Per Mertesacker has revealed the Arsenal dressing room held an inquest into their New Year’s Day defeat at Southampton with defensive responsibility at the top of the agenda.
Speaking to the press after Sunday’s win over Aston Villa, the club’s vice captain confirmed a frank discussion had taken place about the need to focus at the back and that work had subsequently been undertaken on the training ground to cut out silly mistakes.
“Maybe sometimes you need a wake up call in certain times to release what’s important,” said the BFG. “At Southampton it was a major setback – a bad start to the year.
“After that we promised ourselves to come out of that comfort zone and be a bit more focused, especially that what comes first is defensive work and not just for the back four, that is what was maybe the main thing for us to focus, just to promise, and after that we played more convincing, especially defensively.
“You can see the benefit when everyone realises that, and I thought everyone realised it very quickly after we lost at Southampton.
“We worked a lot on our defensive shape, not just the back four, to avoid those dangerous free balls against us. We look much better and the best game defensively was against Man City, that was a bit of a change.
“In the last years, we went there and wanted to convince everybody that we can go and play our own way, so that was a bit of a change. sometimes we have to do something else that was unexpected, and was maybe the winning moment.”
Since Southampton we’ve played played five, won five, scored 15 and conceded only twice – and both of those were in the FA Cup game against Brighton with a reshuffled side.
It’s fair to say that the meeting, whatever shape it took, has paid off…if only we didn’t have to have them a couple of times a season!
Quite remarkable how often I’ve read of such inquests in the dressing room at Arsenal. Seems a bit odd to have to go half the season over and over before realising that a more pragmatic style is in order.
I agree to an extent, we would have won against United with a similar style, rather than them doing it to us. We are great in attack so if we have 50% (or less) possession rather than 75% we will have more space to attack, as we saw with Villa. And as we saw when top of the table last season.
Though I understand that we have the Coq now and speedy players like Walcott back that can get away from defences.
yep, if you defend well you force the other team to come out, leaving you with more space for (counter)attack. Seems like just what Mourhino does, and if Arsenal adopted a similar approach I would not complain. Did you think it was a boring match against Villa because we had less possession?
There’s a difference between staying alert defensively and playing like Mourinho. The Villa game was far from boring because we stayed alert on both sides of the ball. Watching your team’s upfield players put in a good defensive shift then seeing the ball come from the back in quick transition is very satisfying for me. Mourinho just parks the bus and has all his eleven behind the halfway line. Thankfully City was able to pull a goal back. Arsenal still show attacking intent, but thankfully it has not been so cavalier as of recently where before it seemed we forgot… Read more »
Aye, it does seem strange but I reckon it was a bit of hubris that did it. We were doing well last season with our more pragmatic style, but then when we went out and got Alexis and started putting in some good attacking performances we decided that maybe that was all we needed to do and slacked off a little. Maybe the penny has finally dropped, maybe that psychological block is gone now; we’ll have to wait to find out.
I think there’s a lot of truth in your point. Every forgot how long we were at the tip and the fact that we hardly conceded any goals.
With Kosc back, there will be more stability because we got our full-backs playing in their positions.
Forget forth spot… There’s a big realistic chance to finish 2nd. The fact that Chelskis home record has gone against Bradford, might start to make other teams loose their fear factor going to the bridge which will give us a chance to even challenge for 1st.
Forever COYG!!!
Not just Bradford, Sunderland managed to do it last season. I think 1st and 2nd are probably gone barring spectacular collapses in form from City and Chelsea, but 3rd should be ours- United look anything but, and we really ought to finish ahead of Southampton. Let’s start by tearing Spuds a new spud-hole!
If your’e a centre back/defender you always think of how to improve your defensive game how can you let it go on for so long at such a high standard. Ridiculous.
Hopefully we stay awake at not revert back to type.
Frustrating that the wake up call came when we were already like 15 points off the pace though, hey?
Better late than never
Hopefully it’s an early wake up call that starts our record breaking run to the quadruple in 2015/16… 🙂
One game at a time, please.
Or even a treble this year, which while a longshot isn’t entirely out of the question.
i wish we were hammered the first game of the season so these guys could wake the fuck up. We have the talent needed to win everything (better squad than Chelsea n Man city). The only thing missing is. collective desire and application on matchday. Thank god they finally worked on the shape of the team in every game not just the big games. If we can concentrate in every game from here till end of the season, we can win them all.
COYGs
Brilliant tactical play in getting the first goal or two then luring the opposition to create counters. But what really got us going is our stronger defence with Coquelin and Ospina although the many injuries fucked us up
Ospinas distribution is streets ahead of sczc
Even when we play out from the back and then he “hoofs” it, it is generally right onto girouds chest or head.
