Lets see what happens after the next few games but that backline is porous and lacking in confidence. That could affect the team attack as well. I don’t feel there has been good enough regular service for PEA
If the backline doesn't tighten up soon, it may be time to give Mavropanos and/or Holding a chance. At times they were left exposed by the rest of the team on counter attacks, but they also made mistakes that gifted West Ham opportunities to score.
Definitely true. But on their goal it seemed like we had enough numbers back, just didn't deal with a simple layoff. Everyone drawn to the ball instead of Arnautovic.
Xhaka improved once Torrereia came on just like Guendouzi improved in the previous matches. Goes to show how bad we’ve needed a true DM. Xhaka has been more than underwhelming with his time here. I’m wondering if playing next to Tor. might make him not awful. Although Guendouzi has been just as good with that pairing and I’d support him alongside Tor. too. Either way, we need Torrereia to start. He might be our most important signing since Özil. If AW could have bought a proper DM he might still be our manager. No surprise Emery made a DM signing his first window.
Xhaka played 5% better next to Torreira. Its time to sit buddy. Happy for 3 pts but heart attacks every time they countered.
The defending is bad and i think this has been well established so—expectations and all. It’s three games in and we have our first win. Let’s just see if the players can gel a bit before discarding it all. If we are looking to holding and mavropanos as saviors I think we are in for a rude awakening. The good: we got three points which relieves a lot of pressure. We did it without ozil. Danny scored a good goal. Laca was good. Xhaka was better than last two games. Bellarin and nacho were good going forward. The bad: the press is still inconsistent. Looked more like the press of last year to me. Defending from wide is horrid. Guen cooled off (or west ham prepared for him). Bellarin and nacho were terrible defending. The midfielders/forwards have to be more careful with the ball when the fullbacks are pushed so high up. We nearly paid for every guendouzi and Ramsey misplaced pass.
Yes I am sick if the two DM formation...and yes the kid n xhaxa play DM. Bell is involved in 50 percent of the offensive build up I'm I wrong? We play ugly and give up goals.
Mustafi is garbage...holding garbage Chambers garbage Still say put the calm cool Litch back thr and see how he does.
The high line we're playing, that doesn't seem to be disappearing any time soon, is a greater death sentence for Litch than it was for John Terry.
Shout out to Nacho. He's been playing very well and reliably for us for quite some time now. Today he had a lot of key contributions: A goal taken like a calm veteran striker. Setting up the 2nd goal by winning it off a defender in their third. Soldiering through a scary looking knock, which could've done his knee. And I'm sure there are more.
Once Xhaka had a real DM next to him he actually played pretty well. He makes a lot of passes from deep that no one else on the club seems capable of making. As much as I love Guendouzi's start at Arsenal, I think Torreira next to Xhaka might actually be the best choice. Like to see that from the opening kick once or twice for comparison purposes. And I might be alone in commenting here, but the 4-2-3-1 is fine if the players know how to play it. One of the two DMs has to always be back for cover. Only one of the two fullbacks should be up in the final third at any given time. We won't get countered so easily if these two things are true. This positioning need is especially true given the poor defenders we have playing on the wings. Fullbacks get very little help from Mhki and Iwobi. Final thought: Love to see Lichtsteiner instead of Bellerin as soon as possible. I know he's older and likely slower, but I believe he's also better at defending.
I don't like the way the team moves the ball AT ALL when Duzy goes off and Xhaka stays on. Duzy initiates play quickly, always looking to do something, which has had negatives, but we just look more fluid in midfield when he plays. The movement, the 1-2's, wanting to combine, just seems much better to my eyes.
We need to move it quickly to stop the age old araenalmossue of dwelling on it and losing it deep hen getting scored on Dooooz is that guy, he could become elite the vita of play he has shown What a find
Frankly, the worst performance of all three competitive fixtures so far, but I don't care. We had to have a win, and we got it. Obviously our defense is a shambles, and will probably take a while to get better. But I wish we carried more offensive threat that we seem to. For the moment, our best offensive players seem to be Lacazette, Miki, and Bellerin. PEA hasn't been very good, but he's been so consistent for so long that I'm pretty confident that he'll come around. I also agree with you about the lack of service. Specifically, we seem to struggle with possession anywhere in the opponents' half, which is sort of disappointing when the opponent is West Ham. So there is a little more desperation in our play than maybe there ought to be. We have to try some low percentage play to force the ball through the D or shoot from 25 yards, because we can't hold on the ball long enough to probe for mismatches. We need more work to figure out this spacing/pressing business. Fortunately Cardiff should be a win as well and the game after that is three weeks away, so I'm hoping Emery has plenty of coffee to drink while watching hours and hours of game film.
Positives Mhki was very very good and the right side attacking play with Bellerin's pace in behind for cutbacks is great Ramsey looked very good in the second half with his hustle Xhaka was also very direct, snapping balls into the top of midfield Negatives The defence continues to look worrisome Hard to see how the high line works with these players and cech
I'd prefer the three man midfield with Ozil nominally on the left and Mhki on the right and Auba at 9
So a brazilian journo for ESPN ran a tweet about Ozil have a fight with Emery of course a fight is no big deal. But it would be strange is Ozil being dropped was covered up with an illness story emery denied all this and apparently Ozil was with the team before the game
Agree about xhaka. He definitely played better with torriera who’s passing is pretty good actually. The thing I noticed was a little panic on the ball when pressured. I’m not sure he’s up to the pace of the prem yet and dwelled on the ball a little too long. Duzy seems to thrive under the pressure. In this game, west ham contained him—cut off his lanes, didn’t get too tight where he can roll the defender and stride by...they were ready for him. I think when xhaka is playing decently, our best midfield contains him. Late in the games, teams lose shape and pressure and he slices them apart.
I'd really like to see is start a game in a 4-3-3 with a MF of Torreira at the 6 and Xhaka & Ramsey as dual 8s. I think you see a better Xhaka when you take some of the defensive responsibilities from him.