Is it just me, or do you see a waltz going on here?On Saturday evening, we got to see the Walcott and Eboue that we're used to seeing. No more of this end product nonsense that has become of them lately. It was a welcome return to good old fashioned wastefulness. Granted Walcott set up the goal (although annoying in terms of Fantasy Football, the assist went to Adebayor, who more got in the way of the ball than passed it), but He should have done so much more with the good possession he got.
Fabregas had yet another less than convincing game, but he delivered two exquisite balls into the path of Walcott, only for the young whippet to either miscontrol the ball or choose the wrong option. Eboue, facing one of the leagues worst defenders, managed to do sod all in the entire match. I mean if you can't give Paul McShane much trouble, who can you give trouble to?
By the last half an hour of the game, Arsenal had to resort to crossing the ball into the box time and time again. With only Adebayor acting as a real arial threat, this was not the way for Arsenal to get back into the game. In fact it rarely ever is.
This wasn't quite down there with the performance against Fulham, but in some ways it was worse, because this was a game Arsenal should have won comfortably. Of all the teams in the big 4, Arsenal need to pick up as much points as possible from everyone outside the big 4, because I think they will struggle to get much from their clashes against United, Chelsea and Liverpool.
I expect Wenger to make some changes up front, possibly bringing in Vela instead of Walcott, and maybe introducing Nasri if he be fit. Both these switches would significantly improve the Arsenal first team in my opinion, and despite their good starts, I think the less Arsenal fans see of Walcott and Eboue the better. Walcott will always be a threat, but I think the bench is actually where he is most threatening for now. Bring him on after 60 or 70 minutes and he will run tired defenders ragged. The bench is also where Eboue is most threatening to the opposition, provided you don't bring him on at all.
This may sound like a knee-jerk reaction to an overall profligate performance, but out of 6 league games, Arsenal half been abject in 2 of them. With their kind fixture list, Arsenal should really be on maybe 16 points, if not the full 18. To make amends, the Gunners will need to first of all beat Porto (which I think they will do quite comfortably, though I only say that as a pure hunch), and also do better than expected against the big 4 in later games. In order to do these things however, decent players need to be replaced with better ones. Vela is of course unproven in the league, but he needs to be given minutes to show what he's capable of. And Nasri needs to stop getting injured, because he's without doubt Arsenal's most accomplished winger that isn't suffering from a long term injury (see Rosicky).
I'd like to say well done to Hull, but when you admit that your game plan is to get half a dozen corners and free kicks, I find it hard to applaud that style. Still though, a win is a win, so who am I to judge a team for doing so by whatever means necessary? Well, I'm a person who likes watching good football, that's who (I bet you thought that question was rhetorical, didn't you?).
Fabregas had yet another less than convincing game, but he delivered two exquisite balls into the path of Walcott, only for the young whippet to either miscontrol the ball or choose the wrong option. Eboue, facing one of the leagues worst defenders, managed to do sod all in the entire match. I mean if you can't give Paul McShane much trouble, who can you give trouble to?
By the last half an hour of the game, Arsenal had to resort to crossing the ball into the box time and time again. With only Adebayor acting as a real arial threat, this was not the way for Arsenal to get back into the game. In fact it rarely ever is.
This wasn't quite down there with the performance against Fulham, but in some ways it was worse, because this was a game Arsenal should have won comfortably. Of all the teams in the big 4, Arsenal need to pick up as much points as possible from everyone outside the big 4, because I think they will struggle to get much from their clashes against United, Chelsea and Liverpool.
I expect Wenger to make some changes up front, possibly bringing in Vela instead of Walcott, and maybe introducing Nasri if he be fit. Both these switches would significantly improve the Arsenal first team in my opinion, and despite their good starts, I think the less Arsenal fans see of Walcott and Eboue the better. Walcott will always be a threat, but I think the bench is actually where he is most threatening for now. Bring him on after 60 or 70 minutes and he will run tired defenders ragged. The bench is also where Eboue is most threatening to the opposition, provided you don't bring him on at all.
This may sound like a knee-jerk reaction to an overall profligate performance, but out of 6 league games, Arsenal half been abject in 2 of them. With their kind fixture list, Arsenal should really be on maybe 16 points, if not the full 18. To make amends, the Gunners will need to first of all beat Porto (which I think they will do quite comfortably, though I only say that as a pure hunch), and also do better than expected against the big 4 in later games. In order to do these things however, decent players need to be replaced with better ones. Vela is of course unproven in the league, but he needs to be given minutes to show what he's capable of. And Nasri needs to stop getting injured, because he's without doubt Arsenal's most accomplished winger that isn't suffering from a long term injury (see Rosicky).
I'd like to say well done to Hull, but when you admit that your game plan is to get half a dozen corners and free kicks, I find it hard to applaud that style. Still though, a win is a win, so who am I to judge a team for doing so by whatever means necessary? Well, I'm a person who likes watching good football, that's who (I bet you thought that question was rhetorical, didn't you?).
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