I do not mean that Arsene Wenger is planning on supplementing his Arsenal manager’s wages by taking up tightrope walking with the circus. And I do not mean the balancing act that the Frenchman has been forced into while having very little money to spend as the club paid off the debt of building a new stadium while needing to keep the fans happy and the team in the Champions League.
This time the balance that Wenger is looking for is in the team itself and he thinks that he has found that after a couple of clean sheets in a row, as an Arsenal.com report explains, helped in no small measure by the return from injury of Laurent Koscielny at the heart of our defence.
The Arsenal boss said, “The team is not only made of strikers, the team is made of a balance between strikers, midfielders and defenders and that’s what you want to get right until the end of the season.”
Last season it was our solid defence that was keeping the Gunners going, while we struggled for goals at the other end, especially after losing Podolski, Walcott and Ramsey to injury problems. But the addition of Welbeck and Alexis Sanchez to help Olivier Giroud up front has sorted out our striking problems and Walcott’s return will boost us further up front.
And while our midfield has almost always had plenty of craft and guile, it has often been seen as a bit too lightweight, although Mathieu Flamini and now Francis Coquelin have certainly given Arsenal more bite in the middle. So has Wenger finally got the balance right? Arsenal’s away game at Man City today will surely put that to the test.
Lets keep faith with francis coquelin he has done great towards the arsenal cause! Coyg!
Our back four will have to play a major part in todays game! They have got to remain focus and be wary of players like zabaleta coming forward from the back, and with set pieces! Focus is the key! There is no room for complacency! Coyg!
balance? how do you then go into a season with such a depleted defence.
We got this…COYG!!!
The balance definitely isn’t right yet, fingers crossed it will improve over this transfer window though..Can’t wait for this match!! COYG!
i will never forgive wenger for losing to man utd.
If we beat City today he can consider himself forgiven
We are crying for years for a 6foot2 dm and a pacy CB.some here said Le coq is doing well,doing well for what?fourth place
We are asking to compete for trophies not for fourth place.
Will like david ospina to start again, and keep a clean sheet! Coyg!
Is Gibbs fit for today?
Hopefully he is. But even if he is, I don’t think there’s a LB in our team which can take Monreal place at the moment.
Monreal better in defence at LB and has more discipline. Gibbs goes above the halfway line when we have a goal kick.
He’s on the bench
Rosicky plays good last game as a result he has to give way to Ramsey a personal favourite of Wengers.
Our season in the league is summed up by looking at the bottom three teams in the table. We struggled against all three when we played them and only took 5/9 points against them.
Actually to be fair to Wenger here, he has seen some sense.
Ospina > Scszesny
Bellerin > Chamber
Monreal (better defensively and has more discipline when going forward) > Gibbs
Ospina
Bellerín
Mert
Kos
Monreal
Santi
Coq
Ramsey
Chambo
Giroud
Sanchez
COYG…. massive
I’m all for keeping a virtual winning side but something about the name Mertesacker worries me…
A lot less though when followed by the name Koscielny though
Watching Song doing a good job for Wast ham
West Ham
“having very little money to spend as the club paid off the debt of building a new stadium”
Seriously? Again?
You of all people should know the stadium debt is the same now as it was on day one and will be until 2033, just over 30 million a year?
Why is this always used as an excuse for poor transfers and a stubborn manager.
Arsenal has never been broke, they sold the Highbury ground and other real estate nearby for a tidy sum, sold players for profit, had sponsorship deals and the most expensive tickets in the PL.
Can we please be aware of the facts before rolling this out again!
Is that back 4 and le coq enough to keep city out, i doubt it and have got a feeling we wil need to score 3 or 4 to win.
Rosicky does a job against Stoke.. He is direct looks pacy hardly ever gives the ball away and is dropped.. ???
Ozil and walcott started on the bench and got maybe 10 minutes a few games back.. What is it with Ramsay and Wenger..?
He can’t be match fit..? For Christs sake we are up against the champions of England .. Ramsey was awesome last year but this season he has been very indifferent..!
What does rosicky have to do to hold down a starting place.. Surely it should have been start with rosicky – give him the freedom to chase and parry (something he’s good at and Ramsey isn’t!) then bring on something different if it’s not working..?
Pace and pressure is what frightens passing teams – hell, we have it done to us more than any..
I hope Arsene has this right tactically… But then again.. He very rarely does against the better teams..