ARSENAL 5- 1 EVERTON: TAKEAWAYS AND THINGS TO KEEP AN EYE ON

The past 2 weeks or so have been quite eventful for anyone who follows Arsenal. Within that period, the club lost Alexis Sanchez who over the past 3 years or so has been talismanic to the club, then wiped the floor with Roy Hodgson’s Crystal Palace, booked a trip to Wembley for the league cup final, lost in a shocking albeit familiar performance to Swansea before thoroughly dismantling Sam Allardyce’s outfit after Big Sam had made smug comments about Arsenal having a weak defence. Big Sam’s opinion on Arsenal’s defence honestly is not off the mark, I mean Arsenal’s defensive frailties are there for all to see. However, if this game showed anything, it’s how dangerous it is to throw shots in this game of football as Everton’s defending (especially in the first half) was a masterstroke in how to make your opposition look good. Huge gaps, not tracking runs and so on.

Also, within this two-week period, there is also the matter that Arsenal have brought in both Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as well as resigned Mesut Özil to a new 3 year contract. The latter two especially brought one of the biggest waves of optimism to the fanbase in recent memory. And as always, big signings and business off the pitch generate a lot of chatter which has certainly been the case. Everything from the supposed backroom “power shift” with what has been affectionately termed the “Gazidis Squad” comprising Ivan Gazidis, Huss Fahmy, Sven Mislintat and Raul Sanllehi supposedly wrestling power from Arsene Wenger in terms of transfer dealings to how these signings will affect the teams put out by the Arsenal manager has been doing the rounds. That last point is what this piece will attempt to focus on using the game vs Everton as a case study if you will.

LINEUP

Arsenal lined up in the 4-2-3-1 shape which has been Wenger’s defacto formation for a large majority of the last decade. However, Arsenal have not played this shape a lot this season. Running through the line-up, Petr Cech kept his place in goal despite some very questionable form in search of a clean sheet to reach the magic 200. The back 4 (from right to left) was made up of Bellerin, Mustafi, Koscielny and Monreal. A midfield pivot of Granit Xhaka and Aaron Ramsey then a trio of roaming playmakers in Alex Iwobi, Mesut Özil and newcomer Henrikh Mkhitaryan playing behind the debuting Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Its worth saying that when the game settled, Mkhitaryan was mostly working from the right flank with Iwobi from the left and Özil in the middle even though very early on it was Iwobi on the right which is a position that limits him and Mkhitaryan on the left.

 

MIDFIELD SETUP

Arsenal’s midfield setup is always a bone of contention with so many different opinions on the best way to solve the issues stemming from that area of the pitch. Looking at the midfield in this game, Xhaka-Ramsey which seems to be the manager’s first choice as that has almost always been the go-to pivot over the past 12 months once both players are available. However, most times, this has been with a back 3 due to the fact that that pivot may not be as defensively astute as desired but against Everton, the pair started together as a pivot in front of a back 4 for the first time in a while (vs Swansea, Mohammed El Nenny started behind them to form a midfield-trio). The difference here was that the 3 players in front of the pivot are very technically gifted and very much attracted to central areas of the pitch. The kind of setup which has scarcely been seen at Arsenal since the first half of the 2013/2014 season and just like in many games over that period, this game was punctuated with an outstanding showing from Aaron Ramsey. It stands to reason that this is not a coincidence as when the team is setup like this, these playmakers starting in wide areas stay tighter to the midfield than out and out wingers or wide forwards would. This provides a measure of cover when Ramsey makes those difficult to track off the ball runs from deep that have become his selling point. One thing also worth noting is that the players starting wide here are very comfortable in half-spaces and very "sharp" so playing them wide does not totally cripple wing play as we saw at times where Aaron Ramsey played wide as Wenger searched for this type of balance. In addition to that, leading up to signing his new contract, Mesut Özil has put in great performances where he has looked more like a midfielder on the pitch than he ever had for Arsenal. By this I mean, Mesut in recent months is now more adjusted to being able to drop deep to support in build up play when required and has become much more reliable in terms of packing the midfield when Arsenal is out of possession. All this bodes well especially with the rejuvenated version of Jack Wilshere we have seen this season set to return to the starting 11 imminently. Something worth watching for in fact is who in fact gives way for Wilshere when Wenger (inevitably according to his comments) reintroduces Wilshere. Another important thing to note is what this setup meant for Granit Xhaka who has struggled a lot this season. This setup gives Granit 4 players ahead of him that are normally in between the lines that he can find quickly. This should go some way towards mitigating the number of cheap giveaways he is responsible for going forward which would help the team massively as cheap giveaways from Xhaka have been a hallmark of many Arsenal games this season, so this is something to watch for going forward in terms of whether or not the number of giveaways is mitigated.

IS THERE ALREADY TOO MUCH RELIANCE ON AUBAMEYANG?

This might seem an absurd point given that Aubameyang has only played one game for the club which was a comfortable 5-1 win where he got (only) 1 goal (that was offside but shh) but like the last point details, with the likes of Alexis and Walcott leaving the club recently, the idea seems to be to have as many playmaker types as possible in the starting 11. The issue with this (as we have seen in some Arsenal games recently) is such a midfield requires an outlet ahead of them with the speed and power to give the opposition enough to think about (in terms of runs in behind) which deters them from just congesting the space around the edge of their penalty box. This then creates the pockets of space for these playmakers to work their magic be it individually or collectively. We saw Aubameyang carry out that role effectively in this game against Everton and based on his career so far, one would think he would continue to do so using his blistering pace. The issue, however, comes when you ask the question “What happens if Aubameyang is unavailable?”. This is because the alternative (Alex Lacazette) is not blessed with such pace and for all the quality he has shown thus far in his Arsenal career, we have seen him struggle when he does not have people running off him. Many people thought that this issue would be mitigated by playing Lacazette and Aubameyang together as that may give a better-balanced attack, but it seems that Wenger is not interested in that at least for the time being and given how much getting the midfield to function without a back three has been a very stiff task that then sacrificing a midfielder for an extra striker is likely to make more difficult. This is one that is worth watching maybe up till the summer as ideally, the club would add a wide forward who is also an above average technician to at least compete for one of the 3 spots behind the central striker. However, before then, it will be interesting to see whether this issue manifests and if it does, what attempts at mitigating it would be employed. Also, as a quick aside, while Aaron Ramsey’s runs from deep do mitigate this issue a bit, his recently spotty injury record means that it is probably best to consider another option at least in tandem. Another option again is Danny Welbeck but he also has a spotty injury record and is far too profligate in front of goal to rely on.

WENGER STILL TINKERS UNNECESSARILY

Arsene Wenger in recent weeks leading up to this game vs Everton has done two things that have left me a bit confused, to say the least. The first of which was playing Laurent Koscielny on the right of the center back pairing with Shkodran Mustafi on the left. This is eyebrow raising because to anyone who has watched both players in recent years, it is quite obvious that this is the opposite of what both players would prefer. In trying to come up with a reason for this, I felt that this might be a way to try to curb the more adventurous instincts that Mustafi has shown throughout his Arsenal career to this point but even that can not be justify the change especially when you look at how Mustafi has never looked comfortable. Against Swansea, this issue was well on show as Mustafi’s positioning was almost always off which led to a significant gap between him and Monreal who was the left back on the night which Swansea profited from mostly through Nathan Dyer. Against Everton, Wenger changed it back to what should be the norm with Mustafi RCB and Koscielny LCB which begs the question of what the point was. In a similar fashion, the game vs Everton marked Granit Xhaka’s return to playing at the base of midfield with him playing from a significantly higher position in recent games. Having Xhaka in this position was by no means the best use of his attributes and with it being reversed now, it again begs the question of what the point was. The issue here is that it is not an isolated incident. To cite an example, last season, Arsenal started well with Alexis playing as a “false-9” type and Walcott supporting him from wide right before without any warning, Alexis was back on the left-hand side with Olivier Giroud upfront. We have also seen it with Alex Iwobi being switched from the left to the right of midfield for no apparent reason. This kind of tinkering while it can lead to one or two pleasant surprises is ultimately risky and you would think such things should be tackled in pre-season. With all the talk of Wenger surrendering power off the pitch, there is sure to be more scrutiny on how Wenger sets the team up on the pitch and tinkering like this will not inspire confidence from anyone.

