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cubeadvance

By cubeadvance
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Mars

Mars

Posted
Posted

Agreed, the whole team looks a lot more balanced and, as has already been said, our bench was bloody good even considering the players out with injuries. Arteta seemed to enjoy a bit more freedom after being asked to regulate in the first few games, he's a joy to watch - that chip for Gervinho's first was lovely.

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Lucas

Lucas

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Posted

Need to watch this, missed it on MOTD I think (?) will have to watch it via Arsenalist tomorrow (standard MOTD doesn't go on the iPlayer does it?) but happy to hear that Bould was unhappy with us conceeding

Repeated 7.30am tomorrow. Edit - I mean Sunday, which is today now.

Wenger looked more angry than bould with that clanger.

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Gotters

Gotters

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Woj is an interesting dilemma, he actually looks fairly sound and people haven't questioned him until very recently - statistically though he's a nightmare - of all prem keepers last season with a few appearance his % rate for on target shots was actually the lowest (or 2nd can't recall) and of the 3 arsenal stickmen he has the lowest % save rate and mins between goals conceded. Think he also conceded most goals of any prem keeper from outside the box last season

Don't know if its his personality which gets him a bit of a pass but he's actually starting to not look like the answer I thought he was a while back.

Lovely day in the sun yesterday - opponents who tried to play and the team gelling nicely, Santi Clausola and Podolski impressing again and Arteta just controlling things nicely. Gervinho is another dilemma, he acually looks a bit shite but just makes stuff happen (on a good day)

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wev

wev

Posted
Posted

Just finished watching the highlights now and two things stand out for me, I don't think Szczesny had to come for the ball when he fumbled it but more positively we seem to throw men at the oppositions box now, I know its "only" Southampton and they're newly promoted and appear to be naive defensively (albeit they've had an incredibly tough start to the season) so theres always someone to mop up a mistake (Gervinho's second being a prime example)., hopefully it continues :)

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The Grand Pursuivant

The Grand Pursuivant

Posted
Posted

So how come nobody is talking about Gervinho as a striker? I think it's a brilliant idea, and I'm glad Wenger has gone through with it after he dabbled with it in preseason. His first goal was a peach, he scored a tap in (when did we last score a tap in?!) and he got an assist. I think the fact that Gervinho has no idea what he's going to do before he's going to do it means he'll be a terror if he starts up top regularly. Defenders will have a hard time reading him, and he certainly looks better shooting than providing the final ball. Wenger saying "We turn all our wingers in to strikers" after the match makes me think it might be something we start seeing more often.

Also, remember how worried we were about where all the goals were going to come from? We have the best goal difference in the league right now.

I'll take it!

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JDubYes

JDubYes

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Posted

It was interesting watching the reaction to our concession yesterday; it seemed like the defensive record (and play) up to then had been a real point of pride, so having Southampton score an unexpected (and, with the best will in the world, unwarranted) goal against the run of play kind of sucked the air out of the place, far more than you'd have expected considering the way the game had played out up to then, and that it never felt like it'd have any real bearing on the result.

I felt bad for the back four as well - the goal actually wasn't badly defended, it was just that the unexpected spill caught us out. In fact, the only questionable defending I remember seeing all game was when we'd switched off and Lambert snuck in to get at Ramirez' miss-hit shot (sort of understandable), and perhaps when Puncheon did well enough against (the otherwise genuinely excellent, both going forward and back) Gibbs to get off a shot toward the end of the game. Beyond that we defended well both individually and as a unit, and while you could argue that the admittedly somewhat limited Southampton aren't the sternest test, it's still nice to see bearing in mind we're supposed to be a team largely comprised of midgets, youngsters and flair players.

Speaking of which - aside from a spell in the second half where we took our foot a bit too far off the gas, the team in general was great again (as the scoreline obviously suggests). I'm already a huge fan of both Podolski and Cazorla, liking both them and Arteta far more than is perhaps reasonable, and thought Gervinho up top looked like a good option, if not one I think I'd choose every week. It's definitely nice to be reminded that there's (good) competition for places in the front three as well as the middle though, and, as I've said before, I still think Giroud should come good, and genuinely like this Arsenal team as much as any I can think of in years.

That team (or at least squad) yesterday was missing Wislhere, Diaby, Sagna, Rosicky and Frimpong, too. Heartwarming, so it is.

