Nine Jimmy Rimmers – Arsenal and Football

Yesterday’s game at Southampton summed up where Arsenal are. We had an unchanged line-up, despite it being the second game of the week and despite the fact we were playing a relegation zone team. And we struggled. Struggled for energy, creativity and impact.

We looked good for the first ten minutes but after that Southampton got a grip and stifled our best midfield line-up. We ended up passing the ball sideways or backwards so often you began to think Denilson must be back. I don’t have a problem with Arteta, Cazorla or Wilshere. Love all three of them but we can’t rely on playing them game after game.

Our alternatives to Arteta are Coquelin or Diaby. Coquelin has promise, could turn into a great player but he’s young and inexperienced. Diaby is a stat but rarely fit. It’s sad and I really feel for the guy. But he just isn’t a reliable option.

Our alternative to Wilshere is Ramsey. I like Aaron Ramsey. I don’t think he’ll ever be a ‘great’, but he’s competent and quite good to bring on when there’s a straightforward physical battle to be seen out. He isn’t someone to supply a missing creative spark.

Our alternative to Cazorla is Rosicky. Another player I like and not as frequently unavailable as Diaby. But too often he isn’t fit. He was on the bench last night but not used. I assume that he wasn’t really fit enough. When he is, he can change a game. I think that in time we may see more of Oxlade-Chamberlain in the middle though he isn’t quite the same style as Cazorla.

When it all got bogged down yesterday, Walcott was cut off. No supply to feet and too small to capture the high balls. Podolski and Oxlade-Chamberlain, Gibbs and Sagna all had poor games. Walcott began to forget what the ball looked like and dropped deeper and deeper until we had no strike force at all.

Even when Podolski and Oxlade-Chamberlain are on their game, they aren’t genuine wingers. Walcott can play on the wing but he doesn’t want to.

The result of all this is that when all out first choices are fit we can pull it off. But only just and take out one or two, or lose a bit of form, and we are in trouble with nothing in reserve.

Clearly not all of that can be put right in one January window and not all of it has the same urgency. Most of the speculation has been for a new striker. It’s true that we haven’t replaced Van Persie, but I wonder if the more urgent need is for genuine wide players and to double up on Arteta and Wilshere. Genuine wingers would give use Giroud, Walcott and Podolski as striking options. If they got the service, they might be enough.

How good it would be to be writing about Olivier Giroud’s best game yet, because it was exactly that. But no, because everything else was crap. Does anyone else come out unscathed? Cazorla and Mertesacker maybe. But to be honest, apart from the welcome sight of Giroud finding some eighteen yard box confidence, there wasn’t anything much. They really were very poor.

It isn’t just that we don’t have the depth, so that Vermaelen has to play out of position and Arteta can’t have a break. The good guys we do have are not performing. Did Sagna ever get out of position as much? Did we ever play the ball backwards as much, inviting more and more pressure?

So now we don’t have the depth or the form. We’re better than Schalke and Fulham but we let them both come back from two down. We’re mid table with a load to do in the Champions League group. That’s how bad it is.

A lot of fans think it’s worse than that. It isn’t. Not yet. Sone of us old farts have been through more perilous moments. But it’s bad enough and it’s Spurs at home next Sunday. Manager and players owe us a massive game.

And the club owes us a heap more ambition. If you were Theo, would you sign right now? Now I’m not actually Walcott’s biggest fan, but his departure on top of Van Persie, Song and Fabregas would reinforce the impression of a club that is just making up the numbers.

Yesterday hurt, Schalke hurt, Manchester United hurt. But the biggest danger facing Arsenal is that it will stop hurting. Because it will become dolefully accepted. And that applies to the players as well as the fans. Then it won’t be the same anymore and it will be a bigger project to turn round.

Guys, you owe us, from top to bottom.

Arsenal 6:1 Coventry

That is exactly the sort of score line that a club like Arsenal should get against a club like Coventry, but there were some encouraging bits and pieces about it too.

