accurate long passes was Santi (surprise surprise) who was 7/8. Not that he forgot what he’s great at; he was 6/8 on tackles, made an interception, a clearance and blocked two attempts. He might have been a little fortunate not to get sent off, and was taken out of the firing line early as a result.

Defensively, we were all aware of the threat that Wilfried Zaha and Yannick Bolasie posed with their pace and direct style, and this went entirely to script. Bolasie and Zaha looked to take on Bellerin and Nacho Monreal at every opportunity, with Jason Puncheon also looking to join in on the act. What pleased me though is it appears we had scouted Palace and prepared to deal with this particular threat, as the Palace wide players were rarely left one-on-one with our fullbacks. Coquelin, Ramsey and even Laurent Koscielny took turns to double up on Bolasie/Zaha. Four of Coquelin’s tackles came against Zaha, Bolasie and Puncheon, and five of the tackles came in wide areas. Three of Ramsey’s six attempted tackles came down the right against Puncheon and fullback Papa Souaré.

THE GOALS: We were made to wait 111 minutes for it, but the quality of our first goal of the 2015/2016 EPL season almost made it worth the wait didn’t it? Alexis won the ball back after an Arsenal attack broke down on the left and fed it to Mesut Ozil. Ozil measured in a perfect, low cross for Giroud to finish with a lovely scissors kick on the half-volley first time into the bottom corner. Giroud was speaking to Sky Sports after the game where he mentioned how Wenger had spoken to him about improving his finishing by taking his shots on the first touch:

“Apparently last year I scored 16 goals and nine were with my first touch. The boss told me in the box I should take it with one touch so I try to do it and I scored with my first touch.”

Palace pegged us back 12 minutes later, but our second goal was all about the delivery of Hector Bellerin and the determination of Alexis, and Arsene echoed this when he called the Chilean “a fighter”:

“He brings a drive forward. He brings the pressure on the opponent. He brings goal chances. When it was 1-1 it is no coincidence that he found the header over Ward [and] maybe it’s a typical Alexis goal. More desire than fitness, he is still a bit short fitness-wise but he is a fighter.”

The ball was worked out wide, and Hector Bellerin picked out Alexis with a cross at the far post…  Joel Ward should have been favourite for the ball, but Sanchez momentum and sheer will meant he rose highest to meet it with a firm header which was turned in to his own net by Damien Delaney.

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH:

“He had a very good performance. He was important getting out from the back, getting out of tight areas. It is a pleasure to watch the quality of his passing and the intelligence of his passing. What I told you is what I want from him more is a few more goals this season. For the rest of the build-up in the game he was magnificent. He works harder than people thinks he does. He is not spectacular in his defending but he wants to do the job, he wants to help the team. What I liked in his game today was he made many runs without the ball behind the defenders, which is a bit new as he likes to come with the ball. Today he mixed up his game better.”

55 passes, with a passing accuracy of 98%, and 37 of them coming in the final third, I thought Mesut Ozil ran the show for us at the business end of the pitch. I thought his movement was great as he looked to create at every opportunity, and he was always available for a pass. Ozil made five key passes, and again, we really should have been more clinical with the chances created. Did I mention Ozil was never dispossessed the entire match?

*Images adapted from Arsenal Media*

*Quotes adapted from www.arsenal.com*

TO BETTER BEGINNINGS: CRYSTAL PALACE vs ARSENAL

After the debacle of last weekend, tomorrow's fixture away to Crystal Palace really feels like a must-win even this early in the season. A couple of players have been in the press this week, talking about "bouncing back" and Arsene Wenger was also speaking about how our season will be defined by how we bounce back against Crystal Palace. It's all fine and all that, but it's all just rhetoric until we see a reaction on the pitch. And, to be quite honest, I believe Crystal Palace away would have been the last fixture anyone related with the Arsenal would have picked to bounce back from a demoralizing open day defeat- and with good reason too. We may have beaten the Eagles 2-1 home and away last season, but we had Aaron Ramsey to thank for a tap-in with seconds to full time, and we barely escaped from Selhurst Park with a win after Palace rallied late on, scored one and hit the post minutes later. I also found it interesting that in the four fixtures against Palace since their promotion in 2013, we've scored twice each time.

