A thoroughly enjoyable game that Arsenal pretty much dominated from start to finish. Stoke's record at the Emirates is appalling, with them losing every time they go there, and so it proved against as they found our pace and skill on the ball too much to handle.

Alexis will get all the plaudits for yet another outstanding performance, but not a single Arsenal player played badly. Our start was hugely encouraging, with Begovic being forced into two great saves and a Chamberlain drive going just wide before we scored the first goal. It was a reversal of the game at Stoke, where we turned up asleep and Stoke battered us.

Rosicky's return to the side and Cazorla's form have been large contributing factors to our improved performances as of late (the Southampton's game notwithstanding). They're both busy players, always getting on the ball, passing through teams and running past people. Backed up by Coquelin, who's been quite impressive since his return to the club, Arsenal controlled the midfield and from there they could attack Stoke and penetrate them with the pace and trickery of Alexis and Chamberlain.

Pace and penetration are two things we've lacked and when we do have it, we are a much more dangerous team. Very few teams will like playing against Chamberlain, Alexis, Rosicky, Cazorla and even Bellerin in full flight. With Campbell and Walcott on the bench, and Welbeck to return, we have plenty of weapons to use in attack. It's just a matter of using those players correctly and striking the right balance in the team. For the moment, we seem to be achieving that.

Defensively, we did okay, considering further disruption was brought about by Debuchy having his shoulder dislocated by a needless push from Arnautovic (retrospective punishment plus) and Szczesny being dropped for Ospina. Some worried about Ospina's ability to cope with balls into the box, but he did well when called upon. Stoke did produce some very good crosses, but we managed to deal with them. It's probably no coincidence that Mertesacker looked much more comfortable alongside Koscielny.

Three goals, three points and barely anything to moan about (two weeks running). More of this please, Arsenal.

Next week presents a considerably more difficult test as we head up north to play a City who haven't lost in a while, are challenging for the title and have just got Aguero back from injury. Whether Ospina starts that one, and whether the midfield of Coquelin, Rosicky and Cazorla would provide the necessary protection and balance against City's attackers are the main questions ahead of that one. I suspect Flamini or Ramsey may come back in, probably for Rosicky.

At the very least, we'll go into next week's game in relatively decent shape, with players in form and players back from injury. I guess we can be a little positive about it.

GoonerJay29 wrote:A thoroughly enjoyable game that Arsenal pretty much dominated from start to finish.

YUSSSSS.

When Coquelin plays like he has been you wonder again why he hasn't managed to carve out a better career for himself by now. Solid stretch of games the guy has, glad to see him applying himself when he's gotten a shot.

Alexis

Surprisingly good performance. Now I am confident of a shit performance next week.

By the way, is it just me or does Mesut look a little beefier now? Probably hit the weight bench with all his spare time ...

We were great today. Played like the old Arsenal. Good passing and flair. Attacking football.

Few individual things

Coquelin - Thought he did quite well, but there was not a lot to do for him. Despite that, I liked how quick he passed the ball. He is athletic however he is also weak. I am not completely sold on him but he seems to have more of a presence than Flamini. I want to see him against City. I have a feeling Arsene will start Flamini but it shouldn't be the case. Coquelin needs to start and prove himself.

I am hopeful he can find a place for himself at Arsenal as a squad member judging by his recent performances.

Bellerin - He keeps getting better. Improved tactically and now he knows when to attack and when not to. He is hungry to prove himself and that's what I like about him the most. He also seems a bit stronger now.

Cazorla - Immense form atm. Can't see Wenger bench him, but Ozil needs to play too. Let's see.

With Debuchy, Bellerin and Chambers, I really don't see a future for Carl Jenkinson

Coquelin - squad role yes, starting XI quality still debatable.

Good writeup as usual Jay.

Best performance of the season, Rosicky, Cazorla and Alexis pulled off some quick and incisive stuff against a shite Stoke side.

Happy to see Bellerin and Coquelin do so well, the latter has got a big test ahead of him if he plays vs City. Still need to invest in a better DM but he's made a great case for himself as a useful squad player.

