Villa 0-3 Arsenal: Four-minute foray ignites Ozil-Welbeck fire?

Match Report | Match highlights | Wenger's thoughts

If there ever was one partnership I wanted to thrive, it was Ozil and Sanchez. I silently justified Wenger refusing to buy Cesc and Costa by thinking if Ozil and Sanchez clicked, they'd be forgotten.

The signs weren't encouraging. As much as I tried to ignore it, Fabregas and Costa's bromance was getting to me. The reason was simple - we did have the potential to have our own dynamic duos (Ozil-Sanchez, Ramsey-Walcott?), but Wenger's tactics and formational structure were bringing the worst out of them. However, once Wenger played Ozil in his familiar role, and unfamiliar partnership popped up.

Ozil and Welbeck.

Now, it was only one match, but I think that Ozil and Welbeck have the potential of forming a great threat. I mean, I think that Ozil-Sanchez and Ozil-Walcott could be more prolific, but since both of them are wingers (and Theo, lest we forget, is still inconsistent), I'm not so sure now.

Leaving aside injuries or Capital One Cup games, Ozil and Welbeck are almost certain to start in every game from now till December. If Welbeck were to improve his finishing over that time, he could be the perfect striker, every midfielder's dream. He's quick, powerful, and has great sense of positioning.

I have to also mention Wenger's hand in Ozil's great game. True, I believe that had hashtags like #PlayOzilAt10 not have arose, Wenger would have played Ozil on the left yesterday. However, Wenger playing Ozil on the left in games past has, in turn, actually proved helpful. He looks more hardworking and his stamina has increased, because he tracked back a lot while on the flanks. Playing him in the middle has almost made him feel grateful to an extent, and he's now making more use of the bonus space offered to him on either side.

In the opening minutes, when Villa had the ball in their half, Ozil pressed one of the centre backs and almost won the ball out of them. Would he have done that if he was bunged into the centre all the time? Unlikely.

While I more than understand people's elation at finally seeing Ozil back in form, credit should also be due to Welbeck as well. I thought that he began a bit clumsily, but after his assist, he became much more composed. His hold-up was Giroud-esque, he got a poacher's goal - he also made one of those headed clearances off a corner that we've come to appreciate about Giroud.

My firm belief is that if Welbeck improves his finishing (which isn't as far off as Giroud's), he's a far better player than the Frenchman. Given that there are uncertainties over Sanchez's, Podolski's and Campbell's futures as a striker, Welbeck could be a superb addition.

I have little doubt that Ozil and Welbeck can be one of the best attacking partnerships in Arsenal's history. What they need is a proper balance between form, fitness and even tactics. Aaron Ramsey, for one, looks worse as ever in one of those AM roles. Santi Cazorla is always inconsistent on the left flank. Wenger should use his Podolski's or Wilshere's or even Campbell's, if it means bringing the best out of Ozil and Welbeck whenever they play, against specific oppositions.

I'm not getting carried away after one win, but if we manage to get our attacking balance right, we'd be a serious force this season. Albeit I doubt we will.

-Santi [Follow me on Twitter @ArsenalBlogz ]

Welbeck conspiracy and City quickie

Really interesting presser from Wenger yesterday. After an 8 day hiatus from social media - one that notably happened as soon as Welbeck signed for the club - the boss was forced to face the media as part of the obligatory pre-match conference. When asked about Danny Welbeck, with no place for cover, Wenger stunningly said:

“If I had not traveled that day, Welbeck would not be here. The coincidence made that because I was on my way. If I stayed at home, Welbeck would not be here today. I will tell you that story one day but that’s the truth.”

I didn't find it particularly strange that Wenger had gone to Rome on deadline day. Lest we forget, he had gone to Switzerland around the same day 3 years ago, and we had signed Yossi Benayoun, Per Mertesacker, Mikel Arteta and Andre Santos that day. Until Arsene's "admission", I took conspiracy theories like Gazidis overruling Wenger and sanctioning the signing as a bit of a joke. There was no way, I opined, that Wenger would go abroad and come back, only to find a new player or two at his disposal. It seemed unreal.

