West Ham 1 - 3 Arsenal: Mental Strength

FT Stats West Ham v Arsenal Shots 12-29 On target 5-8, Fouls 11-6 Duels Won 29%-71%, Pass Accuracy 70%-84%, Possession 34%-66%


It was a very old fashioned Arsenal match in many ways. They took the lead against the run of play. Then we had to show fight and mental strength to overcome that which we did.

At no point i thought we would lose this game. We were creating chances. A lot of chances. We had to score one of them. We did in the end. 3 goals and could have been more.

Walcott had a poor 1st half but he popped up with 2 goals. But Podolski's impact shouldn't be ignored. He came back after months and showed what we were missing all this time. He is different to our usual wide midfielders. He is a no nonsense type. Doesn't believe in tiki taka. Smash it when possible and his goal was attest to that.

Overall a game we should have won and we did.

Top 5 players

1) Cazorla. Was excellent. Cazorla of last season. Pulled the strings from the middle. Took charge.
2) Walcott. invisible 1st half but came up with two crucial goals. Getting sharp with every match.
3) Gibbs. Ran up n down all match. Fantastic player having a great season
4) Podolski. Really changed the match
5) Ozil. Some lovely passing and created like 10 chances

Was a typical Nicolas Cage film. Boring 2/3rds, followed by lots of stuff blowing up towards the end

What this game has learned us: f*ck Özil, play Cazorla at CAM.

Cazorla at his best >>>> what I've seen from Özil my whole life

Come at me,

Ozil will play better when he's got direct players ahead of him like Walcott and Podolski. Otherwise he just passes to someones feet, who passes back to him, who passes to someone else feet etc etc.

This match showed how we missed some directness, and not afraid to shoot from distance every now and then.

El Gunner wrote:What this game has learned us: f*ck Özil, play Cazorla at CAM.

Cazorla at his best >>>> what I've seen from Özil my whole life

Come at me,

I agree, moving Cazorla from his favorite position for Ozil was not good decision but Ozil still needs time and we should keep playing them both.

Goldi Poldi, Hallelujah.

Game of up and down for me

We're in control of 1st half and all could see there would be goals in 2nd half after those Giroud frustrating attempts to tap in.

We were playing like crap after Sir Chesny felt generous in holiday spirit. While has better possession, we were 2nd best in many one on one challenge for a good while.

And this might sounds cruel but Rambo injury changed the game, god knows what would happen if Lukas came in late. Theo finished strong with 2 goals, Girould got an assist out of all things and Lukas with great come back, that lethal left foot is still needed here at Arsenal.

Some of the difference after our comeback:

- The difference between shooting and attempting to walk and tap in. Lukas wasn't afraid to shot and it paid off and while lucky, Theo shot was a moment of determination as well.

- Giroud back to his last year form, doing everything right except get a goal into the net.

- Santi sudden coming alive after switched to the middle. Gibbs didn't have to do everything by his own anymore with the help of Lukas. There is little chemisty between Gibbs and Santi, Lukas is much better fit, at the same time Santi involved a lots more when played permanently in the middle.

- Ozil again missing. He had some brilliant moment like that run in 1st half but not much else.

- We're top of the table and hoping a draw for Pool and City.

Hope Ramsey's injury is not too serious.

But everytime we shot, it was blocked. Can't blame the players if luck isn't on their side

bit of a comeback...

the problem was more serious than we thought.. it was not just about playing difficult teams like Everton, City and Chelsea.. but also with the tactics and confusion about the style we want to play..

in the early part of the season we had a definite strategy.. to be more apt we were forced to play this style because of injuries to all our wide players.. play 5 Cenral midfileders, interchange positions and roles and linkup with Giroud.. it was a revelation that we could keep winning so many games with such a new style.. looked good against most teams playing with this style.. a deficiency which was noted was the lack of pace and we struggled against teams with good pacy fullbacks Everton, Dortmund, City..

and problems started when we started integrating Walcott back into the lineup.. we cannot play that style with Walcott playing too central and contributing less to the gameplay.. Girouds fall in form also affected us..

and may be today we have found out the plan A just like what i was mentioning in prematch.. Poldi-Giroud-Walcott 4-3-3 fast counterattacking game where Walcott and Poldi should stay wide and cross more.. it is what happpened today.. and the only thing which can restrict this style is Poldis and Walcotts willingness to adapt and sacrifice their favourite CF positions..

