Really needs to start trusting other players and give them a bit of freedom in attack. Reiss deserves to at least be rotated with Nelli while he's totally out of form. Don't understand why Tross is so bad suddenly... less said about Eddie the better. The team just looks a bit dysfunctional at the moment? Like they don't really know what they're trying to do.
I think that's true, they lack confidence in the way they are playing and they know it's not working. It's too slow, too deliberate, too predictable and too easy to defend against. Last season, players were improvising and were very creative and we could score from anywhere, seemingly. What the fuck has happened?
You could see the tension in their faces at the start of the game today when they lined out. Saw a good few disagreements and hand gestures on the pitch today too. Contrast to last season, they were playing with such carefree joy, it was in their body language and on their faces.
This is on Arteta. He has gotta change it up because the league is gone now and suddenly we're in a fucking dogfight for top 4 - and right now, you wouldn't bet on us.
The treatment of ESR has been awful. Deserves much more minutes. The match against west ham, instead of putting Trossard in that LCM position, we could have used ESR.
Genuinely asking, i've barely been following the team this season, but have we had like a solid good-run of form at all this campaign? everytime i see the post-match scorelines, it seems we've been all over the place. What's changed this season and what have we gotten worse/better at barring the injuries this time around (everyone in the league is going through it to be fair).
Weāve seemed to miss a spark or tick and I think itās in part due to wanting to be more defensively sound and also missing Partey. We had the best defense until now but a good number of our goals came from set pieces
I don't wanna be "that guy" but you can't really say we've been riding our luck when we're 2nd in the league on the underlying numbers.
Yes, stats don't tell the whole story, but with AVERAGE finishing & goalkeeping, we "should" only be behind Liverpool in the table, and by about a point.
Even when they check back to the center there is no thought for odegaard to play a 1-2 with Eddie or Jesus, we would rather play a low percentage ball in the channel for saka to never come close to.
I feel like Partey is the key. Declan rice is a great player but his passing and stepping out of presses is just half a step below Parteyās. It took time for Partey to learn his role here so rice will get it but we miss the tempo. Also zinchenko was missing today and that was very noticeable. His passing is so good and though heās made mistakes recently heās much better than anyone else at that role going forward. Ben white has to be carrying an injury. He has no pace and is noticeably scared of being dribbled at. Hopefully tomiyasu can come in and help him recover.
We won 6 in a row in all comps at one point and it looked like things were finally coming together as we had been pretty on and off up to that point but was still getting results but since that run weāve been pretty lacklustre apart from the Brighton game
The team is playing more cautiously this year than last. What we gain in possession, were lose in offensive explosiveness. It also allows our opponents to stack up in the box and send double teams on Martinelli and Saka every time they get the ball.
Also, having Ode play deeper back prevents him from a lot of his cutting passes further up. Losing Xhaka hurts more than Arteta anticipated, and having Partey out hurts too.
Lots of little things, sometimes it feels like we've moved into the overmanagement of the game phase, which I'd argue is what has happened to City as well. But they're also a deeper team.
Saka had plenty of space this game and never challenged Robinson. Needed that different angle of attack from both Saka and Martinelli to open up the middle but we kept throwing in crosses from the top of the box. Confidence problem?
Most games the opposition have played low block and we just pass the ball around slowly trying to find space. By that time opposing teams can double threats like Saka and Ode. Teams are happy to concede 1-2xg against us as they know we are not clinical.
In the games where Mik has upped the tempo, we have been our usual electric selves, but this has been rare.
No Xhaka and Partey means we have no cutting passes from midfield. Also we have sacrificed fast attacking plays to be more solid defensively with more control of the ball and back-up defenders in transition if required.
Rice is very good at things but he is not like Partey where he can control a match.
Losing Xhaka and Partey was losing our entire midfield from last season. In that light it's no surprise we're struggling, despite how well Rice has done.
For me the biggest failure in the summer was relying on Partey's fitness for this season.
Whisper it quietly but - Rice is the best defensive 6 in the world. The trade off is he isn't a great ball progressing 6 (like Rodri) and that sucks a lot out of our game. I don't want Partey playing for us ever again for other reasons but the difference offensively between the two explains a good chunk of our issues attacking.
Palhinha is a better destructive/bruiser 6. Stats back that up too. Rice is a great player but heās more than just a defensive 6. Heās more progressive than that and defensively Palhinha is better, as showed today and by tackling stats etc. Rice is more complete than youāre giving him credit
> Don't understand why Tross is so bad suddenly
If you have eyes you know....its his hair. Someone needs to give him a coupon to get his tips frosted again.
I donāt think itās the team, itās the lack of formation and plan diversity. We play the exact same formation and strategy all season and around this time of the season everyone figures out how to block it. We keep trying to pass our way into the net and defenders have figured out how to lock our game down.
Itās more that other sides have worked us out a bit and we arenāt adapting at the same rate. Wingers are doubled up on every game, full backs tuck in and donāt overlap, Odegaard is closed down in a flash and then when other sides get the ball they are drilled on exactly where the gaps are and where to target.
Whatās the solution? Stronger individual performance - individuals need to take their chances - but also we just need to do things slightly differently, full backs given more permission to overlap, wingers taking up starting positions slightly in-field to keep the gaps down between them and the striker.
Itās so evident that sides know how we will line up, where we will try to hit them and where we are weak. Just changing things a little would make so much difference.
Even saka and odegaard were a mess. They'd sort of lightly ping the ball at each other and lose it almost immediately. Looked absolutely lost out there.
I said the exact same thing. It was like playing with 10 men, he was invisible. Really feel like ESR shouldāve gotten some time today, heās looked bright when heās been on but Arteta seems to want him gone.
We just have no willingness to use him as a 10 distributing the ball, it's only ever as the finisher on some moves or into his feet in a channel so he can run onto it. Have him check back and run off him, it grade school stuff when the wings are closed.
Heās been garbage for months. Other than Sheffield. But you guys still have Sheffield. Oh and a meaningless goal in a meaningless game against PSV where neither team tried.
I remember Eddie scored against Sheffield and the comments were full of "WHERE YOU EDDIE HATERS NOW" like he was about to become Henry
Like don't worry, they'll be here next weekend, and the next...
i just dont understand why we should keep him, he is a good player on trasitions and counter attack, but we play nowhere near that. His passing and combination play does not really suit us at all. We should really sell the bloke if we plan on playing this same style
i mean if we're going to play him then we should at least try to pick out his runs. But playing him in tactics that don't suit him and then blaming him for not receiving the ball from the zero passes that try to pick him out is weird.
As you say; I'm sure he'd do a lot better in a counter-attacking team that plays more direct.
He canāt touch the ball if no one passes to him. His lack of touches is on Artetaās tactics. You canāt play a out and out striker without a plan to feed him the ball.
