Once again Bendtner came on and made an instant impact. Arsene has got to start him against Everton, even if he has to play the link role behind Adebayor
Merry Christmas Gooners,
Did you have a good Christmas? I did until the match last night. A point at Portsmouth isn’t a bad result for anyone in the Premier league, so that is not the problem. Being a point behind Manchester United isn’t much of a problem at this stage either. So what is the problem I hear you asking? The problem is that we have not played well since the 1st half at Villa Park which was arguably our best 45 minutes of the season but after that we have lost our slick quick passing. Cesc and Hleb are clearly not sharp since their injuries. We are giving the ball away alot more frequently. The main problem in my eyes is that we are not supporting Adebayor enough until the last 10 minutes or so in matches.
I was reading through the Arseblog forum and Gooner Forever made a very good observation and I totally agree with it.
I don’t think that we played particularly badly, even though we didn’t play out of our skins. But the one thing that I have noticed is the intensity that we play at. Game after game we really don’t come flying out of the traps, in fact we rarely do. It’s almost like a boxer who comes out and jabs a bit here and then a bit there. Eventually unloading everything he has in the final couple of rounds as the intensity and desire increases.
We have a record of scoring a lot of goals late. Commentators often say it’s because we are possibly fitter. That could be the case, but I actually think it’s because we up the game a lot more in the last 20 minutes, pressing our opponents until they crack. But it is very noticeable that we hardly play with a high intensity in the first half of games. Perhaps it’s just me. So I decided to do a little research…
Of all the goals we have scored in the Prem this season only 36% of them have been scored in the first half. Take out the nominal goals against Derby and that number drops to 30%. This to me tells an important story – a reflection of the low intensity we have in the first half than the effort we always put into the second. The only way we can really validate this is comparing our numbers to that of our rivals.
50% of all of Utd’s goals (in the Prem) have come in the first half, and they have scored just as many goals as us so far this season. For Liverpool it’s 48% and for Chelsea it’s 52%. So you have to ask yourself why are our numbers significantly lower than that of our main rivals? I’m probably going mad and imagining this…but the numbers don’t lie.
I hope he doesn’t mind me using his post but it is very true. It seems like we go out and try and win matches with the least amount of energy as possible and we only step it up in the final 10-15 minutes. We started the season fighting for every ball and trying to win the match in the first half, we need to get back to doing that to win the league.
Alot of people are saying that we are playing 4-5-1 which isn’t totally true. We are playing 4-4-1-1 and have done pretty much since Arsene scrapped the 5-3-2 formation. The trouble is that Hleb is playing too deep and is not providing a goal threat.
The problem with our team and players is that we do not have many match winners when Robin Van Persie is not in the side. We rely on our team play and team play only. Manchester United can have off days and have players like Ronaldo, Rooney, Giggs. Nani and Tevez who can produce something out of nothing and grab a goal.
Once again Bendtner came on and made an instant impact. Arsene has got to start him against Everton, even if he has to play the link role behind Adebayor. If not then we will be beaten. If we play the way we have against Newcastle, Boro, Tottenham and Pompey then David Moyes’ side will beat us for the third year running at Goodison Park.
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