Swansea – Arsenal on SNF: Flamini the Heatsink, Redknapp the Fair and Carragher the Sh*t Gary Neville

Dominic Sanchez-Cabello

In recent games, Flamini’s presence has allowed us to be unconcerned about having the ball. Previously, the idea of our opponents having prolonged possession could terrify us, we now tolerate it, depending on which opponent it is and how effectively they can use it.

This tendency predates Flamini and some will have noticed it being a gradual development post-Cesc. But Flamini has made it an option we can turn to more readily.

Stoke maintained possession for a lot of the 2nd half last week, but I doubt many were too concerned. It was amusing that They who fear the ball, now staggered about with it, pondering what one does when they have it. But it didn’t evoke the fear Mark Hughes alluded to in his interview.

Against Tottenham a similar lack of fear was present. We were content to let them do their thing provided they kept Chadli and Capoue on the pitch. Naturally it got more anxious toward the end and our tactics might have differed had they had Eriksen and Lamela at that time.

A lot has been made of Flamini’s physical industry, leaving his general mannerisms to go unnoticed.

If you get a chance, stop and watch him for a few minutes, it’s totally worth it. He’ll point forcefully at his opponents! He’ll make brilliant gestures and if you’re really lucky, you will detect that abrupt change in him, meaning the next chance he gets, he’ll run 20 yards to make a slide tackle.

Flamini fulfils that curious role in a team, where he releases his teammates by absorbing the heat around them. Often the heat he creates. Some of you will have played with similar nutcases and will appreciate the odd benefits they offer. He’s that guy who is constantly irritating the opposition – whittling away at their focus with incessant chatter. It doesn’t particularly matter what he says, just he says it with such persistence; both teams can’t help but be affected.

It takes an odd sort to fulfil the niche: rarely an attacking player, but one who’s game is uncomplicated. The player has to be central, intelligent and utterly unafraid of antagonising a whole other team. Cesc flourished alongside him in 07/08 and I hope Wilshere will do the same this year.

Jack, Let Mathieu handle your conflicts, he knows what he is doing…

I’m torn on which midfielder is best to approach Swansea’s game. Flamini is excellent out of possession, and ‘relishes’ everything we associate with a traditional defensive mid. But Arteta is more methodical with an ability to control the game. Who is more suited to playing Swansea? I’d be interested to hear your opinions on that…

Beating Swansea would have a pleasing symmetry to it. People may recall it being the first game after our win in Munich and the beginning of an upward spiral continuing to this day. It is a hard place to go and they are a talented bunch that tends to dominate at home.

The game will be shown on SNF tonight, a new thing with many perks – the live audience being a personal highlight. Because as far as I can see, there is nothing cringe worthy in a mass of generics applauding Jamie Redknapp’s every word. Especially with crackers such as “that’s not fair, to be fair…”

On a positive note, we’ll have the pleasure of Gary Neville’s insight (An intelligent ex-footballer treating his new career as a real job). Shouldn’t really be a thing worth acknowledging, but one gets the impression most of them just… turn up.

Jamie Carragher? Well, he’s just a shit Gary Neville… in my opinion, in fairness, to be fair…

One has to be fair.

Dom

P.S. – Unchanged team from Stoke I expect. Rosicky is a few days short. Ramsey and Flamini are expected to overcome niggles. No new injuries from Wednesday – Arteta was just suffering cramp.

93 Replies to “Swansea – Arsenal on SNF: Flamini the Heatsink, Redknapp the Fair and Carragher the Sh*t Gary Neville”

  1. A good article on the new role of Flamini. In fact it is true to say that we need an enforcer of sort to just kick people when they are not looking. In a manner to say that we play cheeky so better be watching your back. An intent just to throw your opponent’s focuses. Good play Flamini. Just don’t get injured. GoGunners4Eva

  2. Flamini vs Arteta… hm. It is different game than against Stoke. To Stoke you can give ball, and they hardly will know what to do with it, so Flamini was perfect to help them wandering “what now”. Swansea know, they sure know, what to do with ball when they have it, so we are the ones who have to have ball all the time and try to find path to goal. I would go for Arteta till we make solid difference in goals, and than to bring Flamini just to intimidate Swansea while trying to find path to Michu (obviously my comment confirm opinion that there is no male in country which have, at least, one field enough to play football, who don’t think he can be football strategist).

