Arsenal vs Reading 4-1

I am one day late with my post, but on Saturday morning i went to see the International Auto Show, so below i have posted a few nice looking vehicles as a compensation for being late.

I watched the game on tape today and to be honest, there is not much to write about. Reading pretty much didn't show up and allowed us to use them as a punching bag. With 70% to 30% possession and 26 to 5 shots, it's pretty obvious we dominated the game for 90 minutes. Reading rarely came forward and made a ton of mistakes at the back, which allowed us to create plenty of chances. It could have been worse for them than 4-1, but even that result is a good indication of how one-sided the game was.

As i mentioned earlier, our defense was rarely tested. Fabianski didn't have much to do most of the game. Throughout it, Mertesacker and Koscielny had to make one important tackle each and to their credit, they executed those tackles great. Sagna was also very lively and tormented Reading's defense non stop. Monreal was the only guy from our back four that didn't have that great of the game. He got beat once by Robson-Kanu in the 51st minute and then got beat again by him for their goal in the 68th minute. He is still wayyyyyyy better than the clown Santos and apart from those two mistakes he had an ok game. I definitely see him and Gibbs as two very good left backs that give us options for rotation without a drop in quality.

Cazorla was again the best player in our midfield. He has been in great form of late and he continued his great play yesterday. Almost every move we made went through him. Before he scored, he assisted for Gervinho's goal, and throughout the first half, had numerous shots blocked at the last second. It was just a matter of time before he got on the score sheet and he did it with a great strike in the 48th minute. Rosicky was our second best midfielder of the day. Even though he didn't score, he was constantly putting Reading under pressure and together with Cazorla was running things in the middle. He also played 90 minutes and i am always happy to see him on the pitch. Ramsey had a decent game. He continues to drive me nuts with his carelessness at times. The score was 0-0 and he back heels a pass in the 7 min, which ends up going to a Reading player and they catch us on a counter attack. He has a moment of stupidity like this, every single game he plays! I should stop writing about it, because by now i have to accept that's just the way he plays. It still pisses me off though. Anyway, the rest of the game Ramsey played OK. Arteta was his normal self, covering a lot of ground, passing the ball around. He took a very good penalty and pretty much finished the game off with it.

Let's talk about good old Gervinho. He did have a very good game for his standards and apparently everyone is super impressed with his performance. I don't want to be a hater, but to me, he is still an average player at best. Yes, his pace yesterday gave Reading tons of trouble; he was very lively and had some great runs that help set up two of the goals. He also scored one himself. But he also blew another 4 or 5 very good chances by doing what he normally does: ran himself out of space; took too long on the ball and lost it; his final ball/pass was fucking horrible. So to summarize: he had a solid game, but he is still super clumsy at times, and let's not forget Reading have the shittiest defense in the Premier League. For the money he is getting paid, he is definitely not the quality i expect.

Giroud didn't do much for most of the game. He missed a good chance when he tried to lob Taylor at 1-0 for us and he had some good one-two's throughout the match. His best contribution was the goal he scored and considering that was one of his few chances for the game, he took advantage of his opportunity.

So, great win for us yesterday. We can't make big conclusions, based on the fact that we were rarely under pressure from Reading, but another important three points for the race for top 4. Next week will be a good indication of how well we are playing, when we play West Brom away. If we can continue playing well and get 3 pts there, it will help us tremendously to continue put Chelsea and Tottenham under pressure.

p.s. On a side note: Diaby is out for ANOTHER 9 months. If we don't cut our losses and let this guy go, we are even dumber than i think. Nobody likes when players get hurt but we have supported him for the past few years with almost no return for us as far as the minutes the guy has been on the pitch. When healthy, he is a good player, but the simple fact is: ever since his first injury when he got his ankle broken at the Emirates Cup, he has never been completely healthy again!

OK, as promised, some of the cars from the car show are below. Enjoy

Swansea vs Arsenal 0-2

I have mixed feelings about the result today. I always want us to do well and win, but i also want us to go back to where we belong which is competing for trophies. I have made it clear that i don't think Arsene is the one who will get us there. I feel that as long as we can scrap for 4th place, Wenger won't be replaced. We will continue to be mediocre and wait for positive results, but our lack of tactical organization defensively won't allow us to do better than top 4 every year. So in a way, i am happy that we won, but i still see the problems and holes in our game and they won't go away until a change is made.

