BUILDING MOMENTUM: WATFORD vs ARSENAL

“The target now is to re-focus on what we want to achieve. We play against Watford who have conceded only one goal at home and defend very well. They are a very difficult team to play against so we have to focus to get a positive result on Saturday.”- Arsene Wenger.

Welcome back! We have survived yet another ill-timed international break. Yet this particular interlull has a slightly more positive cheer to it considering how well Arsenal stars have performed- Alexis, Walcott, Giroud, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Cazorla and Campbell all scored for their national sides, and Ozil registered two more assists for Germany as well. There also was the small matter of our 3-0 thumping of Manchester United which certainly gave many Gooners bragging rights for weeks, but we face an entirely different prospect when we make the trip to Vicarage Road to take on Watford in Saturday evening’s late kick-off. Arsenal, having scored just five goals in their first six league games, have scored eight in their last two league fixtures and twelve in their last four games in all competitions. The Gunners’ defence has also tightened up in recent weeks, as no side has conceded less than Arsenal’s seven so far in the league. We come up against a Watford side who have scored fewer goals than any other side (6), but have only conceded seven goals and, more ominously, have only conceded one goal when playing at home.

Arsenal come into this one in good domestic form, having won four of the last six, while Watford have drawn four of their eight games, the joint-highest tally in the division. Arsenal have won all five previous league games between the two sides, but this head-to-head history will count for precious little today considering the last time we played Watford was in 2006. Much has already been made of Watford’s defensive stability, but it can be further illustrated by the fact that they have kept four clean sheets, and have conceded more than one goal in only two games. We do, however, have a great recent record against promoted teams- we haven’t lost to a promoted side in the last three seasons and have dropped only four out of 54 points against promoted sides in this time.

Tactically speaking, this is already shaping up to be a clash of two unique styles, at least on paper. Consider this if you will:

	ARSENAL	WATFORD
Possession	55% (3rd)	49% (13th)
Passing Accuracy	86% (3rd)	78% (15th)
Shots (total)	160 (2nd)	103 (11th)
Chances created	125 (2nd)	75 (13th)
Shots per game	20	13

While Watford are a well-organized side, defending in good shape and running themselves into the ground, they will struggle to create chances. Of their six goals, five have come from Nigerian forward Odion Ighalo, with three assists from club captain and his strike partner Troy Deeney. So, stop the two and Watford will struggle to find alternative sources of goals. Valon Behrami and Etienne Capoue, who average 4.2/3.4 tackles and 3/3.3 interceptions per game, will provide valuable cover for their defence and will look to stem the attacking flow of Cazorla and Ozil in the middle of the park. The Hornets have, however, been playing Nathan Ake (on-loan from Chelsea) as a make-shift left-back, and seeing as he is naturally a defensive midfielder it will be interesting to see Hector Bellerin going at him today. My hope is that they will try to come out, press high and leave spaces in behind for Alexis and Walcott to exploit. Watford are yet to score a goal on the counter-attack, and have scored just once from a set-piece all season, and will need an improvement in this regard if they are to get on the scoresheet tonight as you’d imagine those are Arsenal’s weakest defensive points.

Onto team news now, and there is a slight chance Laurent Koscielny will feature as he has a late fitness test to pass, but with Bayern Munich up next on Tuesday you’d think the Frenchman won’t be risked today. Gabriel has deputized with distinction so far and has been a real bright spark at the back for us. Captain Mikel Arteta and Mathieu Flamini will likely be fit and available for selection, but I will be surprised if Arsene Wenger makes any changes from the line-up that beat Manchester United so consummately last time out. Alexis Sanchez has scored six in his last three games for Arsenal and nine in his last five for club and country; so we’ll be hoping he can continue his purple patch. There is slight concern over the Chilean dynamite though, seeing as he limped off against United with a hip problem but then proceeded to play two full games for Chile:

“I cannot do a lot about it. He came off as you have seen against Manchester United with a hip problem, a problem with the rotator muscle and he wanted to go. He played in the last two games and we have to see how he comes back but it is always a tricky situation as Chile are trying to qualify for the World Cup and he is an important player for them but they will use him if they can. He is a guy that always wants to play so I knew that was always going to be a tricky situation.”

This promises to be a good, tight game in prospect so fingers crossed we’ll look back on this one in glee. Enjoy the game!

