After five wins in a row before this weekend, it obviously came as a bit of a shock to lose to our great rivals Tottenham on Saturday, but luckily the players won’t have time to wallow in their misery as they have to pick themselves up quickly for the visit of Leicester tomorrow evening.
Wenger will be keen for the defence to iron out their lapses of concentration during the Spurs game, but Le Prof is hoping to see a strong response from his whole team on Tuesday. “It’s not the first time we lose a game, but how we bounce back is to take the information from what we got today, and respond very quickly on Tuesday,” he said on the Arsenal website.
“It’s disappointing because we did fight hard together, but we made too many technical mistakes.
“We lost too many balls in situations where we could have put Tottenham in trouble. What is funny is that every time we arrived in their final third we looked like we could score a goal. But we didn’t do it enough.
“Yes, of course, it is dangerous to draw conclusions from a derby. But as well the fact is that we lost a game, and we cannot deny that.
“But overall, there’s a long way to go, so I believe that just keep going and recover, show quickly a strong response on Tuesday, and then we see where we stand after that.”
The good news is that we will have Alexis Sanchez back to revive our forward lines enthusiasm for the game. “Chamberlain is out, the only one who has a chance to be on the bench or to start maybe is Sanchez,” Wenger said. It must have been frustrating for the Chilean to watch the Tottenham game on Saturday, and he must be raring to get back on the field as quickly as possible.
With the other teams around us dropping points regularly we need to get back to winning ways as quickly as possible….
We will finish 3th
Spent an Hour this morning working out Home and Away games and averages against the remaining fixtures for Arsenal, Spurs, Southampton, Man Utd and Liverpool and came up with the conclusion of:
3 – Arsenal
4 – Tottenham
5 – Man Utd
6 – Southampton
7 – Liverpool
This is obviously a calculation on averages etc not actual predictions as teams gain and lose form along with a multitude of other factors.
COYG!!!!! – smash the foxes tomorrow and get back on the streak
Haven’t looked at it in so much detail but looking at our fixtures I am guessing we will win around 9, draw 3 and lose 2 of our remaining fixtures (I think that is being quite conservative). Not sure where 72 points will place us. The other 4 have significantly more difficult fixture lists for the remaining part of the season – the Spuds in particular. We appear to be in a reverse situation from last season, artificially high after 20 odd games due to the way the fixture list panned out, this season I believe we are artificially lower by a few points. I will wait until the end of the season and see what Wenger does in the summer transfer window before I decide whether any progress has been made.
Bench Ozil and Ramsey. Start Rosicky and Sanchez
if we have to play Sanchez to win against Leicester….guesss we are definitely not good enough…
I think I agree with @Rahman here.
If we cannot beat Leicester City without Sanchez, then there is a big problem !!!
It’s about goals,if you look at United Southampton only 3 goals it is gonna come down to goal difference in finishing 5th 4th or 3rd, Now is so important to field your strongest and best players,forget rotation and game time you do that when 3-0 up with 25 to go CB
For high intensity away game to the Top 6 teams don’t start with Ozil. He is no made for high pressing, opposition players target him for the first 15 minutes of these big games, they intimidate him, a few niggly tackles here and there, a few shoulder burges and that will be it for Ozil for the rest of the game. He will start sulking and complaining to the ref, hands up everytime he is challenged..
Welbeck together with Giroud is always a joke and always looks painful on the eye, the formations becomes robotic and mechanical where Danny just runs out of position time and time again trying to chase every ball blindly, after 25 minutes he is knocked out tired in his feet. Then he became a liability. He has to rotate with Giroud..
Ramsey I love but I am running out if patience with him this season, he had been really poor after being brilliant last season, it seems like a cycle to him and Jack, one good season and them back to playing poor. If he is not performing Wenger should bench him like he does with the other players ( Monreal /Gibbs, Chambers / Bellerin, SZNY/ Martinez/ Ospina, Cazorla/Rosicky, Walcott/ The Ox etc..) all these players get dropped according to form.
