Good that we put a very average Hull side to the sword... eventually. We were very wasteful today and should have been out of sight before they got that penalty. We responded well to that though, took the sting out of any comeback by keeping the ball then getting a third. Xhaka's screamer rounded things off nicely.

Hull didn't press and sat ridiculously deep, so the issues in our build-up didn't come up today. Coquelin I think played a bit deeper than he has been, so there was more space for our attackers to work in. Despite that I thought Cazorla and Ozil had pretty average games. Ozil especially is looking a bit off form at the moment.

Alexis and Walcott linked up well though, and Iwobi was impressive. He improves the side with his intelligent movement, knowing when to link-up play and when to make runs.

Forest away then Chelsea at home

Mid-week team should be interesting. Could see something like:

Ospina; Debuchy, Holding, Bielik, Gibbs; Elneny, Xhaka; Lucas, Ramsey, Chamberlain; Giroud

Hull were garbage so it's difficult to rate this performance but still a good result. The only annoying thing is how bad our finishing was, we should have been out of sight by half time really. I think Cazorla played well, kept things ticking nicely in midfield. He just needed a goal or an assist to round up a good performance.

Ozil is still playing his way into form, he is not 100 percent fit but he will get there.  Defensively, i think we are struggling a little bit with this highline. There are times where we get it wrong and the defenders have to use their pace to recover. Even the goal came from a botched attempt to play offside, we will need to improve that if we want to defend with a high line.

Really good performance imo. Was annoyed at our play during 2-0, we were defending the result instead of trying to add more goals to our goal difference and in turn we even conceded.

Iwobi is my MotM and a joy to watch. Despite the goal(s), I still feel like Alexis did not have a great game and him playing out of position does not benefit us as a team or him personally.

The Coquelin-Cazorla partnership worked because Coquelin was not asked to receive passes in attacking areas and therefore not only losing possession but also being way out of position defensively. If used properly, it's a very good partnership.

And lastly, I completely disagree with the idea that Xhaka is a box-to-box midfielder. He doesn't have the mobility and engine to be such an all arounder. I understand that there are concerns with his defensive side but pairing him with Coquelin is not the ideal solution unless we're parking the bus. Play a 3 man midfield with him, Cazorla and Elneny which seems like the perfect balance between attack and defence. Anything but having Xhaka running around and trying to press high up the pitch, that's not the kind of player he is.

Alex Iwobi vs Hull City | 2016/17 | HD from TeZ on Vimeo.

Xhaka attracts possession and would eat into how much Özil and Cazorla have the ball - an interesting perspective on Arseblog recently, but not one I completely agree with.

Thoughts?

Frankly I think that's rubbish. It's like saying Kroos shouldn't play for Germany because Ozil and Schwinsteigher couldn't see the ball or Xavi shouldn't play for Barca because Iniesta and Messi couldn't get enough of the ball.

We're keepng 60% possession in most games. Everyone in key midfield areas will see plenty of the ball.

Or like Xavi and Iniesta eat into how much Messi sees the ball. I call BS.

Unless you have no structure and give complete freedom to players (which is recipe for tactical suicide), one player should not have so much impact as for them to break up team structure, unless ordered to.

Very much disagree with that as well. While it is true that having Xhaka on the side means fewer touches for Cazorla and Özil, I don't see how that is a bad thing. What's important is the position where Cazorla and Özil receive possession, not the amount.

Playing Xhaka means the likes of Cazorla and Özil can position themselves inbetween the lines without worrying about starting attacks because Xhaka will do that and he WILL find them because of his incredible passing-- that just gives us another dimension in attack which we lack when Coquelin is playing.

But what I think Wenger worries about is our defense when partnering Xhaka with basically anyone but Coquelin, which is why he calls Xhaka a box-to-box midfielder. Like they say, the older you get the more conservative you become-- I think this is valid for Wenger too. Maybe Ramsey's return will change things as Wenger rates him defensively.

Xhaka-Ramsey/Elneny then?

RealGunner wrote:Rumours that Xhaka, Elneny and Perez will start

:vagi: