Fair result from a very entertaining game, I thought. The finishing was pretty bad from both sides; the keepers did their jobs. But the play was open and both sides went for the three points. Erickson hit the post on a lovely free kick; Walcott rocketed one off the post on a great strike from about 21 yards. There were lots of blasts over the bar, and quite a few last-second interventions from defensive backs. It could have been a five goal game, but we are going to have to settle for dropping two points at home. Ouch.
I continue to wonder why Iwobi starts. He's got lots of talent and may one day be a star for the Gunners, but his speed of thought is not up to EPL standards just yet. This is a game in which Alexis should have been (and was) effective as the frontman, but it didn't work out. This was also not one of Theo's better games. I want Lucas Perez to get a run on the side; he would have done at least as well as either of our wide men today. Ozil was constantly getting into dangerous positions, but the Spurs defense managed to snuff out the threats.
The goals were both caused by mistakes. Wimmer nodded the ball past Lloris on one of Ozil's superb free kicks, and Kos made an unwise swipe at the ball on the slashing Dembele (or was it Wanyama?--they both were very good today) a foot inside the box. Kane buried the PK straight down the center. The other mistakes from both teams were not punished.
The defenders did well enough, I thought. It was our midfield that looked a bit overmatched for much of the game. Coquelin and Xhaka are both quick and strong, so you know that Dembele and Wanyama looked powerful out there. Erickson did his usual excellent job. Alexis had to come back too often and make the sort of challenges that you're not going to get from Ozil. The difference was that several times the Spurs mids made strong runs at us, whereas that was not allowed by Spurs--and neither of our DMs is known for that anyway. Coquelin was removed for Ramsey with 25 minutes to play, but that worked no better. Giroud provided menace in the area after he came on for Iwobi, but Ox was if anything even less effective than Walcott when he came on at the same time.
So both sides keep impressive streaks alive: Spurs are undefeated in the league, Arsenal undefeated in all competitions since their opening day loss to Liverpool. But both are certainly disappointed to have dropped two points in a very winnable game.
I see 'pool is smacking Watford around, so we're going to finish the weekend in fourth place, having started it in second. We're still behind City on goal difference, but will be a point back of Chelsea and two behind Liverpool. We will have to be on the front foot against Man U after the international break.
A pat on the back to Shad Forsythe, who has us as healthy as I can remember.
No comments:
Post a Comment