Quote Originally Posted by WES View Post
We no longer play through a high press? And you are suggesting that Declan Rice is one of the reasons? I would disagree on both points. If we were struggling to pass our way through the press this would show in lower possession and that isn't happening. We continue to control the game mostly but are struggling in front of goal and have had more defensive lapses than expected. See Gabriel's defending for Fulham's equaliser and Kiwior's for their 2nd.

Teams are doubling our wide players more than they used to and we're struggling to come up with plan B when they do so. And we have some players who are out of form. Gabriel, all our currently fit FBs, as examples. Saka and Martinelli's form may be because of their frustration at facing two players every time they touch it.

Arteta needs to figure that out and get our good players playing better.
Teams were doubling on our wide players last season, that hasn't changed. Nor have our attacking players- same guys that ripped up the league last year. But last season, when Saka face two defenders he had Odegaard inside him and White outside. 90% of the time this season neither of them are there. Martinelli is almost always on his own.

Watch some highlights of games last season and see how often we played one touch football through a high press. Try and find an example of that this season- you will struggle, trust me. I havent looked at the stats but I will bet if you see the percentage of long and medium passes played by Raya it will be considerably higher than those by Ramsdale last season.

As good as Rice is, he is not at Partey's technical level. He doesnt like receiving the ball on the edge of his own box and he cannot play through the line like Partey does.

I am not saying this is an accident. Arteta must have known what he was buying. I think his idea was we would mix up between short and long play but it isn't working. The combination of Rice, Havertz and Raya, and a collective concern over their confidence, has made playing out short from the back far more difficult.

In recent months the only game where we regularly got behind the opponent was Villa and their high line. And we ****ed that up!