We spent years looking for a striker that scores at the rate that Aubameyang does, and now he's overpriced?! The strikers that score at a better rate than Aubameyang would cost an extortionate amount of cash and we all know arsenal aren't spending that.
In the second half, Ozil was essentially the only player holding the ball in the the offensive third. It's not it's not Aubameyang's strength and Iwobi was substituted early in the half. Speaking of which, I wasn't fond of Emery's subs. They completely eliminated the threat of a counter attack and thus put more pressure on the defense Final thought, Sarr went by Monreal a little two easily at times and Monreal will be a year older next season. I think a new left back in the summer is an absolute must.
1-1 away, with 10 men to a team with lots of wingers is a bad place to be. But, that was a poorly managed half. I don't see how you don't at half make the game about mobility. AMN -> Miki Ramsey -> Terraria Guen -> Xhaka 3-5-1 Retain the threat of putting the ball behind their wingers. We had no out ball and Mustafi is horrible decision maker, he's left with no easy pass and then proceeds to out his head down and try and run. Now I know he has half an eye on ManU, but you can't lose this game 3-1 and take the hit to the mental strength meter.
That third goal didn't even come down to that. It was a weak mentality and no urgency to push back. I am sure we have said it before, but does no one at Arsenal know how to wind down the clock?
That was a Denilson-esque play, for that final goal especially, but I think he'll be alright. IIRC, a lot of Denilson's issues were exacerbated by his back problems. If Guendouzi stays healthy and gets stronger, I still am optimistic about how good he can be.
I’m aware of all that, I just need to know if fans are willing to keep that same energy. Especially since Guendouzi’s tracking has been a problem all season.
Yeah, it has been an issue for him. By energy, do you mean support for him? My anecdotal take, for whatever that's worth, is that most supporters still have a "glass half full" view of him.
I don't know if Emery was ever likely to make those subs you suggest, nor if the solution would've been that simple. But you raise some good points. And they jive with my overall feeling during the match (you can see it from my dialog with @mebeSajid mid-match): that we were very unlikely to be able to "manage" the whole of 2T at 1-1, by going defensive and just trying to keep them from scoring more... especially since we'd just lost one of 2 vital CB's! OK sure they had an extra week's rest than we did (thanks to the league so kindly cancelling their match last weekend), and going down to 10 men is tough, not to mention a huge league-decisive match against ManUre in 3 days... but we're still an above-average fit & fast team I figured, so I would've favored a bit more of the old "offense is the best defense" approach... as rare as that is when you're down to 10. Your last point about one eye on the weekend, is one of the most salient ones. It was another dilemma Emery faced during the match. I guess he went with trying to conserve energy of the many key players that we'd need just 72hrs later, and gambled that we could keep them from scoring again, let alone twice more! Obviously that gamble backfired, and as you say we took a big hit psychologically going into Sunday. Perhaps even erasing most of the confidence we'd built in our last 3 matches. Next 2 games are now ABSOLUTELY HUGE... biggest of the season to date.
The issue with guen is he is going to have to be the new Ramsey. He doesn’t work imo as a 2 as well as he would in a 3 as the attacker who overloads Denison was a holder in a 2 at his best but was treated harshley
Not sure what you mean exactly, but myself and a few others around here feel that the next MD thread should be started no less than 48hrs ahead of KO. And of course, when we lose, someone new has to step up for the next thread. So, since we're now <48hrs at this point, it's high time. And I personally think new blood should make these thread as much as possible. So if anyone wants to step up for the Yanited thread, GO FOR IT! How about yourself @GunnerJacket? p.s. if no-one wants to do it, I can be the backstop... but I'll wait at least until 11pm ET tonight before doing that.
Ramsey has picked up a thigh injury away with Wales. He's been sent back home. Could be lonely since everyone else is away with their countries or off in Dubai. Anyway, with his history of soft tissue injury outages, and with the important role he's been playing in the past month or so, this has to be a concern for our run in.
He will be ok Wouldn’t mi dnhaving a look at his team mate James He’s at Swansea but has ludicrous pace