After two weeks into the 17-18 Premier League marathon, Gooners the world over are riding the rollercoaster we have become accustomed to.
We displayed a hardy, resilient resolve nullifying two Jamie Vardy strikes through a fortuitous Welbeck scrum on the line just before the halftime whistle, a glorious Aaron Ramsey blast reminiscent of the Rambo of 13-14 before achieving victory through Olivier Giroud’s aerial prowess as time expired.
Three points is three points, but unlike the juggernaut the Portuguese blowhard unleashed up north the following day at the expense of West Ham, the Gunners revealed some glaring weaknesses that needed to be quickly addressed.
Aside from the fact that we had up to four players out of position, and an apparent lack of creativity in the middle third of the pitch, our personnel selection was abhorrent.
The following week’s trip to the Britannia proved to be the tricky affair we have come to expect over the years. Stoke, though not the doppelganger of the All Blacks rugby team that they were under Pulis, still provide a spirited challenge for the three points every time we visit.
The Potters conceded 75 percent of the possession and most of the chances in the first half yet remained steadfast playing us to a scoreless tie as the first half expired. We looked dangerous in possession in spite of Stoke parking the bus. The Ox looked dangerous on the right making darting runs at USA International and Donald Trump supporter, Geoff Cameron. Ramsey provided excellent runs up the gut of the Stoke protectorate. Lacazette put in a workmanlike half with the occasional show of class, and contrary to popular belief Mesut Ozil put in a solid half of pulling the strings and maintaining possession in the middle of a red and white traffic jam putting some excellent balls into the kill zone.
The team on the whole looked competent with the exception of Granit Xhaka and Danny Welbeck. Xhaka’s passing was abysmal, hitting long balls over their targets heads out of play or floating into the arms of the keeper and was lazy careless in possession eventually providing the service that lead to Jese Rodriguez winning goal in his debutant performance in the Prem. Welbeck provided a high work rate, tireless runs in to the box as are his games trademarks, and the finishing touch of Mr. Magoo.
I like Welbeck as a solid, experienced squad player but not as a starting winger on a team with aspirations of raising the Premier League trophy in May.
It is time Wenger inserts Alex Iwobi as the permanent starting left winger. He has the best ball handling skills on the team barring Ozil and Wilshere and in my opinion, is a superior all-around player to Welbeck.
We need to end the experiment of playing Giroud twenty minutes a night, and hoping he can come in and save a point or three for us. Giroud is the most consistent, battle tested striker we have. He provides a formidable physical threat both in the air and on the turf providing cutters with adept passes and excellent hold up play.
It is understood that Sanchez’s play at striker last season made it almost impossible for Wenger to select the big Frenchman, but 16-17 is over.
Sanchez, if he plays at all for us this year, will be back at left wing. We need to start Giroud with Lacazette playing on the right or just behind. Giroud’s presence will open up space for him and will provide him with more chances to put that surgical finishing of his on display. Unfortunately, with Wenger blackballing Jack, Santi on injured reserve for the rest of his natural life, and Coquelin, and Elneny frankly not good enough to give Xhaka some much needed time on the pine to contemplate his play we may be stuck watching Xhaka provide our opposition with at least one solid scoring chance per game with his errant passes.
We have dropped one, we have won one, next up Liverpool. Although formidable, Liverpool have started their campaign slowly as well. Mane ripped us to shreds last season but there is a good chance that we will not be seeing his Brazilian service provider, Phillippe Coutinho this weekend as Barcelona are doing their best to de-stabilize the Liverpool Hierarchy into selling the Catalans their best player yet again. I never hear anything about Liverpool being a selling Club although I’ve seen them strengthen City, and Barcelona more than we have in the last half a decade……Food for thought. Liverpool are still weak defensively, and without Coutinho and Lallana, who is facing a lengthy spell on the sideline due to injury we can defeat them if the boss selects a capable side.
Although unimpressive so far, this season, Cech should get the nod in the cage. The defense requires significant tweaking however. Koscielny will be back this weekend, thankfully. He should be flanked by Mustafi and Mertesacker with Kolasinac on the left and Bellerin on the right.
Xhaka’s spot in the side is safe due to lack of a better option partnering Ramsey in the deep lying midfield positions. Ozil should start at the right wing position before drifting into his standard attacking midfield position. Lacazette should start in the middle just behind the striker with Iwobi on the left, providing Oliver Giroud with a well-deserved return to the starting eleven.
This will drop Ox, Welbeck, Holding and Monreal to the Bench. They should be joined there by Elneny, Chambers, and Walcott. We need players playing in their chosen positions.
The whole concept of playing “versatile” players out of position makes no sense. Hopefully, we will acquire a few players this week including a swap deal with PSG for Draxler and Rabiot, and the acquiring of either Thomas Lemar from Monaco, or Jean Michel Seri from Nice or in a perfect world both. Either way I don’t think there is any scenario that sees us having a successful season with Alexis Sanchez in our lineup. He has had the three best years of his career in an Arsenal shirt and just like Van Pursestrings, wants to bolt for greener pastures when he feels that he has out grown the club. Look how well it worked out for him.
Ozil will resign, the Ox will be sold next week. We should replace Ox with Seri, Sanchez with the aforementioned duo, and all the deadwood we are in the process of selling for Lemar. I know it won’t happen, but we can dream for the next 8 days can’t we?