Szczesny continues to be a worry though. I was as high on him as anyone initially, but have had my doubts for some time. I still think it's more likely he comes good than not, as he's practically a foetus in goalkeeper terms, and undoubtedly talented, but I wouldn't want to wager (much) on it. Fingers crossed though, eh?

All things considered, 'twas a cracking day out (and not just because we went and got hammered in Angel afterwards), and a fine choice for first trip to the Emirates of the season. Going to make a point of (at least) going to as many of the Saturday 3pm games as I can this season (Sunderland clashed with a stag do, sadly, though I did manage to (sort of, not really) "watch" a fair bit of it a strip club, which was odd), so I'm now looking forward to QPR and Fulham. Hopefully they'll go as well as yesterday did...

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humdrum

humdrum

Posted
Posted

Yesterday was a great result, and I know people are putting a reality check on it saying "its only Southampton" so that we don't get all carried away with the result.

but lets put the result into a little perspective, Southampton are a decent team, and run both manchester teams close in 2 of there other games this season losing both 3-2 I think, so I don't think they will be any kind a push over for other teams in the league. but getting back to yesterday, was it a case of them having a bad day at the office? or us making them look poorer with our play. everyone was buzzing yesterday, the runs to pull players out of position with others darting into the space that was opened it was great to watch, and opened up space even with them defending deep and looking to crowd us out.

I mentioned in a post after RVP made his statement, that RVP leaving could be a blessing in disguise as last year we looked very one dimensional and teams that stopped RVP 9 times out of 10 stopped us. and I think this was shown yesterday, the threat wasn't just from a single source or player that could be easily marked out of the game.

it was mentioned by someone above about the players we had in the box for the goals and I think this is part of what i was getting at. If you look back though all the goals yesterday even the 2 own goals (if they hadn't come off a defender) we had players in there trying to score. then you have the gervinho tap in after ramsey hit the post and even walcott's late goal we still had 4 people in the box. which at the very least ties up all the defenders so anyone breaking from midfield isn't just going to be picked up by the spare defender.

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Daley

Daley

Posted
Posted

Couple of interesting stats from F365:

http://www.football3...s-And-Losers...

Has a player signed from foreign shores ever settled quicker into the Premier League? Cazorla was again sublime on Saturday, and his excellent movement across the pitch in the final third saw the playmaker create six chances for teammates
As well as grabbing a goal, Podolski completed all of his 31 passes on Saturday - a remarkable achievement for a forward.

Carzola is quite amazing, not just for the level of his early performances but the way he has basically just slipped right into the PL without needing any time to settle. Even Henry and Bergkamp needed a few games to get going.

Also Podolski showing typical German efficiency etc. etc. Guy is like a machine. Lovely free kick, nice to get one on target for once. ;)

Made me think these are EXACTLY the types of players we have been crying out for. Experienced pros, ready to hit the ground running. Not particularly expensive (£25m the pair were they?) so it can be done even without breaking the bank but ready, experienced and raring to go.

Also I would say how the FUCK does Carzola not get a sniff of the Spain team but, well, they couldn't really be doing any better recently.

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Daley

Daley

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Posted

Fair enough I might have been exagerating slightly but I hardly remember him playing at all in the summer and after a quick check it seems he managed just 16 minutes spread over two games at the Euros.

"Short, skillful playmaker" is clearly not a position that Spain struggle to fill.

Cazorla

CAZORLA.

;)

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The Fox

The Fox

Posted
Posted

Szczesny out for Montpellier with an ankle injury then. I saw him clutch his leg after his fumble but assumed he was doing that "Oh shit I fucked up better pretend I'm hurt" thing you instinctively do.

Mannone in with Shea on the bench. Where are Fabianski and Martinez?

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Daley

Daley

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Posted

Szczesny out for Montpellier with an ankle injury then. I saw him clutch his leg after his fumble but assumed he was doing that "Oh shit I fucked up better pretend I'm hurt" thing you instinctively do.

Mannone in with Shea on the bench. Where are Fabianski and Martinez?

Damian Martinez has not been called up because he was not named on Arsenal's A list squad for the Champions League and was ineligibie for the B list.

I guess Fabianski is still injured.

Diaby back in the squad. I'm really rooting for him, poor bastard.

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