Arsenal became the first Top 7 team to concede 20 goals this season against Southampton on Sunday, and in fact they would just make the top 10 if we were judged on the amount of goals you let in, but obviously an attacking team like Wenger’s Arsenal always work on the premise that they will score more than their opponents.
But it is not quite as easy as it used to be, if modern teams just go out to frustrate the Gunners and just want to fight for a draw. Wenger was asked today about our lack of solidity at the back, which has been highlighted by our recent games against Man United and Southampton when we conceded early goals and then tried to come back.
When Wenger was asked about our defensive record today, he said: “Yes, of course but we are as well an attacking side so it depends as well how many goals you score,”
“Overall, we want to improve our defensive record of course but we just come back from Southampton where you’ve seen just how difficult it is.
“We had 70% possession. The team stayed at the back and tried to get you on the counter and refuse to play. If you accept the gamble to play you have to be very cautious to defend very quickly if you lose the play.
“Football has changed a little bit because the teams are physically better prepared. Accept to defend only. That was not the case 10 years ago. You could say the same about West Ham. They just lost to Man City. Southampton just lost to City in the last minute. It is difficult for everybody.”
The fact is that Arsenal should be scoring more goals, we have had 44 attempts on goal in our last two games and have only scored twice. That is an awful conversion rate statistic. We really need to stop conceding silly goals if our opponents are going to be solid against us. How can we improve that?
Darren N