WUMOriginally Posted by Steve French
WUM
Für eure Sicherheit
I haven't been on goonies web for long but I agree that what is essentially perfectionism by Zim is occasionally castigated and seen as him being needlessly callous. Perfectionism and it's place is of course its own debate too.
He isn't one to fail to mention mistakes we make, which rubs a few up the wrong way, but I do think the 1-2 Benteke chances is a fair point to make, although the whistle may have gone for one.
I have often heard that said and usually by our own fans and I have to say it is not very hard to believe either.
I don't actually get to many games myself as I am shamefully a pauper (though there has never been a time in my life when I could consistently afford it). The observation of players off the ball is generally one of the biggest disparities between football as viewed via the TV to football as a spectacle from within the stadium...... to my mind.
I remember years ago seeing Muamba and Kerrea Gilbert at Highbury for the first time and really thought that both were much better live than on tv, though both of their careers ultimately ended up away from the club.
I think we've been a tad bit harsh in regards to how bad we were against Villa. I think we were certainly in second gear but I didn't think Ozil, or Cazorla in particular were as bad as we're saying and it was lovely to see another decent performance from Jack. Putting some gloss on the scoreline or even killing opponents I sometimes feel is probably down to our lack of a flat track bully or even a consistently ruthless presence in attack that we have seemingly always had in the past. I know we have come back to this a lot in recent weeks but I do think it is probably the missing piece.
We do tend to sit a little deep late in games too, although clearly it is a tactic to soak up pressure and remain compact. As we have annoyingly experienced enough of ourselves it makes the space in which the opponents have to exploit so narrow, that if they don't trip over the defending pokeyout feet of our players, they start tripping over themselves or simply resort to playing percentages launching it into an ostensibly dangerous area only for Mertesacker to head it away without even jumping.
I think the key to repelling this a little is for Ozil top take a central position just ahead of the 2 holding midfielders from deep. He can then pick a pass to anyone in space or preferably to Gnabry, Cazorla close to the half way line, both of whom have the tricks, speed and quick feet to beat a player and the goalkeeper on a fast break.
It only works if Gnabry/Cazorla/whoever are on their bike as soon as somebody like Mertesacker/Arteta/Flamini nicks the ball away, so by the time he receives it, he's lost his marker and covered a load of ground.
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