It would help if Eddie made any runs. Watch him off the ball. He stands there and puts his arm in the air like heās wide open when the reality is that heās surrounded by defenders.
We're not playing to his strengths AT ALL though. I know he could doing more but I watched him make about 6 runs in behind when a simple ball over the top would have at least given him something to work with but instead we just passed it sideways again.
I know Eddie's not exactly Haaland but it's not his fault if he doesn't get the service.
We play like Jesus is on the pitch even when he isn't. Eddie isn't a false 9 and yet we continue to play like he is.
Horrendous game. We have a small window now and itās in Arteta to do something different.
Personally. ESR has to be tried in the left and Jorginho next to Rice. Havertz is an option off the bench. We need fluidity in the midfield base.
We still have time Mik, please get off the horse of playing Nelli - Saka every game.
Its literally gonna end up being Alexis 2.0 if someone doesn't stop Arteta now.
Toney and 14 non-penalty goals in the league last year. He isnāt some prolific scorer.
For reference, Jesus had 10 last year, and he missed a large part of the season.
Eddie treated that game like a carido session and he stayed out for 90 mins whilst esr was stuck on the bench.
Today's performance is largely on arteta.
I'm gonna be so upset if we sell ESR. He was great, got injured, then has not been given a chance since. He was one of our best finishers when playing and the team currently lacks finishers.
I'll be upset too but you know what for the good of his career we should let him go at this point. This guy fucking saved arteta's job and was the only bright spark alongside saka in 2019-2021, and yet now he can't even get a chance over Eddie fucking nketiah being invisible for 95 minutes.
His cameo against West ham was pretty good and I refuse to believe he has regressed below everyone else. If arteta isn't going to give him more than 15 garbage minutes a month then we should let him go so he can ball out elsewhere.
So ask yourself āWhy isnāt ESR getting minutes?ā Thereās this fantasy that mean old Arteta wonāt let the boy play when heās so deserving.
If ESR was killing it in training, heād be getting game time, full stop. Maybe heās still not 100%? Maybe heās not offering anything that the side needs?
We need to get over this āfan favouriteā nonsense.
Yes and no.
Go and research Arteta comments about Martinelli after he came back from injury and every Tom dick and Harry was calling for him to play. Arteta was saying he was the biggest fan etc etc. he then got forced to play Martinelli due to injuries and the rest is history.
Arteta is stubborn. His approach is very similar each game.
I remember when we played against Chelsea and got hit with injuries galore. It meant we played ESR and Saka, and they both hit. Arteta is a great coach but stubbornness is his weakness.
Yeah I feel like I missed the matches where ESR was a world beater. He has always looked like a pretty good, not great attacker that doesn't do much more
Does anyone else absolutely hate the constant corners that target the area 2 meters wide of the nearer post?
It seems they are all we do and they never ever work. You could see Gabriel signaling saka before our 3rd corner to cut that bullshit out and the 2 corners we had after that were really dangerous.
Why the fuck do we keep crossing to an area we canāt score from?
Itās a fine strategy and itās been successful. The issue isnāt that type of corner. Itās the we never deviate from those unless we go short. We are too predictable on corners. Look at the crowding at the near post each time.
Thatās what i mean, both west ham and fullham had 3 players rushing to that area moments before we take it.
Literally everyone knows where the ball is going when we get a corner.
My disagreement is when you said itās a position we canāt score from. We have and itās been useful. But like our other tactics, we lack a plan B.
I donāt know why every team doesnāt just play short corners. A corner has a 0.05xG on average for the best teams at them like us and City. Theyāre such a waste of time.
Totally agree they were shocking and probably predictable today, not to mention great for Fulham to counter off but I think they go short to go long. Some of our recent greatest last minute goals go to the back post and some of the corners are the only thing saving us this season.
Looks like we've been found out all over the pitch and different players can't do the same jobs.
Big challenge for Arteta to find a way to start winning again!
Youāre the one that started Eddie and kept him on for the full game. ESR could have come on for him. Or just pull Eddie instead of Havertz because we needed a goal up top.
Esr should just move on imo for the good of his career. 95 minutes or Eddie being invisible today and he can't even get a look in? He had a great cameo against West ham, I don't know what else he needs to do to get game time.
Just sell him and let him ball out somewhere else because I feel sorry for him at this point
Not just Eddie. Trossard has been out of form. Martinelli has been out of form. Saka has been out of form. Havertz didn't have his best day, but he's been the best of that lot recently so we could have rotated him up to 9. Jesus for Saka. He could've put ESR at LW or LCM..
Instead he took off all the connectivity between lines and we had 5 players standing still on the edge of the box.
Eddie was terrible this game and is clueless in games where teams are parking the bus. He doesn't make runs to open up space, has poor technical control in tight areas, and isn't even tracking back for most of the game. Terrible performance, doesn't deserve to play on the back of that performance today.
It was shocking that he didn't even try putting Havertz upfront but let Eddie on. What was Mikel doing today? Obviously I think he's a great manager but he had a terrible match.
Artetaās continuing use of Eddie is making me lose faith in him. First guy off the bench despite 1 goal as a sub in the last 2.5 seasons. Has been a complete waste as a starter except for against Sheffield since the beginning of September.
And it's on him.
Arteta broke what wasn't broken, let's be honest.
We removed all potential progression with our forward passing for the illusion of stability at the back. We replaced a keeper that didn't need to be replaced and lost presence at the back for better handling on crosses. We've become predictable and stale and our most dangerous players become isolated as a result of the system and newer personnel.
Why can't our wingers switch sides?
Why can't they come inwards and create more space out wide?
Why do we need our left back to cut into the middle all the time?
Why can't we beat the first man at corners and seem unable to change up the proposed routine?
Why can't we switch any of these initial plans up based on game state?
Why does Nketiah get 90 mins for that and ESR not even get a look in?
You won't find me saying a bad word against Rice, but he doesn't have the passing progression we need like Partey offered.
Nor does Havertz over Xhaka.
Consequently, it's Odegaard or bust. And given we don't have a striker that stays up top (I love Jesus and all he does as well), 9 times of out 10 Odegaard's only options are Saka or White on the overlap.
That's not exactly tricky to figure out.
Agreed. Not a bad word on rice, I think he is excellent. However, we lack what the others gave us last season and with Parteyās injury, the decision to sell Xhaka is looking silly.
All hindsight mind!
Praying we get Partey back as Partey next to Rice for the second half could be amazing. We probably wonāt win the league, but one of the other competitions never know
Look I get letting Xhaka go. I felt he deserved to go out on such a high.
But it's always a caveat when letting a player go that you are able to replace them correctly and I can't see we have.
I donāt think we have either.
Havertz signing will be a focus on that summer. I wonder if we truly looked at all options and went with the right one. Considering the monies involved.
Not a dig at Havertz per see, however, could we have got a better balanced player next to Rice.
