The statistics do back up the theory that Arsenal tend to have a tough time of it in the month of November. During the 20 years that we have had Arsene Wenger as our manager the 11th month of the year is the one which has seen the Gunners take the fewest average points per game, 1.59 compared to the next worst August which is 1.89 and the best which is 2.18 in March.
The idea of it being a bad month for us is so well established that Wenger himself talked about it this week, but I really feel that we have no real need to worry about it. For one thing, statistics can often highlight funny things but they do not explain the possible reasons being them.
So it could be just a coincidence that November has been bad for Arsenal and it could be down to other reasons but ones that do not necessarily have to repeat themselves. I think that our injury problems have often played a part in November being nasty to us. Not only have we often missed key player around this time, but that forces the manager to overplay the ones that are fit and this leads to fatigue.
This season we do not have too many issues on that front and we are just getting players like Ramsey and Giroud back, so as long as we are not his with a run of bad luck injury-wise there is no reason for us to struggle. Just because November tends to be tough does not mean it is always so.
Three years ago when Ramsey was scoring goals for fun and Arsenal were looking like champions until the injury crisis hit us about halfway through, November was a happy month which saw us beat Liverpool, Dortmund, Southampton, Marseille and Cardiff and lose just once. We scored 10 goals and conceded just once.
This November does see us face some tricky fixtures, with Tottenham, Man United and PSG among them, but Arsenal are in good form. Will this be a nice November instead of a nasty one? We certainly started it well with an amazing comeback against Ludogrets!
Bob.
Keep the fait gunners!!!
A win is what matters. Ozil is rapidly turning into Bergkamp
Bergkamp was different than Ozil. I think Bergkamp was a better attacking midfielder than Ozil, because Bergkamp has closer control and better vision. I think Ozil is a better finisher than Bergkamp. Wenger knows this. That was why he put Sanchez in central forward/ attacking midfielder position and Ozil is behind Sanchez on paper, but he pushed Ozil to move forward and switch his position with Sanchez as a finisher often. Ozil was more dangerous when he was receiving key passes and through-balls from Sanchez. Walcott also benefited from Sanchez’s vision and flair.
“I think Ozil is a better finisher than Bergkamp”, i think you haven’t watched Bergkamp’s goals. He was lethal, fast and full of vision. almost all his goals are a beauty. and he scored many. I think he is better in many things compared to Ozil
Resilience, character, determination this time you really mean it. Don’t care about November form, never did. To me, end December until end January is the critical period. November just on average is bad but we had great games in November. We need two EPL wins during November or we can settle with 4 points at least which means we will be still withing striking distance (5 points) to the top of the table assuming they will win it all. It is doable.
Gosh, it is so great not to care about titles and just enjoy the wins. I made a good choice at the beginning of the season 😀
Lets not pretend, November will be a very, very tough month. I for one I`m worried. Hope for the best nevertheless.
If Arsenal played like the last night’s match against Ludogorets in this November, they will have bad results. I watched both Arsenal’s and City’s games last night. Arsenal, City and Barcelona played with similar football style, with slow tempo and high possession football, but I think Arsenal was one level below them. I can understand why Barcelona is superior with this football style, because they have been playing with this style for a very long time. But City was just playing with this style recently, started with Pellegrini and now there is Guardiola. Wenger has more than ten years to emulate the “tiki-taka” playing style, but I think Arsenal is still behind those teams. I see that Wenger is trying to try new things by assigning Sanchez the central forward/ attacking midfielder this season, let see how that will help us in the November matches.
You cant get anything right, can you?
The writer have already critically examing all that make November a month which Arsenal drop points some seasons ago but this season will be different because of the man power which we have in defferent department of the field. We have good replacement for player when they are injured, and proper way of introducing players who just return from injury to avoid reocurent of injury. And many players were not be guarantee jessey and anyone that have the opportunity want to perform well in other to grap that jessey, for this simple reason the month of november will be a month of positivity