I’m usually a glass half full kind of person, but I’m finding it difficult to believe things are as good as they appear on the surface. I know performances aren’t the most important thing in football, but it’s hard not to believe our return so far outweighs our performances. Those things tend to balance themselves out over a season and the chances are we will suffer later in the season unless we improve.
Last season started in a similar vein after initially losing out first two games when we went on a 22 game unbeaten run when the performances were far from convincing too. Plenty of fans believed we could continue to outperform the statistics, but they almost always catch up with you in the end and so it was for Arsenal. In the end it was a very poor late run of results which cost us a top four spot and the Champions League football that comes with it.
In the second half of last season our away form went to pieces and we finished too far down the “away results” table for a team with top four ambitions. Our home results held until the last few games when points dropped at home to teams at the wrong end of the table cost us dearly. The similarities with the performances this season cannot be ignored and I think we should be very worried about how our season might go.
With United, Spurs and Chelsea all having troubles of their own the opportunity for us to take a top four spot is better than it has been in quite a while. We’re not going to catch Liverpool or City even if City are only a point ahead of us, but we just have to outdo two of the other three big six teams. It’s crucial that we take advantage before United and Spurs in particular change their fortunes and at least we are taking points at the moment.
It’s our away form which worries me the most though and I’m not sure we can change it. We won our first away game at Newcastle, but we were wholly unconvincing and we followed it up with that 3-1 defeat at Liverpool. The 2-2 draw at Watford was a game to forget when we let a two goal lead slip in the second half and were lucky to escape with a point. We didn’t have the confidence or belief to take the game to one of the worst United teams I have seen in a long time in our last away game and we missed a great chance to get our first league win at Old Trafford in 13 years.
If it wasn’t for the finishing of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang at the moment we would be in a much worse position as the rest of the team are struggling to find the net. The return of Alexandre Lacazette from injury should help to ease the burden on Aubameyang, but we still need our wide players and midfielders to chip in with more goals. For us to have more of an attacking threat we need someone who can pull the strings in midfield and make the chances that others thrive on.
I find it difficult to believe Mesut Ozil has nothing to offer the team, but it seems Unai Emery has decided to discard him. It’s scary to think of how much money we pay him and to get absolutely no return for that money makes no sense. The manager seems to want to play with three defensive players in midfield and for whatever reason Ozil does not fit into his plans.
We’re all hoping the returns of Kieran Tierney and Hector Bellerin will improve our defence, but as much as I want that to be true it’s difficult to believe they will have that effect. It’s how we defend as a team and have done for far too many years now that’s hurting us and I can’t see anything changing in that respect. In fact we are inviting opponents on to us even more this season and that’s a recipe for disaster for a team who just cannot defend properly.
I guess we’ll know pretty soon if Tierney and Bellerin can make a difference or if we continue to concede more shots per game than almost every other team in the Premier League. I just can’t see the ability in the team for us to control the game and take it to our opponents and surely that has to be the way forward. It’s much easier to defend when you have the ball and opponents certainly find it tougher to score without it.
We don’t play any of the other big six teams in our next eight league games, but there are definitely a few banana skins in there. I think we’ll have a better idea of where we stand after those games and hopefully it will be in a good place. Like I said the glass is looking more on the side of half empty to me at the moment, but maybe we can get a refill over that run of games.
That’s it for today.
See you tomorrow.
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