Sunday, 14 September 2014

Arsenal's vulnerable defence is their Achilles heel still

The Gunners' propensity to throw away leads looks like it will be a feature of this season as much as it has been in the last one.

Quite why we're conceding headed goals from set pieces when we've got Mertesacker in the box is anyone's guess. If I had to analyse it more, I'd say the general lack of height in the side makes us vulnerable at corners. I mean, Mertesacker can only mark one player, if that. Man City had quite a few unmarked players to aim at for the corner that made it 2-2. We need to address this: a job for Bouldy, perhaps.

Additionally, we need to protect our wings better. We're still incredibly vulnerable to counter-attacks. We need to do something about this in training. Basically, we need to get more bodies behind the ball quicker than we are, so the defensive midfielder or closest central defender can close down the space left by our overlapping full backs. I'll watch with interest, but suspect we won't do anything about this, although even MOTD have pointed out our frailties in that respect.

As well as my customary moan, I should pay homage to Alexis Sanchez and Jack Wilshere, who both played starring roles with a goal apiece.

Meanwhile, if only Danny Welbeck's early chip had gone in, perhaps we'd be looking at 3 points against the champions instead of 1. A solid debut from him and plenty of fighting spirit throughout our side. Reasons to be cheerful as well as worried about Debuchy's injury and our defending.

Sent from my iPhone

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