Analysis of why Arsenal couldn’t beat Leicester

What cost Arsenal from picking all three points against Leicester? by SE

Wenger’s men drew against Leicester last night, as they failed to capitalize on Manchester City slipping up at Etihad, on Saturday. A win for Arsenal would have seen them pip, both Man City and Liverpool, to 3rd place in the embryonic Barclays Premier League table. But what cost Arsenal from picking all three points against a spirited Leicester side?

Talking Points
In what was a lively start to the game, Arsenal looked the likelier of the two teams, to go ahead, which they managed to, in the 20th minute of the game. It was a beautifully worked maneuver, with Cazorla’s chipped pass, over the Leicester backline, finding Sanogo who squirted it to Sanchez to tuck home from close range.

A couple of minutes later, the Gunners relinquished their 1-goal lead when a quick break from the Foxes saw Schlupp, on the Left-Wing, pick out an inviting cross for Ulloa, who headed in seamlessly.
Post Leicester’s equalizer, Arsenal did create plenty more chances; but it was not convincing enough from the North Londoners, who, now, will regret drawing their second league game in a row.
Coming to the analysis,

Playing Sanogo up top was a gamble, which didn’t pay off. It would be delusional, however, to pinpoint the Frenchman’s profligacy for Arsenal failing to win the game.

Ozil continues to disappoint, as he played as a Right-Winger and failed to create a single outright chance. To put things into perspective: The German playmaker has made just 1 assist in his last 9 Premier League outings for the Gunners.

It is one thing about the player not performing to the levels expected of him; it’s also the duty of the gaffer to identify ways of affecting the game positively. Alex Oxlade Chamberlain, who, for me, has been one of the most impressive players for Arsenal, was underused last night. The young Englishman should have replaced the German at the hour mark at best, which would have injected extra pace into the Arsenal lineup.

Passing, which is supposed to be one of Arsenal’s strength, wasn’t at its incisive best – it was slow and unthreatening.

Not to be too critical of Ramsey but the Welshman has looked a bit slow and unlike his usual self, in the last couple of games. I thought that if he could have done a lot more of what Cazorla managed to, Arsenal might have had that extra penetration. Leicester’s backline was stretched, over the course of 90 minutes, but Arsenal didn’t do enough to find a way through. Ramsey is a vital cog in the Gunners’ lineup, and when he’s not at his best, it’s hard for them to create openings.

To remind everybody out there: Arsenal ‘might’ need a Defensive Midfielder, but the goals conceded by them are not a direct result of the lack of one. It is due to defensive weakness that Arsenal keep conceding goals, despite boasting of one of the most established Center-Back partnership in the Premiership.

Final Thought
Arsenal didn’t move the ball quick enough; they also didn’t have the legs to fashion a chance or two when the game was heading into its latter stages. Apart from that, Wenger’s wizards didn’t do an awful lot wrong, and we would be mad to not give Leicester enough credit for thwarting Arsenal and garnering a point of their own

Tags Cazorla Ozil Sanogo

94 Comments

  1. read this on espn:
    Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger coaching in charity game on deadline day
    surely cannot be true???
    what is happening to our club?

    1. sorry for being so OT—-just can’t focus on our inability to score on a newly promoted side when we have this rubbish going on during last day of window,

      1. Come on give the man some credit. I guess he wasn’t lying when he said he would be active on the transfer deadline day, he will be busy officiating in Italy!!!

        1. if we had Falcao we would have won 3-1 and that is a fact. The only reason we lost id due to the fact that we had YAYA leading the line. I still can’t get over the fact that YAYA is our main man,,,LOL

    2. hes closing shop on transfers…just read all his statements…..

      we should be looking for a new manager as well on transfer deadline…..

      Wenger out!!!

    3. LOL its 100% true. Sky sports even reported it.
      Mighty zigic doesnt look too bad now does he lol.
      I would now be satisfied with welbeck (never thought i’d say that).

      1. Wenger always finds new ways to amaze me. Injured kalstrom, no striker, no dm, sold rvp to man u, sold nasri to city, and now he’s on holiday on deadline day. Either wenger has lost the plot or its quality banter.