The game today was up and down. Swansea had a good spell in the beginning of the game, they kept the ball on the ground and controlled the pace. They easily opened up our defense a few times and missed a few good chances with Michu and Rangel being the guilty parties. We also kept giving the ball away the whole first half. Towards the middle of the half we started playing better and had more possession. Oxlade hit the bar twice with good efforts.

In the second half we started better and put Swansea under pressure from the beginning. Cazorla missed a good chance in the 51st minute. Eventually Swansea got back into the game and had a 10 minute spell where they looked like they might push for a winner, but we scored a bit of a lucky goal which turned the momentum completely in our favor and Swansea never recovered. A second goal from Gervinho after a Ramsey pass will make Wenger look like a genius, when in reality Gervinho shouldn't be on the field unless we can't field 11 healthy players.    

The defense was decent today. Not great because we got opened up too many times in the first half, but solid enough that Swansea didn't really have any chances in the second half. I thought Koscielny was great. He made some very important blocks and was consistent throughout the game. Mertesacker also had a good game. He has been playing well for a while now. Monreal was up and down. I know that he scored a very important goal, but he got beat more than once in the first half. Jenkinson was very good throughout the game and finally got to play 90 minutes, but he did giveaway the ball very dangerously and helped Swansea create one of their best chances of the game when Michu shot just wide of our goal in the 16th minute.

The midfield was OK. Cazorla was our best player in that part of the field. He was involved in almost everything that we did and his work rate never noticeably dropped which sometimes can be an issue with him. Diaby was fucking awful the whole game. He had some decent runs only to make a sloppy pass and give the ball away again and again. You can see that he has the moves and right ideas but his execution today was shit. Arteta was decent, he didn't play bad, but he continues to give away stupid fouls at the worst times possible. He did that at the end of the Bayern game the other day too. Oxlade had a very good game today. He was very active and hit the bar twice. I am glad he had a good game because the last few times he started, he had shitty performances. 

Upfront we were average. Theo was decent. He was active on the wing, but the few good crosses that he gave, there was no one to take advantage of them. He didn't have too many chances and at times was isolated on the wing. For me, Giroud was disappointing again. He had some good one-two touch passes, but he continues to be in the wrong spots when people are sending crosses in. Instead of always looking for that cross and attacking the penalty area (like he did for his goal against Bayern), he still waits for the ball to somehow come right to him.
Gervinho is clueless as always and him and Ramsey almost fucked up that counter at the end. I was actually impressed when we scored because Ramsey's pass to him was way too far behind him. And knowing Gervinho's clumsiness, i was impressed that he was able to squeeze it past the keeper.

So our quest for top four continues but for the reasons i mentioned earlier, i don't know if that's a good thing... 

Tottenham vs Arsenal 2 - 1

I am not going to lie. Losing to fucking Tottenham always hurts. It wasn't any less painful today. It was a very important game for us and even a draw would have been a decent result and kept us at a 4 pt difference. Now, the gap is 7 pts and we should probably try to catch Chelsea first, before we worry about Tottenham. 

I wasn't happy with the starting line up. When healthy, i think Rosicky should start as many games as possible and i would have put him in, instead of Ramsey. Tomas is miles ahead of Ramsey in every department. I would have started Podolski as well and left Giroud on the bench. Theo would have played as a striker. I know that didn't work against Bayern, but that was the wrong team (very strong and physical) to put Theo as a striker. Walcott gives us that speed on the edge of their defense when he plays up front. Giroud can always come in, if we go behind and Tottenham close themselves in the back, then we could use his size.

I thought we started the game pretty well. We had plenty of possession in the first half and only the final pass was missing. Both team were playing a bit cautious and until the last 10 minutes of the first half there only one or two chances created. So after 35 minutes of pretty even possession, our defense cracked horribly. Twice. In the span of 3 minutes. Both goals were conceded in terrible fashion and all of sudden Tottenham were up 2-0 with very little done to deserve it. Sounds familiar? It should, because we have been doing this for many years now: giving away cheap goals and digging ourselves a big whole.

Even though we scored, i feel we were much more disorganized in the second half. We created a couple of very good chances, but we never got into a rhythm, it was more of a good pass here and there, or a bad Tottenham giveaway that helped us create those chances. On the other hand, Tottenham should have scored at least two more goals on their counter attacks with Bale, Sigurdsson and Defoe all guilty of missing great chances. To top it off, we got 6 minutes of extra time and we spent 4 of them just kicking the ball high in the air and wasting time trying to get possession of it. 6 fucking minutes and we can't be smart enough to put the ball on the ground and try to create something, as opposed to just kicking it high up the pitch and hoping for the best?!! It just shows you that this team is in a bad state mentally. There is no clear direction given from their manager and it translates to the players. I will repeat it again: Wenger needs to go! I will keep repeating it, until the club wakes up and lets him go. 

