Seven things we learned from Arsenal's win over Marseille

Arsenal grabbed a comfortable victory

After suffering yet another on-season international break it has been soul-soothing to be watching Arsenal again. Winning against a good Southampton side by two goals to zero was an excellent result but for some reason the same scoreline against a Champions League opponent seems somewhat dissatisfying.

It is testament to the form Arsenal are in, the quality of the team and the expectation they have set for a two nil win against a decent Champions League team, in the as-branded ‘Group of Death’ no less, to be in some sense a disappointing result. We learnt a lot about Arsenal last night, lets take a look at what….

Wilshere can be effective on the wings – Many said that he wasn’t suited to a wing role but he looked sharp and involved out on the right and cutting back in on his favoured left foot allowed him to influence the game in a Pires-esque fashion. Jack will never be Pires nor are we comparing him to Robert but elements of his play last night were reminiscent of Bobby. Jack belongs in the middle, long-term, but he is proving himself to be a viable option on the wings and proving once again the embarrassment of riches Arsenal boast in midfield, the depth we have all-over and the versatility our players own.

Arsenal need to work on corners and throw-ins - Arsenal gave the ball away from almost every throw-in against United and if Marseille had shown a little more fire then they might have won the ball back from throw-ins a little more last night. When it comes to corners, Arsenal rarely threaten. Sure, they score a few every now and again but they don’t work the keeper enough. And what was with the short corners last night? They might as well have kicked it straight down field to Szczesny! Arsenal has the players, the intelligents, the movement and the delivery to work the opposition more from corners. Our freekick set-pieces have improve with Özil’s excellent delivery so hopefully the corners will come soon.

Wilshere can score goals – Wilshere demonstrated that he has good timing and can get into the right positions to score goals. More of this please Jack.

Özil probably isn’t our best first choice penalty taker - It may seem a bit harsh to judge him after one poor penalty but it was abysmally woeful. German players aren’t known for lackadasical run ups or weak finishes and Özil broke the sterotype twice against Marseille. It had a positive effect in the sense it snapped Mesut out of his stupor and sharpened his play. Özil is a fantastic player and this is in no way an attack on a player who by any standards is still adapting to a new league and new team-mates. His style of play is that of one who is so insanely talented he makes everything look incredibly simple and sometimes this can be construed as ‘lazy’. He does stroke the balled around lazily but he does so accurately, in the main, and that is what is important. Maybe the fact Arsenal were doing so well and completely dominating Marseille made him relax a little too much and that affected his penalty but a penalty taker should be ruthless, accurate and simple. Arsenal’s first choice penalty takers in order should be; Podolski, Giroud, Arteta, Ramsey, Özil. Whoever is closest to top of the list and on the pitch should be taking them. That said, maybe that miss will mean he never tries anything like that again and just buries them, in that case… as you were.

Arsenal has decent depth – Arsenal have performed admirably without a number of key players for a few months so demonstrated how much depth they had during those games but last night showed that we can rest or bench key players like Cazorla or Arteta and still put out an incredible side. Makes you wonder what all the fuss was about in the summer.

Townsend is a weapon – ITV commentators and pundits struggle to conceal their dislike or contempt for Arsenal at the best of times, with even the ex-players have snide digs at the team, but Townsend showed his true colours when he exclaimed “Get in!!” when he thought Thauvin had scored with a low, accurate shot. Had it not been for the quality of Szczesny, who up to that point had been unneeded, getting down to save the shot then ITV may have needed to replace Townsend’s chair. (Okay, technically we already knew he was a weapon but that confirmed it beyond any reasonable or even unreasonable doubt)

Arsenal needs to find some ruthlessness – A huge scoreline was up for grabs last night and that is where most of the disappointment comes from. It is always great to see Arsenal win but it always better to watch them put teams to the sword. Arsenal really should have won by 4 or 5 goals last night and whilst this may sound like negative nit-picking it is actually a backhanded compliment. Arsenal are winning games and picking up points despite not being ruthless just as they are picking up wins and points despite not having a completely healthy squad. Once Arsenal have these players back they will play even better. Arsenal are probably only in 3rd gear at the moment and all within the club have been saying there is more to come. When Arsenal find their ruthlessness they will obliterate teams and a healthy goal-difference is always positive.

What did you learn from last nights game or indeed so far this season?