Arsenal squad is inconclusive. This is undoubtedly a much more talented and hardworking side than we’ve had for a few years, capable of playing scintillating football on good days whilst grinding out results on off days. Whilst I will not pay much attention to the Chelsea

11 games into the Premier League campaign and we sit top of the table, two points ahead of our nearest competitors Liverpool. After some tough games the conclusion I’ve come to on this current Arsenal squad is inconclusive. This is undoubtedly a much more talented and hardworking side than we’ve had for a few years, capable of playing scintillating football on good days whilst grinding out results on off days. Whilst I will not pay much attention to the Chelsea result as I believe Wenger made the right decision to somewhat sacrifice the fixture in order to give priority to the Dortmund, Liverpool and United fixtures, we must take the other three results and learn from them.

Firstly, the result and performance against Liverpool was excellent and whilst we may have been lucky not to concede, it is testament to how our team defended as a group and individually. Ramsey is continuing to grow and exude the sort of confidence we have come to expect of a top class international player, whilst Arteta proved Flamini is not indispensible to the success of our defensive unit. Some people have written the Liverpool game off, saying that they are not a title challenger nor offer the same acid test as Chelsea, United or City would have; I’ve come to expect this sort of thinking. Pundits and critics are continually moving the goal posts for an aspiring team. If we beat Liverpool, United, City and Chelsea comprehensively, critics would be asking could we do it on a wet, Tuesday night in Stoke. Arsenal fans should take from the game what it was; we played a very good team with one of the deadliest strikers in the modern game and ran out two-nil winners. Our keeper made some excellent saves, we were a tad fortunate at times but our goals were of real quality.

The Dortmund result was extremely impressive and all the more satisfying for the way we gained the three points. Travelling to Dortmund and coming home with three points is nothing short of exceptional. We defended stoutly, stayed compact and delivered a sucker punch to them, just as they did to us a few weeks ago. For me this shows a quality that we have distinctly lacked for a number of years – an ability to learn from our mistakes. On too many occasions we’ve been left banging our heads against walls, ruing the idiocy of some of our mistakes. The individual errors we used to make seem to have been cut out due to a better team methodology when it comes to defending; if one of our players makes a mistake, which is bound to happen from time to time as we aim to play a possession based game, we have players in good positions to cover and cut out the danger. Flamini and Arteta have been excellent at this but so too have our fullbacks who seem to tuck in if the midfield go wondering.

Unfortunately we couldn’t replicate the Dortmund result at United. For me this is worrisome; this United team were clearly there for the taking. That is not to say that they are pushovers or bad footballers, in fact I think this was one of their best performances of the season. But by allowing them to take the points we have added to the speculation that we are not quite there yet. Whilst I believe this to be nonsense it is amazing how a result can become a psychological aspect to a team’s game. Next time we play against United, Chelsea or City questions will be asked about our big game temperament, our ability to beat the so called ‘big boys’.

Psychological factors aside, there are a few tangible conclusions that we can take from these games. Whilst Olivier Giroud is a very good striker and plays our system fantastically well, we desperately need cover of real quality. I don’t think we need someone who offers something different from Giroud; there is a thinking at Barcelona – why put so much effort into your plan A, your tika taka football and with 10 minutes to go, throw on a different style of player and attempt to change your whole approach? You have spent months/years perfecting your style of play; changing your approach with 10 minutes to go doesn’t make sense when it doesn’t play to your strengths. I agree with this, our strength stems from our creativity in the midfield and that is where our goals will come from. Players like Ramsey and Walcott, when he returns, look to run beyond the striker and receive the ball round the corner. If we change to a striker who plays on the last man such as Sturridge or a striker who looks to find space in the box like Hernandez, it hinders our greatest asset, our free flowing midfield. What we do need is a player who can do the same job as Giroud to the same quality or higher on the days that it is not coming off for him.

Secondly, the sooner Walcott, Chamberlain, Podolski and to a lesser degree Gnabry return from injury the better. At the moment we have little options from the bench and the options we have are no different in style to those that we have on the pitch. Teams need players who can come on and provide that little idiosyncrasy that other players don’t have. You need opposition defenders to tire both physically and mentally and by throwing on a player who likes to use his pace to get in behind like Walcott, a player who loves to shoot from range like Podolski, a player who loves to beat a man like Chamberlain or someone who loves to pass and move like Rosicky you are keeping defenders guessing. Walcott may have changed the game for us on Sunday, he is the type of player who imbalances the squad in a good way with his directness and eagerness to make the run. As I said at the start of the season, he could be the biggest beneficiary of the Ozil transfer if they manage to strike up an understanding, so the sooner we get him fit and integrated back into the squad the better.

Finally, less a conclusion more a query, I wonder where Wenger plans to play Ramsey when he has all his players fit. It’s clear that Wenger believes that Flamini and Arteta can be used in tandem and in recent games Ramsey has been pushed wide to accommodate the pairing. When Walcott returns will Wenger decide to drop one of the two at the base to play Ramsey in his favoured position or will Ramsey continue to be shoehorned into positions to help the team? It is not a bad situation to find ourselves in and I believe Walcott will be eased back into action so we have some time to figure it out but it is an interesting situation developing in our midfield pack.

We have come out the other side of a difficult period with some impressive and some disappointing results; but the fact that we are disappointed at not beating United at home is a representation of where we are currently at, and possibly where United are at. There seems to be a belief that this was a blip, an unfortunate event that we will rectify in our upcoming fixtures. We can now draw a line under that difficult period and focus on our next opponents, Southampton – who will be another difficult test, ensure our walking wounded return to fitness and protect our key personal from injury or suspension.

Til’ next time,

JR – @JrShotWho