Ok folks, we clearly have a wee bit of an issue now, because for something like the fourth game in a row I saw an Arsenal side who didn’t really click at all. And it’s starting to worry me.
Middlesbrough at home, Sunderland away for the most part (until we turned the after burners on when Sunderland equalised), Ludogorets away, Tottenham at home, United away and then last night against PSG. It just didn’t work and the team didn’t really click at all.
Once again Arsène had a tinker with his starting XI and once again I think it was a bizarre selection choice by the manager. In the last game against PSG we had a problem because we were overrun in midfield and found ourselves being passed around with a little too much ease. That night Arsène tried to go a little defensive and bar a fortunate late goal by Alexis we would have come back from Paris with our tails between our legs. Last night we again got a little fortune with a very soft penalty, followed by a very lucky ricochet from a PSG defender to get us in front, but even then we couldn’t hold on.
We’ve got some players who just aren’t looking up for it at the moment. At one point in the second half, I looked across the field from my seat, and every single Arsenal player was stationary. It lasted for only a second and a half, but there was no press when PSG had the ball, it was just about Arsenal keeping a defensive shape. But hey, that’s fine if you have a strong and well-drilled back four, except we don’t. Mustafi was rolled far too easily by Matuidi and when Cavani is tapping in past Ospina, you know you’ve got problems. And we lament Giroud sometimes! At least Giroud can finish his dinner half the time. Cavani missed a hatful of chances and defensively we were lucky just to have given away the two.
Carl Jenkinson did ok, but it might just be me, but he does seem to leave a lot of space for wide players to get themselves in to. Perhaps it’s just that Bellerin’s pace is what salvaged him, but you don’t see the same amount of space when the Spaniard is in at right back.
On the left I thought Gibbs was one of the better players, but even he had his moments, so all in all it amounted to a pretty poor defensive showing. But the buck doesn’t stop there. In fact, most of it should be pointed in the midfield direction and towards the manager, because why he chose the midfield of Ramsey and Coquelin is beyond me. It just doesn’t work. Both worked hard, as they always do, but I thought Ramsey was poor. Many have told me he was one of our better players last night, but I just didn’t see it, instead I saw a guy who gives the ball away too easily. I also saw a guy who’s long passing distribution is poor and despite the fact he has at least one or two shots from distance in almost every game he plays, when was the last time you remember he bagged a screamer?
That central midfield feels like the main problem behind our cohesion at the moment. I know it probably isn’t, but that’s just what it feels like to me, because Arsène simply doesn’t know what to do with it. He seems to pick players based on individual games, but to my untrained eyes, those players seem to be the wrong ones for that particular match. Elneny and Coquelin at the weekend, then with a strong midfield as PSG had last night, someone who is good with the ball at their feet and can distribute well, felt like the right choice yesterday. That was Xhaka and quite why Arsène seems so reluctant to play him is getting close to Park Chu Young levels of confusing. He got 15 minutes yesterday, which isn’t really enough time to influence a game, but even then I thought he popped the ball around well.
I just don’t know what’s happening at the moment. One of the strengths of Arsène Wenger’s teams over the years is their football identity. I don’t have a clue what Arsène is doing at the moment and sadly, I’m not sure that he does either, because the odd selection decisions would suggest so. It looks like he’s got a collective of golden puzzle pieces, but is asking around in the shop he brought them from, how you put it all together because there aren’t any instructions.
I haven’t even got to our front four, again who didn’t really click, with Özil being almost anonymous for the second game in a row. We need the old Özil back. We need the goal scoring Alexis too. And the Iwobi that we saw last season. Because at the moment, we’re getting this sloppy mess of a forward line that feels unbalanced. Apparently Theo had a toe injury last night, which is why he was not risked and you have to hope that he can be back for the weekend. But even Theo hasn’t really been on top form for about a month now.
We’re still on this unbeaten run and we’ve not had too much damage as yet, but I just get the feeling there’s a bloody nose looking on the horizon, because we’re not playing well enough for me to think otherwise. We’ve also effectively ceded top spot on goal difference because of last night’s draw, because there’s no way PSG aren’t battering Ludogorets on the final group stage game, so that’s another slight disappointment.
But hey, at least we’re still in the competition, and at least November is almost gone. Praise be to Dennis for that.
Catch you tomorrow.
Wenger could not, for twelve seasons at least, and can not and will not in future put a championship team together and neither is he able to identify nor correct the blatant shortcomings in our team. Unfortunately he has lost it and he does not know how to regain it. Every season the same voids occur with his new signings, his tactics and his arrogant continuation with the same attitude and predictable playing style no matter who we face.Stagnation appears to have set in now to the point where he genuinely does not have the answers any longer.Fresh blood with a new thinking pattern is urgently required at Arsenal before we will see the turn-around so desperately needed.