Hopefully Gabi's limping is more show than real. But for a guy who's been dogged by ankle injuries, that was a little scary.
FT 2-0 to the Arsenal. Wish I could say I saw much of that match. But apparently we had 62% possession, 19 shots, 5 on target. Sounds nice. Oh well, onward to Europa.
If that same tackle happened in the 75th min of a 0-0 match, I think it is yellow. No reason to be going in like that in the 90th minute of a 2-0 and getting someone injured. You can argue context shouldn't matter, but I think it does.
Assuming Auba will start Thurs. Elneny probably starts. Did Gabriel earn a chance over Mari? Did Ryan? Who starts at RB? I think yes, no, and likely Chambers.
So, in the past, when a fan runs onto the pitch, the broadcasters famously avoid showing it. But today when 100's of people invade, maraud a stadium and its pitch, NBC can't seem to show enough of them... over and over. Hmm.
i've seen so many other tackles with higher studs that the referee just ignores. totally agree that it needs to be red more often.
my hope is aubameyang up front with any 3 of odegaard/smith-rowe/saka/martinelli behind him. my fear is lacazette up front with aubameyang on the left. i don't mind this combo generally but, with us needing a goal, it feels like it could be vulnerable to emery parking the bus. so many of arteta's best "decisions" have been forced on him so ceballos being suspended and david luiz being hurt could be a boon for us? i feel like we're better off with saka @ LB + xhaka @ CM but i fear you will be right with elneny in the middle and xhaka still at LB. i like pablo mari. still do. i know the shine came off a bit and some people were saying he was good against bad teams. i think it's more of a match up thing. i think he'll still be a good match up against teams that goes through the air a lot. but villareal feels like a better match for gabriel. if he starts ryan over a healthy leno then i'm done with him. do you think holding gets to come back from the cold to replace luiz or do you think chambers did enough today to get the nod there? he provides a better offensive option than holding to partner gabriel in a backline without david luiz.
He’s been a revelation when he’s moved around, instead of just staying on the right flank. Imagine what he could do with proper fullbacks
Agreed. Plus he's really acquired the defensive side to his game that Arteta was complaining about many moon ago. p.s. I'll make a new Villareal thread soon, so that there's a more proper venue for all this good discussion.
Arteta said Lacazette and Tierney are unlikely to play Thursday, so I assume it is Auba up top. I think he's going to start ESR/Odegaard/Saka up front and he will bring Pepe and Martinelli off the bench. Probably be Xhaka at LB and Elneny/Partey in the midfield. If the first leg ended 2-0, I could see playing Saka at LB. But a 1-0 will be sufficient to go through and away goals could be important. I'm sure Arteta sees Xhaka as more likely to keep the clean sheet at LB. Ryan didn't do anything today to unseat Leno. I'd be inclined to go with Bellerin, Chambers and Gabriel to round it out. I think Arteta will go with Chambers and Holding on the right. And I see Gabriel as more likely on the left, but Mari wouldn't shock me.
Given the fact that Xhaka was beaten fairly easily for Villarreal’s first goal if this is Arteta’s thinking, I think he’s delusional.
while i agree with tonerl that pepe has been performing well for us, i can't argue that front 3. that combination has been the best for us. as i said earlier, though, i would really prefer ESR/odegaard/pepe so that saka can fill in at LB and xhaka can go back to CM. i'm really not sure i feel elneny/partey. also, with attackers of any speed/mobility, xhaka out wide just scares me defensely. agree. biggest thing ryan has shown me is i am less scared to rest leno than when our alternative was runar, son of runar. i would also prefer bellerin, chambers, and gabriel as the other 3. but i feel like mari will be his choice and i think it will be a mistake, especially if he sticks with xhaka at LB. having xhaka out there, i think we NEED the mobility that gabriel brings. there was a play in the highlights where the attacker flew by when xhaka stabbed his leg out and missed. we were saved by gabriel's quickness coming out to stop the run (to his credit, xhaka did run back to try to cover the space gabriel vacated). i don't know that pablo mari can do that.
Gabriel is a better defender than Mari and the areas where Mari is perceived to be a better choice than Gabriel don’t hold up statistically. They both win 58% of their aerial duels and while neither has the passing range of David Luiz, Gabriel completes 34% of his long pass attempts compared to 26% for Mari (data from WhoScored.com). Mari is a capable backup and when paired with an athletic center back is good enough to play in big games for Arsenal. Unfortunately, currently, he doesn’t have that luxury. In my mind, in big games the starter at LCB has to be Gabriel.