I was wondering that myself, during the match as both injury substitutions happened. I concluded that Holding/Ramsey were more contact/impact than red zone. Especially Ramsey's. But Mustafi's I'm thinking might either be red zone or that he was rushed back into service a little too quickly after tweaking his knee(?) last match. I think he may have had to play through pain for the last 20 mins or so, because we'd used all 3 subs. Obviously that would be far less than ideal. And so I suspect Mustafi might not be 100% for Saturday. And with Holding out, and Kos & Monreal not quite EPL-match-fit yet, and Mavropanos who knows, I think it's safe to say we have a bona fide CB problem now.
Very entertaining game, I thought we dominated the midfield but some of the passing from the back was poor Guendozi and torreira where everywhere. We let them back in the game twice with 2 shit goals, but I am pleased with how we attacked out wide Bit worried about the injuries any news? Utd seemed more up for this game but we had the majority of chances and should of won
Offside, but it was one of those where only the attacker's head was offside, and even then, not by much.
Holding with an apparent injury Missed game today but if he faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines ... that’s terrible news Lad was progressing nicely
Some defensive reinforcement is clearly due in January. I see us making a reasonable purchase. Do we have any kind of CBs in the youth set up at the moment?
Just watched the match. Disappointed that we didn't get the win. Seemed like most of our attack was down the left side. Bellerin didn't seem to get much action on his side. Their first goal was miles offside (ok maybe only half a mile offside). It is just frustrating to concede goals right after scoring. I thought it was rich when the Manure fans were chanting "same old Arsenal, always cheating" at the end of the match after all the years of cheating they got away with under red nose. Anyway, a good point on the road. Let's keep this unbeaten streak going!
found these stats interesting Ranked by order of most expensive:Man United's bench (£244.9m)Man United's starting XI (£209m)Arsenal's starting XI (£167.9m)Arsenal's bench (£61.5m)Actual reserve Fred (£47m)If only Jose Mourinho received financial backing.— Football365 (@F365) December 5, 2018
I wonder if they're just echoing the song our supporters may have sung at OT over all these years? Can't say I've ever heard that personally, but with TV audio mixes and mild hearing loss, there's a whole ton of stuff that gets sung that I don't pick up on!
The body count goes up. Not very surprising given how thin our squad is and the # of games during festive period. However, I shall try to be optimistic. I don't know what Unai has against Nene but he can slot is just fine into the back three or come into the MF as a holding player. I would like to see Torreira move up a bit. His technical ability and eye for a pass are both exceptional.
I do not like his positioning when we do not have the ball. He is too eager to press, which is fine unless you have zero cover and 20 yards behind you to exploit. It is too easy to pass through the lines with him but yesterday with Mata out, United had no one to do it. He is very good and will improve but I think we are asking way too much of him at this point. He is good for 20 min every so often and cup games.
Agreed. He follows the ball a lot like Flamini used to. But he gets the ball a lot as well and uses his body well. Another thing I like about him is he tends to pass forward instead of sideways. Anyway, to your point, he still is raw and needs time to adjust. Plus, he is a bit error prone. But what a great start for a 19 yo! He also has good, senior people around him, so I have high long term hopes.
El Neny in a back 3... hmm, hadn't thought of that. Has he done that for us, or for his other teams? And what are the chances that he's been training in that role? But I guess your point is that maybe he could be training that way today & tomorrow. As for Torrerra, I agree. There's a little debate going on (see other thread) about whether he's naturally more defensive or offensive. I see both sides frankly.
He played in a back 3 during pre-season and did well. Had the license to move forward with the other two tucking in. Can't remember if it was this preseason or last but I remember making that observation on this board.
If we keep Ramsey we can play a good 3 man midfield for the first time in ever Am I wrong to be almost giving up on ozil now? If these back issues are real then he is crocked