  3. You are right about Arteta being more methodical, yet I feel Flamini is more forceful which makes him more suitable for the Swansea game, you need a forceful player to beat any team that plays like Arsenal and Swansea plays like Arsenal.

  4. 17 years of Arsene Wenger.. 17 years of great success on and off the pitch. There is no one like him. One Arsene Wenger

  5. I think Flamini could scareShelvey so muchthat hishairwouldfall out…oh wait. So glad you mentioned Neville and Carragher, totally agree Neville is a good pundit IMO but Carragher drives me round the bend. It was when he started saying ‘wemay all havegot Arsenal wrong after the Villa game’! What! I didn’t …that was you Carragher you numbskull!You jumped to conclusions and now we are all complicit in your short sighted opinions? He strikes me as one of those guys who thinks understanding footbal is about knowing all the stats but not performing any meaningful analysis of why and what they mean, he just regurgitates things that happened. Rant over… time for what I expect to be one of the best games of the season. COYG!

  6. @ DSB – I just love Flamini’s aggression and in your face attitude . He exudes an ,” Oh yeah ? You and whose army ?” threatening demeanour which I’m sure is more than discomforting to the opposing player .
    We haven’t had someone like that since Vieira, and Kevin Richardson in earlier times .
    And as you have observed , he is very vocal and gees up the rest. Something else we were missing .

  7. Swansea are a very decent outfit, capable of beating anyone.

    If we consider possession to be the key today then Arteta must play, if fit. Problem is Flamini has fitted in so well to this team.

    Without Theo Walcott Arsenal will need to shuffle the pack. Gnabry looked Gnackered after Wednesdays exploits and I’m not sure Wenger trusts Miyachi to start, therefore is it possible both Flamini and Arteta could start?

    Anyhow, a case can be made that both teams will cancel each other out today so I’ll go for a draw 0-0 or 1-1.

  8. great article !

    i don’t believe Arteta will be playing after only playing his 1st full game on Wednesday, and with Gnabry playing 120 minutes he could be rested for this game, if that happens we could see Monreal playing in his place.

    i hope our players take this game very seriously, swansea might not be on their best form but they’ve already shown us what they’re capable of last year…

  9. As for Jamie Carragher.

    In the past Mr Carragher has been complimentary about Arsenal and I notice he has also written a good article in his column in the D Mail.

    I just think when working for Sly sports you have to tow the party and follow the agenda (bash Arsenal) or else you’re out the door.

    Personally I have nothing against Jamie Carragher.

  10. Arsenal 13,

    How dare you count our victory over WBA a win? How dare you? When did winning by penalty start counting as victory? Ah, just kidding! I join you in looking forward to the 12th away victory for our darling team.

    On Flamini, despite my initial reaction to the news of his potential signing, I am really delighted that we now have him. Merely thinking about what he does to our opponents just makes smile that evil smile. Flamini is the type of player that you detest in the opposition team. A kind of attack dog but a very effective one.

    Dominic is absolutely right, Jack should just let those who kick him answer to the Flamster. He is experienced at doling out comeuppance.

  11. …….but to be fair JC was very supportive of Arsene and Arsenal in today’s Mail. Re Flamini’s body language. He always was like that and it get’s right up opponents noses. I don’t usually get involved in team selection, but for today’s match we could play both him and Arteta in a five man midfield as Swansea are likely to have the ball for most of the game otherwise.

  12. @ bootoomee – along the lines of your opening sentence …

    Particular Atheist

    When I told the people of Northern Ireland that I was an atheist, a woman in the audience stood up and said, “Yes, but is it the God of the Catholics or the God of the Protestants in whom you don’t believe?”

    — Quentin Crisp

  13. I would put Özil up front today with Giroud and then play Arteta and Flamini together in midfield. Let Gnabry have a rest as he looked exhausted on Wednesday night.