Overall, our head-to-head record against Palace is encouraging- we've won five and drawn one of our last six games against Palace, scoring 14 and conceding four, and the last time the Eagles took any points off this fixture was in a 1-1 draw back in 2004. Palace didn't have the best home record in the league last season though, winning only six and losing ten, but it's worth noting that four of those six wins came under Alan Pardew. Pardew has an admirable record overall since he took over as boss, winning 11 of his 19 games in charge, and his 57% win ratio is the best of any Crystal Palace manager to date. This despite his home record being rather indifferent, having won four and lost five of his home games in the league. Arsenal, meanwhile, won ten of their 19 away games last season and were unbeaten since February away from home- winning five and drawing one of their next six since.

On the injury front, Palace have Julian Speroni, Frazier Campbell and old boy Marouane Chamakh out. Our injury news is rather mixed: Jack Wilshere, for instance, is now expected to make a quicker recovery from his hairline fracture to his left ankle:

"Jack is back in training, I thought it would be six to eight weeks but it could be three or four weeks. He's in the second week now so he's on schedule."

There was more news with regards to Danny Welbeck, who is now three weeks away from full fitness:

"Danny Welbeck is making good progress, but is still not available."

There was to be more disappointment with Tomas Rosicky:

"Tomas has had surgery on his knee. His agent said he will be out for one or two months, but it will be longer. How long exactly, we don't know yet."

But by far the most interesting update will have been on Alexis Sanchez, have a read and laugh :-)

"He came back reasonably fit,” the manager said. “He practised for two weeks before he came back. He did not start from zero. In training now, he looks alright. I knew before the start that, once he was here, he would be difficult to stop. So I gave him a long enough break. He had four weeks off, which is quite reasonable. He finished on July 3 and he came back on August 3. He works extremely hard in every single training session to show that he is ready. I think what he does is, for me, normal. It is what everybody should do. You wonder if he has created a beach at home, and runs along the living room! He is a hyperactive guy. He needs that to be happy."

I won't even add anything to that, just read that again and again and let it sink in for a little bit. I mean, certain players in our squad returned from the last summer and suffered post-World Cup trauma well into the later stages of 2014, while others come back having trained for half of their well-earned holiday in preparation for the next season. I actually think Wenger was perhaps alluding to , when he said: "I think what he does is, for me, normal. It is what everybody should do."

In terms of the starting line-ups and tactical implications of the same, your guess is as good as mine when it comes to Arsenal. Crystal Palace, interestingly, had the least possession of any side, not just in England but in Europe's top five leagues altogether (40.2%). They also had the lowest pass completion rate (66.8%) in the league. But with the likes of Yannick Bolasie, Jason Puncheon and Wilfried Zaha in their ranks, they posses the explosive pace and firepower to match many in the league, and thus played a rather direct, counter-attacking brand of football. That being said, however, it is well worth noting that their average possession per game statistics pre-Alan Pardew (during Neil Warnock's tenure) was a paltry 37%, while this rose significantly to 48% under Pardew. The manager clearly places more value on retaining the ball, and this is can be illustrated by the possession statistics in our four games against them: in the first three, it was 60%-40%, 65%-35% and 74%-26% in our favour, but this reduced to 55%-45% when we faced them at Selhurst Park under Pardew. This belief is further affirmed by the signing of former Newcastle and PSG midfielder Yohan Cabaye. Tomorrow will therefore be a Palace side quite adept at playing on the counter, but also perhaps better placed to sustain prolonged periods of pressure on Arsenal through improved ball retention.

