Per Mertesacker admitted that Arsenal's two important clean sheets came after their manager Arsene Wenger had them watch video playback of the loss to Spurs last weekend.
The Gunners completed consecutive 2-0 away wins over Swansea City and Bayern Munich this week, the latter being Bayern's first home loss this season.
Arsene Wenger only promoted Steve Bould to be his assistant this summer, but the defensive coaching certainly seems to have rubbed off on the Arsenal team so far with three clean sheets out of four games, and perhaps Wenger has greater things in mind for his new protegee?
Wenger is (as usual) banned from the touchline for Arsenal's opening Group games in the Champions League, so Steve Bould will take charge of the team on the pitch, and Wenger seems pretty confident that Bouldy will be able to deal with the situation easily.
Arsenal have never ever kept four clean sheets in a row at the beginning of any season, so yesterday's game against relegation-favourites Southampton was a perfect opportunity to put this new Arsenal team into the record books. Vito Mannone was between the sticks for the first three games, but Wenger re-instated a fit-again Wojciech Szczesny to face the Saints.
Preview: 5 points, 0 losses, 3 clean sheets, 3 games. Compare it to last season. 1 point, 2 losses (including one hammering), 1 clean sheet, 3 games. Definitely a different scenario altogether.
The start to the season thus far has been positive, and perhaps the biggest contributor is 0 major injuries during the international break!
Bacary Sagna has voiced his displeasure at summer sales of Robin van
Persie and Alexandre Song, and said that the star duo's departure from
Arsenal has left 'a lot of questions.'
In an interview with French magazine L'Equipe, the injured right back said:
"Everyone was expecting Robin van Persie to leave, but Alex Song, that was a surprise.
Mannone says he has improved a lot during his loan spell at Hull City by AM Mannone has said that
his loan spell at Hull City has improved him as a keeper. He also says that with lots of new faces
coming into the squad he, even at the age of 24, feels like an [...]
That win was too good to just let go after a couple of days; we have been waiting all summer
long for that feeling so this post is unashamedly designed to prolong the crowing.
Yes indeed and why you may ask has the Arsenal laundry service has been cancelled? Because of
all the clean sheets, of course.
That win was too good to just let go after a couple of days; we have been waiting all summer
long for that feeling so this post is unashamedly designed to prolong the crowing.
Yes indeed and why you may ask has the Arsenal laundry service has been cancelled? Because of
all the clean sheets, of course.
Arsenal midfield now has a beautiful structure to it by AM After three consecutive clean sheets,
Arsenal's new found defensive resolve has come under the spot light and so has Steve Bould and his
contribution, and deservedly so, one has to look back the backline of the ‘Invincibles' to come
across a more organized Arsenal [.
Mikel Arteta's work-horse attitude and energetic performances at the start of the season have
certainly not gone unnoticed, with teammate Carl Jenkinson attributing much of Arsenal's defensive
success to the Spaniard's support.
With Alex Song off to Barcelona last month, Arteta took responsibility for much of the Gunners'
box-to-box work, winning tackles and creating plays throughout the opening three fixtures.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger believes that humility and a disciplined work ethic has been the key
to his side's perfect defensive start to the campaign, with the Gunners keeping three consecutive
clean sheets despite missing their first-choice goalkeeper in the last two outings.
Wojciech Szczesny was absent and 24-year old third-choice stopper Vito Mannone had to deputize
in the goal as Arsenal made tricky trips to Stoke and Liverpool.
The BOULD effect at Arsenal by TS Three games, two draws, one victory, two goals but most
importantly, no goals conceded. Early in the season to be talking about defensive stats but being
the only team in all four divisions not to have conceded, it goes without say that something is
going right. The pessimists [.
After watching Arsenal's performance against Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday I was trying to think
of a word that best summed up their performance. The word that fit the best for me was cohesive.
What I saw on the pitch was a cohesive squad that attacked and defended as a unit. And they did it
very well I might add.
I suspect many post-game analyses this morning will focus on the fact that Lukas Podolski and
Santi Cazorla got off the mark in English football. The two new signings scored the goals that won
us the three points, and both played very, very well, it has to be said.
Liverpool 0-2 Arsenal Premier League 2nd September 2012
Three games played and three clean sheets will no doubt please Arsenal coach Steve Bould, as the
Gunners once again produced a disciplined and defensively solid performance against Liverpool, this
time with added goals too.
I took a kind of day off from Arsenal yesterday. After the intensity of deadline day and all the
action we had to cope with, on top of August's mentalness in general, it was quite nice to just not
involve myself at all.
However, it's right back into it today as we face the Mugsmashers at Anfield in a game which
could lift the mood considerably or tip some folk over the edge entirely.
Carl Jenkinson expects Liverpool to play more aggressively than they did last season and
believes that the Reds will look to make their statement of intent when they host his Arsenal side
on Sunday afternoon.
Jenkinson, 20, has been deputizing for the injured Bacary Sagna at right back and his growth
compared to last season has been evident in the Gunners' opening two fixtures.
After coming from behind to claim a win against league newcomers Southampton in last weekend's
opener, Roberto Mancini's men found themselves trailing once again when Martin Å krtel scored with
a powerful header from a Steven Gerrard's corner in the 34 minutes.
Yesterday, we talked about the goalkeeping situation. Today, we'll touch on the centre back
position. I won't be the first one to say it but I won't be the last either. Goals wins matches but
clean sheets or a tight defence wins championships. We conceded 49 goals in the league last season,
a number too high to even think about challenging for the title.
