What's Been The Biggest Difference???

This topic contains 10 replies, has 8 voices, and was last updated by Al The Gooner Al The Gooner 8 years, 4 months ago.

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  • #689746
    Al The Gooner
    Al The Gooner
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    • :

    It’s still very early days, but there’s something about this current team that’s really giving me hope. It’s not the first time and previous experience has taught me to count just a few of my chickens before they’ve hatched – definitely not all of them!

    Lot’s of things are coming together:

    1) Wenger now has money to spend. Personally, I think he always did – not as much as he has now, but I felt, for a long time, that whatever cash he did have, he made some very poor decisions in how to spend it.

    Sanchez has made a massive difference and Ozil’s recent form is finally starting to justify his fee and wages and these are the sort of players we’d all like to see coming in regularly.

    2) Our injuries SEEM to be easing. We’ve had a poor run for the last few weeks and we’re currently back in our oh-so-familiar place at the top of the injury league but, in general, things definitely seem to have improved on this front.

    Was it symbolic that Giroud took a nasty knock on his knee yesterday, looked like he’d be another one heading for the treatment room but instead came back on to score the opening goal? A year ago, I’m sure that would have been Ollie out for 6 weeks or more.

    3) A ‘plan B’. Just read an interview with Manuel Neuer. He says we took Bayern completely by surprise, soaking up the pressure and patiently waiting for the chance to launch counter-attacks. It’s the ‘surprise’ thing that pleases me the most. We were far too predictable, for far too long.

    But for me, the single biggest difference has been Cech. It was interesting making the comparison between him and Fabianski yesterday. I actually always liked Fab and I always felt he needed a run of games and the confidence of knowing he was the undisputed no.1. He hasn’t done badly for Swansea, but I couldn’t help feeling that Cech would have saved all three of our goals had he been in the other end.

    What was it John Terry said at the start of the season? That Cech would be worth at least 15 points to us this season? the phrase “and then some!” springs to mind.

    It’s a big factor in why Chelski are struggling so much this season – (pause to snigger a little bit) – their lack of a top ‘keeper. Begovic is a very good no.1, don’t get me wrong, but he’s no Courtois or Cech.

    What do you guys think? If you had to point to just one thing, what’s made the biggest difference to our fortunes?

    #689872
    patrick10
    patrick10
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    Afternoon Guys…Spot on AL. Of course there has been other factors which see us where we are right now. A sense of belief, Big players playing like big players. A real togetherness and desire which imo has not been seen since 04. As you say a plan B. But overall the single biggest difference this season has been our Goalkeeper. Chec is a massive presence as well as truly W/C. You saw it yest when the black panther went thru in 1st half Chec didn’t commit and gave our speedy Gonzales Hector the opportunity to recover. You can see it throughout the team esp defence its like when our opponents attack and beat a defender of ours the defender is thinking to himself “yeah but you still got to beat Chec” JT at CFc said Chec will save us btwn 12-15 well imho again he’s already saved us 6 that we would have drawn/lost last season. Great stuff. Have a great one y’all

    #690496
    the specialone
    the specialone
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    Al the gooner – Hey,I’ve never ever doubted the quality of us winning the league even last season.Yes,even without a world class striker I think we can do it.But players have to show that desire to cross the line.I would say our mentality has improved over the previous seasons,the signings of sanchez and ozil have given the whole team confidence.Now it’s all about the mentality.Enough of excuses.I don’t think wenger is better equipped to win us the league for a long time now.I would honestly get out of the CL on purpose,finish 4th so that we concentrate solely on the league.Our only competition is Man city,and let’s be honest they are very strong.I know people don’t like to see criticism when we are winning,but I can’t help myself but notice the small things.For instance,our complacency we showed in the first half.There are a few players who show that passion on the pitch(coq,cazorla) but most of them looks like they are not willing to cross that line.Koscielny is the best defender in the league,but he’s too honest and can’t win dirty.He could’ve gone down when costa slapped him,but he chose to stay up.It eventually went against us and it’s because of him we lost the game.Yesterday,after scoring the goal he gave that guilty look and looked at the ref as if he had committed a foul but thankfully the ref did not blow.He needs to start becoming dirty(if you know what I mean),like known was for us.

    #690499
    the specialone
    the specialone
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    • :

    Like Martin kneown was for us.

