Match Reation - Arsenal 3-0 West Ham

[Harland]

If we continue the way we are playing, we should be able to make a real challenge for 2nd position.

It was also refreshing to see subs being made before the 75th minute or so. I think after the start of this season, Wenger has done well to get us to where we currently are.

[Alpha]

I would love to see Aguero play with Giroud, Sanchez and Ozil.

The easy answer would be Luis Suarez . Barcelona could easily sell him to us than Man City letting Aguero join us . And Luis would be a better option than the injury prone Kun.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

Very mixed performance on the whole, the passing and movement at times was sublime and we seemed to break on them at will and looked dangerous every time we went forward. At the same time some of the passing was over confident and sloppy and we gave the ball away in the middle too often for my liking, I think Chambers especially struggled against the pace on the flanks and Ramsey was irritating the hell out of me, he's very much like Walcott given time to think his brain turns to diarroeah and actually some of his best contributions to the game were made under pressure.
Walcott though, rustier than my bike that's been in my dads garage for twenty years on the evidence of yesterday I don't think anyone can fault Wenger for not playing him more often (although you could reverse that on its head and say he was that rusty because Wenger hasn't been playing him).
Mertesacker worrying at times but Koscielny was magnificent, he really is a top defender tidy, good timing, doesn't panic.
Giroud lovely finish for the goal, overall hard working performance.
West Ham were well organised first half and caused us concern on the break but seemed to give in to fatigue fifteen minutes into the second half (they've had ten days break and a holiday in Dubai). Only player that remotely impressed me for them was Diafra Sakho (actually think he would be a good signing for us)

[Alpha]

In the opening 10 minutes had I seen Bergkamp do what Giroud did I'd have been creaming myself. It was a real complete performance.

On current form he'd be behind few though I believe there are a handful of forwards in the prem better than him. He seems to have genuinely stepped his game up.



Coquelin is getting a lot of credit which does make me cast my mind back to January with those who were suggesting we should dilly dally with a contract and wait till the summer. I wonder if that view has been revised.....

Had Wenger signed a player in Janaury who came in and performed like Coquelin he would be getting some high praise. Delighted for the fella Coq and us of course.

We don't need to sign any DM atm . Coq is doing so well as you point out but he is been doing so quite a while ago and was not noticed . Chambers can also play there . We just need to start giving him some games in the middle . The old folks like Flamini and Arteta can still give us one or two years before we dump them to the bin . The young Kristian Beliek is showing some good signs to put the Coq on his toes .

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

We clearly do need a defensive midfielder, don't get me wrong Coquelin has been fantastic but when it comes down to it he isn't of the level we need to be challenging on all fronts, technically not good enough.
He is a good squad player and if we had a manager willing to rotate he'd be a great asset for us but we need to be ruthless and get someone who is world class in that position, something I'm afraid Coquelin will never be.

[Alpha]

We clearly do need a defensive midfielder, don't get me wrong Coquelin has been fantastic but when it comes down to it he isn't of the level we need to be challenging on all fronts, technically not good enough.
He is a good squad player and if we had a manager willing to rotate he'd be a great asset for us but we need to be ruthless and get someone who is world class in that position, something I'm afraid Coquelin will never be.

Fans always take their players for granted . I know Coquelin is still at the beginning of his career . But he is at the level we should consider him already . Had he been playing for another team , we could have been saying why don't we bid for him . I have been watching quite regularly the likes of Bender , Kedhira, Scheiderlin, I can't see what they can offer more than Coquelin in terms of breaking the opponents play . They may have more experience than him and that's down to number of games played . While I'm not against getting one of them , especially Scheiderlin , but the world class tag is not as important as performance in that position.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

Coquelin gets good performances from hard work, however he doesn't have the eye for a tackle or interception like people who are better than him do, he can panic and be a bit rash. Also when you play for a club like Arsenal it's not enough to be someone like Matic who is just a wall, you need to be able to be the pivot between defence and attack.
With Schneiderlin it's not just how good he is at breaking up play, it's the quality of his passing game and his tactical forethought

[Power n Glory]

Fans always take their players for granted . I know Coquelin is still at the beginning of his career . But he is at the level we should consider him already . Had he been playing for another team , we could have been saying why don't we bid for him . I have been watching quite regularly the likes of Bender , Kedhira, Scheiderlin, I can't see what they can offer more than Coquelin in terms of breaking the opponents play . They may have more experience than him and that's down to number of games played . While I'm not against getting one of them , especially Scheiderlin , but the world class tag is not as important as performance in that position.

It makes no sense to say we need better when Coquelin is outperforming his Prem rivals. Multi million price tags can blind some folks. Just look at the performances we're getting right in front of your eyes.

[Power n Glory]

Theo had a rusty game and he missed a few chances although the first should have been a penalty. But the goals will come as long as he keeps making the right moved. It's an underrated skill in football. Just think about the wingers we have that struggle to get one chance on goal all game.

[Niall_Quinn]

Coquelin gets good performances from hard work, however he doesn't have the eye for a tackle or interception like people who are better than him do, he can panic and be a bit rash. Also when you play for a club like Arsenal it's not enough to be someone like Matic who is just a wall, you need to be able to be the pivot between defence and attack.
With Schneiderlin it's not just how good he is at breaking up play, it's the quality of his passing game and his tactical forethought

These comparisons between Coquelin and Matic are plain wrong. Matic is not a wall, he's not even a defensive midfielder. Coquelin (so far) is a much (not just a little, but much) better than Matic in the defensive midfield role. However Matic is twice the player offensively. Statistical comparisons have been doing the rounds lately but they compared apples to oranges and missed out some crucial numbers. Take a look.

http://www.squawka.com/comparison-ma...ellow_cards#90

Defensively Coquelin leads the way in EVERY category. Every single one. Offensively and in terms of distribution he's nowhere. However, because we are overloaded with attacking talent Coquelin is the perfect addition to our team. If we bought Matic tomorrow and played him in Coquelin's role we'd be worse. Same would be true of Schneiderlin.

If Coquelin can stay at this level then we probably can't do better no matter how much we are prepared to spend and there would be no guarantees with a new signing anyway, there's no guarantee a newcomer could give us any more than we already have. Which leaves us in a tough position because it's still not smart to rely on a single player for the role considering we are injury specialists. Bring in an expensive alternative and it would be hard to leave him on the bench as cover. Ideally Beliek works out as he could then be introduced as cover without all the fuss and media that goes along with a star player stuck in the back up role.

Koscielny is another important factor. When he's fit I believe there'n no better CB in the PL and his pace and awareness behind Coquelin gives a great balance and must give both players great confidence too. Kos was imperious yesterday and if Kompany or Terry had put in a performance like that the media would have abandoned sleep and they'd be into day 2 of ranting and raving.