West Bromwich Albion 1 - 1 Arsenal: Below-par Arsenal come away with decent point

That was probably our worst performance this season so far, right next to the Villa game. It was a typical game against a team that had good tactics and had no intention of allowing us to play, as Napoli did on Tuesday.

Perhaps influenced by Tuesday's success, Wenger started again with five midfielders, with the only change being Wilshere coming in on the left hand side for Rosicky.  Unfortunately, we played with no where near the intensity or the pace we did that night and played right into West Brom's hands. They were deep and narrow, allowing us to play in front of them but quickly closing down the space when we worked the ball into their third. We couldn't play off Giroud, we couldn't get Özil to link-up with Ramsey or Wilshere and we couldn't get any runners in behind.

We were second best in a lot of areas and deservedly went behind to a poorly defended Yacob header. I don't think our performance in the second half was that much better, at least from a technical point of view. We failed to exert any sort of control over West Brom and a lot of our attacks broke down. West Brom were fired up and playing well and they could have doubled their lead early on in the second half had Anelka not missed. But, to our credit, we showed more urgency and managed to equalise after some dogged work from Özil to win the ball back allowed us to put an attack together that Wilshere finished off. After that, the game became quite frantic, and Giroud had a couple of decent chances to gives us lead, both created by fantastic passes from Wilshere and Özil.

In the end, a point is a fair result a decent one, considering we didn't play that well. Yes, we expect to beat teams like West Brom and you could argue that, to be title challengers, we need to win these types of matches. However, the character of the side is very evident and we do go into the international break on top of the league still, despite it still being early.

Also, I feel the ref had a disappointing game, given that he failed to give two penalties when Wilshere was taken out twice.

On the subject of character, Jack Wilshere proved that he has a great mentality. I won't mince words: his first half performance was awful. He lost the ball many times, kept running to people and was letting the frustration get the better of him. In the second half, while still not playing well, he managed to produce an important goal and the pass of the match. So while many will be doubting him right now, there's no little doubt in my mind he'll return to his best soon enough. Just like how Ramsey kept going and never gave up, Wilshere will do the same thing.

Tactically, Wenger does have some decisions to make. I'm not overly keen on this five man midfield and feel that we need pace and directness in the side, which was why I wanted Gnabry to start the game and if that means Arteta, Flamini or Wilshere has to be on the bench than so be it. Moreover, it seems counter-productive to me to play our most inform player out of position, and the pivot of Arteta/Flamini is a bit too conservative to be used on a consistent basis.

So there's a fair bit to moan about, but nothing to over-react about. There's a fair few positives to take into the break and I'm sure things will improve when certain players return from injury.

Kudos to Jack, the crowd were booing and jeering but he kept asking for the ball and eventually got rewarded. Captain stuff

My thoughts:

urbaNRoots wrote:Not good enough performance but still got 1 point, not bad at all.

I was surprised to see Gnabry on the bench, atleast he's direct and would've offered more in attack imo. Besides Flamini-Arteta is far too defensive, we don't need to be as cautious against teams like WBA. Wenger needs to decide, Flamini or Arteta in those kind of games. Flamini/Arteta - Ramsey would've been good enough for this game.

In reality we're lacking goalscorers atm, we have Giroud and erm... no one else. You can't count on Ramsey and other midfielders to bail you out all the time. At times we were making one-two's in WBA's box without taking enough shots, just passing the ball around... that's not good enough.

Cazorla, Podolski and Walcott can't come back sooner. Atleast Walcott will hopefully be back for Norwich.

We have Norwich at home and Crystal Palace away next to make things right, 6 points expected before November which is the probably the hardest month of the season, on paper.

i would call that a fair result.. credits to West Brom that they played very well and made it so tough for us..

we played this game with the same tactics as against Napoli.. it was two ends of the same spectrum.. but former turned out to be excellent and this average.. played again with 5 CM (this time Wilshere instead of Rosicky).. we were expected to be narrow.. but against Napoli Ramsey and Ozil were still able to get something from the wings, which we failed to do today.. West Brom DM duo of Yacob and Mulumbu are very good and they packed the centre and isolated Giroud.. we lacked the energy from Ramsey today, looked like he was not 100%.. Jenko and Gibbs were expected to provide width.. they advanced well but the final ball was consistently poor from both of them..

and more importantly, our defence was poor today.. we got beaten very frequently on 1v1 situations.. especially the fullbacks.. Jenko and Gibbs had a difficult time dealing with Sessegnon and Amalfitano.. not to take anything away from Sessegnon and AMalfitano who are in good form.. but still we exepect them to be more solid.. Sczeny turned up with some very good saves.. and it was the typical goal to concede.. may be the problem of our zonal marking.. no one charges for the ball if it falls in no mans land.. and if someone is there it is always a free header.. and thanks to Anelka who could have ended the game early on 2-3 occasions but has not found his touch..

we managed to equalise at the right time.. and i expected it to be a turning point and win the match.. but may be we were too tired and didnt pose a significant threat.. but these sort of matches are the ones we would have lost in the past.. so a draw is a decent result especially after knowing that Spuds got hammered at their home..
so our attack didnt do much today, but we could have won the game 0-1 if the defence could have been more solid...

