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Dissection of Arsenal's Premier League TEAM and the current squad's potential
In the interest of disclosure, I am an Arsenal fan(atic) and admirer with faith in Manager/Teacher-Coach Arsene Wenger.
Arguably, Arsenal has been playing the most attractive brand of football in the EPL for more than a decade. That has been down to Wenger’s guidance and teaching. However, here is my pet peeve; how is it, for example, that after more than one year tutedge
- Walcott still cannot add a defensive presence to his game,
Giroud does not consistently take shots on goal in each game (Five shots per game is my accepted goal),
Ramsey and Wilshere play around with the ball and consistently lose it too
often within a context of wonderful touch and less than impressive assist record commensurate with each player’s technical skills,
Alexis Sanchez takes too many touches and on a match over match basis loses the ball too often,
Danny Welbeck often takes too few shots on goal even as he too often attempts shots when the TEAM would be better served if he had passed to better placed TEAMmate?
The above tells me that for all the attractive movement, and the movement of the players is, save for Walcott’s woeful jogs or walk-abouts when he should be doing defensive work, superb, is too often for naught. The losses against teams with inferior technical skills are just too frequent. My Gunners are being beaten by other teams' ‘smarts’.
Let me explain what I mean by ‘smarts’. Smarts is simply, thinking on and doing what logic suggests is needed to play ‘good football’. ‘Good football’ equates to playing sensibly.
Here are some examples as it relates to the players who I have singled out above -
Walcott: Putting in the work on defense makes sense! There are too many examples of Walcott allowing opponents unchallenged access to the ball. Additionally, I have to assume that Walcott has seen many, many of those his acts that end result is goal or attempt on Gunners’ goal. Somewhere in Walcott’s brain there must be impulses that suggest, ‘illogical not to do my defensive work’...correct?
Giroud: Makes no sense when in great position in on goal not passing on or into goal.
Ramsey and Wilshere on minutes to assist ratio should be rivaling the assist machine, Mesul Ozil, in assist numbers. It makes good sense for these gentlemen to “set-up” teammates on goal, often.
Alexis Sanchez? Alexis Sanchez? His workrate both on attack and defense, his technical skills, the number of touches per game logically demand that he uses his brain to improve team...his team’s performances above that it currently enjoys. Alexis just throws away the ball too often.
Danny Welbeck we knew had ‘speed to burn’. Where there were questions, they revolved around two areas: as Arsenal quality goes, does he have the technical ability and does he have the ‘smarts’?
The first question has been answered in emphatic manner; yes, his technical ability is top drawer. On the second, he breaks up his Gunners’ advances too often. In a nutshell he provides too many passes and give-a-ways of the ball to his and his Gunner’s opponents and not enough team enhancing acts. His decision-making is too often faulty.
To some of my fellow Gunners’ fans it may appear that I have been too harsh on the named players, to them I would say “to whom much is given much is expected”. These players have the ability to exploit their talent to produce more successful outcomes. Their technical skill-level is such that if they each applied logic more often during matches, positive outcomes for self and our Gunners would increase greatly.
Let us face the facts that these our players as unit...as collective has under-performed for a number of seasons. Yes, winning two recent FA Cups is great but if winning additional trophies was possible, is not that failure?
So the players are being “called out” but what of ‘the teacher’?
I will merely say a teacher’s responsibility is to find methods and solutions to enable the students to achieve maximum potential. Our present teacher, I am sure will agree that his students have underperformed. Teachers motivate, encourage development of ‘critical thinking’, move students towards fulfilling potential. Teachers expose students to possible results of applying necessary physical and mental effort...possible failures and successes…to choose success over failure.
If each of our Gunners has been presented excellent teaching geared to eliminating faults and increasing positive outcomes that reasonable persons would all agree on and the current win, loss, draw statistic is the outcome then the only logical conclusion is, NOT GOOD ENOUGH!
If ‘not good enough’ then only recourse from those responsible for stewardship of our Gunners must be, CLEAN HOUSE!
In the interest of disclosure, I am an Arsenal fan(atic) and admirer with faith in Manager/Teacher-Coach Arsene Wenger.
