The calendar has turned from 2014 to 2015 and Arsenal's hopes for the new year to be a symbol for a fresh beginning face a serious test as we prepare to head to Manchester City on Sunday. So, we may not have exactly gotten off to the greatest start to the new calendar year, losing 2-0 at Southampton on New Year's Day in an overall listless performance. But since then, the Gunners have rebounded fairly well, with wins over Hull in the F.A. Cup and Stoke in the league.
Our biggest challenge this year (well, other than injuries) has been getting a run of positive results going. That will be extremely difficult to establish again with this weekend's trip to the reigning champions but after last year's blowout loss at their place, a good performance will be seen as progress. For me, it's too late for moral victories for us. Sure, there will be something to be said if we play well and only lose by a goal or something, rather than looking like deer in headlights again as we concede goal after goal. At this point in the league campaign, though, we have to get results.
I believe that if we play well enough, we can beat any team in the league and that includes the defending champions. While I don't expect it in the slightest, our chances of pulling off the upset at the Etihad start with defense. We should have our top choice central defensive pairing of Mertesacker and Koscielny, who both give us so much solidity at the back that we look shambolic without them playing together. With Kieran Gibbs a doubt, Nacho Monreal should keep his place at left back as he has played very well in recent weeks. Arsene Wenger has an interesting choice to make at right back now that Mathieu Debuchy is expected to be out for three months with a dislocated shoulder. Either Calum Chambers or Hector Bellerin will be drafted in and while I expect Arsene to go with Chambers, who has played more games so far, I'd be inclined to start Bellerin. To me, Chambers has thrived more in the center of defense than as a right back and Bellerin's pace and ability going forward are better. Bellerin's defending skills might be below Chambers, but he has acquitted himself well when he has played and I'm just worried about the slower Chambers going against the quickness of David Silva and Sergio Aguero. I also think Chambers should be preserved as a backup to Per and Koscielny while we wait for the club to sign defensive reinforcements.
In the midfield, Francis Coquelin has been a revelation and should retain his place along with Tomas Rosicky and hopefully Aaron Ramsey will come back in, if he's fit enough to start. Mesut Özil is also back in contention after returning to action last week against Stoke, but I'd opt for the in-form Santi Cazorla to keep his place at central attacking mid and keep Özil as an option off the bench. Up front, there's no way Olivier Giroud doesn't start with the magical Alexis alongside him. The Chilean has been even better than advertised for us this season, coming off a two-goal performance last week and accounting for the most goals + assists of any player in the Premier League.
On paper, we should have more than enough firepower to match Man City, who will be without Edin Dzeko and $amir Na$ri, which is a shame only because the latter can't be kicked up into the air by Coquelin or Flamini. In our first meeting with City at the Emirates, Arsenal went charging into the lead from exquisite goals from Alexis and Jack Wilshere, only to see us hold on for dear life for a 2-2 draw that we honestly could have (should have) lost. The keys will be whether we can match their intensity and play within an organized shape. If we lose our confidence and defensive shape, we will be battered again.
As for transfer news, we still somehow haven't signed a defender yet with the exact midpoint of January upon us. It will seriously be criminal if we don't sign a defender this window, as short as we've been all season, with Debuchy essentially lost for the rest of season now and with Per having played almost every minute of every match thus far. The good news is that Wenger has been uncharacteristically forthright about our attempts to bring in at least one defender. With Arsenal, though, you never know for sure. We have completed the signing of 17 year old midfielder Krystian Bielik from Legia Warsaw, but he is definitely one for the future. There have been crazy, outlandish transfer rumors, as there are with any transfer window. The bottom line is that we knew since before the season started that we were short on defenders, it ended up biting us in the ass (just as anyone with half a brain could have forseen) and it would require us to act in the January window to rectify. Until we do, this season will be seen as one in which we willfully chose to damage our own title challenge by not addressing a very unbalanced squad, simple and plain. For the sake of the club and its fans, the clock is ticking to change that or otherwise face more outcry and anger than ever seen before.
