Arsenal vs Aston Villa 2-1

Same old story today. We squeezed out a win, but the problems are still there. As much as i am happy about us getting a result, i feel we continue to be very, very naive defensively. I really don't know how things are going to change until Wenger is in charge. I hope i am wrong about this, but even getting to top 4 this year won't change my mind.

We started the game pretty well and put Villa under pressure, so Cazorla's goal was well deserved and at a great time for us - nice and early in the game. Unfortunately, the rest of the first half, the game was back and forth. We got caught with counters more than once. Wilshere, Diaby and Cazorla on three different occasions gave the ball away pretty sloppily and each time Villa were lightning fast on the counter. All three times they had decent chances to score. During those fast breaks Monreal was beaten pretty badly twice. Unlike fat ass Santos, Monreal is fast, he just got caught pushing pretty high up the pitch, and once he was beat, they had a lot of space on his side. Going forward, we had some good attacks but when the cross across goal would come, no one was attacking the ball. Giroud was guilty of that throughout the whole game.

The second half we were more in control, kept the ball for longer periods of time and really put Villla under a lot of consistent pressure. Two times we had good attacks ruined in the last moment. The first chance Cazorla had the ball at the edge of their penalty area and Theo was free to his left, but he didn't give him the ball. A bit later Giroud got the ball on the left side and should have just teed Wilshere up, for an easy tap in, instead he shot the ball out of the stadium. Ironically, even though we played better in the second half and Villa had less chances, they still caught us on the break and Weimann scored with a shot that Szczesny should have saved. The goal shocked us a bit and for about 5 minutes Villa had another chance to score, but eventually we settled down and a great combination between Wilshere and Monreal was finished by Cazorla the way Giroud should have been attacking those crosses all game long. We hung on until the end and got a great win, but we were less than impressive today.

 
As i mentioned earlier defensively we were shaky the whole game (what's new). Interesting enough, the defenders individually had a pretty good game but as a team we weren't organized enough. Jenkinson really impressed me today. He was our best defender by far. What was so impressive about his performance was that unlike last game he played, he wasn't throwing himself in stupid, dangerous tackles, instead he was running with his man and pressuring them until he would win the ball cleanly. That was great to see and he did it on more than one occasion in both half's. Going forward he did well as well and had some good crosses not taken advantage of. Mertesacker was solid and he has played much better in the last few games. His lack of pace and his questionable physicality hasn't been very evident lately. Vermaelen was solid as well and had a good game. Monreal was caught a few times and Villa had breaks on his side of the pitch, but he was working hard and gave a great pass to Cazorla for his second goal. Szczesny conitnuies to play shitty and that won't change until Wenger makes him realize that if he keeps messing up, Mannone will take his spot.

The midfield and attack weren't that great today. We did a lot of attacking with very little end product. One of our weakest areas is that we get people running on the wings and crossing balls but no one is attacking the goal line trying to tap them in. Diaby had a decent game, but it looked like he got injured AGAIN. Arteta did ok as well, nothing great, but not bad. Cazorla and Wilshere were our engines today. Cazorla was outstanding and his work rate was very good. He scored two great goals and was constantly attacking Villa's defense with shots and crosses. Wilshere was energetic as usual, some of his final balls weren't great but his pass to Monreal just before Cazorla's second goal was great.

Wallcott had a tough game. He wasn't getting a lot of service, but he worked really hard and was a threat on the wing. He had some good crosses, but as i said earlier: no one attacks the penalty area aggressively enough to take advantage of our crosses. He also put a corner kick on top of Giroud's head and with no one around Giroud hit it right at the goalie. Speaking of Giroud, his shitty form continues. He is so up and down and that's very frustrating. He can have great performances and get us all optimistic about his skills and then he has couple of games in a row when he is complete shit. The fact that he doesn't attack the penalty area enough is alarming because that's what true strikers do.

We will take this win today, but next week will be a good check up for us. If we continue to defend shitty, expect problems at White Shit Lane.

Arsenal vs Blackburn 0-1, Arsenal vs Bayern Munich 1-3

WENGER NEEDS TO GO! Not because of the two losses we just had, it is more complex than that and i will try to explain below.

This is the second time this year, when i have been too tempted and had to write a post, even though it's not about a match from the Premier League. I think a lot has happened since the Blackburn game this Saturday and there is a need to discuss all that.