WAS THE SUMMER TRANSFER WINDOW A WASTE?

In the summer Arsenal brought in Alexandre Lacazette for a (then) club-record transfer fee as well as Sead Kolasinac with both set to have crucial roles in the starting team going forward yet here we are at the start of February and it does look like neither of these players is seen to be of first 11 quality by the manager. There are rumours that Wenger went after Aubameyang more out of disappointment in Lacazette than as in an attempt to replace Alexis Sanchez. Now, while these are rumours, at least at the moment, these rumours do not seem to be far removed from the truth and if the rumours are indeed true, what does that say about the club that a player deemed worth a club record transfer fee only six months ago is now not of the quality required. Kolasinac, on the other hand, was a free signing but is reportedly on a significant wage packet and in recent weeks, it looks like Nacho Monreal and Ainsley Maitland-Niles (a midfielder by trade) have edged ahead of him in the pecking order at left back. That is worrying. Against Everton, Lacazette did not get off the bench while Kolasinac came on for Monreal at half time due to what one can only assume was an injury. Kolasinac then proceeded to put in a performance that will only strengthen his detractors claims with former Arsenal Winger Theo Walcott leaving him ragged more than once. The picture by the end of the season may well be very different but for these two signings to be in such positions just six months removed from joining the club deserves at least some attention especially when you see that there is a running theme. This running theme being that recent Arsenal signings do seem to have struggled to fit in as required. The likes of Cech, Xhaka, Mustafi, Chambers, Welbeck fall under this umbrella. Perhaps something along these lines has been deliberated on behind the scenes thus the rise of the “Gazidis Squad”? Only time will tell.

Emmanuel Pius-Ogiji

@Emma_V2

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REACTION TO ARSENAL FROM MANCHESTER UNITED VS ARSENAL (3-2)

  In what could turn out to be the biggest bottlejob Arsenal have produced in the Premier league under Arsene Wenger, Arsenal were effectively rolled over by a Manchester United team missing a number of key men, one that had no natural central defender and a number of inexperienced players in the XI. You look at the teams on paper and it was almost a no brainer to go for an Arsenal win but for those of us that have been following this club for long enough, we all know of the x-factor of this club which is the ability to produce bottlejobs literally from thin air.

  Starting with the lineup yesterday, we were supposed to be lined up as a 4-2-3-1 and I guess defend in a 4-4-2 as we have been doing for a while now but however, due to the personnel involved yesterday, we effectively had a 4-2-4 and left the 2 in the midfield pivot with a sea of space to cover which left us basically crying out to be counter-attacked and that turned out to be the case with the 3 goals conceded coming from effective and quick transitions by United and fairplay to them for how well they ended up playing but I feel we really did basically play into their hands. There was an interview recently where Olivier Giroud said we are our own worst enemies and its hard to disagree based on this evidence.

  It is very easy to point at players and say "You know that Aaron Ramsey guy is shit you know, Barca robbed us for Alexis, Walcott is a pub player etc". The fact is looking back today after removing myself from the flood of emotions that came after the match, I realised that our squad is full of what I call niche players. These are players that thrive either only with a certain type of player next to them or within a particular gameplan/system basically. I'm a big Aaron Ramsey fan (and yes I know he was terrible yesterday even lucky not to be sent off) but its clear he is one of these niche players. Think of Aaron at the peak of his powers, you see him receive the ball in the second phase of play, make a clever pass to advance the move, arrive later from midfield to finish the move. Notice I said second phase, as its quite obvious Aaron is not suited to being in charge of the first phase of play as he is not what you would describe as a controller thus meaning he has to be partnered with someone ready and able to do that job as we saw was the case when he was partnered with Mikel Arteta. Francis Coquelin and Mathieu Flamini are nowhere near this ilk thus its no suprise Ramsey struggles beside any of them. They (like Ramsey) long to have a distributor beside who is happy to receive the ball from the defence and effectively play passes in between the opposition's lines to the likes of Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez to allow them attack the opposition's defence and thus create chances/take shots. Speaking about that defensive midfield position, I wrote about the importance of the position a while back on this site Here. I personally feel that in order to move forward though, we need a defensive midfielder in that deep lying playmaker ilk to take charge of the first phase of play because in a team like Arsenal we are going to have more of the ball than our opponents in at least 70% of the games we are involved with which makes the first phase of play very very important. Quite frankly it is mind boggling that we do not have such a player in the squad and that has to be another string to the "Wenger Out" movement's bow. The jury is still out for Mohammed El Nenny as from what we've seen, he is seen at the same level as Mathieu Flamini which is worrying. Although, El Nenny's cameo yesterday was a bright spot in the whole disaster.