Ratings
Sczeny - 7 top performance.. his aerial skills seem to have improved.. not sure whether he could have done better for the goal..
Jenko - 5 got beaten easily many times.. and final ball was poor at the other end..
Kos - 6.5
Metskr - 6
Gibbs - 5.5 had a tough time..
Arteta & Flamini - 6 decent work.. packed the centre and won balls in the middle.. should have offered more offensively..
Wilshere - 6.5 first half looked average.. but showed his fighting spirit and class with some passes.. and a good goal to rise our spirits..
Ozil - 7 looked class whenever he got the ball.. very good ball control and passing..
Ramsey - 6
Giroud - 6 decent game.. was isolated.. still managed to get some good counters and hold up play.. but today there was no one near him to interlink with him.. could have tried a cheeky lob than trying to round the GK...
Rosicky - 6 added some energy and pace to our attack.. but still couldnt threaten much..

Midfield Duo:

Arteta needs to up his game against these "lesser" opponents, he's too static. Flamini had great game today, run up and down, got couple of tackes, interception and shots. Arteta offers very little both defensive (as in he doesn't have to) and offensive. I want Flamini & Ramsey in the middle against this kind of opponents, run, run & run is what win you this game ( see Jack today)

I watched only the second half, but I didn't think Arsenal played bad, West Brom were just on their game. Yet only Wilson up there gave credit to the Baggies for their performance, the rest of you looking for faults in your game, but I don't think that's the right thing to do in this case. Both teams played well and that cancelled it out, credit to WBA for being able to do that against Arsenal.

Art Morte wrote:I watched only the second half, but I didn't think Arsenal played bad, West Brom were just on their game. Yet only Wilson up there gave credit to the Baggies for their performance, the rest of you looking for faults in your game, but I don't think that's the right thing to do in this case. Both teams played well and that cancelled it out, credit to WBA for being able to do that against Arsenal.

This!
Quite frankly, the old Arsenal would have not been able to salvage a point from this game. So we should really count our blessings with the result. Most of all we still have the "unbeaten" momentum going for us. We should look to gain maximum points from the next to games (realistically), because there is no telling how many points we would gain from the next 3 matches following our 2 "easier encounters". My heart says 7/9, but I would be happy if we'd 4 even.

man i was impressed with ozil today, up against two dm and still managed to find space, if we had some proper wingers he would have prob got some assists today. some good touches and passes from him.

also wilshere in the second half did really well.

I agree with Jay, I'm neither too keen on the 5 man midfield. Also wanted Gnabry to start. I was kinda bewildered why Wenger didn't introduce him in the 2nd half.

It's evident that we miss Theo a lot. So many times he is our outlet. We need him back and firing after the int. break. Cazorla as well, cuz Wilshere playing outwide is only haltering the lad's progression to regain his top form.

I want to talk about Jenkinson though. At times he can be pretty tidy and solid and I love his dedication and love for the club. But on other ocassions he can just be all over the place. It is like he has constant lapses of concentration. He has weak first touches. And when he is in control of the ball it looks like he is trying to compose himself and dribble past an opposing player but 9/10 he messes it up and his final ball in the final third is poor.

What are y'all folks assessment on Jenks today and overall as a player?

REWB wrote:man i was impressed with ozil today, up against two dm and still managed to find space, if we had some proper wingers he would have prob got some assists today. some good touches and passes from him.

also wilshere in the second half did really well.

ahh yeah now i remember why i was so impressed by ozil today, it is because i didnt expect it. after watching his last few away games i thought he could only just perform "decent" at best in tough away games like today. But he proved me wrong, he can handle the tough away games for sure.

In 2011 or 2012, this would have been the sort of match Arsenal would lose. (Probably in the last 10 minutes!) So it wasn't ideal, for sure. There are some points Wenger and the squad will have to tweak before playing again. But West Brom aren't a chump team and they just claimed Man Utd's scalp too. It's good people aren't overreacting because in the big scheme of things, as far as a wonky match goes, this still represents an overall improvement.

At the end of the day the club got an away result that still kept them at the top of the table. It'll do for now.

I know 1 point is a fair result, but we really should have won the game. Giroud had 2 great chances to score and did not score any. The good news is we did not lose and have to wait 2 weeks to recover. Top of the table and hope everyone will be back healthy after the world cup games.

We need Theo back badly, we are really missing him.

The foul on Jack in the penalty area not a penalty? the ref was not all that imo.

Watched the game in a bar near the Emirates. Was a neat atmosphere. Ha.

In terms of the game, it wasn't great. We were obviously, as Jay said, below-par. I genuinely think the players were tired today. It was no surprise that Mertesacker was rumoured to be amongst the subs before the team news came through. I think many players need a rest. They will (kind of) get that with the international break. Obviously likes of Szczesny (Boruc will play for Poland), Gibbs, Arteta, Flamini will all get rests, which is good. Hopefully everyone can stay fit and we get some of the other guys back.