    Özil can play on the right side of attack and could be very dangerous out there. In fact he wanders around the pitch and he can produce nice crosses that only needs a little nod from the striker to put it in goal.

  14. the spuds and Chelsea draw, maybe the best result for us. A win now would take us 2 points clear in the table. a draw could see a lot of teams end up with 13 points

  15. @Walter, why would you put Ozil up front? We don’t play with two strikers. Ozil is best in midfield, playing as advanced as possible certainly so if that’s what you mean then I agree.

    Flamini has a slight shoulder problem apparently but he’ll probably play. Slight doubt with Ramsey too.

  16. Rupert Coock,
    If we want to keep our shape he can play right attacking but in the style Cazorla plays left attack when he did a few times meaning he still would be drifting in to all kinds of positions.
    I only would do this because without Podolski, The Ox, Theo, Santi, all our wide options seems to have gone away.

  17. All the results so far today are in our favour COYG lets have a win then we will be ahead of Spurs on points!

  18. I think The ref has had a good first half, one wrong offside but little else obviously amiss. We need to be sharper in the second half. Commentators on my stream harping on about Szcz being lucke when he shepherded the ball out of play then show a replay clearly showing the ball out of play and still going on about it. Pill..ks.

  19. THE MACHINE KEEPS ON ROLLING!!!
    GET IN COYG!!

    Gnabry with a well taken goal and Ramsey…what more can you say. Well I will try to say something when I stopped jumping around in joy

  20. Rambo motm again, made Michael Owen look the fckwit he is.. Fantastic if nervy at the end, where did the ref get all that injury time from.? Jack took another kicking. But a great day, other results went for us and we sit pretty. And just look at who we have to come back! Arsene Wenger KBE, time to sign. Believe.

  21. at Ray. I had that problem. I was in a panick even switched comps till I realised it was the down load. took an hour to get it back but worth it.

  22. at colario:
    I was watching on the telly, NBC national show for all of the US of A. NBC and sister station are not as good as FOX, but they have recognized that Arsenal draws more watchers because the average neutral American viewer can tell that Arsenal play proper “soccer” and that others are crap at it. When Arsenal were dominant, it looked like men versus boys (rhymes with Moyes)

  23. Another good win and a valuable three points.

    This was a tough match, Swansea are a good outfit – other teams will go there and drop points, but today was a very satisfying win when some other teams fell by the wayside.

    Well done guys!

  24. at robl,
    Manure fans: Moyes out, RVP crap, buy Bendtner
    Man$itty fans: Nasri crap, Pellegrini clueless, bring back SGE

  25. great result and performance under pressure today. Be interested to hear what the AAA have to say tonight? Our squad is denuded by injuries but Wenger has them playing as a tight unit. With Santi, Theo, Podolski, Diaby, Ox, Rosicky and Sanogo all to return…Best sequence of away results since we last won the league btw 🙂

  26. Mandy,
    I think they stuck to the 30 sec per player change, and rounded it up from 3:01 to an even 4:00; fuzzy math.
    ref did not give penalties when Swansea defender got ball-to-hand or against Flamini; fair.

  27. Gnarly was excellent again really grew into the role as the first half progressed and was immense in the second half. The exuberance of youth. Absolutely knackered mid-week when he ran himself to a standstill what a recovery and another fabulous player. Theo now has a real challenge for his place which can only be good for both of them.

  28. Maybe Ray, seemed like ten minutes at the time. Always had him down as one of the better refs. Look forward to hearing what the motd pundits have to say on our current position

  29. MOTD pundits: Anthony Taylor would have produced another result; PGMOL to come with a whole slate of bad refs based on Swansea-Arsenal and Manure-Broomsters results.

  30. Good win that team. THE team. Was not even worried while watching, am so confident of our team this season, and that even with many injuries too. Can’t wait for our injured to come back, games coming fast.
    We got WBA next week, who beat Manu today(was so happy watching it), but we should cope with them.
    Keep on going forward gunners.

