Hector Bellerin says Arsenal’s possession-rich style is helping them overcome opponents as they feel their way back to top form.
The Gunners dominated Stoke at the Emirates yesterday with 69% possession as they secured a 2-0 victory that helped the club to third in the Premier League table.
Ball retention has been a common theme so far this season with Arsene Wenger’s men averaging 66% possession (62% vs West Ham / 59% vs Crystal Palace / 66% vs Liverpool / 74% vs Newcastle – stat courtesy of FFT StatsZone app) even though positive results weren’t initially forthcoming.
Recognising that he and his teammates can improve their efficiency in front of goal Bellerin told Arsenal Player: “It is nice to get the first win at home finally. It was a tough game and we had a lot of chances in the first half.
“Sometimes when you don’t score you can pay for it, but even when we had scored we were keeping tight at the back and defending properly. In the second half we got our second reward but I think we should have got it earlier because we had a few chances.
“The team kept trying as we got the second goal and we were happy to get the win. I think the chances are coming. We were playing with the ball but we needed that creativity up front to convert the chances.
“Finally we look like we are getting there but we need to be more efficient. We need to get the same efficiency we got last season to get back to those ways.
“The team keeps looking solid and the best thing to do is keep the ball. I think that is the reason why the team is doing really well is not just [down to] the defence. The fact that we are keeping possession means we are playing the games our way.”
Hector himself put in another fine shift on the right with his crossing particularly eye-catching. After years of Sagna’s ridiculously up-in-the-air-loopy-esque balls and Eboue’s erratic efforts we seem to have found a defender with a deliciously crisp technique while on the charge. If only the strikers would then put the ball in the net…
He is a future star. Barca… please stay the fuck away!
Let’s speed up the DNA swap just in case, them wankers come along.
By the way, if Newcastle win tomorrow Shetzki and Maureen will be in relegation places after 5 games and 6 after we beat them next week at their place
I’m an ‘ITK’ guy I promise,and on good authority I’ve been told Monsieur Wenger and his staff of mad scientists have him in the laboratory Thursday and Fridays removing any last remnants of Barcelona DNA! They also show Alex Hleb falling over in a Barcelona shirt on a continuous loop #FACT
The loop also has the 2-faced Spaniard being boo’d off by the Barca crowd despite his DNA!
As it seems, the plastics are calling for his head too. But that’s Chelski fans for you, the biggest bunch of bigots in London. Amazing how something like Spurs can be overtaken in this regard. Cesc oh dearie Cesc, really shouldn’t have left the club that truly loved you.
So true ???. But then… Ozil ?
Cesc is off form, and I can see why Arsene turned him down…… Let’s move on…
He also has a pretty clinical finish for a defender, got into a position yesterday where I thought he’d lamp it like he did against united in the youth team. Nice to have two full backs really in tune with our attacking style.
He’s clearly going to be a world star, hopefully we can give him the platform to win a few major trophy’s with us, otherwise who would blame him for wanting to go play with the very best!
Arsenal DNA
Yesterday’s game showed both the good and the bad about the side right now. On the good side we were incredibly creative: the midfield was superb, making chance after chance. We utterly dominated possession and used it very efficiently. Stoke were overwhelmed for most of the game. The bad side was, yet again, our finishing. For the number of chances that we created we should have scored at least six goals. But what should have been a comfortable victory ended up as only a 2-0. Walcott should have had a hat-trick. In a tighter game – and they’ll be many… Read more »
I don’t understand why Giroud can’t win us a title. I definitely think it would be great if we could sign a ‘top top’ striker, I definitely think it would make it much easier to win a title with one.. But I don’t believe in the fact that we can’t win the title with Giroud. If you look at Premier League records, around half of the title winning sides didn’t have a 20+ goalscorer in the league. (mind you, from all players not even strikers specifically) Teams have won it with worse strikers than Giroud, or ones with poorer goal… Read more »
I do agree with you, while we can win the league without a prolific striker, on the strength of yesterday’s game, u can’t but help feel that with a prolific striker we could have buried that game in the first half, we won’t get chance after chance with teams like chelsea, city, bayern, reason why a prolific strikers comes in, the example you gave about goals scored by drogba does not paint a full picture, in a game of no chances against us, drogba has been known to make the best use of the only or two chance made available… Read more »
More inciteful than the article itself.
Grrrrrr… I am being incited to do something, just don’t know what.
Punching John Terry in the face is usually a decent bet.
I’m also of the belief that Giroud can win us a title. Giroud alone, probably only one of the 3, most likely another FA cup which btw I’ll take gladly. Giroud will inevitably lose form or get injured. Last season he missed half of the season after breaking his leg, came back with aplomb and even then had that odd game out against Monaco which ended our CL run (been a while since we had an easy tie too). It’s days like that where an alternative will definitely help us push on.
Vote for Olivier here – http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/football/34218411 and get his confidence up.
The last time a team won the title without having a player score more than 20 was the 08-09 season(Anelka tied with Ronaldo 18 goals). Yes you are right about the best team and not the best striker winning title, but there’s one slight problem – with chelsea back in 04-05/05-06 they without a doubt were the best in team in the league. They were ahead of the other teams by a considerable distance. Now it’s a bit different…the differece in quality between city, us and chelshit(till their rather surprising breakdown) isn’t that much as a whole, that’s where having… Read more »
“Only 2-0”!
Against the mighty Orcs who only few months ago butchered the Mugmashers.
