I know this post is a day late, but i wanted to wait and let the transfer madness finish so i can hopefully write about our new signings if we got any. Luckily for us, we did!
Let's start with the Tottenham game. I thought it was a pretty even game. There were moments when we definitely struggled at the back, but we also played some great attacking football and we could have scored at least two more goals if it wasn't for the fine play of Loris. What i really didn't like were the last 10 minutes of the game, when we were defending for our lives. Letting Tottenham cross ball after ball and just throwing bodies in our own penalty area instead of trying to press them up the pitch and prevent them from crossing the ball in the first place was very frustrating. I understand that playing with 6 defenders at the end, we were just trying to hang on, but a lot of times when you let a team cross enough balls in your penalty area, eventually they get lucky. Hopefully this was just an incident and it won't be the way we will defend every time we are up 1-0 and we are trying to close out a game.
I thought our defense had some very shaky moments, especially on both wings in the first half and overall towards the end of the game. We did however, keep a clean sheet and won a very important game, so i have to give them some credit as well.Szczesny had a very good game. He made some important stops and he was decisive and on time when coming out to catch crosses. He needs to keep his level up for the whole season. Jenkinson started a bit slow. Chadli beat him more than once on the left wing, but luckily for us Spurs couldn't convert. Eventually, Carl settled in and Chadli didn't do much the last 60 minutes of the game. Gibbs was in a similar situation in the first half. Townsend was making some great runs on the right wing and had some dangerous shots on goal. Gibbs didn't help himself much because at times he was pressing way too high up the pitch and leaving big spaces for Townsend to run at. Eventually he also settled down and closed down his side for the reminder of the game. Mertesacker was very solid the whole game. He made a very important block on Soldado's shot after Townsend had set him up in the 12th minute. He also won A LOT of headers throughout the game. Koscielny was also very solid. At times his tackling was a bit rough, but he made sure to let Soldado know that he was in for a tough afternoon.
Our midfield play in this game was at times breath-taking. Some of the passing and the movement in our attacks were great. The goal itself was a good example: after some great passing and quick transition, we got a nice cross and a great finish. After the goal, in the span of 7 minutes we had three more chances to score with Cazorla's sublime through ball to Walcott being the best one. In the second half we weren't as active going forward but we were dangerous on the counter attacks. I thought Cazorla was our best midfielder. He was passing the ball great and always seemed in control. He created numerous chances for Theo, Giroud and Ramsey and was close to scoring with some good free kicks in the beginning of the game. Ramsey was up and down throughout the game. At times, he was brilliant: he created chances and was battling for the ball like no other. But he also missed some good chances to score and gave away A LOT of balls. I have written down in my notes, at least 4 times when he lost the ball in bad positions. This is the only part of his game that he needs to be more consistent with. Regardless, he put in another great performance and he is becoming even more important for this team. I thought Rosicky was solid but nothing more. He has a bad habit of conceding silly fouls and got a yellow after a needless tackle. He showed his experience though, by toning down his aggressiveness after that and he made sure he didn't get another booking. That's something that Wilshere should take example of. Speaking of Wilshere, i felt he wasn't his normal self. I don't know if it was the stomach bug that he supposedly had, but he didn't have the commanding presence that we are used to seeing from him. I am just glad he is not injured and let's hope that would be the case after the international break too.
The man who replaced him - Flamini is the type of player that we definetely needed this season (and in seasons passed). He is your typical defensive midfielder and it was good to see him back in an Arsenal shirt! He is not the most imposing player physically, but he is very energetic and determined. He got a yellow for being a bit too aggressive after he came on, but the rest of the game he was solid.
Our forwards had a good game. I thought Theo was very good. He made some great runs on the wing. With one of them, he set up Giroud for the goal. He also kept switching positions and making runs through the middle which created problems for Tottenham's defense and he was unlucky not to score in this game. Giroud continued his great play this season with another important goal from a very tight angle. He has been playing with a lot of confidence and i hope he will keep scoring and playing well.
And finally, to our transfer activity on deadline day. We made only two signings, but one of them is definitely a top class player! Signing Mesut Ozil from real Madrid for 42 million pounds is a lot, but he has the class that we are looking for and i think that he will quickly become one of our main players. He has a lot of experience having played for Real Madrid over 150 times and having won the Spanish Cup, the Spanish Super Cup and the La Liga. He is also a German international with 47 caps for his country. I definitely think that he is a great addition to this team and hopefully he will prove that, by playing well for us.
Our second signing was goalkeeper Emiliano Viviano from Palermo. To be honest i had never heard of the guy, but he has 6 caps for Italy so he must be decent. He is definitely better than Fabianski, because Flappi is a joke. I think Viviano's arrival will also motivate Szczesny to not have any let downs like he did last year, because he can lose his starting position.
I would have liked to see us get another central defender and maybe another defensive midfielder in this transfer window. Especially another central defender. Vermaelen will hopefully be back to full fitness soon, but he is the only other true central defender that we have. If Mertesacker or Koscielny get injured, we will be in trouble. And with only 3 central defenders, even if we rotate them, there are still too many competitions that we are involved in, so those 3 guys will have to play a lot of minutes. Flamini does gives us some cover in the defensive midfield area but someone like Gareth Barry would have been perfect for us with his experience. Anyway, for now i will just enjoy the fact that we got Ozil and hope that we stay healthy this season! Let's see if we can keep rolling, with a good win at Sunderland! C'mon You Gunners!
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