Showing posts with label Alexis Sanchez. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alexis Sanchez. Show all posts
November 6, 2014
Back to Being the Punchline
One of the best parts of last season, apart from finally winning a trophy, was Arsenal's extended run atop the Premier League. Being in first place for so long did a lot to restore a sense of pride among Gooners all over the world. It served as a reminder that our club could challenge for titles again and erased some of the embarrassment factor that accompanied being an Arsenal fan over the better part of the last nine years.
A few shambolic defeats in the second half of the season brought us crashing back to Earth a good deal, but winning the FA Cup made it feel like a successful campaign and raised hopes for more to come. So far this year, that hasn't been the case at all and Tuesday night's 3-3 draw against Anderlecht further reinforced Arsenal's reputation as a laughingstock.
The come-from-behind draw does little damage to our prospects of advancing out of our Champions League group, despite the fact that a win would have clinched our passage to the knockout stage. Dortmund would also still hold a three point lead on us even if we had won. It would have been a major statement to still be in the running to win our group, though. To capitulate in a match that should have been a dominant win and throw away any chance of winning our group at the same time hurts. As a club, we're resigning to the fact that we are clear-cut second favorites in our group and whether that might be true or not, it's disappointing that we didn't earn the results needed to battle that notion until the end.
As for the match, there is no way that being 3-0 up should result in anything other than a win, no matter who the opposition is. The old cliché can be true about the precariousness of a two goal lead, but Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's goal to put us up 3-0 should have iced the game. It should be said that Anderlecht's first goal was obviously offside, though allowed to stand by the referee. After that goal, though, we reacted shockingly poorly, as Anderlecht drove the game from then on. The mental toughness that Arsene Wenger praises so often in games we win late or fight to hold on for was nowhere to be found that night.
As gloomy as that draw left me feeling, there are still positive things happening. Alexis Sanchez continues to play absolutely out of his mind and in the form he's in, it appears as though we really have signed a very special player. Some of our players are returning from being maimed, too, with Theo Walcott back in action, Olivier Giroud close to returning to training and Mesut Özil and Mathieu Debuchy making progress as well. Also, full credit should go to Anderlecht, who we should have lost to in our meeting in Belgium. They played us very tough, even while 3-0 down when it's extremely difficult to push on and much easier to give up.
So not all is lost as we prepare to face Swansea on Sunday. It's just that instead of being able to build on a winning streak in all competitions, our confidence will have taken a hit after throwing away a sure win at home to lesser opposition. It remains to be seen if we respond with a passionate, focused performance or if doubt creeps in. Now into November, the same inconsistency Arsenal has shown since the start of the season remains the same.
A few shambolic defeats in the second half of the season brought us crashing back to Earth a good deal, but winning the FA Cup made it feel like a successful campaign and raised hopes for more to come. So far this year, that hasn't been the case at all and Tuesday night's 3-3 draw against Anderlecht further reinforced Arsenal's reputation as a laughingstock.
The come-from-behind draw does little damage to our prospects of advancing out of our Champions League group, despite the fact that a win would have clinched our passage to the knockout stage. Dortmund would also still hold a three point lead on us even if we had won. It would have been a major statement to still be in the running to win our group, though. To capitulate in a match that should have been a dominant win and throw away any chance of winning our group at the same time hurts. As a club, we're resigning to the fact that we are clear-cut second favorites in our group and whether that might be true or not, it's disappointing that we didn't earn the results needed to battle that notion until the end.
As for the match, there is no way that being 3-0 up should result in anything other than a win, no matter who the opposition is. The old cliché can be true about the precariousness of a two goal lead, but Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's goal to put us up 3-0 should have iced the game. It should be said that Anderlecht's first goal was obviously offside, though allowed to stand by the referee. After that goal, though, we reacted shockingly poorly, as Anderlecht drove the game from then on. The mental toughness that Arsene Wenger praises so often in games we win late or fight to hold on for was nowhere to be found that night.
As gloomy as that draw left me feeling, there are still positive things happening. Alexis Sanchez continues to play absolutely out of his mind and in the form he's in, it appears as though we really have signed a very special player. Some of our players are returning from being maimed, too, with Theo Walcott back in action, Olivier Giroud close to returning to training and Mesut Özil and Mathieu Debuchy making progress as well. Also, full credit should go to Anderlecht, who we should have lost to in our meeting in Belgium. They played us very tough, even while 3-0 down when it's extremely difficult to push on and much easier to give up.