  31. Haha Mandy..I was just thnking the same..

    Did anyone catch the commentators in the Spurs game saying that Eriksen is ‘pound for pound’ the better purchase because Ozil cost a lot more? It’s hilarious the way they try to find ways to big up Tottenham and play down Arsenal when the facts quite clearly indicate the opposite.

    During the Arsenal game, when Arsenal went 2-0 up, the commentator (not Robson, teh other one) said Arsenal’s improvement in the second half is down to Swansea looking jaded. It must really stick in their craw that Arsenal are on top (despite a ref assisted Villa result)

    Speaking of refs, they’ve seemed more fair now 2 weeks in a row. You actually had ManU getting cards when deserved, and not being gifted a late penalty despite asking for it. The ref didn’t give penalty against us. And while I didn’t think Torres deserved a second yellow, he could arguably have had a straight red earlier.

  32. Gnabry was superb in defence and direct in his running. Cold finish – it doesn’t matter to him if it is U-21 or EPL, just bury it. Great player to become. Maybe not at his best @WBA, but today he was really confident. I guess we will jump around in joy for his first EPL goal.
    Ramsey become real Rambo. What a predator. How cool was that cut in to send the defender out of the way? Most takles(7) on the pitch, 4 interceptions, 3 quality key passes, good assist within. Match winner once again.
    Ozil was marked of of the game, but the tactical change to move him to wing made the gates open when Swansea pressing faded. Great move form Arsene.
    We are top of the league, probably for many weeks coming.

  33. Really good game, already heard a lot of people saying the first half was bad because it was tactical, both sides pressing and largely deadlocked in midfield. Personally I thought it was enthralling.

    The longer it went on, the more you could see us getting into the game. I’d echo that Swansea are a very decent side, their goal was enough to show that, something that good was the only way to break us down, and made the last 10 minutes or so…..interesting.

    There is something Graham-like about the way we are getting a lead then sitting back and daring opponents to do something about it — of course we get the great attacking stuff as well.

    12 away wins,
    9 in a row in all competitions
    5 in a row in the league.

    Just keep doing whatever it is we are doing right.

    @Mandy — probably very little. I looked at the BBC site a couple of days ago, and the last feature/analysis/editorial on us was nearly 4 weeks old. To invert an old saying, as far as we are concerned: Good News is No News.

  34. Great hard fought win. Once Arsene Wenger shows that he knows better than any of these so called experts and the wannabe pundits on podcasts. He and only he could stand alongside Ramsey and keep faith in him even there is huge pressure to drop him and look whats happening now. The boy is on fire and long may it continue to burn and make all his doubters look utterly foolish. The mood arround the club is the best it has been in a long time and long may it continue. Looking back at that Anthony Taylor influenced Villa game makes me even angrier as had that game not been rigged, we would have been 5 points clear at the top now.

  35. I am by nature a nervous watcher, always dreading the worst.

    But not for a long long time have I felt so confident in our defending.

    I am not a tactical person and often have trouble putting my finger on what it is thats changed, all I know it has.

    My crude take on what has happened is that we have learnt to defend AS A TEAM.

    We seem to be getting our 2 banks of 4 back behind the ball much quicker.

    Either way from a time where I always felt we could concede every time we gave the ball away, I feel like ‘bring it on’ Come at us if you dare.

    It’s an amazing feeling to sit there and think, you are not getting through. And like today, even after they did get back into it with a great goal we never looked like crumbling. A year ago we would of.

    All those players out and still looking good. LOVE IT. COYG.

    P.s. Rambo—Sorry I ever doubted you !!!

  36. Some very nice coverage of the game by Wales Online. The news organizations in London would do well to see how it should be done.

    http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/swansea-city-1-2-arsenal-majestic-6109564

    Some reports suggest that Mesut was marked out of the game. Opinions (I didn’t see game, just commentary at BBC)?

    A note to the news organizations: please quit producing articles which talk about more than one game. I am only looking for news about a single game. Tell us about the games. Web space doesn’t cost column inches.

