Monday, October 07, 2013

West Brom 1 Arsenal 1 (Tottenham Lose)

Early in the game at West Brom, it looked like Arsenal would dominate the proceedings, passing the ball around and pushing forward at will. But a funny thing happened on the way to victory – West Brom maintained their defense discipline and formation throughout, made it hard for Arsenal to press forward and were excellent on the counter. Arsenal thus found itself in a halftime hole for the first time all season (1-0), after Claudio Yacob headed in a cross from the impressive Morgan Amalfitano in the 42nd minute. It could easily have been a two goal deficit, as Anelka went just wide from the left side with only Szczesny to beat.

After several missed opportunities, it was the unlikely Jack Wilshere to the rescue in the 63rd minute, sending a powerful volley in off a Rosicky pass outside the box. Ozil started the counter, laying it off to Giroud who passed it on to Rosicky on the wing. It was the first goal for Wilshere since 2010 and covered over a rather poor performance in the first half, where he gave the ball away 8 times and overcommitted on a challenge that left Arsenal short at the back. Wilshere continues to show great promise, but his tendency to dribble into multiple defenders or fall too easily looking for free kicks (and a penalty on 76 minutes), makes him a liability often leading to counterattacks by opponents. In the end, given the number of chances West Brom accumulated, it was a good away point and kept Arsenal in first place, though now tied with Liverpool on points and ahead on goals scored. A few short thoughts on the game …

1.  Giroud: the striker has improved dramatically this season, particularly with his holdup play. This was evident throughout the contest, with many attacking moves cutting through him. But he still needs to finish his chances, scorning three that could have given Arsenal the early lead or finished the comeback. The most glaring was in the 76th minute, when a beautiful long pass from Wilshere left him one on one with goalkeeper Boaz Myhill. But a heavy touch and attempt to round the GK failed and the opportunity was lost.
2.  Ozil/Ramsey/Flamini/Wilshere: why change a winning formula? That might be the question Wenger is asking himself after the shift he made in the midfield, dropping two points unnecessarily. Wenger pushed the hottest player in the EPL, Ramsey, to the right, limiting his effectiveness, while lining Arteta and Flamini up next to each other, arguably slowing down the attack from the back. This is not to take away from West Brom, but it appears Arteta and Flamini with Wilshere in front allowed too many counters to emerge and limited our offensive prowess. Ozil was great yet again, to me, but he needs someone to push the game forward. I thought that began to emerge when Rosicky replaced Ramsey, but it was only able to create the equalizer. I believe our best formation at present is Flamini and Ramsey further back, Ozil further forward with Cazorla on the left and Walcott on the right (upon their return) in a 4-2-3-1. Wilshere will get time, but he really needs to improve his game and stop flopping around.
3.  Bendtner’s Return: Nicholas Bendtner made his EPL return in a late game cameo and performed adequately, showing he could serve as the backup until the January window. His holdup play is above-average and he can certainly score goals (around 50 in 120 if I remember correctly at Arsenal).

We now have a couple of weeks off while England and many clubs on the edge of qualifying struggle to make next summer’s World Cup in Brazil. Gunners Wilshere and Gibbs are called up for the crunch clashes against Montenegro and Poland and one hopes no new injury troubles emerge. COYG and good luck to England!

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