So not all is lost as we prepare to face Swansea on Sunday. It's just that instead of being able to build on a winning streak in all competitions, our confidence will have taken a hit after throwing away a sure win at home to lesser opposition. It remains to be seen if we respond with a passionate, focused performance or if doubt creeps in. Now into November, the same inconsistency Arsenal has shown since the start of the season remains the same.
October 28, 2014
Time to Go Streaking
It's been a long time since I last wrote, but in the month I've been gone not a whole lot has changed. Every Arsenal player of all time suffered injuries... okay, that's an exaggeration but it feels that way for sure. Our form has still been up and down; we've lost some matches we may have have gotten more from and won some matches without performing all that well as a whole. As we enter November, there is some disappointment that we've failed to build on the early season form we enjoyed last year. Injuries have played the biggest part in that, but even with some very key additions we don't look like a team that will be challenging for the league, which we did look like for most last season.
That's not meant to sound too pessimistic, especially since it is still very early in the season. In the league, we've faced several early tests having played Man City, Spurs, Chelsea away and even Everton, despite the fact that they've struggled a lot thus far. Furthermore, we've rebounded somewhat in our Champions league group, though it has to be said that we were extremely lucky to get out of Anderlecht with a win. After falling behind 1-0 in the 71st minute to a goal from former DC United winger Andy Najar (who I'll love forever), scoring twice after the 89th minute to escape with the win made the scoreline misleading. It would've been pretty disastrous had we lost that match, especially since we were so listless through most of the game. In the end, all that really matters is the win and at least we pulled that off.
Last Saturday's win against a reeling Sunderland side wasn't our greatest possible performance, either. It did establish some important positives for us to build on. While both of Alexis' goals came off of hilarious errors by Sunderland, he was aware enough to capitalize on them and his chipped finish for the first one was sexy as hell. We also kept a clean sheet, which isn't all that impressive considering the opposition but for us almost anything is possible so we'll look to build on that, too. With all of the injuries to our defenders and our lack of backup options, we'll gladly take as many shutouts as we can get.
Our upcoming games in the league continue to present us with a chance to get a win streak going, which could boost our confidence and see us hopefully rise up the table a little more. Up next, we face Burnley and it would be very worrying if we don't have our most dominant performance of the year thus far against them. After that, we play Swansea away and then a somewhat revamped Manchester United at the Emirates. Their form has been up and down, similarly to ours, but they are definitely a better side than last year and we failed to beat them even then. Then we play West Brom (A), Southampton (H), Stoke (A), Newcastle (H), Liverpool (A), QPR (H), West Ham (A) and then Southampton (A) again on New Year's Day. So there are some good chances to get a run going, with some pretty tricky games mixed in there as well.
We also have the reverse fixtures for each of our Champions League matchups, so we have a lot to get sorted over the next several weeks. We should be getting Giroud, Debuchy and Özil back, among others, around New Year's. The hope is that by then, our forward combinations start to flourish and we can keep our makeshift backline intact long enough to buy more defenders. These are pretty big hypotheticals, but that's the situation we find ourselves in.
That's not meant to sound too pessimistic, especially since it is still very early in the season. In the league, we've faced several early tests having played Man City, Spurs, Chelsea away and even Everton, despite the fact that they've struggled a lot thus far. Furthermore, we've rebounded somewhat in our Champions league group, though it has to be said that we were extremely lucky to get out of Anderlecht with a win. After falling behind 1-0 in the 71st minute to a goal from former DC United winger Andy Najar (who I'll love forever), scoring twice after the 89th minute to escape with the win made the scoreline misleading. It would've been pretty disastrous had we lost that match, especially since we were so listless through most of the game. In the end, all that really matters is the win and at least we pulled that off.
Last Saturday's win against a reeling Sunderland side wasn't our greatest possible performance, either. It did establish some important positives for us to build on. While both of Alexis' goals came off of hilarious errors by Sunderland, he was aware enough to capitalize on them and his chipped finish for the first one was sexy as hell. We also kept a clean sheet, which isn't all that impressive considering the opposition but for us almost anything is possible so we'll look to build on that, too. With all of the injuries to our defenders and our lack of backup options, we'll gladly take as many shutouts as we can get.
