it won't distract from our collapse*
*still time to fix it but we won't
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it won't distract from our collapse*
*still time to fix it but we won't
Maybe with Saka and Odegaard back we might. But Zubimendi seems shot to pieces. Is Merino back before the season is done?Quote:
Originally Posted by Pat Vegas
If not maybe MLS gets a go next to Rice.
something is really off with him. maybe something off field.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rich
It is all down to the game at the Etihad on Sunday. Lose there and it is over. Get a draw, and we are still in with a distant shout. It would be a brave or stupid man who would be confident of us avoiding defeat there. :-(Quote:
Originally Posted by Rich
For the moment, he has lost the fans. It is the Mourinho effect. This kind of dreadful football is only acceptable when it is winning you things. The minute it isn't, you lose everyone.
They'll never say it, but I promise you this- the players HATE the way we play. You can see it in their actions. You can see how frustrated Declan Rice is, pretty much all the time. Nobody becomes a footballer to wrestle at corners and feign injury.
Mik Arteta has shown his willingness to adapt over the course of his tenure. He'll listen to his five captains too - and I'm sure Declan is a big enough boy to explain what he thinks. That's partly what makes him a great manager. Be under no illusion - if we sack him then he'll be snapped up by a huge club and have massive success.Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter
We should keep him and give him what he needs in forward areas for next season.
I see that a draw against City (we have no chance of that) and a draw against Newcastle means we can still win the league with wins against Fulham, West Ham, Burnley and Palace; even if City win all their remaining games (they will). But I really cannot see us winning those four anyway.
He really, really won't. His reputation as a coach has hugely gone downhill over the last two seasons. Winning the league this season would have restored it. But you have to look around at the reaction- it isn't just me saying this. This football is absolutely, ****ing atrocious. And I am not a purist, by any means. I loved George Graham's sides, even the **** ones. But this is something else. It is an absolute car crash to watch.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rich
No fans are going to want to watch that every week.
Anyway, it is irrelevant. We are not sacking Arteta.
This.Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter
Formulaic football. And when the formula doesn't work, we get Saturday's performance.
And everyone else is working out the formula. Now every half decent side is capable of blocking it.Quote:
Originally Posted by IUFG
And, because you have removed all the autonomy from the players, they are unable to think on their feet and adapt. They just keep doing what they are told, while he dances up and down the touchline shouting at them.
City are going to make us look very ****ing silly on Sunday. It's going to be humiliating and horrible to watch.
And it is all so stupid, and so unnecessary. This side is capable of so much more.
It is amazing how difficult we make passing through a press look.Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter
At one point in the Sporting match one of their defenders had the ball at the top of their box as we pressed. A midfielder ran into the space behind the press, the defender clipped the ball over the pressing players to the midfielder who took one touch and then played it to their left side where the left sided defender had run into space and away they went.
I remember wondering why we can't seem to do something so simple. Three players playing a simple pattern using skills that you would expect every professional footballer to have.
Baffling
First year in his life he's had to deal with a mad English season as opposed to a relaxed Spanish one without non-stop footie except Xmas when there's twice as much. He's already played more games this year than ever before and there's still a month or more to go.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pat Vegas
We've had two midfielders under Arteta who could play through the lines- Partey and Jorginho. He has replaced them with Zubimendi and Merino.Quote:
Originally Posted by WES
I have no idea what Zubimendi is supposed to be doing. But he provides absolutely nothing other than sideways passes. It is not unusual to see him hopelessly out of position (where on earth was he for Bournemouth's winner?) and we have seen the odd slip in possession. Maybe that has made him scared to try anything.
Either way, I am watching a midfielder who seems to have no real range of passing. And we know that isn't him.
Two things always helped us in trying to play through a press- Odegaard always wanting the ball and showing for it, and those runs inside that Saka used to make. Both of those things have disappeared from our game over the last year and a bit.
Not convinced playing through the press is down to just 2 players, Peter. The 3 Sporting players that played through us are probably no more skilled then every player in our squad. The have to want to do it, they have to be trained to do it, they have to have to hesitation in doing it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter
And that is Arteta's job imo.
Yes, but it requires movement. Movement, particularly from defensive players, involves risk. If you lose the ball, you are out of position.Quote:
Originally Posted by WES
The moment you put the ball in that area you need options for the next two passes. That requires movement ahead of and behind the target of the first pass. We dont want to do it.
We prefer to push teams back by using width in the defence. Once they are back in their positions we are more comfortable playing passes and looking for gaps. This is why some people believe we face low blocks. We don't face them, we create them. And Arteta likes it.
Once you have an opponent pinned back in their block, you can probe, look for gaps, win set pieces, maybe even try the occasional shot. And for the whole time that is happening, you are in control.
That is what Arteta wants. If you are going to lose the ball, lose it as high up the pitch as possible with the opponents pinned back as far as possible.
You need players like an inform Saka, Summerville, Doku, Kudos etc to pick their way through those kinds of defences and find gaps.Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter
I like Summerville but not convinced he could step up from West Ham to a top club but for the right money I'd give him a shot.Quote:
Originally Posted by 7sisters