  Now, Theo Walcott, my goodness, his performance yesterday would be the outcome of an experiment to create a diabolical performance in a lab. He had just 17 touches, lost the ball 10 times and made only 6 passes, also didn't take any shots. However, is there anything that was suprising in all honesty? Theo is limited and is the definition of a niche player. What he is good at, he is quite good at but offers nothing much more. Theo is good at attacking space and latching on to through passes and slotting home but he doesn't offer more. The fact he is our top earner is quite shocking but again surely this has to be on the manager because we all know his limits. In the 12/13 season, The team was built to service his strengths and he delivered 21 goals in that season. However, I feel there is no way him or in fact Giroud should be first choice at this club if we are to reach where we want to be.

  

  Now, there's a feeling from a large number of Arsenal fans that if Cazorla was fit, everything would be alright based on our 2015 form. I really disagree because I feel that front 6 of Coquelin-Cazorla Ramsey-Ozil-Alexis Walcott was flawed because the midfield pivot could not function without a central midfielder out wide (anyone who disagrees should watch and compare our 2 matches against Bayern Munchen) which then forces us to need our left winger and centre forward to be outlets and from close inspection, Alexis doesn't seem to instinctually want to be an outlet and then Walcott, my previous paragraph is enough for his case. It was just a system that just didn't seem sustainable at all as it just could not cope with injury or loss of form to any of those players as without Cazorla, we could not build, without Coquelin we could not defend, without Ramsey, the pivot was exposed. To be fair that team sort of has the feel of a patch job. Ultimately again, you have to feel that we need more investment for where we are trying to reach in European Football.

  

  Now, this season, Honestly, I feel like the dream of winning the Premier League in this season that has done everything to spoonfeed us the title is gone and ultimately I do not feel that there is any case to defend Wenger's position because it is literally the definition of insanity. I would love nothing more than to eat the words I just typed and drown myself in alcohol and joy in May but ultimately I feel we should at least review the situation in the summer even if we do win the league. I think questions have to asked about where we are trying to reach in the game and what steps we are taking to reach that point. However, we have a board with hardly anyone who is a footballing man that can try to hold Wenger accountable and try to shepherd the club to where we want. Ultimately, I feel that Arsene is someone right now who would rather not do anything than risk making a mistake. Look at our transfer business and team construction over the past few years and you see that Wenger has essentially stumbled upon things by accident, the current squad agrees with that, the likes of Coquelin and Bellerin support that notion in the sense that they have done well but let's be honest, no one would have counted on them when planning for the season and rightly so. It becomes a case that maybe the wrong signings like Santos, Gervinho, Park, Squillacci, Podolski and Arshavin have scarred him and this is a job where any ounce of cowardice should not be entertained. We are actually trapped in a vicious cycle of do well, hope for the investment to push us, Wenger lets us down, we bottle in a key period and around and around we go. It’s quite sad. However, it should be noted that with the kind of board we have, Wenger leaving could leave us off worse as he virtually does everything in the club. Maybe we should consider bringing in a Director of football but I guess my point is things should be looked at at least at the end of the season because at the end of the day, it’s the fans that are left to suffer.

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WHAT IS GOING ON AT CHELSEA FOOTBALL CLUB?

Over the past 5 months this question has been asked repeatedly, punctuated by shocking performances from the champions of England. The giants of South-West London had fallen, suddenly and abruptly, seemingly without warning. This article does not aim to give a clear answer to the problems at Chelsea Football Club as that would take more insight and time than I currently possess.

The 2015/2016 season for Chelsea fans has been in many ways a lucid, immensely saddening nightmare. In isolation its been a horrendous season for England’s most successful club over the last decade, but add that to the fact that they are reigning champions and you get an even bleaker picture. Practically everything that could go wrong this season has done so (bar a league double over Arsenal, yay small victories). Those two victories over an opponent that hasn’t seriously threatened us in a league match since the dark days of AVB stand our only consolation.

