Yep. There's no managing or tactics that could overcome the vast difference between the two teams yesterday. In fact, we only scored when they brought on their ex-Arsenal player.
Emery is a mediocre manager who has a talented squad. I see Arteta as a high risk high reward manager: people at the club think very highly of him, and it's pretty clear from watching City games that Guardiola gives him a fair amount of responsibility (with the caveat that I could be wrong here).
Our squad is getting better with the caveat is there are few instinctive partnerships. Liverpool's penalty came from 3 players who knew what each other were going to do. That isn't just ability that is practice and time. Even just getting the ball to Pepe was off, either wrong foot, behind him, on the wrong angle for what he wanted to do. Cebellos standing in the wrong position to get a pass, small things that give players the platform to look great.
Really good points here but I'll take it a step further and point out that beyond Monreal, the next most veteran player in our starting XI yesterday (in terms of years playing for Arsenal) was Xhaka (played 2 full seasons), followed by Auba (played 1.5), Socratis, Leno, Douzi and AMN (played 1), and then Willock and the rest are new signings. Not only did we lack instinctive partnerships, but our entire squad is just plain trying to figure out how to play together at this stage.
I’d say he is a tier below the best but he did well I. Europe with Sevilla and Valencia he’s in his second year, I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt but I still have issues I’m happy that we are playing a 433 but I don’t k ow why ceballos was playing advanced and xhaka over torreira as his legs have never been there
Which is why I for the most part the first focus needs to be a flexible style of play that the team can make their own. Xhaka is the clear man out in the midfield. Everyone else is mobile, he's not a good DM because he obsesses over the ball, and he isn't good on transition because he can only go one direction. He's pretty good if you expect to have a lot of the game infront of him. But I'm not sure if the game is at a place where you can be that dominant and have 3-4 players (the defence) out of the game. The squad is better than a year ago, and I get that you don't get to horse trade on your own terms all the time. But, I'm a little vexxed by some of the players who don't match what I'm seeing strategically.
The best team is surely .........::laca Auba..........Pepe ....ceb...douzi .........torreira Tier..hold...sok...bell ............Leno When fit
Emery went a whole season without winning away from home with Sevilla. We saw the same excessive caution last season which caused us to drop points repeatedly against bad teams (seven shots against Brighton comes to mind).
Offensive configuration will have options but the bottom line is that Arsenal's best lineups will feature a defense with Tierney, Holding, Sokratis, and Bellerin. Preferably with Torreira in front of them.
It's not that Xhaka is fundamentally bad, it's that he's bad at the things he needs to be good at to mesh with all the other moves we have made. He's very good at the things he is good at. But I don't know if the team can handle two rash defenders in the team at once. Dropping Xhaka lets us play a third mobile midfielder, but would require buying one because I don't think we have the numbers in midfield to play the number of games we need to.
For someone in his position, he has way too many limitations, which is what I was always saying. We wouldn’t be able to accommodate Pirlo correctly either, we don’t have the squad for such a specialized player.
I thought he could work out in a balanced midfield but I think the arrival of LT showed this not to be the case. He is half a player. Great passing range means he could play 8 or 6 But lack of mobility rules out 8 and he lacks the "carrick" type defensive sense to play 6 So best just to upgrade with a player who doesn't have so many drawbacks
Even his “great passing” is ehhh sometimes. He forces it vertically too quickly often, his teammate will have a marker on his back already and is unable to do anything but check the ball back to him. He might look great on City’s squad but we can’t make up for his deficiencies here. We missed out on Bennacer for 13-16m, whatever the fee was, and now he’s just going to die at Milan. Double bummer.
I think Michael Carrick is one of the most underrated players of all time. I'd take him of Makalele for a DM
Yeah - he was very decent - he could even play passably as centre half. That's the issue with Xhaka. He can't hold midfield. But can't play 8 IMO we spent too many years on bits and pieces midfielders who had some strong suits but no completely game. So glad to see the back of Wilshere, Ramsey, Ox, etc
It's very difficult to be world-class complementary midfielder. There are not a lot of players who always make the other guy better.
Yes. In fairness Wenger messed this up many years before when he decided not to sign Alonso. Exactly the once in a generation player who would have bought game control, passing range and positional discipline. Yes you need someone to hold his hand, but Alonso can actually play 6
This, exactly. Speaking only for myself, I was excited about his arrival and certainly was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for the first two seasons as he integrated into the Prem and maybe didn't always have complementary players around him. But the league is just too fast and physical, and he's just not mobile enough to do what really need him to do.
He has a good range of passing and shot but is immobile Modern day football requires at least 2 super mobile cms He would be ok in Italy or a deeper side that uses long balls
You could paste "Luiz" into your quote above. Maybe others on our team too. If only we could get away from signing players like this. I wonder if we achieve UCL money at the end of this season if that would enable us to do better in this regard? I would surely hope so!
Xhaka doesn’t fit in the premier league. He is a really good player but his one footedness and lack of mobility hurts. The issue is no one on our team has that passing range, or are proven. Ceballos was effing dead very early in the match and that’s concerning.