First, let me start with the Blackburn game. I have no problem with the starting line up that Wenger chose. We had more than enough quality on the pitch with the exception of Gervinho who proved himself useless yet again and missed our best chance of the game. I was quite happy to see Rosicky on the pitch and he continues to be a stud every time he is healthy enough to play. I was also glad to see Coquelin who had another good game. When you add guys like Diaby, Oxlade, Arteta, the team line up was strong enough. Throughout the game itself, we dominated completely. Created more than enough chances to win it easily and ultimately lost it on a lucky goal. So i definitely don't feel the Blackburn game itself, was managed incorrectly. The problem for Wenger is that people have been waiting for results for way too long and will overlook the fact that we completely dominated and should have won the game. There were also guys like Giroud, Oxlade and Gervinho who didn't perform well enough to help their manager.

Now, today's game was a different story. Today's game was an example as to why Wenger needs to leave. Bayern gave us a lecture on how you are supposed to pressure a team when you don't have the ball, especially in the first half. We had an incredibly tough time taking the ball out of our own half of the pitch and advancing it forward. I am pretty sure we had 0 shots on goal in the first half. After we would get a corner, we had to kick the ball all the way back to our own half, because all of our players were covered. We did it way more than once! On the other hand, our pressure when Bayern had the ball was limited to a few players running around with nobody else doing the same.

This is where i feel we are WAYYYYY behind in the modern game! With the players we currently have, going forward against shitty, average and above average teams: no problem! Going forward against a very organized top class team: average to bad! On the flip side: pressing and defending against shitty, average, above average and great teams: we are shit for the most part!!! Yes, we have games where we press well and win the ball back, but it's not because it is something that is in our identity and has been trained non stop. It's because we had a good game defensively or we played a shitty team. 

I have written, posted pictures, taken videos and talked about this for so long that i get tired just thinking about it. Wenger hasn't been able to get better at that aspect of the game for many years now. Is he still a good coach? Yes. Is his time at Arsenal done? YES! Is it going to be easy to replace him? No. But something has to be done, so we can get out of this vicious cycle of thinking that we are close to the top, when in reality, we have quite a few good players, but we also need a few more. And we need someone who can teach them how to play as a team on the defensive side of the ball! I am pretty sure offensively they can manage on their own.

I think Wenger wants to do well for this club so badly, that he doesn't see clearly the whole picture anymore. It's hard for him to do the right thing and let someone else finish what he started so many years ago. And because of his legendary status at Arsenal, no one seems to want to be the one to tell him that the club needs a new face. Someone who can hopefully keep and expand on the good things Wenger has done, but fix the flaws that we have and take the club forward!

Today's game was the last nail in the coffin for me. We were dominated for 75% of it, and the only reason we got in the game was because of Neuer's mistake. In a way i am glad we didn't come back, because that would have just masked the problems that we have and need to fix. They are not many, but the ones we have are the most important ones: defensive organization and proper pressing, and playing as a team where every player knows his responsibilities.

I really hope we will stay in top 4 this year but the fact that Wenger needs to go, is painfully obvious!

Sunderland vs Arsenal 0-1

Today's game was such an emotional roller coaster that i am drained before i even start this post. This was a huge win for us, mainly because we showed some big balls, and got a hard fought result. In all honesty, we should have won this game by at least 3 goals difference! We missed so many chances that deep down i was thinking: "no way we win this game after missing so many opportunities to put it away". Luckily we did win, and i feel that this win will be very important in showing our players that they can grind out a result in tough circumstances.

From the kick off, it was evident that Sunderland are going to try to be very physical with us. In the first five minutes there were at least four hard fouls. The referee Anthony Taylor was a prick and didn't seem to care much, if we get kicked around all day. We still took control of the game and dominated the whole first half. Our midfield was straight up unplayable. Everyone was getting on the ball and our passing was unstoppable at times. Even though sometimes we overdid the one-touch passing and tried ta walk the ball into their goal, we created three 100% chances to score a goal. Giroud, Wallcott and Ramsey all missed very good chances to score. Ramsey's miss at the end of the half is inexcusable!!! He shot the ball right at the keeper from a foot away. Unreal! Sunderland tried to play long balls for most of the half but we restricted them to a few headers that Szczesny easily saved.

