Actually I think that in general it's a gray area. But in the 2 examples I cited, which led to their 2 goals, can you really say that Luiz fouling the guy just inside the box is because of Emery? And that Emery had control over Sokratis passing the ball into an on-rushing Watford player 12 yards from goal? Note that I've already acknowledged that in Sokratis's error, if they were better instructed to NOT play out from goal kicks all the time, especially when you're under siege from a high-press, then that might've avoided that particular fatal error. But in the end he still made the extremely poor pass, poor judgment. He's a professional footballer at an elite* club... he should do better than that, regardless of any current coaching. *OK, perhaps a formerly elite club.
You need to be careful not to full into the mistake of survivor bias here Watford could have scored a bunch of goals so we should not focus only on the mechanism of the 2 goals Also goals frequently require an error or mistake - so the fact that Lulz gave up an error may be a reflection of constant pressure. Ditto the Sok error was almost replicated in the first half
As to Luiz, yes, to a large extent, yes. If the midfield is allowing attacking players to run full speed unhindered at our back line, bad things are going to happen. And Emery set up the midfield such that those huge gaps between our midfield and our back line were there for the taking ALL match. Yeah, it was a poor challenge by Luiz just hanging a leg out there, but he shouldn't have to be constantly defending guys running full speed into our penalty area with nary a traffic cone to stop them before they get there. As to Sokratis, that's mostly on him but Emery isn't without fault. I've read a couple of tactical articles discussing how Emery's system for playing out of the back is rather flawed. Again, here, I'm no exonerating Sokratis, as he seemed to have a wide option and just played the wrong pass and played it incredibly poorly as well. But I don't think Emery is 100 percent blameless if he's insistent upon a mode of playing that is either flawed or for which he hasn't properly prepared his players.
I think you're giving Luiz too much deference. Not unlike what I said about Sokratis, he's a professional at the height of the sport. He shouldn't lamely hang a leg on the edge of the box... period. AND (this part is crucial) he also shouldn't be shoving Salah like he did in the box, nor playing Salah tight on the wing and then getting easily turned by him (same game). Nor should he have stepped into Son at the 50Y line, who blew him away. I'm sure there are more errors he's committed in this young season, maybe some which conceded even more goals... I'm not bothering to look them up. Finally, so many around here touted his offensive qualities, i.e. we don't have to worry as much about his potential for defensive gaffs... he's a modern forward-thinking CB... but frankly, since he's arrived, I haven't seen a whole ton of his vaunted offense. I'm sure someone out there will blame that on Emery too! Speaking of Emery, I'm not in any way absolving him. More and more I think he's lost the plot. Or maybe never had the plot in the first place. My optimism wanes. If Holding/Tierney/Bellerin don't fix our back line, and if Emery doesn't find a good MF formation, then he'll lose support from the fans in general (myself included) and the owners. Then see ya later Unai. God I hope that doesn't happen because it could be one depressing, poor quality, under-performing season. So for the time being, I'm still officially on board.
He didn't make the kind of mistake, he did against Tottenham, but he doesn't cover enough ground to provide the kind of protection the back four needs. So while statistically he may have had a good game, that doesn't take into account his athletic limitations and, unlike Arteta, he doesn't appear to read the game well enough defensively to make up for those limitations.
I haven't reviewed the game video, but if we assume the individual errors,which were largely attributable to trying to play the ball out of the back, accounted for 10 of Watford's shots, Watford would still have a 2:1 advantage in total shots. The issue was more than Arsenal's problems with playing the ball out of the back, which BTW has clearly been Emery's preference since he arrived. That said their persistence with that tactic had me swearing at the TV in the second half. I think a big part of the problem is the way they set up. With both CBs setting up very close to Leno, it's very easy for two players to pressure all three. It might be better to move one of the CBs out of the box to spread the field.
In a month you won't be able to afford tickets m8. You think we're not gonna raise prices? We're in the business of canceling Unai Emery and Raul Sanllehi and business is booming. You better get on before it's too late and you're having to re-finance the mortgage.
