Ole Gunner1. Arsenal pushed higher up the field than they have in other games this season.

2. As has been the case in all their games so far, Arsenal's central midfielders were clustered within a small area and they tried to pass through their opposition.

3. This tactic worked so far this season but it didn't work very well against West Brom because none of the central midfielders was incisive enough with their passes. Incisive passing is so important to how Arsenal play.

4. The game changed when Rosicky & Wilshere came on because they were much more incisive in their passing. I will post some other graphics to demonstrate just what changed once these 2 players came on.

5. Even with the centre backs pushed so far up, with 2 holding players in Diaby & Song, Arsenal should not have been exposed as much as they were. West brom got behind Arsenal's centre backs too often. The penalty incident illustrates this point best: http://dailymotion.virgilio.it/video/xeycu5_wbpenmiss

25.09.2010

nvrAlmunia's position is pretty telling:/
I simply cannot understand what stops Wenger from buying a decent keeper.

25.09.2010

Sniped SniperBecause we have 3-4 decent keepers of similiar skill and there are not many keepers to buy anyway.

03.10.2010

nvrA lot of decent keepers were available. If Arsene had pushed a little bit harde, he could have bagged Given or Schwarzer from the PL. I don't believe it would take too much of effort to convince the likes of Sketelenburg or Neuer to join Arsenal either. All he needed was to spend a bit of money. You can't expect to get a decent keeper for £2-3M.

I can't believe he fails to understand the money spends on a keeper will give him the best return on investement. What other position gives you an extra 15 points in a year for spending an extra £5M?

04.10.2010