Arsenal Analysis – What went wrong and how to fix it – and new DM needed!

Arsenal Recap, Le Coq, and Swansea‏ by GT

First of all. Theo is the worst. He offers nothing. I felt that keeping Theo and making him our striker was the worst idea ever, and it’s proven to be just that. I don’t fault Wenger for giving Giroud a day off. That makes sense. The problem is Theo blows!!! It also hurts that he can’t play anywhere else either. I was worried about our central midfield going into this game. Ramsey has been playing so well lately, and I was worried what might happen if he had an off game. He did and we struggled because of it.

But far worse is the play of Le Coq. This guy has been a disaster since coming back. Le Coq makes tackles and throws himself at things. He’s really good at it. Sadly, that’s all he’s got. His positional awareness and marking is so poor!!! I truly feel like this guy doesn’t see the game at all!!! He wasn’t the one whose mistakes resulted in all the goals, but they easily could’ve been. Although the third should be blamed on him. He gets lost on the break. Sinks too deep. And never picks up Herrera’s run. It’s 100% his man. He needs to cover the trail runner at the top of the 18. However, by the time he does see it, it’s too late. On the other two crosses he is poorly positioned as well. However, he doesn’t factor.

But even looking back to the Barca game, his man marking has become really poor. In the 54th minute, he completely checks off and allows Neymar to run free behind the D. Luckily, Neymar took a bad first touch. I now firmly believe we need to buy a more dynamic DM. I said at the beginning of the season, that I needed more time (another year) to assess his ability. This guy is a backup. He’s a sub to sure up the D at best! He’s no starter!!! We need to buy a starter. We’ve given up 5 goals in the 3 games back that Le Coq has started. And we have zero clean sheets.

I honestly think Flamini is better right now. Ideally we need a player like Arteta, when he first joined Arsenal. Arteta could make all the tackles that Le Coq makes. He could make all the passes Cazorla makes from the back. And his positioning was brilliant. Not to mention, he’d chip in a goal or two. This is the kind of guy we need.

Gabriel wasn’t good. And I wish we hadn’t started him, just cause I hate rushing guys back into the team after being away. He’s better than Per. And the future at CB. But I’m not a fan of rushing guys back. However, Kos is the guy I blame for both of the first goals. He twice allows Rashford to get too far behind him. The first goal I thought was a miss kick by Gabriel, only to realize that Kos got a nick of a header on it. It throws off the timing of the clearance by Gabriel. That’s why he whiffs.

Then on the second goal, the ball just goes over his head. People were blaming Gabriel for this goal but it’s not his man. Gabriel is goalside of the back post run. He’d also have to take Rashford if a near post run pulls Kos away. Both players check the 18 to watch the runs before the cross. What annoys Gabriel is that the 2nd man makes the back post run. At that point Kos has to drop back to defend Rashford. He’s sort of in no mans land. The ball for the 2nd time gets put over his head. Ramsey and Coquelin are also guilty of taking up the same position, neither one following that extra back post runner. That the ball goes to Rashford isn’t the important thing to notice. Notice the marking. If the ball goes to the back post there are two attackers. One is marked by Gabriel and one by Bellerin. So the free man is Rashford. That’s Kos man. Or if Coquelin or Ramsey were to track Mata to the far post, then Gabriel could’ve stepped up and got goal side of Rashford. It’s just poor all around. But twice Kos was caught in no mans land. There are no near post runners, he’s just in poor position.

Looking to Swansea…..changes will be made. Giroud up top is a no brainer. But I wonder if he’ll pull Le Coq. Since every Arsenal supporter thinks Le Coq is God, I’m sure people would be stunned to see him benched and assume he was injured or tired. Whatever. He’s killing this team. He needs to be replaced. Seeing how we need to score, I could see Elneny being that guy. He moves the ball around well. If we were playing a more offensive team I might prefer Flamini or Chambers.

Giroud
Sanchez Ozil Welbeck
Ramsey Elneny
Monreal Per Kos Bellerin
Cech

I wouldn’t be shocked to see Gabriel again either. But because of the midweek game I think Per will play. Gabriel will get the start against Spuds.

