Re: Arsenal vs Stoke City 2015/16 PL (Preview/Live Thread)

[Raptorgunner]

Theo really needs to score one more.

[Twoism]

There u go, Giroud always work as super sub

[RealGunner]

Girouddddddddddd

[Twoism]

Should have a penalty at the end but overall we did well, our conversion rate was still bad. MOTM is easily Santi, he run it like a boss

[RealGunner]

Probably our best performance of the season.

[EL Patron]

I wouldn't call that a good performance but an improvement certainly. We need to be more clinical in front goals, always feels like we need to miss one or two before scoring. The lack of killer instinct in this team frustrates me, especially when you have guys earning more than 100 k fluffing easy chances.

Hopefully we put a few past Zagreb in the champions league

[MJ]

Should have been 5 or more if Butland wasn't prime Buffon today but that's also down to us needing to be more clinical.

Giroud just offers more than Walcott as a CF, plain and simple. So much space Theo didn't pounce on like he could have even though it was a well taken goal.

Alexis looks short of his magic of last year. Getting every shot blocked.

Shame about City snatching the win against Palace but we've kept up the pace and established a 6 point cushion for when we invariably drop points vs Chelsea next week.

[Jay29]

Giroud just offers more than Walcott as a CF, plain and simple. So much space Theo didn't pounce on like he could have even though it was a well taken goal.

Walcott had at least five chances in that game. I don't see how he didn't "pounce" on the space he had.

We did just fine with him up front today. Made plenty of opportunities.

[RealGunner]

Nah can't blame Walcott for anything today. He did his best and the goal came.


Still a bit worrying how we had 30 shots but only 2 goals. However as long as we do score these 1-2 goals and be defensively solid. It's not a big deal. Would ideally like to take on more chances though.


Somehow we are 2nd quite quickly after that horrid west ham game. This is a lot more like us. City's phase will get over at some point as I doubt they can continue winning every match. We just need to stay near them.

[RealGunner]

Gabriel btw

[Raptorgunner]

Gabriel, Cazorla and Coquelin were magnificent today.

Second place.

[T-Mach]

Though the opportunities because of Theo's movement in the box his finishing was bad for someone who wants to play as a striker.Hopefully with more game time he can improve and be a real option as a forward for us.

Gabriel, Cazorla and Coquelin were magnificent today.

Second place.

Gabriel btw

The fellow seems like a steal now esp after the money that has been spent for mediocre CBs.Looks like a very good signing for us for years to come.He's just 24.

BTW,No love for Monreal guys?
The fellow has been the most consistent this season.

[Jay29]

The good thing is that we're making the chances. That performance against West Ham where we made eff all looks a one-off.

The obvious concern is our shocking conversion rate. It's not like these guys can't score, but for whatever reason we're being very wasteful in front of goal.

Walcott had several, fairly routine chances to score and probably should have had a hat-trick. Giroud comes in and the first shot he has he drags wide when he should have buried it. Alexis hit the post twice. Ramsey got into a good position and blasted over the bar. We've just got to hope that something clicks and the goals start flying in again.

It was a decent performance but apart from the finishing I also thought we lacked concentration at the back. Stoke offered little going forward but the few times they did attack we didn't deal with it convincingly.

Hopefully we'll rotate a bit for the Zagreb game since we have Chelsea next week. Can't decide if now's a great time to play Chelsea or whether we'll end up gifting them three points and getting their season up and running.

[urbaNRoots]

Haven't seen the game yet but can already tell that Wenger made some excellent selection choices today: Gave Theo another chance after Newcastle and was rewarded for it, Giroud came later on and scored as well... as we already know he's a great option to have on the bench. He also apparently played Oxlade-Chamberlain as a LW which is his best position.

So credit to Wenger for getting his team right, now hopefully he'll keep this system for so long it's working,

[T-Mach]

Beginning to think our form depends on how good Cazorla is.As soon as Caz starts to come good,everything seems to fall in place.When Cazorla takes care of the attack,Coq is left with what he does best:brutally breakdown attacks instead of trying Hollywood passes{which he tried once or twice even today & failed miserably}.

We could probably start Per,Arteta and Chambo vs. Zagreb.Think Sanchez needs a rest.Seems to be a shadow of last season.

[EL Patron]

Beginning to think our form depends on how good Cazorla is.As soon as Caz starts to come good,everything seems to fall in place.When Cazorla takes care of the attack,Coq is left with what he does best:brutally breakdown attacks instead of trying Hollywood passes{which he tried once or twice even today & failed miserably}.

We could probably start Per,Arteta and Chambo vs. Zagreb.Think Sanchez needs a rest.Seems to be a shadow of last season.

Defenders are a bit wiser regarding Sanchez at the moment, he loves that run at the defender, cut in and shoot move. I'd be tempted to play him upfront from times to times, just to confuse the opposition.

[El Gunner]

It's simple. He should opt for the byline more and cut back.

[MJ]

Giroud just offers more than Walcott as a CF, plain and simple. So much space Theo didn't pounce on like he could have even though it was a well taken goal.

Walcott had at least five chances in that game. I don't see how he didn't "pounce" on the space he had.

We did just fine with him up front today. Made plenty of opportunities.

We did fine with him against lukewarm WBAs, Villas and now Stoke. There were plenty of instances I noticed throughout the game where he wouldn't make incisive runs, despite the presentable chances he missed.

[urbaNRoots]

Walcott creates chances for himself and we KNOW when he's in good form he's a very good finisher and even when he isn't (like now) he keeps scoring.

Even Bellerin put Walcott through on goal yesterday, that's a testament of his excellent movement off the ball.

The goal reminded me of Fabregas' assist against Arsenal last season, it was a simple counter attacking move which caught Stoke off guard. This is what Walcott offers to our attacking midfielders.

[Jay29]

Watching the game back, and what's immediately apparent in the opening 15 minutes is how much better everyone's movement was, not just Walcott's. Alexis and Ramsey made some excellent runs in behind, and our midfield was exploiting the gaps in Stoke's defence with ease.

Stoke didn't defend that deep. Their defensive line was a good ten yards higher than the edge of the penalty area. Their plan seemed to be to close down the space in midfield, but they didn't make it hard enough for us to pass out from the back and ended up leaving space in behind. That gave Arsenal option to play balls over the top into the space, which they could do with a pacey forward on the pitch.

Here's an example of Koscielny doing with with a wonderful pass with the outside of his foot:



Some others:
- Coquelin did it to find Walcott, but his ball was overhit.
- The Walcott goal, obviously.
- Alexis' early header that hit the post.
- There was an attempted pass to Ramsey not long after that that was just out of his reach.
- Bellerin's crosses, which became harder to defend because Stoke's d-line was retreating.
- Cazorla played Ozil in behind with a long pass straight after the goal.

And there were many more, just int he first half alone. Stoke's gameplay seemed to be to prevent the ball from arriving to our forwards, win the ball higher up the pitch and then spring counters with Shaqiri, Anautovic and Diouf. However, they didn't win the ball enough in midfield, and gave too much time for defenders to pass out (once, Koscielny carried the ball forward several yards and forced Butland into a save from distance). That made it a lot easier for us to find those passes over the top.

Obviously we won't always face teams that generous. Most other teams will play with a lower defensive block. You can bet for sure that Chelsea will defend from the edge of their box, not ten or so yards in front of it. Zagreb in mid-week will probably do that as well.

[El Gunner]

Do we play Tuesday or Wednesday?

[RealGunner]

wed

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