Until now.

There's plenty of evidence to suggest that Welbeck was indeed a Gazidis buy. Think about it - in whichever corner of the world Wenger was in, surely he had the time and internet connection to cough up four decent sentences on Welbeck? Forget that, if Wenger was fully in the loop and knew Welbeck would be a Gunner hours before he signed, surely it's the absolute minimum formality to keep his quotes prepped?

The inescapable fact is that Wenger has consciously, knowingly and deliberately refused to comment on Welbeck's signing until he was forced to. And when he did, he's gone out and created more uncertainty, fueling the conspiracy theory that explained his 8 day absence in the first place.

Was Wenger unaware of the speculations that were brimming owing to his silence? Was he lost for words? Did he suffer from mini-Laryngitis? Did the Martians invade his house in Rome and threaten to keep him quiet on Welbeck, or else they would murder the Pope? All unlikely.

The only rational conclusion - however unbelievable it may sound to anyone - is that Wenger sulked because Gazidis bought a player behind his back. And don't think that this isn't possible; Wenger stated his contract deal till the last day because he didn't agree with the terms. In the end he caved, hence Gazidis got in guys like Jonker and Forsythe to ail an outdated backroom staff. Perhaps overruling Wenger in buying Welbeck was one too many.

There was the usual guff about the quality and promise, which was followed by this:

“Danny Welbeck is an ideal signing for us because he can play through the middle, where I think is his best position but [he can play] as well on the flanks. His qualities are his team attitude and his pace as well."

This worries me, but doesn't genuinely take me aback by any stretch. Wenger is well-known to misposition people and Welbeck could be another victim due to his "versatility". I could be wrong by a mile, but with Wenger at the helm there's no way I'm ruling it out.

If (as retaliation to Gazidis sticking his oar out and paying over the odds for Welbeck), Wenger decides to play Welbeck on the left or bench him in favour of Sanogo, that would completely cap the conspiracy. It would absolutely, beyond reasonable doubt, prove that Wenger's pissed at Gazidis and is doing all he can to ensure project Sanogo lives.

Welbeck is a fine player, but sacrificing him for Sanogo would throw 16 million down the drain. I genuinely wonder how Wenger's apologists would justify that.

Man City at the Emirates is beatable, but under Wenger - a manager who plays Ozil on the left and persists with an incompatible formation - I'd be amazed if we win. We have the potential to do so much better, but Wenger is holding us back. Hopefully, it's only a matter of time before everyone realizes that.

UPDATE: #Arsenal team to play Manchester City: Szczesny, Debuchy, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal, Flamini, Wilshere, Ramsey, Alexis, Ozil, Welbeck

Meh, the AKB's would probably blame injuries and referees anyway.

-Santi [Follow me on Twitter @ArsenalBlogz ]

Welbeck's the scapegoat, Wenger's the sinner

"Even though there is time for it, the summer is already showing signs of turning into anarchy. Late deals, panic buys, injury crises, unprepared squads... this will turn into a repeat of summer 2011 under Wenger. I guarantee it. And I'll quote this on September 2nd (that is, if Wenger stays, of course)."


I wrote that on 4th May, four months from today, confident, but not exactly thrilled, that I'd be proved right. Arsene Wenger, stubbornly predictable as he is, has once again left Arsenal unprepared number-wise to compete for the league, panic purchasing Danny Welbeck when fans and the media were closing in on him.

Before I start, let me clarify that I have nothing against Welbeck. He's young, he ticks a lot of boxes and he'll score goals. As I mentioned earlier, he can be a target man and he's quick. He's like a mash-up of the good traits of Sanogo and Giroud, with scope to improve. He's obviously a short-term solution, but may also offer us something in the long-term.

My anger towards the manager is in no way connected to Welbeck. In fact, it was a bit lessened by it. However, what Wenger has done has been criminal and inescapable - in a transfer window which was supposed to help us compete - he's led the club towards a completely unnecessary risk, assembling only six defenders for four positions. To compound it, he's made a mess of the William Carvalho saga again; offering £21.3m when just a couple more would have done the trick.

