SATIRE: Why Arsenal were bang average against Norwich – Tactical Analysis

Goal 3 – Aaron Ramsey

Here we see Wilshere out on the left with the ball, waiting for some movement from the Arsenal players. Firstly, he has no business being out there on the left! If we still had Gervinho, he would have at least beat the defender marking him, dribbled to the goal line, and then forced Norwich into conceding a corner, thereby getting the 60,000 fans at the Emirates to applaud the move!

Instead, Wilshere fails to spot Gibbs’s run and finds Ramsey pleading for the ball. Feeling sorry for the Welsh midfielder, he gives it to him. Ramsey then does what Samir Nasri did against Fulham by selling Norwich two dummies before putting the ball past Ruddy and into the back of the net. Meh! Talk about not having any originality, eh?

Also, look at the number of Norwich players on the ground after he scored. Who does Ramsey think he is? Zinedine Zidane? How dare he emulate his moves and skills like that at such a young age? And Arsene Wenger’s thumbs-up? Ha! That wasn’t his sign of approval! It was actually meant for Mikel Arteta, who was asking him if he could play for 90 minutes.

Goal 4 – Mesut Özil

This was again such a risky move that should never have been attempted in the first place. Rosicky has the ball at the corner of the box. Look at Bendtner, free as a bird, a few yards away from him. Just one short pass and we could have seen The Greatest Striker That Ever Lived score a thunderous volley past the goalkeeper and into the top corner. Or Rosicky could have played a ’1-2′ with him and got a goal for himself. Are Czech Republic and Denmark not on talking terms? Because I fail to see why he wouldn’t pass to him.

Instead, he floats in a curling cross into the far end of the six yard box where an onrushing Ramsey feeds Özil first time, who in turn scored with just one touch. Seriously, when does Arsenal ever cross the ball like this? No, wait. When does Arsenal ever cross the ball like this so accurately?

This is not the Arsenal way of playing, right? Looking at the entire game, Arsenal’s midfielders were never confined to one particular zone on the field. Where is the discipline? Where is the element of normalcy? Where is the predictability of the Arsenal we all know?

Norwich will feel cheated by this new strategy employed by the Gunners.

DISCLAIMER: This is a piece written for humorous purposes and should not be taken seriously.