“OLD DOG” WENGER LEARNS NEW TRICK: ARSENAL 3-0 MANCHESTER UNITED

"We won our last Premier League game 5-2 and we won here 3-0 so in the Premier League we have scored eight goals against difficult opponents. Overall it was a convincing performance.”- Arsene Wenger.

 

Arsenal produced their performance of the season so far as they thumped Manchester United 3-0 to leapfrog their opponents into second place in the Barclays Premier League. A breath-taking brace from Alexis Sanchez and a clinical Mesut Ozil finish epitomized the Gunners’ dominance in a devastating 20-minute blitz that all but sealed the points for Arsene Wenger’s charges. Arsenal produced their performance of the season so far as they thumped Manchester United 3-0 to leapfrog their opponents into second place in the Barclays Premier League. A breath-taking brace from Alexis Sanchez and a clinical Mesut Ozil finish epitomized the Gunners’ dominance in a devastating 20-minute blitz that all but sealed the points for Arsene Wenger’s charges. That sounded so good I thought you would love to read that again. You’re welcome!

Form and history were both in the away side’s favour coming into this one- United had won four games on the spin, scoring 11, a run which had seen them rise to the top of the domestic league. Arsenal’s season, meanwhile, lurched from dizzying heights to tumultuous lows in the space of four days- the euphoria of a 5-2 win over high-flying Leceister City was tempered with a 2-3 reverse against Greek champions Olympiacos, a defeat which left us propping up their Champions League group.

Manchester United were unbeaten in their last four visits to the Emirates, where they last tasted defeat four and a half years ago; and Arsenal had only beaten United once in their previous 13 league encounters. Last season’s corresponding fixture ended 2-1 in United’s favour in what was their first away win of the season, so we really approached this one with trepidation and anxiety rather than optimism.

 THE LINE-UP:

We reverted to the tried and tested Starting XI following yet another indifferent showing in Europe, with the inclusion of Gabriel an enforced change thanks to the hamstring injury that Koscielny picked up in midweek. Francis Coquelin also came back to marshall the midfield, taking the place of the now injured Mathieu Flamini. Theo Walcott was given another run at centre-forward having impressed in recent weeks, with his budding partnership with Alexis coming to the fore, and the pair were soon to have telling contributions to proceedings very early on.

THE GOALS:

This segment normally comes after “the set-up”; but with all three goals coming within the first 20 minutes, what to do eh? The home side came flying out of the blocks, so relentless was our pressure that United took four minutes and 11 seconds before their first touch of the ball in our half. They struggled to deal with our pressing high up the pitch and thus our first goal came: United attempted to play their way out the back, Coquelin intercepted, lovely interplay between Ramsey and Ozil saw the German released in space into the box, and his low cross was turned in at the near post by the most outrageous of back-heeled flicks from Sanchez. We had to wait for all of 74 seconds before we doubled our advantage. United gave the ball away straight from the kick-off, another deft flick from Sanchez released Walcott into space down United’s right, and Walcott squared the ball to Ozil who made no mistake with a placed first-time effort that left David de Gea stranded. 12 minutes later and the Emirates was in a full-on state of delirium as Arsenal broke again from inside their own half, Walcott turned and passed the ball wide to Alexis, who cut back onto his lethal right foot and absolutely smashed it into the top corner after bulldozing his way past a sorry attempt at a tackle from the beleaguered Matteo Darmian.

All three goals were quite reminiscent of goals that Arsenal, in seasons past, would concede against the “big teams”-two of the three came from lightning-quick breaks from our own half. A flourishing partnership between Alexis and Walcott resulted in a brace for the Chilean, and Theo ended the game with a couple of assists to cap off a brilliant all-round display. Alexis has now scored six goals in the space of eight days, although, interestingly, he did not have another shot after his goal for the rest of the game.

THE SET-UP:

“I believe in the first half we started very strong and decided to press very high and to play with great pace, and we did that very well. In the second half we decided to be disciplined, control the result and we did that very well. We had two aspects in our game that was pleasing and we were convincing today.”- Arsene Wenger.

From a tactical view-point, the above quote sums everything up very nicely. Arsenal’s blistering start was rewarded with the goals they merited. I wrote in my match preview how Arsenal had created more chances and taken more shots than any other side prior to this weekend, but were only converting at a rate of one goal for every fifteen shots, but yesterday was entirely different. We scored three goals from our first four attempts on goal, and Ramsey really should have added to that tally when Sanchez picked him out in space on the edge of the six-yard box but the Welshman could only fire high and wide.