A lot has been made concerning our midfield balance against West Ham, and I won't delve into that here. For more reading on that subject though, kindly check out this piece I did yesterday. The only players whom you would say are nailed-on starters tomorrow are Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (based on current form), Santi Cazorla and Mesut Ozil... and perhaps Alexis too, because he's clearly up for it! despite having only come back from his post-Copa America break! If he does play from the start, it certainly means that either of Ramsey, Cazorla or Coquelin will have to make do with a place on the bench, and it will be interesting to see how that pans out. Hector Bellerin is also available for selection from the start, and following an indifferent showing from Mathieu Debuchy last Sunday you would think the young Spaniard will get the nod against Palace. Lastly, Olivier Giroud or Theo Walcott up front? You can actually have your say before the game by voting on this article I did for Gunners Town here.

This one won't be easy, but a defeat in another London derby this early in the season is simply unfathomable.

*Quotes adapted from Arsenal Media and BBC.*

WHO'S THE ODD MAN OUT IN THE MIDDLE?

Greetings to all, I hope you've had a blessed week recovering from Sunday's debacle against West Ham? I've tried not dwelling on it, but it's not been easy. I mean, I could not watch this week's edition of "Net Busters", or reviews of the past weekend's matches for obvious reasons, and every time I close my eyes I see Petr Cech looking like Superman in a helmet flying off his line and out of the Emirates altogether when Kouyate scored, but oh well. At least we have West Brom to thank from saving us from the ignominy of being bottom of the league on Matchday One, no? No? Oh well.

I have been on popular Gunners blog "Gunners Town" this week, and did a piece on my thoughts on who should lead the line between Olivier Giroud and Theo Walcott... do have a read and have your say on the poll at the end of the article here.

Now onto the crux of this week's post... I remember in my match review in the aftermath of our reverse against West Ham I pointed out our poor distribution from the middle owing to the partnership of Aaron Ramsey and Francis Coquelin, none of whom are really renowned for their passing. Last season this problem was averted through partnering Coquelin and Santi Cazorla instead, with Ramsey having to make do with a role wide right when he came back from injury. Well, naturally, many more bloggers such as myself had their say on the matter and opinion is more or less divided. I've been doing a lot of reading, and I'll try including links to some of the best articles I've come across on this matter as I go along. They all make for great reading, and you'd do well to go through to get an understanding of the complexities that we face in finding a balance in our packed but diverse midfield.

First off, we all agree that something was seriously amiss in the middle against West Ham. I will try to summarize it thus: Without the technical protection/cover that Santi provided last season, Coquelin's deficiencies on the ball were left badly exposed when he was paired up with Ramsey instead. And as one of my mentors @goonerdave66 puts it here, many feel that the Coquelin/Cazorla axis which was so successful for us in the second half of last season should be our first-choice pairing in the middle of the park. And to be fair, it's hard to argue against it.It's right for the balance of the team, and the thought of having that Coquelin/Cazorla axis, Mesut Ozil playing ahead of them, Alexis Sanchez on the left and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain on the right looks brilliant in theory. However, following this train of thought, it means there is no place in the Starting XI for one Aaron Ramsey as it upsets the balance of the team and the set-up of our midfield. Some more reading from Jeorge Bird suggests that Ramsey faces the prospect of sitting out our trip to Selhurst Park on Sunday for this very reason.

All very valid points, really. But let's not forget that this is still the "Welsh Jesus" Aaron Ramsey who scored 16 goals in 32 appearances from this same deep-lying position in midfield in 2013/2014. The same Welshman who was the only player alongside Olivier Giroud and Sanchez to make double figures in terms of goals scored last season, injuries and all. In fact, this partnership between Coquelin and Ramsey that failed to make in-roads against West Ham was the same pairing that was so effective in shutting down Chelsea's power and creativity through the middle in the Community Shield two weeks back, as is explained by Adrian Clarke in "The Breakdown" here. And as Adrian Clarke continues to explain, Santi was deployed ostensibly from the left against Chelsea and he was still effective in an offensive sense, sparking the move that led to Oxlade-Chamberlain's excellent winner as well as completing the most passes in Chelsea's half. Not to say that this is Santi's best position, far from it, but this is the midfield set-up that functioned admirably against the league champions.