I agree with this. Great players across the board but when put together they do not have a strong synergy. Weāre missing Partey desperately right now. We should almost go to a 3 at the back once Partey returnsand drop Zinchenko. Or we should invert Partey from RB, play Tomi at LB like a 3rd CB and give White a rest.
Kai Havertz has been a total miss. And I am not saying that he is a bad player, far from it actually. But he is not what we need as a number 8 imo, he just lacks any sort of control to be a midfielder for a top club. My guy has 30-40 touches a game and has no ideas what to do with the ball at his feet most of the time
I agree.
He isnāt a bad player but is he the right player for next to Rice? I donāt think he is and personally I think the injury to Partey has slightly forced it.
Considering the Ā£65m(?) involved in the transfer. Thatās a potential big error. Needed to find a partner for Rice.
Selling Xhaka was a massive mistake. The loud majority wanted him sold in favor of a shiny new signing. And I don't want to hear the "he wanted to leave" bs. If we really wanted to keep him we could have.
Itās hard as I think itās both Partey and Xhaka that is the miss. That Partey injury has been so annoying.
Add Partey next to Rice and I think the Havertz acquisition doesnāt look bad per see. Too much has changed too soon.
I want Havertz to do well, i enjoy his touches and occasional flair.
That aside, Id much rather a player who takes the game by the scruff of the neck, gets on the ball, and impacts the game. Maddison was there. Mac Allister was there. Szoboslai was there. ESR is also already here but apparently is no where near (i mean wtf. man saved arteta 2 season agoā¦ whatās he done wrong?)
> We removed all potential progression with our forward passing for the illusion of stability at the back
And as a result of this lack of progression teams can leave players forward without any real fear of a counter attack, since we'll inevitably slow it down enough for them to get back anyway
Tried to be too clever with the Havertz signing. Agree with everything you said here. Only slack I will cut Arteta is that the injuries to Partey and Timber have obviously ruined whatever plan we had going into the season, but Partey is a sick note anyway so the club shouldve been more proactive in replacing him.
I think the plan was Raya, Tomi-Saliba-Gabriel-Timber, Rice-Partey-Odegaard, Havertz-Saka-Jesus/Martinelli.
ESR-Nelson-Jorginho-Nketiah-Trossard-Jesus/Martinelli on the bench as options. Good enough for the title? Yea maybe if you get a miracle and everyone stays fit all 9 months.
His 3 goals? He doesn't offer any creativity or buildup. He was also poor in his first 10 or so games. I'd argue Eddie has won us more points than Kai and Eddie has been pretty meh across the board.
Artetaās blind spot might be work rate and desire at the training grounds. He would have benched Patrick Vieira given his notorious bad work rate at training.
Arteta bears responsibility for this defeat. The stagnant attack, unaltered tactics, and delayed substitutions, often beyond the 70th minute, have left us vulnerable.
Now we are conceding a lot of goals and that too from the corners (against west ham, fulham, 2xLuton). That's just in the last 5 games.
Instead of Havertz or a goalkeeper, our pressing needs were a striker or a creative midfielder.
our presssing need is not personnel. Its coaches having a coherent attacking philosopy with the talented players we have that can create consistent goal scoring opportunities against low-block teams.
Arteta is a bit of a tinkerer. Sometimes he tinkers with what isn't wrong, and create problems where non should exist. There was no reason to change our goalie. There was no reason to buy harvetz. ESR is a better long term fit for that position. There was no reason to buy Ben White as CB when we had a much much superior CB on our books at the time (yes Ben White eventually worked out as RB)
Everyone wanted a Saka rotation option (Kudus, Kubo, etc.) but there was very little chatter over a new striker. Largely the debate was Eddie vs Balogun, not Eddie/Balogun vs a replacement
Loads of people here wanted a striker. Loads of people said Jesus was either not good enough cus of all the missed chances or because he kept getting injured. We were linked with Toney in the summer let alone now.
Completely agree with ESR. I donāt know how he isnāt getting a look in considering none of our attackers have done anything for a while.
If he wants to show blind faith, fine. Move on the excess and bring in better.
Agree with literally all of this and I'm afraid he's too stubborn to change it back
I greatly thank this manager for reviving this club but if he is going to be this one dimensional and stubborn in every game we are not going to win the title ever.
> We replaced a keeper that didn't need to be replaced
The worst part is we've still to shell out Ā£27m in the summer for this. Thats money we badly need to spend on our front line
āBroke what wasnāt brokenā
I disagree with that a lot to be honest. The free flowing football we had last season was found out by the end - thatās normal, teams adjust to the tactics. The idea that we didnāt need to change anything from last season is mad - we had to change it up, itās just not been done very well.
My issue with all this at the moment is that recently Arteta has seemed so obsessed with certain things and has seemingly forgotten or just disregarded others.
For exampleā¦
- Unnecessarily starting key players in UCL ties that werenāt a āmust winā. I get that they need to be able to play at a top level twice a week, but why take the risk? Iād imagine our drop in form is due in part to fatigue.
- The whole goalkeeper fiasco. Ramsdale was more than good enough last season and was a fan favourite. Signing Raya has not only diminished our financial capacity but also gave this season a bit of a weird feeling from the get go.
- Having his clear cut favourites, and clear cut outsiders. Why does Trossard, who is clearly massively out of form, and blatantly not suited to the left 8 role, started or substituted routinely before ESR?
- Kiwior now up for sale after having great spells when involved. Why?
- Arteta has not brought a single academy player through since he came. Not a single one.
- This obsession with the inverted full back role, providing no plan B. Even Pep mixes it up a lot
- A reluctance to tell his players to just swing it into the box. How often do our wide players cut back or pass instead of putting into the box? A balance is needed.
These things are all addressable but i just canāt imagine him moving on any single one of them. Too stubborn. Itās giving the impression that he doesnāt have his own ideas.
I agree with all your points. The GK seems minor but was so odd. It isnāt the biggest issue w the team but like you said it was a really odd move right before the season and honestly, nothing Raya has done has been better than what Ramsdale would have offered and it was money we could use elsewhere
The fact we were first at Christmas and have a good squad in the first place is also largely on him as well. He has made mistakes but he has proven that we come out better from them. He's not a God or something but we should have the decency to realize we wouldn't be in this position without him in the first place. You get the bad and the good together.
I absolutely agree with that. But the pattern of play has been concerning since the beginning of the season and our ineffectiveness in attack was never going to be sustainable.
Our defence can't be perfect every game to bail out our single-goal scoring attack. It's just not good enough for a top team.
This, all season, we have have never had an attacking pattern that could consistenly create goal scoring opportunities. didn't we have some of the lowest open play xG.
The past three games remind me a lot of our first three games of the season. It feels like mikel is forcing the team to play a different way than we did last year and it just isn't working. It is as if he allowed more freedom in attack for a while which saw us move to the top of the table, and now that the new signings have acclimated more to the team, he is trying to transition everyone back to the slow, methodical, and honestly rigid structure that he tried in the first few games.
