In today's Arsenal Vision Post Match Podcast Paul (@PoznanInMyPants) leads the attack in Elliot’s absence. He is joined by Clive (@ClivePAFC) & Tim (@Stillberto). They talk about the 2-2 draw against Manchester City, defensive errors, Danny Welbeck, the future and more all discussed on this weeks Arsenal Vision Post Match Podcast.
The centre back pairing is one of the obvious and it was no surprise to see the experienced Gabriel start the game. new boy Rob Holding was the chosen one to partner the Brazilian. The midfield combination was also of much interest. It seems as if Arsene is looking to start Coquelin alongside Xhaka in the first game of the season. Without going back through the games, I think Coquelin has played whenever Xhaka has. Given that Xhaka is the deepest of the midfielders it leaves Coquelin in somewhat of a box to box role and I am not quite sure how much I like the idea of that
Walcott's goal moments later was a thing of absolute beauty. It's not the first time that he has taken a pass intended for someone else and then gone on to score. He did the same in our home victory last season to Aston Villa. Last weekend against Aston Villa his whipped finish into the far corner was wrongly disallowed, on Monday night he did it again so I wonder if he has been working on it behind the scenes at London Colny. At the start of the season when he was given his chance as a central striker many of his shots were very tame often quite powder-puff. I remember screaming out for a whipped effort rather than a soft curling shot that was easy to save.
I am hopeful that we can do the same to City tonight. They have a wealth of attacking quality going forward and have been suspect defensively. Perhaps the best way of stopping their offensive players will be to win the ball back before it gets to the likes of Silva, De Bruyne, et al. If we are to play that way it would be kinda helpful to have Alexis Sanchez fit and starting on the flank, Arsène has understandably kept his decision tucked away under his hat. Arsène said that Alexis was running but hadn't started ball work, but you cannot take much of what he says about the team pre match at face value.
Arsenal team moved the ball around as quickly and slickly as we did. Ramsey drifting in from wide gave us the advantage in midfield and Mancini's men were chasing us for long periods. If it was the first time I'd ever watched football without knowing any of the history then I would have assumed that