Cazorla is playing really poorly

A hard earned victory for us, the game was ridiculously frustrating to watch with CP parking buses in front of goal and referee keep interrupting plays unnecessarily.

About the new players, Sanchez's performance was pretty decent but for someone who joined from Barcelona his passes were quite questionable, in the first half he had several passes that went nowhere and conceded our possession, maybe that has to do with him not being fully fit yet, then again he seems energetic for the entire game and halfway through second half he started getting more and more into the game. His set piece delivery is also better than Cazorla and I think he should be given the responsibility for free kicks, I don't think there's anyone in our team that can score free kicks, last season we had Ozil do it but to be frank it was always lacking power or flying straight to the goalkeeper. If Podolski is playing he seems to be our best free-kick taker but it seems like his chances will be limited now.

Meanwhile I thought Chambers did really well except that naive pull that led to the yellow card. His defending was sound, although we didn't have much defending to do when the other team is behind the ball all the time but from what I saw his long passes and crosses seem to be always on point and finding the right person. I have a feeling that when BFG is back perhaps Chambers will be moved in front and share some playing time with Arteta/Flamini/Diaby, which justifies our eagerness in looking for a CB compared to DM. This guy definitely have a big future for us... Debuchy, well nothing much to say, he was solid and his crosses today were miles better than the crosses I saw from Sagna for two years. He seems pretty exhausted towards the final minutes though and was outrun by CP's winger. I do think that he's actually an upgrade to Sagna, he seems calm and composed, Sagna although we consider him a consistent player sometimes had some moments of madness especially when he was outpaced.

Somehow almost all of the players are playing poorly today and the ones that are supposed to be poor turned out okay - Arteta and Monreal. That final substitution was really a ridiculous choice for me. Why did Wenger sub Chambo in when we need goals? Wouldn't Campbell be a stronger goal threat than Chambo? Chambo's showings were shambolic but you can't fault someone who hasn't had a full game for so long. That substitution alone caused so many other problems like having to shift Sanchez to the left flank when he's right footed. There were a couple times that Sanchez ran all the way down but had to pull back to cross with his right foot because he's switched to left flank, not to mention that Wilshere was our best midfielder today and he was playing quite well compared to the others. I don't really understand the motive behind this final substitution, it added nothing to our game at all.

Finally, I think we REALLY NEED a striker.

This post has been edited by JustForFun: Aug 17 2014, 03:06 AM

Giroud wth?

Man any half decent striker would have had a decent shot with that

I can't believe I just woke up at 3 to watch this clown of a performance

Come on, what's with the excuse that they players are tired? If Wenger decides that our players on the bench aren't good enough to beat Beskitas then we have no reason to get into CL because we will not win it anyway if we can't rotate players like today it will bring us 2-3 injuries of first team players enough to cost us dearly in the league.

Cazorla obviously does not have the pace to play on the wings, put him right behind the striker like when he first arrived, he just hasn't been the same player ever since Ozil joined and he has to be played on LW. He presents more of a goal threat when played through the middle as he can score with both feet, remember that great strike against West Ham in our 3-1 victory few years back? Rotate Ozil and him so we don't have to risk burning them out anymore like what happened to Ozil last season.

Let Ramsey play CM alongside Arteta/Flamini, that's the position he shines the most. He is able to carry the ball better than Wilshere can and clearly when he was played as attacking midfielder he had to drop deep to receive the ball because Wilshere was overly naive at times trying to dribble through a pack of midfielders only to get dispossessed.

I hope we have plans for CF cause I just don't see us winning the league if we have to rely on Giroud as our main striker.

Goes to show that Cazorla is not suitable to be played as LW

I hope the decision to push Ozil to LW to accommodate Wilshere won't backfire

You have to be blind to not be able to see Wilsheres playing like shit

Abysmal display today bar the final 10 minutes, we've got almost everything wrong. I am not sure whether Koscielny is injured but Wenger was really naive to start two slow CB in Mertersacker and Chambers (less so) against Everton. Chambers' inexperience was exposed to no end today, particularly in that second goal where he dived in after Mertersacker failed his tackle. He also needs to be more aware in set piece on how to setup the offside trap, it was shown in the first goal we conceded that Mertersacker moved forward a yard to setup the trap but he did not synchronize the movement so the trap didn't work out... He needs time, I hope the English hype doesn't make him get over his head, the arrogance is showing with his reckless tackles.

As for Ozil, I'll give him the benefit of doubt since it's his first match today after a long world cup, then again he was never known for his work rate and you should seriously never expect him to defend, which is why you don't want to put him on the LW, more so when you play Monreal who's not that defensive minded. Play him behind the hole and put Ramsey right back at where he belongs, his energy is what makes him the player he is, not his shooting nor vision nor passing. He does things the simple way but he's positionally excellent due to his work-rate, always at that place where you need him to be. His passings was uncharacteristically off for the past two matches though, couldn't complete even the simplest passes, I think having to play him every match is actually burning him out...

Man U made Afobe look like Messi

Even Dzeko having a great time

https://twitter.com/EdDzeko/status/504369406382964737

Wilshere didn't even bother passing properly jesus

Luckily no penalty

Wilshere is a time bomb

Sanchezzzz

Intensity of the match reduced so much after the break

Poor from Sanchez

Everyone seems so exhausted after the break