A WIN, but more questions than answers
Finally, Arsenal has snapped a 9-game winless streak with a 3-1 victory at West Ham United! Bravo for the win!
However, with that said, there are now more questions than answers…
1) How long will Tierney and Bellerin be on the injured list?
2) Was this game a kick start to Pepe’s goal scoring tally?
3) What do we do about the miserable 60 minutes the Gunners played before Martinelli got the club’s opening goal?
4) Will Martinelli see more playing time over Lacazette?
5) Will Guendouzi remain on the bench and be used only as a substitute?
6) Will this win provide the much needed confidence the club so badly has to have to win more games?
7) Will Freddie remain the Arsenal manager?
8) Can Arsenal holds it’s own this weekend vs. Manchester City?
Wow, that’s a lot of questions to be answered.
It took the Gunners 60 minutes to realize they were actually in a game at London Stadium, not a training session.
Their passing was weak, their defense was weaker, and Arsenal players meandered around the pitch with no sense of fire, motivation, or urgency.
Right now, this is the biggest worry for me, and this has to get fixed ASAP!
So, on we go to the Standard Liege and our final Europa League group game tonight.
Then on Sunday, it’s Manchester City coming to the Emirates for a Premier League showdown.
If we could win that game, the season just might take on a brighter glow, and might answer a few questions, too!
Cheers. Gunner1953
This is a guest post from our friendly Arsenal blogger from across the water. Have a look at YankeeGooner.net and check out hisopinions…
OT.. Tierney had dislocated his shoulder…. ☹
He’ll be out for a while then…
My biggest worry which I think is the root of the issues we can all see is, CONSISTENCY
I’m fine with leaving Lacazette, D.Luiz and Guendouzi on the bench.
As long as we continue with what we had at West Ham and build from that.
ESPECIALLY at the back with our CB’s, we chop and change too much there
Lacazette and other senior players should put extra efforts to regain their positions back
There should be no more favoritism and biases in the starting line-up
Ljungberg had better keep the hardworkers who worked their socks off at the London Stadium for the Man City game and play the underperformers in Belgium
1-bellerin and Tierney are injury prone so won’t be available for so many games this season.
2-next 4 games would determine
3-defend and control the midfield
4-yes he must.it should now be a competition between laca and auba for a starting position no more auba playing on the wings.
5-with xhaka and Ceballos injured he is going to be a starter for the next couple of games
6-The result was welcome but confidence is not restored after just one game.
7-If he continues to perform
8-if we use a similar lineup
What we saw, was very reminiscent of what we had been seeing for years under Wenger. Average/rubbish for the majority of a game, and then suddenly blitzing our opponent in a short period. E.g. When we drew 3-3 at home against Liverpool. They absolutely battered us apart from a crazy 10 mins when we scored 3.
A bit of role rehearsal here ThirdManJW. We used to batter teams in the first half then take our foot off the pedal in the second. Remember Newcastle?
Nowadays we’ve given up battering teams we let them score first then chase the game, hence the number of draws.
The idea that we can control matches by playing out from the back is simply a fallacy.Basically we are inviting teams to press higher up the pitch with a view to hitting them on the break, or in transition which is the new buzzword these days.To do this successfully you need to be proficient in two areas.Firstly our defenders have to be quick and comfortable on the ball in tight situations.As far as I can see our central defenders are lacking in both these areas and as a result we spend an inordinate amount of time keeping possession around our 18 yard box.At some points during the match we invariably lose the ball in this area and on numerous occasions this season this has cost us goals.Secondly to play this system effectively at least two of our three midfielders must be able to drive forward at speed to get at our opponents back four.Here again apart from Willock our midfielders are incapable of so doing.In these circumstances why on Earth do we persist with a system for which our current crop of defenders and midfielders are clearly unable to operate successfully.If we carry on with this tactic against Man City we will get what we deserve.We need to turn the clock back and get the ball into our opponents half more quickly.I can just see Sokratis being dispossessed at the edge of our box on Sunday on a regular basis resulting in yet another defeat at the hands of Man City.