Matchday Thread - Arsenal vs Hull - 4 Jan 2015

Wenger pre-game, on goalkeepers:

The two keepers, Ospina and Martinez, will come in. After that, we will see. I cannot rotate too much either because we need stability. Who comes back? We have the 18 players that played against Southampton – nobody else will play.

On the frequency of fixtures:

At least we play at home after the Christmas period. That’s not bad, because you play on December 26, 28 and on New Year’s Day. At the moment, we have a decimated squad, so that means everybody will have to contribute very well and a lot. The fact that you play at home can be an advantage.

Few first team players need to be rested my team would be Martinez Hector Calum Hayden Monreal Coq Flamini Joel Santi Mozart/Theo Chuba/Danny

Bench: Rambo, Ozil, Alexis, Ox, Kos, Debuchy

Hope we see at least 70 mins of Walcott today. Also hope to see Ospina for us once again. The few minutes he got before his injury looked promising

WALCOTT HAS BEEN UNLEASHED

Ospina
Bellerin, Mertesacker, Chambers, Monreal
Coquelin, Rosicky
Theo Fucking Walcott, Cazorla, Campbell
Sanchez

WALCOTT HAS BEEN UNLEASHED

I repeat:

WALCOTT HAS BEEN UNLEASHED

Bench: Martinez, Debuchy, Koscielny, Zelalem, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Maitland-Niles, Akpom

Who?

Who?

Last time we saw him he was about yay high.

Hope we get some goals, so we can see Zelalem come on as a sub! Also, maybe Akpom should have started in front of Alexis (to give him a break)? Nah. We want to win, don't we?

Akpom >= Messi

So far so good. Joel Campbell was good at the start but became fantastic when he switched flanks with Theo. From the left he is able to cut inside and cause havoc. Same goes for Theo to be fair, he's also been better since the flank switch.

Overall the passing has been excellent. Clever, quick and sensible at the same time. Hull have been dominated in all areas.

All that's missing is a second half Arsenal collapse to bring us all back to earth.

Baffling to me how Wenger ignored the first half display, swapped Theo and Joel back to original flanks and then played a 4-1-4-1 in the second half. We made it much harder for ourselves that way. Hull were struggling with out inside runs, Wenger fails to identify.

Also, why not sub Ox at the end?

Good first half, not sure why Wenger didn't continue along the same lines in the second.

Happy with the win. That team though starting to look as barebones as it gets. Hopefully Ox is ok

Happy with the win. That team though starting to look as barebones as it gets. Hopefully Ox is ok

Ox should be fine it was a whack on the knees may be in couple of days. Coq did really well except for that lunge. He should have saved that for Stroke, chelski or manure though.

Theo and Joel were average but considering the game time they have had they can only improve. Getting a hard on imagining Theo, Alexis, Joel, Ozil, Ox playing upfront they would unleash mayhem.

Theo and Joel were average

...in the second half, sure. In the first they were fantastic.

Three starts for Coq and he is great in all. He really is taking the chance he is given.(lets ignore for a moment his karate tackles that were crying for red)

You can see how much we missed Teo, Even if he didn't score, and he stay out of the play with the ball, his runs are great and deadly. I just wish Cazorla and Rosicky used few more of his runs. Don't know why they were scare to feed him.

Oh well, Stoke wont be bad place for Teo to recover scoring form.

Guardian with a funny headline for the post-game:

Arsenal’s bionic mosquito Alexis Sánchez steals show from Theo Walcott

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/jan/04/alexis-sanchez-arsenal-bionic-mosquito-hull-theo-walcott

...in the second half, sure. In the first they were fantastic.

No doubt i was DELIGHTED to see him back in the starting lineup, i hope he starts regularly ahead of Danny.

However he was average had total of 28 touches with 74% PA and 1 foul with 75 minutes on field. Without being involved in the game how can he be FANTASTIC in either half's and stats prove that. He looked average to me through out and i accept the fact that he looked rust and probably a bit scared to be involved in challenges and going for duels. Santi and Alexis have set the marker for the season according to me and its up to Theo and other to reach that level.

...in the second half, sure. In the first they were fantastic.

No doubt i was DELIGHTED to see him back in the starting lineup, i hope he starts regularly ahead of Danny.

However he was average had total of 28 touches with 74% PA and 1 foul with 75 minutes on field. Without being involved in the game how can he be FANTASTIC in either half's and stats prove that. He looked average to me through out and i accept the fact that he looked rust and probably a bit scared to be involved in challenges and going for duels. Santi and Alexis have set the marker for the season according to me and its up to Theo and other to reach that level.

No doubt i was DELIGHTED to see him back in the starting lineup, i hope he starts regularly ahead of Danny. However he was average had total of 28 touches with 74% PA and 1 foul with 75 minutes on field. Without being involved in the game how can he be FANTASTIC in either half's and stats prove that. He looked average to me through out and i accept the fact that he looked rust and probably a bit scared to be involved in challenges and going for duels. Santi and Alexis have set the marker for the season according to me and its up to Theo and other to reach that level.

Well, two things:

Stats mean nothing without proper analysis.

Stats only ever track on-the-ball actions, so can't possibly tell us anything about off-the-ball movement, intentions, positioning, or attitude. In the first half, Theo and Joel were alright, until they switched flanks. From then on they were fantastic. Their off-the-ball movement was excellent, they moved diagonally towards the goal, and they were causing major problems for Hull's full backs by cutting inside.

As soon as they went back to their original flanks for the remainder of the second half, they went back to being average again. This is because Theo is right-footed and Joel is left-footed - playing Theo on the right and Joel on the left means they won't cut inside as much, as they would operate on their weak foot.

This is something Wenger should have identified at half-time. Instead he ordered them back to their original flanks, and even turned our shape into a 4-1-4-1 instead of the 4-2-3-1 that worked so well in the first half.