And we look pretty good in midfield and going forward.
Does Tierney understand he’s meant to be playing LB?
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And we look pretty good in midfield and going forward.
Does Tierney understand he’s meant to be playing LB?
The only logic for it not being a penalty was that Saka never touched or controlled the ball. Which, frankly, is a nonsense according to the rules but I agree you tend not to get those.
And the 'he went down to easily' muppets haven't seen it clearly. James puts his leg across Saka which causes Saka to trip and then James pins his leg causing him to go down. It was a foul every time anywhere else on the pitch.
I don't know how you think we look good going forward. We haven't had a decent shot in 2 games. In fact if you plucked someone random from this forum and stuck them in the oppositions goal for those two games he or she would have kept two clean sheets.
We're playing without a striker, AAR, Gabi and the other lad have been anonymous up front. I like a lot of our build up play and we get in good positions. Not as clinical as we need to be once we get in and around the box but in part that is out of form players (Saka) and in part that is playing with no striker.
At the back we have been a shambles. Arteta deserves all the criticism he gets there. We seemed to spend the entire first half with no one marking James and there seemed to be no plan for helping Mari with Lukaku. Bizarre.
We look a shambles because we are.
Arteta's game plan appears to be, entirely, get the ball to Tierney or Pepe and get a cross in (despite not having a Giroud type player anymore). Which is great when it works (1/25) but ****e when it doesn't (24/25) especially on the left as KT will be out of position more often than not.
The opponents have worked this out. The fans have worked this out. The only people who appear to think it is some kind of secret, is the coaching staff.
When we can't probe the wing we go back, back, sideways and then to the other wing #horseshoeofdeath.
Predictable, ineffective ****e. And that is why Arteta is not the man.
Hassling the man in his car after the match is, however, abhorrrent.
I fear Mari will never be the same again…mentally broken beyond repair.
Going to laugh if he starts Maitland at right back vs West Brom…would he his 4th person at right back this season.
I need to rewatch Max Aarons…I must be completely missing something imo
I would point to Saka's penalty appeal and ESR's shot which was blocked at the last second as two examples where this wasn't true. Where we worked well to get into a great position centrally. And that's after thinking about it for 10 seconds.
There were other examples as well. A 3 v 2 which Saka screwed up with a heavy touch also comes to mind. So stop talking sh1te, IUFG :-)
It's the main strategy, WES.
There was an example yesterday when ESR ran towards the box when he could have taken on the defender but chose to pass to KT who was marked. It would have been less risky to take the defender on or shoot. It is a managerial instruction. :rubchin:
Holding missing a sitter? Ball to the far post, nodded back by Mari, Holding misses a sitter from 4 yards out.
Another example :-)
And working it out wide and getting it 'into the mixer' is hardly new or undesirable. As you suggest, it just needs to be balanced with playing centrally and it would be nice if we had the option on the right side as well. But for that we need a RB, something many of us have been screaming for for some time.
We created more than enough to score yesterday, we just need a striker and some patience as some players are out of form (Saka, Pepe)
www.premierleague.com/match/66352
Those chances come from corners?
Winning 9 corners whilst only having 6 shots suggests there were a fair few crosses.
Agreed, we need to mix it up. I also accept that Chelsea are 2 or 3 levels better than us at the moment, but we found it so difficult to play through midfield whilst they just cut through ours in the first half. They didn't even start Kante.
It is the predictability and slowness of our play that really stinks the place out imo.
I never known a manager anywhere where he's spent nearly 150m without improving the first 11. What is even more baffling is it's blantantly obvious this team needs a work horse center forward who plays with his back to goal and is prepared to sacrifice himself to bring Saka/ESR/Pepe and Tiereny into the game. Yet no sign of one coming in. It's not like we didn't have the money for this player either.
I have to admit that I am starting to have real doubts about the helmet haired one.
But we also need to be realistic. We had 9 players out, no strikers and have invested mostly in younger players recently as that is the strategy. And we were playing the CL champions and a team built on the back of Roman's billions. And there were long periods of play where we controlled the ball well and got into good positions.
I'm betting that if the entire game was played exactly as it occurred but Holding stuck that header away and Saka hadn't screwed up the 3v2 we wouldn't be talking about how boring or deliberate or predictable or sh1t our play was.
We do not look good going forward at all.
All we do is pass it to Tierney who crosses in to nobody. rinse and repeat.
Lakonga looks good.
This new investing in young players strategy is rather new. latest gimmick from the club.
If they are so interested in youth then why did he bin off Saliba and Guendouzi, Nelson never gets a chance and we sold Willock.
but 12 months ago we signed Willian to a 3 year deal :rubchin:
https://twitter.com/Squawka/status/1427223863734116352
When it works, we can't hit a barn door, of course! :facepalm:
Agree about Lokonga, our best player versus Chelsea.
No question there's been some baffling personnel decisions in the last few years. Selling Matinez at the top of that list imo.
But that's hardly new, is it? Even in Wenger's glory years when he was arguably the best manager in football there was no shortage of significant mistakes. You could say the same about that red nosed Jock c*nt up in Manchester i.e. Juan Veron.
Ultimately, this squad still looks pretty good to me, I see young talent all over the place. And they play hard for Arteta. The rest of it will take time. I'd still give him to the end of the season provided he doesn't lose the dressing a la Emery.
Yeah! I recall it being reported that Raul didnt include the board in some decisions which sounds about right.
Many of the deals & contracts seem back loaded with bonuses and high wages, to get around KSE not being ready to invest in enough transfer fees. That makes players more difficult to sell and had us overspending on players like Torreira & Pepe.
We've been a mess for last 5-8 years but reckon this summer will set us up alright even though we might not feel like it, as its not as optimised for short term success as previous windows have been.
I agree! Reckon we might need another older head around the youngsters though.
Hope we can sell enough deadwood and get a good RB in before window closes.
Feel comfortable with the idea that we wanted Tammy (but couldnt get rid of Laca), I believe more in that profile of player than Auba or Laca. Gives us a clue what we might go for next summer in that position.
Biggest risk this season is injuries to few of the key players and that Auba really need to step up. A bit too much goal scoring responsibility lies with Laca & Auba atm I'm afriad. Perhaps a few of the younger guys can add some.