Some interesting thoughts on the Watford v Arsenal game by MH
Hi guys,
Now the spirits are good in the Arsenal camp, at least in the league where we have created some momentum and are on a good run, and as I was watching the Watford game a few things came to my mind .
1. We are slowly getting that ‘attitude’ back, maybe due to guys like Sanchez, Cech and Ozil. I don’t know how but yes the ‘team spirit and cohesion’ thing which the boss has been talking about for I don’t know how long, seems to be having some good effects.
2. It was good to see some defending from whole team, even the so-called ‘lazy’ Ozil has covered a huge amount of ground and is not afraid to go into tackles. The same for Walcott. Long gone are those days where only five players will defend while rest would jog around after being dribbled past. Now is the time when whole team has to work extremely hard against every team. This is the level of the Premier league, where physicality matters and defending should be the core of our game.
3. Defending brings me to mention some players like Nacho and Bellerin. We all must be remembering the spankings of two seasons ago. if you watch highlights of those games you would mostly see Gibbs in all those games. Spare me…Gibbs is a good defender but hasn’t still evolved defensively and is very poor at positioning. Also Sagna, who was many times caught in the opposing half in those games. Here comes Hector- one of the best right-backs in the league on present form. Now even if he is caught he most often makes up for it with his pace, otherwise our Policeman is always there and Monreal. I don’t remember the last time he was caught out of position which directly led to a goal. He is now the best left-back in the EPL. Defensive solidity is most necessary if we are to challenge for the league and keeping these three fit is of the utmost importance.
4. Coming to midfield and attack
Alexis! What can you say about this guy? One of the world class players in our team. If he can continue this form for next 8-9 months he will be in the top 5 for the Ballon d’or, and maybe after 2-3 seasons when the magical duo form dips and age factor comes into play we will see our Alexis lifting that elusive trophy. Ozil is slowly coming to the fore. He is constantly in improvement-mode since his return from his injury and is now justifying the natural talent he has always had. One should never judge him on his price tag and then criticise a la Owen, Carragher and a few so called pundits. Is Gareth bale really worth 100 mil? Di Maria 60 and Martial 58 (including clause)? As Ozil said himself that no footballer is worth 50 mil, maybe except Leo and Ronaldo. Next is Santi… ohhhhhh we are so pleased to have him. He proves that in today’s game you need not be a monster to be successful in that b2b role. A true magician on the ball. No one can knock him off the ball easily. He has grown so much into that role, Wenger deserves credit for it. Le Coq is as always dependable. It is good to see him trying some long balls. Rambo got that monkey off his back now. You can see him being more calm because once you become an important goalscorer for your team ,you will be desperate to score and pressure comes into play. As the boss has said – why can’t a guy like Ramsey score 10-15 goals a season? Walcott had an off day, it happens. So attackers and midfielders are gelling and slowly we will become more potent.
So I would like to end by saying what King Thierry said: Arsenal may win the league if they remain consistent, and that is a big IF!
Goodbye till the next game
Bhagalpuri