Arsenal 2 - 0 Marseille: That'll do

Carry on, guys, there's nothing to see here. Just another routine Arsenal win.

That's the best way I can sum up what was something of a strange night where the opposition were terrible yet were never really punished for it. Arsenal threatened to carve them open many times but seemed to be unable to connect properly up front, resulting in a game that looked more like a training exercise and gave the impression that Arsenal weren't really trying or exerting themselves.

That frustrated me a lot because although we've been amongst the goals this season, we have yet to give someone a good thrashing and after Wilshere's brilliant opening goal after 30 seconds we had the perfect opportunity to do so. However, whenever we tried to play someone in behind or tried to get some of our one-touch play going, we tended to mess up with a sloppy pass or lack pace to really exploit the space in behind. Walcott would have loved tonight's game with the amount of space there was down the flanks and in behind.

We played better in the second half and you could sense we would eventually score a second, with Ozil being much improved and pulling the strings, but again kept messing up in that vital moment. Particularly striking was Giroud's lack of pace when running in behind and, again, you can only imagine what would have happened had Walcott or Podolski played the game. For the record, I'm very happy with Giroud as our striker, but I thought this highlighted the need for pace in our side. The trio of creative players is nice and produces some great build-up play, but to make that attack really work we need that pace.

The second goal came when we finally got it right. Ozil timed his run well, Ramsey found him with a fantastic pass and Wilshere was in the right position to put away his second. Wilshere was outstanding all game and, along with his performance against Southampton, appears to be finding some form.

So what can we take from the game? I'm sure some "experts" will claim we lack killer instinct, that we're not yet up to the standards of the big-boys, but it's another win without hitting first gear which, if I'm not mistaken, is usually the sign of a good side. It's certainly the sign of a consistent side. There is, perhaps, some worry that, after 21 or so games, the attack still hasn't reached the level we know it can but I maintain that things will improve when Walcott returns to the starting eleven and when we get Podolski back as another option.

With that win, we now only need a point in Napoli to qualify as group winners. For us to go out at this point, we need to lose by three goals. Crazier things have happened, but at this stage I fancy us to go through to the next round.

I take the win w/o any complaint, we have won while playing much worse. Important thing is nobody injured and we're in quite secured position to the next stage. At least Ozil got back to assist even though he missed the penalty, I love Jack this game dat finish  

Wilshere is back to his best. That's my take from the game. His vision, passing, flicks, floating with the ball and even finishing. All were like his pre injury days.

MOTM.

Ramsey had a beast of a game as well. But that's normal.

Monreal was excellent. It's so good to have 2 LBs who are nearly as good as each other.

The final matchday. Napoli will come at us with full force. They will HAVE to beat us so they will attack. We can use that to our advantage. Counter them like we have been in the past. We can afford to draw and even lose 2-0 but that's poor thinking.

Finish the Group stage as the group winners in the group of death. That will be something to be proud off.

For anyone curious as to how the maths work out:

Teams on equal points are separated first by head-to-head and then, if they's level, goal difference.

If Napoli win by three goals, they'll go above us on head-to-head. Our head-to-head record with Dortmund is level, but if they beat Marseille, they'll go above us due to having a superior goal difference; currently they have +4 and we'll have +2 if we lose by three goals against Napoli.

Bottom line: just keep doing what we're doing and win the game.

RealGunner wrote:Wilshere is back to his best. That's my take from the game. His vision, passing, flicks, floating with the ball and even finishing. All were like his pre injury days.

MOTM.

Ramsey had a beast of a game as well. But that's normal.

Monreal was excellent. It's so good to have 2 LBs who are nearly as good as each other.

The final matchday. Napoli will come at us with full force. They will HAVE to beat us so they will attack. We can use that to our advantage. Counter them like we have been in the past. We can afford to draw and even lose 2-0 but that's poor thinking.

Finish the Group stage as the group winners in the group of death. That will be something to be proud off.

good that walcott is back, he's perfect for this. need to get him match fit for the game.

good performance, lacking a little bit of killer instinct in front of goals but that will change with Theo coming back.