I think today really showed the lack of bench for the first time. Rosicky was ok when he came on and involved in the goal, but no Cazorla, Podolski, Chamberlain and Walcott - as well as Sagna and Sanogo - decreases the options available. Bendtner coming on to win us a Premier League game, when we're trying to win the league, is a bit of a joke, but we have no other options. Gnabry not even coming on was a bit weird too. Especially with his pace too.

The defending (or lack of it) for Yacob's header was dreadful, but Wilshere's goal was neat. And it came at a time when he probably needed a goal, too.

All in all, we're top of the league, of our Champions League group and through to the 4th round of the League cup. It has been a really successful start to the campaign.

Thought it was a valuable point the team played better than media would have you believe. West Brom were lucky to be 1 up at HT we could have gone a goal with a better final ball from the full backs. In the 2nd half WBA should have made it 2-0.

We could have won the game today, credit to Wilshere even though he has a John Terryness about him, mentally the guy is incredibly strong, a captain in the making.

To those who wanted Gnarby to start, we would have struggled to get anything out of the game. Jenkinson by far is the weakest link in the Arsenal squad technically and tactically, there would have been even more space to exploit for WBA on the right. Had Sagna been fit Gnarby would have started.

Jenkinson needs to step up, Bellerin will probably take his place in a year or two. His technique and tactical awareness is seriously lacking for a modern full back, he reminds of Walcott in that respect.

With the players to come back after the international break I can't wait to see Carzola and Poldolski play again.

Lost the 2 points advantage but still on top. Our next few PL games are pretty difficult. Let's hope we avoid any international injuries.

Arsenal form in all competitions since 2-1 loss at Spurs on 3 March: P23 W19 D3 L1 F45 A13

Important to remember the form we're in on days like today.

Next 7 games:

Norwich (h)
Dortmund (h)
Palace (a)
Chelsea (h) League cup
Liverpool (h)
Dortmund (a)
Man Utd (a)

Gnabry should have started

disappointed with Giroud, should have scored at least with one of his chances
the fact the that were lacking width as has been mentioned played into their hands

West Brom deserves credit for their game plan

the fact that we looked so vulnerable on the quick breaks even with Flam-Arteta partnership was something to worry about

anyway so far it felt for every home game we gotta play 4 away
now its nice that 4/5 of next are at home
with decent run of results crowd should make it better for the team unless last season

the only thing to worry is we are short of width and good pacy wide players.. the full backs are enough to provide width.. but the problem is the final ball from our FB has always been poor through all these years.. Sagna, Jenko and Gibbs.. Monreal is not much of an improvement either..
Sagna is too old to improve.. Gibbs and Jenko have the potential.. but i dont see any improvement in the last 2 years in this aspect..

I thought we did enough to win the game but our finishing was a bit off, should've had at least one penalty too but Lee Mason had a shocker, which isn't unusual for him! I'm not one to blame refs for dropped points though, at the end of the day we're 16 points out of 21 which is only 1 less than this stage of the Invincible's season (had the loss to Villa been a draw we'd be in the exact same position) so I have no real complaints especially as West Brom seem a solid side and we've had a rough time at the Hawthorns in previous seasons.

I agree that Gnabry should've been introduced at some point but what can you do? Norwich at home in a couple of weeks and hopefully we'll have some players back from injury.

UTA!

West Brom shows their win againt United was no fluke, they are a very good and drilled team and probably deserved a win more then we did. We couldn't keep winning away forever so I draw is not that bad but I found our defending quite worrying. While we have being going well this season I don't think we can win the title with defending like this, once other teams like City and Chelsea for example hit form then we need to start performing better in all areas. So far our attacking has been fantastic but our defending has been up and down.


We really did lack width today, someone like Gnarby should of started and Jenkinson's crosses were sooooooo poor, it was cringe worthy to watch.


Anyway, since we've been so great lately I'm not going to be too critical but defnesively we need the smarten up.

I have a feeling that Jenko in for Sagna disrupted the rhythm of the back 4 that they'd managed to build up over the last few games, he's still a bit inexperienced and get caught out of position a bit leaving the others to cover for him. The defence has been looking solid but yesterday was a bit of a shambles, I think fatigue also played a part.

Yesterday also showed how taking your chances is so important, both Anelka and Giroud could've won the game for either side but in the end we just cancelled each other out so no complaints about the draw.

I don't think Jenkinson was a lot poorer then the other defenders, I think they all had a pretty bad match and I do think it was due to fatigue. We really did struggle with the pace of Sessègnon, Anelka and Berahino. I just thought would signal out Jenkinson's crossing as it really was terrible, can't tell you how many times I face palmed when he put a cross in. He didn't look up once and just crossed it in and hoped for the best.

Well yes he has struggled a bit but at the end of the day the team was good enough to win that game but they just couldn't match the intensity they had against Napoli and that's down partly to tiredness but also credit to Steve Clark for the way he set up WBA by limiting the effectiveness of our midfield. We need some players back from injury though because our bench was looking pretty weak, I mean you're in trouble when you're pushing for the victory and you bring on Bendtner! I think Walcott would've had a field day yesterday.