First is that it compares well with the way we struggled too much to get past lower league opposition last season. Here, we toiled a bit through a dull first half, but took complete control as the game went on.

Coventry set out to play a compact pair of lines and constrain Arsenal within a tight midfield band. It worked well for a while but you have to be disciplined right through the game to get a result and that’s hard work when the gap in talent is big.

In the first half they largely did make it work and Arsenal only broke through to score once when Coquelin and Arshavin pounced on loose control to set Giroud free against the keeper. For the first time he scored and hopefully that will ease the pressure, although having a penalty (well) saved will have taken the edge off slightly. But still, well done Olivier. His movement and passing are great and hopefully now he’s got one goal, more will follow.

Perhaps the relative success of the first half lulled Coventry into a false sense of security, because in the second half their defensive concentration faltered and the gaps opened up. Oxlade-Chamberlain scored from distance and after that the goals kept coming.

Arshavin scored and then Walcott too. Theo drifted infield regularly and late on got a second. Arshavin fed Miquel from a corner and the Spaniard scored too. Yesterday I wrote that Arshavin and Walcott had something to prove about their application and they both worked hard last night. They both played very positively. Arshavin was in the position he plays for Russia – in the middle behind the striker. He won our Man of the Match poll. Walcott roamed across the front rather than staying out wide. His decision or Wenger’s?

Keeping our feet on the ground, neither of them were really called upon to deliver defensive cover as well, so nothing was proved on what has been a weaker part of their game. But both did the job that was needed last night.

Another positive was the obvious potential of Gnabry. That guy has talent and it will be interesting to see how many games he gets this season. A good run in both cups would do him a lot of good. The next cup game is a trip to Reading to he will surely get to play in that one.

The only real disappointment was Andre Santos. He looked pretty disinterested by the whole thing and was slow to react to the game. Beating the likes of Coventry may not be what he came here for, but playing a lazy game won’t put him back in ahead of Gibbs.

So a positive night, particularly in the second half. Well done Arsenal. The serious stuff again at the weekend. A good performance against Chelsea and we really will have banished the memory of last season’s nightmare start.

Interesting team tonight. A mix of youth and experience:
Martinez
Angha, Djourou, Miquel, Santos
Yennaris, Coquelin
Arshavin
Walcott, Giroud, AOC

The front three in particular have something to prove. An unfair tag perhaps for Olivier Giroud, or Jirude as the Arsenal Player team persist in calling him. I think that his movement and passing are terrific. He just needs that first goal. Until he does, he’s going to get compared Chamakh and the like.

Walcott. What’s his attitude going to be like? He wants to be the new Thierry. Tonight he gets a cup start against Coventry. I begin to wonder whether he is ever going to sign a new contract. Will he be committed tonight, or hacked off?

Arshavin. I really don’t get why he’s still here other than wanting to stay in London. Surely that’s not enough? Surely the Russian captain wants to play football more than anything else?

Hopefully all three will be fired up tonight and take the chances that are bound to come.

Match poll later.

UPDATED – Looks like Arahavin is going to play in the middle behind Giroud.

Come on you Gunners!

We’re going to see changes today I think. Szczesny fit, Diaby a knock and midweek games in the next three weeks. Good to be back to real football again though with visiting Southampton. This should be a win, Southampton are pointless to far, but then again it is the sort of game that we’ve slipped ip in over the last couple of seasons. So I hope that we’re going to approach this one with the same discipline we’ve seen so far.

So what decisions has Arsene Wenger for to make?

Personally I think that a fit Szczesny gets to play, even when Mannone has picked nothing more than a water bottle out of the back of the net. The Italian has done a good job and could get at least one more game this month against Coventry in the FA Cup.

Koscielny, Mertesacker, Vermaelen? I would be happy to see any two out of these three. Could Vermaelen get a rest ahead of our first Champions League game and the trip to Man City? He’s had a heavier league and international load than the other two.