Wilsheres problem this season was the mental and physical speed of his play, for whatever reason (maybe fitness, rustiness, confidence, I don't know) hes looked off the pace and hesitant and its permeated through all aspects of his game, his passing touch dribbling decision making all been badly affected. Today we simply saw the difference when he is up to speed physically and mentally, his class shone. But he still isn't in his optimum condition though

DuringTheWar wrote:Wilsheres problem this season was the mental and physical speed of his play, for whatever reason (maybe fitness, rustiness, confidence, I don't know) hes looked off the pace and hesitant and its permeated through all aspects of his game, his passing touch dribbling decision making all been badly affected. Today we simply saw the difference when he is up to speed physically and mentally, his class shone. But he still isn't in his optimum condition though

He just needs a good run of games without injuries or being dropped. This season he has been in out of the first team because he is injured or there is no place for him.

Great to collect another 3 pts
Ramshere deserve so much credit so does Szczesny

Nacho looked so good
but we werent at our best better attack might have punished us



Ran 12099 Meters

No mention of Szczesny but he made two brilliant saves to keep a clean sheet and us in the game. People say our defence has improved and our midfield is helping but Szczesny is *bleep* solid nowadays, credit to him.

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

xD

I was thinking, another thing that's great about Özil is that even when he's kind of off his game like he was in the first half more or less here, he's still great to have in the squad. For a couple reasons. He's always capable of a moment of magic from out of nowhere. Opposition know this and so they always have to be attentive to his potential threat. And his movement into channels and all over the pitch is just wonderful, dragging defenders out of position and opening things up ... when you've got the likes of Rosicky, Cazorla, Wilshere, Ramsey, or Giroud, et al., in form and working hard in conjunction with that ... well the whole team is improved just because Özil is there, even when he's having an off night.

It's no contradiction to acknowledge he hasn't been at his best in the last couple weeks, and is still proving to be just a really impeccable addition to the team. And that's a great thing to consider.

Arsenal.

could have been better.. a brilliant attacking and creative display which should have been atleast 4 goals..

Marseille didnt field their best line up when everyone thought that they will be fighting for pride in the group of death.. which made the game easy.. the will and intensity was lacking from their side.. they started the game positively with some pressing and boom they are one down.. some brilliant one touch passing and brilliant finish from Wilshere.. and we kept on creating chances and got behind their backline too easily.. Ramsey missed a tap in.. Ozil missed a controversial penalty.. may be justified by the fact that we didnt get the penalty when Giroud got shirt-pulled down..
second half started as same till they introduced Valbeuna and Thauvin.. our defence and GK had nothing to do till then.. towards the end they tested us with some good efforts which were kept out by an impressive solid Sczeny..

overall it is just another routine win.. but considering the special situation of our group.. there is a chance that we may rue the chances we missed, if we finish seond.. which could have given us an extra 2-3 GD to top the group even if we lost to Napoli..

Sczeny - 7.5 didnt have anything to do till late in the match.. bu brilliant and solid when tested..
Sagna - 7 got forward well and interlinked well with Wilshere and Ozil in the flank..
Metskr - 7
Kos - 7
Monreal - 6.5 decent game eventhough he wasnt tested much.. some good attacking play too..
Flamini - 6 decent match..
Ramsey - 7 missed an opertunity to go into the scoresheet.. seems too eager to score at times.. some of his lobbed passes behind the defence was excellent.. but we didnt have the pace to utilise it..
Ozil - 6 poorest player of the day.. and nowhere near the expected standards.. passing and ball control didnt look best.. and wasted the penalty.. i have seen him taking those 'standing penalies' for Germany too.. never impressed with them.. if the GK are in the right direction they have every chance of stopping them.. better second half and a good Ozzist for Wilshere..
Wilshere - 8 motm.. brilliant range of passing and interlink play.. 2 brilliant finishes.. a superb chance set for Ramsey and a lob pass for Ozil wasted.. got behind their back 4 easily..
Rosicky - 7 brilliant performance with good range of passing.. surprised that he played a more deeper role and allowed Ramsey forward which i am not sure is the right thing to do..
Giroud - 6.5 decent game.. linked well.. but shoud have had more chnaces had it been for his lack of pace..
Walcott - 6 looks like he will be taking more time to get going..