now about todays match in particular.. a bit of criticism..

i am sure that it is Ramseys injury which changed this match.. i doubt whether Poldi would have been subbed in so early if Ramsey was not injured.. it is something Wenger has to do more.. when things are not going our way, we keep on playing the same hoping that we can overturn it.. sometimes we have to make some changes and try whether it works or not..

and todays game..
very good - Arteta, Gibbs, Poldi
good - Ozil, Walcott
poor - Giroud

Poldis energy was great.. and Cazorla did better when he was shifted to centre.. it is too premature to say that this will be a success against all teams.. but i hope we shift to this 4-3-3 as the first option.. front 3 as mentioned with Ozil/Cazorla as creative force, Ramsey/Wilshere as b2b and Arteta/Flamini as deep playmaker..

only 3 Goals!!!
but back to winning habits
Top of the League

Santi upped his game and changed it

well done Gibbo

poldi<3

We need a real, bad, deadly striker. Giroud can play the last 15-20m of the game.

Bendtner. 

Time to Watch Liverpool VS Man city with a smile.  

Bendtner has actually been doing pretty well for mins he is getting, he has getting chances and making some, was unlucky to have his goal ruled out vs City

Glad Podolski is back we finally have really width/wingers no

He did and then he had that ridiculous cross to a no man land by using his inner sixth sense.

Twoism wrote:He did and then he had that ridiculous cross to a no man land by using his inner sixth sense.

I was laughing at that,   that was a old Theo moment.  

Whether he intends or not, Bendy always look out for comedic moments in little minutes he had and he delivered. Dont know why, just like u, watching him now makes me want to laugh. Can never forget his 3 inches offside pass )

Superb performance. Domination. Fantastic to see Podolski back, he changed the game. Hopefully Ramsey is ok - though, ironically, a few weeks out could do him good (Rest-wise).

Cazorla was my motm. Brilliant display.

(Also, why you doing this-, and not Jay, RG?

Jay is away with his family so he wasn't able to do it today

RealGunner wrote:Jay is away with his family so he wasn't able to do it today

That's unacceptable.

Haha, KIDDING. Our forum is brilliant.

EPL table is crazy, Liverpool went from first to 4th today.   

Raptorgunner wrote:EPL table is crazy, Liverpool went from first to 4th today.   

could have been 5th if Everton had won

Very good win. Showed a bit of mental strength to come back. Theo frustrated us as usual today. Shit first half but scored two in the second half. Thats four goals already since he has been back from injuries, thats a little bit of good form building there. Bringing Poldi for Ramsey completely changed things. Will be interesting to see how Wenger set up the team in the following games

Call me crazy, but I feel like Bendtner needs more minutes. I find his general footballing career, comments and actions as big a joke as anyone but I cant really ignore what I seen recently.

Giroud has lost it, first I thought it was fatigue, maybe it was, but now confidence is going. He did well to lay on the goal for Podo, that was good play but overall you can see the struggle.

6 minutes isnt real fair on Bendtner, I know the plan wasnt to use him, but the plan wasnt to bring back Flamini untill the situation presented itself.

That miss vs Bendtner was good to see if anything, the way he took on his man in the 1 v 1 looks like something Giru cant manage at the moment. Not saying he should start of anything crazy, just 6 minutes going up to 20 makes some sense to me based on both guys.

Butt wrote:

Raptorgunner wrote:EPL table is crazy, Liverpool went from first to 4th today.   

could have been 5th if Everton had won

Everton played the worst team in the league at home = 0 points
we played the best team in the league away = 0 points

Their fans are 1000000% more pissed off than ours....

Completely agreed with Dani. I was hoping Bendtner actually started today but Arsene would never bench someone who is low on confidence. Reason Giroud started was to show Arsene trusted him eventhough it wasn't the best of options seeing his performance in the last few matches. Maybe Arsene though there were goals in other players so it wouldn't matter much.

Bendtner when he is really in the mood can be a good player. He has scored in big games to show that.

I can't see Arsene starting Bendtner against Newcastle as it's a big-ish game but I don't know how he expects Giroud to play again after 2 games in 4 games.

Perhaps Podolski upfront might work. I'd go with that.