Diaby getting a knock playing for France had an certain inevitability I suppose, but the club says it’s just a mild thing and he could play. I suspect that he will be out today whatever. There are plenty of tougher games ahead. Who will replace him? Coquelin, Oxlade-Chamberlain or Ramsey? AOC played in both internationals, I think he might be in the bench. Coquelin seems a touch defensive against Southampton but we could see with him or Ramsey.

Walcott has been in bed with a virus during the week so I guess that Gervinho will get a start with Podolski and Giroud up front.

My guess:
________ Szczesny ________
Jenk _ Merte __ Kos _ Gibbs
_____ Arteta __ Ramsey ____
________ Cazorla __________
Gervinho _ Giroud _ Podolski

Hopefully it will be the chance for Giroud to get off the mark with his first goal. But let’s not panic either way and just hope for another disciplined win.

Come on you Gunners!

Perceptions chop and change in the first few games of the season with club bumping up and down the table until an order is established. Before Sunday, Arsenal were a club in crisis with no goals and a pitiful two points. Now we’re unbeaten Arsenal with five points and three clean sheets. So we can all feel slightly more relaxed about things.

We shouldn’t get too carried away yet as Brendan Rodgers clearly has a big job on at Liverpool and we are going to face a lot tougher opponents than we did yesterday. But it was a big step in the right direction with a lot of positives to take from the performance. So what did we learn?

Abou Diaby
A fit Abou Diaby is an absolute joy to watch. That was the best game that I’ve ever seen him play and immediately you understand why Arsene Wenger has stood by him. A couple of seasons back I would complain that he was someone who only contributed in parts and often went missing when the really hard work was required. Then injury took him out completely. Now he’s back with an intensity that was awesome. If that is the real Diaby then you would even let Arsene get away with saying he’s like a new signing!

He won our man of the match poll by a country mile and is picking up nothing but praise. He covered a huge area of the pitch and kept the pressure off Arsenal for long periods by holding possession – fending off several tackles virtually every time he had the ball.

Mikel Arteta
Arsenal are singing a new Song. We all (mostly all, including me) worried our way to the transfer deadline – chuntering on about the need for a new defensive midfielder.

But yesterday’s performance from Mikel Arteta demonstrated that the need wasn’t that great. Another fantastic performance with great tackles and disciplined positioning throughout the game. Together with Diaby, he owned the space in front of our back-four, helping them in turn to put in a composed, well-drilled performance.

I thought that he ran Diaby close for man of the match and I’m pretty stunned that he only came fourth in our poll. But I guess that goal-scorers will always attract a load of votes.

Arsenal can defend again
OK, as I said above, we will face tougher tests than this weakened, one-trick Liverpool side. But Arsenal already look so much better at the back this season. They work together for offside and they have finally figured out zonal marking. I’m not going to pretend I know whether zonal is better than man-to-man, but if you do it then every has to do it right or you’re left staring at each other after someone has waltzed through a big hole and scored.

Arsenal weren’t perfect but there is a noticeable improvement. Nice work Steve Bould.

Per Mertesacker
Arsenal have a choice of three good central defenders, not two. I already thought that was true but some didn’t. No he isn’t the fastest, but he is still a class act.

Fullbacks covered
Oxlade-Chamberlain and Podolski do something that Walcott and Arshavin don’t. They give real cover to the fullbacks. AOC did have a lot of joy going forward against Luis Enrique but he still put in a good performance and added his bit to the newly solid defending.

Cazorla and Podolski have clicked
They worked together for both goals and they were involved in everything Arsenal did going forward. In each game the understanding grows and it looks like a very promising partnership. As well as the attacking, they both worked hard off the ball as well, always creating space and opportunities for some crisp passing.

Giroud needs a goal
A statement of the obvious I know and he missed another good opportunity yesterday. But from the way he moves, and his track record, you’ve got to believe the goals are in their somewhere. Jury still out I guess, but being a successful centre-forward is probably 75% confidence and until he gets that first goal he’s going to struggle. But for all that he still worked away throughout and his running helped to make space for his team-mates.

