I didn't see the game today, but here's my guess. We've struggled mightily to create goals through the middle of the field since Cesc left. Wenger has reverted to a style of play that was similar to our early noughties teams, which means we get the ball wide to the wingers, who pump in low crosses to players in the box. The problem with this is two-fold. In our system, there is only ever one striker in the box at a given time. Secondly, our problem is that we move the ball far to slowly. Literally every player we have save for Arteta and Cazorla is slow in moving possession, and rather slow in receiving it. We can't outskill teams, so we try to outrun them, but we don't have the requisite technique to take advantage of our athleticism. Arteta and Cazorla link well because they understand the field holistically. Most of our other players don't.

1 Jump to Post ...

Report Post Jump to Post

Posted by Friend of OBUDan

Member since Dec 2008

9963 posts

Posted on 11/24/12 at 9:37 pm to crazy4lsu

We actually pumped more high crosses than low ones...but other than that, fairly spot on.

I know he gets reamed, and had a bad touch or two today, but I think we should seriously consider starting Arshavin in a match. He was in there 15 minutes and created just as many dangerous moments as anyone else today.

The key to beating us is pressuring Arteta. It was so clear that we needed someone to break their high pressing and that Ramsey wasn't the guy for it. Wilshere really should have gotten a runout in the last 15-20. They played so high there was tons of space whenever a midfielder turned and beat his marker, but that happened really rarely.

I honestly don't buy that the squad overall is average. Sure, we lack depth and could certainly improve, but I think the problems is tactical. We have France' #1 striker at the moment, a guy who has 100+ caps for Germany, a Spanish international midfielder, 5 of England's brightest young talents, the best RB in the EPL (when healthy), etc. etc. The talent is there. Hell, even the effort is there. They just aren't a very cohesive unit. There are some dead weight players who should and will move on shortly who are preventing us from acquiring more talent and a couple talents who I'm pretty close to giving up on (Ramsey and Gervinho), but that lineup we put out today talent-wise is good enough to get a result against anybody, and really should have against a young team like AVFC.

2 Jump to Post ...

Report Post Jump to Post

Soccer Board - Replies to Post

Return To Board

Page 1

Return To Board