Ozil at the moment is playing almost as incompetently as Arshavin at his worst. It's as simple as that. Basic passes going astray, terrible touches, pushed off the ball. No-one here is talking about his defensive duties. His basic game isn't even there.
You're wrong here N_Q. If he pasted 'Monreal' on the back of his shirt, you'd instantly notice every one of his many current deficiencies.
And I'm obviously the prototypical, knee-jerking, Daily Mail-endorsing, Ozil-hating bastard, aren't I?
If he played behind Welbeck today, Wilshere wouldn't have been starting and he was on his A game today.Originally Posted by Niall_Quinn
If we're not going to get that big, black, powerful, nasty DM, then we should at least be playing a footballer there. Flamini offers nothing. And Arteta is often too limited to contribute either way. By playing someone like Rosicky there, it would improve our fluency tenfold and it wouldn't make any difference defensively either. The improvement to our midfield control and attacking play would make up for any possible defensive deficiencies anyway.
Wenger's inflexibility in these situations is his worst trait. He simply must stick with Arteta or Flamini.
On the man to man vs zonal....I was once an avid man to man fan but over the years the evidence has been inconclusive. All I remain concerned about is that regardless of the system, two players (preferably the full backs) are on the post....and I mean ON it, or at least close enough to touch the post with a part of your anatomy whatever that may be. If you are not that close to it, you are making some kind of disparate wall on the goal line which is futile, or just getting in the way of the goal keeper whilst opponents are running around unmarked.
Flamini did not start on the post for the second goal and Sneezy started far too forward. The result was both of them back peddling before the ball had even begun to be directed goalwards and neither of their execution in stopping it being effective enough.
At least 2 goals this season have been conceded simply because we haven't taken the cover on the posts seriously enough. For all the psychoanalysis about why we have not gelled that is one relatively easy thing to correct imo.
I am disappointed by the context of the result, i think after dropping points against both Everton and Leicester i think we needed to win today, six points between us and Chelsea is a massive gulf to have after just four games.
I don't agree that the side put out today was a negative one, i think Wenger has the failing of playing what he thinks is his best players rather than playing a side best placed to beat a particular opponent. Playing Ozil left was a big factor, but the fact remains that the guy is either lazy or seriously lacking in confidence. I don't think it helps to shoe horn him in on the left just so everything fits into your desired formation, but where as Cazorla i do literally believe cannot play wide left i think Ozil has it in him to do that, i think there is something lack in him in terms of either drive or confidence. It's not like he's performing well for Germany and it's just Wenger's obstinancy that is failing to get the best out of him....there's something not right in the mind of the player.
Monreal is just someone who cannot be trusted against the big sides, he has neither the pace or the skill to do anything to aid us against quick opponents....
There have been a lot of changes across the back four in such a short space of time, so instead of the settled solidity we had last season we have very disjointed performances....had this game been played at the same time last season we would have gone on to win all three points....i'm sure of it.
I agree, i also think we are too passive and ball watching on crosses and set pieces....we need to be attacking the ball more, the full backs need to be staying back and preventing crosses from coming in, and one of ramsey and wilshere near the clear the ball to prevent the second ball from coming in.
In general, I think we're too passive and ball watch even in normal play. I don't get why we allow teams to have so much space when defending deep. When we don't pressure the ball carrier, we're at their mercy and just have to hope they don't deliver the right pass. It's really bad. Sanchez is the only guy that really puts pressure on defenders and it's probably because he's so used to playing with Barca.
I didn't have too much trouble with Wenger's line up though I'd agree Ozil is not best used on the left. No point in even looking at the gap between us and the chavs. We will never win the league because we will never score the most goals. To win the league that is pretty much what you have to do these days, so dilly dallying with our forward options for years on end equates to not seriously being prepared for winning a league.
It is sickening to see Costa do even better than I anticipated too and at the behest of Fabregas and Mourinho to induce the vomit even further. 7 goals in 4 games. I would act surprised by his flurry of goals but we were here discussing his goal tally being level with Conaldo & Messi last season so I'm not sure there can be too much alarm that he has scored with regularity so far.
I usually try to avoid using basketball to convey a point but I will this time (the urge is always there for me).
I think you basically have to play a man to man / zonal composite.... or a half court/pitch press. When the opposition enter your half you then squeeze the space because your lines never get too far from each other and the space is easily recovered.
If you do that right the way across the pitch before they eneter your half you drag your formation and lines too far apart and the opposition finds space between your lines. It is also more tiring!
That said, when Sanchez closes down 2-3 of the closest team mates to him need to follow suit lest we render his efforts null and void....but he will need to do it selectively as we don't employ the same system as Barca. He can do all the tracking back he likes though!
I usually try to avoid using basketball to convey a point but I will this time (the urge is always there for me).
I think you basically have to play a man to man / zonal composite.... or a half court/pitch press. When the opposition enter your half you then squeeze the space because your lines never get too far from each other and the space is easily recovered.
If you do that right the way across the pitch before they eneter your half you drag your formation and lines too far apart and the opposition finds space between your lines. It is also more tiring!
That said, when Sanchez closes down 2-3 of the closest team mates to him need to follow suit lest we render his efforts null and void....but he will need to do it selectively as we don't employ the same system as Barca. He can do all the tracking back he likes though!I'm all for that analogy. Funny enough, that's what I was thinking during our game. It looks like a half court press instead of full court but we don't actually put pressure on our opponents even when they're in our half. They're given just as much as space in our own half. We just allowed them to pick out passes and they were uncontested by our players. Not even an attempt to throw the passer off with a challenge or make the angle more difficult. I'm talking key passes here where their midfield is looking to put a striker through on goal. Hardly any pressure. It's all on the defenders to try and stop or mark the runner.
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