Tim Stillman offers more insight into the rather more complex nature of our current midfield components here, where he says:

"After a bad result, it’s tempting to throw the baby out with the bathwater and write combinations and partnerships off in perpetuity. I have written before about my suspicion that Coquelin and Ramsey as a central pairing doesn’t offer enough precision in possession. That said, Chamberlain’s goal against Chelsea at Wembley came as a direct result of some Santi trickery on the left and a beautiful decoy run by Aaron Ramsey from the centre. Adrian Clarke’s Community Shield Breakdown also illustrated that the combination of Ramsey and Coquelin (Ramelin?) gave Arsenal a needed base of power against a physical Chelsea midfield. So it’s not a partnership eternally doomed to dysfunction."


And lastly, Michael Keshani also writes about the limits of  Coquelin and Cazorla in the middle, and argues a case for Ramsey playing in his preferred box-to-box role in the middle. He argues that an Arsenal side with an Cazorla/Coquelin axis will struggle to build play from the back as well as struggle to relieve pressure and play on the counter-attack without Ramsey's ability to carry the ball forward and make those late but impeccably-timed runs into the box to make something happen in that end. And I agree to a large extent, although it must be pointed out that we did score 39 goals in 20 games since Coquelin's first start last season (second behind Manchester City) and we garnered 45 points (three more than Chelsea) in those 20 games, so it's not like the Coquelin/Cazorla pairing makes our attack stunted in any way.
Let me make this a little more interesting by borrowing a thought from Arseblog, who quip that perhaps Mikel Arteta with his ability to dictate the pace and tempo of the game from deep through his passing would have been better starting against West Ham as compared to Coquelin. And I agree, there are many things that Coquelin is better than Arteta at: tackling, intercepting, and defending in general, but passing is not one of these things. And therefore when the situation does not call for a defensive player in the mould of Coquelin, as when we play against teams who park the bus and negate our need to defend, then Coquelin should not be thought of as the first name on the team-sheet.And when we come up against teams with more imagination, ambition and ability, then that situation demands the presence of Coquelin in the line-up. 
This debate will rage on over the course of the season, but all I'm saying is that there will not be a "blanket solution" to this conundrum and we should debate about it with that in mind.
I will be looking ahead to Sunday's game against Crystal Palace later on today, so be on the look-out for that. Cheers!

So what's my take-away from all this reading? (And I do hope I have not lost you in the midst of all the external links). That Coquelin/Ramsey failed to catch the eye against West Ham is not in doubt. But, contrary to the somewhat popular opinion in the aftermath of that defeat, Aaron Ramsey is not the odd man out in the middle.In fact, when changes needed to be made, who was it who made way? That's right, Coquelin was brought off for Theo Walcott and Ramsey was paired with Santi after that. Does this mean that Coquelin was poor against West Ham? Certainly not. His distribution is not the best, I concede that, but judging him on this sole parameter would be akin to judging Mesut Ozil 

based on the number of tackles he makes. Coquelin's skill set simply was no longer required given the situation we found, or rather, dug ourselves into after we gifted the Hammers two goals. Thus Coquelin was the odd man out on Sunday, and in future it will be Ramsey who finds himself in the cold too. In the end, my contribution to this debate is simply that there isn't and shouldn't be a "one-size-fits-all" solution to our midfield shenanigans. As has been demonstrated above, different situations call for different solutions (Ramsey/Coquelin against Chelsea, Ramsey/Cazorla against West Ham and Coquelin/Cazorla for most of last season). 