Part of this is it isn’t just Walcott/Giroud. We are misfiring across the team right now. Sanchez is getting closer (if hitting the post twice in the first 10 minutes tells you anything), and Ramsey’s goals have dried up, perhaps down to being on the right (although his goal VS the mugsmashers should have counted).
I’m not so worried yet, feeling that with everything else working so well, it should click soon and someone will get a spanking. — If there is any justice in the world it will be next weekend….and after that we’ll be fine.
It’s a nice thought but Mourinho can probably get Chelsea to defend against us for ninety minutes. Right now a 0-0 draw would do his side a world of good.
Of course if we score first, with the way they’re playing they probably wouldn’t be able to stop us again.
With Ozil and Santi creating all kind of chances, we only need Giroud, Walcott and Alexis to be more ruthless infront of goal
we complain so much about Giroud… in d league this season.. apart from Aguero, which strikers is better than Giroud?. You should start appreciating what we have..
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/football/34218411 to show your appreciation.
In other news Tottenham have released Adebayor.kinda feel pitiful for him. Most of us who come from a poor background don’t know how to handle fame and fortune when it comes out way so many examples of it out there. He let his ego get to him. Should have been humble and stayed with us. Also just read mourinho has hopes of managing us one day. Guess even the most delusional egotistical people do realise that we are the best club in the world. Also lets get behind Theo and Olivier and give them our support. If adebayor have half… Read more »
For all of the vitriol thrown at Adebayor, I tend to think his heart hasn’t been in it for some years now.
While he never seemed the most level headed guy in the first place, it was as much that he (not surprisingly) never seemed quite the same after that day on the Togo team bus.
It is probably very hard to perform your job up to your usual level, if at all, when dealing with untreated PTSD. He is clearly a troubled man.
After reading some of the shit he has to deal with from his own family, it’s easy to see why.
I didn’t care for his attitude when he left or for some while afterward, but at least I understand now where some of the mess comes from.
Hate Adebayor, but i would say Theo has better technical ability than he does. Maybe Giroud(that’s a big maybe) but certainly not Theo.
From the games I watched of ade before it took him ages to understand the offside rule
*wouldn’t
For a moment I thought you were going to put forth a solution to Arsenal’s striker shortage.
“with a delicously crisp technique”
Arnautovic knows this first hand……went for the ball, came away stripped off his pride.
This guy Bellerin is a gem. Whoever negotiated the Fabregas deal to include this guy should receive a huge bonus. Best piece of business by Arsenal and up there with the Alexis capture. The 360 degree vision of Arsene and his team at work again.
Debuchy has a battle on his hands because this boy is ready to make that position his own.
Perhaps the reason why Wenger feels we are under less pressure to sign an ‘outfield’ player the media keerps complaining about is the fact that Wenger knows how to buy players like Bellerin and Coquelin for huge sums of money and incubate them through the academy. No one factored Bellerin as a crucial element last season. He was judged as a desperate move. Ditto Coquelin. ‘ I don’t think it is in the nature of the gaffer to gamble on two players Wenger knew Bellerin was showing very good signs for two seasons in the Academy. When Sagna stepped out/down,… Read more »
*golf clapping. Well said indeed.
If Arteta never got injured, Coquelin would’ve been in another club start of the season.
Lets just get that out of the way.
Excellent piece Santori. Totally agree.
Here’s the other thing. I mentioned that we have to find other methods to get the best out of Walcott’s attributes. It does not mean that he has to simply start RW. Frankly this whole argument whether he should play RW or CF is moot. Nothing in life should be so polemic. Walcott can start in either position. But there is cost to him starting RW too. Will he be as diligent tracking back? The reason why Wenger prefers Ramsey at the moment out of position on the RW is he is more careful defending where Ox is great going… Read more »
This post isn’t long enough.
For fucks sake fats…don’t encourage him ; )
I think santori is planning to collect all of his posts and publish them as an anthology at the end of the season.
Me, I can’t be bothered reading them. Same theme over and over in different threads.
I wonder who was the striker in Barcelonas team that won everything few years ago? Oh yes it was a midfielder called messy. They are great because everyone in that team is required to score not just one or two players. Next game I expect Monreal and bellerin or koscielny to score against the chavs! And I’m serious because I believe we are a great team.
Do we have anyone in the team that’s a better finisher than messi or even scores as much as him for that matter??
Arsenal is coming back to its best.And just to mention young gunners like Bellerin and Coquelin are doing great.Sanchez, Giroud and Walcott should improve their precision infront of goal. Gunners for life.
I wonder whether Debuchy will stay beyond January – and whether we can get Jenkinson back as understudy if he leaves?
I hope he stays, he’s still a fantastic player and can even cover centre back at a stretch
I hope he does too, but I’m not sure he’ll want to if he’s not getting a look in by then, with Euros at the end of the season too.
Sad story for debuchy. Having not really done anything wrong he finds himself (barring an injury to bellerin, God forbid) literally miles away from the first team. Playing under wenger as a pretty obvious first choice rb must have seemed like the icing on his career cake 🙁
Anyone else think the back four of koscielny, gabriel, hector and nacho is the best in the league? We got a couple of monsters in the middle with pure class and speed on the sides. With a healthy Coq and Mr Cech in goal we look set to dominate defensively. COYG!!
I second that, ace comment. And furthermore Gabriel is shaping up to be a beast, our beast…. Wenger out, he doesn’t get defenders…!