in defense of xhaka, elneny sold him out on that with an idiotic pass to a guy 5 yards away that STILL managed to be wayward and wrongly weighted. pretty much all xhaka can really do in that instance was poke it away from goal. had some nice moments out wider when giroud came in as well. that part impressed me.
Really? After Leicester's 3rd goal I was shocked that we won. I wouldn't have been surprised for either a draw or loss.
Overall bad performance. This team has not changed at all. People talk about the defence not being first choice. First, our defensive tactics will always be suspect so that will minimize the quality of our better defensive players. Second, this team will and has always been littered with injuries. To think this makeshift defence won't likely play many games for us is funny. Here's hoping they become world beaters! So much shite in midfield. That's another mess. Good on Laca to make something out of the shit cross from Elneny. Also glad to see him get off the mark quickly.
Alexander Lacazette... we are waiting in the wings for you. You could never back down... you never learned to take your time!
He certainly seemed to be a off his game, yet he completed more passes, including 6 key passes, than anyone except Xhaka. I think that sometimes the ball flows so easily through Ozil that you don't notice him. What we do notice with Ozil are the spectacular moments and the bad moments.
70% possession, 27 shots, 10 shots on net and Leicester had 3 shots on net and that is an overall bad performance? Methinks you are going to have a miserable year this year if your standard is notably higher than that.
Building on what others have added... - Cech was really poor I felt, and was at fault for the first goal and possibly the 3rd. Possible he felt the need to overcompensate for the slack defending? - How can this team have so much depth in the midfield yet consistently fail to manage that part of the field/game against less-than-elite clubs? I would LOVE to have the same 3-4 players starting 90% of the games for 2-3 years and see what stability could bring. - I do love the fight back from the team and the grit from the attack. 20+ shots, 10 on goal and 4 goals is obviously production from the offense. - Not a good game but a good win. We've assessed before that Arsenal will need more than 78pts. to compete for the title, so wins like this will go a loooong way toward that. Winning some against the top teams will be critical, but sealing the deal against "lesser" opponents will be just as important.
This team is destined for 5th/6th if the continue to play like they did. But hey, maybe you are okay with 5th/6th.
We don't have great midfielders. Ramsey will never get any better and is not good enough for the role he plays. Wilshere is meh, a dummy, and injury prone. El Neny should have never been purchased. Coq is not starter quality and should never start. Who else? None are world class or even top quality. Depending on how Xhaka performs this season, he could be our best midfielder, but other than that no...sorry. This "stability" you speak of would bring consistent mediocrity from this group.
Arsenal dominated the game. But the make shift backline make a few errors and were punished for EVERY SINGLE ONE. I'm not suggesting that this was our finest performance but a game in which we dominated play and ultimately came from behind to win is hardly the black eye you are trying to portray it.
I haven't been following mustafi's fitness. I assumed he was being rested for some reason. But mor than that, since I saw he was on the bench, I figured he must be fit enough to play. Unlike Per. We badly missed a true CB today.
I'm inclined to agree with this. Specifically, even the "bad" Ozil is still a good footballer, even for a team at Arsenal's level. I don't think we should be counting on Ozil for leadership. What we ought to do is upgrade the places where upgrades are available, in today's case Moe and Welbz.
Props to Wenger for changing g the shape and mki g the right subs Maybe we should try starting giroud and laca
Aerial outlet all game though Some of our passes were awful and the 343 tends to be a quick in transition formation rather than a possession based one I find
Our biggest problems today were defensive and giving the ball away. See Rob Holding. Our forward play was pretty good. Whatchu doin up so early Biggie?
Not for me. I remember writing in here maybe 5 years ago that the key to making Giroud work was a pitch count, and nothing in the interim has happened to make me change my mind.
When we bought Giroud I thought he was going to be a strong backup to RvP. Then I don't remember what happened to RvP.....
I wake up at half 5 in the weekdays so 7 am is a lie in for me Gotta look after my little one and her big bro
That's exactly my point. (In hindsight I could've worded my offering better.) For a team supposedly oriented around a posession-based offense it's been ages since they've had a midfield capable of properly executing that scheme consistently and at the level intended. Wenger's over reliance on marginal talent or inconsistent/injury prone players means all the other tweaking will only fix the edges while the core of the product struggles. Like dropping a cheap engine into a Ferrari chassis.
Had we drawn or lost, there would be a lot of discussion about the handball in the box midway throuhg the second half on Sead's attempted cross from the touchline. That no-call could have been very costly. On replay it was a clear PK, but at game speed I can understand how it could be missed. Overall, I have to say that Mike Dean actually called a pretty good game. Other than the missed call above, I can't think of any other notable errors.
Our biggest problem is going to be a very overrated midfield. Coq and El Nenny are garbage . They have no business playing for any decent top side in terms of starting and I would say even providing depth.
Dean also didn't have a ton to actually do. There weren't many heavy tackles or other decisions on the margins.
True. But how often can we say that about him? That's my main point. The fact we won a sloppy game, with a clear handball that should have been a penalty in our favor, refed by Mike Dean - - rarely (ever?) happens.