LOOKING BACK: ARSENAL 0-2 WEST HAM UNITED

“Today we have to look at ourselves and think we were not good enough… we were not good enough, we were not convincing. And that’s basically it.”

I’ve done tons of match previews before, but this is, officially speaking, my first match review. And sadly it had to be after a limp, desperate 2-0 defeat at home to West Ham on the opening day of the 2015/2015 Premier League season. The lead-up to the game was generally optimistic, with a lot being made about Arsenal’s squad depth and how we have never been better placed to challenge for the league title. We were facing West Ham, a side that finished 12th and we beat home and away last season, a side that is perhaps in transition with a new manager in Slaven Bilic and five new signings, and spent the better part of the summer playing the earlier qualifying rounds of the Europa League, a side that had not picked up any points against Arsenal either home or away since January 2009…we were optimistic.

The line-up was largely predictable with only two changes from the same starting line-up that beat Chelsea in the Community Shield last weekend; Mathieu Debuchy coming in for Hector Bellerin, and Olivier Giroud starting ahead of Theo Walcott. Now having played and beaten Chelsea, Wolfsburg, Lyon and Everton in pre-season; one would have thought we would be nothing but prepared for West Ham. But we were not. The rhetoric that was coming from the Arsenal camp before the game about cohesion and “automatisms” appeared to be just talk, as there were misplaced passes all over the park. Part of the problem was that Francis Coquelin was partnered alongside Aaron Ramsey in midfield, and while last season Coquelin had Cazorla for a partner, Ramsey is not all about ball distribution. With West Ham defending deep and in numbers, Coquelin often found himself in space with the ball at his feet… he ended up attempting and misplacing long passes towards Monreal and Oxlade-Chamberlain. Coquelin was 2/5 on long balls. This is why, I presume, Arsene Wenger decided to switch Santi and Ramsey in the beginning of the second half… our ball distribution from deep was poor. Coquelin and Cazorla was the midfield combination that worked last season after all.

Also of note was how Giroud played. He showed his excellent first touch a couple of times, and held the ball up well, but we’re already accustomed to seeing that. What we hardly see is Giroud working the flanks and the channels in between centre-back and full-back as he did against West Ham. The Frenchman often picked up the ball down either flank, dribbled (admittedly with limited success) and occasionally got useful balls into dangerous areas. Problem was none of Ozil, Chamberlain or Cazorla looked to exploit the spaces in central areas that Giroud vacated; so no one really got into goal-scoring positions to take advantage. For all the talk about getting more goals from our attacking midfielders, I found this particularly frustrating. The service into Giroud was also either wanting or non-existent altogether, and an illustration of this would be to look at the number of crosses put into the box… Debuchy attempted five, none successful, Monreal attempted five, none successful, Santi attempted five, and with only one successful…well you get the drift.

After West Ham scored their second, Arsene reacted swiftly by first hooking Coquelin off for Theo. I actually thought this move should have happened sooner, seeing as West Ham were content to sit deep and defend narrow so Coquelin’s abilities were no longer a necessity. Nine minutes later, on came Alexis Sanchez for Debuchy and I instantly felt apologetic for the Chilean… I mean, it shouldn’t even have some to this. It was a poor reflection of the efforts of our creative players thus far in the game, that the manager was forced to call on a player who hasn’t even trained for a week with the squad after his summer break? It also smacked of desperation from Wenger, but he really had no alternative. Sanchez clearly wasn’t ready or sharp enough, he was dispossessed once and had three “unsure touches” (instances of bad ball control as recorded by whoscored.com). Sanchez usually averages two/three bad touches per 90 minutes, and today he had three in 29 minutes. And how about Theo? He had two attempts on goal, none on target, one dribble, attempted five passes (three successful), zero key passes and had only thirteen touches on the ball. Thirteen. After 38 minutes.

“I think our performance was not convincing. On the two aspects of the game, going forward and defending… On top of that, I feel we gave two very cheap goals away.”

