Arsenal wrapped up the 3pm kick offs in the Premier League today with a closely fought 0-0 draw, with both Cazorla and Xhaka unavailable to feature.
The game saw plenty of opportunities open up for both sides, but neither team could take their chances. It was a Petr Cech masterclass that kept Arsenal from dropping all three points, but fellow keeper Victor Valdes also had a game to remember for Middlesbrough.
There were a lot of things missing from Arsenal’s game today, especially drive, creativity and inspiration, all of which had an effect on Arsenal’s style of play. However there were also two notably key figures missing from the midfield, who certainly had their absence shown.
Arsenal were not as physically dominant, nor creative from midfield and this is largely due to the fact that Le Prof had to completely switch his midfield pairing. Both Xhaka and Cazorla were unable to partake against Middlesbrough and so without these two key players in the centre of Arsenal’s structure, the Gunners were unable to show the same consistency as seen in previous weeks.
Cazorla was missing through an injury concern picked up after Arsenal’s midweek Champions League clash. The little Spaniard missed a whole chunk of last season through injury and it really showed for Arsenal when he was missing from the side. The exact same factor occurred today, with an obvious lack of creativity in central midfield.
As for Granit Xhaka, the Swiss international is of course banned for three English competitive matches after he received a straight red card in last week’s round of Premier League fixtures. Xhaka was missed equally by Arsenal, with the Gunners probably needing a range of passing ability to break Middlesbrough down rather than the short passing across the ground. Xhaka is capable of a high range of accurate passing abilities and so he could’ve helped the Gunners in midfield, had he been available. I found it strange that Wenger didn’t play him in the Champions League clash on Wednesday, especially as the midfield anchor was unable to play at the weekend.
So who did Arsenal miss more today? Could either of Xhaka or Cazorla have helped the Gunners accumulate all three points today?
By AH
Cazorla
It feels like without him we don’t win
Cazorla without a doubt. When teams decide to park the bus we need every ounce of creativity we can get.
Easy-
Giroud!
Never missed
Cazorla, Ramsey and Xhaka would’ve done a better job of picking more forward/defense splitting passes. Alongside Coquelin it would’ve been much better.
Iwobi was poor and should’ve been subbed sooner for Lucas & Elneny should’ve been subbed off for Ox sooner as well! Both played well when they came on against Ludogorets and would’ve brought the energy they had for a longer spell.
Maybe a 4-4-2 formation from there?!
Giroud was missed too. Our free kicks & crosses would’ve been far more threatening with a guy who enjoys the physical battle but who is also tall & powerful like Giroud.
All in all let’s hope we can learn from it as there will be many more teams that will play defensive with 10 men behind the ball starting with our next game in the league!
We have to come out with intensity, go back to winning ways and try hard to score early. It kills there game plan to sit and they have to uncover spaces & go forward to pull one back. This allow us to use our pace and ability to play on the counter as well as control the game.
Cazorla played against burnley and we were really lucky. To be candid we could have won with giroud, he mite not have scored but he could have occupied the defenders, or give one of his flicks through ball, there is no way sanchez could have dribbled pass such defence.
All in all, its a race and we are still in it. We need our players available if we gonna win the league.
It was a very disappointing game bt I believe if Cazorla was on d pitch, it wld have been a different result as he can make decent defense splitting passes which we wld have benefitted from. Well, onto the next game, it only gets better. COYG.
we missed carzorla,s incisive play,penetration,he is the only player since tr7 departure capable of finding a way through a compact defense,even though many people will disagree we also missed giroud we needed a target man!!
I felt we were in a bother we played on Wednesday a hard match where we scored 6 goals so Thursday every one was off with only Friday to work on the match we were jaded so the good news we did not concede and at the end we could have won it we surely missed carzola but if xaka was available it would have helped ramsey and geroud was unavailable too |I felt we should have played with lucas peres from the start but all in all we didnt loose and now on with Tuesday
The real problem is not, that we lacked creativity. Nor is it a problem with the physical side, because of the Champions League game, which was little more than a training exercise, and in fact we only pressed and played hard in the last 15 minutes.
The real problem is the team was not fired up from the start. A team looking to go top of the league and with ambitions og winning should come flying out of the traps with desire and fire in their eyes. But the sad truth is, there was none of that until the last 15 minutes. We have seen this many times before, and it is something the manager must address, so we can get a winning mentality. It is no disgrace or disaster to draw a home game. it happens. But it is a disgrace, when the team doesn’t play with the attitude to become winners.
Xhaka for his long passes and shots, Cazorla for his creativity
As for Granit Xhaka, the Swiss international is of course banned for three English competitive matches, which Arsenal mysteriously refused to appeal, after he received a straight red card in last week’s round of Premier League fixtures.