There is a reason why Arsenal play better away than at home by KM
Hello fellow Arsenal fans. Our great away form continued at Leicester at the weekend when we dispatched 5 goals, all of them coming from our strikers. Happy times right? Who needs a striker if you can score five goals against the thus far unbeaten Leicester side?
Well, at least that is what the typical short term sightseeing will say, and so will the English press who don’t fail to make a club in crisis or champions by seeing one game. It was nice to see our main forwards all score, but don’t hurry to make conclusions off of what still is a shaky start to the season.
This still is Leicester who have conceded 14 goals so far, which is the second worst record after Sunderland who’ve shipped in 16. Onto the game… if you follow the script of their season so far, they were the comeback kings since the end of last season, so you might say that it was better they scored first!
Just joking, but there is no place for joking with our defense which was terrible once again. Leicester totally dominated the game in the first 20 minutes and hit the post twice. Jamie Vardy was playing in the Amateur leagues a few years back. Now the guy scored two wonderful goals, but the number of goals we ship in is way too damn high.
I really don’t know what is the problem there. New personnel? New coaches? New tactics? We have a decent back four that on it’s day should record easy clean sheets. It’s no longer the keeper. Leicester threw in long balls, which we had no idea how to deal with. They also hit us with pace, which we couldn’t handle in defence.
But that was their biggest weakness as well and it brings us to our main point. We hit them with pace and quality as well and it was too much to handle. We had spaces where our players could run and where our midfield could supply balls and that worked numerous times on Saturday.
Let’s take a look at the games so far. We had 4 away games winning 3 and losing one thanks to Mike Dean. We won on some of the toughest grounds of the so called smaller teams, because they tried to press us, we had space and we used it. Leicester was a prime example.
On the other hand, at our home games, where we tried to dominate possession we were flat, struggled with too many touches on the ball and scored only 2 goals. Same thing with Newcastle away, who were with 10 men and we still only managed one goal.
As I mentioned before, we are not a possession based team anymore. Last year, we performed better with less possession than we did with more. This reminds me of the Dortmund side that played a final of the Champions league. They were counter-attacking kings and ripped sides apart with pace. Our current squad has similar qualities.
Next come two home games of significant importance. We really need our best squad for Olympiacos as if we don’t win this one we’ll be pretty much hoping to upset Bayern which is unlikely to happen. Then comes Manchester United who are top of the league somehow.
The top teams in the league are so bad, United are first. But they are still not that good. The problem is in England once you get a psychological problem, it becomes impossible to deal with it. We have it with United, who no matter how bad they are, always manage to beat us. I was at the Emirates last season when we totally dominated the first 60 minutes to end up beaten 1:2.
A problem is our leaky defense. We need to let them have more of the ball and hit them on the break. Score first and then if they come at us hit them again. Martial is riding his luck and United were lucky to beat Southampton, but no matter what they are coming in first place and will be confident.
If we fail to beat them, we’ll hardly win the league. On a final note Alexis scored a hat trick and people talk about breaking the drought. Firstly Alexis played well on numerous occasion, like Crystal Palace where he practically scored our second goal, though it counted as an own goal. He hit the post twice and set up numerous chances against Stoke as well so it was coming for him.
He scored more goals in one game than our other strikers managed so far in the season, so the quick judgement is a bit premature. Still Alexis and Theo seem to be our main strikers so far and they’ll be key in our title charge. It’s funny how Kane scored an offside goal against City and he suddenly silences the critics. Short term thinking once again.
Looking at that game it’s ridiculous how the referees don’t get punishment for decisions which cost points in a multi-billion industry that is the Premier league. I could’ve spotted Spurs two offside goals from the TV. What does the ref do? I feel for Pelegrini, because City dominated the game and now their confidence is shot to nothing just before the Champions League.
The FA really needs to do something about it if they care about our fourth Champions League spot. The English teams didn’t get very difficult groups and failing to make it out will be a disaster.
That’s it from me. Have a nice week.
Konstantin