Szczesney saves sloppy Arsenal blushes
Chips with everything
By Boris Mellor
April 12 2012
An exaggeration, but he saved some embarrassment on saving a couple of very dangerous goal attempts, one of them a header that looked beyond him. If that header had gone in and it became 2-1 it could have got nervy. Szczesney deserves to be Man of the Match, he is developing into a match winner.
Scoring early often unsettles Arsenal, with 2 goals up and Wolves down to 10 men it is perhaps understandable that complacency crept in, or controlling the game as Wenger artfully describes it. It could be argued that it was professional to ease up at 2-0, but we have seen this strategy go wrong at several grounds this season, and previous ones come to that.
Arsenal had 72% possession, but that means nothing if it is not turned into goals, 10 points and superior goal average guarantees third, if goal difference is not good enough then it will have to be 11 points. Possibly the lack of Rosicky led to the slower tempo, whether Ramsey is the best replacement is debateable, but if Wenger plays Rosicky against Wigan it will partially justify it. I say partially because I don’t quite understand why he is holding the Ox back so much. Has he got a deal where he is paying Southampton by the number of matches the Ox plays? Or does he want to let Theo know he is further up the pecking order until he signs a new contract?
You may think I am exaggerating, but 10 shots on target to Wolves 9 shots on target against ten men doesn’t really equal a stunning display, but no doubt Sir Red Nose would have taken it.
Clearly Wigan on Monday could be the the tougher match, Wolves are dead in the water, Wigan are fighting for every ball, if it was not for useless refereeing at Chavski they may have had 3 major scalps in the last 3 weeks.
But 3 points is three points and that is all that counts, it puts Arsenal five points ahead of Spurs and Newcastle. Talk of going for second place is probably premature as City won 4-0 as Man U lost 1-0, at Wigan, in yet another night of topsy turvy football. It also means that desperate Wigan will have hope and confidence when they come to Arsenal on Monday.
One positive outcome from tonight was that RvP ended his goal drought, players always deny it, but these things can start an irritating itch, that leads to a festering sore that completely undermines the strikers confidence to play, if you are not convinced ask Chamakh.
Meanwhile Arsenal have 27 points out of last 30, they have kept scoring during RvP’s drought. A few quality buys and they could be real contenders next season. No doubt I will accused of wanting to spend millions, but that’s exactly what Wenger wasted on players he has not used this season. Why buy Park? Why keep Chamakh? Even beating Wolves 3-0 doesn’t disprove the need for another quality striker. The burden has been heavy on RvP’s shoulders this season, lift it and it will not only be he who benefits.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012:04:16:23:14:21 by Padre Pio.
*Signing Ozil is a signing Bergkamp type moment for Arsenal. It changes things utterly.*
OX can play anywhere, but I am not suggesting he has Theo's spot or would be best there. I am looking for the anwser toi the conundrum why so few games foer Ox?
I would welcome a better answer - have you got one?
"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.
wenger thinks Benny/Gervinho will do a better job in these pressure games
wenger thinks Rosicky/Ramsey have more defensive awareness when in AM role
wenger thinks Rosicky/Ramsey will not lose the ball as much in the AM role
Maybe AOC's fatigue numbers are high
Maybe Wenger has learnt the lessons from over use of Wilshere and Cesc too young, and is being more careful with AOC
Maybe Wenger don't want England selecting AOC for the Euros
Maybe AOC is a bit out of form in training
Maybe AOC has something going on in his private life
*Signing Ozil is a signing Bergkamp type moment for Arsenal. It changes things utterly.*
Doesnt want to over work him? Well theres no chance of that is there.
We dont even know who the next England manager is, but Wenger has backed the Ox for England and Euros, so starnge he thinks he is good enough for England but not as good as Gervinho.
If something was going wrong in his personal life why put him on bench why boost him for Euros?
He was brought on at 76 minutes as Walcott went off on 76 minute, perhaps that was a coincidence.
So your answers are useful but they are no more substantial than the ones I offer.
In other words we still dont really know
"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.
and as stated on other match summary when this came up, there is nothing to suggest Theo and AOC don't get along, or that Theo would not want AOC in the team with him, one game where Theo showed frustration towards AOC is not alot to base the premise of your agruement on, jeez RVP has reacted far worse and far more often to several other players, maybe you can suggest in your next match review that AOC or Gervinho or Ramsey etc are being left out till RVP signs his new contract, its as laughable as this Theo angle you seem to be so keen on
*Signing Ozil is a signing Bergkamp type moment for Arsenal. It changes things utterly.*
Your 5 starts doesnt explain it, as you would expect Ox to get more starts as season develops not less.
I didnt claim any definitive answer, I am asking the question here why. I agree I havent answred it satisfactorily, but I dont you have either
"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.
I still reckon Wenger will unleash THEE OX against Chelski.
Yossi will be club tied, I`d imagine.
If we have 72% possession, that means Wolves have got 28%. And without the ball you can`t score goals. So it doesn`t matter that much if you have the lions share of possession and don`t score. As long as you`ve got a couple of goals cushion.
4 clean sheets in the last 5 games
And no Koz today
Since the end of WW1, 1919, when the FA restarted its 4 tier football league, with Arsenal fc in the 1st div, there’s only ever been one club to have never been relegated from Div 1/ EPL.
Arsenal fc
Let’s keep making history
Fortunately Wolves are a vey poor team, Nine shots on target but no goal, most teams get 1 goal every 3 shots against us.
"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.
Enough but they definitely took the foot off once we went 2 nil up.
Bring on the next game!
What's happening with Alex is pretty much standard Wenger practice when it comes to working youth players into the team. To somehow relate it to Theo makes no sense, considering how he too went through the same pattern Alex is going through.