Chumlum wrote:By the way, is it just me or does Mesut look a little beefier now? Probably hit the weight bench with all his spare time ...

Thought so too. Some suggested that it was just the tight Puma shirts flattering his physique but someone posted a pic of him pre-injury vs now and he does look bigger imo.

Debuchy will need a small operation to pin the joint and is likely to miss a significant period of the second half of the season.

It was joy watching us again, clean sheet and sweet revenge against this stupid rugby team.

This was positive result and I hope Wenger does not close the transfer window early, we need players and injuries wont go away.

F*cking Stoke can't go one game without severely injuring someone

Santi's first touch and ability in tight spaces

could have improved our GD Even more

team vs City?

Ospina

Bellerin---Per---Kos---Gibbs
----------Coquelin
------Santi------Ramsey??

AOC------Giroud----Alexis

OX/Alexis wide essential ,need to stop Zabaleta and co

doubt Ramsey is fit enough to start
maybe exciting dou of Coquelin-Flam starting together

if Gibbs doesnt make it and we have Nacho vs Navas again

Chambers was ill so didn't play today. I imagine he'll play at right back against City, ahead of Bellerin.

It'll probably be:

Ospina; Chambers, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs; Coquelin, Flamini; Chamberlain, Cazorla, Alexis; Giroud

But it's possible that if Welbeck has recovered from his thigh problem by then that he'll start. Ramsey has a decent chance of starting, too, since he wasn't out for that long. Different story with Ozil and Walcott.

Don't want Chambers to play at RB honestly. Hope it's Bellerin again. At least he is fast.

Feel bad Debuchy, dude cant catch a break, also want Bellerin play next ge but Chambers will most likely start.

RealGunner wrote:Don't want Chambers to play at RB honestly. Hope it's Bellerin again. At least he is fast.

That's what I thought too. Just give the kid the chance, he looks like he could become real great if he's given a few games. And if he makes a mistake or two so be it, he'll help create too going forward.

Twoism wrote:Feel bad Debuchy, dude cant catch a break, also want Bellerin play next ge but Chambers will most likely start.

All he's catching are breaks.


Bellerin has given Wenger a reason to give up this CB at RB and LB at CB etc. nonsense. He deserves to start next week.

Agreed. Bellerin to start imo

The early Kosielny goal allowed Arsenal to practice their pressing. I don’t think it’s a secret that Wenger is trying to change Arsenal’s style in order to leverage the amazing workrate of Alexis. He’s got the whole team pressing up the pitch now when Arsenal are out of possession. Sometimes this works and sometimes it looks disjointed and weird. Which is to be expected when bedding in a new system.

I’ve actually noticed that while Flamini gets a lot of the blame, it’s actually Cazorla who is often pressing like a headless chicken or not pressing when he should be, thus exposing the Arsenal defensive mids to runners with acres of space. But today, Cazorla looked fantastic and in control all the time which is born out by his stats.

Arsenal dominated possession (which you would expect them to do) but they actually matched Stoke nearly tackle for tackle winning 22 tackles to Stoke’s 26. Arsenal also intercepted the ball more (21 to 15), made just 1 fewer clearance (21 to 22) and matched Stoke 17 to 17 in aerial duels.

Watching the game I was initially impressed with Coquelin and wondered if he was a major reason why Arsenal looked so assured in midfield. But late in the game he looked like he had heavy legs.

Coquelin only completed 40/50 passes. Misplacing 10 passes isn’t a crime but it does beg the question about whether Arsenal’s main center mid in a diamond 4 can make those kinds of errors. 4 of his 10 missed passes were entry passes into the final third, 2 were in the middle third of the pitch during the first 60 minutes, and 4 of them were in the middle third in the final 30 minutes.

Coquelin was also just 2/4 in tackles and had three interceptions. I’m wan to bring these numbers up because it doesn’t necessarily mean that he wasn’t playing good defense. A guy doesn’t have to make 20 tackles in a game to be a good defender, though people would love to see that!

