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cubeadvance

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The Fox

The Fox

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Cazorla struggling a bit when pressed at times. Really struggling to keep the ball and control anything. Need Coq to fight those fires but if this keeps up I think Arteta for Cazorla might be worth thinking about. Bit negative maybe but if we stay under the cosh...

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Rev

Rev

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The right result. Well, probably 1-1 would have been the right result, but y'know.

Things:

1) Not happy with taking Giroud off and then playing as if he was still on the pitch.

2) Mildly concerned that Cech looked happier behind Gabriel, who played quite well to be fair, than he has behind Kos at any point.

3) What on earth has happened to Chambers? He was oozing confidence when he joined, he looked utterly terrified today.

4) Plz learn to pass Coquelin.

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The Fox

The Fox

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Walcott sub was a bad one. Has that sub ever worked? Fenton is not a centre forward against decent opposition for me, and certainly not against a team playing a deep block. Should hardly be revelatory.

Özil got on the ball a lot in the second half, helped massively as we'd struggled to string anything together before half time. Absolutely no clue what Henry is on about saying he should have got more involved.

Gabriel and Cech had good games, as did Nacho. Gabriel would be brilliant if he was a bit better on the ball.

Nothing new to say on the midfield really. Good and bad in the usual areas. Never gonna win this league with that.

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Gabe

Gabe

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Thought the draw was the right result on balance. We dominated in the first half and had the best chance of the game, you were all over us in the second. Thought it was an entertaining game, albeit not high on quality. Given our pretty awful record at the Emirates I'm always happy with a point and with the bonus of a clean sheet it's not a bad night's work.

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The Fox

The Fox

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Anyways re: defensive midfield. Don't think it's as simple as saying Coquelin "can't pass"; he can, though his long passing is a bit erratic. It's the control we've been missing though. Part of that comes with technical passing ability, part of it comes with positioning off the ball so you're always available as a passing option, and part of it comes from intelligence and experience, knowing when to move the ball on quickly and when to slow things down. That's what the midfield is lacking at the moment, and I don't personally feel Cazorla is bringing it to the party. Last night was exciting for neutrals I'm sure, but in the first half especially it was frantic as hell and we turned over possession so cheaply. Second half was better because the forwards stopped being retards and Özil seemed to drop off a bit to help out.

I honestly don't know what the answer is though. We need a deep midfielder and a centre forward and the markets for those positions are in the worst state for years.

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Rev

Rev

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By Arsenal standards, he can't pass. He makes plenty of successful passes, even if you dismiss the fact most of them are sideways or backwards, but you cannot rely on him getting it right.

Yeah, Giroud and Sanchez still had work to do, though they too should've scored, but Benteke was 4 yards out at most and 6 inches to Cech's left or any kind of lift and it was in.

I think probably the shot that went into the net from an onside position was probably the best chance, on balance.

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The Fox

The Fox

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Amazed it took this long for a team to figure out that there's no point pressing Coquelin (even though he doesn't like it), and you should focus on Cazorla and/or Ramsey instead. Coq can't damage you with the ball so why expend the energy? Think the Spurs loss last season was the only other time we saw it so evident.

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Rev

Rev

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I think we gain more than we lose from having Coquelin in. I really don't see much of a problem with:

-------Giroud------------

Ozil--Ramsey--Sanchez

----------------------------

-----Cazorla--Coq-------

But I'm increasingly wondering whether we need a striker at all in some matches:

Sanchez---Ramsey-------Ox

-------------Ozil----------------

----------Cazorla--Coq---------

Seems to have as many goals in it to me. Ramsey is a midfielder, but he's at his best when he's allowed to score. Ozil is at his best when he's got runners to pick. Sanchez ends up everywhere anyway, Chamberlain gives a much more direct approach. Justifying Giroud feels extremely difficult when those four are fit.

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The Fox

The Fox

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Coquelin wasn't bad last night. His usual issues were present of course, but on a personal level he was certainly better than the previous two matches. The issue for me is that a lot of the fires he ends up having to fight are a result of us having no control in midfield. That's not all his fault of course; I think Cazorla was pretty anonymous for big chunks of the game to be honest, and needs to be doing more.

Coquelin-Arteta would probably be great in a way; we'd win the ball readily, wouldn't get countered, and would be able to dictate and build the play in that area. Problem is then you're hugely reliant on the forwards because that pairing offers fuck all in an attacking sense. Also Arteta is still basically deceased, which is a slight issue admittedly.

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The Fox

The Fox

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Thought this was a good read on our midfield, and defensive midfielders in general: http://grantland.com/the-triangle/premier-league-arsenal-arsene-wenger-francis-coquelin-defensive-midfield/

Anyways on Rev's teamsheets, IMO this has to be worth a shot once Alexis is more up to speed:

tGqilT8.jpg

Similar setup to the Community Shield, with Cazorla on the left but dropping off a fair bit to help with build up. Alexis comes in for Ox, but this time at centre forward. I think he's (in theory) a much better bet than Walcott in that position. Better in the air (though both guys are obviously a bit on the short side), better technique, and can actually hold the ball up. Ozil would then have 2 players always looking to run in behind the opposition defence in Ramsey and Walcott. Any team with a medium/high defensive line would be potentially in trouble to our attacking movement. The 'Alexis at centre forward' experiment never really got off the ground when Giroud got injured last season, as we emergency-bought Welbeck and it made sense to use him there instead. It's a shame Alexis had no pre-season really; it might be a stumbling block in trying this formation out, as we can't really afford any slip ups in a 'bedding in' period.

Against a deep block where we're dominating (ie Liverpool second half, or a lot of games against 'lesser' sides at home) there would be a number of steps we could take. Firstly, I think Giroud is the best bet against that type of team, for the quick one-touch interplay in and around the box. If he's physically up to it, swapping Coquelin for Arteta also makes sense, since the onus in these games is on us to build attacks and break down the opposition's resistance. Alexis would move over to the left, and Ox or Wilshere would come in on the right.

lSefkSn.jpg

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