In the second half Sunderland started with a purpose. They tried to keep the ball better and put us under pressure as much as they could. Fletcher missed a few good chances to equalize and then Jenkinson got sent off. At that point i thought we will never keep it at 0-1. Surprisingly right after Carl got sent off, Diaby missed a sitter. Until the rest of the game, there was constant Sunderland pressure, desperate defending and quick counters by us. They missed some good chances to score, but we also missed chances to score at least three more goals.

For the most part the defense today was very good. We were bending at times but we never broke. With Koscielny pulling out at the warm up, Sagna was put in at centre back next to Mertesacker and i thought he handled that brilliantly! Even though he is not tall, he was very physical and did great at stopping Fletcher and co. Mertesacker had a second solid game in a row. He didn't make many mistakes and tried to be physical (something that is pretty foreign to him). Jenkinson played well for the most part. He did struggle at times and both of his yellow cards were deserved but Wenger had not started him in more than 10 games. You can't expect him to come in and play as if he hasn't miss any time. That's why i have been repeating that Wenger has to rotate the squad more and give Jenkinson some games, so when he has to come in and play, he feels more comfortable out there. That's still not an excuse. He should have never made the tackle for the second yellow. He got beat, he should have just tried to keep running and put Sessegnon under pressure as much as he could. Both Diaby and Sagna were behind him so they would have helped as well. Monreal had an up and down game today. He definitely had a tougher time than he did against Stoke. In the 15th minute he got beat by Sessegnon on the wing, and in the beginning of the second half got beat again by Sessegnon, who tried to get a penalty but i don't think there was enough contact. The rest of the game Nacho was solid and in the 58th min did well to stop Johnson after a great run in the box.

As i said earlier, our midfield was great today. Wilshere and Cazorla were everywhere in the first half. Jack was very dangerous going forward and took a lot of abuse from the Sunderland defenders. At times he passed the ball too many times, but his one touch passing was always a threat. I hope he wasn't really injured and was taken out as a precaution by Wenger. Cazorla was unstoppable the whole game. He was linking up with everyone and was controlling the midfield. Scored a great goal and created some great chances that Theo and Giroud missed. Ramsey is going to give me gray hair before i am in my forties. For most of the first half, he played really well and was involved in all of our attacks together with Wilshere, Arteta and Cazorla. He had a great shot saved by Mignolet. And then, first he misses an unbelievable chance in the 45th min; then in the 48th and 57th minute gave away the ball in the sloppiest ways possible and how Fletcher didn't score on the counter is beyond me. At that point i was ready to choke him, because he has a habit of being sloppy and lazy and that drives me nuts! But then Jenkinson gets sent off and Aaron slotted in at right back and played very, very well. To sum it up, he has so much upside but he is also so careless with the ball at times, which could be very costly to the team. Arteta played solid the whole game. He helped going forward and then was one of the first to get back. Diaby started slow when he came in, but he got better as the game progressed.

Theo and Giroud were disappointing to me. Especially Giroud! He had a poor game and to top it off, was super selfish at the end of the game (92min), when he should have given the ball back to Cazorla, so we can score a second goal. Instead he shot it himself and missed for the 100th time in the game. I understand he wants to score, but when you have a shitty game and you have a chance to pass the ball for your teammate to score, you pass it! I realize that Olivier needs time to keep improving and hopefully he will start converting his chances, but he also has to be a team player first. Theo was very active and was involved in almost every attack we had. But he, just like Giroud was wasteful with the chances he had. He got an amazing pass by Cazorla in the 74th minute and hit the post when that should have been a goal for sure. However, he did give a great assist to Santi for his goal and was trying to create for his teammates so i give him more credit than Giroud.

The last thing i want to mention is our positioning when we got down to ten men and were under constant pressure from Sunderland. I realize that we are a man down, but if you look at the following pictures you can see that we were giving Sunderland wayyyy too much space and time to keep sending crosses in our penalty area:  

Here, Theo is not covering anyone, but he is still not trying to stop that cross from coming into our penalty area. All he has to do is close the guy down and make it hard for him to cross....

...Similar situation: Arteta should close the guy down earlier (he did try to get close but way too late), instead we are allowing Sunderland to keep creating chances...

