Morning all. Monday night football really messes up the week, doesn’t it? Today feels like a Tuesday to me and instead it’s Wednesday. The week is half over, and I’ve only got three-quarters of the stuff done that I need to get done, with less that a quarter of the time required to complete it all. Stupid fractions.
Some interesting stuff this morning from Per Mertesacker on the unpredictability of our attack at the moment. The BFG says:
We are so unpredictable in what we are doing, even for me at the back sometimes it looks a bit weird! Sometimes we lose balance but sometimes it is really good so we have to keep going and focus on our game, especially defensively.
I don’t know if it’s necessarily unpredictable, but it’s interesting in that it has changed considerably from this time 12 months ago. Having Alexis and Ramsey wide means their runs from those positions can open up defences, and when you have two exemplary passers of the ball in Santi Cazorla and Mesut Ozil, then we have the quality to make those runs count.
Look at Ramsey against Hull the other night. As James said in yesterday’s Arsecast Extra, there’s a whiff of Freddie Ljungberg about the way he times his runs in from the right hand side, and with the technical ability he has, he’s able to make the most of those situations.
Similarly, Alexis from the left is now not as inclined to drop deep, simply because he doesn’t need to. In the early part of the season, without Ozil and with Cazorla’s role quite different, it wasn’t unusual to see him pick the ball up inside our own half and charge off towards goal with it. Now he’s on the end of things rather than being the supplier (and sometimes the finisher). He’s no longer required to be a footballing one-man band.
It’s also interesting to watch Mesut Ozil make runs in behind defences too. A number of times against Hull he broke past the full backs in wide positions, knowing that he’s got the stability of Coquelin to provide cover, but also Cazorla to keep up the creativity behind him too.
With Giroud as the most predictable part of the attack – he’s unlikely to give you something you don’t already know about – the rest of it seems like a fluid, well-oiled machine. Which is why it was interesting further to see Jack Wilshere’s contribution on Monday night. He was brought on in place of Ramsey and looked dangerous – but in a different way to the Welshman.
His driving runs and dribbling are a nightmare for defences and his work against Hull should have brought at least a goal and probably two penalties (one of which denied the goal). Add the pace of Walcott; the strange combination of Welbeck’s pace and power which looked like it was harnessed well earlier in the season but not quite so much now; one of the quickest full-backs we’ve ever had overlapping down the right, and it’s chalk and cheese compared to this time last season.
When your options to change things are Podolski and Sanogo, offering little variation from a knackered Giroud (bar the German’s thunderbolt left foot), it really doesn’t give you anywhere near the same mix in terms of movement, finishing, creativity, energy and pace that we have right now. And surely unpredictability, by its very nature, is much sought after quality. Let’s be happy we’ve got that.
In other news, Jack Wilshere says he’s happy to be back after his impressive cameo against Hull on Monday night, and he’s ready to play more:
I’m just happy to get back on the pitch and get some minutes under my belt. I feel fitter for it, I’ll train next week and hopefully get some minutes next week as well.
I think there was something of a response from Wilshere, not just to the fact he hadn’t played and that he’s a hugely enthusiastic footballer anyway. He knows that at the moment when you’re given a chance in the team, you have to take it. Such is the quality ahead of him, and the form those players are in, indifferent substitute appearances will do little to convince the manager he’s worthy of a start.
As it was he had a big impact, he looked particularly fresh and sharp – even without much playing time under his belt – and if he’s responding to the competitive environment that’s been created over the course of this season, then that’s good for us.
I understand doubts about him but they’re based primarily on his fitness, rather than his ability, so the challenge now for him is to remain fit and to really kick on as player. I don’t pay much attention to stories of a summer bid from Man City. I mean, they might try, but unless there’s something fundamentally broken behind the scenes that we don’t know about, I just can’t see us countenance any kind of move … yet.
Finally, the club have announced an FA Cup final screening at the Emirates like they did last season. Some details here, more to follow in terms of when the tickets go on sale etc.
And if you haven’t listened to yesterday’s podcast, we look back on the win against Hull, the performances of Ozil, Alexis, Cazorla etc, and discuss why President Coquelin needs all the flour he can get. You can listen here or subscribe in iTunes/Stitcher etc (links in the post).
Till tomorrow.