Manager Arsene Wenger had set up his side to hit hard and fast, and with a 3-goal cushion to sit on, Arsenal could afford to drop in numbers whenever United had possession, a tactic that was especially evident in the second period. Arsenal ended the first half with 47% possession, but were content to let United pass the ball in front of them as they kept it nice and tidy at the back, and looked to perhaps increase their tally on the break. This tact saw United actually end the game with 62% of the ball, but this possession was largely pedestrian and too one-dimensional for their cause. Of United’s 631 attempted passes, only 322 (51%) were actually forward passes… the other 309 were either backwards or sideways.

Arsenal with just 38% overall possession were always incisive and dangerous in attack, while Manchester United were lackadaisical and routine. That they dominated possession could also be illustrated by the fact that United had four players who completed more passes than our top passer (Cazorla-49/56), and they also had 173/232 passes in our final third. But consider this: Of United’s 9 goal attempts, only 2 were inside our penalty box. In stark contrast, of our 12 attempts, 9 were inside United’s penalty box. United created eight goal-scoring chances from 173 passes in our final third, we created 10 chances from just 60. Not to shine the spotlight on individuals, but Bastian Schweinsteiger had 40/51 passes in our final third yet only created one goal-scoring chance. Meh.

Prior to the game, the manager had spoken about ensuring that United do not get the opportunities to hit us on the counter (as has been the norm for so many years), and I think it worked out brilliantly. The potential havoc that Memphis Depay and Anthony Martial can cause on their day was negated in its entirety by stellar displays from Bellerin and Gabriel. Martial ended the game with just one shot and one chance created, but best of all he was only 2/10 on dribbles completed. Bellerin did well against Depay, as the Dutch winger was hooked off at halftime after an inept 45 minutes- 0 attempts, 0 chances created, 0/3 on crosses, 1/3 dribbles, and 9/12 of his passes going backwards. An overall encouraging defensive display after the shambles we had to endure in midweek.

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH:

With a brace today capping off a week which saw a return to goal-scoring form, it would be hard for me to overlook Alexis Sanchez. Two goals, two chances created, nine ball recoveries (joint second) and 4/4 on tackles, it was another gut-busting, all-action display. But (plot twist) I will overlook Sanchez and award my man-of-the-match gong to Arsene Wenger. Tactically speaking he got this one right from the go. Arsenal, in the second half, played as a 3-goal lead allowed them… sensible, taking only calculated risk when going forward on the break, and still had presentable chances for Ozil and Giroud, and Oxlade-Chamberlain hit the crossbar with a lobbed finish late on.

Taken in greater context, we have finally seen Arsene Wenger modifying his tactical approach to “big games” over the course of 2015. The next time someone tells you Arsenal never get results against big teams, invite him or her to consider our record against Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham in 2015 which reads: WLWWDDWDLWW.

Enjoy the win, there’s an international break coming up so there’s plenty of time to re-live this one till we go again against Watford in a couple of weeks. Till next time folks.

*Image and quotes courtesy of Arsenal Media*

LOOKING AHEAD: ARSENAL vs MANCHESTER UNITED

"It is a special fixture because usually Man United are always fighting at the top. It has an even bigger meaning now because there are three points between the teams, and we play at home in a big game.”-Arsene Wenger.

 

Right, no time for mopping about after more European woes as next up is Manchester United at the Emirates. After a difficult run of six games in 18 days that has so far culminated in two wins against Spurs in the Capital One Cup and Leceister in the league, and defeats away to Dinamo Zagreb, Chelsea and Olympiacos; a blockbuster clash against United could not have been more ill-timed. The feel-good factor in the aftermath of our 5-2 win at Leceister and Alexis Sanchez’ spectacular hat-trick has since dissipated into the abyss, in its place an all-too familiar feeling of frustration following a complete debacle in a supposedly “must-win” game against Olympiacos. United, by comparison, have won their last three league games on the bounce, scoring nine, a run that has seen them leapfrog City to top the league for the first time in about two years. Three points and two places separate the sides going into the latest installment of Arsenal vs Manchester United, and although this is a clash that has perhaps seen the gloss taken off of it since the years of Roy Keane vs Patrick Vieira, it still is Arsenal vs United with three massive points and the league’s top spot at stake.

