It is usually around the Christmas mark when Arsène flips open his book of rotation so to see both full backs come in as well as Ospina behind then and Mikel Arteta in the defensive midfield position was somewhat of a surprise to me. Now before I go on any further with this I want to say that I fully understand the managers reasoning behind the changes. Playing away from home on a Wednesday in Croatia only to face Chelsea away from home on Saturday lunchtime is about as
Arsène Wenger has shuffled his pack a little bit as the Gunners prepare to face a Dinamo Zagreb in hot form, with the Chelsea game looming around the corner, Arsène has been forced into making a few changes to the team that dismantled Stoke City on the weekend. Arsène Wenger had already shown his intentions before the game by leaving Hector Bellerin and Aaron Ramsey at home.
Champions League football returns for another year, it is quite amazing how we take it for granted these days such is the consistency of our participation in this competition. But participation is not what Arsène Wenger wants I imagine, he wants to win the one competition that has escaped his grasp so far. But this is no Mickey mouse competition and there is a reason why only a handful of clubs have a strangle hold over the trophies for the most part. But regardless of the odds, Arsène Wenger will want his squad to give it there best shot and that starts in Croatia against Dinamo Zagreb who are undefeated in 41 games, that is a hell of a lot of games. Maybe we can end that by kicking the Zagreb players all over the pitch, pulling their forward down when he is running through on goal
You recoil with horror yet his is all very sensible, particularly in a Moneyball sense. You know, cleansing your mind of the biases that deny the hard data, emancipating yourself from the kind of reflex devotion to your team that bookmakers prey on. Think of the Tottenham fan betting that this will be the season they break the top four, or a Liverpool supporter convinced that 2015-16 is their year. They're danged fools, right?
I don't want to be a danged fool, and with nothing to say in the face of this common sense I accepted the possibility that I too might learn to enjoy a goal by someone I don't like. And I have to admit it feels great.
In today's Arsenal Vision Post Match Podcast: Arsenal continue to win the XG league (whoo hoo) with another createy game at the Emirates, this time Stoke City were battered into next week without the final score being a true reflection of what happened on Saturday afternoon in North London. Paul (@PoznanInMyPants), Elliot (@YankeeGunner) and James (@GoonerFanatic49) talk strikers, chances and Gabriel's gang role.
Whether or not our chances were directly down to Theo's movement, the team looked very creative and inventive. I enjoyed watching Alexis Sanchez, he seemed far more rounded in his performance. His mixture of beating his man and finding the pass seemed far more balanced than usual. His driving runs inside from the left caused Stoke problems for the entire match
Theo and Giroud on the pitch at once gives us a better chances of scoring, plus they have always seemed to compliment each other pretty well whenever they have played together. The biggest change for me would be in midfield, I would start either Mikel Arteta or Santi Cazorla as our deepest option which I know is almost blasphemy in the eyes of some. I am just not sure whether tough tackling, hard as nails 'DMS' are needed in every single home game. In a game where our build up play could be more of a determining factor to the result than a battling in midfielder, I wonder if one of the Spaniards dictating from deep which would allow Ramsey
On the 1st goal, Cech has to take the blame. If you come out for a cross, you must get something on it. Thats a cardinal rule of goalkeeping. If he had stayed on his line and the header was on target, ultimately resulting in a goal, then we could blame the marker on the set piece. As for the 2nd goal, no blame on Cech. The defence switched off as soon the Ox lost the ball. By the way, this is becoming a bad habit he needs to cut out of his game ASAP. We saw him lose the ball in dangerous positions against Monaco last season and more recently against Everton in pre-season, both errors leading to us conceding needlessly, just like today
You all chuckled and giggled at us during the early part of last season, you smirked as we failed to get our attacking game together, grinned when we dropped points against lower placed clubs like Tottenham Hotspur and chortled when we lost player after player to injury. Well I hope you enjoyed your fun because you won't get another chance to do that for a long while. We have been slowly building this squad after tearing up the Santos, Bendtner, Gervinho team. I don't know how but we have managed to slip under the radar until now. Picking up a footballing freak like Mesut Özil who has already read five steps ahead of your first thought on the pitch. We picked up a South American whirlwind in Alexis Sanchez and now we have one of the best goalkeepers in Premier League history.