Our upcoming games in the league continue to present us with a chance to get a win streak going, which could boost our confidence and see us hopefully rise up the table a little more. Up next, we face Burnley and it would be very worrying if we don't have our most dominant performance of the year thus far against them. After that, we play Swansea away and then a somewhat revamped Manchester United at the Emirates. Their form has been up and down, similarly to ours, but they are definitely a better side than last year and we failed to beat them even then. Then we play West Brom (A), Southampton (H), Stoke (A), Newcastle (H), Liverpool (A), QPR (H), West Ham (A) and then Southampton (A) again on New Year's Day. So there are some good chances to get a run going, with some pretty tricky games mixed in there as well.
We also have the reverse fixtures for each of our Champions League matchups, so we have a lot to get sorted over the next several weeks. We should be getting Giroud, Debuchy and Özil back, among others, around New Year's. The hope is that by then, our forward combinations start to flourish and we can keep our makeshift backline intact long enough to buy more defenders. These are pretty big hypotheticals, but that's the situation we find ourselves in.
September 15, 2014
Arsenal Hold On For Draw as Injuries Mount
Arsenal's game against Man City this past weekend ran across the entire spectrum of all things positive of negative. The goals we scored were amazing, while the goals we let in through sloppy defending were... um, not. The fantastic individual performances were also great, however Mathieu Debuchy went down with a serious injury. On the whole, it was a match that left me with a ton of mixed emotions.
Overall, there was a lot to like. It's not like a draw at home against the reigning champions was a bad result, it's just that tying the game after being ahead always feels like a huge missed opportunity. It's still too early in the season to really count these as two dropped points, but had we held on for the win against a team that is certainly a lock to finish top-four, it would've been massive. In typical Arsenal fashion, we were on the front foot from the beginning of the game, only to concede a goal on the counter attack. It was a little bit unlucky that Flamini's initial tackle sent the ball down line to start City's break, instead of rolling out of bounds, but it was Flamini's failure to track Aguero that allowed him to score. Dominating possession and shots and finding ourselves 1-0 down is nothing new and after that Szczesny made a brilliant one-on-one save that kept us in the game. Had he not, it would've been a totally different matter for us to have to come back from two goals down.
That save ended up paying off massively as Jack Wilshere scored a great equalizing goal midway through the second half. City turned the ball over in midfield, which led to Jack starting a flowing passing move before receiving a final pass from Aaron Ramsey and smartly finishing over Joe Hart. Wilshere was a standout performer on the day and it was a great response to all of the negative criticism he's received over his potential and performance for both club and country.
The other standout player was Arsenal's second goalscorer. Alexis Sanchez was excellent, from his running and pressing all over the field, to his dribbling attacks with the ball. His goal, volleyed in from Wilshere's headed assist, was an extremely skillful finish. The two goals were of such a high quality that it was definitely a shame to let City equalize, again from a totally unmarked player and again from a set piece.
The injury to Debuchy, who is now set to miss two months, is very concerning though. Our decision not to add to the defensive ranks continues to make less and less sense. It's a simple fact that injuries (not even to mention suspensions) have to be accounted for. With Calum Chambers coming in at right back, we have no natural backups at center back. Arseblog discussed the possibility of Hector Bellerin and Issac Hayden seeing first team action and honestly, under these circumstances, we may not have much of a choice.
The truth of the matter is that injuries are increasing across the board and not only at Arsenal. Maybe it has to do with the fact that most of the players at this level are playing virtually all year long. Even our players who didn't represent their countries at the World Cup this summer played their last game on May 17 in the FA Cup Final and had to return for preseason training in early July. Not even two full months off, and the players that did return from Brazil got even less of a break than that. It can't be a coincidence that most of our injured players (Gibbs, Giroud, and now Debuchy) played at the World Cup.
And when you think injuries are uniquely an Arsenal problem, take a look at Borussia Dortmund, tomorrow's Champions League opponent, and their injury list. That's Reus, Sahin, Ji and Kirch, not including Gundogan and Blaszczykowski whom Dortmund manager Jurgen Klopp also mentioned as being hampered in an interview with the Evening Standard. That's not to underestimate their quality, nor the intimidating atmosphere of their home fans. It's always a tough test to go to Dortmund and pick up points and tomorrow will be no different.