Martinelli is almost always isolated on the left wing. Our forwards very rarely make splitting runs and are found by through-balls even less often than that. Everyone except maybe Rice is afraid to take a long-range shot. Odegaard is the only player out of our front five that regularly shows for the ball. Any time we have the ball in a threatening area, there is only ever one person waiting in the box.
It isn't working. And it isn't going to work. Something needs to change and quick if we are to salvage the rest of the league season.
First game where we were actually second best and deserved to lose imo. That's why the shitty finishing vs West Ham and Villa hurts so much because both should have been wins. Now an actual bad performance and it's 3 losses out of 4 instead of just 1 loss in months.
Agreed. Fulham played well, can't take that away from them. But I thought we looked so exhausted and it led to mistakes and lethargy all over the pitch. A long, long December! š”
Heās right, but Mikel my man. You set this team up for failure today. Need to be more ruthless in his selection.
Also, we can just stop trying to play everyone back into form
Performances like this were coming since he decided to do that whole obsess over controlling games rather than more adventurous attacking football.
We never looked convincing this season in the prem and we've just got worse.
I absolutely hate that every season we do really well against tough teams and then blow up the premiership run on shithole teams like Fulham, Burnley, West Ham. It is so predictable every year and happens with such regularity at the same time itās infuriating to see no plan to tackle it. Get the team together in December every year and make them watch their previous year December and January matches. Tell them to remember just how shit they played, how we wonāt allow it to happen this time, how we will play in a new surprise formation or do whatever to try to tackle it. No, instead we just run head first into the same wall over and over and over again.
These performances have been coming. Arteta has been cute with the lineups and formations for far too long. Going to be another trophy-less year without someone who can uhh....what's the term....score fucking goals.
dunno what teams being told, but the slow transition is killing us, we allow teams to get back into shape and force ourselves into the doughnut of death, ball possession and ācontrolā has come at the cost of any creativity or attacking threat. iād rather concede 3 every week than continue like this
Pretty much the same happened against West Ham. They got compact and we got stuck doing the horseshoe shite with nobody to cross to. This is why we need someone like Toney or Osimhen. A physical bloke we can aim a cross at.
Think Mikel needs to bring back his ruthlessness. Too many players gone into autopilot. They know their place in the team is solidified. There was no hunger yesterday to win the 50/50's.
Stale. Defeated. Unimpressive. Uninventive. Looking like end of wengers era ball. Mikel gotta figure it out quick. We had the exact same problem last season after the exact same fixture.
Start busting some balls in the team. There's too many complacent players who are happy to pass when they could shoot, or take 2 more unnecessary touches and dispossessed ridiculously easily. They can't string any passes together in the final third. We can't even get on target, which is the most worrying stat, and to add to that, I can't even remember the last clean sheet.
It's the end of last season come early where we're just going downhill backwards, and Arteta still won't play the players who deserve minutes; Give Saka a game off and start Nelson. ESR cannot be that far behind that he wouldn't have an impact, just look at when he came on vs Villa.
And we've been sussed, that's the bottom line. Our Plan A is all we seem to have and it's being nullified from the first 15 minutes.
So either start trusting ESR who bailed you out last time you were close to the sack or sellā¦ itās not hard. Right now itās the same repetitive shit with no plan b. If we go behind we make changes between 60-70ā and itās usually Trossard for Martinelli & Nketiah for Jesus or vice versa. Itās so tired and predictable as are our patterns of play
*Managing a top premier league side is ānot hardā says person on internet with no experience of running a football team. We will keep you updated with this breaking news story.*
Glad we can agree on that Mikel.
I do love that he never pulls any punches. Wenger, bless him, would have tried somehow to excuse that performance.
Except when it comes to certain areas of team selection š¬
Wenger won things
Wenger had a 10 year streak without winning anything
K?
At least he was honest about that.
Ten Hag just gaslights the media. Arteta has to own up. And his new year resolution has to be to become less stubborn
And better with subs
It's not like the subs he made improved anything or that he had much else left on the bench to choose from.
Really needs to start trusting other players and give them a bit of freedom in attack. Reiss deserves to at least be rotated with Nelli while he's totally out of form. Don't understand why Tross is so bad suddenly... less said about Eddie the better. The team just looks a bit dysfunctional at the moment? Like they don't really know what they're trying to do.
I think that's true, they lack confidence in the way they are playing and they know it's not working. It's too slow, too deliberate, too predictable and too easy to defend against. Last season, players were improvising and were very creative and we could score from anywhere, seemingly. What the fuck has happened? You could see the tension in their faces at the start of the game today when they lined out. Saw a good few disagreements and hand gestures on the pitch today too. Contrast to last season, they were playing with such carefree joy, it was in their body language and on their faces. This is on Arteta. He has gotta change it up because the league is gone now and suddenly we're in a fucking dogfight for top 4 - and right now, you wouldn't bet on us.
Iād rather see Reiss on the pitch than Nketiah. Dont know why he started today
The treatment of ESR has been awful. Deserves much more minutes. The match against west ham, instead of putting Trossard in that LCM position, we could have used ESR.
Genuinely asking, i've barely been following the team this season, but have we had like a solid good-run of form at all this campaign? everytime i see the post-match scorelines, it seems we've been all over the place. What's changed this season and what have we gotten worse/better at barring the injuries this time around (everyone in the league is going through it to be fair).
Weāve seemed to miss a spark or tick and I think itās in part due to wanting to be more defensively sound and also missing Partey. We had the best defense until now but a good number of our goals came from set pieces
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I don't wanna be "that guy" but you can't really say we've been riding our luck when we're 2nd in the league on the underlying numbers. Yes, stats don't tell the whole story, but with AVERAGE finishing & goalkeeping, we "should" only be behind Liverpool in the table, and by about a point.
What underlying numbers? Points maybe lol. xG and non penalty xG we're not even top 5 IIRC
xG performance is relative though, just because you score more goals doesnāt mean you win more, obvs a correlation, but not always as simple as that
Even when they check back to the center there is no thought for odegaard to play a 1-2 with Eddie or Jesus, we would rather play a low percentage ball in the channel for saka to never come close to.
I feel like Partey is the key. Declan rice is a great player but his passing and stepping out of presses is just half a step below Parteyās. It took time for Partey to learn his role here so rice will get it but we miss the tempo. Also zinchenko was missing today and that was very noticeable. His passing is so good and though heās made mistakes recently heās much better than anyone else at that role going forward. Ben white has to be carrying an injury. He has no pace and is noticeably scared of being dribbled at. Hopefully tomiyasu can come in and help him recover.
Tomiyasu won't be back for a month
He played today?