We’ve already looked at possible reasons for our lack of penetration, so let’s turn our focus to why we conceded twice, and to our debutant Petr Cech. A debut to forget? Definitely. Was he culpable for both goals? Certainly. But those ahead of him certainly didn’t cover themselves in glory either… in fact; whoscored.com attributes the error leading to the second goal to Oxlade-Chamberlain and not Cech. But the way Cech was left in no man’s land for Kouyate’s header was eerily similar to when we faced Chelsea in 2007 at the Emirates and William Gallas scored from a corner after Cech had again been left in no man’s land…remember that one? Scary, but anyway. Here’s what Arsene had to say on the goal:

“I knew that if that if the delivery was good; we would be in trouble before the free-kick was taken. The concentration and organization was not perfect. Positionally we were too far from our goal and gave them too much distance to run into. We killed ourselves.”

I think that nails it, really. Therefore, Cech might have decided to stay on his line and Kouyate would still have had a free header at goal. He might have made it easier for Kouyate to score, but the errors began with those in front of him. Oh and Monreal was playing everyone onside as the free-kick was taken. For the second, Oxlade lost the ball trying to run it out of defence, and Mauro Zarate tried his luck and Cech appeared to be wrong-footed as he took a step to his left before diving to his right in vain. Still, something about how Koscielny stood off Zarate’s attempt suggests that he expected Cech to save it, and in truth we all did. Overall, West Ham scored off their first attempt on target… an all-too-familiar tale for the Emirates faithful.

Offensively blunt and defensively shocking would sum it all up aptly. How a sixteen-year old debutant Reece Oxford and Cheikhou Kouyate were sufficient to stifle Ramsey, Ozil and Cazorla is simply beyond me. I’ll let you ponder on that one.

Till next time folks.

*Quotes adapted from Arseblog.com*

*Photo credits: Arsenal Media*

COMMUNITY SHIELD; AND LOOKING AHEAD TO WEST HAM...

Greetings to all as always, I trust you’ve all been well? First off, and this is truly tragic, I missed out on my hat-trick (three trophies in three blog posts) because I was unable to do a post in the aftermath of our Community Shield triumph over Jose Mourinho. Sadly I had family commitments to attend to and actually did not watch the game, and in light of this travesty I will soon be responding to all family/event invites with some sort of disclaimer:

“Thank you ..................................... for your invite to your seminar/conference/wedding/baby shower/family get-together (kindly tick as appropriate). I will be happy to attend, and look forward to seeing you there.

N/B:

Kindly be advised that this RSVP is null and void in the event that the timing of an Arsenal FC football match in any competition whatsoever coincides with that of the above-mentioned event. Any inconveniences caused are highly regretted, and your understanding is highly appreciated.

Regards,

Lloyd.”

I think that will clear everything up, don’t you? If you have any suggestions on how to improve this RSVP, do get in touch. Also, now that the league is here with us once again *acknowledges cheers in the background* there may be a few changes to this blog in terms of the weekly content and indeed the timing and frequency of the posts. I’m still working out the kinks, and again any suggestion/feedback to this end will be greatly appreciated.

MATCH PREVIEW: ARSENAL vs. WEST HAM UNITED

We welcome Premier League football back to the Emirates with the visit of West Ham under new boss Slaven Bilic. The Premier League season might only be beginning, but the Hammers have already played six competitive fixtures due to their participation in the earlier qualifying rounds of the Europa League. They might have been eliminated from the competition owing to a 4-3 aggregate defeat against Astra Giurgiu, but Bilic rested nearly his entire first team for their return leg fixture against Astra so they will be fresh and well-rested for Sunday’s league opener. It’s quite ironic however that West Ham made it to the Europa League via the Fair Play League, but then proceeded to have a player sent off in each of their three Europa League qualifiers. But anyway. We’ve not had a shabby pre-season ourselves, winning all five games, scoring 15 and conceding just once against a Singapore Select XI, Everton, Olympique Lyon, VfL Wolfsburg and Chelsea. Did I mention that we kept successive clean sheets against the 2nd placed clubs in France and Germany, and the English league winners, winning three trophies in the process? I did? Oh well.