Defensively we started the game decent, but then it all went to shit. We were play a very high line defensively and that's not the smartest strategy against such a speedy team like Tottenham. One mistake from a defender and you have a one on one situation vs the goalie. On both goals we had people switch off at the back:

You can see above that both Arteta and Monreal did not follow Bale when he started his run. Arteta had more fault because Bale ran right past him and he should have done all he could to stay close to him...

...instead he looks behind and hopes there is an offside call given, but correctly there is none...Monreal is also appealing for an offside instead of trying to follow the runner.

For the second goal, the situation is very similar:

This time Monreal is the guilty party and not only let's Lennon run by him, but does not alert Vermaelen that Lennon is behind him...

....before Vermaelen knows it, Lennon is behind him...

 .....and we are down 2-0.

If you look at Monreal here, he is at the same spot as on the first picture. You would think he would follow his man instead of hoping that Vermaelen has eyes on his back and will pick Lennon for him.  

Even though Monreal was partially at fault for both goals, i am not accusing him. It's the whole defense that does not communicate correctly. Everyone should be on the same page as far as who is following the run of who, or which area is every person responsible for, if you are going to do zone defending. Either way it's a shame that we gave away these sloppy goals because Bale had not really troubled the defense in the first half at all. I thought Jenkinson had another good game and i have no clue why Wenger keeps taking him off and puts Ramsey at right back. If it's because Ramsey has more attacking potential as far as shooting, he should think again: Ramsey missed our best chance to equalize in the second half (79 min), after a superb pass by Rosicky! While he was on the pitch i felt Carl played very well, had some good crosses, and was rarely beaten on his side of the pitch. Vermaelen, Monreal and Mertesacker were all in the same boat: played well for the most part of the first half and then broke down for the two goals. In the second half we were pushing forward so the defense was understandably cracking during their counter attacks.

The midfield was up and down. I felt we had control of the game and we were passing the ball well in the first half. But after the two goals, until the end of the game, we never got a good attacking flow in our game. I thought Wilshere had his first average game in a long time. He was trying hard as always, but didn't have his usual impact. Arteta fell asleep for the first goal but did his best throughout the game to disrupt Tottenham's passes in the middle of the field. Cazorla was very active and was trying hard to create chances for us, but the finals ball wasn't there. Ramsey was average. I liked that he was very physical in the first half and was trying to bullly people of the ball. But going forward he was not sharp the whole game. As i mentioned earlier, he missed our best chance to equalize; he had some bad crosses; and after he got moved to right back, he had a tough time running back, which could have resulted in third Tottenham goal if they were more composed in front of goal. After he came in, Rosicky started a bit slow, but then gave some great passes to open Tottenahm up. Too bad the manager does not seem to think he still has what it takes to start the game.

Up front, Giroud was disappointing AGAIN. I don't remember him showing up for a big game. He was trying hard, showed desire, but the few chances he had - he blew. He got a good ball in the 9th min and instead of shooting quickly he waited too long and Vertonghen blocked his shot. He didn't attack the penalty area strong enough when crosses were coming in and that's the main responsibility of a striker! He did give a good back heel to Podolski in the 78th minute but Lukas miscontrolled it. Theo was active the whole game. Gave a good cross for Mertesacker's goal. He was trying to run at the Spurs defense at every chance but i feel he would have done that better if he was up front. At times he was isolated on the wing and wasn't very effective. 

The only change that Wenger made after the Aston Villa game was to put Ramsey instead of Diaby (because Diaby is hurt). Did we have a great game against Villa to prompt him to use the same line up? No. But that's what he does: if we win, same 11 stay on the pitch regardless if we have played shit or not. Only exception: when we have a few games in a week and even then he makes changes reluctantly. We will stay mediocre until Arsene leaves. I wish he could prove me wrong. But after 8 years, i think it's obvious that we need change. Michael Laudrup was a phenomenal player and as a coach has shown that his philosophy of how to play football is similar to how Arsenal wants to play. Offer him the job now, or at the end of the season and he will walk away from Swansea. Wait more, and he might not be available just like Guardiola is taken already.   

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.