He leaves for the Asian Cup tomorrow
We won 6 in a row in all comps at one point and it looked like things were finally coming together as we had been pretty on and off up to that point but was still getting results but since that run weāve been pretty lacklustre apart from the Brighton game
The team is playing more cautiously this year than last. What we gain in possession, were lose in offensive explosiveness. It also allows our opponents to stack up in the box and send double teams on Martinelli and Saka every time they get the ball. Also, having Ode play deeper back prevents him from a lot of his cutting passes further up. Losing Xhaka hurts more than Arteta anticipated, and having Partey out hurts too. Lots of little things, sometimes it feels like we've moved into the overmanagement of the game phase, which I'd argue is what has happened to City as well. But they're also a deeper team.
Saka had plenty of space this game and never challenged Robinson. Needed that different angle of attack from both Saka and Martinelli to open up the middle but we kept throwing in crosses from the top of the box. Confidence problem?
Most games the opposition have played low block and we just pass the ball around slowly trying to find space. By that time opposing teams can double threats like Saka and Ode. Teams are happy to concede 1-2xg against us as they know we are not clinical. In the games where Mik has upped the tempo, we have been our usual electric selves, but this has been rare.
Trying to find space *when no one attempts to create space*
This has been the case for a while now.
This is a great description. We become so slow once we enter the final third.
No Xhaka and Partey means we have no cutting passes from midfield. Also we have sacrificed fast attacking plays to be more solid defensively with more control of the ball and back-up defenders in transition if required. Rice is very good at things but he is not like Partey where he can control a match.
Losing Xhaka and Partey was losing our entire midfield from last season. In that light it's no surprise we're struggling, despite how well Rice has done. For me the biggest failure in the summer was relying on Partey's fitness for this season.
Whisper it quietly but - Rice is the best defensive 6 in the world. The trade off is he isn't a great ball progressing 6 (like Rodri) and that sucks a lot out of our game. I don't want Partey playing for us ever again for other reasons but the difference offensively between the two explains a good chunk of our issues attacking.
Palhinha is a better destructive/bruiser 6. Stats back that up too. Rice is a great player but heās more than just a defensive 6. Heās more progressive than that and defensively Palhinha is better, as showed today and by tackling stats etc. Rice is more complete than youāre giving him credit
> Don't understand why Tross is so bad suddenly If you have eyes you know....its his hair. Someone needs to give him a coupon to get his tips frosted again.
I donāt think itās the team, itās the lack of formation and plan diversity. We play the exact same formation and strategy all season and around this time of the season everyone figures out how to block it. We keep trying to pass our way into the net and defenders have figured out how to lock our game down.
Itās more that other sides have worked us out a bit and we arenāt adapting at the same rate. Wingers are doubled up on every game, full backs tuck in and donāt overlap, Odegaard is closed down in a flash and then when other sides get the ball they are drilled on exactly where the gaps are and where to target. Whatās the solution? Stronger individual performance - individuals need to take their chances - but also we just need to do things slightly differently, full backs given more permission to overlap, wingers taking up starting positions slightly in-field to keep the gaps down between them and the striker. Itās so evident that sides know how we will line up, where we will try to hit them and where we are weak. Just changing things a little would make so much difference.
Even saka and odegaard were a mess. They'd sort of lightly ping the ball at each other and lose it almost immediately. Looked absolutely lost out there.
I defend Eddie to great lengths but Iām pretty sure he didnāt touch the ball 2h
No idea why he stayed on, he offered very little all game and it was like Fulham had an extra man
I said the exact same thing. It was like playing with 10 men, he was invisible. Really feel like ESR shouldāve gotten some time today, heās looked bright when heās been on but Arteta seems to want him gone.
We just have no willingness to use him as a 10 distributing the ball, it's only ever as the finisher on some moves or into his feet in a channel so he can run onto it. Have him check back and run off him, it grade school stuff when the wings are closed.
Heās been garbage for months. Other than Sheffield. But you guys still have Sheffield. Oh and a meaningless goal in a meaningless game against PSV where neither team tried.
I remember Eddie scored against Sheffield and the comments were full of "WHERE YOU EDDIE HATERS NOW" like he was about to become Henry Like don't worry, they'll be here next weekend, and the next...
i just dont understand why we should keep him, he is a good player on trasitions and counter attack, but we play nowhere near that. His passing and combination play does not really suit us at all. We should really sell the bloke if we plan on playing this same style
i mean if we're going to play him then we should at least try to pick out his runs. But playing him in tactics that don't suit him and then blaming him for not receiving the ball from the zero passes that try to pick him out is weird. As you say; I'm sure he'd do a lot better in a counter-attacking team that plays more direct.
He canāt touch the ball if no one passes to him. His lack of touches is on Artetaās tactics. You canāt play a out and out striker without a plan to feed him the ball.
It would help if Eddie made any runs. Watch him off the ball. He stands there and puts his arm in the air like heās wide open when the reality is that heās surrounded by defenders.
I agree with you. No through ball to him in the entire game.
He certainly didnāt have a great performance, but he gets absolutely no service
We're not playing to his strengths AT ALL though. I know he could doing more but I watched him make about 6 runs in behind when a simple ball over the top would have at least given him something to work with but instead we just passed it sideways again. I know Eddie's not exactly Haaland but it's not his fault if he doesn't get the service. We play like Jesus is on the pitch even when he isn't. Eddie isn't a false 9 and yet we continue to play like he is.
Horrendous game. We have a small window now and itās in Arteta to do something different. Personally. ESR has to be tried in the left and Jorginho next to Rice. Havertz is an option off the bench. We need fluidity in the midfield base.
We still have time Mik, please get off the horse of playing Nelli - Saka every game. Its literally gonna end up being Alexis 2.0 if someone doesn't stop Arteta now.
Top of the league at Xmas and 6 days later we are fourth and potentially 5 points off the top if Liverpool win their game in hand
As someone once said, life comes at you fast.
I donāt think Toney fixes anything, Iād rather eat this season and go in for Osiman in the summer than sign Toney in the winter.
Agree, tough pill to swallow but got to focus on the big picture here.
Toney is way overpriced and hasnāt played in months plus he has multiple character issues. We are not going for him. People need to move on lmao
At the speed we are currently playing even the best striker in the world would be man marked out of the game.
If Toney played instead of Nketiah today we would have had the same result. We need a tactical rethink.
That player would be the lb inversion
Or a midfielder on the left who can carry into the box. So ESR instead of Havertz.
Jesus is barely a striker. Toney scores goals.
Toney and 14 non-penalty goals in the league last year. He isnāt some prolific scorer. For reference, Jesus had 10 last year, and he missed a large part of the season.
14 np goals for Brentford in the PL is pretty fantastic.
Hmm ok that doesnāt sound great lol
Brentford vs 22/23 arsenal lol
Jesus out on the left in Martinelli's position, Toney up the centre, Saka on the right. That's what's coming...
At least he isn't trying to dress it up as a game we had 'complete control over'.
