Olympique de Marseille 1 - 2 Arsenal: Perfect start to a tough group

Most would agree that this group is the group of death this season. Dortmund and Napoli are formidable opponents who are notoriously tough to beat, especially away from home. Marseille, considered the weakest team in the group, are hardly push overs, either. However, when we looked at where we would need to pick up points, the two games against Marseille were identified as vital.

The game, as we expected, was difficult. Marseille had a team of strong, athletic players that were also well organised and tough to break down. Our midfield can pass its way past these sorts of midfields at its best, but tonight the passing and touches were often sloppy, and Marseille's quick and strong midfield was quick to get tight and win the ball back. Romao and Imbula did a fantastic job of protecting their back four and winning the ball back; Imbula, in particular, was difficult to stop when he got running with the ball. Unable to really keep the ball, the likes of Özil, Walcott and Giroud were periphery figures in the first half. This is probably the biggest weakness our set-up has.

Marseille threatened going forward but, thankfully for us, lacked a bit of craft around the penalty area and their best chances came from set-pieces. Valbuena regularly found space in dangerous areas and that might have hurt us more had Marseille's movement been better.

Arsenal had to up their game in the second half and eventually did so, but not before some dodgy moments. Right at the start of the half, Rod Fanni found himself in space in the penalty area but put his shot wide, and Mertesacker made an uncharacteristic error when he made a mess of a routine interception on the edge of his six yard box that would have resulted in a goal if not for Gibbs' brilliant goal-line clearance. Once Arsenal got their goal, though, they seemed to settle down and began to frustrate Marseille with some improved passing and defending. It's in situations like these that you can see just how much Arsenal have improved in closing games out and Marseille couldn't craft out any decent opportunities.

As a team, we performed very well but there were elements of sloppiness there. Too many passes went astray, particularly in the first half; we came out second best in one too many challenges and weren't as assured at the back as we have been. Without jumping to conclusions, there is some evidence that we may struggle against powerful teams if we aren't at our best.

But, in Europe, all that matters is the three points, and it was very encouraging that we could up our game in the second half and get those three points.

Individually, the stand-outs, for me, were Gibbs, Ramsey and Wilshere. Gibbs was rarely beaten one-on-one and made some timely interceptions; Ramsey wasn't as influential going forward but was industrious in midfield and made some great tackles; Wilshere was threatening when he frequently received the ball on the half-turn and run at Marseille.

We're in some very good form right now and Stoke on Sudnay is a good chance to keep the form going. The worry now would be fatigue accumulating, since it's not like we can rest a couple of players right now. Time to wrap the players up in cotton wool and keep our fingers crossed everyone stays fit until then.

Goal analysis will likely be up tomorrow afternoon.

it was tough game and well earned very important 3 points at the end.. Marseille were positive in the aspect that they tried to play their own game packing the centre midfield with two DM and trying to counter using pace of wingers and fullbacks.. they looked the better of the sides in the first half and were close to scoring few times.. but they paid for this in the second half when they ran out of energy and we dominated the game creating more chances.. and great to see Ramsey scoring another CL goal.. Walcott had some good run ins but failed and then was gifted with a goal.. hope this brings the confidence and gets him going.. Wilshere and Ozil were outmuscled most of the time by the strong DMs.. Flamini had an excellent match with a good array of positioning and distribution.. defence held the nerve well especially Metskr who bossed today.. the best performers were our fullbacks Sagna and Gibbs who dealt well with the pace and wingplay.. the chances they got came mainly from set pieces and some shots out of the box.. Sczeny turned it with numerous saves and catches in the 2nd half, but was shaky in the first..
overall a typical tight away game as u expect in CL.. and great way to start the CL.. hope we will only be better in the next CL with atleast Rosicky and Arteta returning..
Sczeny - 7
Sagna - 7
Metskr - 7
Kos - 6.5
Gibbs - 8 MOM
Flamini - 7
Ramsey - 7
Wilshere - 6
Ozil - 6
Walcott - 6
Giroud - 6

Important 3 points, anything less would have made topping the group a much tougher task.

Vital 3 points for us tonight, well done to the boys and Wenger.

Surprisingly our crossing was better than usual, even Sagna completed a cross to Wilshere

Overall Gibbs was my man of the match although there were a few other contenders.

One thing I'm worried about right now is fatigue, Stoke will be hard because we'll be more confident in our passing and will work less off the ball and we all know how Stoke play when they come at the Emirates but that's for another day.

Job done, 3 points, clean sheet () and our great run continues!

Was a fantastic away win. Performance was a bit reserved in the first half. Think the players were getting used to the opponents and we generally found it difficult to play against the gritty Marseille.

Wilshere on the left was interesting. He didn't actually keep the discipline but he rarely did anything wrong. He had a good game for me.

