It was late but Arsenal fans should take heart from West Brom win

Sometimes in football, like in life, you do not always get what you deserve and that would certainly have been the case if Arsenal had not taken all three points from our Boxing Day clash with West Bromwich Albion. You could say that the Baggies would have deserved a point for their defensive steel but the Gunners were much the better side and were only made to wait until so close to the final whistle by an inspired showing from their keeper Ben Foster and some bad luck in front of goal.

After back to back defeats away to Everton and Man City the pressure was really on Arsene Wenger and the players and that would have been felt more keenly the longer the game went without an Arsenal goal, so the way we came out firing after the halftime break and the way that Arsenal kept plugging away to get the well deserved winner was very impressive in my opinion.

Okay we should have won by more or at least got the goal earlier but these things happen and you cannot argue with the stats as the Gunners had 11 of our 26 shots on target with the brilliant Alexis Sanchez also hitting the post. With 76 percent possession and seven shots blocked it would have been extremely harsh on Arsenal to not take the points.

The win was the most important thing, of course, but any Arsenal fan worried about how late in the game we scored should relax and appreciate that we were good value for the win and should take heart that the team is back on track.

Sam P.

13 Comments

  1. Great to have the winning feeling back!

    We need to kick on from here as other teams around us seem to have hit form. We need to return our sharpness in the final third and get our scoring boots back on. We have some “fair” games coming up, we need to take full advantage of this and get some of our players like Ramsey and Perez into form as injuries are mounting and Elneny and Iwobi will be heading for AFCON.

  2. The win is great, but yet again it’s struggle to get past a mediocre team at home, whilst all the other big boys brush the opposition aside with ease. Terrible tactics from Wenger again as well. Tiki-taki with Giroud never works, but as soon as we play to his strengths, guess what…a goal, and the win. Why can’t we start putting in crosses from the first minute, instead of leaving it so late? Giroud isn’t the greatest of strikers, but I do feel sorry for him, waiting around forever for crosses that never come! Giroud has one the best headers in the league, why not use that weapon more often?

  3. What a bloody shambles! Obviously I’m delighted with 3 points but Giroud was on the pitch from the first minute – tell me why did it take over an hour before the team started firing crosses in to the box? We’re supposed to have one of the best assist makers in the world, left and right backs who sprint down the line and we’re passing backwards and sideways in front of a 10 man defense! Either zero tactics were implied, or the team just ignored the tactics and played however they wanted… Problem is that Chelsea or Liverpool would have demolished West Brom 3 maybe even 5-0. This is not good enough from a title-pushing team. Wengerout!

    1. Sir, you are factually incorrect. The previous results for Chelsea and Liverpool against WBA this season are as follows. Chelsea 1 – 0 WBA and Liverpool 2 – 1 WBA.

      WBA is a tough team to beat. Both Chelsea and Liverpool only beat WBA by a narrow margin of one goal. The fact is, if you had bothered to look at the match reports of both of the above games, WBA struggled against Arsenal more than it did against the other two. They enjoyed less possession or consequently shots on target at the Emirates than they did when they went to Stanford Bridge and Anfield. I am very critical of Arsenal but it is very harsh to say that we should have put WBA to bed easily when the evidence clearly shows that it is not an easy thing to do.

      1. Yes. I am also critical of Wenger, but the match against WBA was in fact very promising, because for more or less the first time this year, we actually prevented the opposition from creating almost any chances, and that is what we need more than anything else, if we are to compete for the title.

        1. Overall I agree with your opinion. However I have to wonder, how much of WBA not creating chances was down to our positive dominate play or was down to Pulis’ negative tactics?

    2. Pulis sides rarely get smashed because they just park the bus the whole game. This was always going to be about being patient and not getting bullied. Arsenal found a way, and we should be happy the team finally responded and didn’t stop fighting like in the previous matches.

  4. With the visit of Palace to the Emirates on the 1st of the new year, with the expected lift that a new manager brings, I expect a similarly tough game like that of the WBA from them. However, I do not expect them to be as extremely negative as WBA as Palace possess some quality going forward with the likes of Zaha etc. Fortunately they conceded a penalty through over zealous rough play against Watford so I know that that will be in the back of their minds when they play us. All in all, I expect a victory, but another hard game.

    Controversially, this may be the type of game for Sanchez up front, as I think that their defence will be susceptible to quick “one twos” attacks through the middle with Giroud to come on and change it up if it is not working.

  5. Yes it was late, but better than never. It’s a turn around for the whole team coming out with a positive return which will lift the team morales going into the next game against a rejuvenate crystal Palace team.

  6. Bad Luck My “A”. Fact if you don’t put the Ball in the net you don’t score so Bad Luck does not come in to it. Arsenal are just not good enough up front. Mr Wenger knows this but continues to sit on his Cheque Book when it comes to buying a TOP Class Striker.

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