I’m also not that worried about the loss as far as points go. Taking away the actual performance and just looking at points it’s not that bad. We could be back in first by Monday. Though more likely for me is 2nd. I think Spuds will lose twice this week. LC will draw at least one of their games. I could see them winning the other. But I’ll guess they draw both. They didn’t look impressive against Norwich. And Tony will neutralize Vardy with 2 markers and a black eye or broken rib.

I spoke earlier this month how Watford became boring and they play for a draw every game now. Much like how many more teams are high pressing Arsenal, I hope that more teams sit in the box against LC. These lower teams have to respect their ability at this point. Part of the problem was that early season, no one believed that LC and Vardy were real. Everyone tried to get a result from them as if they were the same relegation team from last year. And every team got burned. There is no way Vardy would’ve scored that many goals playing on Man City or Chelsea. Now teams are adjusting, they will just look to get points off of LC. Teams will take their offensive threat seriously. Norwich played quite well against them. Outplayed them I thought. Alex Neil provided a nice blueprint for how to approach LC. He played 5 defenders and bracketed Vardy all game. I think we’ll see a lot more of this on LC moving forward.

At least we don’t have to wait long to get that sour taste out of our mouths!

GunnerThought

30 Comments

  1. What went wrong?
    You can refer to the previous article, where “Tejinder” wrote a very nice piece explaining why things are running the Arsenal way, so jaded with lots of emotion involved … He beautifully presented the long lasting problems we have in our management system (mainly referring to Wenger), that’s are:
    – Favoritism
    – Being unchallenged and unquestionable by the top management
    – Risk averse with unmatched stubborness
    – Lack the ability to motivate
    I will add to that poor tactics and inconsistency in his team performance throughout the season …
    How to fix?
    Again I will refer to the previous article where it says:
    “Quite frankly, if he “Wenger” doesn’t deliver the EPL this season, he certainly should call time, and even if he does…he should seriously consider calling time at the end of this season.”
    For me it is a chronically problem because no one from the top management will ask him to do so, and he himself, his pride won’t let him step down before his contract run down believing that he still have the quality to perform in higher stage as he did before …
    I say the fans should have their words … straight at the end of the season, we should all demand changes and I don’t really care the way it should be done …

    1. Actually nothing new went wrong , its what has always bin wrong

      ARSENE WENGER
      THE BOARD
      DELUDED FANS…

      1. @SupremeJudge
        yours is the best comment i’ve read in a while…and I 100% agree with.
        Nothing went wrong…we’ve been doing the same thing over and over and over again. Until things start to change, Arsenal are on a downward spiral.
        An overhaul is needed in the team…from manager, players, and backroom staff. I love Arsene and all he’s done for this club…but I strongly believe that his time is up. I don’t believe Arsenal is ever going to win the BPL with him as manager. And as long as we keep doing the same thing (especially in the transfer windows)p…we’ll continue to get the same results. Almost everyone sees that our seasons are usually short of 2-4 additional quality player. Why does Arsene and the board not see this?

        #Gunnerforlife
        #Itwillgetbetter

      2. I know who thumb me down .. Its the admin
        Can we have a democratic election on this site some time to elect board of moderators ????
        Thumb Up in Support

        1. Oh yeah. And are these ELECTED moderators going to live and breath this website for 24 hours a day? Are they going to pay for the servers and try desperately to fix any problems? Are they going to write 10 stories a day for the rest of their lives? Are they going to do it for five years only to get abused by the people who use my site? I don’t do Amy thumbing down as that is not my job. Maybe you should cpnsider the possibilty that not every Arsenal fan has the same opinion as you. Can you contemplate that for a minute ?

      3. Ay. Wenger is the problem, the board is also a problem for not realising wenger is a problem, and the deluded fans being a fair percentage of the fanbase.