The Gunners will be looking light in midfield after the manager confirmed Mikel Arteta and Mathieu Flamini will not recover in time for Sunday, and Laurent Koscielny will be out for at least three weeks following a hamstring injury sustained in midweek. Fortunately, Francis Coquelin “should be okay for Sunday” while Gabriel will be available for selection having served his one-game suspension for improper conduct. United manager Louis van Gaal in his midweek press conference noted that Michael Carrick is fit and ready to play, and the away side have no fresh injury worries following their midweek win over Wolfsburg.

“Arsenal are technically and tactically the best team in the league.”-Louis van Gaal.

Last season’s corresponding fixture ended 2-1 in favour of the away side, and the game went as per script for an away side at the Emirates… concede possession, absorb pressure and hit hard on the break, and so they did. There have been suggestions that this season’s game will not follow the same pattern, as United’s summer acquisitions of Morgan Schneiderlin and Bastian Schweinsteiger have seen them dominate possession in their fixtures thus far. Indeed, United have made 3,942 passes this season. Only one side has made more- yes, that’s us. United under LvG however favour slower, deliberate and more methodical build-up play, preferring to keep possession and pass it sideways and backwards while waiting for moments to spring forward and create chances. Arsenal meanwhile will dominate play, dominate possession in the opposition half, but have looked more dangerous and fluid in the final third. Arsenal are, in fact, the most “dangerous” side in the league, having created more chances (115) and taken more shots on goal (140) than any other club. United, in case you’re interested, have created just 56 goal-scoring chances-less than half Arsenal’s tally- and taken 80 shots on goal. The league’s most creative player, at least in terms of chances created, has been Mesut Ozil with 26. The league’s second-most creative player? Santi Cazorla, with 25. For the purpose of comparison, United’s most creative outlet has been Juan Mata with 11 chances created.

But here’s where it starts to go south for Arsenal- we have scored just 10 goals from our 148 shots on goal, meaning we convert one in every FIFTEEN shots. That is simply not good enough for a title-chasing side. United have scored 12 goals from 80 shots, which works out at one goal for every 7 shots taken, and a conversion rate twice as good as ours. Should United and LvG choose to make this a more evenly balanced match in terms of possession, it will likely result in an attritional battle for the midfield where goal-scoring chances will thus be at a premium. There simply will not be any margin for error for either side. United also come into this one with the best defensive record in the league, and while most choose to give credit to the unorthodox centre-back pairing of Chris Smalling and Daley Blind, it has as much to do with the protection afforded ahead of them by Morgan Schneiderlin and Schweinsteiger. The pair have combined for 25 tackles and 33 interceptions, and Cazorla and Ozil will really have to be on song to dominate United’s midfield.

Luke Shaw’s unfortunate leg break necessitated a defensive re-shuffle for United, who have fielded regular RB Darmian at LB and brought in Antonio Valencia at RB. Naturally you would think that Arsenal will look to target Valencia, who has acquitted himself admirably at RB before, but following the Ecuadorian’s mistake which led to the concession of a goal so early in their midweek game LvG might opt for the more natural Marcos Rojo at LB and reinstate Darmian to his regular RB role… time will tell. United, meanwhile, will have watched Jamie Vardy exploit Per Mertesacker’s lack of pace and mobility last weekend and will be licking their chops at the prospect of Martial or Memphis Depay getting isolated one-on-one with the BFG. You would like to think that Bellerin and/or Coquelin will do more to shield Mertesacker, but we can only hope that lessons have been learnt.

“The anticipation and the expectation is obviously big. We just want to prove ourselves and get the three points. When you prove yourself against big teams, your self-belief increases.”-Mesut Ozil.

Right, let’s hope I will not be writing my second rant in a week after this one. That’s not too much to ask is it?

*Quotes courtesy of Arsenal Media and Goal.com*

FIFTY SHADES OF ARSENAL: ARSENAL 2-3 OLYMPIACOS

“Some aspects of our game were quite good but I thought we lacked quality defensive concentration and we played against Olympiacos who defended very well. I believe we had a bit of bad luck as well because they had four shots on target and scored three goals and that happens once in 100 Champions’ League games.”-Arsene Wenger.

It has been a humbling, chastising, embarrassing experience in Europe for the Gunners this far. You have doubtless been absolutely inundated with opinions and commentary from various pundits across the footballing world on the paucity and impotence of our attack, the frailty and naivety of our defence and our overall lack of gut, grit, spine and leadership quality within our ranks. But haven’t we been here before? There was a very “Arsenaly” feel to this particular defeat. I mean, after gifting Dinamo Zagreb their first win in the UEFA Champions League since 1999, it was only in keeping with the theme that we then granted Olympiacos their first win on English soil in 13 attempts, right? Let’s go deeper.