Of all the players, he probably rues this international break the most as he needs to play and play. Next up are Southampton so hopefully he can break his duck and settle then.

Progress
Reading all that back it seems a touch gushing. Over the top? Perhaps there is a big dose of relief in the assessment we’re all making of yesterday. But even so, that was a big performance so let’s feel good about it. It certainly makes Monday morning a little easier!

Have a good day now.

Arsenal fans are looking at it two ways. On the one hand you can point at the purchase of Cazorla, Giroud and Podolski and say that if they had all been signed yesterday we would feel excited rather than completely deflated. Deadline day is after all a bizarre creation where multi-million pound businesses are seduced into expensive purchases with minimal preparation to a soundtrack of breathless markettrader-like commentary throughout.

We praised Arsenal for doing good early business, is it fair to criticize when there is no last minute supermarket dash? Is it like we forgot about the expensive games console we begged for birthday because Christmas Day felt so rubbish.

But the alternative analysis carries a lot of weight too. The two clubs that finished above us have strengthened, United by taking our top scorer. At our backs, Chelsea and Spurs have strengthened too. Whilst we have bought in three players, you can’t get away from the fact that we have ended the transfer windows with holes in the squad and money in the bank.

It makes third place look tricky and doing better looks unrealistic from here. And that’s because, for this season to work out, the club is going to have to rely on all the variable factors falling out in it’s favour.

Arsene Wenger says we have top players and in terms of a first choice starting eleven he could be right. But do we have enough in the tank to cope with the season?

Szczesny has to stay fit. Sagna has to get fit. I think that many are too harsh on Jenkinson, but he isn’t in the same class. Wilshere has to come back the same talent as he was before, releasing Arteta for a more flexible link up role. Plus Arteta has to stay fit.

Diaby has to stay fit – after two games he has already played more than last season. Problem solved or injury overdue? Rosicky has get fit and stay fit to provide an alternate to Cazorla who has to click with the players in front of him. Good signs there so far.

Podolski and Giroud need to find their way of being effective in Premier League football. Giroud needs to stay fit because our back up striker is Chamakh. Now I think that Chamakh, like Jenkinson, has had some over-harsh criticism, but it’s obviously true that he isn’t the sort of striker who can come on and score without much recent time on the pitch.

Gervinho and/or Walcott need to find something extra that delivers a consistent end product.

Now all these things are possible, but we’re gambling on all of them happening to stay competitive.

A line up of:
Szczesny
Sagna, Kos, Verm, Gibbs
Wilshere, Arteta
Cazorla
Walcott, Giroud, Podolski
- looks pretty good.

A line-up of:
Szczesny
Sagna, Merte, Verm, Santos
Diaby, Arteta
Rosicky
Gervinho, Giroud, Podolski
- should cope with a lot of teams we have to play and we have Oxlade-Chamberlain too.

But what about:
Mannone
Jenk, Merte, Verm, Santos
Frimpong, Arteta
Rosicky
AOC, Chamakh, Arshavin

OK, we could argue the toss about the relative merits of some of the second choice players, but I don’t think it alters the main point. We don’t have enough in the tank and we’re going to need a slice of luck just to stay top four. Luck that another couple of transfers might have avoided, let alone the moves that might have lifted our ambition higher.

Figures crossed and Arsenal ’til I die. But a good deal more nervous this season.

Come on Arsenal.

Well that looks like a good group to me. Beatable teams and no long-haul flights. Don’t think we could have asked for better than that. Olympiacos again for the third time in four years. Giroud gets a return trip to Montpelier. Schalke complete the group.

Meanwhile a rather curious business with Theo Walcott. He isn’t going, but he hasn’t signed. And he won’t sign before the end of the window. Seems to me that puts him in a really strong position. Just when I was praising Arsenal for being all strong and decisive.

In his press conference this morning Arsene Wenger hinted at departures for Bendtner and Chamakh. The Bendtner deal is with Juventus. Meanwhile it’s rumoured that Park is at Celta Vigo for a medical. So maybe three strikers are departing, leaving us with Giroud and Podolski. Will we buy another striker? Or maybe Theo is staying to be the third-choice striker! I joke of course.