Arguably, Arsenal has been playing the most attractive brand of football in the EPL for more than a decade. That has been down to Wenger’s guidance and teaching. However, here is my pet peeve; how is it, for example, that after more than one year tutedge
- Walcott still cannot add a defensive presence to his game,
Giroud does not consistently take shots on goal in each game (Five shots per game is my accepted goal),
Ramsey and Wilshere play around with the ball and consistently lose it too
often within a context of wonderful touch and less than impressive assist record commensurate with each player’s technical skills,
Alexis Sanchez takes too many touches and on a match over match basis loses the ball too often,
Danny Welbeck often takes too few shots on goal even as he too often attempts shots when the TEAM would be better served if he had passed to better placed TEAMmate?
The above tells me that for all the attractive movement, and the movement of the players is, save for Walcott’s woeful jogs or walk-abouts when he should be doing defensive work, superb, is too often for naught. The losses against teams with inferior technical skills are just too frequent. My Gunners are being beaten by other teams' ‘smarts’.
Let me explain what I mean by ‘smarts’. Smarts is simply, thinking on and doing what logic suggests is needed to play ‘good football’. ‘Good football’ equates to playing sensibly.
Here are some examples as it relates to the players who I have singled out above -
Walcott: Putting in the work on defense makes sense! There are too many examples of Walcott allowing opponents unchallenged access to the ball. Additionally, I have to assume that Walcott has seen many, many of those his acts that end result is goal or attempt on Gunners’ goal. Somewhere in Walcott’s brain there must be impulses that suggest, ‘illogical not to do my defensive work’...correct?
Giroud: Makes no sense when in great position in on goal not passing on or into goal.
Ramsey and Wilshere on minutes to assist ratio should be rivaling the assist machine, Mesul Ozil, in assist numbers. It makes good sense for these gentlemen to “set-up” teammates on goal, often.
Alexis Sanchez? Alexis Sanchez? His workrate both on attack and defense, his technical skills, the number of touches per game logically demand that he uses his brain to improve team...his team’s performances above that it currently enjoys. Alexis just throws away the ball too often.
Danny Welbeck we knew had ‘speed to burn’. Where there were questions, they revolved around two areas: as Arsenal quality goes, does he have the technical ability and does he have the ‘smarts’?
The first question has been answered in emphatic manner; yes, his technical ability is top drawer. On the second, he breaks up his Gunners’ advances too often. In a nutshell he provides too many passes and give-a-ways of the ball to his and his Gunner’s opponents and not enough team enhancing acts. His decision-making is too often faulty.
To some of my fellow Gunners’ fans it may appear that I have been too harsh on the named players, to them I would say “to whom much is given much is expected”. These players have the ability to exploit their talent to produce more successful outcomes. Their technical skill-level is such that if they each applied logic more often during matches, positive outcomes for self and our Gunners would increase greatly.
Let us face the facts that these our players as unit...as collective has under-performed for a number of seasons. Yes, winning two recent FA Cups is great but if winning additional trophies was possible, is not that failure?
So the players are being “called out” but what of ‘the teacher’?
I will merely say a teacher’s responsibility is to find methods and solutions to enable the students to achieve maximum potential. Our present teacher, I am sure will agree that his students have underperformed. Teachers motivate, encourage development of ‘critical thinking’, move students towards fulfilling potential. Teachers expose students to possible results of applying necessary physical and mental effort...possible failures and successes…to choose success over failure.
If each of our Gunners has been presented excellent teaching geared to eliminating faults and increasing positive outcomes that reasonable persons would all agree on and the current win, loss, draw statistic is the outcome then the only logical conclusion is, NOT GOOD ENOUGH!
If ‘not good enough’ then only recourse from those responsible for stewardship of our Gunners must be, CLEAN HOUSE!
Paul Marin -19 is one thing, 20 is a whole other matter. It gets even worse if they win the UCL. *groan*. 
05/18/2011.MU fans naah cough, but all a unuh a vomit?-Lazie 1/11/2015
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