    Perhaps other people have better search terms for Google News? I am currently using:

    Arsenal|Gunners -bleacher -keeda -thesun -espn

  37. Dom, very many thanks for doing the preview. I left at 10.30 to go and watch Dover Athletic v Guernsey – the story of our adventures tomorrow.

    On the way back we listened to the Talk Sport commentary on the game and took a definite wobble on the M25 as Ramsey scored.

    So back home and reading the preview after hearing the match but before seeing it… and I have to say from what I heard on Talk Sport you got the Flamini situation right. They gave him man of the match and made a point of how he is having as much an influence as Ozil.

    Again thanks – excellent preview of what turned out to be (as least from the sound of it) a great match building on some very helpful results elsewhere.

  38. Not for the first time i have said this but im more worried about what PGMOL has in store for us rather not being capable of beating other teams. If we consistently get fair refereeing in our games then i dont see any reason why we cant go all the way. That being said i have a feeling another Anthony Taylor like performance is just on the corner.

  39. Mahdain

    Another Taylor performance is about the only way we are going to lose if we keep playing the way we are now. We are more than able to cope with the normal refereeing bias. I have a feeling that the refereeing would have to be so obviously skewed that it would be spotted even by the blinkered media and that would be a step too far even for the PGMOL. That’s my hope anyway

    Well done the team!

  40. Very true Mahdain, I would imagine mike Riley and Dermot Gallagher are in crisis talks at this very moment

  41. Mahdain

    Like you, I too keep feeling frustrated at the Villa game, because we should have a 100% record. I’m trying to not let it get me down though. I am also always worried about referees stealing points from us. But so far, the purchase of Ozil, and perhaps Halsey’s revelation about contacting Ferguson, seem to have made the threat more dormant than active. We’ll see.

  42. Walter,

    It’s been more than 2 and a half hours since the game ended, and we have no new article up yet. You’re getting lazy..

    WALTER OUT!!!

    😀

  43. @Mandy yep. Riley must be scratching his head on what to do to stop our momentum without making it Taylor obvious. Even though i have seen him spreading misinformation like twice on Pl tv, i am not sure Dermot Gallagher still has the skills to treat the audience as idiots and people just accepting what he says so he will not want another mess to deal with. Crisis time at PGMOL towers indeed

  44. If we keep beating their bias it certainly will be crisis there. Lets keep on doing just that!

  45. Giroud seemed very tired today. Arsenal have players to rotate in the midfield and can improvise a bit in the defense but I see problems in doing that in the attacking position (main striker).
    Wenger seems to think the main striker role doesn’t suit Podolski so Bendtner is the option. While I don’t think the Danish player is rubbish he is not quality either. He might be good playing against some lower half teams but against the top sides there are less goal scoring opportunities, a player simply cannot miss his chance.
    Giroud still misses some good chances and Bendtner is not the man to get the job done. Arsenal need a new striker in january.

  46. It’s too early to talk about Ramsey like this on the basis of a few good games. Still, he does have echoes of Bryan Robson..

  47. @Mahdain

    Good point about the PGMOL, at some stage Riley and his apologist Gallagher will try to screw us again. It is strange the media have been relatively quiet about the antics of Taylor.

    For now, I am really enjoying the moment.

  48. If only Taylor had done a proper job. Hadn’t watched MotD in a while, I was looking forward to see how Hansen & Shearer were going to react to today’s matches. But don’t know if it’s that they’re too distraught to come on tv after today, or those other ‘pundits’ with lineker are the new ones…

    Slightly off-topic, but how is this for a conspiracy; Ferguson wanted his stock to rise even higher after his retirement, so he hand-picked a manager who he felt could get bad results and people would expect it. He then conspires with the men that control our game to stop doing united those favours. Ferguson will look like a genius having ‘swept’ all before him to the title and win it by 11 points only a few months earlier.

  49. The best way to prevent the pig-mole from hurting us to dominate to the point that we win by big margins so the refs have no influence.