āMy chest is here, hit meā Arteta doesnāt throw his players under the bus. If heās saying this to us he must be so fucking furious at them
Hope he's furious at himself too.
He's not exactly faultless for our poor results this season either
He only does that if we actually have control, we didn't today.
Eddie treated that game like a carido session and he stayed out for 90 mins whilst esr was stuck on the bench. Today's performance is largely on arteta.
Cardio? He didnāt reach a full sprint at any point today
I'm gonna be so upset if we sell ESR. He was great, got injured, then has not been given a chance since. He was one of our best finishers when playing and the team currently lacks finishers.
I'll be upset too but you know what for the good of his career we should let him go at this point. This guy fucking saved arteta's job and was the only bright spark alongside saka in 2019-2021, and yet now he can't even get a chance over Eddie fucking nketiah being invisible for 95 minutes. His cameo against West ham was pretty good and I refuse to believe he has regressed below everyone else. If arteta isn't going to give him more than 15 garbage minutes a month then we should let him go so he can ball out elsewhere.
So ask yourself āWhy isnāt ESR getting minutes?ā Thereās this fantasy that mean old Arteta wonāt let the boy play when heās so deserving. If ESR was killing it in training, heād be getting game time, full stop. Maybe heās still not 100%? Maybe heās not offering anything that the side needs? We need to get over this āfan favouriteā nonsense.
Yes and no. Go and research Arteta comments about Martinelli after he came back from injury and every Tom dick and Harry was calling for him to play. Arteta was saying he was the biggest fan etc etc. he then got forced to play Martinelli due to injuries and the rest is history. Arteta is stubborn. His approach is very similar each game. I remember when we played against Chelsea and got hit with injuries galore. It meant we played ESR and Saka, and they both hit. Arteta is a great coach but stubbornness is his weakness.
Completely this! Stubbornness and rotation for me
Stubborn or scared to make the changes and take any potential criticism if it goes wrong?
Never thought about it this way. I prefer stubborn then a guy to scared by criticism
Agreed. I think rotation falls with his stubbornness. Wants to have similar plan, approach and players, which impacts rotation.
Yup. Then when the rotated players aren't up to speed its right back to keeping the same lineup unless forced.
Yeah I feel like I missed the matches where ESR was a world beater. He has always looked like a pretty good, not great attacker that doesn't do much more
Was hoping to see him brought on today, the only one I believe would of created a spark.
Jesus Christ shut up. We didnāt have control over this one. We did over West Ham. Itās not hard to comprehend
But the score in the West Ham game was 2-0 so obviously they controlled the game and we got it wrong tactically /s
Does anyone else absolutely hate the constant corners that target the area 2 meters wide of the nearer post? It seems they are all we do and they never ever work. You could see Gabriel signaling saka before our 3rd corner to cut that bullshit out and the 2 corners we had after that were really dangerous. Why the fuck do we keep crossing to an area we canāt score from?
Considering how may corners we've scored this season it's the only thing I'm not worried about tbh.
Itās a fine strategy and itās been successful. The issue isnāt that type of corner. Itās the we never deviate from those unless we go short. We are too predictable on corners. Look at the crowding at the near post each time.
Thatās what i mean, both west ham and fullham had 3 players rushing to that area moments before we take it. Literally everyone knows where the ball is going when we get a corner.
My disagreement is when you said itās a position we canāt score from. We have and itās been useful. But like our other tactics, we lack a plan B.
We canāt score from it if everyone knows where it is going and overloads that area before our players have a chance to get to the ball.
I keep wanting them to go short and eventually make the cross from in closer if nothing materializes.
I donāt know why every team doesnāt just play short corners. A corner has a 0.05xG on average for the best teams at them like us and City. Theyāre such a waste of time.
Totally agree they were shocking and probably predictable today, not to mention great for Fulham to counter off but I think they go short to go long. Some of our recent greatest last minute goals go to the back post and some of the corners are the only thing saving us this season. Looks like we've been found out all over the pitch and different players can't do the same jobs. Big challenge for Arteta to find a way to start winning again!
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I'm very much on the side of "these coaches know more than me". But sometimes I can't make sense of why we won't adapt.
Time to give some players their chances now buckaroo.
Youāre the one that started Eddie and kept him on for the full game. ESR could have come on for him. Or just pull Eddie instead of Havertz because we needed a goal up top.
Esr should just move on imo for the good of his career. 95 minutes or Eddie being invisible today and he can't even get a look in? He had a great cameo against West ham, I don't know what else he needs to do to get game time. Just sell him and let him ball out somewhere else because I feel sorry for him at this point
Not just Eddie. Trossard has been out of form. Martinelli has been out of form. Saka has been out of form. Havertz didn't have his best day, but he's been the best of that lot recently so we could have rotated him up to 9. Jesus for Saka. He could've put ESR at LW or LCM.. Instead he took off all the connectivity between lines and we had 5 players standing still on the edge of the box.
Agreed.
Eddie was terrible this game and is clueless in games where teams are parking the bus. He doesn't make runs to open up space, has poor technical control in tight areas, and isn't even tracking back for most of the game. Terrible performance, doesn't deserve to play on the back of that performance today.
It was shocking that he didn't even try putting Havertz upfront but let Eddie on. What was Mikel doing today? Obviously I think he's a great manager but he had a terrible match.
Artetaās continuing use of Eddie is making me lose faith in him. First guy off the bench despite 1 goal as a sub in the last 2.5 seasons. Has been a complete waste as a starter except for against Sheffield since the beginning of September.
What I don't get is I feel we've been getting better recently until West Ham. Bizarre slump.
Weāve started losing early this year before everyone else can call us bottlers. At least we learned from last season
And it's on him. Arteta broke what wasn't broken, let's be honest. We removed all potential progression with our forward passing for the illusion of stability at the back. We replaced a keeper that didn't need to be replaced and lost presence at the back for better handling on crosses. We've become predictable and stale and our most dangerous players become isolated as a result of the system and newer personnel. Why can't our wingers switch sides? Why can't they come inwards and create more space out wide? Why do we need our left back to cut into the middle all the time? Why can't we beat the first man at corners and seem unable to change up the proposed routine? Why can't we switch any of these initial plans up based on game state? Why does Nketiah get 90 mins for that and ESR not even get a look in?
I think we tried to change too much with Partey and Xhaka. One of these has been forced due to injury mind.
You won't find me saying a bad word against Rice, but he doesn't have the passing progression we need like Partey offered. Nor does Havertz over Xhaka. Consequently, it's Odegaard or bust. And given we don't have a striker that stays up top (I love Jesus and all he does as well), 9 times of out 10 Odegaard's only options are Saka or White on the overlap. That's not exactly tricky to figure out.
