The scene was set: Wenger’s biggest Champions League qualifier to date. With the fans feeling sceptical with the lack of summer signings, the departure of our captain and the pessimism from a bland performance in our season opener to Newcastle, the team had a second chance against a team wearing black and white. No (new captain) van Persie, no Wilshere, no Cesc, and no Nasri. No hope? Cue Theo Walcott who relieved the fans after just 4 minutes after a great cross by Aaron Ramsey.
Is a centre back what we really need?
Gibbs has gone into the season as first choice left back for Wenger, and whilst he has shown glimpses of potential, there are many things that worry me that was evident last night. Problems rose both directly from Gibbs and of a consequence of Gibbs. First of all his position often comes into question, now I’m not sure who is to blame for this because the only senior player he had to look up to during his development was Clichy, who had similar problems. However, Arsene should address this before it becomes second nature. Secondly, his injury record is poor. He was subbed at half time yesterday which leads to the second problem: depth. Traore would be his replacement but he is also poor and injury prone which meant we had to put Vermaelen at left back, and with Djourou suffering an injury after just 9 minutes it means that if Carl Jenkinson (who looks far more comfortable on the right than on the left) were to get injured it would mean a centre back pairing of Koscielny and Squillaci. The sheer mention of Squillaci sends shivers down Arsenal fans’ spine and besides, Vermaelen is too good of a centre back to be pushed out wide.
The number 9 is free Arsene...
Chamakh is a real worry for me. He had a poor second half of the season which Wenger put down to exhaustion but so far in pre-season he has looked nothing short of horrible. I think it took him an hour last night to make his first successful layoff and despite his tall frame, he is muscled off the ball far too easily. Now everyone knows van Persie is first choice but his injury record is up there with his goal scoring, and with the African cup of nations, Bendtner’s imminent departure and Vela’s loan deal: depth upfront is a concern. Yes Walcott can play there, and Gervinho and even Arshavin but then the domino effect would continue by having to put inexperienced players like Miyachi and Chamberlain out wide during January when the games come thick and fast. We need to get a striker in.
Possession vs. Penetration
Even though we got an early goal, we didn’t really build on that and our only real clear cut chance was in the 90th minute with some good play with Gervinho and Walcott. Our midfield kept the ball well (as expected) with Ramsey particularly impressing but we didn’t really penetrate as much as I felt we could have. Rosicky has lost that creative spark that he had pre-injury and it would be a gamble to play the waiting game to see if he’ll get it back. Obviously Wilshere and Nasri didn’t play and Fabregas has left for Spain but in elite football possession just isn’t enough. We either need to change our play to a more direct style or replace Fabregas with someone similar, which is easier said than done.
Wing play
One of the most frustrating things I notice when watching arsenal is the amount of times we could put an early cross in, but don’t. Now many people have mentioned that Walcott doesn’t have the so called ‘footballing brain’ but I think that the problem is that Wenger brought him to the club as a striker where his natural instinct is in his off the ball running and his finishing, not spotting a cross. Even when he does cross it early he only seems to have a useless Chamakh to aim for which makes Walcott look bad. Sagna also amazes me with the amount of space and time he often has to cross but aims for no one hopelessly; surely he must practice them in training?!
In safe hands
For the first time in a while, bar an awkward free kick. We have a confident keeper who is willing to organise and make the defence feel safe. 2 out of 2 clean sheets show that we have been working hard defensively and whilst we’re not flawless, I’m going to be positive and put that down to getting the cohesiveness that comes with the early games of the season. However, our ridiculously high line often makes us susceptible to the counter attack; we saw that last night on numerous occasions with sloppy poor passes, particularly by Alex Song leaving us chasing back into our own box from a corner to us within seconds.
Half time
Our squad is looking thin in terms of depth but as Wenger and Gazidis have said before, their business is not done, so we have 2 more weeks of unbearable linking to random players we’ve never heard of before. I was pleased with our performance yesterday even though it was a little bland but we got the job done without some of our key players. It’s only half time in the tie and we need to be sure that we qualify not only for footballing reasons but also financial reasons.
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