In today's Arsenal Vision Post Match Podcast: Paul (@PoznanInMyPants) and Tim (@Stillberto) discuss our unconvincing yet vital 3-1 victory against Sunderland on the weekend. Giroud's chocolate leg frustrates Tim while Paul talks about gods intervention. All that and much more in this weeks Arsenal Vision Podcast
It is looking like we will have a midfield pairing of and Flamini, two players who have made a career of covering large distances getting up and down the pitch. None of those players are naturally suited to sitting and dominating possession, moving into spaces to receive the ball and then pass it on to team mates. This is where we are going to miss Santi Cazorla and indeed Mikel Arteta so it will be interesting to see how Ramsey and Flamini work together over a longer period of time, assuming both can stay fit long enough to develop an understanding of sorts. Will both players be a little more restricted in their game or will today's opponents likely defensive strategy mean that both players will look to join Giroud in the
In today's Arsenal Vision Post Match Podcast: Paul (@PoznanInMyPants) and Elliot (@YankeeGunner) discuss our 1-1 draw against Norwich City at Carrow Road. Injuries, squad depth and much more in this weeks Arsenal Vision Podcast
Alexis along with Özil have been our best attacking players over the last few matches and he hasn't looked tired one bit, in fact he looked like he was returning to his best after a wobble. So I don't blame the manager for not taking him out of the team. If the player gets the go ahead from the medical staff, the player says he feels fit and of course his recent performances show that he is winning games for you then what do you do? When players get injured for the most part, I think we can manage until they return as long as it is not all of your players in the same position or if that player is Alexis Sanchez because he is different to everyone else. I guess it depends on the duration of the injury. Luckily we have Oxlade-Chamberlain and Ramsey back along with Joel Campbell who looks better than the bit part version we witnessed until now.
Tough call for the boss to make today given that Joel Campbell put in his best performance in an Arsenal shirt so far against Zargreb in midweek but as I explained in my preview, Aaron Ramsey is the type of player you want to have away from home, games in which you need to wrestle the control in our favour and have another passing option in the middle of the pitch. We have missed his impact on the side so I am very pleased to have him back once more. It means that Joel Campbell drops down to the bench and that gives us some options from the bench should the need arise.
It's been a bit of a mixed bag for us so far. Hopes were high going in to the season: we have a young, confident manager and a group of players who were still riding the wave of momentum that took us all the way to our playoff final victory. Things started reasonably strongly and we continued the trend from last season of attempting to play expansive, attacking football. However, a number of poor defensive displays - particularly individual errors - have cost us dearly on several occasions, and combined with a lack of incisiveness in front of goal, the last month-and-a-half have been more difficult. Manager Alex Neil has moved towards a more defensively solid approach of late
I am hoping beyond hope that the trio of Cazorla, Alexis and Özil can continue where they left off in midweek. When those players produce that level of football you can almost allow the rest of the team to focus on being defensively stable and not making mistakes because you know one of those three will do something special during the course of 90 minutes to find a breakthrough or two. The understanding between the three was evident against Zagreb. The understanding between Cazorla and Özil seems obvious while the Özil and Alexis duo seems to be flourishing more and more. Norwich cannot be seen as pushovers though, it took a big effort from Chelsea to squeeze past the Canaries by a single goal last weekend, Norwich have really attempted to tighten up defensively ever since Newcastle stuck six past them in October so it might have to be a case of looking back at what went wrong against West Brom and sticking to what went well
In today's Arsenal Vision Post Match Podcast: Paul (@PoznanInMyPants) and James (@GoonerFanatic49) discuss our silky dismantling of Dinamo Zagreb on Tuesday night. James waxes lyrical about Alexis, while Paul goes all Beatles about Mesut Özil, all that and much more in this weeks Arsenal Vision Podcast
Well obviously Ozil, Alexis, and Cazorla each played better individually but the team defended tremendously well once they got ahead. It seemed like they were dropping off to contain much more than stepping up and trying to keep a high line or trap and that left very little in behind. But the best defense is attack, and going forward with speed I thought the wing play was much more creatively explosive and caused a lot of problems.
Joel Campbell was definitely quieter in the second half and did not get on the ball quite as much as he did during the first half. But in 68 he produced the pass of the match, cutting inside on his left foot, he spotted Alexis making a diagonal run inside the box, and his reverse pass sliced opened the Zagreb defence and landed at the feet of