I know it's too soon but I fancy our chance as 1st of the group, Napoli is not as threatening in San Paolo as the beginning of the season. Beside, lets avoid Bayer for as long as possible

It was a weird game, I take the 2-0 but wished we had scored more. My god I was shocked at how great Jack played and what a great goals he scored.

Monreal and Flamini were absolutely immense today.

Felt bad for Ozil, not sure what he was thinking with that penalty but he did turn it up in the second half.

Is Ozil lacking of confidence?

Nope. It's his first season in the PL.

Sina wrote:Great to collect another 3 pts
Ramshere deserve so much credit so does Szczesny

Nacho looked so good
but we werent at our best better attack might have punished us



Ran 12099 Meters

Surprise the pitch didn't catch on fire

Wilshere looks truly over his "post-injury" form, been great for a few games now.

Sagna's crossing has been brilliant this season! Amazing that he's still improving

I think Rosicky was very poor, his passing was awful but he did make it up with some great defending.

By the way defensively when Wilshere and Rosicky are wide we're even better defensively than usual, we can use them when we need to defend a lead or something.

Good, solid win.

I'm worried about Giroud and Özil though. They both look knackered. We need Poldi back as soon as possible so that AW can rotate him with Giroud more often.
Özil hasn't been himself these last few games. I think it's down to the speed of the PL. He ain't quite that used to it yet, and that's understandable, but he quickly needs to get this right. Because we need him! And if this run of poor form continues, sooner or later it will cost us.

Agree with you guys, Wilshere was just great last night. Still though, I think he's not quite at his best. His finishes were lovely and composed. He certainly has a big influence on our game when he is on top form.

Szczesny is another one I'd like to point out. He made a couple of very good saves last night. He has been brilliant, and so far this season we haven't seen any errors. So I hope this continues. I have always had faith in him, and I truly believe he can turn out to be a world class GK for us.

The fullbacks, except Jenks, who in all fairness hasn't gotten much game time this season, have impressed me. Sagna looks to be enjoying his football. He is in the right frame of mind. In Gibbs and Monreal we have two good LBs with both still young and with room for improvement. So things are looking good in that area.

Raptorgunner wrote:Is Ozil lacking of confidence?

. This isthe third year now that he's been like this... he doesn't bring it every game. Just the way it is. I first blamed fatigue and then Mou when hewas at Madrid for his massive inconsistency. But i've resigned myself to accept that this is what he is. As of now, he doesn't have that level of hunger and commitment to become truly great. But he's still a difference maker as is... so it's still good for Arsenal.

RealGunner wrote:Nope. It's his first season in the PL.

To me that's a myth. Great players will always be great no mater where they go. Ozil has not been the same for while now,but he did turn it on after the penalty miss and I thought he was our best player after the miss.

I am not trying to be negative here, the whole teams playing fantastic at the moment and thats what matters.

I read an article last night that pointed out that Ozil has gone from playing four games in 26 days in Spain to that amount in about two weeks in England. For a player who's never been noted for having high levels of stamina, that's a high workload. Added to that he's still adjusting the pace of the English game. It's certainly no myth as other players who've come from foreign leagues eventually struggle with this: David Silva started his debut season brilliantly bad faded through the winter period, Cazorla likewise, and several players have said how hard it is to play that many games and not have a winter break.

But it's a testament to his productivity that he still has 3 goals and 6 assists despite that, and that, in essence, is what we signed him for; to be the one that produces that bit of quality in the final third. For everywhere else on the pitch, we've got Flamini, Arteta, Ramsey, Wilshere, Rosicky and Cazorla, and there's so much quality there that even if Ozil doesn't perform well, we won't be effected too much. That's not to say he was bad last night, though. He was visibly disappointed with that penalty and upped his game immediately afterwards.

You have to put aside the expectation for a moment and realise he's the same as every other player that moves and needs time. The good thing is that we can afford to give him that time as we've got a lot quality and depth already in midfield.

I don't think people want Ozil to be David Silva because he's better than that... that's the whole thing.  You want to compare him to Iniesta because he has that ability and showed it in his first year at Madrid.  Since that year, it's been "David Silva" for Ozil.  Last year, he was "Samir Nasri" ... but he's back to "David Silva".