Our defensive position is a joke. Sure, we have a very good first-team pairing in Debuchy-Mertesacker-Koscielny-Gibbs, but you can't say that's enough. Mertesacker and Koscielny played far too many games last season and got away with it, but it's a huge gamble to assume that they'd stay fit the second season around. Gibbs has already proven himself to be unavailable at the worst of times - witness his latest injury. Debuchy is still new to the team and while he offers a lot going forward, he deserves a bedding in time.

Who's beside them? Monreal and Chambers? Both good bench options, but not nearly enough quantity-wise for a 60 game season. What happened to the times when Wenger had 4 to 5 centre backs? How can a manager, who has 18 years of experience in the top flight, be possibly comfortable with employing only six defenders, three of whom are bordering on injuries?

And make no mistake, he is comfortable. All throughout summer the only concrete links we had to a defender was a swap deal for Smalling or Jones for Vermaelen, and that didn't materialize.

On a day when we needed at least one centre back to make do (and even in my book that wasn't enough), Wenger went to Rome to officiate a charity match. He actually dithered on deadline day. He didn't bother to look at his team and do what others had implored him to do a year ago, buy a defensive midfielder. He has knowingly, consciously, refused to strengthen where it was most ideal.

In most other areas we're well stocked, but it's so irritating that Wenger has failed number-wise that it seems the frustration has numbed into my veins. Expecting Wenger to fall two or three players short, regardless of the circumstance, has actually become part and parcel of being an Arsenal fan. We hope for better but see more of the same. We hope for ambition and we get nothing. We hope for Arsene to take us over the line, but yet again he only seems to take us to fourth.

In the end, we suffer and he doesn't. We angrily watch the team falter against big sides and Wenger watches on. He knows in the end he'll get Champions League. He knows that he'll suck the money out of every Gooner. He knows he'll be paid £8m per annum. He knows that he is accountable to no one. He knows that the board and half of the fans are scared of change. Why disturb the cycle of inaction, when he can keep his money safe and (most of) the fans happy?

Ivan Gazidis said that we could compete with Bayern Munich by 2014. Tell me right now if you think that Arsenal are capable of winning the Champions League. Even if we adopt to wing play and be lucky with injuries we'd struggle to make the semi finals. And that's not an insult to the players Arsenal have, it's a direct complaint towards the manager.

Perhaps the nature of how deadline day underwent caused some people to forget how good a squad we have. I won't lie - I still think this is the best Arsenal squad for a decade. We've got pace, power and goals scattered across our starting XI, and we have plenty of depth to call upon. Except perhaps a DM, we have quality in all positions. What we lacked was quantity in defence, which we didn't get.

However, I don't have high hopes of any competitive trophies this season. And that's sincerely no disrespect to the players - who I find a very good bunch to support - but it's completely down to the manager. Regardless of his deadline day ditherings Wenger has a very good team on his hands, but I can still bet top dollar that he will not bring out the best of them.

How could he? For one, Wenger has been one of the most amateur tacticians I have ever seen. He's been that way since I can remember, but it was only last year that deficiency was ruthlessly exposed and documented at the Etihad, Anfield, Stamford Bridge and Goodison. Wenger knows as much about footballing tactics as Harry Styles, no amount of financial resources or support from the board will change that.

He could have bought Pogba, Hummels and Thiago Silva and we'd still lose the title. Buying the top players requisite for sustaining a title challenge is all well and good, but managing them throughout the rigours of a season by playing them in their favoured positions and resting them at the right times requires just as much managerial skill. Does Wenger have it? This season so far, he's chosen to play Ozil out of position rather than choose fresh legs in Podolski or Joel Campbell!

The 4-1-4-1 has already been a failure, but Wenger won't change it back to the preferred 4-2-3-1 soon enough. He should, especially considering that our DMs are the weak links and they at least need to be supported, but he won't. For reasons known to only himself, he'd rather leave our defensively-suspect DMs isolated rather than stick to a formation that gave him relative success last season. For five out of five matches we've looked unconvincing, yet it's a nailed on certainty that he won't change a thing for a crucial Manchester City game.