        When Wenger leaves, these are the players i wouldn’t mind leaving with him
        Walcott – overpriced sprinter with the ability to kick a ball (not necessarily towards the goal) and a professional ball-loser right next to our own box. A very cheap man’s version of Aubameyang.
        Oxlade-Chamberlain – as newspapers put it: Notoriously injured, and thus very little progress the last 5 years. Hopefully this will change with a new manager who hopefully does not promote football that obviously causes more injuries than necessary.
        Szczesny – no explanation needed. Worse than Fabianski, same level as Vito Mannone.
        Gibbs – I like him, but for as long as Monreal is in his prime, Gibbs will forever be in his shadow. Poor lad.
        Debuchy – Doesn’t really need much explanation either. Not a bad player, but is he content with being back-up for Bellerin? No. For the same reason, I don’t want to keep Ospina in shackles on the bench.
        Wilshere – I really like wilshere as an arsenal-fan, but as a footballer he is not worth his wages 9/10 of the time. Chronically injured players prevent us (wenger at least) from buying new players.
        Giroud – I really really like giroud, and i love it when he’s in form, but his inconsistency is a problem. The same can be said about Sanchez’ last 12 months.

        All i want is a great manager able to bring great players, together able to win great trophies. #LetsMakeArsenalGreatAgain lol

    2. You can’t blame 1person,we and you have praised Le Coq for his games and because of 1 that every one was off boil that day, you pick on him. That game was the reincarnation of the Busby Babes, and every time we lose to United it’s always a game that will always bite us in the bum. No matter how you look at it, there is something about United that hits the media. 1 Giggs scoring in Semi after Berkamp misses penalty, Becham scoring to put England in World Cup,Cantana kicking a spectator, Wining Euro cup in stoppage time scoring 2goals, and the one that Arsenal lost 8-2 is now the day the Busby babes beats Arsenal. No mater how you take it and all the excuses we make, the bottom line is YOU HAVE To SCORE MORE FU:;: ing GOALS TO BE WINERS. CB

  2. I only discovered
    this site on Monday
    and I must say I feel
    very sorry for this team
    I believe is called Arsenal.
    According to the fans on this site the team is useless
    the manager clueless and all the players are hopeless.
    I have not checked the table but Arsenal must be
    right down at the bottom with only 5 points.
    Gee I bet they wish they were in the top 3 a few points off the lead
    then all Arsenal fans would be right behind their team.

  3. Let me correct you. A new DM is not the answer. A DM is what we need. For years Wenger has filled that position with makeshift players who he has tried to convert and it hasn’t worked.
    When Napoleon lost a general in battle and was asked who he wanted to replace said fallen general he said famously any general as long as he’s lucky.
    Wenger ‘s luck ran out years ago when his top players were repeatedly having ridiculously long injuries. In some instances it cost us league titles.
    Change the manager and hopefully change our luck.

  4. I will sign any contract Arsenal put in front of me without looking at it.

    Tony Adams – Mr Arsenal

    —–

    Urgh, but I’m one of the best forwards in the world and my agent thinks I’m worth £140K a week.

    Theo Walcott – unproven

    1. Lawl Dang, this comment is by far one of the best. Have been saying he is crap for the past 10 years, deluded fans still expect something from him every season lul , rather sad . He is a league 1 player and one of the most over rated enlish player in the world. Cant belive how much he is popular in London.
      Miyachi if played as much as walcott will be much better than him, even tho ppl say he is injury prone etc etc so walcott isnt eh? Btw who isnt injury prone in Arsenal =D

  5. Well what a post. I don’t think you can completely fault coquelin as you have, reason being that he was paired with a pivot, Ramsey, that was non-existent. Arsenal generally had a bad game at united. For the past matches, we haven’t been able to score goals. If giroud has a bad day, then we are done.
    The defense was poor as there almost was no understanding between koscielny and paulista during the game. midfield was shit, I’ve never fancied Ramsey – coquelin pairing. What has happened to Sanchez? He needs different tactical options, seems people are used to our 4-2-3-1 set up or something. We need to get the best out of Sanchez. Walcott maybe should be sold. He is one of the most inconsistent players we have at the moment.Joel isn’t as bad as walcott, he should be played or be in the subs list at least. Push walcott to the reserves, he is doing himself bad at the moment. If rashford can do well why can’t iwobi do well, truly looks like Wenger is becoming clueless. We need a change quickly. Wishing cazorla comes back soonest, major part of our problems now.

