Arsenal came from a goal down yesterday to earn a hard-fought 3-1 win over West Ham at Upton Park. A goal just before half-time from Olivier Giroud cancelled out Mohamed Diame’s solo effort and goals from substitute Theo Walcott and the superb Santi Cazorla sealed the win. Below are some of my thoughts on the game:
1) West Ham made Arsenal work very hard for the victory, but we got there in the end. The Hammers have started the season well and gave us a bit of a scare when Mohammed Diame confused/wrong-footed Aaron Ramsey and curled the ball in from the left side of the box. Per Mertesacker could maybe have closed him down a bit more quickly, and Arsenal had failed to score with 4 or 5 efforts on goal at the other end beforehand, but credit where credit is due. Diame’s first goal for West Ham was pretty special.
Wenger’s comments:
“We weakened a bit physically in the second half but overall it was a very important test for us today. We expected a difficult game. We were not disappointed – a game with a lot of pace, where both teams went for it in different styles. It was a good test mentally as well, because we went 1-0 down with their first shot on goal. We came back and won this game. You could say that we had a good performance today overall.”
2) Mohammed Diame was very lucky not to have been sent off. Both Diame and later Theo Walcott were given yellow cards for running into the crowd to celebrate their goals, which I find slightly ridiculous. This is definitely something that the FA should reassess. However, the fact remains that Diame was already on a yellow when he made a bad challenge on Mikel Arteta only a few minutes after he had opened the scoring. I simply can’t see how referee Phil Dowd can justify not giving him a second yellow card for that challenge.
3) Olivier Giroud’s goal shows how important he can be for Arsenal this season. The Frenchman finally announced his arrival in the Premier League in style, with the kind of goal-poachers effort that we very rarely get to see at Arsenal. The replay on ESPN showed just how far he had run to make sure that he got on the end of Lukas Podolski’s cross. Giroud’s movement is fantastic, his hold-up play and arial ability are unlike anything we have seen at Arsenal for a few seasons, and I am sure that this goal will give him the all of the confidence that he needs to pursue a long and prosperous career in North London.
“In similar situations he nearly scored like that against Olympiacos on Wednesday night. He was good today. He had the physical presence and scored the goal. That will help him a lot I think to adapt very quickly.”
4) Arsenal couldn’t deal with the arial threat of Andy Carroll. Carroll was fierce in the air and was at the focal point of many of West Ham’s attacks, even with Per Mertesacker in the team. We can be very glad that Mannone made some good saves and that Kevin Nolan squandered an opportunity from a flicked-on header.
“You never can completely control Carroll for 90 minutes. You have to fight for him and be good on the second ball. The problem with West Ham is not only Carroll, but is [also] Nolan on the second ball in the box. We could have been punished once or twice but overall we gave it all to deal well with him. He [Carroll] was really up for it I must say. He did fight from the first to the last minute.”
5) Mikel Arteta is the best passer in Europe. According to the ESPN, Mikel Arteta has made the most passes this season out of any player in any top division in Europe. I am not sure exactly where they get this stat from (it must take hours to analyse every player in Europe!), but ESPN stats are normally quite reliable and this is a stat that I have no problem believing. His passing yesterday was, as usual, superb, and he really dictates the play from that deeper midfield role. He also gives players like Santi Cazorla (who I will talk about later) a bit more creative freedom than they might have in other teams. The fact that Mikel hasn’t made a single appearance for the Spanish national team is a travesty and is a testament to the likes of Xavi and Iniesta. I honestly think that if Arteta was playing in Spain he would have been given a chance in the national team. The fact that he is in the Premier League (and previously the SPL) means that he doesn’t get as much of a look-in.
Please have a look at page 2 for the rest of my analysis.
Agree with all the points except for the Ramsey one, sort of. I mean, I agree that he was looking for the Hollywood/Gerrard-style long/cross-field ball too often when a simpler option was available, but it’s not quite right to compare him with Arteta. Mikel is playing a deep, holding/defensive midfield role, where he has to keep it simple and play it safe 99% of the time – he’s just doing it in an extremely intelligent and valuable way. Ramsey is doing a box-to-box job and he is more responsible for making chances than Arteta, and consequently has to attempt more difficult passes more often – so naturally his accuracy will be lower. I don’t think Aaron made serious errors from deeper positions, it was more when he was bombing forward trying to make chances for the team. That doesn’t mean he can’t improve, but he should be looking more at Cazorla wrt the sorts of passes he should be playing around the box. No one expects him to be that good, but Cazorla does have the instints of when to keep it simple and when to go for the through pass in the sorts of positions Ramsey was getting into. A lot of it is just experience.
Should also say that the hold up play of Giroud is not dissimilar to that of Chamakh, but his movement inside the box is infinitely better, and the added confidence he has in front of goal will undoubtedly yield a solid number of goals – hopefully for a good few seasons.
I agree that Ramsey & Arteta are two completely different types of players, but that doesn’t mean that he can’t learn from him. I see your point though! Maybe watching carozla would be equally appropriate.
Also, given his current role in the Arsenal side, Arteta would be competing more with players like Busquets and Xabi Alonso than Xavi or Iniesta. I don’t think Mikel makes many chances for Arsenal directly, but makes a massive defensive contribution and always seems to pick the right pass in a congested midfield area. He doesn’t have the physical presence of Busquets or the long passing ability of Alonso, but he is still worthy of a place in the Spanish squad imo. I don’t think there are many better or more experienced backup players who could compliment the spanish side currently, and he’s definitely worth a few caps. Anyway, it’s better for us that he doesn’t get in because it means he can have a rest during international breaks, and he’s an absolutely vital player for us.
I think our best crosser from corners is almost undoubtedly the Ox-whenever he puts them in we look dangerous….plus I would prefer to have Cazorla and Arteta further back during corners to re-organise either attack or defence (respectively) should the ball be cleared.
Another point I think missed was that Gervinho looked really tired- his touch was off on numerous occasions and gave the ball away easily, although saying that recently he has shown his first touch really isn’t that great (through against Man City…)- I think Wenger is trying to shield Walcott from high performance so he doesn’t get his name put in the had for the rich clubs to go for….?
Arsenal seem to have dropped the short corner system that they employed the last couple ofm years? The big German is an obvious target ,but he doesn’t win the ball enough in those situations.