Villa clearly set out to win the ball high high up the pitch but clever passes over the midfield then knockdowns behind their turning cdms are what killed villa
That and some sublime one touch passing on the breaks
I think I had a point but now I’m just picturing ozils flick and can’t focus
Fuck sp**s
I felt it was partly down to lack of understanding early on in the season, obviously the defensive discipline wasn’t there which was only exacerbated by playing a LB at CB, but if our attack was functioning we’d have taken more points, and our confidence woud have been better without the occasional capitulation.
It was a combination of factors, some unavoidable, and some very much avoidable.
Injuries at the back are definitely the main factor with why our back 4 looked so horrid to start off, but teamwise – as you said – there was no defensive discipline. No one covered for anyone. The fluidity only went forward and nothing settled the back so we left vacuums of space behind us. The lack of effort when our short passing game was off and you could see it when players trudged back instead of really tracking our opponents on the counter. Thankfully Cazorla eventually got back on form and is putting in more effort than I’ve ever… Read more »
We tried that trick of getting beat opening day last year, and rightly that worked well but only until Christmas. This year we’ve held off and will time our peak to perfection, stealing the title right out from under Maureen on the last day. Mind of all the teams that were top last year City were there the shortest but there when it counted.
Rather than wishing that we lose to start each season, I just wish we could start each season without half our best XI out injured. There’s no doubt that if we’d had Walcott, Ozil, Koscielny, Rosicky, Cazorla, Ramsey, etc. all healthy from the start and staying healthy throughout, we’d probably be eight to ten points better off than we are now.
It’s nice to see that they’ve taken it all on board, but perhaps the next time they need a wake up call they could try coffee? Or failing that, cocaine. Might not do their hearts any good, but speaking selfishly, it’ll help my blood pressure no end if we don’t see any repeats of Southampton…
that was in the middle of the Xmas slog, but you are right … they were shite that day.
I’m waiting till they do Spurs over before allowing too much dreaming. The Coq has made an enormous difference.
This is what we, as supporters, have wanted since last year’s form and even the year before that when we knuckled down and grinded out results.
Esoteric football with 70% possession means absolute FUCK ALL without the 3 points!
Not particularly esoteric, given that Barcelona are one of the biggset teams on the planet, but I catch your drift.
Apparently 18+ people would rather watch Denilson-like sideways passes.
Whatever floats your boat, I guess.
Sitting deep, soaking up pressure and then counter attacking at lightning pace.
Arsene once perfected this, why it’s taken him this long to return to this style is a complete mystery to me?
The right players?
I’m sure I’m stealing someone else’s opinion as I’m sure I’ve seen this before, but Wenger wanted to build a team around Cesc, both because of his incredible talent and the possibility of it thriving better in the CL. That didn’t work out, so once we lost Cesc we’ve been rebuilding the team, going towards (hopefully) some kind of hybrid with technically adept, but powerful and pacy players that can pass and keep possesion but also defend and hit teams on the counter. Like a Swiss Army team, just without Senderos and Djourou.
Arteta Ramsey Özil midfield trio in Europe and Coq at DM in the league, with Arteta we keep possession for such a long time. We now have so many different options that we cab adapt to both the premier league and the champions league.
Just shows how counter-intuitive football can be. Focus more on defensive play (especially in the middle of the field – Cazorla – Ramsey – Coquelin) and (a) it’s easier to keep a clean sheet but (b) we score loads more classy goals.
It’s going to be extra-interesting to see if this is how we trounce Sp*rs this weekend.
Are we beginning to see the the the fruits of 4 1 4 1 ? Or is it actually a Wenger cerebral formation, that only he understood up to a few matches ago, but the players hav copped it now. The basic rule of the system is…….. The two CBs and the DM, have very specific roles, and the remainder are licensed to roam, to confuse, and to wreck the oppositions brains. I love it, if it’s even partially true. Within this system, however, the Coq has overnight, become our pivotal player , and is required to be at his… Read more »
We would certainly be closer to the league leaders if the manager realized santi/rosicky was better off in the middle than wilshere. Look, wilshere didn’t play that bad or anything, in fact his form was better than ramsey before both got injured. Our turnaround happened when santi returned to his proper position plus the injection of rosicky’s play made the passing combinations work whether 4-1-4-1 or 4-2-3-1. We certainly would have had 1-2 more wins even with the defensive frailties of playing defensive players out of position. We HAD the players to turn things around; we just didn’t use them.… Read more »
I still don’t particulaurly buy that it was Santi’s starting position in the team that made him spoon all those shots around and misplace the passes. If we had a tactically rigid, strict formation then I’d go along with it but given the freedom our attackers have I put it down to a lack of synergy than inabilty to play in a certain position. Not to mention the lack of team confidece inherent in having a LB play at CB for most of the season.
