Saturday Round-Up - A good month to come for the Arsenal?

Call it unfounded faith in a football club. I have a hunch we be beating the next few Premier League opponents in December, Swansea, Wigan, West Ham, Newcastle. And even Olympiakos. (Though i still believe we end up 2nd coz Shalke04 will win the last game.)

If you have supported the Arsenal in the past decade, you would have come to know that Nov / Dec tends to be our weakness in terms of results. We have a knack of losing it what i call Black November. It is as if the Arsenal start to literally feel the chills and get cold on the pitch. More detailed observation is that Arsenal tends to have the worst of its injury situations right about now.

However, yes there have been some games we have drawn blanks and others we thrashed other teams empathically. But there seems a bit of difference to this team than just 2 seasons ago with Fabregas and RVP and Nasri and Clichy and Song around. This team is more balanced. I hate to say it but yes, Ramsey wasnt wrong in that observation lately. We are harder to beat. But with every balance comes its price. We tend to have more of our attacking tendencies stifled now that the team has a better tactical shape. In my own opinion, we have overly-relied on Carzola to deliver creativity side. Sure he is world class in keeping the ball but clearly he needs a breather if not for the mental aspect of it. It's like sitting a creative writer in a caravan and forcing him to write while on the road the whole time with no pitstops.

My point on the new team is this. Arsenal have now become a mixed passing team rather than the old short pass and move prbing style that similarly delighted comparisons with Barcelona and also irritated the hell out of many fans too with over-elaboration. Anyone surprised that we just dont hear that anymore? The commentator going "Nasri to Van Persie who lays it off for Arteta, back to Nasri who brings in Clichy, back to Nasri, dummy by Rosicky and Walcott cuts-in, he turns, lays it off to Sagna and he's found Rosicky with space! Shoot! The chance is over, Rosicky turns and tries to pick-out Van Persie but is covered. He really should have shot when he got the chance." Sound familiar?

With the previous style of pass-and-move, we had become the team that received the most number of fouls due to the intricacies of the flowing moves. Sometimes we were so good, the foul was the only way to stop us well. Also, it invited alot more tackles. Hence alot of people don't understand how hard it is to get a whole team to have the passing ethos like we did and accept the injuries that come with playing such a style.

But now, we are different. We employ the wings and crossing so much more. It even surprised a commentator at the start of the season that we crossed and scored a headed goal. Mark my words, we have changed to a bit of mixed attacking play. This also leads to lesser injuries as the players are not so much in close proximity as compared to with a short passing style. It alows us to be less subtle to the over-the-top long ball counter but with a more rigid shape, we also lost some fluidity that makes space for teammates to pass into. But you know what, with the correct world-beaters in the team, we are gearing up for an exciting Arsenal. Many teams are successful with this style. The best being Man Utd, R. Madrid and even Dortmund i feel.

Let's pray for less injuries this December then truly, i am sure Gunners will stand proud at the top summit end of Dec. Topped up with some additions in January, i am sure, the motvation levels from all will go up!

C'mon you Gooners!

Have a hunch it gonna be good for us this December. I gotta feeling.