Of course Arsene Wenger was happy that his Arsenal team took all three points from the Premier League home clash with Brighton and Hove Albion, because it sends him, the players and especially the Arsenal fans, into the two week break for the latest international fixtures in a good frame of mind.
There is certainly more optimism around the club than there was at the last international break, when we had just been humbled by Liverpool and were languishing down towards the bottom of the league table. Since then Arsenal have won every game except one and that draw away to Chelsea was still a good result and an impressive performance which nearly earned us a win.
Along with progression to the next stage of the League Cup and top spot in our Europa League group, Arsenal have transformed our league position from neat the bottom to being right on the coat tails of the pace setters, so you would expect the boss to be over the moon right? Wrong and I am very glad about it too.
The fact that Wenger chose to look at the negative aspects from our most recent win, as reported by Metro, tells me that he wants more from his players. Too many times in the past it has appeared that we are content to be doing okay and that is not the way to win a title. But with the Frenchman demanding more from his team, this time focusing on the fact we should have scored more than two goals against Brighton, he is creating a culture in which nothing but the best will do.
Wenger said, ‘I believe we got a clean sheet, we got the three points and offensively we were a bit in doubt.
‘The fluency was sometimes there, sometimes not.
‘We maybe sometimes eased off a little bit too quickly and thought “ok maybe we will just win this”.
‘That’s a little bit the negative of the day.
‘Maybe we didn’t play a high enough pace to score more goals. They defended well as well, they intercepted many dangerous balls around the box.
‘In the end we knew we had a very testing week. We had two home games and one very long trip for the Europa League, we won the three games and that’s very positive.’
How much better is it to hear the boss wanting more than to hear him talk positively about Arsenal when the rest of us can see we are not quite there?
Bob.
“Maybe we didn’t play a high enough pace to score more goals. They defended well as well, they intercepted many dangerous balls around the box.”
We need not play that high.
Kolasanic is out of position for me. Needs to be central mid-field to use his bulk and force people around him, as he can knock people off the ball without a foul. He can work with Xhaka, Elneny, lil Jack, Rambo, etc.
I want to see Mustafi in the middle, where he does better. Koz and Bellerin taking either side.
………………Lacazette…………………
…….Sanchez…….Ozil…….Rambo……
..Monreal…Kolasniac…Xhaka…Bellerin
………..Holding…Mustafi…Koz……….
………………….Cech…………………..
Both Kolasanic and Xhaka can shoot from a distance, and should do so often enough for teams to worry about them and come forward. It should open the lines behind them for the forwards to thrive in, including with rebounds.
In most games Kolasanic is wasted on the left side. He is the anti-Pogba of our side. We should destroy team from the middle.
To play in the middle of the pitch you need to be good on the ball. By that I mean good first touch and the ability to move on tight spaces since the midfield is the most clustered part on the pitch so no Kolasinac does not fit those criteria to play in midfield.
I must say though that I welcome this international break. It will be a boring 2 weeks but it gives some of our players time to get their fitness back to be in the team. Welbeck, Ozil, Kos and Coq should be fine for at least the trip to Everton.
you say this in almost every post…you are wrong. kolsinic is not a central midfeilder and ramsey doesnt work out wide. end of story.
Agreed! Kolasanic was in team of the year as a left back not a CDM, it’s baffling enough sometimes when we play players out of position. OK some can do a job if the positions in question are related. Monreal is a good example LB to LCB makes sense especially the older he gets, but LB to CM is a completely different story. A carpenter does not become a plumber over night just cause he can use a pipe wrench.
Yeah, JJPawn i know what you mean… xhaka and ramses’s positioning is woeful and we do need to get tighter and closer to opposition midfield players. Xhaka lacks pace, intensity and looks to lazy sometimes while ramsey loses focus and is drawn to score goals.
Kolasinac in the middle is not the right option, i’m afraid. I echo the sentiments above. Ideally, there should be a cazorla/wilshere like player and a destroyer (Kante/Matic) in the pivot. Both always good on the ball.
Ramsey out wide was always bad for our shape as he drifted in. I’ve said it before, but i would rather Ramsey as no.10 in place of Ozil…but i get some criticism when i say that on here!
I think Jamie Carragher got it spot on with his analysis of Ramsey last week, his best position would probably be in a midfield 3 with an enforcer behind him so he can play box to box.
Your projected line up has 12 players lmfao
Stupid Wenger want more goals and refused to bring in Wilshere, instead Dead woods like Walcott and Elneny were introduced……..players that can’t dribble through tight spaces, players that can’t penetrate or beat a man….Central midfield is the major problem, we have so many poor midfielders at arsenal, only Wilshere and Cazorla can match and battle with the midfield of the Manchester clubs and even Liverpool…..anytime I see Ramsey and Elneny playing and seeing Wilshere sitting on the bench, I get angry and a bit emotional…..Guardiola will make Wilshere a complete package like Isco or debruyne………
Hey, it ain’t good to call Wenger stupid, at least put something to soften the meaning of the word, write st*p*d.
I was thinking same thing, thought wilshere was gonna come on but damn, the boss knows more, we did not need any more creativity and brings on Elneny, the guy who just runs around doing nothing except run around chasing for the ball like a shadow and passing sideways
Think people calling for Wilshere to play more need to also remember his injury record. He played 90 mins on Thursday night and if he had come on Sunday and got injured you would be the 1st one to blame Wenger.
I love Jack as much as anyone but patience is required, his time will come this season.
We need to chill on criticizing Wenger. Seems we forgotten we play in the europa league this season. Does bringing on Wilshire in league game that has already been won make any sense knowing he played a few days ago and is injury prone. Wilshire has to be treated with care.
If Wenger plays Wilshire and he gets injured you ll still criticize him.
Wenger will be here till end of next season he won’t miraculously get sacked. Stop being bitter and support the team.
Arsenal’s europa league performance was much better