‘Ozil is unique,’
It depends where you look, imo. The BBC's twitter feed was inundated last night with calls for Wenger to be given the chop, which I think it's fair to say is over the top. But I think the general grumblings we've seen in here are pretty representative of Arsenal fans in general. The system being used at the moment is just not right, and I think people are entitled to feel aggrieved about it, and what its use means for several players, especially Ozil.
I was referring to on here and arseblog. Will have a read of Arsenal-Mania and onlinearsenal and get back to you.
In fact, on this vein, since I can't be arsed to do any doctorate today, I will continue with this chain of thought and bore you all some more. I am really struggling to work out, with everyone fully fit (pie in the sky, I know), and for the sake of argument let's say they are performing towards the top end of their abilities, what Arsenal's first choice team ought to be.
Yeah, it's not just the tackle thing though. Like you say, positioning and interceptions are equally important, and because Ramsey is so often up the pitch scoring goals and whatever he just literally won't be there sometimes when the ball is coming the other way. This isn't even a fault with his game, it's just one of those things that is bound to happen when you play with a player like him, and the rest of the team needs to be able to carry it, for lack of a better word. Players like Pirlo and Xavi are not renowned for being defensive players, as such, but their positioning is so good that by simply being in the right place at the right time, then can take up space in the right areas and disrupt the rhythm of an opposition attack, even if this extends only to making an opponent alter his run or choice of pass. I don't think Arsenal have a player who can really help in this regard when it counts. Arteta is fine for this sort of thing when you're playing Hull or someone (that's not to say he doesn't make a lot of tackles, he undoubtedly does), but we have seen time and time again, for nearly 4 seasons now that when it comes to the big games, against sides that have an athletic and/or highly skilled midfield he gets completely overrun. It is like he literally disappears from the match. Flamini is great for when you want to get stuck in and go hell for leather, but I don't think he's a particularly good reader of the game, especially when playing in midfield (I've always thought he was very competent as a fullback), and he's not one to sit deeply anyway and charges about like a madman much of the time. Wilshere perhaps could be good in this respect, but he has made it clear that he sees himself far more as a swashbuckling attacking player than anything else, and in fairness to him there's more evidence to support that theory than there is to counteract it at the moment.
It's a squad that in my view is about 2-3 players away from being capable of that. Which is unfortunate, because this is what has been said of Arsenal pretty much every season for the last ten years.
Yeah, but on how many occasions did this combination actually play together? Not being facetious; generally curious. And more so, how did it fare in big games? I suspect it was alright against most Prem oppo, but against the big sides and in the Champions League...well, Arsenal's record in those games may well speak for itself.
A diamond similar to what United played at the Weekend could work well for Arsenal tbh against most teams. Welbeck, Sanchez can both comoftably pull wide and cut in from there.