What's the logic in playing Mesut Ozil out wide? What's the sense in claiming Sanchez can play centre forward all his life, and then playing him on the right? Why start Yaya Sanogo when a World Cup stalwart and a German international sit on the bench? Podolski may have his drawbacks as a centre forward, but he's still miles ahead of Sanogo.

The point of having a strong bench is so that they can be rotated to avoid fatigue. Did we do that? We played 5 games in 15 days, and didn't rotate Alexis Sanchez for Podolski, Campbell or Rosicky in all of them. Wenger would have doubtless done the same to Ramsey had he not been sent off; Ozil had he not been on international duty; or Arteta had he not been injured. What's the point of having strength in depth if Wenger isn't going to use it?

Knowing Wenger, there's a good chance the likes of Sanchez, Ramsey and Ozil are going to face injuries directly connected to fatigue. Knowing Wenger, he's not going to design specific tactics to nullify the opposition's strengths. Knowing Wenger, he's not going to buy a defender unless Calum Chambers breaks his ankle. Knowing Wenger, he's not going to push for first if his money isn't on the line.

Some ambition. Some era.

-Santi [Follow me on Twitter @ArsenalBlogz ]

One and a half hour to go...

As I post this it's exactly 2:07 am in India, and remembering that the window closes at 3:30 am over here, there's only around one and a half hour for the transfer window to end. A striker, defensive midfielder and a centre back were the order of the day (of the month, really), but as of now, it seems we're getting only 1/3rd of the requisite.

Danny Welbeck...
...is not a signing many wanted. For all the sagas of Higuain, Suarez, Lewandowski, Falcao, Balotelli stretching back to 2013, to end up with a Manchester United reject seems embarrassing. He may get us through the Giroud injury and the Alexis transition, but plenty are saying he wasn't the answer.

I disagree. Look, I know that Welbeck's not exactly the greatest striker in the world, but he certainly has the attributes Arsenal were hunting for. He's quick, he's powerful, he certainly has Premier League experience, and can finish better than Sanogo. In addition, he's one of those rare target men cum speedsters, who'd be a shoe-in for Giroud and would also be a long-term option.

The word right now is that the deal is £16m permanent, which seems good to me. At 23 he'll get better, and build on his qualities. Upon imagining the scenario that Giroud gets fit and Sanchez becomes the centre forward we all need, we'll have three presentable options for the striker role. Not the best by any means, but certainly a good, versatile bunch.

On other signings...
Truth be told, I'm hugely surprised. I thought that Wenger would buy a defender rather than a striker, but perhaps the fans' outpourings and Giroud's injury forced his hand. Even so, as we look to head into the new season with six players to cover four positions, I don't have an effing clue why Arsene hasn't gone for a defender yet. It's not even about quality, for Koscielny and Mertesacker are very good defenders with Chambers proving to be astute backup.

However, as yesterday proved, one injury leaves us struggling for options in defence. It's an embarrassing situation to be in, one even more compounded by Arsenal sending Miquel to Norwich permanently. I can only hope that Wenger has a defender in mind to buy.

Onto the defensive midfielder, and it seems we're not getting any. Rabiot has decided to stay at PSG, we've refused to capitalize on a reasonable counter offer on Carvalho, and we haven't made any moves whatsoever on Khedira or Schneiderlin at all. Crazy, just crazy. Everton and Leicester proved that aside from formations and tactics, we needed to change the defensive midfielder.

Our only plausible signing - Welbeck - may excite a few and anger the rest, but there's no doubt that he'd be handy. However, as I said earlier today, it doesn't even matter who Wenger buys anymore, his tactics, formation and man management always ruins the system. Knowing him, he'll probably play Welbeck on the left flank and bench Mesut Ozil.

Anyway, one and a half hour to go. Let's wait and watch for any surprises.

-Santi [Follow me on Twitter @ArsenalBlogz , I'll be giving transfer updates over there]