Truth behind lack of more home goals
Lack of personnel to unlock tight defenses.
Arsene Wenger may claim he has often deployed an audacious 4-3-3 formation this season but in reality it is more of a cagey 4-5-1 set-up – with a packed midfield and a lonely front-line – since the likes of Denilson, Wilshere, Fabregas, Ramsey, Diaby, Rosicky, Nasri, Walcott and Arshavin do more passing, dribbling and crossing than shooting.
Walcott and Arshavin do possess a know-how when it comes to hitting the back of the net, but their lack of stature means they are more suited to moving on the flanks to make any impact in the game. Going through the center will see them hushed by a big defender.
Indeed, the same goes for Fabregas, Rosicky, Nasri and co who have all had decent goal-scoring records during some point in their career, but in football, not all goals come from trickery. Cleverness is enough to bang in goals in a less physical league like La Liga, but to be a consistent goal-scoring midfielder in the Premier League, like a Frank Lampard (who is not your average lightweight dribbler), physical force is required along with all that brilliance.
The ability to win headers, the ability to chest and control down long passes even with strong defenders breathing on your neck, the ability to not be bullied. That’s physical force. How many non-strikers have that at Arsenal?
It is fair to say that amongst Arsenal’s midfield options in the entire squad, only two men, Alex Song and Abou Diaby, have any manly presence in midfield. Even so, the former’s services are better used in defense than attack while the latter’s inconsistency has seen him fail to make the most out of his imposing presence in midfield.
The bottomline to all this is that, Arsenal’s attacking armoury of midfielders and strikers is largely made up of assisting specialists rather than goalscorers – a bunch players who can set up a goal better than score one themselves.
In this case, the unfortunate truth is that the only genuine strikers or frontmen in the squad are Marouane Chamakh, Robin van Persie and Nicklas Bendtner. That’s it.
What’s even more unfortunate about that fact is that Nicklas Bendtner – whose finishing ability is of half quality anyway – is nowadays deployed mainly as a make-shift right winger.
And in the case of Marouane Chamakh, you have a target man who is good in the air, has great foot work in linking/holding the ball up but literally plays backwards when upfront. He rarely runs at defenders – often chooses to pass the ball back to a midfielder instead- and has a ‘Hleb’ about him when it comes to rarely shooting the ball or kicking it too weakly when he ever does.
Those factors leave Van Persie as Arsenal’s only potent striker, but that does not mean he can do it all by himself upfront. Indeed, the Dutchman’s lack of pace when sprinting with the ball means he is not the ideal target for through-passes. Also, his tendency to create chances sees him drop back into midfield too often, leaving his team toothless upfront.
Now considering the fact that Wenger’s midfield options are mostly made up of near-midgets or lightweights who have more trickery than power or height, Van Persie (who doesn’t always stay in the box) is often the only target on crosses in Wenger’s ‘4-3-3’ but really 4-5-1 formation.
That ‘more midfielders/less strikers’ set up has actually worked fruitfully in away games where opponents are obviously more willing to come out and attack in front of their fans. But at the Emirates Stadium where most visiting teams are defensive-minded, more bodies are needed upfront for Arsenal to break down that wall of defenders.
Yes, Arsenal have thrashed teams at home before with one man upfront, but those goals might have been more and less barren draws would have come if there were more heads and shoulders to aim at in the box.
Why pack several midfielders behind the ball when you are at home and supposed to fire more balls home?
Maybe less of that 4-5-1 formation and support from Chamakh or Bendtner for Van Persie upfront, and we may not see little Nasri busting his head in trying to win a header in the box (Blackburn) or Walcott crossing to no one but a defender.
Passing your way through the middle of a defense is sublime when it works, but it is too predictable for an opponent eager to stop you. Service from the wings will be the next and easier option and that will require having more targets in the box to cross or cut back to.
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There are simple words for this so called “team” they are GUTLESS,LEADERLESS,TACTICLESS,CHARACTERLESS,and it boggles the mind that there are 25 players professing to be professionals earning crazy money on Arsenals books and are too tired to enjoy a game of football! Especially when there are much better players playing in the Championship who love to be given the chance of putting on an Arsenal shirt just like Bould and Dixon did when taken from Stoke City. The only good thing that has happened this season is that Djourou and Cesney bear some resemblence to being proper Arsenal players. Even Nasri seems to have joined Fabregas in not really being too interested any more.
s j little…..I think you are confusing Wenger with someone who cares about your opinion and anger! Sorry to disappoint you!
their not tired gutless etc. their just not good enough or big enough the best middle weight in the world can,t beat the 5th best heavy weight he,s not scared he just isn,t big enough in the history of boxing there has only ever been 1 or 2 good enough to fight above his weight Diaby is a joke he isn,t a winger he isn,t a striker he isn,t a Cesc /Charlie Adams the only position he is suited 4 is a DM but he wont stay back wont cover he holds on to long all the time 433 is BS its a 451 and until he spends on 2 CBs another Dm Melo gets rid of Diaby Denilson Eboue Bendtner & plays 442 at least at home he is kidding himself PS. yes Barca. play 451/453 but they play in 2 competitions where no one is allowed to tackle
SERVICE FROM THE WINGS did I hear, joke, none of them even try to find a colleague. What they do can be seen at Hackney Marshes only to be fair the park player is not paid upwards of £2,500,000 per year! And he dos,nt have a coaching staff costing millions either!
“none of them even try to find a colleague”
Looks that way because there’s rarely a colleague making a run into the box or a colleague big and tall enough to connect with the ball.
Point of the article above.
Try anger management courses…they’ll help calm you down and put things into perspective!