To give you a comparison, Morgan Schneiderlin completed 37/39 passes against Man U. His two misplaced passes were both long balls. Schneiderlin made 1/2 tackles but had 5 interceptions and made 5 clearances.

http://news.arseblog.com/2015/01/arsenal-3-0-stoke-by-the-numbers/

Pleasing win. Everyone played well. Most of these points have already been mentioned but I'd just like to reiterate:

1. Bellerin has impressed at RB and deserves to start over Chambers. I have not been sold on Chambers (at RB) at all. Not just lack of pace, but positioning is suspect.

2. Cazorla has been immense in the last few weeks. I think people just forgot how good he is in a more central position. I'd hate to see him wasted out wide again. We should be rotating Cazorla and Ozil centrally. With our poor injury record and amount of games to play, we should be able to keep them both happy.

3. I think this is how Wenger envisioned this 4-1-4-1 formation. The DM wins the ball and passes to the midfield to advance the ball. Coquelin did a very good "Busquets" impersonation, winning the ball and passing it to Cazorla/Rosicky. He looked very good on the ball and looks to have good awareness around him. We are also playing two fast wingers out wide pushing the opposition fullbacks back instead of playing another midfielder out wide (see point 2). I still feel in tough (away) games, we should revert back to the 4-2-3-1 formation but against park-the-bus teams, this 4-1-4-1/4-3-3 formation may be a good option.

When Wilshere returns, we will see the whole thing go back up in smoke because Wilshere can't play wide. So it will have to be him and/or Ramsey in the middle. That means Cazorla/Özil wide.

We have a lot of depth, but not all players are at their best at every position, resulting in the frustrating situation of some players being played less optimally for the sake of others. This was why the start of this season was disastrous. This could have been addressed if these experiments were done in a proper preseason.

I am still inclined towards the 4-2-3-1 variation, instead of the 4-1-4-1, mainly because it provides a better protection to the rather frail defense. The problem is, if you don't want to shunt players wide, we have Arteta/Flamini/Coquelin for the deepest midfielder, whereas Ramsey/Wilshere/Özil/Cazorla/Rosicky for the remaining two positions and that is a bloody hard choice when all are fit.

Even at 34, Rosicky is still playing better than the other midfielders bar Cazorla. So much respect for him. He's underrated and that desire and hunger should be a motivation for every other lad on the team. I really really hope he retires with us and stays on in some role for a long, long time. He may not be spoken in the same breath as Bobby Pires or Henry or Bergkamp or Viera - but for me, he's at least close to that level.

Poor Debuchy

Nice win though. We played really well from the start unlike what we've been doing previously in the season. Passing was crisp and gorgeous. Took our goals well, and what's even more pleasing is that we could've easily scored 3 or 4 more if we tried to emp it up a bit more.

Looking forward to the match against City. It's gonna be tough for them, but I hope Bellerin and Coquelin start. They need to prove themselves.

UP THE GUNS!!!

Good work, Jay.

A fantastic performance and a very good result. This result shouldn't be underestimated; Stoke won at Man City and Spurs, whilst they lost narrowly at Man Utd. We were excellent; Alexis, Coquelin, Rosicky, Chamberlain and Bellerin standing out.

Alexis is just incredible - 2 goals and an assist. The guy never stops working, scoring or creating!

Our bench was probably the strongest it has been all season; and that's without Gibbs, Chambers, Arteta, Wilshere and Welbeck, not to mention Gnabry and Diaby (if he still counts).

I thought Coquelin was fabulous again, his form just improves every game. I'm glad his place is secured at the moment, aothough the true judge will come next weekend at the Etihad. I think we'll be able to judge him (and the whole team) more on that game. I think Wenger will bring Ramsey back in for that one - meaning a midfield of Coquelin Ramsey; Chamberlain Cazorla Alexis.

3rd place is definitely achieveable, we just can't afford many more injuries.

Could see that happening as well Sam. The midfield.

I'd go with that too, with Theo, Özil and Flamini (/Arteta) covering from the bench.