Not knowing Wenger's exact tactics, and the instructions given to the midfielders, means we can't accurately draw those conclusions.
However the fact that the midfield was entirely changed for Watford, and performed much better, supports your general point.
It also means that any midfield issues in the first two games were definitely not forgiven - Elneny and Coquelin have paid the price it seems.
Xhaka, Cazorla and Ozil through the spine, amazing technical skills, we should be in store for some pretty spectacular passing interplay in the coming months
Yep totally agree, we then just need to put the ball in the back of the net.....
Not knowing Wenger's exact tactics, and the instructions given to the midfielders, means we can't accurately draw those conclusions.
However the fact that the midfield was entirely changed for Watford, and performed much better, supports your general point.
It also means that any midfield issues in the first two games were definitely not forgiven - Elneny and Coquelin have paid the price it seems.
The midfield pairing of Elneny and Coquelin isn't good enough to compete for the PL; luckily enough Arsenal have better midfielders back now in Xhaka and Cazorla. Tactically Elneny and Coquelin aren't great at all, especially Elneny.
Not knowing Wenger's exact tactics, and the instructions given to the midfielders, means we can't accurately draw those conclusions.
However the fact that the midfield was entirely changed for Watford, and performed much better, supports your general point.
It also means that any midfield issues in the first two games were definitely not forgiven - Elneny and Coquelin have paid the price it seems.
The midfield pairing of Elneny and Coquelin isn't good enough to compete for the PL; luckily enough Arsenal have better midfielders back now in Xhaka and Cazorla. Tactically Elneny and Coquelin aren't great at all, especially Elneny.
Elneny really? He's usually good pretty good to me, never really a start but very good squad player thou
go gunners
Not knowing Wenger's exact tactics, and the instructions given to the midfielders, means we can't accurately draw those conclusions.
However the fact that the midfield was entirely changed for Watford, and performed much better, supports your general point.
It also means that any midfield issues in the first two games were definitely not forgiven - Elneny and Coquelin have paid the price it seems.
The midfield pairing of Elneny and Coquelin isn't good enough to compete for the PL; luckily enough Arsenal have better midfielders back now in Xhaka and Cazorla. Tactically Elneny and Coquelin aren't great at all, especially Elneny.
Kind of agree. Coq and Elneny are good if they are paired with better midfielders, but playing together they don't offer enough.
a.haak
It's only in the international window when I am reminded how much NZF sucks. Every window teams in Europe are playing friendlys worth watching or qualifying for the next major tournament; our lads are playing FIFA 16 and counting down for the window to be over. Looking forward to seeing if either Mustafi or Perez debut this weekend.
Big game this weekend. Need the 3 points. I had a dream we lost... but out of all my dreams involving Arsenal results, I've only had one fairly accurate one, so dreaming we lost in advance is a good sign!
Reports that Giroud will be back in the lineup, and Sanchez moved back left. Given their performances so far, I think Walcott will shade the Ox for the start, and perhaps too early for Mustafi or Perez (do we call him Lucas?)...
Cech
Bellerin-Holding-Koscielny-Monreal
Xhaka-Cazorla
Walcott-Ozil-Sanchez
Giroud
Bench: Ospina, Gibbs, Mustafi, Coquelin, Elneny, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Perez
Seen that floating around
Interesting
Mustafi I guess to be expected, but Perez probably a surprise.
Will he slot in up front?
A front 3 of him, walcott and sanchez would be pretty mobile
The question is is Wenger doing it because of tactics; because of fitness; because of form; or a combination of all 3?
Hope the lad has a screamer.
so we tried hard without being overly effective. i think we were lucky to get the penalty, but not to get the win as we had the better chances and dominated the game.
Not sure why we searched the world for a new striker when we have one in our backline. that over head kick was wicked from Kos.
Didnt think Perez or the Must stood out. Perez took a few odd options, but i you expect that as he is still learning.
one thing i think the game did highlight was that Walcott(again) and Ox(first time for me) aren't at the level we need. resting Sanchez gave them an opportunity to shine and neither took it.