Before the game, Arsene Wenger called this a “must-win” game, and he said this when speaking to Arsenal Player:

“We have to be on our toes. We are with our backs to the wall a bit after the defeat at Zagreb.” 

This is exactly why we went on to do the exact opposite during the game. Very Arsenal indeed. Nothing about how we defended for any of their three goals suggested, in any way, shape or form, that we were “on our toes”. It was anything but, and in keeping with this #OnlyArsenal theme, their first goal came about from a corner which was conceded following a defensive mix-up between Gabriel and Koscielny. It always feels as though we are prone to this sort of thing, regardless who is playing on the day. Same script, different cast. The most painful example that comes to memory is in the 2011 League Cup Final against Birmingham… enough said. Gloating over their win after the game, Olympiacos striker Alfred Finnbogason had this to say concerning our defending:

“The first corner is something we practice on the training pitch because we know they have no man on the edge of the box. When you play against this team you know they’re going to have a lot of the ball. You have to defend well, keep your lines tight and use your time when you have spaces… and you know you’re going to have spaces because they don’t want to defend. So our plan worked.”

Their second goal also had a very “Arsenaly” history behind it too. David Ospina, in goal ahead of Petr Cech for this game, got his positioning wrong for another corner and in an attempt to collect the cross, dropped the ball over the goal-line. Goalkeeping howler. Been there before too eh? Manuel Almunia, Wojciech Szczesny, Lukasz Fabianski, even Jens Lehmann have all had their clangers while playing for the club. The manager was very edgy when quizzed on this selection after the game:

“That is a simple thing. David Ospina played 19 games last season and kept 14 clean sheets and last week he had a fantastic game. No keeper is mistake-free, it could have happened to Petr Cech as well.”

“I make the decisions and selections for the team and I’m responsible for it. I know many things that you don’t and that you ignore.  You cannot select a team by having a poll and getting everyone’s opinion before the game.”

Counting the huge deflection that the first goal took off Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain on its way in, Arsenal made two errors leading to goals in this game. Another very “Arsenaly” thing. Let me explain. Counting both as own goals, we’ve now conceded five own goals in the last five games. Add to that the two errors leading to goals committed by Chamberlain and Cech when we played West Ham, that brings the total to seven in ten games. Last season we committed eight errors that led to goals, and conceded one own goal. Over the course of the 2013/2014 season we committed ten errors leading to goals, and in 2012/2013 this figure was 14. Considering how this season has started, we’re set to see more of these.

We also conceded twice off set-pieces in this game, and conceded from a set-piece against Dinamo Zagreb as well. All in all, we’ve conceded five goals from set-pieces so far this campaign. Very “Arsenaly”. This prompted this quote from former great Liam Brady:

“We lost a goal against Zagreb and two goals against Olympiacos to set-pieces. The first goal was bad last night, the ball coming into the box and players not really knowing what’s going on. The marking and concentration has got to be a lot better.”

Funny that he talks about “players not really knowing what’s going on”, because that’s exactly how the third goal looked like wasn’t it? And that it came so soon after we had brought ourselves level via an Alexis Sanchez header was also very “Arsenaly”. Anyone remember Monaco last season scoring their third goal immediately after Oxlade-Chamberlain had pulled one back? Or in the 2008 UEFA Champions League quarter-final against Liverpool when Adebayor (May his career rest in eternal peace) levelled the scores, and we’d just gotten back to our seats after celebrating, only to see Liverpool winning and scoring a penalty? #OnlyArsenal.

In a somewhat related aside, I don’t understand why there’s so much being made about Ospina being picked ahead of Cech, or about our selection policy overall for our two European games. The sides put out had more than enough, I feel, to beat the opposition that we faced. Having said that, Arsenal and Chelsea fielded changed sides and lost this week, while both Manchester clubs fielded their strongest available line-ups and won. That’s football for you.

So where does this defeat leave us? Fourth. Only that fourth this time means bottom of the table.

“It puts us in a bad position but we are still in it. We have to think we can deal with Zagreb and Olympiacos and we need a result in our next game away from home against Bayern Munich.”-Arsene Wenger.

Easy enough eh?

Until next time folks.

*Quotes courtesy of Arsenal Media, ESPN and Arseblog.com*

*Image courtesy of Troll Football*