West Ham have not only been active on the field in pre-season, but off it as well in the transfer market. A new manager notwithstanding, they have brought in a raft of new signings, chief among whom is Dimitri Payet. Payet clocked up seven goals and 21 assists in the Ligue 1 last season, so we’ll need to be wary of him going forward. Our head-to-head record, however, makes for brilliant reading. We’ve won all our last six games against the Hammers whether home or away, scoring 19 and conceding five, and the last time we failed to pick up three points against West Ham was a 0-0 draw back in 2009. 

Injury-wise, we have Tomas Rosicky, Danny Welbeck and Jack Wilshere out while they will be without Andy Caroll and Enner Valencia. With our squad depth the best it’s been since the Invincibles’ era, it will be interesting to see what line-up Arsene Wenger goes with tomorrow. Will it be Mathieu Debuchy or Hector Bellerin for instance? Kieran Gibbs or Nacho Monreal? I’m not sure how much we can read into our pre-season fixtures, but against Lyon it was Debuchy/Gibbs while against Wolfsburg it was Bellerin/Monreal, and against Chelsea it was Bellerin/Monreal once again. Bellerin and Monreal might have the edge in terms of fitness and form, but it will certainly be interesting to see how the four fullbacks will be utilized over the course of the season. Who will partner Francis Coquelin in the middle?  Probably Aaron Ramsey just as it was in the Community Shield, and I also expect Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to start on the right once again. Will it be Walcott or Giroud up top? Giroud’s qualities might be better suited for West Ham, but I thought the same against Chelsea but Theo started instead.

Overall, we need to hit the ground running in the league. Last season nerves were frayed by the time Ramsey popped up with a late winner over Crystal Palace, and we would definitely do well to avoid a repeat of the horrendous start which saw us ruled out of the title race by October. We might not keep a clean sheet (we’ve only kept one clean sheet in the last six against West Ham), but something like 4-1 would do just fine.

OF INTEREST THIS WEEK:

We completed the pre-season treble after a 1-0 win over Chelsea secured a second successive Community Shield win, and beating Jose Mourinho (on my birthday no less) was as sweet a win as any. I thought the line-up that Arsene went with was of interest, particularly shifting Santi to the left and starting Ramsey alongside Coquelin, Bellerin/Monreal, and starting Walcott over Giroud up front. Alexis Sanchez has only just resumed training this week and will likely play no part in tomorrow’s game, but when the Chilean returns and is restored to his normal berth on the left, I wonder what will become of Santi/Ozil/Ramsey… more on that in my mid-week post.  The key now will be translating our excellent pre-season form into valuable Premier League points, and we would do well to exercise caution seeing as last year we blitzed Manchester City in the Community Shield only to then make our worst start to a league campaign in 32 years.

 

The club confirmed that Jack Wilshere suffered a hairline fracture in the lead-up to the game against Chelsea, and while not requiring surgery, will still be out of action for six to eight weeks. Whether it’s just down to bad luck, I don’t know, but Wilshere has a terrible injury record especially with his ankles. Sort of like Diego Costa with his hamstrings. A lot has been made of Wilshere’s playing style drawing tackles that lead to such injuries. It was Paddy McNair’s nasty challenge that led to Wilshere’s absence from November to April, and reportedly another challenge in training has resulted in his latest injury. Wilshere’s direct dribbling style and tendency to hold on to the ball does invite such challenges, but we already know that his style will not change. I just hope that his recovery goes as planned and he’ll be challenging for a place in the first team soon enough.

That will be all this week… cheers to you wherever you’re reading this from, and enjoy the football. Till next time.

*Photo credits: Arsenal Media*