Dortmund Exploit The Gunners Glaring Weaknesses

So after watching the dismantling we took against Dortmund on Tuesday I thought I'd share my thoughts as to what's been going wrong with the team since the start of the season. With the summer signings (particularly Alexis Sanchez) there was a much greater sense of optimism buzzing around the club. This however was tinged with a sense of concern about recruitment in a number of key positions. I think just about every man and his dog was saying that Arsenal needed to bolster their defensive midfield options and central defensive options. As we all know, this was not done adequately with only 6 senior players in the squad to cover 4 positions.

There is no doubt this contributed to the result against a rampant and energetic Dortmund side on Tuesday, however I don't think this tells the full story. Taking the game in isolation it is clear that Arsenal had a bad day at the office and Dortmund was set up extremely well tactically. They pressed the ball extremely well with first and second waves of pressing via their midfield and attack which lead to Arsenal being rushed in possession. This tactic had a profound effect on the composure of the Arsenal team with pass completion falling well below the required standard by a number of our players, with Arteta being particularly culpable at the base of the midfield.

In the press conference after the game Wenger more or less admitted that his team were poor. However the reality is that the team haven't looked right since the beginning of the season. After labouring to a win at home to Crystal Palace on opening day we have won only 1 out of 6 matches since (a narrow win against Beksistas to qualify for the Champions League group phase). The best performance of the season so far has been our 2-2 draw with Manchester City, which in of itself was disappointing in the way the team surrendered the lead to a set piece after going 2-1 up in the second half.

To my eye the team looks somewhat disjointed and imbalanced. The new 4-1-4-1 formation doesn't seem to have bedded in as quickly as everyone would like. It’s obvious that Wenger wants a system that accommodates to the attacking talents of Alexis, Ramsey, Wilshere and Ozil simultaneously. However there have been some curious choices such as selecting an out of form Ozil on the left side of the team when his work rate and tracking back isn’t his strong suite. This has left his fullback exposed at times. The team seems to be adapting slowly to the new system and while the likes of Wilshere has been given a platform to shine (such as his barnstorming performance against City) others such as Arteta, Ozil and to a lesser extent Ramsey seem to have suffered as a result of it.

In the first half particularly, our midfield was totally overwhelmed by the energy and hunger of our opponents. It felt as it there were more Dortmund players on the pitch than Arsenal players such was the dominance of the home side. In truth the score could have been a lot worse but for their woeful finishing (with the exception of the two they scored of course). Henrik Mkhitaryan was most culpable in this regard missing two easy chances during the match.

The issue of finishing (or lack thereof) was something that Arsenal fans are no strangers to. The familiar sight of Giroud habitually starring into the heavens after a bad miss have been replaced by Yaya Sanogo and new recruit Danny Welbeck doing the exact same thing (not the starring bit but the missing badly bit). In Welbeck's first two games with the club his wastefulness has been costly; occurring at crucial times in games as both opponents scored within minutes of his agonising misses. These are decisive moments in matches but I believe with time Welbeck will improve given time to familiarise himself with his team-mates and improve his confidence in front of goal. It has only been 2 games and a hand full of training sessions with his new team-mates so Welbeck will be given the benefit of the doubt though I am sure he will be spending a little extra time after training to do shooting and finishing drills.

I think Wenger is in a difficult position in that he has to make decisions to improve the team. Should he switch back to the 4-2-3-1 system used last season or should he persist with the current system? Does he keep Ozil out on the wing or put him more centrally or even drop him all together? The Ozil conundrum is interesting. The fact of the matter is Ozil's starting position in this new system is based more on defensive positioning rather than offensive ones. Ozil isn't restricted to the wing and often drifts across the pitch but his lack of grit at times leaves the fullback he is designated to protect quite exposed and our defensive midfield options don't seem to be able to cover those gaps very effectively. (I have spoken in more detail about Arsenal's chronic issues at the DCM position here).

In all likelihood, Wenger will persist with this system and with his personnel choices such as using Ozil on the flanks. I think the only way that is going to change is if injuries force his hand. Wenger as a coach has always been about creating a football eco-system that his players can exist in rather than worrying too much about the tactical flexibility of his team. He often gives his players the freedom within a structure to express themselves. But at the moment there are a number of players that aren't anywhere near the top of their games and crucially in defence he doesn't have anything in the way of alternatives for the faltering Mertesacker or Koscielny.

The news that our new right back Mat Debuchy has a long terms injury puts further pressure on the team. Hector Bellerin seems a good prospect but his inclusion in the team speaks more to the lack of options than it does to his quality. We all know this isn't the kind of game he should be making his début in, but needs-must at the moment. To be fair to the boy he did a reasonable job and wasn't at fault for the goals the team did concede but the reality is our senior players at centre back are struggling and so adding the job of guiding a raw, inexperienced youngster through the rigours of a Champions League match isn't ideal.

It’s important not to overreact after a bad defeat, and I don't think the problems we have are insurmountable. However things do need to improve quickly starting with a must win game against Aston Villa at the weekend. I call it a must win game because, after drawing three games in a row in the league, and losing in mid-week Arsenal need to win to get back to winning ways and keep pace in the league. Any more dropped points will start to seriously sap confidence. Here’s to hoping this weekend represents a turning point for our team, where they show their full potential and start building momentum and confidence.

Fingers crossed!

You can follow me on twitter:

@kwamberto

Same Old Arsenal. Always.... In Transition?

