One of the things that has struck me since Walcott got in injured is how much we've slowed our game down. We take an age to move the ball from defence to midfield and then onto our attacking players. So much so that we getting bunched up outside the opposition penalty area looking for that eye of the needle pass and allowing the opposition to get men behind the ball. The danger of this type of play is that when we lose the ball we're immediately on the back foot again and without a proper DM teams are able to swiftly move through the centre of the pitch and hit us on the counter. Spurs did it yesterday, Southampton did it in the CoC and Man City punished us with it at the Emirates. We have pacey players in the team now in Sanchez, Welbeck and Oxo, but those around them are slowing the game down, so that we're not really utilising their speed of play. Rarely do we see us turning teams around to face their own goal and I think this is an area that we need to start working on again. I'm hoping that when Walcott comes back, it will speed the whole attack up again. With Walcott on the right, Sanchez on the left and Welbeck through the middle, it should give the impetus for players like Wilshere, Ozil, Ramsey and Arteta to play balls behind the defence for them to run onto. If we get this stye of play going it should also mean that we don't get hit on the counter either. Thoughts ?
Feel sorry for Walcott, everyone is expecting him to be the saviour and turn everything around, already all the pressure is being put on his shoulder. With or WITHOUT Walcott we should've been winning the games we have been playing, should've beaten City, instead lose concentration concede from a set piece, should've beaten Spurs, instead again we give a **** goal away, and on it goes. Walcott is not the Messiah to come save us from our sins and bring in the kingdom of heaven for us where everything will be good.
Ozil doesn't need to. He just needs to pass the ball onto players who find space. It's the front 3 that need to play with pace along with the full backs.
It's less to do with him being a 'messiah' and 'saviour' and more to do with the fact that he will speed up the play of the whole team. He is more direct and offers a route behind the oppo defence. Instead of everybody playing in front of the oppo back four, sebody like Walcott who gets round the back will encourage others to run into the box to get on the end of his play.
Forwards having pace isn't very useful if the opposition have all had time to get back so there's no room behind them to exploit. Ozil doesn't pass the ball quickly, he takes his time. That's not the way to best use a fast forward line.
That's a quote from a man that has not seen much of Ozil's play pre-Arsenal. Ozil was the number 10 in the best counter attacking team in the world when he was at Madrid. He was the man playing the passes that destroyed teams on the counter. The difference is, at Madrid he had runners likes Ronaldo,Benzema,Higuain and Di Maria, these guys were not interested in dropping back to retain the ball. They all looked to break and open up space for Ozil. He was also the main man in the 2010 German World Cup team, a team who destoyed England and Argentina on the break, and that requires quick passing. At Arsenal we have too many players who just seem to run side to side and look to retain the ball, the likes of Cazorla,Wilshere,Sanchez and even the OX. These guys all run towards to ball and never look to run beyond the opposition defence. Ramsey despite not being quick did run beyond last season and he got his rewards. Him and Ozil developed a good understanding last season, this season, Ramsey form has gone to s**t. Walcott is the other player who looks to break beyond the opposition and he is the player Ozil loves to play with. He is a like a pound land Ronaldo, and that still makes him a very good because, Romaldo is an all time great. Watch Ozil's first game against Sunderland and see how any times he plays Walcott in, sadly these two have not played that many games together, but hopefully, Walcott comes back and stays fit and we can see this partnership flourish.
Maybe, but everyone else passes the ball quicker here, and that's what matters. Adding a single player in Walcott isn't going to improve that situation much.
It would, because Walcott is different to all the other players in our team. And he has two assets that is ideal for Ozil, real pace and looking to run beyond the opposition. He is not interested in jogging to the side and playing a five yard pass to his nearest man. Walcott has developed and his off the ball movement is very good. Constantly looking to run into the space between the RB and CB. This gets teams to drop deeper and that allows more space for the likes Cazorla,Ozil and Ramsey to keep the ball higher up the pitch and apply pressure on the opposition. If nobody is running in behind, then teams can squeeze us and press the life out of us. The reason Ozil hangs onto the ball longer than say Cazorla, is because he is always looking for the killer ball and he is waiting for someone to give him that option. Problem is if you do not have the runners then, that pass is not there.
I disagree with this statement. Ozil has proved many times at Arsenal that if someone is open ahead of him he will release the ball quickly, often first time.
Also with runners it means that you can push more men forward more safely because the opposition are running towards their own goal. It's when we slow it right down with that side to side passing that opposition teams turn to face us and press us. One stray pass or tackle from us and we are completely on the back foot again because we've bunched up around the penalty area and left ourselves open in the middle of MF.
I said exactly this at yesterdays game, I couldn't believe how many times we picked the ball up on the edge of our area and played it sideways allowing them plenty of time to re-group. Very rarely did they commit men forward but a couple of times they had 4 or 5 in advanced positions when we got the ball, that was the time to drive at them with pace and we didn't do it. I accept that when Theo is fit this is likely to change but I do think we missed a few opportunities to put them under pressure yesterday, and because of the way Tottenham approached the game if we were to give the ball back they were never going to drive at us with numbers so we were never exposed....
Nobody is saying that Walcott will be a Saviour, but he will help to get the team playing how we want, which utilises the best skills of the creative attacking players we have, rather than them just keeping possession.
He will make an impact but my main worry is that we already have fast players in Sanchez, OXO and Welbeck but we still play slow. I think Walcott will change things up a bit, but that will be more to do with him forcing the issue than Wenger changing things around. Wenger prefers the slow build up play. We could quite easily speed things up with the players we currently have, but Wenger chooses not to.
You've literally just slated A87 because he said he knows how people on this board think when he doesn't (which I agree with in that he often comes out with nonsense like that which debases some of the good points he has). But how then can you come out with stuff like this with a straight face? How do you know Walcott will help get the team playing how 'we' want? Are you in regular contact with Wenger or Walcott so that you can let them know how the fans want them to play??
I thought we were calling for Arsenal to speed the game up and not play sideways passing with no penetration, then leaving ourselves open in the middle for a counter attack. Do you not agree with this ?
Eh? I'm not debating with what we're wanting Arsenal to do. I'm debating with how what we want has anything to with what Wenger wants?
