Analysis of the goal conceded against Arsenal (1/9)

Olivier Giroud’s goal – Walcott is played onside by Dawson, who then lets Giroud in front of him to convert from a tight angle.

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Arsenal move the ball wide to Rosicky, who has a lot of room.

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Walcott makes a run into the channel, but look at Spurs’ back line – Vertonghen and Walker are roughly in line, but Dawson is several yards deeper, as he has an eye on Giroud. The lack of communication between the centre backs culminates in Dawson failing to hold the line, playing Walcott onside.

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Walcott has time to take two touches before getting his head up.

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As Walcott feeds his cross in, Giroud has moved from behind Dawson to be in front of him.

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Dawson lunges desperately, but is unable to block Giroud’s clever flick.

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Such is the quality of the finish that Lloris has no chance.

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  1. I think that AVB got it wrong today. The starting eleven was fine, but Dembele was poor and has not got going at all. He should have been replaced by Holtby. We needed someone to inject pace into our midfield. I also think Dawson should be dropped. Our back four should be Kaboul at RB, Chiriches and Vertonghen as CBs, a new LB or Rose. The injury to Capoue looked bad and so the midfield should be Paulinho, Sandro and Holtby. The forward line would be Eriksen, Soldado and Lamela.
    1. I thought the same about dembele, and i hope chirches fits in quickly with one of the two of vert and kaboul. Kaboul and vert played together against tsibili and it is only because the georgian's attack was so poor that more wasnt made of the cb problems in the game, they didnt even appear to be in the same back four at times. I would point out though that Kaboul has been made to look amateur at right back by both chelsea and man city in the past.
    2. Dembele should have come off at HT I think. Not liking the idea of Kaboul at RB personally - think he's our best CB.
  2. I perhaps need to look at this again, but so far I don't understand why people are having a go at Rose for this. Clearly we're aiming to play a high line and go for off-sides - and Dawson totally breaks this. Once he's done that he _can't_ let Giroud get in front of him, but he does. We had a lot of close calls, but this one goal (due to clear NLD type mistakes we see every year from our old boys) is all the separated us. Just thinking back to our recent victories over Arsenel (like the one with Rose's wonder goal), we were back to the wall defending for the bulk of those games. Here we had them doing the same for the last 10-20 minutes. This is progress.
    1. I don't think Rose is at fault; I do think Capoue is. As soon as Rose goes to close down Rosicky, Capoue should be looking to cover the space behind him and track any runs. Been a big fan of the Frenchman so far, but covering the full-backs is a key part of the defensive midfield role, so for me, this is a pretty big failing on his part. Sure, Daws is at fault too, but, just like the rest of the team, he's only human. They'll all make mistakes and some point during the season, and all we can do is hope they don't make them at the same time. In this instance, the fact that they have has made us pay.
      1. Sorry, but if Dawson is the answer I'd like to know what the question is. He could see along the line and didn't hold it. He just seems bereft of ideas going forward and I think he slows us down. Wholehearted yeoman, but not a cavalier.
      2. A good shout - Capoue should pas on. He wasn't as good as he was in the first two games and seemed a bit flustered in possession in the first half, but it is early days for him.
    2. Agree with all of your comments.
    3. Wow, should be able to spell Arsenal by now.
  3. Holding a high line is only part of the tactical equation. A high line is worthless if the player on the ball is not closed down quickly but allowed to comfortably pick the timing and direction of the through-ball. Dawson IS at fault for not holding the high line but the high line tactic is totally exposed by Capoue getting sucked into the defensive high line at a time when he should have been closing down Rosicky and putting pressure on the player with the ball. Instead Rosicky is allowed to perfectly time his pass to Walcott. In another universe, if Dawson had indeed held the high line, Walcott could have easily ran the touch line towards Lloris and shot/pulled back for what would have been a very decent opportunity at goal. Good player that he is, I thought Capoue struggled throughout the game and should have been replaced by Sandro/Holtby much earlier on.
    1. Good point about Capoue I think - should have gone out to Rosicky or told Rose to. Either way, there needed to be pressure on the ball.
      1. You only have to watch MOTD once or twice to know that you can only play a high line if there's 'pressure on the ball'. It does amaze me that we fail to spot key players and just close them down. I'm thinking Mata last season, Cazorla/Rosicky.. if one of those guys gets the ball, someone like Capoue/Sandro/Dembele should go and mess them up. And Silva. You _can't_ let guys of that quality get their head up to spot a pass.
  4. Regarding the goal itself it was misunderstanding between two centerbacks. Had it just been Giroud/Walcott pushing the line then yes, Dawson should have stepped up but it was both, you can't do that when there are two attackers as you always have to assume the referee and linesman are only looking at the one that is. Superstition or playing to the whistle, either way, you have to hold in that situation. On a brighter note, I didnt feel arsenal were'nt there for the taking. They had a settled team but that only counts for the first 6 weeks, nothing has me dreading the reverse fixture. If i were to find major faults with the team it would be the lack van der vaart-esque around the box touches, something that I think in eriksen and the return of holtby spurs may already have addressed. I was disappointed with Tonshend too, he seemed to resort to one too many touches, blind alley running and inability to not shoot on sight that plagued him in the youth team, he struck me as wanting to make a rose type performance infront of aresnal at the cost of everything else after proving me so wrong in the first few games, i was disappointed to see him change back as I honestly thought he had learnt. Would be happier seeing a fullback come in, even if its as back up to rose as I feel Fryers needs another year and rose needs someone to push him on. Although a darker quieter part of me hopes we roll the dice and pay whatever saints want for their young left back, just to see if lightning strikes twice.

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