How Deep Is Your Depth

Watching Arsenal at the moment is just fantastic isn’t it? The possession, the passing, the pressing, the interchanging of positions, it’s almost perfection.

Questions have been asked time and again of these players and they always seem to find an answer. After losing to United and missing the opportunity to go 11 points clear of them pundits were rubbing their hands gleefully and warming up their vocal chords for chants of “I told you so”. People were waiting for us to slip up and losing to the champions and having our lead reduced to 5 points seemed to be the slip up that had been predicted.

It was the beginning of the end for Arsenal at the top of the league according to these people but within just 3 matches Arsenal have a 12 point lead over United and a 4 point lead over Chelsea.

Arsenal have racked up 11 wins in 14 games this season, by contrast it took them 25 games last season to rack up as many wins. Arsenal have 34 points after 14 games, last season it took 20 games to reach the same amount. There are 18 points up for grabs between now and Arsenal having played the same amount of games as it took to reach our current tally last year.

What is impressive about this is this squad only has 2 additions to the squad that finished last season and neither are in the position most people thought we needed strengthening. What is even more impressive is that 2 of last seasons top scorers have missed an awful lot of the season so far, not to mention our explosive supersub.

Last night against Hull was testament to the depth of this squad, depth that so many declared us not to have. Sure, Bendtner isn’t everyone’s ideal backup to Giroud but as many have said, with the players we have behind him he can do a job and he proved that last night. When he is match sharp he’ll be even better.

Wenger made 5 changes last night but it made no difference. Each player that came into the team brought similar qualities to the player they replaced or something different that complemented the team.

Giroud is often lauded for his excellent movement, well last night Bendtner had excellent movement and his movement in the box to find the perfect spot to score the goal was exquisite. He fumbled the loose ball from Özil’s shot but he’ll get sharper with every minute he plays.

Monreal brought a little more defensive solidity when he replaced Gibbs (although Gibbs suits our overall play better) and that was the perfect complement to Jenkinson on the other side. Sagna is stronger defensively which balances Gibbs who offers more in attack, Monreal is stronger defensively which balanced Jenkinson in attack.

Jenkinson is a fantastic crosser of the ball and with the right support around him he does a decent enough job defensively. The more he plays, and learns from senior players, the better he will get. Arsenal is the best place for him to learn right now so I don’t agree with calls for a loan.

Flamini and Arteta seem quite interchangeable at the moment and Rosicky is a player you can drop into the team in place of anyone and he’ll put in a grand performance.

It was nice to see Giroud get completely rested, especially given the next three league matches we have. I fancy Giroud to drop to bench against Napoli though.

If that isn’t depth, what is? Robbie Fowler said he fancied Arsenal for the title on MoTD last night so he probably won’t be invited back on but he seems to be the only one that sees, and talks, sense. He said that if Arsenal continue as they are then they will win the league and they have been the best team in the league so far this season. He is spot on and it really is as simple as that. Keep it up and we win the league, it’s not rocket science but it seems far beyond the comprehension skills of most pundits and journalists. Who cares though? I’ll be happy to be written off going into a game we only need a draw from to win the title.

Some say we don’t have depth and last night was the test of our depth and I think we passed it. As Invincblog said on Twitter last night “How Deep Is Your Depth”….

We know you’re eyeing us  in number one
We hear you crying for the woeful lane
And the moment that you question AFC
Then we laugh it off & win again

And we signed the Flame on a summer free
Kept the best of the team yet no reprieve
And now there’s no need to show

How deep is our depth?
How deep is our depth?
You really need to learn
Cos you’re all a massive load of fools
Putting us down
When you all should now believe
We ‘ve Özil and Ramsey

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