So let me stop reminiscing of days gone by and let me focus on our Welsh wonder. Let me start off by saying that I think it is quite obvious that Aaron Ramsey is better in central midfield. His partnership with Mesut Özil, his running from deep and his underrated ball winning ability makes him a top central midfielder, no question. But the most important thing is the bigger picture and the bigger picture is the team. Arsène tried to fit Ramsey back into the middle against West Ham and pushing Santi Cazorla wider but the balance was not correct. Maybe it would have improved over time, maybe Coquelin and Ramsey could develop together but we did not really have the time or room for error to allow that to play out. The introduction of Francis Coquelin into the side means we
For all the exciting attacking players we have at our disposal, I am actually quite excited about how we will do defensively. Petr Cech will not only bring experience but a willingness to keep clean sheets. Hector Bellerin aside, we have plenty of experienced defenders at the back. Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny have a wonderful partnership together and if those two can stay fit for 70%+ of the season then those two along with Cech behind them can provide a terrific spine for the team at the heart of the defence, not to mention the tenacious Coquelin or even further more experience in Arteta when called upon
Will Arsène choose this back four against Chelsea? Will we start the season with Monreal and Bellerin on the bench? It could be purely down to the balance of the team. Arsène prefers one conservative full back with a more attacking option on the other side. The Bellerin/Monreal option gives that same balance but maybe Arsène wants to go with the more experienced Debuchy over Bellerin so selecting Gibbs seems the natural selection. It would be very harsh on Nacho Monreal who was one of our most consistent performers last season. Maybe I am imagining things I don't know, but we will see what our first choice back four is on Sunday for sure
Do you remember when Aaron Ramsey played against Cardiff in a cup game a long while back. He was bloody awful that day, compare that kid to the Ramsey of two seasons back. Remember the Alex Song at Fulham before he was dragged off at half time, compare him to the player that Barcelona, the best team in the world at the time came in and bought him to be part of their squad. There are too many examples of players making giant strides when they are fit, confident and happy. The last time Abou Diaby had a run of games for Arsenal was in 2010 and he was consistently good alongside Cesc Fabregas and Alex Song I think. The 2010 Diaby was still nowhere near the player he would have become had he avoided such horrific luck
It was never that straight forward and Francis Coquelin didn't come and make everything alright. Without wanting to go into it too much, I think the turning point came in November when we lost at home to Manchester United. We were trying to juggle far too much earlier in the season. A change of system from 4231 to 4141, new offensive players in Alexis and Welbeck while losing our focal point in Giroud. Players such as Mertesacker struggling after the world cup and of course constant injuries. There was a period of time back then when I remember us losing a new player at least every game. While much of the focus was on our defending mainly because we did not buy a centre back when in fact Nacho Monreal was arguably our most consistent defender at the time our offensive
You can see what Arsène was thinking early last season with the 4-1-4-1. There were complaints that Arsène was trying to shoehorn Ramsey and Wilshere into the same team for the sake of it but I'm not sure that it was the individuals that were the issue, rather a case of the development of the team was at an early stage and many players were not yet at the level they were post Christmas. I wouldn't bet against that system working much better after a good pre season if that was the way Arsène wanted to go. The obvious obstacle to that system is the quality of Mesut Özil in a central position and I suspect Arsène would like to build his attack around the German's genius
His constant injury problems have hampered his progression as a player and for the first time Wilshere is not being held up as the golden child anymore. So much so that in some cases it's gone the other way. More and more Gooners are behind the idea of selling Wilshere in the summer and bringing in another player in his place. He holds onto the ball for too long, he is reckless and he is tactically poor are all criticisms leveled at Jack from many Arsenal fans. These are the reasons often cited as to why we should cash in on him. I understand some of the arguments, the same way I understood some of those who said Ramsey held onto the ball for too long, he attempted too many flicks, he was wasteful in front of goal and so on. You see where I'm going with this don't you?
Walter White is working for Gustavo Fring and as time goes on, Walter is doing things that start to piss off Gus. You don't want to piss off Gus as he doesn't take too kindly to people crossing him. Anyone other than Walter would have literally bitten the bullet a long time ago but Walter is not just anybody, he is special and is able to produce something that nobody else can, so Gus has to bite his tongue until he can find someone who can learn from Walter before taking him out or at least attempt to. So Gus asks a couple of people to study Mr White and learn his secret so he can dispose of Mr White
It was certainly not just down to Giroud and I'm sure Welbeck would have had an improved second half of the season as centre forward with the return of Özil, Koscielny and the reintroduction of Francis Coquelin. That said having Giroud 2.0 back in the team gave us all a reminder of what Welbeck has missing from his game at present. The ball does not stick with Welbeck quite the same way it does with Giroud and while Welbeck does not misplace many passes he doesn't link the players around him quite as well. But perhaps the biggest area for improvement is his finishing when chances arrive. He tends to snatch at opportunities when a calmer head may pick a spot and ease the ball into the net.
Why was this rule introduced in the first place? and yes that was a rhetorical question. I don't understand why we have rules in place for one competition and not for another. The point of home fixtures is so your crowd can give you an advantage by showing support/encouragement. The reason why these games are over two legs is to make it fair for both teams, so both teams play in front of their own fans. I'm not sure I buy into the argument that the 2nd leg at home gives that team the advantage. It entirely depends on both teams and how they play at home or away from home. For example let's say Oliver Giroud was on fire during the 1st leg in Monaco we could have won that game 4-1/4-2/5-2 without any exaggeration. The 2nd leg is now