Mustafi looks great on the ball and very physical, I saw a lot of potential there.
Lucas (I think that's what we're supposed to call him?) looked way off the pace, caught in the headlights for his first game I thought, can't make too many observations from that, other than the fact that he needs to get up to speed with the premier league, quick smart!
I was really disappointed not to see Xhaka playing. Felt like a bit of a b-side out there with him and Sanchez on the bench.
I feel like Walcott is looking pretty sharp right now, did a lot of good things in that game. Ox was the Ox, hungry, sort of nearly there, but not delivering when it counted.
I think rotation and the international break affected our performance badly, which is a blimmin shame, I wish we'd been able to see a continuation of the Watford game.
Hopefully that'll be more of the case in midweek.
Can't really afford for more points dropped at this stage so was important to get the win. Mustafi made a few solid challenges but did give the ball away a bit needlessly several times trying to do a bit too much with it. Perez ran a lot and tried a few flicks and one-twos that didn't come off but couldn't really get into the game. Cazorla still a crucial player, we lost so much when he was out last season.
I thought Mustafi was actually quite shaky - mostly due to lack of understanding between him and Kosc. They both seem to play very similar games. Credit to Kosc for figuring this out a short way through the game and dropping back a little into the 'BFG' role. Kosc is easily one of the best defenders in the world right now; no surprise that he makes anyone playing next to him look decent.
I think we'd be saying something different if Long buried one of his two clear cut chances.
Our main issue, as always, is that we don't defend as a team so our CB's and FB's are constantly scrambling to make last ditch tackles.
I've been really impressed with Theo's application so far this season. He hasn't got the rewards quite yet, but they'll come if he keeps playing like this.
Ox should've been shipped off instead of Campbell. I like the guy but jesus I don't think he will ever make it with us - his mentality is just not there.
Good to sneak the win.
a.haak
And what a goal it was for a centre back too! Was shocked when it realised it was him. As it happened I thought "that must have been Perez surely." Couldn't think of anyone we already had who was on the pitch who would have done that. And we even got to see it on Bein instead of watching a Shay Given save or something at the same time!
On an Arsenal related note, I ended up booking the Sydney trip at the Travel Expo yesterday. Didn't expect to but we got a decent deal on some flights.
And what a goal it was for a centre back too! Was shocked when it realised it was him. As it happened I thought "that must have been Perez surely." Couldn't think of anyone we already had who was on the pitch who would have done that. And we even got to see it on Bein instead of watching a Shay Given save or something at the same time!
On an Arsenal related note, I ended up booking the Sydney trip at the Travel Expo yesterday. Didn't expect to but we got a decent deal on some flights.
They on sale now? Last time I looked they were still off the market.
If you mean flights for those dates, then yes. When I say booked the trip, I meant got a good price on the flights. Everything else still to be worked out. If you mean all in packages for the games, then possibly. There was a flyer advertising it amongst the Sydney stuff, but we got tickets and are doing our own thing so didn't enquire about it.
Deals on flights at the Expo only went up to 30 June, plus the games unfortunately happen to be in the first week of school holidays (13 and 15 July) which makes it a slightly more expensive time. We were always planning to turn it into roughly a 2 week holiday going to a few places anyway (Gold Coast, Brisbane, maybe Sunshine Coast) rather than just going for the games. Worked out by leaving on 30 June (first to Brisbane, then a flight from Brisbane to Sydney on 10th) to get the outgoing flight in the last day of the special made it a pretty good deal, ridiculous amount cheaper than going on about 4/5 July as originally thought. Slightly longer trip than originally intended but plenty of time to save more money and plan the rest of it.
Where to go between 30 June and 10 July still to be worked out but thinking of Gold Coast for the bulk of it at the moment.
I never noticed at the time, but apparently after our peno, van dijk was yellow-carded for tampering with the penalty spot...... interesting
https://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/premier-lea...
The article also claims that we suspected WBA doing something similar to the penalty spot last season, when Santi slipped and missed this one;
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