Where has Arsenal’s creativity gone?

Is Lack of Creativity to Blame for Arsenal’s Problems? by KJ

With Arsenal having a rather mediocre start to the season, there have been a lot of theories put forward in regards to the reasons as to why Arsene Wenger’s side have failed to hit in the ground running in a campaign where they were billed as one of the top title contenders. While long-term injuries to key players and lack of defensive depth are two obvious reasons, there is also one more which I would like to highlight.

Although Arsenal have an abundance of creative talent, there isn’t really much creativity in the side, it all seems very predictable at the moment. It is no surprise that two of the Gunners’ most creative players, Mesut Ozil and Santi Cazorla, have both had a massive dip in form and have failed to have a significant impact on the games they have played, a fact which also happens to have statistical testimony. Also, another creative talent in the side, Tomas Rosicky, hardly makes the bench these days and time seems to be up for the Czech international at the Emirates.

But with that being said, I wouldn’t claim that there is no such creative edge in the side whatsoever. Jack Wilshere and Alexis Sanchez have been brilliant for Arsenal so far this season. While the duo have chipped in very significantly in the creativity aspect, they also have their commitments in other areas of the pitch, which is where I believe the team has been let down by Ozil and Cazorla. Now although this is probably not the biggest problem on Arsene Wenger’s list, it is certainly a problem that has to be looked into.

Quite honestly, it is a shame that the team which unarguably has the biggest amount of creativity on paper in the Premier League produces so little of it on the pitch. With Mesut Ozil effectively out till the new year, I really hope to see Santi take up the mantle of creativity on his shoulders and start producing the performances that made him such an instant hit at the Emirates during his first season at the club.

Tags Cazorla Ozil

36 Comments

  1. Arsenal’s problem is not creativity or scoring goals our defence is the problem we can’t hold onto a lead because of shambolic defending!

    1. Correct. Just got this yesterday, if we had been able to hold on to our leads in the PL we would be 2nd in the league table, 3points behind Chelsea

    2. Our main problem is creativity, since 2010 we our clear cut chance stat has dipped so much. Our ability to keep possession against any half decent team is just embarrassing. When we come up against any and I mean any half decent team we just look average (Swansea, Southampton, Everton, Dortmund, even Anderlecht gave us a real game home and away). Let’s not even talk about the likes of Chelski, City, United, Liverpool, Bayern, etc.. We just look like little amateur academy players.

      And in must matches we always go until the 65th -70th minute with no shots on goal or target, seriously, against the likes of Chelski, City, Bayern etc in good form we hardly create anything. But before 2010 we always created chance after chance, dominated possession, only Barcelona had more possession and creativity than us.

      Teams are not scared if us offensively, they know they can go toe to toe with us then our midfielder and defenders will wilt. Simple, press and rough Arsenal up, use your speedy players then Arsenal are there for the taking.

  2. No our attack is a shambles aswell .. We can berely create chances and score but the defense is even worse

    It’s because there’s no balance in our attack we just meed a fresh new manager ..

    1. Thank you.. I don’t know why no one can see it. We find it so difficult to create anything. It gets worse against Top 4 and Top European clubs, e hardly create 2 chances in each half, then we can’t defend on top of that. So basically the balance is all a shambles. We have got a long way to go.

  3. “where I believe the team has been let down by Ozil and Cazorla”

    Mesut created 77 chances for his team-mates last year. In the Premier League despite playing fewer games.

    Cazorla scored in the most important Arsenal games, FA Cup final and a Community Shield.

    Just saying.

    1. “Mesut created 77 chances for his team-mates last year”
      Stats can be very misleading.Watch the team play, compare them to a couple years back(Fab,nasri era)…and suddenly you discover that your stat is crap.This team seriously lack creativity.Its been a while.The team needs a master passer.The Fabegas,Xavi,Yaya,Jorge Resurrección Merodio (Koke) type.A master passer to open up defences..

    2. Mate don’t let the chance created stat fool you, do you know how it even works? I will give you a snippet about this chance created rubbish. Passing the ball to someone outside the penalty box is chance created, a weak corner kick that a player has to adjust and generate his own power to header the ball is also chance created, passing the ball to someone like Sanchez where he has to use his brilliance to take on 2-3 players and have a shot is classed as chance created by that player who passed the ball to Sanchez, Passing the ball to someone like Lampard, Gerrard or Ramsey of last season outside the box, they then make an angle for themselves to shoot is also classed as a chance created by the person who passed that ball.
      So this business of letting stats over rule what your eyes see is a bit troubling.

      I want to see real clear cut chances brig created, I don’t want to go back home and the listen to this computer generated/simulated stats that we don’t see.

      Cazorla and Ozil have been terrible when it comes to clear cut chances created. They need to step up. We expect more than what they are giving us right now.

