Where to now for Arsenal?

[gunsofashburtongrove]

I think last week and some of the other big results have been taken out of context. I don't think teams come out thinking they will attack and out score the other team. Most of these scores have come, when the big teams which are not afraid to play, has been pitted against each other some of these teams Chelsea, Manure and us are not defensively that solid nor organised. We will still get teams coming to Emirates trying to keep shape and attack us on the counter which will make games less direct and slow, that said i think we will cope much better than in the recent past as our counter attacking has improved

[IBK]

I think last week and some of the other big results have been taken out of context. I don't think teams come out thinking they will attack and out score the other team. Most of these scores have come, when the big teams which are not afraid to play, has been pitted against each other some of these teams Chelsea, Manure and us are not defensively that solid nor organised. We will still get teams coming to Emirates trying to keep shape and attack us on the counter which will make games less direct and slow, that said i think we will cope much better than in the recent past as our counter attacking has improved

Yes - that's how I kind of see it. What worries me a little is that I feel the majority of teams we play will sit very deep, not be ambitious going forwards and basically seek to rely on set pieces - that have been shown to be pretty effective against us. They will be the ones wanting to counter attack, not us, and when the tempo drops and it becomes more of a war of attrition, will we be effective enough going forwards without space; without being great at set pieces ourselves and with little room to operate in?

As welcome as our recent rennaisance is, this is still a concern, IMO.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

I guess the assurance to that concern is that so far we have won four out of five at home, some of those just about eeked out but wins nonetheless - that is where teams are more likely to try and be stoic, shall we say. Not winning at home consistently enough last season was one of our major problems.

The teams you mention might want to counter-attack but we can of course counter-attack to that(!) and hopefully more effectively than we have been able to do in recent seasons, especially as logically counter-attacking a counter-attack should mean more space. And at least we now know we have the variation we might not have had previously.

[gunsofashburtongrove]

Yes - that's how I kind of see it. What worries me a little is that I feel the majority of teams we play will sit very deep, not be ambitious going forwards and basically seek to rely on set pieces - that have been shown to be pretty effective against us. They will be the ones wanting to counter attack, not us, and when the tempo drops and it becomes more of a war of attrition, will we be effective enough going forwards without space; without being great at set pieces ourselves and with little room to operate in?

As welcome as our recent rennaisance is, this is still a concern, IMO.

The weakness at defending set pieces is a valid concern. Despite the fact that our defensive game will improve this could remain a weakness. I don't think the strategy of relying on set pieces to score against us and then shutting shop at the other end is going to work that effectively against us this time around. Our counter attacking more effective and like Maccy pointed out we are quite capable of countering the counter attack. If we can be organised as a team(as displayed from the Chelsea game last season) and then mix up possession and directness like we are doing now we should be fine. I think its possible

[IBK]

Good replies - and last nights's match was very interesting as a marker. I'd far rather have a draw with a clean sheet than otherwise - and the fact that Marseille were many times better than last time round, yet their clear cut chances were restricted has to be a good sign - as they say titles are won on defence, not attacking play.

But it was also something of a reality check after Saturday - because for me it showed that Chelsea flattered us as an attacking force. That said - I agree with Syn that there's reason to be optimistic that Ramsey, Gervinho and Song can make a Nasri-style step up. And for once I think that fatigue (in terms of mental fatigue at least) was a valid excuse given that getting over our awful start to the season has to have taken a toll.