Arsenal pull out our best performance of the season so far to put Borussia Dortmund to the sword. This week James (@GoonerFanatic49) and Elliot (@YankeeGunner) are joined by Michael Price (@YouAreMyArsenal) to talk all things Arsenal. They talk Jack Wilshere's injury, the importance of Mikel Arteta, Alexis superhuman efforts and more.
What was reassuring to see was our response to that goal. We suddenly became streetwise and sensible in our defending. Pressing at the right time and dropping off when required. Remember this is the same defenders that had conceded poor goals at Swansea only a few weeks ago. I am still convinced that it was the team defensive plan that was the issue and not the individuals in the team. Hopefully we are now heading in the right direction, maybe some painful experiences have lead to this but if we can improve at both ends of the pitch then it can only be a good thing
Wenger has been with the club since 1996 but after failing to deliver the Premier League title in almost a decade now, many fans feel his time at the club must come to an end if the club wants to be considered as real title race contender. Recently Dortmund’s Jurgen Klopp has been linked with a move to the gunners
Arteta has been fantastic in the past two games, both on the ball, as ever, but defensively, he's really been good. I think we really miss his organising skills; Flamini, for all his pointing, just doesn't glue the side together in the same way, and just isn't very good on the ball. I don't think Arteta can play more than once a week at this point, and I really think getting a defensive midfielder that can pass is the most
Koscielny is back in the squad but not in the first team just yet. He takes his place on the Arsenal bench with forgotten men Tomas Rosicky, Lukas Podolski and Joel Campbell. Yaya Sanogo claims his first start since Danny Welbeck signed at the end of the transfer window. Welbeck is not in the squad at all.
I wouldn't be surprised to see a change or two. Hang on, I got this far without mentioning the return of Laurent Koscielny which I found somewhat surprising. Happy surprised of course. I thought it was only a few days ago when we were told there was no date scheduled for his return and here he is. Nacho Monreal has acquitted himself very well in the Frenchman's absence but Koscielny is one of our best players and on top of that I am hoping that his understanding with Per Mertesacker can lift the German's game. Hopefully we don't have to wait too long before Mathieu Debuchy is back alongside him on the right side of the Arsenal defence.
In a way, it’s strange that ‘flat track bully’ is seen as such a derogatory term in football. After all, games that a ‘flat-track bullying’ Arsenal would win account for 96 points in the league! A key reason for Arsenal’s season by season increase in total league points over the last few seasons has been our newfound ability to knock down the lesser teams, home and away. And central to that has been Olivier Giroud. With Giroud on the pitch, suddenly the opposition couldn’t rely on two deep-lying banks of 4 to keep Arsenal out of danger areas. Nor could their centre backs out-muscle and bully our man in the box. And no longer did we need to rely solely on pretty passing patterns. Arsenal had a ‘plan B’, a direct route to goal when facing packed defences or pushing for last minute goals. Furthermore, our ‘plan A’ was provided with an impressively solid fulcrum around which our smaller, technical players could weave those pretty patterns. He was also, a lot like Drogba at Chelsea, a
We had the chances, we had a lot of shots in and around the penalty area but everything we attempted was poor. Welbeck, Ramsey, Alexis either shooting at de Gea from close range or dribbling shots into the grateful arms of the Spanish keeper. It reminded me of some of the Arsenal teams of old. Cesc, Nasri and Rosicky. Wonderful technical players who when found themselves in scoring positions found the keeper rather than the corners of the goal. Maybe I am being hard on those times because I focus on Arsenal far more than other teams but I can't shake the feeling that we often battered teams for 90 minutes always playing against keepers who are having 'one of those days'
Welcome to the first Arsenal Vision Podcast, unfortunately it happened to coincide with arguably our lowest point this season, which is typical of my luck. It's an idea I have been toying with for a while now. There are plenty of Arsenal Podcasts out there but nothing directly after the game when emotions are usually running high. As it was a first go I came across quite a few teething problems. Mainly because my computer needs to be put down and quickly. I also noticed that I have cut off a second or two at the end, not sure how that happened but there we are.
Today it was finishing. It seemed like our best scoring chances were all aimed at DeGea's silhouette, and you can't expect to score that way against a top Premier League keeper. Based upon everything else about those chances, Jack's shot (which should have been chipped), Alexis' header, and Santi's volley should rightfully all have been goals but weren't simply because of where they were aimed