Football: Arsenal v Shalke match review

Hello fellow Gooners,

Score: Arsenal 0-2 Schalke (Champions League group stage)
Date: 24 October, 2012
Stadium: Emirates

Seeing today's display, it made me want to rage-type. But I decided against the capital letter writing. However, it didn't stop the feeling of disdain towards my beloved favourite football team; the mighty Arsenal, who did not play so mightily today, for the second game in a row (after losing to Norwich) played a bad game.

We had a starting line up consisting of Mannone, Jenkinson, Vermaelen, Mertesacker, Santos, Coquelin, Arteta, Ramsey, Cazorla, Podolski, and Gervinho as the point man. I decided like a Mertesacker leg out to tackle my review of the game by discussing individual performances head on.

Squad setup Courtesy of Sky Sports. I disagree
with the formation though.

Mannone was interesting in goal, in that he only had 2 shots to save, and he let them both in. His vision and awareness should have brought him more forward for the first goal by Huntelaar, although there was little he could do about the second goal by Afellay. Since Mannone was forced to move from 3rd choice to first keeper due to the injuries of our beloved 1st choice and mixed-reaction 2nd keeper, it was blatantly obvious that Mannone was a good enough stopper between the posts, but good enough is only good enough for short term situations, and his respect earned in the first few games is beginning to get stale and his frequent game quality begins to show a lover of the extra stretch. He's not bad, but he's 3rd choice for a reason and this game partially showed it.

In front of him stood two centre-halves; Vermaelen and the BFG (Big F'ing Giant) Mertesacker. BFG was pure class in this game, only two truly questionable calls from him could be stated, both which led to goals. He made excellent tackles and blocks throughout the first however, and perhaps proved to be the saving face of a potentially big embarrassment. The Verminator was good overall, moving forward regularly and often in good positions, but he lacked complete quality and compensated with some unnecessary aggression in places, which is okay in defence, but Merty did prove that wasn't necessary, and has shown that the BFG is our top defender currently in the squad.

Disheartened defenders

Our wing-backs were found in Jenkinson and Santos, both who did okay, with Jenki narrowly being more effective in attacks, while Santos appear to stay too far forward at times, attempting to take on players more via dribbling rather than aiming for all round opportunities and trying the simple-yet-proven things like crossing - something Jenki tried more of and made me feel better about. Santos seemed to have been picked on as it appears Schalke had a tactic encouraging more attacks on our left, which I don't feel Santos could completely handle, and more directly caused the second goal to happen. It's my opinion that Arsenal work on this defensive understanding a LOT more, seeing as Santos has only started the last two major games of the season and has shown what looks like miscommunication in his defensive game-play. In the mean-time, I'll pray Gibbs returns ASAP. Also, I hope we get a second LB in the January transfer window and give Santos more freedom to play in the left of the midfield. Sometimes.

Holding midfielders were Arteta and the Coq, who both played pretty well, but neither seemed able to handle the pace of the game and thus allowed more attempts to come through from Schalke during the second half. I like Coq (no homo?) and I hope he continues to improve and get more game play overall, but I'm pretty excited to see Frimpong come back and hold the mid-defensive duties down for Arsenal more too.

Podolski beaten to a header by Hoger

Our wide midfielders for the day were in Ramsey on the right and Podolski, as always, on the left. I say "as always" because as fantastic as I know he is, I fear predictability is fast becoming his downfall, with teams knowing to disallow him good link up he loses momentum and the chances to go full throttle for goal-scoring opportunities. Ramsey, came in on the right, and was okay at best. He made some blunders, did some poor balls, but passed mostly well and had decent movement. I can't help but think though that he may be an emotional player, in that if the game isn't going right, he loses the jump to play. There's a lacking killer instinct that I feel top flight players should have, and keep up that consistent quality. Arteta, Podolski, Cazorla and the Ox all have shown it this season. Ram is more like a sheep, following the herd in general morale on the pitch and moving with it. I'm hoping as he continues to develop, this changes.

Cazorla held it down at the centre front of the midfield, showing great movement and ability to keep the ball, but like Podolski, teams seem to know where the strong links in Arsenal and find ways to break the chances for the team to move forward.

I don't think even Gervinho could watch his performance

Unfortunately, when it did come to moving forward, Gervinho was our lifeline, and like a 70 year old rope would most likely do if we relied solely on it to keep us hanging in there - it eventually snapped and allowed us to drop to our death. Many chances were there for the man, and he gave us nothing to show for it. Seldom in the middle, the striker of the game stayed mostly on the left, attempted to dribble around players and lost footing every time. He managed one off target cross when only just one player was still trying to run into Schalke's area, and a pass in the area (from the left) which went straight to the opposition. Podolski at one point looked frustrated with Gervinho's movement as the poor link-ups grew badly on the left. His overall game wasn't good, and I am sure he was aware, the silly twat dived mid-way through the second half in the penalty box, and deservingly received a yellow card. I think, if we weren't down on options, now would be a great time to take Gervinho back to the drawing board and sit him out for three games so he understands what's necessary.

I really wish Giroud had been in those situations, I would love to have seen what he would have been capable of, however he was left to try his best in the last 15 minutes, when the team looked the most deflated. Also coming on was Gnabry for Jenki, and Arsharvin for Podolski at around the 80th minute. Gnabry was involved in good moments and bad, but definitely made an impact, while I noticed very little from Arsharvin. Maybe that's my blind bias, as I just don't see him as a hungry player for Arsenal. Gnabry, however, looks extremely eager which is great for his age. Now let his fine-tuning begin.

Overall, I didn't think too much of the game, with both teams generally under-performing mostly for their level, with Schalke capitalising with goals eventually from well taken opportunities in the second half.

I hope Wenger shakes the team up against QPR this coming Saturday. It is overall a poor for a team with great quality available on the pitch. I'd like to see Gervinho benched, with Podolski up front for once, and we may as well give Arsharvin a chance on the left since... well, he's the lesser of two evils against Gervinho right now. I hope our injured players* make their comebacks asap. Our strong players are easily sussed out and broken down up front, and a lacking confidence is spreading around the team.

Today wasn't a good game. We are better than this.

-Harish, out.


*Injured/unfit players: Diaby (thigh strain, "few weeks"), Fabianski (back, 3 months), Frimpong (as of today, not big game match fit), Gibbs (thigh, return is potentially this coming Saturday), Oxlade-Chamberlain (hip, unknown return date), Rosicky (tendon, "few weeks"), Sagna (as of today, not big game match fit), Szczesny (ankle, two weeks), Walcott (lung, return is potentially this coming Saturday), Wilshere (as of today, not big game match fit) [Source]