“Maybe sometimes you need a wake up call in certain times to release what’s important,” clearly in our case accomplished by the Coq.
Got a hot date Thursday night, I really hope my coq has a big role to play, just hope he doesn’t freeze on the big stage!
Sounds like your knob rules your brains! You must be a tiny totts supporter.
WTF??
Tell your sister I said hi.
It’s your mum he’s seeing on Thursday.
You must be both from Norfolk.
Does your daddy know you’re using his computer?
It’s good to see the inquest has yielded results.
I do wish Le Prof is more proactive than guiding his players out of a bad patch. That is the difference between well Wenger now (good manager) and Wenger of a decade ago (great manager).
I still blame the change on the thuggery of 2008, when a bunch of kids the Prof really nurtured were all set to win the title with style was stopped brutally.
It’s but natural to wake up with a hard Coq.
The wake-up call was needed but how expensive can that call be. I think those 3 points dropped at Soton dealt the near fatal blow to our league ambitions. If we had won that game (and I was certain we would), we would be 3rd now, 8 points behind leaders and 3 behind City and that would be a more manageable gap than what we have now. Mert and Co; please let the possibility of what we can achieve serve as the wake-up call in future and not bad results. PS. I am installing Arsenal Fc and genuine contenders for… Read more »
For me, it depends on how the rest of the season goes. If we end up going into meltdown again, as soon as we hit a tough spot and the pressure is put on, then I wouldn’t be holding my breath for a succesful title tilt next year, but we’ve definitely got the squad now (presuming Gabriel is as good as he sounds).
“Settled team” “need one or two more players…” “Then we can challenge for the title” Blah blah blah… Groundhog day
Was a bit funny when City supporters started singing “are you Mourinho in Disguise” referring to Wenger, then following up with “boring boring Arsenal” hehe. I certainly hope we continue to focus more defensively in the big games and play to win rather than to entertain. Wengers record against top 4 opposition is pretty horrible, meanwhile Mourinho record vs the top 4 teams are unbelieveable. I think they said on sky that in 60ish games, he has only lost 4, and those 4 losses were All away fixtures.
Funny how people say Barca are boring for their style but when we do it, we are ‘entertaining’. I find it more entertaining scoring a lot of goals from exciting counter attacks and keeping a clean sheet too. Definition of boring however, is parking the bus like Chelski
They have scored more goals than anyone in the league, and they have scored alot more exciting goals from counterattacks than we have done, So It is hard to argue that they are so boring and only defend when it is so obviously not the case. 🙂 However in the game vs City after it became 1-1, They did play for the draw and did not want to risk losing a 6 pointer which you could argue was cowardly and boring. But if you put yourself in their situation it does make sense to play it safe when the league… Read more »
The myth that Chelsea is boring has about as much truth that Arsenal play attractive football. Chelsea gets a bad rap because they tend to shut up shop in the big games that everyone watches, given Arsenals record in such games I wish we would do it too. Imagine if we had not suffered those humiliating defeats to Chelsea and Liverpool last season when we still had a chance at the title.
God I miss Denilson!!
Don’t worry, Arteta will be back next year to continue his ever improving Denilson impersonation.
Spot on
Coq and schnederlin next season. Bye artefacts and flamini
Comment: I like the way we defend set pieces now
(corner kicks to be specific) per man mark the opponent’s must lethal header of the ball while the rest adopt zonal marking
Are they going to have another wake up call next season again?
I hope not because our squad should be stronger
Great Analysis on Arsenal here and our ever improving right back 😉
http://www.101greatgoals.com/blog/gary-neville-brilliant-analysis-development-arsenal-starlet-hector-bellerin-video/
More like the alarm went off in august and arsenal kept pressing snooze till Southampton.
I think statements like this from big Per can be misleading. Our form had been up well before Southampton. I do not think it is any coincidence that the return of key players such as Kos, Ozil, Ospina, Ramsey, Walcott and the emergence of young defensive players like Coq and Bellerin has coincided with better results. The obsession with the psychology of the players and the team is odd to me it nearly always seems like if we have the best players available and a balance of skills in the squad we win most of the time. The psychology stuff… Read more »
A very good point and well made too.
Good that the team has responsed well to a bad spell but still it seems that they need these wake up calls a bit too often. Remember the good run of 2013 started from the slump at spurs and I think they talked about a similar talk back then. Why do they keep forgetting what made those results? Shouldn’t have taken a half a season to see that there was something wrong with the defence..