Luiz may have fouled in part because of undue pressure allowed by Emery's tactics, but that doesn't excuse the fact Arsenal are having to rely on Luiz in the first place. Further, for all the faults in our defense we DIDN'T the offense prove more productive? Same rule applies in that that area of the ball was one where Arsenal have the superior talent and should have been more effective. So why didn't they get a third or more? These things bleed together, obviously, and I know the causes and solutions are beyond one man/instance/tactic/etc, just pondering how the fault wasn't confined to just the defense.
Yeah that sounds like just the player we need to challenge for trophies. One to be our lone captain (at the moment). And one to take playing time away from people like Torreira. All good.
Here's a stat for you. Luiz has conceded 2 penalties during his 4 matches for Arsenal. Over 160 match span for Chelsea, he conceded 3. Why do you think that is? Again, I'm not absolving Luiz for this penalty or the foul on Salah. But I hardly think it's a coincidence that he shows up here and all of the sudden, he's gift wrapping penalties for opponents, whereas he wasn't for Chelsea.
Yes I know that Luiz's previous reputation at Chelsea for gaffs or stinkers wasn't as bad as we're seeing. It was discussed after the first PK he gave away IIRC. Why is he even worse for us? That's not exactly knowable. But if, as you insinuate, that the problem is not him, but rather the manager, the system, what's around him, etc. That's what caused Luiz to hang a leg? That's what caused him to push Salah a bit too hard? If that were the case, then why would Sokratis not have given away roughly the same amount of PK's as Luiz? They both play basically the same position. I'm sorry but you're not going to convince me that Luiz is not at fault. Throughout his entire EPL career, I've never felt like he was a true defender. And his time with us is only cementing that feeling.
I don't think Luiz actually made a mistake there. The play developed from a high transition where the midfield got bypassed and the pivots were out of position. That is what caused the goal. As usual the team is not well set out to cope with transition The defence actually scrambles well and Lulz is the organiser, pushing out, freeing the fullback to go wide with the free man. So he stopped that play. The trouble is he is then isolated 1:1 and as an 86kg CB, he will be vulnerable if he can be turned inside. If I am going to be critical, I think he committed too far as he gets quite close to his FB, but in his defence, no one is pushing across behind him and he is dealing with a 2v2. So what can he do? He can't let the guy run in on goal, but probably needed to commit him to the outside run. When he does the foul, Sokratis hasn't come across (choosing to occupy his zone) but the CM hasn't managed to get back into the inside channel either Hung out to dry basically. I think if we are going to play with Luiz and Sok, then there needs to be a 6 who occupies that position in front of those guys
These are all signs of failure of the defensive block. It reminds me a lot of what happened with Germany in the last Hummels/Boateng era They'd get pulled apart and try to make last ditch tackles. The main reason was they were left exposed at the back, because the FBs were high and there was no 6 occupying the zone. Caught wide - where is the FB? Isolated by Son - Sok was sucked out of the line by Kane. Where is the 6? Who is covering? Watford pen - where is the 6? Chelsea simply didn't play this way under Conte. With a back 5 plus Kante, Luiz was not exposed in this way.
This is why I'd like 3 at the back, or a dedicated 6 who stays in his zone Luiz is quite dynamic but we are asking for trouble if he is going to be isolated 1:1 all the time. Ideally he'd be able to step out of the line to make challenges provided he is covered. Things were somewhat better with Douzy in the first half because he actually stayed in his position as one of two retainers, and this meant he was a bit like an extra CB. But even then we saw an attack develop through Koz/Xhaka that then left the insight left channel completely open as usual. Theoretically with double pivot the 6 should always be there.
You need to reread what I actually wrote. In fact, I've twice now stated that I'm not absolving Luiz here. Both penalties were dumb. But such can be the case while at the same time recognizing that he and the rest of our backline are being put under relentless pressure that will often result in such mistakes. Why is that difficult for you to understand? As for Sokratis, I would speculate he hasn't conceded as many because he's a better straight up tackler than Luiz (note: see -- again not defending Luiz), but he's also the CB that tends to play that more withdrawn role rather than being on the front foot constantly. None of that belies my point that opponents are getting acres of space to run at our backline. It's not like this is a novel argument. Lee Dixon was noting it during the match as have numerous other tactics writers in the last two days.