Arsenal: 5 Things Arsenal Need to Change After Win Against Marseille

Arsenal took a fantastic win away from their Champions League tie in France. 

With Aaron Ramsey finishing off a pass/cross from Gervinho and Johan Djourou in the dying embers of the game in the Stade Velodrome, Arsenal have momentum. 

They have won five out of their last six fixtures, which looks promising from a side who started off the domestic campaign that was endlessly frustrating and absolutely infuriating at times. 

This success is not without fault though. Arsenal are still rebuilding. 

As they rebuild, they should take note as to some of the things they are still struggling with. 

The Defense Is Still Weak (and a Little Reckless)

Andre Santos got away with a lot with a rather lenient referee booking him early, but being generous enough to not book him a second time. 

Arsenal's first-half defense looked quite fragile. 

Marseille played in cutting, chipped through balls over the top of the defense, making easy work of the Gunners in the opening 45 minutes, but failing to capitalize on these mistakes from the defense. 

There were times in which it was just the Arsenal back two, rather than the Arsenal back four. Carl Jenkinson and Andre Santos pushed forward often, playing as secondary wingers at times. 

They also gave away the ball quite easily inside their own half. 

Whatever Arsene Wenger did at halftime helped to shore up a few holes in the defensive wall, but there were still chances of question, with the unusual pass back by Per Mertesacker going astray and the blocking of Marseille's Andre-Pierre Gignac that easily could have led to red card for Laurent Koscielny. 

A Need to Capitalize on Possession

Arsenal's game may have not been the free-flowing passing game we've come to expect week-in and week-out, but they still had the lion's share of the possession.

And did very little with that. 

They were often caught recovering the ball on the back line, playing it up to Mikel Arteta and Alex Song, sweeping up to Tomas Rosicky, playing back to Santos and on and on. 

Basically, keeping the ball but not really doing much more with it than that. 

There were several instances when this possessing and passing play actually faltered, as Marseille wrestled the ball back, thus springing some sort of counterattack at an adjusting defense. 

Andrei Arshavin Is Terrible

Andrei Arshavin's age and lack of tenacity is really starting to be a spot of real concern for Arsenal.

He looked slow, uninterested and unmotivated to capitalize on the many opportunities he had. 

He even had a few extra minutes to make something of himself as Gervinho came into the fold for Theo Walcott.

Instead, he held the ball for far too long and didn't hustle after the ball when he lost it, when he easily could and should have. 

Hopefully coach Wenger will address this in the coming weeks because it is getting more and more frustrating to see the small Russian playing when there are much better and much more tenacious players waiting for their opportunity to make a name for themselves.

Arsene Wenger Needs to Change the Formation

I won't get too far into this, but Wenger really does need to alter the formation. 

Robin van Persie was an unknown out on the pitch. I forgot that he was even out there for most of the game. 

The lone-striker formation is not one for Arsenal. 

They already have enough issues getting chances on goal and when you narrow your chances down to funneling your finishing down to one forward, you are only damaging your own chances. 

Partner up van Persie with one of the many talented forwards you have at your disposal, Wenger. It'll pay dividends to your team if you do so. 

Arsenal Can't Cross

Arsenal attempted 32 crosses against Marseille. 

Thirty-Two. 

That is a lot of chances wasted. 

With that amount of opportunities, there were only six shots taken. Out of those six shots, there were only five that were on target to threaten the Marseille goalkeeper. 

And finally, out of those five shots on frame, there was only one goal. One very late, measly goal. 

These are not odds that Arsenal should write home about. There needs to either be a few practice sessions dedicating to proper crossing and positioning or it needs to be severely cut back upon. 

In Conclusion

Arsenal did manage a very hard-fought win against a tough opponent. 

A lot of it was in their resilience to settle for that draw, but one could say it was luck that Gervinho miss-controlled it and Marseille's Steve Mandanda was out of position. 

Thankfully, I think it was a well taken opportunity out of the many that Arsenal had. 

With this, they should be able to capitalize on building confidence and play and run over their opposition this weekend, but with some of these glaring holes in their play and game plan, it could be a grueling 90 minutes.