  50. Now, back on topic, it’s worth noticing (in case nobody said this already) that there’s a difference between this team and the team from the past few seasons, in the way they negotiate important moments like this. There were times when we were scrapping draws when victories would have sent us top of the table. It was almost like a fear of success. This team has gained a lot of maturity, which allows them to get the points when necessary, which directly translates into positions in the standings.

  51. As a measure of our growing genuine threat to be champions, I don’t think it’s above Don Fungus’s ego to come back as The Saviour, to save the day for Manure as his final bow… If they keep sinking like a stone, and the RVP/Rooney restoration (post injury to RVP) doesn’t appear to achieve their Reconquista, I’d say that Lord Football would be called (reluctantly) back “by popular acclaim” to save the season, as a final bow. I don’t see this man staying comfortable in the shadows. Not when epl football is akin to world wide wrestling. That said, we are brilliant and will go over the top with another top-top signing or two, or serious mushrooming of Gnabry’s talent and Bendtner’s finding a new fitness gear and razor’s edge. Too early in this moment to predict, but several scenarios are possible to overcoming the challenges posed by multiple competitions and the stings of the Hives of Riley.

  52. Interesting viewpoint Al! Have a feeling moyes has a bit more integrity than fergie, not sure he would put the same pressure on refs…..but we shall see. If the refs are up to anything dodgy, and some such as footballisfixed suggest it is corruption as much as bias, well they had better be careful, one of the big fishes of match fixing has recently been arrested in I think Singapore. Who knows what could happen if they can get such people to talk, and I gather Singapore justice can be quite harsh so he might. If there really are bent refs in this league, and the evidence is damning, they would do well to stay well below the radar at the moment. But that said I do fear another 2008 type job on us if we keep this run going.

  53. Mandy,
    He’s supposed to be one of 5, the arrested one. The Halsey factor seems to be seeping into awareness/the discussions a bit, enough for now to back foot the most blatant Taylorite shennanigans. I still can’t see them going all level pitch on us. Vigilance.

  54. I’ve got nothing against Carragher, quite a likable chap really, just I think he is a poor man’s Gary Neville (less intelligent/insightful) – but that’s not nearly as pleasing a sentence as “he’s just a shit Gary Neville”! 😀

    And Mandy, that’s cracking! Skysports should have employed him to bring glamour to horse racing. Tuesday-Night-Horse-Racing (TMHR) with Michael Owen.

    12 away wins, perfect results and Rosicky/Cazorla back this week! 😀

  55. Marcus, Owen is a complete tool, Ozil has only played a small number of games here, Ramsey may even as Jenkinson suggested get into a Europe or even world 11 at the moment , let alone an EPL 11. Owen is just taking the standard well worn journalistic line on Arsenal and our players. Their monotony is quite depressing.

  56. I did not want to be accused of hatin’ on Ozil but I have always been uncomfortable with all the over the top accolades that the guy has been bestowed with. I don’t begrudge him his stats or his greatness as a player but I have a major problem with the way he is being portrayed in relation to Arsenal’s performances since his arrival by the media and many of our fans.

    Ozil’s most impactful game for us was vs Stoke city where he produced an outstanding trio of assists that won us the game. But the MoTM for that game was Flamini. He has played a good part in all the 4 games that he is involved in since his arrival but I don’t rate performance in any of those above that of a fit Rosicky.

    I must repeat here that I have nothing against Ozil. I am as happy as any Gooner about his signing but I am uncomfortable with comments about him lifting us out of mediocrity or about Arsenal winning all our matches since his arrival due to his presence. We have won almost all our matches (fuck you, Anthony Taylor) before his arrival. We are on a good run in which he is playing his part very well.

    I hope we win the league this season but it will be a great disservice to Ramsey and the rest of the team to credit our success to the signing of Ozil. I know that this is exactly what the media would say but I hope that sensible Arsenal fans would be fairer in ascribing the glory.

    Keep the faith.

  57. Bootoomee,
    Boooooo 😉

    Serious now. I think that Özil will improve when he gets a player like Walcott at his disposal and when Walcott finishes the chances he will get from Özil.

    What you do see from Özil is that he rarely seems to lose the ball. And that is very important as when we have the ball the other team can’t score.