  2. We scored 66 goals last season. Liverpool and city scored over 100, thats why they were in the top 2.
    We desperately need to add goals. We need a 25+ goal striker in the league.
    We need a Dm to stop the 20 goals being conceded in 4 games. Lol that sounds so depressing, no top team in the world gets destroyed like that.

    1. Best get used to those big losses, I see more on the horizon and playing football in places not on the map against teams no one has ever heard of on a Thursday night.
      City, Chelsea and Liverpool are nailed on top 3.
      If we are very very lucky we might scrape 4th but I wouldn’t be so sure this time.
      A lot of teams have strengthened and even UTD with one of the best strikers in the world and adding players where needed now could be a threat.
      Everton, Spuds, Swansea, UTD will all be aiming for that 4th spot and we have zero cover for injuries.

      If Kos and Debuchy get injured what then?
      If they are injured, Gibbs will be injured and Chambers gets crocked we are deader than we already are.

      No other top PL team are so light and some mid table teams are in much better condition than us.
      There may be trouble ahead…

  3. In flying to Italy tomorrow for vacation, to Milan. If i see Wenger on my way I swear I’ll smack his smug face for flushing our beautiful club into the toilet.

  4. We need a striker who is firing on all cylinders. Failing that, we need to play those who have a decent scoring record, like Podolski.

    The positive: We are unbeaten in 5 games..! 😉

    The negative: We need goalscoring players. Relying on sanogo is a huge gamble.

      1. LIKE A NEW SIGNING.

        3 years ago I thought Wenger couldn’t hurt us more by selling Cesc and Nasri but he did when we didn’t sign a CDM in 2012 and sold RVP to Manure. Then he hurt us by not signing a proper CDM last summer.

        Not long when he hurt us by losing 6-3 and 5-1. Surely that was our lowest point.

        Then he addressed Theos and Ramseys injury by signing an aged, INJURED nobody. Surely that was it. No it was followed by 6-0 defeat.

        Now he’s hurting us even more badly by not signing CDM OR striker. Only way to make this summer worse is by rubbing salt to the wounds and signing Defoe.

  5. Wenger was slated for being on the beach while teams were buying players, then he pulled out Sanchez, Chambers, Debuchy……today he is being slated for going to a charity game while teams are once again signing players…..I hope for his sake he pulls off 2 or 3 good singings before 11PM

  6. Wenger has become a laughing stock! What is he doing in Italy refereeing a match?!
    What a joke of a manager. He’s probably gonna say I forgot my phone and took my wifes phone by mistake. So therefore I didn’t receive any transfer calls.

  7. I could not agree more with the article.

    Players used out of position when we have loads of players able to play on the flanks? Sanogo preferred to Campbell and Sanchez without concrete evidence he can score a goal?

    The draw was 80% Wenger’s fault, no doubt. He should have left Ozil on the bench rather than playing him where he was. Some players keep on being ignored, how long before they want to leave? How long before Alexis morale and work rate collapse?

    That game was the IDEAL game to test Campbell as CF or use Akpom who I rate miles above Sanogo. It would have been ideal give Podolski a run on the flank, it would have been ideal to play Ozil as a 10.

    Plenty of time was left to reorganise the team, there is no excuse for the poor player selection and it cost s 2 points.

  8. WE NEED CDM. WENGER” WE HAVE ARTETA, FLAMINI, DIABY, WILSHERE AND COQUELIN
    WE NEED ST. WENGER” WE HAVE SANOGOAL LORD POSTMAN, PODOLSKI, SANCHEZ, WALCOTT,
    CAMPBELL AND AKPOM

  9. I am 100% certain we will sign some players, Wenger cannot possibly be this incompetent…can he? Actually who am I kidding we turned down Balotelli, Cesc, Remy…if those 2 strikers aren’t better than Sanogo in Wenger’s eyes then he could/is be going senile. Still think we will get Rabiot and 1 massive player. We needed a striker when Giroud was fit, not he’s injured its just too obvious, he CANT be that blind?

