Arsenal Banter Archive October 24 2016

24 Oct 2016 23:10:37
The one thing that gets me irked by arsenal is the fact we hardly shoot from just outside the box even when presented the chances. This accounts a bit for our struggles when we play against teams that sit deep.

25 Oct 2016 00:06:56
Agree, against Chelsea we had a lot of shorts outside the box which was great but try to pass it in against the smaller teams ho have more defenders behind the ball., Does not seem to make sense.

25 Oct 2016 15:41:49
Absolutely agree. When Cazorla arrived he had a great shot on him, same goes for Elneny and more recently Xhaka. Wenger clearly deters the players from shooting from distance, which I fail to comprehend as such shots not only lead to goals directly, but chances come from rebounds and corners, as a result of shots that don't themselves lead to direct goals.

Especially in matches where teams defend deep in banks of two, shots give another option when space behind defences is at a premium. Perhaps Wenger believes that possession is often conceeded to the opposition from missed shots or that shots stop the flow of the type of game he is wants us to play. I believe that great teams have options in their lockers, such as long shots, long passes and even at times high balls thrown into the box.

25 Oct 2016 17:17:16
Utter rubbish, Wenger doesn't deter anyone from shooting from outside the box, hence Xhaka shooting, Sanchez does when he wants, Walcott scored from outside the box last week and so it goes on.

Don't believe what the press turn into a story, next you'll be thinking there really is a trophy for 4th place. 🙄.

25 Oct 2016 20:18:59
Not even half time in tonight's game and 4 or 5 shots from outside the box. 🤔.

24 Oct 2016 13:21:14
It's interesting to see the effect that players playing in CL fixtures has on the results of the clubs following CL matches:
Arsenal V Middlesborough 0-0
Man City V Southampton 1-1
Bournemouth v Toot 1-1
Chelsea v Man United 4-0

Not one of the CL teams won, despite winnable fixtures for 3 of the 4 teams. Big win for Chelsea, who are not in Europe this season.

This was the reason that I felt that Wenger has to be very intelligent with the team selections for the CL and Middlesbrough matches. In my opinion we should have played Xhaka in the CL match as he is banned for 3 domestic matches.

Bellerin clearly needed a rest, hence why Debuchy should have had some playing time against Forest in the League cup, in order to get some match fitness in order to play in the occasional match, clearly he is on his way out.

Gabriel also should have played in one of the two matches. A tactical mistake was playing Theo against Boro, as he struggles when we play at home against teams defending deep in two banks. Ox has a bit more trickery in his locker for such matches. We looked very jaded against Boro, hence there should have been more changes from our strong squad in the CL match.

Fortunately we can rest the first eleven tomorrow against Reading, so they are fresh for Sunderland away at the weekend.

24 Oct 2016 15:24:57
You forgot Leicester who won and have actually won their only three wins after CL fixture.

24 Oct 2016 18:34:42
Good post RG.

24 Oct 2016 21:00:58
The only real 1st teamers in the training pics for the Reading game were Giroud, Ramsey, Chamberlain, Perez, Iwobi, Jenkinson and Xhaka.

Debuchy must be on holiday, literally not seen him since pre season and he's not listed as injured.

25 Oct 2016 13:42:43
I understand what you are saying RG and it looks like 3 points dropped against Boro, however if he had rotated and lost and boro played well IMO and a dropped the inform walcott for a prem game that would be worse.

we are in october and yest they have played a few games in sucession but are we really talking about fatigue in October 9 games into the prem season? These player are at the top of the sport i don't feel at this stage we can use that as a excuse.

we had an off day is all, Boro played well and maybey the players after such a good run left a little in the dressing room, if that had been Barcelona or tottenham i feel at this stage of the season they would have found an extra 10%

Just my thoughts.

25 Oct 2016 15:46:43
Red Dog 81 - Yes Debuchy clearly isn't in Wenger's plans, as Maitland-Niles played against Notts Forest and I can't recall any appearances in a squad this season, although I may be wrong in this respect. I believe the team will have wholesale changes tonight. Ospina in goal. The back four: Jenkinson, Gabriel, Holding and Gibbs. In front of the back four: Ramsey and Elneny. The three attcking midfield players; Ox, Reinne-Adelaide and Perez, with Giroud up front. This should be strong enough to beat Reading at home and rest players for Saturday's away match at Sunderland.