    One other thing Özil brings is that the opposition is so focused on stopping him that others can step up and use the space he leaves.

    And yes it is a bit unfair that people act as if Özil is responsible for our league position. Of course he played a part in the 3 games in the PL but others have been also very important like Ramsey and Flamini just to name a few that deserve a lot of praise

  58. Flamini’s addition seems to one thing people have been saying for a long time: Arsenal need a proper CB.

    Arteta did the CB job very well last year but he does not have the combative character of a CB which is nicely descried in the following:

    “He’ll point forcefully at his opponents! He’ll make brilliant gestures and if you’re really lucky, you will detect that abrupt change in him, meaning the next chance he gets, he’ll run 20 yards to make a slide tackle.

    Flamini fulfils that curious role in a team, where he releases his teammates by absorbing the heat around them. Often the heat he creates. Some of you will have played with similar nutcases and will appreciate the odd benefits they offer. He’s that guy who is constantly irritating the opposition – whittling away at their focus with incessant chatter. It doesn’t particularly matter what he says, just he says it with such persistence; both teams can’t help but be affected.

    It takes an odd sort to fulfil the niche: rarely an attacking player, but one who’s game is uncomplicated. The player has to be central, intelligent and utterly unafraid of antagonising a whole other team.”

    On the other hand most people are wrong about “go out and sign a DM” because Arsenal do not play with a typical DM. The player needs skills that is similar to Arteta. May be that role could be taken up by one of the CB but we all know Kos and Per are very nice guys and it seems too odd for them to be highly aggressive against another person. May be that’s what people call “lack of steel”. The team do not lack resolution and toughness but they cannot produce the psychological factor.

    The team need a DM but not just any good DM but an Arsenal type DM.

  59. I hope we get our players back soon, we are doing well without some fantastic and important players.

  60. A great result for us with the others dropping points. As was mentioned ,in the first half , we played like a team put out by George Graham and I was happy with the 0-0 scoreline.
    In the second half we burst into life with Gnabry playing some great football.He did well ,considering the fact that Bac
    rarely ventured too far forward .
    He appears stronger than Theo and not easily pushed around.
    Another gem in the making .
    Ramsey and Flamini played well ,while the defence were not in too much of a bother .Their goal was well worked and I doubt too many other teams could have prevented it .
    Will be an even greater weekend in Liverpuddle drop points too !
    Ahhh… to be a Gunner !

  61. Arteta and Flamini plays the same role, however the Flamster is more aggressive and also is much more vocal in ordering his teammate around. None of the wide players get a free ride in letting the rest of the team defend. The most pleasing thing with Gnabry’s game was his tracking back.
    We conceded when Arteta who replaced him forgot to double up with Sagna on their right back.

    Özil’s role has been overstated, but opposition fear him and Wilshere so much that they forget Ramsey hence Ramsey’s glut of goals. When you analyse Ramsey’s goals, a lot of them has him ghosting unchallenged or untracked by his opposing midfield player.

    One extra quality Arsenal seems to have this season is composure when shooting at goal. According to stAtistics, before the Swansea game, Arsenal scored from 20% of their shots on target. That’s the best ratio in the EPL. At Swansea, that ws 50%, as we scored twice from 4 attempts on target. Gnabry shot twice, both on target. Ramsey shot once, on target. Özil shot once, blocked by the keeper.

  62. Ozil needs time to fit. He is good and can basically play any position at the front so it isn’t hard for him to get in any team and immediately provide assists and launch waves of attacks.

    The issue is how he move in relation to others. Where would each of the 4 or even 6 players flow around when he move to certain spot.

    They need more time for that understand. For the moment, I think Ozil is using his brain to find a way to fit into the current format. Soon, there will be changes on how they play because his arrival creates far more options and flow than before.

    Sooner or later they will start playing as if no one is fixed in any position and start popping up everywhere.

  63. Brickfields Gunners
    September 29, 2013 at 6:41 am

    Thanks, BG. Silvio’s sliver ‘o snot. I found that revealing and very funny.

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