I could recite the list of transfer rumours, but you’ve already read them. Could be a fun day tomorrow. I’ve got tickets for all three sessions of the Paralympics tomorrow, so I’m going to have to be very disciplined in my 3G use!

So, off to Stoke for a tough test – one we haven’t passed too often. In fact we’ve lost there more often than we’ve won. Last April we drew 1:1 with Rosicky our best player. It was more memorable for the Stoke fans booing Aaron Ramsey. Figure that out if you can. After the match, Arsene Wenger charitably commented that both sides were ‘good at what they do‘.

After drawing our first match it would be good to get all three points, but recent history suggests that will be a difficult task. One-all last time was an improvement on the 3:1 defeat the season before. At his pre-match press conference Arsene Wenger reported that Koscielny will not be available, but Oxlade-Chamberlain is OK. There is a slight concern over Szczesny but he is expected to be alright.

It sounds to me like the team will be pretty much unchanged, particularly at the back unless Szczesny is unable to play. Fabianski is only just back from a back problem. I guess the nightmare would be that both are out. Actually nightmare is a bit unfair on Vito Mannone. It would be a big game for him to step into, but he’s a better keeper than many give him credit. He had a bad day at the office in his last game when he thought he was outside his area and panicked himself into a scissor-kick instead of using his hands. If he ends up playing then plenty will remind him of that, but at the moment it sounds as if Szczesny should be OK.

The only real choices to be made are probably at the front and twofold. Is Giroud fit for ninety minutes now and if so does he start? Is Gervinho a better bet than Walcott against Stoke as they are likely to sit deep which will nullify Theo’s speed advantage? I wouldn’t be surprised if we see the Giroud start this time. I don’t think that Podolski’s main role is to be central striker. On Gervinho v Walcott, I think that it will be a pragmatic start for Walcott. I maybe guilty of being a bit cynical here, but Arsenal want his signature on a contract this week. I think he’ll start but it may need a change if he can’t get in behind Stoke’s defence. Gervinho’s enthusiasm to take players on with the ball at his feet might pay off here.

So, my guess is -

_______ Szczesny ________
Jenk _ Merte _ Verm _ Gibbs
____ Arteta __ Diaby _____
_______ Cazorla _________
Walcott _ Giroud _ Podolski

UPDATE – Mannone starts as both Szczesny and Fabianski unfit.

Stoke usually start with an opening onslaught to try and wreck their opponents game plan and Arsenal, particularly the new players, will need to be ready for that. Survive the first twenty and we can come home with something to show for it. Concede and we will be battling for a point again.

It’s just one game guys, so let’s be realistic about lessons learned so far. Lesson one is that Santi Cazorla can play a bit! Midweek he flew to Puerto Rico and back, but he was still the sharpest player on the pitch. Great positioning and fantastic passing. What a buy! He won our first man of the match poll by a distance.

Lesson two is that occasionally Per Mertesacker will get caught out on pace. Hang on, that isn’t a new lesson is it? In fact, Cazorla’s skill is probably the only lesson from the first competitive ninety minutes of the season. The rest are just impressions really.

Podolski and Giroud got into the right places but need to get sharper. Podolski and Cazorla need to get some understanding of where each other is. Gervinho seems to have improved over the summer with more direct runs into the box – encouraging.

Walcott looked like a man trying to solve a puzzle, but nothing quite worked. Is he trying to work out his new team-mates or is he trying to work out whether he wants to stay? Or is he just a bit short of fitness and not right on his game?

Reading comments around the place there is a real division of opinion over Carl Jenkinson. I think he did okay and I’m not alone. But plenty were ready to criticise.

All in all it was a frustrating day and confirmation of Song slithering off to Barcelona didn’t help even though it was expected. But it was only the first ninety minutes of the season. Too early for cataclysmic conclusions.