How do i put this without sounding too negative? Well, i am glad we won today. Beating Tottenham 5-2 is always a good feeling, beating them period, is a good feeling. Almost everyone else losing at the top 4 is also good for us because it will help us climb the table a bit. But the result today is misleading. We didn't play well at the beginning of the game, and in reality we don't know if we would have turned this game around if it was 11 vs 11. So, i will take the result but until i see us playing good football again (11 vs 11) i won't get too excited about us spanking Tottenham.
The defense today was shaky even after we were a man up. The defending for their first goal was horrible. I have no clue what the fuck was Mertesacker doing up the pitch but there was no one covering his spot, so Defoe basically got a present to set up the first goal. Once the idiot Adebayor got himself sent off, we did ok until the end of the first half, but there was a period in the second half where Tottenham scored a goal, and missed one more 100% chance to score a third. When you allow that to happen even though your opponent has 10 men on the pitch, it means your defense is not doing so hot. I thought Koscielny was our best defender today, he always marked his man very tightly and forced them to pass the ball even if he gave away a few fouls in the process. Him and Vermaelen did a great job covering for each other in the 15min, i wish our defenders communicate like this more often. Sagna and Vermaelen played solid for the most part. Mertesacker was obviously at fault for the first goal, it could have been a costly one too. Other than that he finally scored a goal, with his height you would expect him to always be a threat going forward.
Cazorla finally woke up and got out of his slump. Again, i am curious if he would have played so well if it was 11 vs 11. Regardless, he was very active, scored a nice goal and set up another one. Arteta did well, especially after his performance last week. He still gave away some balls, but overall was solid. Wilshere had a decent game, he was probably the only midfielder that had an impact in the first 18 min of the game. He created the only chance for us in the first 20 min by making a great turn on the ball and trying to set up Walcott with a through ball. So, even though he wasn't as affective with goals and assists, he was very active and you can see that he is slowly coming into his own. Walcott did well today, had an assist for Mertesacker's goal but he missed two very good chances in the second half, before he scored his goal. I still think, he is very important for us and he should start, he just wasn't clinical with his finishing today.
Podolski did well today. He is still doing a bit too much defending for my liking, but he scored a nice goal and set up Cazorla for his. I feel he should be a threat on the left wing, and a lot of times he is back defending and can't be too aggressive going forward. Giroud had another good game. He kept his scoring streak going and his goal was all him, he was being pulled down by a defender but still managed to out-muscle everyone and score!
Two concerns for me, going forward:
1) Today almost everyone had better than average performance but it was against 10 men, until i see Cazorla, Podolski, Arteta and the rest have the same performance against 11 people, i won't be convinced we are back to top form.
2) This is the fourth game in a row where we field pretty much the exact same team. Considering that we have a Champions League game coming up on Wed and then we play Villa away, we need to make more than two changes to keep people fresh. Ever since Sagna is fit, Jenkinson has not seen the pitch. Unless we start rotating some players expect us to start wearing down soon. p.s.Putting Ramsey in the starting 11 does not count as team rotation.
Enough for today, we need a win on Wednesday and hopefully a good performance vs Villa on Sat. C'mon You Gunners!
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