  10. Alisher Usmanov said in August we are beginning a new era for Arsenal, the club is well placed to succeed. Not a fooking chance without at least two important signings. Where is Stan Kroenke while all this shxxt is going down. We should be better than fourth place with all the resources at our disposal. The Prof is seriously demented if he thinks perseveering with San is going to work. Get the Pope to give him some inspired ideas about new signings while he is out there. Up the Gooners

  11. Jim White has been answering questions on transfers and someone asked about arsenal and he said ” I definitely expect Arsenal to make a signing before 11pm”. He goes on to say ” Mesut Özil last season was a memorable one, but there’ll be a big one tonight though”.

    1. Meant to say as well, I can’t imagine Jim White would say something like that without having some proof. Who knows.

      1. Thanks for that .. I think he is saying that out of expectation of how badly we need a player rather then inside info ??

        1. Maybe, but as a sky sports reporter, I think he’d want to keep his credibility. The Benatia transfer calls his credibility into doubt but Jim White has been saying that we would buy big again ever since we announced Alexis Sanchez. Don’t think he would continue to repeat himself if he wasn’t convinced. Wenger loves Arsenal so I can’t see him leaving us in such a bad position when there are quality players available.

  12. With Giroud for a full season we would compete for 3/4 AGAIN. With Giroud’s injury and no new striker we will not finish 4th. (Cheski, MC and Pool all better, and Everton/Spuds will pip us to 4th/5th.) We cannot score right now, causing committing two many players forward and being hit on the counter.
    To compete on all fronts we need to (a) change team selection and (b) 3 new players.
    a. Ramsey and Wiltshire should each play b2b MF and rarely play together; Ozil and Cazola should each play no. 10 and rarely play together
    b. 3 new players: Striker (in addition to Giroud), LW (e.g., Reus) and DM (e.g., Carvalho, Bender). Saving money this season will cost us more in the long run.

  13. Alisher Usmanov said in August we are beginning a new era for Arsenal, the club is well placed to succeed. Not a fooking chance without at least two important signings. Where is Stan Kroenke while all this shxxt is going down. We should be better than fourth place with all the resources at our disposal. The Prof is seriously demented if he thinks perseveering with San is going to work. Get the Pope to give him some inspired ideas about new signings while he is out there.

  14. Hoping atleast a defender would arrive…How on earth are we going to win the tittle with 3 cb and two aged and crap cdms and the world class strike force lead the great YAYA…
    Even Everton are stronger than us… Will there be any last minute surprises???

  15. We all knew that 20m pounds loan for Falcao was nonsense. UTD have nabbed him for 5m. Let me cry guys, please…

  16. The author of this post wrote “Playing Sanogo up top was a gamble, which didn’t pay off. It would be delusional, however, to pinpoint the Frenchman’s profligacy for Arsenal failing to win the game”. That may be true, but it is also a fact that if we had even a Remy behind those chances that Sanogo had, at least one would have been put away. That would have been enough for a win. The author is probably Wenger in disguise.

  17. Mr AW U BETTER START SINGING SO FACKIN PLAYERS & FACK THAT CHARITY GAME U REFREEING U DUMB FACK U ARE FACKIN UP #AFC WE NEED CB, CDM & MOST OF ALL A FACKING ST U PIECE OF STUBBORN SH*T HOW DA FACK U CAN MAKE FALCO SLIP AWAY & GO TO MANURE & MANURE HAVE NO CL TO OFFER HIM NOT EVEN EUROPHIA LEAGUE SMFH!!! FACK U AW

      1. Wish I lived in the uk so I can see that stubborn fack AW & slap some sense into hiz old brains to bad I live in the #US

  18. Since Zlatan is back for PSG and in hat trick form we should blow everyone’s minds and sign Cavani. Him, Reus or (notice I said or not “and”) Carvalho are the only players who could possibly make the stress of this day worth it!

      1. Reus would be great – proper LW and I think a future star Striker. But he’s not enough, we need cover at CB and a CDM.

  19. Either Wenger just doesn’t care or he’s completely deluded because no way is sanogo good enough to lead arsenal back to 4th place let alone the win the league. I mean just no way.
    We’ve needed a striker and a cdm for 2 years now and now because he sold vermalen we also need a CB. What has he done about it, absolutely nothing. Active, my arse.