  4. we are playing united in what 6 hours- at least wait till after the game before we throw negativity on our situation –
    im definitely not a wenger fan but on game day non stop negativity from all corners-wtf?
    going into a game with our heads bowed is not what gooners are about

    im no one to lecture anyone, i constantly question arsene an our players but at least change the script on game day –

      1. hahaha- i remember him laughing at me when i said costa was world class an when i said matic was a bargain at that price .

        man im always on wengers case- every day lol- but game day? f*ck few hours of positive build up is nothing bad in my eyes

        1. @Muffdiver.
          Yeah, I remember the Costa argument you guys frequently had. I remember that sh*t like it happened yesterday. And now look at Costa tearing the EPL apart. Time, the say, solves everything.

          You say we should be positive? Ok then.

        2. @muff,

          I remember some counter arguments when I said Matic was a class midfielder and for peanuts. I think it was that guy who argued Matic is average and unproven.

          LOL, how good that deal looks now huh?

  5. Where has Arsenal’s creativity gone?!

    Answer: The left wing.
    Cazorla? To the left wing! Ozil? To the left wing!

    I’ll tell you what we are gonna be asking next:
    Where has Arsenal’s goals gone?

    Hint: It is going to the left wing.
    Welbeck? He is going to the left wing!

    No need to compete with Giroud for the CF spot. Giroud claims his CF spot UNCONDITIONALLY because Wenger LOVES GIROUD.

  6. Arsenal’s creativity is in Limbo cuz of wenger,
    Arsenal’s glory days is Lost in obscurity cuz of wenger,
    ArsenaL’s Transfer dealings are dead cuz of wenger,
    ArsenaL’s fluidity and tactics are shambles cuz of wenger , ArsenaL’s injury crisis are unresolved cuz of wenger, ArsenaL’s sub players are rust and hav forgotten what a being football pitch looks like cuz of wenger,
    Arsenal’s defence is an eyesore cuz of wenger ,
    ArsenaL’s goals drought is pathetic cuz of wenger,
    ArsenaL’s player favoritism is inhuman cuz of wenger .:………………the Day this man Leaves Arsenal for good, is the day of our SALVATION

  7. Arsenal’s creativity is in Limbo cuz of wenger,
    Arsenal’s glory days is Lost in obscurity cuz of wenger,
    ArsenaL’s Transfer dealings are dead cuz of wenger,
    ArsenaL’s fluidity and tactics are shambles cuz of wenger,
    ArsenaL’s injury crisis are unresolved cuz of wenger,
    ArsenaL’s sub players are rust and hav forgotten what a being football pitch looks like cuz of wenger,
    .Arsenal’s defence is an eyesore cuz of wenger.,
    ArsenaL’s goals drought is pathetic cuz of wenger,
    ArsenaL’s player favoritism is inhuman cuz of wenger

    .:………………the Day this man Leaves Arsenal for good, is the day of our SALVATION

  8. I don’t understand Arsene’s left wing fetish at all. When you try something several times and it fails, why stick with it? We have such pacy players now in Campbell and Sanchez and either could play that left wing and let the creative players in Santi and Ozil do creative sh*t through the middle but somewhere somehow, Wenger lost to manual to coaching.

    1. You and the entire football-watching world recognizes this obvious fact about Arsenal. The one person who REFUSES to accept the years of failure with his ridiculous LW nonsense = Wenger.

      Never let it be said that Arsene gave in to reality – he is too smart for that.

  9. Creativity my #ss.

    Wenger won’t use his actual wing players on the LW and he failed miserably by not acquiring the DM and CB backup that even young children who have never seen a football game knew were a priority.

    Creativity is NOT the problem – Arsenal are losing most games after going ahead. How is that a creativity problem???

    Wenger’s stubborn nature and stupidity ARE the problem. He needs to wake up and face reality very quickly. (But I seen no signs of that happening).

    1. I keep saying it, 1 DM and CB will not change sh”t as long us we have weak players in the team. They never close down the opposition to win the ball back, all they do is stand off and wait for any stray passes from the opposition.

      And when we are winning the players don’t have any sense of danger, all they do is keep attacking in numbers leaving the 2 CB’s exposed, just look at the last 2 games, everyone in the opposition half apart from the CBs. Smh.

      We have far too many small and weak players in the team. We need a balance.

  10. Wenger will keep trying the same thing over and over again, if it means succeding in one game, just so that he can proove the critics wrong. The thing is it can take up to 5 games for him to get his point accross. Example Ozil on the left. He will have 4 bad games there and then on the fifth he will play well, and then Wenger will say I told you he can play there.

  11. OT: did anyone read jurgen klopp comment on his desire to come to EPL? Pls arsene do us a favor by leaving this club in summer and pls replace urself with JURGEN KLOPP… PLLLLLLLSSSSSSS

Comments are closed

Top Blog Sponsors