  6. So the scapegoat is Le Coq, Theo, the out of form Ramsey….
    What about AW: (as per Sam above)
    – Poor Tactics, Favoritism
    – Being unchallenged and unquestionable by the top management
    – Risk averse with unmatched stubborness
    – Lack the ability to motivate
    to add
    > the fact that he fails to invest in quality players in key areas.
    > Doesn’t have Plan B’s and C’s
    > Unable to rest key players in games and prevent burnouts (Ozil has played twice the amount of full games (90min) than Mahrez

    1. What about ozil ??? We can’t always be the superior attacking team , so whn we have to defend we need everyone (ozil included)..

  7. No player or players will change the situation at AFC.

    ‘If you want to kill a dog, you don’t cut off the tail, you cut off the head …”

    Old Italian proverb.

    1. new arsenal proverb!

      well in our case the head has cut of the tail and replaced it with a more wealthier tail

      like pricing out the working class supporters and replacing them with more corporate supporters. lol

  8. I disagree with any blame pointed at Coquelin fiat enough he gave the ball away a few times but the difference is he knows his defence responsibilities he would track back cover and win the ball back…It is not his fault that he had to partner with the glory hungry Ramsey who left Coquelin to do the defending by himself..was hardly in a position for Coquelin to pass him the ball (always running up) and Ramsey failed to track back and cover…I counted even the last few minutes of the match Ramsey jogging JOGGING back to defend while others where sprinting back

    1. Partner Elneny and Coquelin together and see the difference in defending and counter attack.

    2. in25 so true, i wonder idf the poster was watching the same game re the midfield. Blame Coq??? whee was ramseyTo his credit he observed the goals well i.e. not due to Gab, strange how the haters forgot how many times he made good interceptions and drove forward only to find his midfield missing

  9. GT, the problem with Walcott and Le Coq is, I suspect they are afraid of picking up another injury that could sideline them for another long or short spell. Hence their being careful not get injured. Or it could be they have been unable to regain their best top form due to their long lay off.

    But this their lost of form or panicking not get injured again is serious mitigating against Arsenal results on the field of play as these Gunners are not giving their 100% efforts in Arsenal games as used to be the case.

    I think for the time being, the Boss has to bench Walcott in particular who may likely not contribute any positives to Arsenal field result this season and think what to do with him in the next summer window. And also rest Le Coq for Swansea to gv him a breather to see if he’ll step it up in d Spurs game. Meanwhile, Flamini & Elneny should mann our midfield base against Swansea as starters while Ramsey is rested for Spurs.

    I think Rhinosacker should come back for Swansea while De Abreu is rested

  10. Arsenal, not only are our stadiums like libraries but it appears the team don’t either!:

    HTeeTeePee://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03l2wtx

    AWs ban on jeering up in the dressing room seems to have bled into the pitch too.

    As a result we are spineless and leaderless with each of the players left to do their own thing (just as Arsene wants it).

    #silencePleaseWeAreArsene-al
    #limp

  11. I said it before, Ramsey is an average player. He is no near to Santi; remember what Santi has done before getting injured he was outstanding and able to dictate the game easily whoever was paring him at the middle. I miss Santi

  12. i disagree the last thing LE COQ needs is a rest he just needs more playing time to get his form back or to stop playing with the brakes on,same thing with sanchez i know wenger tried to be careful with him but his 2 months break might have disrupted his rythim ..also i think for the game against the swans we should pair le coq with mohamed, theo should be benched,play wellbeck, giroud and i know many will disagree but bring per back in the starting xi,he might have got the kick up the backside he needed&also rested,we need to get back to basics and we might see some improvement just may be!!

  13. Coq? You’re blaming Coq for our loss at United, and our late misfortunes? Let me tell you about this guy named Ramsey… and Ox… and Walcott… and Sanchez… those are who you should be asking questions of, not Coquelin, who’s been one of our better players this season. I’m a Wenger fan, but I’m completely disgusted, especially as of late by his clear favoritism to some players. What did Campbell do to deserve to be dropped for Ox? What does Ramsey bring to the table? Theo? And I hate to say it, but Sanchez is a one trick pony who got figured out by defenders. He needs to find his old form back, and learn a thing or two about not losing the ball all the time. Taking on 3-4 defenders is not the answer (reminds me of clueless Wilshere), and I’m afraid he’s one of the main culprits at the moment. Players should be judged based on their consistency/performances. If they underperform, bench them.

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