10 Shots and NONE on Target! by NikkoGunners
Arsenal outscored Chelsea on shots, but none of our shots were on target. Chelsea had three on target and got two goals. What does such a statistics tell us? Arsenal’s game has been very patient this term and we spend long spells in the game planning the perfect shot. It is what Wenger likes to call playing with the handbrake on. It could be that Chelsea’s Invincibles are in the making and so we faced an impenetrable quality defense. However, for Arsenal, with 7 games gone, there is necessity to go back to the drawing board.
Perhaps, the very first mistake of the afternoon was Wenger’s ‘fear’ of pace. He preferred Jack Wilshere for Ox Chamberlain forcing some changes to his super turbo charged Galatasaray destroying side, allowing Chelsea some breathing space. It also inevitably kept the fastest players in the squad today, Ox and Sanchez, from each other.
The fear of pace will easily be solved if Wenger drops Wilshere to the bench, which is easier said than done with Wenger of course. When Walcott returns Wenger will inevitably have no reason to keep him in the bench as he does with Ox, who Wenger seems unwilling to trust due to inexperience or something mysterious. Taking an unusual tenacity to field Wilshere at every opportunity – even when other players seem to be bringing more to the game may be affecting our game. At the first chance to remove a player he felt the one to leave the pitch was Cazorla who on the day was more a goal threat and keep Wilshere on until the inevitable happened – Chelsea got the second goal.
This tenacity could have made Arsenal’s attack blunt. One would imagine if Ox had started on one wing and Sanchez on the other, Ozil and Cazorla in the centre – then Welbeck would have gotten chances to get some shots in there.
The other issue – Wenger should consider a new game plan that will get a support striker in there. We have seen Isaac Hayden and Hector Bellerin already in the squad and they did not look fazed by the occasion of a first team appearance. They can deputize so that the fear of having all our best center backs in the play is rested (moreover all three are playing currently), as we ease Gibbs into the 3 center back system, does not make us fear taking steps needed. There is a case that when there is a three man mature defense, it tends to be more solid than the 4 man defense where the full backs have to overlap and often than not are found in attack leaving a thin defense at the back quickly exposed in a counter attack. No wonder we have lesser clean sheets.
Once Gibbs finds his bearing the next thing that Wenger should do is to move Calum Chambers into the DM area. Carzola has certainly shown great capacity to deputize for Ramsey in Central midfield until he returns, first from injury and then to full sharpness. In fact Cazorla’s game in the center showed more maturity compared to Wilshere’s and also an almost telepathic understanding of the superfast frontline.
Finally, Campbell should get his chance to increase the attack nuisance and allow Welbeck some more space. If not then Podolski should be the second guy upfront. With his work rate, Welbeck will explore wings and Campbell can follow this act very well too. The return of Giroud and Sanogo will be more juice that this system will best benefit from with Wenger facing the blessing troubles of who plays upfront.
My final team that can get us chasing the front single horse (Chelsea) is as follows:-
———Welbeck, Campbell/Podolski
Sanchez——-Ozil——–Walcott
Chambers Cazorla
—-Gibbs, Martesacker, Koscielny