A shocking preseason showing (Losses to Fiorentina, NY Red Bulls etc.) coupled with a largely underwhelming transfer window (Papy Freaking Djilobodji and the John Stone debacle) prior to the season that should have ushered in a new Chelsea dynasty should have sent alarm bells ringing but they didn’t. The manager at the time sent veiled shots at the board for not buying to strengthen the team significantly, as other rivals had done, City being at the foremost of this. Instead we started the season with no marquee signings and a squad of first team players who had without needed competition for places had grown complacent. What we then saw at Chelsea over the next couple of months was hard to quantify.

The rot seemed to pervade every area of the first team; the defense that won the league the year before capitulated spectacularly, conceding 5 goals in the first two games. Whilst Ivanovic and co. showed us the true meaning of a horror show, Fabregas and Matic (two immense performers last season) proceeded to play at levels so low rumors of dressing room spats and mutiny became commonplace.  Diego Costa (unreal loss of form and concentration), Falcao (mostly injured, baffling signing) and Loic Remy (bit of injury and poor form) all played their part in the early season debacles, some more obviously than others but culpable nonetheless. Pedro showed early flashes after being signed but ended up fizzling out spectacularly. Willian (a player I have admittedly bashed online for being a waste of space) has been the only consistently above average player at the club this season, some posit that seeing the signing of fellow right-winger Pedro boosted him to give match winning performances.

The next player to be assessed gets his own little paragraph and you can already guess whom. Eden “No Show This Season” Hazard, the mercurial, supremely talented Belgian who won all there was to win domestically last season. A player so lauded that his manager thought it fit to infamously compare his season with that of a certain Cristiano Ronaldo. As I write this blog post Cristiano Ronaldo has scored 30 goals this season, pretty amazing numbers from the prolific Portuguese, especially when compared to the solitary goal for Chelsea’s Belgian wunderkind (Penalty versus MK Dons). A full dive into what exactly Eden Hazard has done wrong this season would require numerous pages but for brevity’s sake I’ll be succinct. HE HAS BEEN UTTER POO. Poo enough to let the club and fans down as the champions fell into the most unlikely of relegation battles.

The board of the West London club had to react to this immense slide didn’t they? They surely did and in pure Chelsea fashion too; Jose Mourinho was sacked. This being a decision that characterizes the quick-fix mentality that has enraged fans and critics alike for years. To fix symptoms and largely ignore the larger issues while enraging fans is what Chelsea’s board seems to do best. It is well known that Chelsea is not a particularly well-run establishment, a club with no clear plan for the talented youngsters in the academy or those out on loan. The emergence of young stars like Dele Alli, Eric Dier and Hector Bellerin at Chelsea’s London rivals this season make the club’s failure to truly utilize the verve of youth all the more disappointing for fans.

 Constant changing of managers has also meant no real lasting strategy in acquiring stars for the first team as well. For Chelsea to move forward a total rethink of the club’s power structure is absolutely necessary. I highly doubt we will be able to attract top managers who will be ok with being hamstrung in the transfer window as Jose was in his last season. I wonder what would persuade a top manager to sign on to a project that is notorious for taking the players’ side when things go south. Things really aren’t looking up for the boys from SW6.

The article was to end on a high note, as Chelsea is unbeaten under interim manager Guus Hiddink and recently trounced MK Dons 5-1 in the FA Cup. Alas the often-despicable Chelsea board have struck again, John Terry is being allowed to leave the club. Now there are not enough swear words available to fully describe how the majority of the fan base (myself included) feel about this abysmal decision. As with legends before him the club captain will be disgracefully ushered out of the team when he still has so much to give. Granted Terry is 35 and nowhere near his peak but his ability to lead and influence others around him can’t be understated. Chelsea fans are deflated, the season continues to disappoint and daunting matches (PSG, City and United) are on the horizon. I hope to write again at the end of this season, to determine the exact level of disaster this season has turned out to be. Till then COME ON YOU BLUES.

*Header image sourced from http://www.swlondoner.co.uk/24539-2/

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