5 Issues Arsenal Need to Work on During International Break
Arsenal have not started the season particularly well.
They will not have an opportunity to achieve any positive results for the next two weeks, and many of their first-team players will be away playing for their respective countries. But some will remain, and Arsene Wenger and his coaching staff can still brainstorm ways to improve the team's subpar play.
Here are five things they should work on.
Corners
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As this graphic from a recent Arsenal game shows, Arsenal have been abysmal at converting corner kicks for the last several seasons.
The story is no different this time around, and it's hurting the Gunners even more than usual due to their inability to score goals through other means.
A 2.4 percent conversion rate is simply unacceptable. Wenger and Steve Bould need to figure out how to improve players' delivery and positioning.
Injuries
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Obviously Shad Forsythe cannot solve Arsenal's almost comical injury crisis within a couple weeks, but he can do a lot to get those currently on the sidelines back to fitness.
According to Arsenal's official website, nine first-teamers are currently out. That includes Aaron Ramsey, Mikel Arteta, Theo Walcott, Olivier Giroud and Mathieu Debuchy, in addition to Laurent Koscielny's known knock.
Walcott and Serge Gnabry are supposedly back in full training, and Forsythe will no doubt be working with them constantly to make sure they get back in the team as soon as possible. If the rest do not suffer any setbacks, Arsenal might actually be nearing something resembling full fitness in a few weeks.
Mesut Ozil
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Though Mesut Ozil will be off training with and playing for Germany, Wenger can still think about how to better incorporate him into the starting XI.
He can experiment with the team's formation during the next two weeks, testing different players in different setups to see how they interact with each other and where they thrive.
Ozil has been utilized on the left wing fairly frequently this season, but he has been disastrous every time. Wenger might look at tweaking the formation itself or seeing how someone else does there.
Counterattacks
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Arsenal's attacks usually go something like this: pass out of the back, nervous knocking it around midfield, pass out to the wings, back to midfield and running into the opposition's back four.
That needs to stop. It robs Arsenal's objectively good players of any potency whatsoever, and it has made the entire team a non-threat going forward.
If anyone is qualified to address these problems it's Arsene Wenger, professor of free-flowing attacking football. The Gunners need to go back to their bygone strategy of swiftly counterattacking instead of slowly building up ultimately inconsequential pressure.
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