Arsenal played out to yet another 0-0 draw. A solid performance but one without a cutting edge in the final third. Criticism continues as optimists will compare this to seasons past and call it an improvement.
Muscle, Power, Physical Presence
Per, Diaby, Podolski and Giroud have injected plenty of physicality into this Arsenal side. The first two missed a good part (or all) of last season and the later two new blood. Podolski won 50-50s and shook past Stoke’s physical machines. Diaby on multiple occasions was able to simple stand his ground and watch his opponent tumble past him in vain attempt to get the ball of him.
These were encouraging signs for an away game at Stoke. We seldom had so much control over the ball and won so many tackles at the Britannica.
Defensively Sound
Arteta put in a great shift as our DM. There’s a whole debate going on now whether a DM should be signed but Arteta is filling that role very well at the moment. He is hustling players intelligently and winning the ball against stronger and bigger opponents. I’m not sure how we’ll be like without him. Last season without Arteta was a disaster.
Many Arsenal fans were groaning at the start when VM started between the sticks. But I wasn’t too perturbed considering our new found defensive strength and Vito kept a clean sheet.
Diaby is able to tackle well but not as cleanly as Arteta. Diaby’s big thing going for him is his strength. His physical approach also does mean we will conceded a few freekicks even though that rarely happened yesterday.
Per was rock solid. I like him as our first choice center backs with TV5. Kos should only play in his place when the opponent has 2 fast strikers. It can be said our giant has finally settled into the English league and he kept Crouch quiet effectively.
The Bould project is going on well if you’d make a judgement over 2 games. We were almost never caught on the counter and maybe the players played a little too safe. For the second time running I was able to watch an Arsenal game without the ‘oh no here it comes’ moments. There were a few moments that Arsenal actually put 10 man behind the ball when Stoke won it in the middle. The encouraging thing is we have players taking their defensive duties very seriously. The bad thing is that they may be prioritizing it too heavily.
Lacking the Cutting Edge
Most passes were going sideways literally. There were little diagonal balls even though players were running smartly into space. It is again the need for time to settle and gel but as an Arsenal fan you can wonder for how long more this can go on. Passes were not misplaced this time unlike against Sunderland but everything was done too safely.
Individually, the players played well bar Gervinho who was made to start on an unnatural flank. Cazorla stood out again with his precise passes. He picked out long passes with near dead-eyed accuracy and his ability to get past one or two was wonderful. Yet, he needs to start making passes that really count. Passes that open a defense and allow a striker to be well placed to score.
Giroud is a good CF, he was consistently anticipating his team mates making his off the ball runs perfect but his team mates were not actively looking out for him. He may not be a RVP yet but he’s definitely not showing Chamakhness. He has been good in the air and has brought high balls down effectively. Here’s hoping he gets better service and that his team mates put the same effort searching for him as they did for last season’s talisman.
Podolski was rampant in the first half but faded in the second. Might still be fitness issues as both he and Carzola were taken off midway. He doesn’t seem to be a flank hugger and looks to prefer to play in the hole. Most of his best performance were from a withdrawn striker’s position. He needs to shoot a lot more. Taking that one extra touch often meant he wasted a great position he had placed himself in. If he doesn’t know when to switch from creating to finishing he’ll turn a Gervinho.
Talking about forehead, Gervinho did what he usually does. Over do things. Dribble past 2-3 and not look up to pass intelligently. Usually ends up getting fouled or dribbling out of the pitch. His defense is that he was played on the right which is unnatural for him. If he wants to be better than Pires, he has to start being more intelligent. Played poorly.
Conclusion
A draw against Sunderland at home and Stoke away are traditionally not poor results but the team needs a win to silence mounting critics and doom-sayers. We started off last season worse. A goalless draw and a loss without scoring one in the first few games.
This season we look assured needing just the final click. Last year, it was trying to replace an entire engine.
I’m pretty sure we won’t be signing a defensive midfielder at this rate but I am very worried what would happen when Arteta needs a break. Even if Arteta keeps chugging the entire season, he wouldn’t have trained a proper understudy. Diaby may be an option. Keeping him leashed near the back meant he ran less and kept himself injury free for 2 games. But it’s still early days yet.
At the moment, the knee jerk reaction is to buy a creative center midfielder to partner Cazorla (replacing Diaby) or a new CF. The second option is stupid if we’ve to buy a foreign player. Our CF is fine he just needs his team mates to find him. A new CF would also need more than 2 games to settle into the team and English football.
Arsenal needs to challenge for trophies and staying this way for the entire season is not an option. But fans must be realistic. We have a brand new team here. They will need time. I will worry gravely if the same continues for 2 months.
We are paying for 7 seasons of building half-way-there teams and losing top players. But this is the beginning of a change in direction and I am willing to wait.
If you want to learn patience and deal with plenty of negativity – be an Arsenal fan, it’s great training for mental strength or should we call it endurance.
Ratings
Well these are very subjective and I’m giving this a shot here.
| GK | V. Mannone | 6.5 | Safe hands when called on. Didn’t have much to do. |
| RB | C. Jenkinson | 6.5 | Kept the right flank safe. Stoke didn’t have much product thanks to his industry. |
| CB | P. Mertesacker | 7 | Rock solid. Marshalled Crouch well. |
| CB | T. Vermaelen | 7 | Some good tackles. Did his job well. |
| LB | K. Gibbs | 7 | Good support play upfront. Great tackles when Stoke came mostly down the left. |
| CM | M. Arteta | 8 | Man of the match. Neutralized Stoke. Key tackles and good distribution. |
| CM | A. Diaby | 6 | Did his job. Great physically on defense but poor in the final third. |
| AM | S. Cazorla | 6.5 | Inch perfect passes but no final balls. Survived Stoke’s bullying tactics. |
| RF | Gervinho | 4 | Plenty of dribbling but no product. Not playing intelligently. Not linking well. |
| CF | O. Giroud | 6 | Smart runs. Good knockdowns. Should have found Ramsey instead of taking a long range effort that went close. |
| LF | Podolski | 6 | Power and pace but took too many touches. Preferred to stay in the middle and left Gibbs alone at the left. |
| SUB | T. Walcott | 6 | Added width and had 1 good run with no product. |
| SUB | A. Chamberlain | 6 | Same as Walcott. |
| SUB | A. Ramsey | 6 | Skewed one shot wide. Made a good run that Giroud did not pick out. |