People will say that we were tired and so on, and i agree, but all that work throughout the game would have been useless if we had conceded a goal. So we have to do a better job at pressing people even when we are tired and down to 10 man.

Last but not least: Szczesny was outstanding today! He had one or two hesitant moves throughout the game, but he single-handedly prevented Sunderland from scoring in the second half. Good to see that he played a great game after some shaky performances recently. Great win for us and we have to keep them coming if we want to be close to 4th place at the end of the season!

Arsenal vs Stoke City 1-0

Typical game vs Stoke today: tough, physical, not a lot of chances, one goal made the difference. I am very pleased with the result. This is the type of games we need to win and i am glad we got it done! And considering that Stoke came here to fight for a point, not to try to win the game, it's even more satisfying we squeezed this one out.

It was obvious from the beginning that we are not attacking as fluently as we had the last few games. A big reason for that was that Stoke had 10 people back at their own half for most of the game. They tried to make it hard for us and for big parts of the game they succeeded. At times we passed the ball a bit too long and resorted to crosses instead of trying to be a bit more decisive and have more through balls and shots from distance. Regardless, we created 3 very good chances in the first half and Begovic did brilliant to save all three. First in the 31st minute Oxlade got the ball 3 feet from the goal line after a corner kick, and kicked it right at Begovic. A foot in either direction and that would have been a goal. Three minutes later Theo crossed the ball right onto Giroud's head who for some unknown reason didn't shoot on goal but played the ball across the penalty area, luckily we crossed it again and this time Koscielny forced Begovic into a second great save. 40th minute, Wilshere gave a great through ball to Oxlade who was again denied by the Stoke keeper. If it wasn't for the Bosnian, we could have been at least 2 goals up by half time.

The second half we struggled to create the same chances. The introduction of Podolski and Cazorla definitely woke us up a bit. Even though we got lucky with the free kick deflection, we deserved a goal this game. Stoke hadn't done almost anything offensively, they had one shot on goal for the whole game. I was also pleasantly surprised that Wenger made some changes, starting with Diaby, Arteta and Oxlade. This way he gave a break to Cazorla and Podolski and some very needed minutes for Oxlade. Diaby's size was also a good choice against a physical Stoke team.

Defensively we had a good day, but in all honesty we were rarely under pressure. Szczesny had almost nothing to do all game long so it's hard to judge his performance. Sagna was solid and very active going forward. It was the perfect game for Mertesacker: Crouch as a main striker, who is slow like him and a team that doesn't really have fast guys who try to attack. So, Per did very well today and was rarely under duress. Unfortunately for the German, most teams in the Premier League will be way more aggressive than Stoke were. Koscielny was very, very good. He was all over the pitch and was very decisive in his tackling. That was great to see after his blunders against City. And now to the new guy: Nacho Monreal. First, thank god Wenger showed some common sense and bought a left back. He keeps saying that Santos is an option and is not a bad player but we all know he is fucking horrible as a left back. I really liked what i saw from Monreal today. He looked very comfortable  the whole game. Showed good speed and control with the ball in his feet. One of the things that impressed me the most was his positioning. Even though he was going forward, he was very good at recovering and covering his side defensively. One game is not enough to make conclusions, but i am very happy with what i saw today.

As i mentioned earlier, i don't think we were as good going forward as the last few games, but with so many players back, Stoke made it tough for us. I thought Oxlade had a very good game, he was very active, gave some good crosses, and had some great chances to score but today wasn't his day. Arteta did well in his first game back after his injury. He didn't seem rusty at all, which was good to see. Diaby was good as well. Nothing flashy or breath taking from him, but he was controlling the middle of the pitch. Maybe he could have been a bit more effective going forward, but i am just glad he is playing games for us. I though Wilshere wasn't as good as the last few games, but he still created some great chances for Oxlade and Giroud. He always gives you a 100% , so even when he is not playing brilliantly, he is still very good!

Theo was very active on the wing, some of his crosses weren't great but he did put the ball right on Giroud and Koscielny's heads on a couple of occasions,  they just didn't take advantage of it. Wilkinson was being very physical with him the whole game, so i am glad he finished it without injuries. Giroud was relatively quiet today, compared to the last few games that he had. He didn't have too many chances, and the few that he had, he should have done better. Anyway, this was a great win for us. Let's hope we can build on this and take care of Sunderland a week from now.