Mertesacker or Kossy have been dodgy too this season, since the works cup Mert had been a complete liability, and since Kossy has been back from injury he had been tentative and mistake ridden, his pace has gotten him out of trouble in the last few games.. Kossy needs to work on his aerial aspect too, he is always beaten in with good crosses, he looks clueless, watch good crosses into the box, Mert and him struggle. But he is so good at one on ones together with last ditch defending.
There are players that never get dropped no matter their form (Giroud, Ozil and Ramsey)..
Goonster I agree that Ramsey needs to be dropped, and have been saying it for the last 10-12 games. I don’t think it’s fair though to say that Mesut is on the same favoritism level as Ramsey and Jack. When fit, both those players walk right back into the team, and this season have not displayed that they should. Ramsey has been our weakest consistent started this season, but people refuse to recognize it. I said a while back, and will continue to say it now, Ramsey needs to come off the bench, move Santi to the box to box role (which he’s already pretty much doing now) and play or Mesut or Tomas in front of him depending on who we’re playing.
I will give it to Ramsey, he had a helluva season last season, and single-handedly manufactured points for us last year, but that was last year. The way he’s performing this year, as well as the years before that, are proving that unfortunately last year was the exception, not the rule. I’m not saying he won’t be able to produce that form again, but Arsene continually trying to play him into form, and jeopardizing the team as a result is not what’s best. He needs to be dropped like everyone else would, and regain his place the same as everyone else.
He’s playing in his favored position in the middle and struggling mightily. It’s time to give Mesut and Santi or Tomas and Santi the chance to be our creative engine.
@Goonster and @TH14, good analyses and agreed on both more or less. Except on Theo, i think a fit Walcott will always play. @Goonster was right on the money, each of those players have been very frustrating throughout. If Wenger does indeed do what you suggest and drop those out of form players i for one would be very surprised, and also curious, i would be curious to see what Ramsey and Jack are really made of… and Ozil too. 100% commitment desire and hunger i would definitely be interested in seeing Ozil perform if gained.
Also i dont see what Rosicky has done to warrant the bench, i was pretty impressed with his last displays. Certainly looked better than Aaron and Mezut.
But I am still confident we will finish 3rd or 4th. The players have shown that if they are in their game and are motivated enough we are better than the other 3rd and 4th competitors.. We need to be consistent. If we are going to go for this sit back and hit on the counter mindset then pacey high energy players like Sanchez, Walcott, The Ox and even Rosicky have to start games..
Ospina
Bellarine Gabriel Kos Gibbs
Coq Carzola
Theo TR7 Sanchez
OG
Bench: Welbeck, Mert, Monreal, Ozil, Szc, Ramsey, Akpom
– Mert dropped in order to give him a breather, plus we need to see what the new guy can offer.
– Monreal has been brilliant, he needs some rest/protection too.
– Ramsey needs to watch the game from the stands and maybe he can pick out one or two lessons.
Had we won at spurs, Chambers and Flamini would have had to chance to start in this game, as things stand we cant take any chances. Our opponents are fighting for survival and will give it there all.
Ozil is on fire
That’ll be his new shisha setting fire to his peroxide hair..
“the rahman’s theory” …….. Quite Logical
how eager i am 4 the Leicester game to come sooner just so i could forget the spuds hurt
I like Ospina
I like him too, but he needs to work on trying to hold the ball or getting a better distance on it. Knocking the ball out wide or back into play, thats the only criticism i ever had of him. Even that second goal against could have been avoided, only needed to put his fist on to it. I know its easy to say that now but i mentioned this flaw in the Ospina article before the spu game.
Nail. Head. Hit.
I’d also comment he looked nervy in that Spurs game but it is his first “derby” so it’s to be expected. He’s a good, athletic keeper but he has got to make certain with his saves and he’s got to work on distribution. We lost so much possession from lousy clearances and badly placed goal kicks. Szczesney is not much better on that front mind you! I was gutted for that lame flap in the goal. One solid punch and it’s clear but flappy flap and goal.
One poor game does not maketh the man. Still a good keeper in my eyes until I see otherwise in more games.