  20. LIVERPOOL HAVE SPENT OVER 100 M.
    MAN UTD HAVE SPENT OVER 150 M
    CHELSEA HAVE SPENT CLOSE TO 100 M
    MAN CITY HAVE SPENT 50 M BUT HAVE SUPERIOR SQUAD THAN THE REST
    ARSENAL HAVE SPENT JUST 65 M AND JUST REPLACED DEPARTING PLAYERS AND HAVENT ADDRESSED KEY POSITIONS REQUIRED.

    1. After deducting payments for Vermealen and others, it’s nearer £35 ! With a pot of 100 million to play with what is the Prof doing. Maybe he has a “cunning plot” after all. Watch this spot. Up the Gooners

  21. Think it’s kinda weird that Falcao hasn’t been announced yet. From the reports earlier it sounded like everything was agreed. Surely they should’ve presented him? Maybe it’s a Willian type of situation. Wenger rivalling United. Probably not but maybe

    1. There was the medical and personal terms still to be agreed, the BBC article only mentioned the loan fee was agreed between the clubs…unfortunately all contracts require agreements between 3 parties.

      I dare say Radamel has LvG on a barrel and will make him squeal….not a pretty sight!

  22. Arsenal have no respect for the fans- they make us put up with the same garbage year in, year out. We are a laughing stock today…The Sanchez signing was supposed to be the tip of the iceberg. But in reality he is the only significant addition. The others were merely replacements…Was that was just a lie to sell merchandise and season tickets? We the fans make the f-ing club, they have lost sight of that. It’s not about Wenger- He thinks it is, but trust me the club will go on long after Wenger is gone, and we’ll even thrive. He’s past his used by date anyway. He has ruined his once legendary legacy- He should have stepped down years ago. He sold all our best players (Nasri, RVP, Cesc) but we still backed him- but now we have had enough. And Wenger this has nothing to with the Leicester game u idiot. We have been asking for additions for years. That bs u spewed yesterday about an overreaction to one game is way off the mark. I couldn’t give a stuff if we beat Leicester 5-0. We still aren’t good enough to win anything as constructed…Wenger u are lying to yourself, no one else. We aren’t falling for your bs anymore. WENGEROUT

  23. I heard Wenger is working on agreeing a fees for Wilfried Bony and Winston Reid. Let’s be patient and see how this transfer unfold. Less than 7 hours to go…

    1. even if he gets both- not too many will be impressed—satiated maybe but not happy with that level of quality…thanks for the optimism though!!

        1. not to me—spen cash on players that aren’t up to our standard is saying we give up and accept we cannot sign a true world class star…then we are told we can, but have too many faces and salary and will have to be patient, then 7th place Utd come in and buy proper players and our cycle begins again.

  24. Im looking at Goal.com, everyone is belting Wenger.. Our fan base is exceptional, but Arsenal isn’t realizing that.. sad but true.

  25. Wenger is a visionary and master tactician

    In Wenger we MUST trust

    Calm down and keep faith

    Still 7 hours left

  26. I cant see any new signings from abroad. We are 100 percent likely to bring players from EPL if
    anyone comes in.

  27. Arsenal didn’t beat Leicester because we aren’t good enough as currently constructed to consistently beat teams that park/semi-park the bus. With a competent ST we can grind out results if we are playing well; without a competent ST – and even if we’re playing well, we have to rely on luck.

  28. We lost because we played Sanogo up front and we haven’t replaced Patric Viera in Central Midfield. Its as simple as that.

  29. Wenger single handedly lost the game. First, he should have play Campbell instead of Sanogo. Second, Kos should have been substituted right after the head injury. That stupidity cost us a goal. Third, Sanogo should have been off at halftime. Fourth, Wenger waited way to long to make the final 2 substitutions. Action was needed no later than the 65 minute mark. Wenger routinely waits too long to bring on the subs.

  30. Problem is with AW..look at Southampton,everton,swansea have been producing good football without spending much. Everton is thrashing us for 2 yrs now…Wenger has lost the plot and I think money is guiding his footballing decisions.
    Good players come tonarsenal and turn into flops , may thatbis why we looknfor youngsters..

    1. disagree; Sanogo doesn’t qualify as a striker so he can’t be the worst. If you say he’s the worst player to start in the EPL over the weekend, then we can debate.

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