Aston Villa vs Arsenal Post-Match Analysis

Arsenal eased to a 3-0 victory in Villa Park despite a first half-hour struggle against lively Aston Villa. Mesut Ozil opened the scoreline after receiving a sublime through pass by Danny Welbeck and coolly slotted past Brad Guzan. One minute later, Ozil's cross found Danny Welbeck, who applied a simple finish and registered his first goal for the Gunners. Shortly after, Kieran Gibbs' cross forced Aly Cissokho to beat Brad Guzan and gifted Arsenal the third goal. Three goals in three minutes destroyed Aston Villa's confidence and let Arsenal to dominate completely the game.

There are few take outs from this game.

1. 4-2-3-1 and Ozil

Finally Arsene Wenger decided to revert to 4-2-3-1 after a bad game against Dortmund with 4-1-4-1 formation. The change of formation accommodated Ozil back to his favourite position in the number 10 role behind the striker. The German looked very comfortable playing there, linking up with Danny Welbeck very well, as both exchanges assist to one another in this game. Hope this kind of performance can give Ozil more confidence. He has been criticized very heavily in the recent times and I believe he can be great in the correct formation and position. He's definitely not a winger because it gave him more responsibility to track back and he ain't that good in defending. Should Ozil come back to his best, it would be more fascinating to see more Ozil's exquisite passes in the coming week, especially with likes of Welbeck, Chamberlain, Campbell, and Alexis on the wing or upfront.

He's a trequartista, a great no 10, not a Winger
photos from arsenal.com

2. Defence Worry

I believe a good team would start at the back, though Arsenal in 2004 didn't have that concept in mind. Last season, Arsenal were fairly solid at the back at most of the time, except when they choked in away games against big team. However, this season they looked a bit shaky in each games, especially in set pieces. This is also might be caused by injury of Giroud, who often goes back to help defending set pieces. We now only have one towering player  in the Per Mertesacker.

Disregard today's scoreline first and you can see in the first 20 minutes, Aston Villa were getting chances by chances. Ciaran Clark could've easily opened the score when Arsenal went sleeping on defending Tom Cleverley's free kick. Lucky, Wojciech Szczesny were brilliant, throwing his body to deny it. Alan Hutton got a free header on near post which was - luckily - over the bar. Laurent Koscielny was much improved from his three poor display against Leicester, City, and Dortmund respectively. The shaky defence might be also caused by the changes in the back four. For the last three games, Wenger always play different player in the back four due to various reason. After the first team back four is somewhat settled, there are possibility they would be more solid.

3. Ramsey

He hasn't been hitting his best performance this season, but today was his worst form in this season, or even for the past 2 years. I haven't seen Ramsey this frustrating for long time. He misplaced few numbers of passes, and even made a simple pass to a corner for the opposition. He gave a balance when he play deep like today, but it might be a good idea to rest him for a while in the coming weeks, especially Wilshere now is playing quite well and can fill in the gap if Ramsey is rested.

It might be a good idea to rest Ramsey for a while
(photos from dailymail.uk)

Summary: This might sounds a bit pessimistic but those are three things I would like to highlight. There were a lot of positives, mostly because the shift of formation and Ozil back to his natural position. I was hoping Wenger rested Ozil today but it seems that Arsene want the German to have more time in pitch to regain his confidence. Hope Arsenal can bring today's good performance to the next game agains Southampton in Capital One Cup and more importantly, the North London Derby against Sp*rs next week.

Typical Arsenal again.

Arsenal somehow 'escaped' the game with a point after a 2-2 draw with Manchester City. The Gunners look to set to register a win before Manchester City equalized through Demichelis and collapsed towards the end of the game as City created at least 3 great chances that fortunately none of them converted to a goal. Thanks to the goalpost which saved Arsenal twice, Arsenal got draw on their own turf. 

The first half was a typical Arsenal performance: dominated the game, nearly scored a goal, then conceded. This goal was partially Flamini's fault who failed to see Aguero running behind him. Before the goal, Arsenal could've taken the lead had Danny Welbeck's shot not denied by the pole. However, after the goal, Arsenal lost dominance and City comfortably controlled the game, leaving Arsenal disjointed. 

On the second half, it was not better until Jack Wilshere's awesome skill dribbled past Clichy and lobbed Joe Hart to equalize. Arsenal overtook the lead when Wilshere's header volleyed home by Alexis Sanchez. However, City's substitute Kolarov sent a marvellous corner to Martin Demichelis, whose free header beat Szczesny.

There are few positives from this game, like Alexis Sanchez' work rate and Wilshere's majestic performance on the second half, but the worries overshadowed the good take-off from this game. 

The most worrying thing is the tactical approach by Arsene Wenger. After playing most of the time with 4-2-3-1, Wenger suddenly changed its formation to 4-1-4-1, forcing Ozil to play down the left. He looks invisible on the flanks and struggled to make impact. This reminds me of Arshavin who was a great no 10 but forced to play wide before disappears to the bench. I believe Ozil is a quality player who can make a great contribution to the team if he is played in the right position. Pushing him wide to the flanks  give him more responsibility to track back and does not give him freedom to roam. This might be the main reason why Ozil is declining for this year

Another bad effects of 4-1-4-1 is the gap between the attack and the midfield. Danny Welbeck looks so isolated upfront and looks bad - except during the first 15 minutes - on his début. Looks like Wenger utilized 4-1-4-1 to give place for Ramsey and Wilshere in the team, but that does not make sense to sacrifice the team to accommodate them in the lineup.

Second worrying thing is about the injury. Debuchy looked very bad on his injury after twisting his ankle nearing end of the game. Chambers is more than capable to deputize him but now Arsenal only have 5 senior defenders. It's still September and Arsenal looks very short at the back. This could cost some important points here.

For now, it's a bit hard to imagine our team to sit at the top at the end of season with this kind of performance. Wenger's stubborness might cost us the chance. 4-1-4-1 does not work well, and other formation might suit the Gunners better. Still, I'm hoping for improvement next match.