We finally played well enough to deserve a somewhat controversial victory. There is no way to tell if we hadn't gotten the first penalty, would we have scored anyway and won the game, but there is no question that we played much better today than in any of our last 4 games. Our passing was much sharper and quicker, we pressed much better as a team and i feel we probably would have won the game regardless of the two penalties we got. Having said that, Cazorla should be absolutely embarrassed about his dive today. I am sure he will get a lot of shit about it in the next few days and deservedly so. There was absolutely no contact and he grabed his ankle like someone chopped it with an axe. I hope he learns from this and never does it again.
I thought our defense was solid throughout the game. I do feel that West Brom never got into a rhythm and never really put is under continuous pressure. They were missing a lot of passes, so for big parts of the game we were able to win the ball back quickly and keep possession. The fact that we had 59% off it, is a clear indication that we were controlling things.
I thought our biggest improvement from the past few games was our midfield. When we attacked, players were trying to play with one touch passing and always looking to go forward. Wilshere was outstanding today. He is finding the touch in his passing and is becoming more dangerous with every game that he plays. He had some great runs forward, gave some great through balls and was involved in everything we did. Not to mention that he runs non stop for 90 minutes. Arteta did what he was supposed to do: scored both penalties, which was extremely important. He did have a bad giveaway in the 84th min but luckily West Brom didn't capitalize on it. Cazorla was very active and had a very good game, except for the diving part. He was a constant threat going forward and was linking up well with the rest of the team. Oxlade had a quiet first half, but was much more positive in the second half. He had some great runs on the right and was unlucky when some of his crosses were not met by an Arsenal player. I don't know if he fouled Popov to get the ball in the build up for our second goal, but after that he made a great move in the penalty box and deservedly won a penalty.
Gervinho was very active today but also very inefficient. He had some great chances to score with his feet and with his head and missed them all. This is what is frustrating for me with him: he can put himself in good positions but rarely does he make the right decision with ball, or sometimes his execution is simply not good enough. Still, today he was at least creating something up front, so he wasn't absolutely useless like he normally is.
Giroud had a good game. It was a bit frustrating for him because no one could give him the good pass to put him in a real goal scoring position, but he worked hard and was combining well with the rest of the team. He just needs to whine a bit less, he is a big guy and it's embarrassing when he whines to the ref that he was being fouled in the back or something. You are 6'3, get up and keep playing.
Positive result today. Our game was much better. We still have long ways to go to play well consistently and until i see us put 3,4 good games in a row, i am not going to rush to be too optimistic. But today's win is a start. Let's hope we build on it!
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