It's an early start this morning and it's Stoke in the Premier League this afternoon.
The game at the Orc Arena in the early part of the season was one of those which gave us some hope that our defensive issues were sorted, one of three clean sheets in our first three games and, on the day, we were relatively untroubled by a team which usually causes us more problems at their place.
Who do you believe? Read the following; Clean Sheets tell us also on Wednesday "Manchester United linked with summer move for Dutchman ". Sports Witness advice on Wednesday 24th of October...
So we would have had two weeks since Chelsea's last game against Atletico Madrid by the time we are
ready to face QPR on Saturday. We all know what happened in Monaco and have our concerns with the
way we were ripped apart defensively.
I just want to know what you people think is Chelsea's strongest back four now at the club and for
the hostile atmosphere this weekend at Loftus Road?
Most of the main points from yesterday's game have already been covered, so here are five quick
thoughts to chew on:
* The defence remains brilliant, and it's a team effort. Mertesacker made several impeccable
interceptions, and continued to disprove the notion that you need huge amounts of pace to be a top
defender in the Premier League.
The Vancouver Whitecaps started 2012 with four straight clean sheets and lost only four games going into July, massively defying expectations in all aspects of their game and vastly outperforming their 2011 form.
The LA Galaxy, in beginning their campaign to defend the MLS Cup and Supporters Shield, won just three of their first thirteen games, spanning the first three months of the season, leaving many of us to wonder if the Galaxy heyday had ended.
Two teams on the outside of the playoff race looking in have swapped goalkeepers in an unusual
mid-season deal.
The Montreal Impact sent goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts to the Portland Timbers for Troy Perkins in
a straight-up trade that sees both veteran goalkeepers get a change of scenery.
Golazo de Buttner vs Wigan by rrmisas 1. It was a good weekend for scoring on your debut. Alex Buttner, Nick Powell, Dimitar Berbatov, Mark Lowton, Christian Benteke and Javi Garcia all accomplished that feat. 2. Paul Scholes: he continues to score goals. The Manchester United legend marked his 700th game with a goal against [.
Manchester United have a terrific record against Fulham and are a top priced 1.33 with Paddy
Power to beat them at Old Trafford this weekend.
Sir Alex's men got the new season off to a poor start when going down 1-0 to Everton at Goodison
where the only real positive to be taken out of the game was an excellent performance by Shinji
Kawaga.
The U.S. is going after its first win in World Cup qualfying at "The Office"
For all you stat folks out there, get yourself set up for tonight's World Cup qualifier with the
full USA-Jamaica game notes. Just in case, here's the crib version:
Eighteen players on the roster were part of the group that earned four points from the first
two World Cup Qualifiers this past June, including all three goal scorers: Clint Dempsey (2),
Carlos Bocanegra and Herculez Gomez.
Continuing the country's recent trend of success on the youth international level, Mexico will
play for Olympic gold.
Mexico battled back from an early deficit and got a goal and an assist from Oribe Peralta to
post a 3-1 victory over Japan in their semifinal match at Wembley Stadium Tuesday, sealing a place
in the Olympic final against either Brazil or South Korea.
Following some excellent performances in February, David de Gea has been voted our player of the month on the official site.
"It's very good to have the support of the fans, so I'm happy to win this award," De Gea told the official site. "I can hear the supporters during the games so I know they're singing about me.
The Vancouver Whitecaps have had an up and down year, starting the season with four straight clean sheets and taking just four losses into the month of July. Their quick climb in the standings was a surprising story for a team whose first season was a complete disaster.
But some mid-season changes to key personnel seemed to take the wind out of their sails in spite of the quality of those new pieces.
The Interlull is well and truly upon us. The first games take place tomorrow but the lullishness
hangs over us like we were a chip pan fire and it were a kind of urine soaked tea-towel. No, I
don't know what I mean either.
This time last year, this very day in fact, we were fretting over Thomas Vermaelen who had just
undergone surgery on his Achilles.
Arsenal and Liverpool face off this weekend in one of the marquee match-ups of a loaded weekend
of European soccer action, with each club looking for its first victory of the new campaign.
Arsenal have yet to score a goal, while Liverpool will be looking to build off a hard-fought 2-2
draw with title holders Manchester City.
From what Alan Pardew has said today, it doesn't look like there will be any new signings before
the transfer window slams shut at 11:00 pm on Friday night, and that's a little disappointing. Gael
Bigirimana could become great player at Newcastle Newcastle kept around 15 clean sheets in the
league last season, so on that [.
QPR were embarrassed 5-0 last weekend against Swansea. And The Hoops are on the road again, this
time at Norwich. That's the bad news. The good news? Norwich kept only 3 clean sheets at Carrow
Road last season, and conceded ... Continue reading →
Ryan Meara's magical rookie season has come to an abrupt end.
SBI has learned that the former Red Bulls starting keeper will undergo hip surgery that will
effectively end his first professional season.
"Yes, it will be a season ending (surgery)," Red Bulls head coach Hans Backe confirmed after
Thursday's training session
Meara, a New York native and Fordham University product, started 18 matches for the team this
season, accumulating 1620 minutes in net, and allowing all of 27 goals against for a respectable
1.
The Colorado Rapids got a first half goal and then made the lead stand up for the first time in
more than a month, bringing to an end a record-tying worst losing streak.
Joseph Nane got the goal, sending a left-footed smash into the roof of the goal in the 38th
minute, and the Rapids got the win over rival Real Salt Lake on Saturday night at Dick's Sporting
Goods Park in Commerce City.
