Top of the morning to yall
It was a jolly good weekend in all of Arsenaldom wasn’t it?
Not just because the Sp*ds crashed and burned at the hands of Fulham courtesy of
their former player and #chokingcockrels was trending in London, it was because
we did our job against Swansea. A difficult opponent that has caused us lots of
trouble in the recent past. A trip to
South Wales to play the free passing Swansea is not the most anticipated
fixture to look up to after an away game at the Allianz Arena in mid-week, but
the team came out in flying colours.
One thing that is common in both victories though is the
defensive performance from the team. Two away games, two victories and two
clean sheets and keep in mind, we used our second choice goalkeeper who hasn’t played
in almost a year until the Bayern game.
After the game on Wednesday, I opined that the team had put
their 10 day rest to good use to reorganise and hone the defensive aspect of
their game. The game on Wednesday and Saturday saw a different approach to
defending that we last saw in the opening games of the season against Stoke, Sunderland
and Liverpool, where the whole team defends and not just the back four. A performance
where runners were being tracked, midfielders were pressing the ball high up
the pitch and someone was covering for someone else when out of position. Per Mertesacker
perfectly explains this here
The most important thing we learned was to cover each other more. There were a lot of situations where there was no pressure on the ball and the back four was not prepared for any balls between us.
We are always watching videos. That is not the point. Sometimes it is good to see situations and I think the very important scenes against Tottenham made it more clear for everyone.
Defending is the responsibility of the whole team
and that includes the midfielders, wingers and strikers, and when we defend as
a unit, it makes the job of the goalkeeper considerably easier, which I sort of
have pity for Wojciech Szczesny. Being dropped when the defence was in tatters
and did not give him adequate cover is a shame when one considers that Fabianski
has enjoyed considerably better protection over the last 2 games than he has
enjoyed in a long time.
I have to admit though, it does sacrifice the
attacking aspect of our game that we and especially Arsene Wenger have become
to be known for in his years at Arsenal but any Arsenal fan will take a solid
defence that ships in little and scores little over a defence that ships in
goals in the bucket load. So big ups to the team and long may such performances
continue.
And how quickly do the tides change, we were biting
our fingers 2 weeks ago about how far away we are from Sp*ds after the defeat
and now with a game in hand, we are four points away and winning our
outstanding game will put us just one point behind them and with 9 games to go,
the heat is definitely on and the choking cockerels seem to be ones feeling the
heat now.
No games next week, the interlull resumes and it
comes when the team seems to be putting a little run together. 2 wins from 2 is
not what can be categorised as a great run but with this Arsenal team, it looks
like it. Sort of.
That's that for this morning, be right back on Wednesday
for another piece, sorry for the erratic posts lately, I have had precious
little time on my hands and I just try to write whenever I have the chance. Let’s
all bask in the glow of a good weekend and y’all should have yourselves a great
week ahead.
God bless the Arsenal.
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