Overall, there was a lot to like. It's not like a draw at home against the reigning champions was a bad result, it's just that tying the game after being ahead always feels like a huge missed opportunity. It's still too early in the season to really count these as two dropped points, but had we held on for the win against a team that is certainly a lock to finish top-four, it would've been massive. In typical Arsenal fashion, we were on the front foot from the beginning of the game, only to concede a goal on the counter attack. It was a little bit unlucky that Flamini's initial tackle sent the ball down line to start City's break, instead of rolling out of bounds, but it was Flamini's failure to track Aguero that allowed him to score. Dominating possession and shots and finding ourselves 1-0 down is nothing new and after that Szczesny made a brilliant one-on-one save that kept us in the game. Had he not, it would've been a totally different matter for us to have to come back from two goals down.
That save ended up paying off massively as Jack Wilshere scored a great equalizing goal midway through the second half. City turned the ball over in midfield, which led to Jack starting a flowing passing move before receiving a final pass from Aaron Ramsey and smartly finishing over Joe Hart. Wilshere was a standout performer on the day and it was a great response to all of the negative criticism he's received over his potential and performance for both club and country.
The other standout player was Arsenal's second goalscorer. Alexis Sanchez was excellent, from his running and pressing all over the field, to his dribbling attacks with the ball. His goal, volleyed in from Wilshere's headed assist, was an extremely skillful finish. The two goals were of such a high quality that it was definitely a shame to let City equalize, again from a totally unmarked player and again from a set piece.
The injury to Debuchy, who is now set to miss two months, is very concerning though. Our decision not to add to the defensive ranks continues to make less and less sense. It's a simple fact that injuries (not even to mention suspensions) have to be accounted for. With Calum Chambers coming in at right back, we have no natural backups at center back. Arseblog discussed the possibility of Hector Bellerin and Issac Hayden seeing first team action and honestly, under these circumstances, we may not have much of a choice.
The truth of the matter is that injuries are increasing across the board and not only at Arsenal. Maybe it has to do with the fact that most of the players at this level are playing virtually all year long. Even our players who didn't represent their countries at the World Cup this summer played their last game on May 17 in the FA Cup Final and had to return for preseason training in early July. Not even two full months off, and the players that did return from Brazil got even less of a break than that. It can't be a coincidence that most of our injured players (Gibbs, Giroud, and now Debuchy) played at the World Cup.
And when you think injuries are uniquely an Arsenal problem, take a look at Borussia Dortmund, tomorrow's Champions League opponent, and their injury list. That's Reus, Sahin, Ji and Kirch, not including Gundogan and Blaszczykowski whom Dortmund manager Jurgen Klopp also mentioned as being hampered in an interview with the Evening Standard. That's not to underestimate their quality, nor the intimidating atmosphere of their home fans. It's always a tough test to go to Dortmund and pick up points and tomorrow will be no different.
September 1, 2014
Two Dropped Points - Deadline Day 2014
Yesterday, Arsenal quite disappointingly dropped points away at newly-promoted Leicester, only managing a 1-1 draw. Alexis opened the scoring in the first half only for Arsenal to concede the tying goal less than three minutes later. Leicester's Leonardo Ulloa headed his goal in over Laurent Koscielny, who earlier in the game had been down for several minutes after a clash of heads left him requiring stitches. The length of time he was down, combined with the fact that he was knocked directly in the head, would've been a good time to follow proper concussion protocol and sub him off. Instead, Kos had his head patched up and he was sent back on the field.
That decision cost us dearly in two ways. First and foremost, soccer has a real problem with following safety standards regarding player head injuries. For player safety, anyone who may have suffered a concussion needs to be substituted to prevent further damage from a repeat blow to the head and it really doesn't get any simpler than that. Secondly, that the goal was headed in directly over him leaves us wondering whether his timing, positioning or awareness were impaired in that moment. Also maybe being slightly reluctant to stick his head in again just moments after clashing heads on a 50-50 ball, or even whether it was even safe for him to head away a whipped-in cross after likely being concussed, for that matter. Any way you slice it, that was a key moment that cost us the three points, in my opinion.