Oh, and would,nt it perhaps better if Walcott turned to cricket, at least he could dream of Weekes,Worrell and Walcott. Its hard to believe he could have any connection.. Such a nice little fellow and maybe he might made a good player if the coaching staff could programme him right! And as for too small well just any old Arsenal fan how small and light Jimmy Logie was! Point is he is he was a Scot, came out of the mines, and served in the War in the Navy. Oh, what wonderful memories we old fans have, an Arsenal player being pushed over? When,where,how, NEVER only Wenger gets these sort of players! Come on you Wenger lovers reply……
We’re all Gooners here…….we are Arsenal lovers and can see AW’s and the team’s failings as clearly as you can, but we also see his vision for the club and don’t get our knickers in such a twist as you do. Try and calm down…it isn’t over until its over and that’s 6 more games to go!
Good analysis of our profligacy in front of net but there are other factors as well:
1)We seem to hit more woodwork than a woodpecker,
2)We seem to come up against top class MOTM keepers who ordinarily are leaky against other teams,
3)We often outshoot our opponents and certainly have more of the ball but can’t seem to place the shot like Henry or Bergkamp could,
4)Our defense is getting stronger each match while our strikers seem to be losing their confidence in front of net,
5)Goals from midfield have dried up as well which means that our attacking midfielders are not following through into the opponent’s area.
5)Being a small team,like Barca’s strikers and midfield is no disadvantage in the EPL, just look at United. The only difference between them and us is that they have Chicarito scoring…we don’t seem to have one like him,just yet.
6)Our fans at the emirates are the quietest in the EPL and the place is now known as the ¨crypt¨ because it is so quiet!
Looking at the Wenger-haters and Arsenal Gloom and Doom whiners on this and other blogs amazes me. We don’t deserve the manager and team we have if we can’t support them to the end!
Henry & Bergkamp played in a 442 with Viera dominating the midfield by himself & quickly changing defense into attack with Pires and Fredie making runs & Bergkamp pulling the string
Best post so far this year. Nothing to add, just a hope that when summer comes we’ll get Shevchenko/Rooney/Drogba style player (FINISHER), not (or at least not only) yet another 17-year wonderkid…
our home form sucks because of the home fans. on the road the players can play freely without the stress from our fans but at home its a different story. fans dont cheer and only scream and yell when our players make mistakes which increase the stress.to win our home games we need better fans.
good article
Good post. I’d add in: not just size, but stamina, too. Lampard had an extraordinary ability to ghost into the box late in matches. Diaby does it early on, then looks knackered by the 75th minute. Just to give an example.
I wouldn’t mind if cesc goes, i would still support arsenal.
I wouldn’t mind if arsenal finish 5th this season
I wouldn’t mind if arsene stays or goes , or he spends 50m on players or not, i would still be a gooner.
yesterdays match should have been won and we had won but for the paperweight lucas who conned the referee.
Come on guys ….we play excellent football, we beat the best team in the world at the emirates this season, we have the second best defence(behind manure (with all the lucky decision in their bag)) and we are on a 15-16 match unbeaten run and our team is still an average of 23 years old. Support the team and stop being mindless fans. Gunner 4 life
players who lackfighting spirit and who can’t be called upon when needed…now that’s succes.
Fans have sometimes got to recognise that your team cannot win every game,all sides have weaknesses and frailties, its football,in a perfect world Arsenal would already be champions but that raely happens, there are 20 other clubs all starting out to be the best.
As for wages our players get the going Premiership rates thats a foolish argument that because they are well payed they should ‘be better/try harder’.
The side has got weaknesses and I believe a top/world class striker is definatley needed RVP is one but only usually plays half a season, We desperatly need a Tevez,Drogba or Rooney (orr indeed Henry),if we are to challeng for top honours. We have to hope AW can find one for next season.
I love the post. Well done mate. Arsene Wenger needs to humble himself and be flexiable.We need at least 4 top class and mature players at Arsenal. Obviously a goal keeper, A solid central defender,A strong and attack minded midfielder and a world class striker.Our present players have no winning mentality. Wenger also is a one track minded man.He can not make meaningful decisions to win a game.Just trying to keep the game attractive without a winning mentality is not good enough.
What is the rubbish about players not being big enough. Just ask yourself, how many teams in the world would beat Barcelona? How big are they? Not very, in fact their team is smaller than Arsenal and they would hammer most teams. Football is not boxing (for the person making the boxing analogy). It is not about size, it is about ability and it is clear – the side is not good enough. The biggest issue we have is a total lack of pace up front. That is why we have to pass the ball to death. We do not break fast because we can’t. No pass. Theo is the quickest but he cannot run with the ball and does not utilise his pace well. Arsene has completely changed the style of football he plays because the attributes of the players he has selected does not allow him too! What is this not knocking Wenger about. When we won we praised him, lauded him even. So why is it not fair to blame him and criticise him for our 5 years of nothing. He chooses the players, he decides the style, he is the manager. Managers take responsibility and are accountable in EVERY profession. Why is football and Arsenal different. He gets paid a fortune to do a job and he is not doing it
Hats off to whoever’s written this. perfect.
Arsenal need to shoot from outside the box!
They need to be ruthless!
Sagna needs to practice his crossings for 100times every training
Clichy needs to learn how not to play opponents onside
arsnal jst need a proper reinforcement. 4get abt d likes of chamakh, dennilson, diaby, bendtner e.t.c ( are not jst gud 4 arsnal). Love all arsnal fans & more grease 2 ur elbow. Lets kip d faith
Thanks for the accurate analysis. However one more very important things needs to be mentioned, Fabregas is a great player( somehow I feel his real hearthas not been with us this year) but he is a nice guy and not a “ON THE FIELD CAPTAIN” We now need a strong big personality man to hustle the guys on the field. example is good but not enough. Try and find a Tony Adams maybe Vermalen may step up. Be brave and make the move Mr wenger.