Terrace Talk: Arsenal - Gunners need defensive cover for Coquelin

Considering he was just about the only Arsenal player to come out of last Sunday’s lamentably anti-climactic curtain-raiser with any credit, the Ox must have been disappointed to have found himself benched for Sunday’s encounter at Crystal Palace.

Yet it appears this was the only way Wenger could accommodate Cazorla, in partnership alongside le Coq in the middle of the park, without omitting either Ozil or Ramsey.

And with Santi pulling all the strings, in his more favoured central role, along with the added vivacity and intensity of Alexis, it was immediately apparent in the sparkling opening spell at Selhurst Park that the Gunners were an entirely different proposition to the anaemic side that failed so miserably to put the Hammers under the cosh last weekend.

With the unrelenting media scrutiny dictating the way Premier League clubs lurch between hyperbole and catastrophe, it was absurd to see the Arsenal go from being flavour of the week to a side only one game from crisis.

However, such is the way of this modern world of instant gratification, where the Gunners found themselves travelling to South London, knowing that nothing less than a victory would be sufficient to quell the crescendo of consternation from all those suddenly doubting their sanity, in previously tipping us as potential title challengers.

Mercifully, we came out of the traps against Palace seemingly fully aware of the point we needed to prove, running such intricate rings around our hosts that we soon silenced the home crowd, leaving Pardew’s decidedly bold looking line-up dazed and confused in our wake.

Now if only we’d managed to take full advantage of our dominance in the opening 20 minutes, this might have developed into the sort of emphatic victory which would have demonstrated that last week’s defeat was nothing more than an aberration.

Sadly, for all our pretty football, there was plenty of evidence in the interplay between our principals that we’ve yet to find our perfect rhythm. Ozil hardly put the ball on a plate for Giroud, with his pass for the opening goal, leaving our ungainly striker still with a lot of work to do, to find the back of the net.

One would hope that with each passing game, our squad’s intuitive synchronicity will develop and that the one-twos and the slide rule passes will become more precise. They will surely have to improve because we’ve witnessed the amelioration of the quality of the squads of all of our opponents.

Ozil and Alexis were both at fault for switching off and allowing Ward all the time he needed to spank home a speculative equaliser. This roused the raucous Eagles fans and inspired their side into believing that this was not an entirely lost cause. It was only thanks to the unstinting determination of Alexis, stealing in at the far post to get his head on a ball that he had no right to win, that the Gunners managed to take the lead, in a far more evenly contested second half.

With Palace having the artistry of Cabaye to feed the pace of the likes of Bolasie, Zaha and Puncheon, the dominant Arsenal side who began this game were left clinging on. Much as was the case at Selhurst Park last season, I found myself watching the clock, more than the match.

Fortunately Palace’s profligacy in front of goal ensured they failed to make the most of the few chances they had to snatch a draw.

If we’ve learned anything from Sunday’s victory, it’s how reliant the Gunners are on the defensive responsibility of Coquelin. Le Coq only avoided a red card and a suspension for our encounter with the Scousers next Monday as a result of the ref’s leniency; but with rash challenges an inevitable part of his game, it’s only a matter of time before he ends up sidelined.

While Arsène appears focused on shoehorning all our flair players into the side, with both Arteta and Flamini looking somewhat past their “sell-by” dates, it would seem to be a massive gamble to expect the Gunners to maintain a serious title challenge without a viable alternative as cover, especially as long as Petr Cech continues to struggle in goal.