    #690724
    Henrykele
    Henrykele
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    • :

    I believe progress started when we stopped being a selling club, the arrival of sanchez and ozil made other players realize they needed to up their game, cech has been a major influence as well, the belief within the squad has increased, I don’t think any player would want to leave arsenal now seeking for trophy some where else( excuse used in the past) because they believe they can achieve something with this squad. Carzola, bellerin, kocielny, coq have been outstanding as well. All in all the team is developing into something sweet, I know by the beginning of next season the team would have a deadly striker, then the puzzle would be complete

    #690745

    SensibleS7
    Spectator
    • :

    – Established players promoting better stability
    – Experience
    – Different players at different stages and not everybody new has been brought in at once that would require time and patience to hit the ground running and establish themselves
    – Petr Cech between the sticks – understated
    – Somebody regularly propping up to find the net; if it’s not Walcott one week, then it’s Giroud another, and if it’s not him, then it’s somebody else.
    – Fortunately not a great deal of injuries and suspensions.

    Got to get a firm handle simply to keep that consistency and momentum going.

    #690886
    steveosnakeeye
    steveosnakeeye
    Participant
    • :

    Biggest difference is def cech, if we could get a top top striker or one capable of performing like one then we would walk it this year, with out though we will still likely fall short but have a lot of fun on the way for a change!

    #691027

    Anonymous
    • :

    I personally think the team has matured. Everyone said we couldnt do well because it was the same as last year plus Cech. However, Ramsey, Wilshere, Walcott, Gibbs, Chamberlain have turned into seasoned players entering their prime years. We dont have any rookies in the team, aside from perhaps Bellerin and Chambers.

    We no longer have 5-7 19-23 year olds in the first team. Most of the players are over 25+ and have years of experience.

    Everyone keeps saying we will falter in the run in, because thats what previous Arsenal teams did. However previous Arsenal teams were young, and did not have the experience and seniority of United and Chelsea. However, this Arsenal team is no less or more experienced than Man City who will likely be our main rivals.

    #691123
    AndyC
    AndyC
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    • : AndyC

    I would say over the last 7 years or so we have been stronger in the final few months we have had to be as more often than not we found ourselves fighting to get fourth rather than fighting to stay in the top 4. This season though does have a special aura about it, you can sense a happier crowed when at home which is also having a big impact.
    Cech coming in is huge, he is a world class keeper and still one of the best in the world we haven’t had a top keeper since Lehmann.
    Another factor is wenger has finally stopped trying to mix up the midfield, Ozil is the CAM, Santi is deep lying play-maker, Coq is the DM. Last season we had ozil wide left or right, santi playing as the cam, basically players not happy playing where they are. Ramsey out on the right bugs me still but him and bellerin seem to have worked that out. Players playing in natural positions is helping.
    Having Walcott up top is massive as well, Ozil form has improved immensely with him up top, he creates space for Ozil, always on the shoulder and giving teh option behind. Pushing defences back that extra yards makes santi and Ozil life much much easier.

    So far so good, still not sure if we can win this year. Think we need a striker in January and personally i would let debuchy go and bring back Jenko. Debuchy looks lost with us at the moment, disillusioned with life as back up to Bellerin.

    #691177
    Al The Gooner
    Al The Gooner
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    • :

    Wilsonian, agree about the maturity of the side being another factor. In fact, the team’s attitude in general has changed and Sanchez was a major catalyst for this. Several of the players have mentioned how you can’t help but be infected by Alexis’ never-say-die attitude. It might even be a factor in Ozil’s recent change. There’s no doubting the guy’s skill, but for too long, he was disappearing whenever things got a bit tough. Along with Coquelin, Ramsey and Giroud, we’ve got some real fighters in the side now and we really have missed that.

    Steveo, I always think you can improve the side and if a WC striker is available in Jan, it’d be crazy not to go for them, cash permitting. That said, my main concern isn’t where the goals will come from.

    Sanchez and an in-form Ozil can always give us that game-changing performance and I really like the Ollie/Theo choice Wenger has given us. It’s hard to imagine two more different types of striker and it makes it so hard for the opposition, not knowing which one they’re going to face.

    My major concern though is how thin we suddenly look after a couple of injuries. Wenger said something the other day about how he’ll only strengthen in Jan if the injury situation doesn’t clear up. That just makes no sense. It’s like he thinks that a manageable injury situation in Jan means it will be manageable for the rest of the season.

    I do get how hard it is to balance. If all your players are fit and you have top players who can’t get into the side, they’re going to want to leave. We’ve seen it already with Debuchy. On the rare occasions he plays now, he really looks like he couldn’t care less. You’d think he’d be taking the opportunity to remind Arsene that he’s got two top quality right-backs.

    #691189
    Al The Gooner
    Al The Gooner
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    Hulk, couldn’t agree more about Debuchy and hadn’t seen your comment before I posted. On the crowd, just gotta mention how proud our travelling army made me against the Swans. Once again, if you didn’t know better, you would have thought they were the home fans, they were that loud.

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