Why The Dip In Form?

So, to be frank, Arsenal have been shit lately.

We have not been creating nearly enough chances.
We are conceding shitty and unnecessary goals.
Our finishing has been below par.
The midfield is passing the ball around nicely, but with no real intensity.

Obviously it is easy to criticize when the team is not performing, but some of these issues have been a long time coming.

The goal scoring problem is not only down to the strikers not finishing, but starts at the back. altough i aggree that Jenkinson has been performing above expectations, i still feel he has a lot of work to do on the attacking side of the game. Santos has been santos on the left.....we need Gibbs back asap.
With the wing backs struggling to get forward, the midfield has also struggled to get in behind opponents. This has led to alot of  "boring" passing going on in midfield without any real penetration.

When we do finally create an attack, the biggest problem for us in some of the games, is the fact that it is left to Gervinho to put the ball in the net......and that my friends, is a big, big problem. His abality to get past players is decent, but everything that happens after that (in the box, in most cases), is not good at all. I cant recall one time this season where he put the ball into the box early. How many time have we not seen Gervinho drift wide, cut in, take 17 to many touches only to find Podolski already putting up camp behind the goals after making a run into the small box only to see Gervinho still fiddling with the ball all alone on the pitch. We need to give the Giroud a run of games. with some chips and mayonaise on the side.

Defensively i think the problem is a mix of low confidince and lately, some reshuffeling.
Midfielders are getting tired. if Santi or Arteta had to get injured, we would be in quite a situation.
We need another striker who is kinda like gervinho, but just good.

Lets hope Willshere can come back and inspire the team to do something good today.

Who know, we might actually win and be all positive and shit again.

Thoughts about the Chelsea game.

Arsenal got their first loss of the campaign with a 1-2 loss against city rivals Chelsea.

The Gunners started all right, but in my opinion, we lost shape when Diaby went off injured in the 1st quarter of the game before making any real impact. The Ox came on into the wide right position with Ramsey moving central.  Koscielny partnered Vermaelen at center half, with Gibbs and Jenks continuing their good start to the season in the wing back positions.

effectively this was our line-up after minor adjustments in the first few minutes:

Mannone

Jenks - Koscielny - Vermaelen - Gibbs

Arteta - Ramsey - Carzorla

Ox - Gervinho - Podolski

I think the early change broke our 'momentum', and we never really turned on the style like we would expect in front of a home crowd.  Arteta and Ramsey gave away the ball more than we are used to and the overlapping runs by the full backs were often ignored for a much less effective back pass or inside pass.

Koscielny and Vermaelen did everything wenger expected from them, they won tackles and intercepted Chelsea passes aimed at the lone figure of Torres up front. I do feel that we were cought out  when Chelsea opted to use their 50-million man as a Peter Crouch. this did work quite well for him, at times bringing the more creative and money-worth midfielders into play. Arteta did not do badly in the holding midfield position, but his lack of speed  did catch us out at times, especially on the counter attack. Jenkinson kept his form up, quitely going about his buisiness up and down the right flank. Gibbs made a few brilliant tackles, but seemed to sometimes hold on to the ball to long before getting dispossessed. this is one thing I hope he unlearns from Clichy. although we lost, our open play defence was was not as bad as most people think. It was at the defensive set pieces where we looked suspicious.

Podolski had a good game once again, getting involved in our free flowing  attacks.I recall a few times where Gibbs played him in with a nicely weighted inside pass to go through on goal, but was very isolated when he got into the box. he had a few opportunities and drew some good saves from Cech. The Ox also had a good game, at times coming inside to to take on defenders and getting back to help out Jenks in a way that I just dont see Walcott doing any time soon. Gervinho was his usual inconsistent self. at times passing defenders like they are chained to the ground, and at other times he had the crowd chewing their seats. I honestly don’t know what to think of Gervinho. His decision making leaves much to be desired, and in my opinion, he should look up more and see what the fuck is cracking in the box. An early cross might actually leave some of our attackers standing scratching their heads at times.

Both of Chelsea’s goals came from set plays,and both were avoidable as well. For the first, Torres rugby scrummed koscielny to where he wanted him, turned him around and then played a tennis shot with his foot to put the ball past a helpless Mannone from close range. For the second, Arteta and Vermaelen got caught out of position after we gave the ball away unnecessarily in midfield. The ball came to Torres who was bundled over by Vermaelen after sprinting back from one of his forward runs. The free kick was curled into the far post, going in of the slightest of touches by koscielny. Two goals conceded with just a slight lapse in concentration.

Arsenal did look like they could score at times, but it looked like it would be one of those days again. Giroud and Walcott came on for Podolski and Ramsey. With more movement and speed up front, we did create one more chance, with The Ox driving through the middle and playing a nice ball to meet Giroud’s diagnolal run. A chance that was very similar to some of his previous misses. He does look lively though…and didn’t cost 50 million.

So what positives can we take from this game?

• Well, i dont know if this is a positive, but i think that our goals can come from anywhere and anyone this season. Gervinho didnt have a good game, but did finish well for the equaliserl. i think we will be a bit harder to defend against this season.
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• Santi Carzorla looks good, even when he is having a quiet game by his standards.
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• Mannone is not half as bad as people said he was before they ever really gave him a chance.
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• Koscielny and Vermaelen can tackle, and tackle well.\
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• We CAN replace Walcott. Many won’t agree, but for the money he wants, we could get everyone in the stadium a free beer every time he dribbles out…..at least.
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• I don’t think the zonal marking is as effective with Vermaelen and Koscielny as it is with Per partnering the Belgian. With the smaller of the 3 (Koscielny) not being able to dominate our six-yard area like the big German would. The tactical deployment of the center halfs that Wenger talks about might just be genius.
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• We are just as strong on the left as on the right when we go forward.this was not the case last season. Lukas Podolski and Gibbs have already developed a good understanding, and look like they will create more chances down the left flank. Last season it was all about the Walcott and RVP combination.
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• Probably the highlight of the season so far has been the competition for places. With Wilshere and Rosicky coming back,  I can only see us improving and creating more opertunities.

 

And the negatives.

• We just couldn’t get the damn ball in the damn net…. Shit happens I guess.
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• Diaby is probably out for a while.
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• We did give away possession needlessly and misplaced some basic passes.
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• John Terry didn’t slip and eat grass.
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• Now tell me what you thought of the game.

Ps.This was my first post, so be critical, leave a comment. The reason for this blog is to hear from you guys and talk about the club we all love so much.

Once again, thanx for reading J and keep it classy.

New Start

OK, where to start?!?
the main reason for this first post is to check out the layout and shit. please dont see this as actual content.

oki doki. have to go rearrange some stuff