Arsenal had to weather a storm in the first half of last nights match against Ludogrets despite Alexis’ early goal, as the Bulgarians played some excellent football in the first half and could have made it hard for us if it wasn’t for yet another excellent performance from David Ospina.
Ospina was one of just four changes from the Swansea game with the recovered Coquelin, Gibbs and Oxlade-chamberlain brought in to rest the newboy Granit Xhaka, misfiring Nacho Monreal, and the overworked Alex Iwobi.
Wenger also made some excellent substitutions when we were clear in front with Cazorla, Alexis and our second goalscorer in the first half Theo Walcott all allowed a little rest with Saturday’s game against Middlesbrough in mind. Lucas seemed to be Walcott’s replacement while Ozil moved into the centre-forward position to see if he could answer Wenger’s challenge to score more goals.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was given an unusual full 90 minutes and he rewarded Wenger’s faith in him by scoring the third goal just after the break. Whether this was Wenger’s response to The Ox’s words this week remains to be seen but it will do wonders for the Englishman’s confidence.
After that it was the Mesut Ozil show with the German superstar scoring his first ever hat-trick and we made the poor Bulgarians look like a tired Championship side. Arsene Wenger gave our opponents credit for their display in the first half. Le Prof said after the game: “In the first half it looked like a difficult game because they were dangerous going forward. They had good technique in short spaces, they are quick on the counter-attack and it was not easy. We took complete control of the game in the second half and we could’ve score more because they had given a lot in the first half. They suffered a little bit physically in the second half.
“We scored early and maybe we eased off a bit too early. It’s funny because the more goals we scored, the better we defended. In the first half it’s true that we were sometimes in danger with runs coming from deep. The strikers came into midfield, flooded the midfield and got them out of pressure. Then we were in trouble twice. We’d like to give credit to Ospina who saved us twice with very important saves.
“The confidence is high, we have a good balance at the moment in the team and maybe it’s because we’ve been making more of our chances. The final ball is better. Is that because our finishing is better? It’s difficult to analyse at the moment, but what is for sure is that we score more goals. We score lots of goals. That’s what our game is about. We have a risky game and therefore it’s important that we take our chances.
“In this game, a lot is linked with confidence as well and I feel that because we’re winning game after game, the confidence is high. Maybe when we get into these dodgy periods, there’s less psychological damage. What you want is to get them out as well.”
After winning our 7th game in a row we can see that the confidence is amazing. At last we are going into games knowing that we have the ability to blow teams away. We did it to Chelsea, who are always a bogey team, we beat another bogey team in Swansea, and we have now scored six of the best to go top of our group and give added confidence that we can finish top ahead of PSG. We will be playing Ludogorets again in our next Group game and they will be feeling very scared after seeing the way we played today.
The atmosphere in the dressing room must be fantastic and our bench is fantastic, with Lucas Perez playing half an hour and getting an assist and Elneny stepping in to cover Cazorla with little problem.
The future is bright, the future is Red and White!
COYG and congrats to Wenger for getting the teams, tactics and substitutions perfect tonight.
Admin
With each match, it appears that giroud is slipping further away from this team. The movement and pace up front at this moment is absolutely amazing and it’s not too different at the back. Of the players currently out injured, you can see the likes if welbeck, akpom and may be ramsey adding value to this squad. But, giroud, sanogo, Debuchy, Mertesacker and maybe even jenkinson must surely be looking at things and thinking, where do I fit in?
If we were looking at new signings, surely a cf with pace to replace giroud/Sanogo. A better 2nd choice right back option than Debuchy/jenkinson, a better left back option than Monreal/gibbs and a better 3rd choice centre back than Mertesacker/Gabriel.
But hey may be I am just being picky?
@atid
As much as many would like for OG to disappear, we still need him for his height and strength. He still has a huge part to play in our squad…
We seem to be doing just fine without all that.
Flashback to PSG and Southampton games where his sub turned the game in our favours.
Wenger was right yesterday.his first eleven and in his sub.congratulations to him for using now the right tactics and right players
We shouldn’t be in a hurry to ask for Giroud’s departure. He’s still a game-changer, coming from the Bench (PSG & Southampton games for instance). Moreover, we still got 30 EPL matches to play, many UCL, EFL and FACUP matches too. Giroud still has a role to play dis season.
i was especially impressed by Perez,he is so quik,i wish we finish second place and get a big dog like Bayern and kill them
Who say that mourinho>>>wenger??? Wenger is a really genius with what he does to Sanchez.
Off topic : Rio Ferdinand and Richard Dunne moaning about Arsenal’s celebrations after the 6-0 win against Ludogorets. No matter what you do haters gone hate right? ? Let Arsenal just focus on their game and pay deaf ears to those thwarts ?. They only want to see Arsenal loose and watch us fans suffer, they don’t want to see us all on our way up ☝ but it’s too late now.
@Goona Don’t be ahead of yourself,everybody here wants Arsenal to top the group. Iwobi said something “we are still working on the mental side of our game” I don’t think that finish second and meeting Bayern or Barca would do us any good.
@ goona. Careful what you wish for mate.