When Arsenal played Chelsea just a week ago, it was very difficult for fans to see how Mikel Arteta would be able to turn things around after 2 months without a win, but somehow the Gunners surprised us all with a convincing win.
Now just 8 days later and we have made it three in a row with a most emphatic 4-0 win over struggling West Brom in the pouring snow, and what a performance it was!
After a slow start with the players getting used to the state of the pitch, Kieran Tierney finally put us in front with a brilliant solo goal with the West Brom defence in tatters, and just 5 minutes later we saw a trademark Arsenal goal with all the quick passing and rapid movement that we have come to know and love, ending up with an easy Saka tap in.
We were never in danger after that and a Laca double in the second half gave us our biggest win of the season so far, and Arteta was very positive about our performance after the game. He told Arsenal.com: “It’s always tough to win away from home and the way we’ve done it was in a really convincing way, especially in this difficult weather, but I’m really pleased. It’s three in a row now in the last week and we talked about the importance of this week for us and to be able to win all three of them is really important.
“Yes. There were moments that I thought we were really good both defensively and offensively and attacking-wise we had movement that is exactly what I want and exactly what we try and teach the players to do. In other moments we became a little bit sloppy in certain moments when we thought that the game was won. That’s something we have to improve. But overall it’s close to what we want.”
After 7 games without a win to suddenly winning three in a row was an amazing turnaround, but does Arteta think that we can now carry on our winning run? He replied: “I hope so. The energy and the convincing momentum that you get from everybody that is involved is much more positive. I wasn’t that concerned with the performances. We lost games where I felt we were really unlucky and most of them it was our own fault because we made some errors and we lacked some discipline in certain moments. But obviously you need to win football matches and now this brings a different momentum, energy and as well the players get the handbrake off and you can see that they are more free to play.
“When I talk about the energy, when you are in a moment where you are winning and playing with confidence, you can see that you can transmit that. The body language is better and you have that enthusiasm that wins help massively for you to build. When we were going through a difficult moment, I said that the most important thing is to maintain the team spirit and the belief that we would turn things around and belief in what we are trying to do. This week, obviously, is paying the price for the way that we have been going together through that period.”
So, three in a row gives us 9 points and we are back up to the heady heights of 11th place in the table, and if we can win the next three we will be back up in congested top half of the table. Our season is far from over, and who would have said that a week ago?
The law of averages suggest that arsenal will finish top four, the top four race is wide open.As for the league we are 10 points behind league leaders with 21 games to play we still have a mathematical chance of winning the tittle.Many had relagation worries but some of us new we have squad good enough to at least finish top4 blame the crisis that was there on poor managment and team selections!
Supported..
With Liverpool and Tottenham hotspur’s erratic and unpredictable form, Arsenal can surprise us all by winning the EPL Title if they really want to..
Manchester City stands a chance as well if their experienced players such as Aguero, Fernandihno, Sterling can step up!!
Manchester utd also can go for it but Maguire n Lindelof cannot b trusted!!
I think Man City will be in top 2 at the end of this season
The kings in backward,side ways passing are soon going to be given a chance to play and we shall be like “arteta needs to go”
Lols,😄..I guess you are talking about Xhaka, Willian, Auba n the likes..🤨
those you mentioned were in the team yesterday. i dont think they are the one
the sideway passes are not the fault of individual, its the due to rigidity of defensive tactics we played which reduce numbers that join attack, causing less movement on the ball and reduce space, when a player has no sure space to pass to, he can only pass back or try to create space himself, if he hold too much onto the ball like pepe he get disposessed.
Arteta brought in this tactic as a quick fix for our leaking defence and since this has reduce our potence in attack though help reduce chances/shot conceeded but at the same time make the team predictable reducing us to rely just on across from fullback
The sideways passes have been a staple at Arsenal for years. I remember Denilson was frequently criticised for it. I agree with your reasoning for why it happens but it’s nothing new.