Arsenal took lots and lots of shots, but many of them were blocked by Leicester's well-organized defense or were just unable to find the target. In the second half, Ulloa missed a chance with a wide open goal that should've sent us to defeat and other than a few counter attacks, Arsenal were unable to find a winning goal.
Yaya Sanogo started up top in place of Giroud, who is now out of action until January. Sanogo is the closest replacement we have for Giroud in terms of size, strength and style of play but yesterday showed exactly why we're going to need an upgrade in that position while we're without Giroud. Sanogo is still just too raw at this point to be an effective player for us. His first touch was off all game long and it looks like he knows what to do when the ball comes to him, it's just that his lanky legs can't quite execute it as of yet. Even his involvement in "setting up" the Alexis goal was really just him bumbling the bouncing ball and it kind of falling off of him into the Chilean's path.
It was also slightly worrying that Mesut Özil hasn't had a strong game since his return to action. At this point, it looks like it has less to do with match fitness and more to do with the fact that nothing he tries is really coming off for him. Many of his passes were intercepted, a lot of dribbles led to nowhere or to him losing the ball altogether and more than once he passed up the opportunity to go for goal himself only for it amount to nothing. In watching him, the quality and the class is still there, again it just comes down to the execution at this point.
At the end of the day, a draw on the road early in the season isn't the end of the world. At least we stay unbeaten and unfortunately, a draw was the fair result on the day.
As I'm writing this, the transfer window is drawing to a close and so does any chance we have to address the remaining holes in our squad (as well as the newly-formed ones). It goes without saying that simply buying available players is not always the best strategy, but it's time for Arsenal to follow up on the good transfer business done early in the window and bring in the required players on deadline day. While that's easier said than done, our depth has already been stretched thin barely weeks into the season. If we're serious about challenging for the Premier League title, we need to fully flesh out the rest of our squad.
That decision cost us dearly in two ways. First and foremost, soccer has a real problem with following safety standards regarding player head injuries. For player safety, anyone who may have suffered a concussion needs to be substituted to prevent further damage from a repeat blow to the head and it really doesn't get any simpler than that. Secondly, that the goal was headed in directly over him leaves us wondering whether his timing, positioning or awareness were impaired in that moment. Also maybe being slightly reluctant to stick his head in again just moments after clashing heads on a 50-50 ball, or even whether it was even safe for him to head away a whipped-in cross after likely being concussed, for that matter. Any way you slice it, that was a key moment that cost us the three points, in my opinion.
Arsenal took lots and lots of shots, but many of them were blocked by Leicester's well-organized defense or were just unable to find the target. In the second half, Ulloa missed a chance with a wide open goal that should've sent us to defeat and other than a few counter attacks, Arsenal were unable to find a winning goal.
Yaya Sanogo started up top in place of Giroud, who is now out of action until January. Sanogo is the closest replacement we have for Giroud in terms of size, strength and style of play but yesterday showed exactly why we're going to need an upgrade in that position while we're without Giroud. Sanogo is still just too raw at this point to be an effective player for us. His first touch was off all game long and it looks like he knows what to do when the ball comes to him, it's just that his lanky legs can't quite execute it as of yet. Even his involvement in "setting up" the Alexis goal was really just him bumbling the bouncing ball and it kind of falling off of him into the Chilean's path.
It was also slightly worrying that Mesut Özil hasn't had a strong game since his return to action. At this point, it looks like it has less to do with match fitness and more to do with the fact that nothing he tries is really coming off for him. Many of his passes were intercepted, a lot of dribbles led to nowhere or to him losing the ball altogether and more than once he passed up the opportunity to go for goal himself only for it amount to nothing. In watching him, the quality and the class is still there, again it just comes down to the execution at this point.
At the end of the day, a draw on the road early in the season isn't the end of the world. At least we stay unbeaten and unfortunately, a draw was the fair result on the day.
As I'm writing this, the transfer window is drawing to a close and so does any chance we have to address the remaining holes in our squad (as well as the newly-formed ones). It goes without saying that simply buying available players is not always the best strategy, but it's time for Arsenal to follow up on the good transfer business done early in the window and bring in the required players on deadline day. While that's easier said than done, our depth has already been stretched thin barely weeks into the season. If we're serious about challenging for the Premier League title, we need to fully flesh out the rest of our squad.
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