As those who know me would attest, I am an unashamed lover of the Arsenal. My love for sports in general can only be matched by my love for this football club. I have supported them since I was a boy and I am a proud season ticket holder. In many ways it’s the reason why up till now I have avoided writing about them. I fear my biases will spill onto the page and instead of being objective I will simply find myself defending the team, the coach and the club in general.

After watching the Dortmund game and analysing what went wrong, I was inspired after a conversation with a good friend of mine to talk about my pet peeves with this Arsenal team. The problem is my pet peeves with this team have pretty much been the same for the better part of a decade; that is in some areas of the pitch we have consistently been undermanned in terms of world class talent as compared to other areas such as upfront or attacking midfield. During our well documented barren run Arsenal have always boasted highly rated (and highly sort after) talents at the top end of the pitch particularly under Wenger. If there is one position that has suffered during this period it is undoubtedly in the defensive midfield.

If I am being totally honest, I think that since the days of Patrick Vieira and Gilberto Silva (basically the invincible era) we have not replaced either of those two players with anyone with a natural sense of positioning and discipline required to play in front of and adequately shield the back four, not to mention the physicality to break up play and the power to drive the team forward. The likes of Mathieu Flamini, Alex Song and now Mikel Arteta all pale in comparison with the players that patrolled the heart of our midfield in that fabled 2003/04 run. Conversely Arsenal has always been blessed with great technical attack minded players post 2004. Players such as Fabregas, Van Persie, Nasri, Walcott and even Adebayor blossomed into outstanding talents during their time with the club (and painfully moved onto pastures anew). But crucially no such talent emerged on the defensive side, there were no new defensive rocks to replace the Campbell's, the Toure's or the Keown's or a new goalie to replace the Lehmann's / Seaman's until Szczesny eventually took up the mantle (Almunia and Fabiansky weren't good enough frankly)

I raise the point about defensive players because this has been Arsenal's and Arsene Wenger's issue for quite some time. He has always had a gift for nurturing attack minded players but I can't think of too many examples of great defenders that have blossomed under his tutelage. If we take centre-back for example the best Wenger era CB's have been:

• Inherited from his predecessors such Adams, Keown & Bould
• Bought ready-made. Sol Campbell, Thomas Vermalen and Per Mertesaker come to mind and to a lesser extent Laurent Koscielny
• Developed internally such as.... errrm Kolo Toure and that's about it (although I wouldn't argue against Kos belonging in this category)

Considering this is over the course of 18 years that's not very impressive. Wenger has of course tried to bring in top quality defenders over this time but there have been a number of duds. For ready-made Wenger has opted for the likes of William Gallas, Pascal Cygan, Igor Stepanovs and Gilles Grimandi. When developing players internally we've seen the likes of Matt Upson, Phil Senderos and Johan Djourou fail to make the grade. Now I understand that it’s not an easy thing to do, but I still expect more especially when you consider the number of attack minded players who've done well under our manager. Out of all the names above, only Gallas was a proven entity and I'd be hard pressed to call his time at the club a success.

The frustrating thing is Wenger is still repeating those same mistakes; to this day we lack the requisite quality in the same areas of the pitch. And when the quality is there, we seem to lack the depth to compete. Having only two senior / experienced centre-backs at a club the size of Arsenal is just not good enough. We do have young Calum Chambers who in fairness does look a very good prospect but that aside we are woefully short in defensive numbers. Unfortunately Wenger has always been biased towards offensive players.

In fact Wenger went on record to talk about the need to beef up the attack due in large part to the glaring disparity between ourselves and the jet propelled attacks of both Man City and Liverpool. Both clubs scored over 100 Premier League goals last season and finished first and second respectively. Arsenal by comparison were well short of that number with a relatively modest 68 goals scored in the league (for context the 3rd highest scoring team was Chelsea, with 30 goals less than the top two). I think beefing up attacking options was the primary focus of both London clubs this summer for very obvious reasons.

However Arsenal's back line was also in acute need of reinforcement, something the gaffer did acknowledge but has not adequately covered in the summer transfer window. Mat Debuchy came in for Sagna and Chambers came in initially as cover for the right back slot but has morphed into our de-facto 3rd choice centre half after Vermalen's expected departure to Barcelona. So in essence Chambers is our 3rd choice CB AND our 2nd choice RB. With no experienced cover behind him... it’s quite scary especially when you consider Arsenal have traditionally always had an injury crisis or three every season!! We as fans have to hope no further injuries are suffered in this department (Debuchy is already a long term absentee).

This obviously begs the question, why doesn't Wenger invest in more proven talent in positions one could argue have been his "blind spot" over the years? He hasn't really been able to successfully develop them so surely one would be expected to buy a ready-made solution to shore up a team that has been known to have a bit of a soft centre for the best part of a decade, right?? There were rumours of the likes of Sami Khedira and William Carvalho signing but nothing has materialised. Surely this has to change if Arsenal is to be taken seriously as competitors for major titles.

Now I don't want to be too negative about my club, as I know it is a lot easier to say these things than to do them. We all know that there have been severe financial restrictions on the club for a number of years and honestly Wenger has done a masterful job in consistently guiding the club into the Champions League year after year with increasingly stiffening competition. But the fact remains that those financial restrictions have lessened and there is money to spend on improving the squad. I just wish we'd finally replace Gilberto and Vieira. I think it’s been long enough. Don't you?

You can follow me on twitter: @kwamberto