The recent wins show that a corner has been turned, and some good has come from what was learned during the recent hardships…
– Laca is quality & works hard, and is having a welcome return to form.
– Our youngsters are awesome and we could be witnessing the start of something great with them
– With Pepe’s natural talent he should be like Robben/Hazard/Griezmann but something just isn’t there (Lack of brains maybe)
– Thomas Partey always looks a class above in midfield and is key to taking us up a, level
– Many of our players have great ability and potential for being at a higher level consistently (EG. Holding, Mari, Tierney, + more)
– Must ship out players that are part of the past Arsenal need to leave behind ASAP (Esp. OZIL / a few others immediately, then a few others in due course over the next year)
– Must resolve any acrimony at the club one way or another (EG. Ozil, Guenduzi, Saliba, etc.) so everyone is pulling in the same direction.
Onwards & upwards. COYG
did i miss something, how come Partey name is mentioned? are you reffering to the 3wins or you making general comment
RE: Partey – We miss his creativity and runs. EG. I think the win against Brighton would have been a lot easier if he had been playing. As much as Xhaka has put in a good shift the last couple of games, I think we really miss Partey in midfield and the wins would have been even more comfortable with him playing, and he is good enough to build on going forward.
i completely agree with him, there have been a games we could have won/draw instead of loosing, we have not been playing badly in all the poor runs, a few indiscipline/unlucky situation and the biggest of all is the letdown by major attacking players.
Now we changed to a more attacking tactic bringing in an extra attack minded midfielder in ESR and more chances were created in the last 3 games, however, thats not the end, we are not there yet, we are winning on our plan B, we are yet to get our plan A right, can we play with same enegy without ESR? can ESR play in 433? or can we score 2/3 goals while playing 343? can our attackers score from minimal chances? these are questions that will define our season, there are games we wouldnt get enough space to shoot, how we respond will tell how we have improved
A manager is as good is his team selections,if you can’t pick the best team you can be having the new Ronald on bench (martinelli) and to think he was benched yesterday and willian was introduced instead of him this manager will never ceases to amaze me. We should be on top of the league if we were not for poor team selections with favourites to an extent that a star player had to confront the coach and there were reports of bitter disagree with the coach tactics.
Good one to all arsenal fan’s all over the world.
Really pleased with the result last night, the team really played well, especially the youngsters, considering the conditions, Saka, ESR, Tierney is improving game by game, Our future and success as a club is with our youth, with a few experienced guys like Partey, Lacazette, Luiz and even Auba if he can turn around his form, glad Arteta finally gave ESR a shot, whether enforced or by choice and the fact that he changed/tweeked our tactics, shape and the way we play, I just really hope that we can reach an agreement with Balogun he is a real prospect and somehow work things out with Saliba. Long may it continue COYG
Well this is pleasant arsenal actually winning some games. I am so releived.
Had a big chat with some mates last night and we noticed a few things.
The obvious changes
No willian
No pepe
Formation change to see a back 4 and a CAM in ESR who I have been screaming for forever.
The less obvious changes.
Lacca is playing as a out and out striker not as a CF type player like friminho to provide hold up play from the wings that is now ESR Job.
Less playing down the wings we are less predictable (only slightly). But this may be due to the quality of team we faced.
Jury is still out. Tbh. In my mind these changes MA has made have come too late. I also saw that willian got a significant amount of game time registering yet another shot off target and his first shot on target. He has to go
In my opinion MA’s adapting the new formation and tactic, along withplaying players in positions suitable to their skillsets has been the key. We were really unlucky with injuries this year(again!!) and I think if Gabi and Mari were fit earlier we would have been in a better position. The ESR introduction was a little late, maybe MA thought to protect him because of his injury. Still right now, he needs to devise other tactics, tweaks in gameplans, and formations to fall back on if a particular tactic is not working. And he also needs to motivate the players like he did when he came on, I think Auba, Willian and Pepe are really short of confidence, while Willock, AMN and Nketiah should be given more individual attention and specific position training. I believe they will come good too.