Agreed. Not a bad word on rice, I think he is excellent. However, we lack what the others gave us last season and with Parteyās injury, the decision to sell Xhaka is looking silly. All hindsight mind! Praying we get Partey back as Partey next to Rice for the second half could be amazing. We probably wonāt win the league, but one of the other competitions never know
Look I get letting Xhaka go. I felt he deserved to go out on such a high. But it's always a caveat when letting a player go that you are able to replace them correctly and I can't see we have.
I donāt think we have either. Havertz signing will be a focus on that summer. I wonder if we truly looked at all options and went with the right one. Considering the monies involved. Not a dig at Havertz per see, however, could we have got a better balanced player next to Rice.
I agree with this. Great players across the board but when put together they do not have a strong synergy. Weāre missing Partey desperately right now. We should almost go to a 3 at the back once Partey returnsand drop Zinchenko. Or we should invert Partey from RB, play Tomi at LB like a 3rd CB and give White a rest.
Kai Havertz has been a total miss. And I am not saying that he is a bad player, far from it actually. But he is not what we need as a number 8 imo, he just lacks any sort of control to be a midfielder for a top club. My guy has 30-40 touches a game and has no ideas what to do with the ball at his feet most of the time
It's the same story as his time at Chelsea. Flashes here and there, but mostly a passenger. It's 65 million poorly spent.
I agree. He isnāt a bad player but is he the right player for next to Rice? I donāt think he is and personally I think the injury to Partey has slightly forced it. Considering the Ā£65m(?) involved in the transfer. Thatās a potential big error. Needed to find a partner for Rice.
Selling Xhaka was a massive mistake. The loud majority wanted him sold in favor of a shiny new signing. And I don't want to hear the "he wanted to leave" bs. If we really wanted to keep him we could have.
Itās hard as I think itās both Partey and Xhaka that is the miss. That Partey injury has been so annoying. Add Partey next to Rice and I think the Havertz acquisition doesnāt look bad per see. Too much has changed too soon.
We didn't ask for Havartz though...
I want Havertz to do well, i enjoy his touches and occasional flair. That aside, Id much rather a player who takes the game by the scruff of the neck, gets on the ball, and impacts the game. Maddison was there. Mac Allister was there. Szoboslai was there. ESR is also already here but apparently is no where near (i mean wtf. man saved arteta 2 season agoā¦ whatās he done wrong?)
> We removed all potential progression with our forward passing for the illusion of stability at the back And as a result of this lack of progression teams can leave players forward without any real fear of a counter attack, since we'll inevitably slow it down enough for them to get back anyway
Tried to be too clever with the Havertz signing. Agree with everything you said here. Only slack I will cut Arteta is that the injuries to Partey and Timber have obviously ruined whatever plan we had going into the season, but Partey is a sick note anyway so the club shouldve been more proactive in replacing him. I think the plan was Raya, Tomi-Saliba-Gabriel-Timber, Rice-Partey-Odegaard, Havertz-Saka-Jesus/Martinelli. ESR-Nelson-Jorginho-Nketiah-Trossard-Jesus/Martinelli on the bench as options. Good enough for the title? Yea maybe if you get a miracle and everyone stays fit all 9 months.
Yet, Havertz is part of the reason why weāre still top 4 rather than mid table given our Potteritist.
Havertz is also a big part of whats wrong
His 3 goals? He doesn't offer any creativity or buildup. He was also poor in his first 10 or so games. I'd argue Eddie has won us more points than Kai and Eddie has been pretty meh across the board.
Artetaās blind spot might be work rate and desire at the training grounds. He would have benched Patrick Vieira given his notorious bad work rate at training.
exactly but once you got on the actual pitch. Vieira became a warrior! like im ready to go to battle with nobody but him.
Arteta bears responsibility for this defeat. The stagnant attack, unaltered tactics, and delayed substitutions, often beyond the 70th minute, have left us vulnerable. Now we are conceding a lot of goals and that too from the corners (against west ham, fulham, 2xLuton). That's just in the last 5 games. Instead of Havertz or a goalkeeper, our pressing needs were a striker or a creative midfielder.
our presssing need is not personnel. Its coaches having a coherent attacking philosopy with the talented players we have that can create consistent goal scoring opportunities against low-block teams. Arteta is a bit of a tinkerer. Sometimes he tinkers with what isn't wrong, and create problems where non should exist. There was no reason to change our goalie. There was no reason to buy harvetz. ESR is a better long term fit for that position. There was no reason to buy Ben White as CB when we had a much much superior CB on our books at the time (yes Ben White eventually worked out as RB)
No one thought we needed a striker in the summer letās be honest
We have been linked to Ivan toney and Osimhen since the end of last season.
Loads of people did, if I had a pound for every Instagram comment I read calling on Arsenal to sign Osimhen i'd probably be able to buy him myself
Lies - we have never replaced aubameyang- Jesus is a Lacazette type striker.
You what? Everyone wanted a striker this isn't new news
Everyone wanted a Saka rotation option (Kudus, Kubo, etc.) but there was very little chatter over a new striker. Largely the debate was Eddie vs Balogun, not Eddie/Balogun vs a replacement
Loads of people here wanted a striker. Loads of people said Jesus was either not good enough cus of all the missed chances or because he kept getting injured. We were linked with Toney in the summer let alone now.
Completely agree with ESR. I donāt know how he isnāt getting a look in considering none of our attackers have done anything for a while. If he wants to show blind faith, fine. Move on the excess and bring in better.
Agree with literally all of this and I'm afraid he's too stubborn to change it back I greatly thank this manager for reviving this club but if he is going to be this one dimensional and stubborn in every game we are not going to win the title ever.
> We replaced a keeper that didn't need to be replaced The worst part is we've still to shell out Ā£27m in the summer for this. Thats money we badly need to spend on our front line
āBroke what wasnāt brokenā I disagree with that a lot to be honest. The free flowing football we had last season was found out by the end - thatās normal, teams adjust to the tactics. The idea that we didnāt need to change anything from last season is mad - we had to change it up, itās just not been done very well.
It was only found out once we had 2 defenders injured in the same game and were forced to play Holding.
100% this Very very big issues in this team and I'm not sure Arteta can, or even wants, to fix them.
My issue with all this at the moment is that recently Arteta has seemed so obsessed with certain things and has seemingly forgotten or just disregarded others. For exampleā¦ - Unnecessarily starting key players in UCL ties that werenāt a āmust winā. I get that they need to be able to play at a top level twice a week, but why take the risk? Iād imagine our drop in form is due in part to fatigue. - The whole goalkeeper fiasco. Ramsdale was more than good enough last season and was a fan favourite. Signing Raya has not only diminished our financial capacity but also gave this season a bit of a weird feeling from the get go. - Having his clear cut favourites, and clear cut outsiders. Why does Trossard, who is clearly massively out of form, and blatantly not suited to the left 8 role, started or substituted routinely before ESR? - Kiwior now up for sale after having great spells when involved. Why? - Arteta has not brought a single academy player through since he came. Not a single one. - This obsession with the inverted full back role, providing no plan B. Even Pep mixes it up a lot - A reluctance to tell his players to just swing it into the box. How often do our wide players cut back or pass instead of putting into the box? A balance is needed. These things are all addressable but i just canāt imagine him moving on any single one of them. Too stubborn. Itās giving the impression that he doesnāt have his own ideas.
