Let’s not try and sugarcoat anything that happened last night, and quite frankly I could quite easily pick out ten things we learnt from last night.
But following the 3-1 loss to Monaco, it seems the Gunners are facing more than just an uphill battle when they head to France in a couple of weeks time.
With three away goals in their luggage, Monaco now stand as firm favourites to head into the quarter finals of Europe’s biggest competition.
We’ve taken a look at three of the main points Arsenal fans can take from last nights game, and how it will affect the philosophy going into aa busy fixture list until the end of the season.
1. Ospina’s Place In Jeopardy
Before last nights game, David Ospina seemed to be the only real option we could have between the sticks, but after the loss to Monaco I’m beginning to scratch my head.
Looking back at the three goals conceded last night, you have to say Ospina should have done better, with obvious regards to the second and third goal. I can understand he was wrong-footed for the first, but he has to take responsibility for not doing the right thing later in the game.
The goals were both in open play on the counter attack, and Ospina failed to open out his body to prevent the shot reaching the back of the net.
Now I know that if Szczesny was the man with the gloves out there he would have done something different, he is a player who loves to sit low and use his legs. You look back at the performances of Ospina in games like Leicester, Tottenham and Crystal Palace where silly goals were conceded through lack of concentration and mis-communication in the box.
Maybe Ospina is losing his confidence in goal, but maybe its the fact that we still don’t really know who our first choice guy is. Wenger either needs to stick with Ospina now through this rough patch or bring in Szczesny at the weekend to freshen things up, something has to change soon.
2. Wrong Line-Up From The Start
Now I’m not gonna’ sit here and tell Arsene Wenger how to manage this side, but the fact is we were never set up in the right way since the first whistle.
The aim in the tie was to take a nice one or two goal cushion to France in a couple of weeks time, where we can control the play and not be intimidated by the home support. But we all know that game plan fell flat, and that was simply because we were lined up in too much of an attacking way.
With Bellerin and Gibbs playing on the flanks, all we had was pace and the ability to get crosses in the box. What we actually needed was a strong back four that could stop Monaco from grabbing an away goal. Chambers and Monreal are players that like to sit back and dictate the play from their positions, but most of all they don’t take risks when moving on up the pitch.
We’ve got the attacking ability in Alexis and Giroud, so let them take care of what happens up top. I think looking back now any Arsenal fan would take a 1-0 win to Monaco, so why was that never the plan. The likes of Rosicky could have come in to control the midfield, experience and composure in the middle of the park to hold down the fought.
The Gunners have to go for broke when we pay a visit to France, and it will be a very attacking side, but Wenger needs to remember that there has to be a balance in a team that has so many options now.
3. The Ox Is Back
Out of everything that went wrong last night, we did find something positive out of the game. Yes, the man himself is back in an Arsenal shirt for the first time in 2015, and it didn’t take him long to find the back of the net.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain made his much anticipated return and quite frankly looked like a new signing when he was unleashed. Not only was his goal something special, but he one of a few players out there who genuinely looked like they cared about what was going on.
For a long time now the Ox has been compared to Theo, but playing him centrally offers something different in our team. He’s hard to defend against because he has a good balance of both strength and pace, which is something we need to drive the team on into the dying stages of the game.
It’s nice to see our squad coming together at last now, and with Jack Wilshere also available to play, we have the squad depth to rotate this side if need be. Wenger’s hardest challenge now is to find out what his best eleven is, which isn’t an easy task.