Arsenal don’t have the squad players to deal with the fitness problems we have each year by KM
Hi guys. Alright, we got thumped pretty hard yesterday, but I feel like we were out there with eight and a half players rather than eleven and that against Bayern will cost you. We started with Debuchy at right back and that meant we were in trouble.
I mean Mathieu needs to be replaced. For an international right back, you could see why he was playing for Newcastle. He got absolutely destroyed and 2 of the first 3 goals we conceded were through his zone. We also missed Koscielny, and Gabriel let Lewandowski slip on side and we conceded first.
Gabriel had a really poor performance too for me and when Mertesacker doesn’t have a solid player like Koscielny next to him, he is prone to make mistakes. So it felt like we were missing three of our defenders. And as you can see, against some teams it might work out, but we saw it against Sheffield where we conceded 3 and Bayern scored 5.
Even though, I felt there were positives from Ozil, Alexis and Giroud who were up for the challenge, before we got to 3:0 down and I turned off the TV, because I think I had seen enough. The bad thing from this defeat is that we play Spurs in a must-win game at the weekend and we had to avoid a thumping.
The real trouble is the same squad will start against Spurs thanks to the marvelous injury list we have once again! Having said all that I’ll just quietly slip the thought of how we could’ve added more in the summer, but hey it is what it is.
For me the main point is, we have a good squad number wise, but very short of quality outside 13-14 players. We need squad players who can come in and do a job, but when some players come in, you can just smell trouble and Bayern exploited our weakness in defense. We could’ve been a match for Bayern if we had our starting XI available, but hey, they have one of the best managed football clubs, one of the best coaches and they boast talent.
Overall I just hope this doesn’t get into the head of the players. Wenger was first to acknowledge the fact that we were poor defensively but there are reasons for that. It’s important to ignore the media and the humiliation stuff written, because we could end up first in the league going into a much needed international break and that’s something.
After the break we’ll hopefully have some players coming back fresh and with fewer tournaments in our way, we can focus on the league. I for once have to defend Wenger with the decisions he made. He tried to rotate which is something. He acknowledged the fact that we cannot overplay the squad if we want to have a chance and although it cost us in competitions it was the right thing to do!
Apart from rotating Cech, I agree with the rest and we are still overplaying some players. Wenger is often accused of being stubborn and although I still agree with this, he made some big money transfers, adopted new tactics, bought a goalkeeper and rotated! If he can break himself with the transfer inactivity we’ll be true contenders.
What I see lately is maturity in our squad. Ozil looked like a player out with a point to prove again yesterday and he’s pivotal to us! I enjoy this squad, and although I don’t like the thumping, it’s something that has become regular with Arsenal, but it’s not something I’m willing to be depressed about again.
Wenger may never deliver a league title again, but look at Chelsea. Look at Liverpool and Man United. All shadows of a former self. We may get exposed sometimes, but we quickly forget it and if we win against Spurs I’ll be overall happy with the week.
The Champions league was not sacked by that Bayern defeat, it goes back to failing to beat average sides. To make it worse Olympiacos had unbelievable luck in both games against Zagreb and they won. But hey, there’s a lesson to be learned in this campaign. Sadly we’ll most likely slump to the Europa League.
Anyway, Spurs is all that matters now. We simply have to beat them and hope that after the internationals we’ll have some bodies back, because our league fixtures are favorable and if we have a fresh squad who knows?
Cheers everybody.
Konstantin