Ozil's quality was evident from time to time but he was ganged up pretty often and that slowed down the rhythm. He will get used to this as Marseille do play like an average PL team.

Ramsey was one of our best players. Ran all night, passing was OK but he made up with his excellent tackling and interceptions. Made more tackles than anyone in the team. His goal was well taken and he looks like the player we all thought he would become. Well done

Gibbs was probably the MOTM. Gave us the width, joined in the attack. Defended superbly. Never beaten one on one. Goal saving clearance. Assist. Even had a shot on goal lol.

Great game and Jay said it all, some of the not so good things I noticed

Ozil needs to use his right feet more, twice he slow down the play due to using his left instead of quick flick/touch with his right. Another one when he crossed to Giroud very close to the goal, should be more difficult and pacy if he used his right.

Jack body strength seems a bit off, he couldn't seal the ball like he used to.

Chesny needs to deal with long ball better, an easy one and he struggled to punch the ball out.

Giroud needs a rest or at least sub out, he's out of breath at the end of the game.

Really surprised to see Wenger not taking Giroud and Wilshere off when we were 2-0 up. We need these two right now, if they get injured we have Akpom and Ryo/Gnabry replacing them.

urbaNRoots wrote:Really surprised to see Wenger not taking Giroud and Wilshere off when we were 2-0 up. We need these two right now, if they get injured we have Akpom and Ryo/Gnabry replacing them.

Think he would have put Sanogo on but he is injured, we just don't have enough option on the bench at the moment.

What did Sanogo do to get injured?

We needed these points so badly, I'm glad we managed that win.

He picked up a back injury on international duty with France U21s. Not sure when he'll be back as no time-scale was given. Likewise Rosicky.

Arteta should be back next week, and all going well Cazorla, Chamberlain and Podolski will be back after the October international break.

Our Capital One Cup team next week will be interesting.

http://i.minus.com/i3i3jkdGwlAHM.gif

my pre-match guess

" arsenal to win either 1-0 or 2-1 with ramsey scoring"

I am ona roll this season.

I feel bad for Real Madrid. They sell us Ozil, drop 100mil on Bale, and still don't even have the best Welsh player in the world

Spoiler:

ozil was a bit better in the 2nd half, first half he looked lost and final pass was average, needs time to settle in.

vital 3 points
given lack of numbers was predictable of suffering physically

a lot of last ditch defending was required

http://www.fourfourtwo.com/statszone/5-2013/matches/726889/team-stats/3/OVERALL_04#tabs-wrapper-anchor

some of Arsenal teams of recent years wouldnt come back with a win

anyway Aaron covered 12370 meters

http://tf-chalkboards.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/images/0ryk4.png

also all hail Gibbos

glad Theo finally got his name on scoresheet

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BUeN4AeCMAEqPmE.jpg:large

even my dad told me their Left back gonna cost them

dem British players, Ramsey, Gibbo, Theo

Great win, I knew we could do it in the second half, Theo took his chance so calmly.

Gibbs.  

I hope no injuries, a big game this weekend again.

Stoke is not a big team

aleumdance wrote:Stoke is not a big team

I dont think I have seen a small stoke player.

Rugby: big man's sport.

Raptorgunner wrote:

aleumdance wrote:Stoke is not a big team

I dont think I have seen a small stoke player.

Rugby: big man's sport.

you know the good thing about Stoke

Ramsey is gonna score this time..

I just hope we dont burn our players out before our injured players come back.

nahh,, The will be good

by the time Arteta is back Flamini will still be ok...

its Gibbs I am scared about

aleumdance wrote:nahh,, The will be good

by the time Arteta is back Flamini will still be ok...

its Gibbs I am scared about

Yes, he's such a huge factor going forward, still out of position sometimes in defending but so far nothing too costly. Monreal is good but he's no Gibbs with overlapping.

Nice work as always Jay.

Another game, another win. 6 in a row. Some say we haven't played the other members of the top 4 but Spurs (h), Fenerbahce (a), Marseille (a), Sunderland (a), Fulham (a) not exactly easy games. To win all of them with our current injury list should be applauded.

Delighted for Ramsey, who made it 6 goals in 7 games which is incredible, and Walcott, who finally notched his first goal of the campaign. Hopefully he can go on to score 22 like last season. Though there were some defensive slips (Per/Szczesny comes to mind), we were solid overall again and the team spirit is fantastic.

Ozil & Wilshere weren't as effective as they were against Sunderland but they showed class at certain moments. Special shout out to Gibbs, who's sensational form continues.

Szczesny 7; Sagna 6.5 Mertesacker 6.5 Koscielny 6.5 Gibbs 8; Flamini 6.5 Ramsey 7; Walcott 7 Ozil 6.5 Wilshere 6.5; Giroud 6.5

Let's hope we can get a few players back in the coming weeks. Arteta & Podolski are closest I think.