Massive win to start tricky period without Wenger on the bench! by Konstantin Mitov
A win at Southampton is a rare occasion these days for Arsenal and a 5-0 away victory is one I’m certainly enjoying. That being said we can’t ignore the fact the Saints were just terrible and the 10 changes they made didn’t really help them either, but they did their job against Liverpool and we got the rewards of exploiting a young and inexperienced side.
We scored some excellent goals from our perspective, helped by some terrible defending, but what I really liked was our formation. It was dynamic, something which it isn’t under Arsene. Players were changing positions up front and at times we looked like we were 4-1-4-1, other times we looked like 4-4-2. I really liked Lucas up front! The guy has immense contribution for the time he has played and deserves more of a chance in the squad, though he did miss a sitter at the end.
I really enjoyed Danny Welbeck and boy have we missed the guy! He is explosive, has pace and power and that freedom he had today to roam resulted in 2 goals and an assist and a well deserved rest after 60 minutes. I really think that if he’s back to full fitness he will have a spot in the starting 11.
Now every time I think Theo is missing from the game this season, he seems to pop up with a goal or 3 sometimes… With 14 this season already I’d like to see him in the 20+ margin. The Ox had an excellent game as a CM, those passes were slick! The two youngsters also looked really comfortable, but I just dare not draw too many conclusions because this season we destroy terrible teams (Swansea, West Ham, that Southampton side), as we should but we struggle in matches that should be a breeze.
Nevertheless just look at the size of the squad, especially up front – Theo, Giroud, Alexis, Ozil, Welbeck, The Ox, Iwobi, Lucas and going a little back – Coquelin, Xhaka, Cazorla, Ramsey, Elneny. At the back we have 2 options for each position at least which is astonishing. This is by far the biggest and most qualified squad we’ve had since the Invincibles.
Arsene wasn’t on the bench today, but our fluidity makes me wonder if Steve Bould had something to do about it? I still think Arsene picked the squad and controlled everything with that speaker he was using from the stands, but we have a huge week in front of us coming up, and especially that Chelsea game with Arsene not on the touchline could determine our final league position aspirations!
Konstantin