Tough game for us today. From the start we didn't look as composed and as fluent as we have been in the last 9 matches or so. Going forward we were uncharacteristically sloppy with the ball, even though we had a good amount of possession we never really created any chances in the first half. West Brom did a great job of closing us down and making it difficult for us to find any space in their half of the pitch. On top of that, when they got the ball, they weren't scared to pass it around and put us under pressure. Our defense was struggling all day long, Sessegnon and Amalfitano were consistently threatening, sending crosses and making dangerous runs. After one of those crosses Yacob scored a nice goal, but you have to wonder why no one was even close to him. After what both teams showed in the first half, West Brom were deservedly in front.
We played much better in the second half, but the game could have been out of reach for us had Anelka scored the great chance that he got, being one vs one with Szczesny. It was a simple pass on the wing and bad defending by us, but luckily Anelka missed a bit wide. We started playing better going forward and Wilshere scored a nice goal after good link up play between Giroud and Rosicky. We created a few more chances after that with Giroud being close to scoring in two situations. West Brom also had their chances in the second half and the game could have gone either way up until the end.
I felt Gnarby could have provided us with a spark today. We needed someone with pace to take advantage of the gaps that were starting to open towards the end of the game. Ozil and Wilshere had some nice through balls for Giroud and even though he did well on some of them, he is not the fastest guy out there. Having Walcott, Cazorla and Podolski back will be a great boost for us and it's games like today when we are not playing our best, that you wish you had some of those guys on the bench.
Notes:
Wilshere was awful in the first half. Constantly complaining and arguing with the refs; lost the ball a lot of times; kept slipping and falling and never looked comfortable out there. He played much better in the second half and credit to him, but he is still pretty far from his best form.
Ramsey looked a bit tired and burned out. I don't blame him given the amount of games he has played lately. He seemed bothered by an injury as well, i hope it's nothing serious.
Rosicky looked very lively, but his first touch was missing the whole 35 mins that he played. He set up nicely Wilshere for his goal, but the rest of the game he had trouble controlling the ball which is surprising coming from him.
Jenkinson's ability in the air is very questionable. On more than one occasion he headed the ball in bad areas and he just doesn't look as comfortable with his head as he is with his feet. Koscielny also had a rough game and was VERY lucky not to give away a penalty at the end. Not so much that he can't bump Long in the penalty area, but his timing was horrible: he bumped him, way before the ball got there and it could have easily been a penalty. I think Mason showed some leniency because earlier he denied us a penalty against Wilshere, which was a 50-50 call but could have easily been given as well. Mertesacker also struggled at times, he was the one who tried to get Anelka offside in the beginning of the second half, but was a bit late in doing so and the Frenchman was alone vs our keeper.
Szczesny was great today. He made a tremendous save in the first half after a deflected shot. He was also pretty good at coming out of his goal for high crosses.
At the end, considering our performance, a draw is a good result for us even though we need all the points that we can get before we start playing the top teams. Hopefully we will take care of business against Norwich and Crystal Palace in the next two rounds before some tough games against Liverpool and Man U. C'mon You Gunners!
No comments:
Post a Comment