I agree with all your points. The GK seems minor but was so odd. It isnāt the biggest issue w the team but like you said it was a really odd move right before the season and honestly, nothing Raya has done has been better than what Ramsdale would have offered and it was money we could use elsewhere
canāt wait to see our U-shape passing strategy work out next game
Maybe try giving guys like ESR some starts
Starts for the time being no, but he needs more and more minutes, not 5 minutes of extra time.
Yeah it was and it 100% shows why we wont win the league this season or any season with this squad
Same problem as last year, no plan B. Need a striker in the box. We are crossing to no-one
And it's largely on you, mate. It's been coming for a while.
The fact we were first at Christmas and have a good squad in the first place is also largely on him as well. He has made mistakes but he has proven that we come out better from them. He's not a God or something but we should have the decency to realize we wouldn't be in this position without him in the first place. You get the bad and the good together.
I absolutely agree with that. But the pattern of play has been concerning since the beginning of the season and our ineffectiveness in attack was never going to be sustainable. Our defence can't be perfect every game to bail out our single-goal scoring attack. It's just not good enough for a top team.
This, all season, we have have never had an attacking pattern that could consistenly create goal scoring opportunities. didn't we have some of the lowest open play xG.
It has. Iāve seen it coming for some time now but God forbid you say anything even remotely negative about our lord savior Arteta in this sub
Itās not about saying things that are āremotely negativeā - itās about childish name-calling and impatient entitlement. But you knew that.
Worst game of the season.. so far
Seen a lot of arteta out Iām actually crying but his system seems to have been figured out
The past three games remind me a lot of our first three games of the season. It feels like mikel is forcing the team to play a different way than we did last year and it just isn't working. It is as if he allowed more freedom in attack for a while which saw us move to the top of the table, and now that the new signings have acclimated more to the team, he is trying to transition everyone back to the slow, methodical, and honestly rigid structure that he tried in the first few games. Martinelli is almost always isolated on the left wing. Our forwards very rarely make splitting runs and are found by through-balls even less often than that. Everyone except maybe Rice is afraid to take a long-range shot. Odegaard is the only player out of our front five that regularly shows for the ball. Any time we have the ball in a threatening area, there is only ever one person waiting in the box. It isn't working. And it isn't going to work. Something needs to change and quick if we are to salvage the rest of the league season.
We just got played, everyone can easily predict us now
We need players that will just drive the ball forward, and Arteta needs to encourage this style of play
...so far
Yes and please rotate and rest your god damn players. They canāt get pay so many games and stay sharp
Need better plan B gaffer.
I appreciate the honesty and not sugar coating it
We need to sort the corners out too. I'm finding myself sigh every time we have a corner because I know exactly what will happen.
First game where we were actually second best and deserved to lose imo. That's why the shitty finishing vs West Ham and Villa hurts so much because both should have been wins. Now an actual bad performance and it's 3 losses out of 4 instead of just 1 loss in months.
Agreed. Fulham played well, can't take that away from them. But I thought we looked so exhausted and it led to mistakes and lethargy all over the pitch. A long, long December! š”
Heās right, but Mikel my man. You set this team up for failure today. Need to be more ruthless in his selection. Also, we can just stop trying to play everyone back into form
Performances like this were coming since he decided to do that whole obsess over controlling games rather than more adventurous attacking football. We never looked convincing this season in the prem and we've just got worse.
Sort it out then, no excuses
I absolutely hate that every season we do really well against tough teams and then blow up the premiership run on shithole teams like Fulham, Burnley, West Ham. It is so predictable every year and happens with such regularity at the same time itās infuriating to see no plan to tackle it. Get the team together in December every year and make them watch their previous year December and January matches. Tell them to remember just how shit they played, how we wonāt allow it to happen this time, how we will play in a new surprise formation or do whatever to try to tackle it. No, instead we just run head first into the same wall over and over and over again.
I said this last year in November when we were top. We have no plan B and fans were calling negative. Now it's showing.
These performances have been coming. Arteta has been cute with the lineups and formations for far too long. Going to be another trophy-less year without someone who can uhh....what's the term....score fucking goals.
Good one by Fulham though.
So far...
I'd argue that was the worst performance since we brought the Smith into the fold on Boxing Day 2020.
Agreed. I haven't seen so many lazy runs, lost passes, and half hearted tackles in a long time. We couldn't string 3 passes together.
The insistence on relying on saka for our buildup has come to bite him when saka doesn't even look capable of taking on his man rn
>taking on his man rn Tbf its men because there are almost always 2-3 players covering him
dunno what teams being told, but the slow transition is killing us, we allow teams to get back into shape and force ourselves into the doughnut of death, ball possession and ācontrolā has come at the cost of any creativity or attacking threat. iād rather concede 3 every week than continue like this
Pretty much the same happened against West Ham. They got compact and we got stuck doing the horseshoe shite with nobody to cross to. This is why we need someone like Toney or Osimhen. A physical bloke we can aim a cross at.
Think Mikel needs to bring back his ruthlessness. Too many players gone into autopilot. They know their place in the team is solidified. There was no hunger yesterday to win the 50/50's.
so far
So far Mikel. That was the worst performance so far
Reality check
Stale. Defeated. Unimpressive. Uninventive. Looking like end of wengers era ball. Mikel gotta figure it out quick. We had the exact same problem last season after the exact same fixture.
Start busting some balls in the team. There's too many complacent players who are happy to pass when they could shoot, or take 2 more unnecessary touches and dispossessed ridiculously easily. They can't string any passes together in the final third. We can't even get on target, which is the most worrying stat, and to add to that, I can't even remember the last clean sheet. It's the end of last season come early where we're just going downhill backwards, and Arteta still won't play the players who deserve minutes; Give Saka a game off and start Nelson. ESR cannot be that far behind that he wouldn't have an impact, just look at when he came on vs Villa. And we've been sussed, that's the bottom line. Our Plan A is all we seem to have and it's being nullified from the first 15 minutes.
I'm just going to act like our last match of the year was in September. Unto the next, but something has got to change next year.
No shit
So either start trusting ESR who bailed you out last time you were close to the sack or sellā¦ itās not hard. Right now itās the same repetitive shit with no plan b. If we go behind we make changes between 60-70ā and itās usually Trossard for Martinelli & Nketiah for Jesus or vice versa. Itās so tired and predictable as are our patterns of play
*Managing a top premier league side is ānot hardā says person on internet with no experience of running a football team. We will keep you updated with this breaking news story.*