Three ways to create more chances, and a call to arms for Gooners everywhere

Exhausting week in Arsenal land, eh? This time last Sunday I sat here basking in the afterglow of a comfortable 2-0 win, despite a faint concern that both goals came from dodgy penalties. Since then, we’ve lost a shoot out to a League Two team, blocking out most likely route to silverware this term, and the shit has hit the fan big time.

The debate over Arsene’s future has never felt this serious before, especially as many of his most persistent defenders have had to confront the issue head on this week, rather than the disdainful dismissal that has been the general norm until now (incidentally, this piece in the Daily Mail by Tim Payton of the AST is a rather pathetic attempt to deflect from the issue at hand).

There are a lot of valid arguments both for and against, but let’s be honest here: Arsene Wenger will continue as manager of Arsenal Football Club for the foreseeable future, and the structure of the club will remain the same. With this in mind, I really think it’s important to focus on what actually can be done within the existing set up, rather than pissing and moaning about it?

Given, the individual talent at our disposal, it’s clear that there’s a deeper issue than the bodies on the pitch. Much of this will of course be to do with the mental side of things; I’m torn over whether the players lack confidence, or are simply convinced (a la Arsene) that their collective ability will eventually win rewards with persistence. However, to my mind, there are certainly tactical issues that, if sorted out, would lead to an increase in our effectiveness on the ball, and represent a relatively quick win.

These centre around our inability to convert possession into clear cut chances; our number of shots on target has been quite frankly pathetic over the last ten games or so, and here are three things Arsene could do almost immediately to address this:

1) Bring Rosicky back into the team, move Cazorla wide left.

This would be the most attractive to Arsene, I think, simply because it doesn’t involve spending any money in January. The point has been made elsewhere (I think it was Stillman, but apologies if not) that Cazorla is not quite the creative force he’s often made out to be. The “dubious” penalty last week was only his third assist of the season. He’s taken on the “Fabregas” role within the team, but likes to play slightly further forward than Cesc did. This means that he often receives the ball very close to the opposition back four, and therefore lacks the space to find those defence splitting passes, supposing that the runners are there to be found. The team has looked much more threatening with Rosicky on the pitch since his return, as his neat passing, runs from deep, and defender-harrying tends to move the whole team further up the park. Although it does not address the underlying issue regarding a lack of width that adds to our problems breaking down teams, having a tricky player on the left who can beat a man and actually produce a final ball would certainly breed plenty of chances. Another bonus is that Lukas Podolski becomes an option at centre forward- introducing more depth and competition for Olivier Giroud and reducing the need to sign someone in January.

2) Play Francis Coquelin at the base of midfield

At the start of the season, Mikel Arteta was moved to the deepest of the midfield three. He gained many plaudits for his discipline and reading of the game as Arsenal got off to a decent start, but his performances have dropped off recently. It’s no secret that, not as weirdly as it seem, Arsenal were far more effective with Diaby linking the play between our two Spanish maestros rather than the talismanic Jack Wilshere. Jackie, for all his brilliance, is a quite different player and the link between Arteta and Cazorla has been much more difficult to establish with Jack’s more languid presence representing the pivot. The logical solution is therefore to push Arteta forward slightly, and play a more defensively minded midfielder behind him. Coquelin is that player in our squad for now, although Moussa Sissoko has been linked today, and he’s shown enough in his run outs this season to suggest he deserves a chance. This of course leads means that one of Arteta and Wilshire will be left out but, as much as it pains me to say this, that might just be for the overall good of the team.

3) Bring in a genuine wide player (or two)

There are real problems with width in this team, which are compounded by Olivier Giroud’s relative lack of contribution to build up play (and when I say relative, I am aware this is relative to our former best striker in the Premier League). Playing two “wide” players in Podolski and Walcott who both prefer to play through the middle means that we are very narrow, which in turn places more pressure on Cazorla to create. Given point one, this might not be the most sensible game plan. Bringing in someone more likely to stay wide on the left will utilise more of the pitch, force opposing defences to de-compact, and give Cazorla that bit more space that could really unlock his potential. This does not mean that I think we should start bombarding the opposition with crosses, simply that we need a way of working opposing defenders out of position, and this is much harder to do when less of the pitch is being used.

So there you have it. Three relatively simple things Arsene could do to help us get scoring again. I could also have referenced the possibility of signing a more mobile striker, and with Arsene candidly talking up the abilities of Stephan El Shaarawy recently, it’s a distinct possibility.

Arsene Wenger has proven his ability to turn things around many times at this club, and he deserves more respect than he has received recently. All is clearly not right at Ashburton Grove at the moment, but the soap opera that surrounds the club is helping no-one, and its the fans that are fuelling this as much as the media. While airing our concerns is important, let’s not forget that it’s what happens on the field that really counts. Let’s pull together, get behind the team, and see what happens. UTA.