Arsenal FC: Musings on Dortmund and Villa

Article by Kingsley Okiwelu

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With the Dortmund debacle still fresh in the memory, Saturday afternoon presents Arsenal with an excellent opportunity to put that hapless showing to bed and continue their quest for a sustained run of form.

Whilst their terrible play in that game raised a lot of questions, most notably about the lack of protection afforded the back four by the Arsenal midfield, the defeat if not the manner of the total capitulation, was foreseeable. It does appear that Wenger’s charges still lack that little bit of bloody-mindedness to put up sturdy resistance against the big sides, particularly when they lack a bit of physical freshness. As a cursory look at how the other English sides fared in the midweek encounters showed, even teams with larger squads like Manchester City and Chelsea will struggle in Europe in the immediate aftermath of taxing encounters in the EPL. This is not to excuse Arsenal’s performance, which was truly woeful, but the physical exertions of the gunners against Manchester City barely three days before the game, seemed to play a part in the error-strewn passing of the likes of Wilshere and Ramsey, as well as the general inability of the gunners to exert their usual stranglehold on possession. Add to this the enforced changes that saw Arteta, Bellerin and Gibbs come in, and it becomes more understandable why the team was lacking in it’s customary fluidity.

Two issues that have dominated the debate in recent days have been the listless nature of Ozïl’s recent performances and the question of whether the switch to a 4-1-4-1 formation is currently hampering the team. Some ex-footballers, notably Paul Scholes and Michael Ballack have weighed in with their opinions with the received wisdom being that being played out of position is having a negative impact on his form. In response to that, one only needs to look at his performances for Germany over the summer to dismiss this argument. As Wenger rightly noted in his Press conference today, most of the comments about him being “wasted on the wing” arise from a misunderstanding of his role on the left or right side of midfield. He is given a much more roaming brief than most of the pundits seem to realise and is not expected to track back as much as a conventional winger is required to.

The problem at the moment is more likely to be that he is still slightly behind physically having returned later than the others, and having been deprived of a proper pre-season, in addition to lacking a bit of confidence as a result of the endless scrutiny and criticism. If there’s one thing that is not in question it is his undoubted ability, however. Every player goes through slumps at some point in their careers and there’s little doubt in my mind that Ozïl will eventually overcome his current travails. It’s simply unfortunate that his current malaise coincides with a period where the team as a whole is going through some patchy form.

On the new formation, as Tim Stillman brilliantly enunciates in his article this week(http://arseblog.com/2014/09/ozil-ramsey-and-the-system/), part of the rationale for playing Ozïl out seems to arise out of Wenger’s desire to adopt some more intense pressing in the opposition half, this term. The tactic seems to make excellent sense in theory and the gunners did offer some evidence of it’s workability in practise in their impressive closing down of City’s midfield during last weekend’s stalemate at the Emirates. There appear to be two significant pitfalls to its successful implementation at the moment. The first being the lack of an athletic defensive midfielder who is capable of snuffing out danger when Wenger’s charges lose the ball high up the pitch and become susceptible to quick counter attacks, and the second being the rather indifferent form of Ramsey and Ozïl at the moment.

This coupled with the added obvious weakness of Mertesacker’s lack of pace and the enforced inclusion of a novice at right back allied with the apparent lack of match fitness of Arteta and Gibbs were factors that in addition to the dip in physical and mental sharpness occasioned by having to play another big game in such quick succession to that against City, probably contrived to create the perfect storm that we witnessed against Dortmund.

This all goes to beg the question as to why Wenger failed to acquire a capable defensive midfielder during the close season. My strong suspicion is that he intends to give Callum Chambers a shot at wresting that position from Arteta and Flamini. However, given our recent well documented injury problems at the back, the young Englishman is likely to spend more time at right back/as cover for the centre backs for the foreseeable future. As a consequence, the purchase of a defensive midfielder in the January transfer window has generated renewed urgency.

For the game against Villa, no major changes in personnel are to be expected. The good news that Jack Wilshere avoided serious damage to his ankle means that he will most likely start in midfield along with Ramsey in a 4-1-4-1 formation. One possible improvement may be to ensure that both Wilshere and Ramsey transition quicker into a defensive block when Arsenal lose the ball. The team as a whole also has to be a little bit more streetwise in knowing when to commit necessary fouls to slow down or stop the Villa momentum when they launch their customary counter-attack. Most importantly however, the gunners have to be more careful in possession and ensure that their passing is of the required quality. If this is done, there is no reason why they can’t come away from the trip to Villa with three points.

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