Arsenal star admits he needs to sharpen up

After Arsenal survived an early Champions League blow thanks to some last ditch defending, a few moments of magic from the second choice keeper David Ospina and some profligacy in front of goal from Edinson Cavani and Angel Di Maria, the Paris Saint-Germain fans were left cursing their luck after Alexis Sanchez popped up in the right place to rifle home the rebound from Alex Iwobi’s shot in the final 12 minutes of our group game.

Imagine how much more cheesed (or fromaged I should say) off they would have been if the Gunners had toddled off back to London with all three points in the bag. We would have loved it, of course, but even the most ardent Gooner would have to admit that we would scarcely have deserved them.

It could have happened, though, and according to the Arsenal academy graduate Iwobi it should have happened, as he explained in a report on the Arsenal website. Just five minutes after the equaliser, Sanchez turned provider and found the young Nigeria international who had made a great run into the box but fluffed his finish.

Iwobi should really have done better with both chances and although he is not beating himself up too much about it, admits that he could and should have won us the game and will be hoping to improve on the finishing part of his game from now on.

The 20-year old said, “I had the chance to score, but my main focus was to get it on target and also beat the goalkeeper, but it was a good save and I was unfortunate not to get the goal.

“The first chance I had I thought I was going to score [too], but I was just lucky Alexis put it away and I was just happy we were able to get a goal and come back into the game.

“I treat it game by game, like in the under-23s. I take it as it comes and I try to do the best I can. I’m not really fazed by the opponents, I just try to do my thing and try to go for the win.

“I think we performed very well and we got a good point. We fought back and we were able to get a point, we weren’t able to get the second goal which we should have got. I should have got it to be fair, but we were a little bit unlucky.”

He certainly seems to have the right attitude about it all and is doing very well considering his age and experience, so do you think we will see better finishing and more goals from Iwobi as the season goes on?

Bob.

Tags Alexis Iwobi Sanchez

8 Comments

  1. All I know is we need to see some changes in our attack or midfield while it so, so obviously didn’t click against PSG.
    Last 20 mins, Hmm a target man, with a world-class supporting forward not playing up-top by himself? Looks 100x more threatening? who would’ve thought!?
    Whoever takes whatever flank Sanchez isn’t on doesn’t bother me this weekend. What will bother me, and bother me a lot! Is if Giroud doesn’t start while our midfield is struggling so hard to break down the 2 stubborn banks of 4 Hull City will almost certainly deploy.

  2. Don’t worry, Giroud will start up front against Hull, otherwise Lucas. The banned was for ECL game only. Hull will sit deep all night long, AW must not left Xhaka on the bench again. We need all of those three brains (Xhaka, Santi, Ozil) play together to crack Hull fortress. COYG!!!

    1. I’ve actually kinda felt that the only midfielder who’s performed to standard and in a sense, undroppable so far this season has been Coquelin. He seemed the only midfielder willing to join the attack when we were so short on numbers in the box against PSG. His work-rate has been phenomenal, rarely makes mistakes and always makes himself available. I want the Santi-Xhaka partnership to work, but Santi really hasn’t got up to speed yet in having the legs to run B2B. Personally, I think between Xhaka, Sanchez and Ozil/Cazorla there’s a lot of creativity in the side. If Coquelin/Ramsey/Elneny can really make a B2B role their own, be content to break up play in dangerous positions and give an extra number wherever needed we could see a huge benefit and get the most out of other players elsewhere on the pitch.
      The issue for me, hasn’t been a lack of creativity to break the lines, more so how stagnant and slow players have been in willing to work the triangles and find space inbetween.

      We were so heavily reliant on the Santi-Ozil-Sanchez triangle, with Monreal supporting last season in breaking through the lines… And for good reason, it was devastating when they’re all in the mood. But while it’s not producing it’s usual candy I personally think some changes need to be made in the mean time. And dare I say it? Perhaps drop Ozil for the next game or two as he’s been poor…..

      1. The problem is, Coq usually doesn’t know what to do with the ball except sending it to Santi. That’s where Xhaka does it better.

        1. I think Coq should be going forward in those games when we are at home and we’re finding them very hard to break down. I don’t mean with the ball, he should be going into the box to take one of those CB’s away from Giroud. Give us a few targets in the area. Now that we have quick CB’s and more options in the CM, I think we can do this a bit more. In Paris was not a game for Coq to go forward with the ball, we we’re already outnumbered all over the pitch it seemed.

  3. He should have scored, that would be bread and butter for Aguero and the like. But I will say that Arsenal do seem to be a bit more clinical this season. We haven’t been carving them open like normally, this game and the last game there wasn’t many shots. Do we prefer winning points while playing poorly also not many chances but still scoring / or do we prefer total domination and shots peppered everywhere but points not guaranteed due to wastefulness and carelessness. Well it’s an easy one, but will our luck hold out. We have been a bit luckier so far, we have close to a full squad, and we’ve been lucky with refereeing. Makes for a nice change, speaking of change, looks like Wengers predictability has gone out the window, unless you predicted him to make some strange decisions which no-one will see coming. Back to Iwobi’s shot. He was too easily read, if you’re gonna line yourself up like that, you gotta hit it perfectly sweet into the far corner, like Henry used to do. I would have liked to see him slice the ball in the near side, after lining his body the way he did and then giving him the eyes.

  4. Iwobi is young and will improve but it seems like he may be lacking in confidence a little, i think he is a player that needs to be managed slowly but still given enough games so as not to lose interest. He could become an awesome player for us in the future.

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