Post Match Q&A

The fact you and I are both unsure is a good thing - I don't remember us ever having a midfield as flexible as the one we have right now - the party line will be that Ozil was better in the centre, but the heat maps showed him spending a lot of time on the left anyway. With the Ox and Cazorla both happy going wide or coming inside, I saw us coming at Villa like a swarm of flies, and they didn't know which way to swat. I bet you could capture plenty of freeze frames where it looked like either formation

Dortmund wanted it more and Arsenal were nowhere near sharp or pragmatic enough to get anywhere near them, by the end Arsenal were mentally shot and even the basics were a struggle. Tactically Arsenal were setup to fail, overwhelmed in the middle of the park and devastated on the counter making the final score look flattering. For such an offensive setup, Arsenal sure didn’t look like creating anything with Wilshere, Ramsey, Özil and to an extent Alexis all competing to be the primary central figure, too many cooks and all that. Welbeck missed three decent chances but it seems immaterial given such an inept performance

Wilshere and Sanchez definitely. They drove us forward quite quickly and were fearless to take players on and take them out of the game. Both were tackles incessantly during the game and the City players couldn't keep them in check. Both did their fair share of defending and Alexis especially worked his socks off the entire game. Both goals we scored today were absolutely fantastic, Wilshere's one was special maybe a career-changing moment. Bodes well for the side if we can keep both of them fit throughout the campaign

I think it has more to do with our play in the final third. We’re not short on supply. It is our end product that is missing. We lack a poacher. That said, top quality strikers are a scarce commodity in today’s world and unless we can afford a Falcao or a Cavani, I see no reason to shell out money on a 2nd class striker just for the sake of adding to our numbers. Today’s result, however poor it might have been, was an

Sanchez was my MotM for his goal which proved decisive and never ending effort throughout the game. I loved his physicality, he'll be handful for many Premier League defenders particularly when the ref is a bit lenient. Wilshere was a fighter, could have been quicker with some passing though. Cazorla stepped up, Chamberlain had good energy and some nice touches on the flank (shame he didn't score)... Arguably Monreal's best performance in an Arsenal shirt, definitely so from a defensive point of view

As much as we all would love to do a false 9 with Alexis it has never really worked in the PL. Size and strength matter more in England. Quickness alone can't get you through two 6ft center halfs in this league. Some would say look at Aguero but he usually has a big strike partner. Giroud came on and kept the defenders honest and in so doing opened up their box a bit. The great header by him is an example of needing strength in the PL

Cazorla, Giroud and Ramsey. Everyone else was good bar these three. Cazorla was found misplacing passes and losing possession while Giroud missed chance he should have been scoring any day of the week. Ramsey, however, pissed me off the most tonight. He’s a great player, one of our best but tonight we didn’t see his normal self…he was someone who was over-complicating and trying to much, especially with the dribbling and constant show-off moves but I am confident we’ll see the normal self of his once Ozil returns

I feel like Sanchez is doing everything right apart from delivering a quality final ball but I think it'll come with more games with the players. He got an assist today and his work rate is incredible. He ran everywhere for 90 minutes. It's great to have some pace in the team and someone willing to run at his marker. Debuchy looks to have replaced Sagna with giving the 7/10 performance every game. I know he's 3 games into his Arsenal career but they've all been solid 7s. We'll create many goals from that right side of the pitch once he and Sanchez blend more. I think I'm in love with Chambers. He's extremely solid for a 19 year old CM/RB playing CB. His inexperience showed once or twice today but he's been great.

Well I think most of us were taken aback at Szczesny not being given a chance to claim that golden glove award. Would've been cheeky if Wenger subbed Fabianski off in the 90th minute. But I'm not going to read too much into it. We're the luckiest side in the world to be gifted with 2 world class keepers. I'm sure it was more a symbolic gesture than anything; ensure both keepers feature in both tournaments. There's very little between the 2 and regardless of who starts when, I doubt it will make any major difference to the scoreline

Quite predictably, although you never know I may be bucking popular opinion somehow, I felt like Mesut Özil was one of our best performers today. While you expect someone of his quality and transfer price to affect the outcome of games, the consistency with which he can control the tempo of the game and hit inch perfect passes just shows why the German is valued how he is at more than two Santi Cazorlas. Sometimes you do not appreciate what you have until it is gone, and the German sure is making a positive impact since his return to fitness.