There needs to be an inquest about this last transfer window. Yet again, Wenger has failed to sign all the players we needed. The Paulista purchase was an excellent one: a player in his prime who could walk into the first team and provide cover for Mert and Kos. But we needed another defender and, most of all, a defensive midfielder. Le Coq has done well but I’m not sure he is the answer. That Polish boy is one for the future: it would be crazy to throw him in at the deep end this season. But we have enough… Read more »
Fatgooner we can’t simply collect world class players like pogs. Good players have to play regularly and we have 2+ good players for every position in the squad, and the perfect blend between youth and experience in my opinion. Even in the days of the invincibles we had some terrible squad players like Cygan, whereas nowadays I have no complaints with anyone. Why at the age of 24 can Coq not be the answer? He has proved himself for a consistent period, in big games and has all of the technical ability we craved. Just because his journey was unconventional… Read more »
We have had inquest and wake up calls all season long not just after Soton. Each time we had a hiccup, the same things were said. Where there has been a crucial difference is primarily the return of a stable partnership with Per and Koscielny. Simply put, the lack of a Cback option has plagued us all season with the inexperience (Chambers) or the out of position (Monreal) adding confusion at the back. The soft centre argument is myth because we conceded most goals from crosses be they set piece, corners or wide play. The issue was one of positioning.… Read more »
This is the first time this season that the wake up call has included dropping the goalie. Ospina is calm and is able to concentrate for a full 90 minutes without doing something bloody stupid to unsettle everyone around him. I don’t even want to see Szczesney back for the cup as I don’t trust him.
Quick, start the inquest. It’s outrageous I tell you! Wenger is trying to ruin our once great club.
blah blah blah
I wonder if the training regimen of Shad Forsythe is having an impact as well. I don’t think he had anything like a full pre-season with the team due to the World Cup. His influence over the recent mini-breaks we have had in the schedule might explain why Nacho looks faster than Gibbs (heresy, I know, but I believe my lying eyes) and Giroud looks fully two steps faster (and much less labored) than he was over 15-25 yards. Now that I think on it so does Ozil.
Thoughts?
As great as our results and performances have been since Southampton it is worth noting we have scored first in each. It will be interesting to see how we do when we fall behind and have to chase the game rather than sit back and play on the counter.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m more than happy for us to go the rest of the season without falling behind and this situation not to be tested.
I’m also not being negative as am loving the form of the lads at the moment. Just putting a caveat out there.
I think people are forgetting why we slowly switched our style around the 07-08 season. From 03-07ish, Teams would shudder when Arsenal conceded a corner. They knew Arsenal were going to counter, fast, and score. Thus, teams would park the bus, hard, against Arsenal to combat this. Thus, seeing the success of teams like Barca and Ajax of the past against parked buses, Arsene adopted a similar approach. The free-flowing attacking football worked wonders for us. We even should have won the league in 07-08. Unfortunately, in recent times, with the ‘bigger’ teams especially, they learned they can counter our… Read more »
The more defensive approach, praise for le Coq and questions on how Wilshere gets back into the team remind me of an official Arsenal Twitter-takeover video from TWO YEARS AGO, Arsene says Jacks future position is as a deep lying midfielder in front of the defence, winning the ball back. Watch it for yourself.
Shortly after that, Hodgeson asks him to do similar for England.
Perhaps le Coq and Wishere are the long term replacement for Flamini and Arteta.
Maybe we never needed any DM at all. Its all part of the plan. IAWT
Positive….. COYG!!!…..
totally off topic, but BBC is reporting that Akpom has agreed to a 4.5 year extension.
Great times all around! Now time to mash some Spuds!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eMazip0tZA
Interesting interview in French.
Wenger’s influence etc well covered and his thoughts/philosophy laid down.
Now we shall go on a long winning streak.Feeling optimistic about our second half of the season. #COYG
Right guys hate to be that guy… but aint we playing negative some would argue boring football? I get playing like this away at Chelsea, City and Man U… but are we really going to play like this for now on against teams like Villa… aint it going against our philosopher and morals a bit?
Imo we should play like this when the occasion calls for it now all the time…
To be honest with you counter attacking football is the most exciting to watch. Way better than that tiki taka bollocks IMO. (That’s always been my opinion, I never managed to watch a whole Barca or Spain game because its sooooo slow)
Watch Barca passing it backwards and sideways or watch Madrid going from their own box to the opposition’s in ten seconds flat with a goal at the end? I know which I’d rather watch.