I think people are missing the main issue with that goal. We had eleven players behind the ball. The ball is with their keeper. Within two passes, they are in our box. What’s the job of the first defender? Defending 101. Answer that, and you’ll understand why this goal was defended horribly.
I don’t disagree The issue is Zubimendi’s ball had him out of position Martinelli if anything is a guy who is tactically astute off the ball does pick up what’s happening. That ball threw him off. He also made a couple of sprints before that ball. I would argue Zubimendi is positionally responsible too. He didn’t miss but the ball. He booted it to nowhere out of hope, not intention. Also look at where Rice is pointing Zubimendi to be and look where O’Reilly runs through. I think it’s easy to blame Martinelli, and he does share some, but that is largely on Zubimendi. Careless in possession and even lazier covering retreating to his zone. Martinelli shouldn’t have pressed tho
Zubimendi is making errors because he's physically and mentally done. He's never played this many minutes. Players make errors when they're fatigued mentally or physically, or not match fit mentally or physically. This is why the Rice thing and the midfield balance has to be addressed. I've always felt that the midfield balance was off. It's gotten worse this season in big games. The good thing is the big games are few and far between, the bad thing is the mistakes are magnified when the big games happen.
It’s two things Zubimendi has played a lot of minutes. I also don’t think he is a 6. I think he is actually an 8. I would be interested in him playing up a line and having he and Rice alternate between 6 an 8 more than playing a double pivot. I would prefer Zubimendi to play 8 more but Rice can play it. Then move Odegaard/Eze/Nwaneri to the 10.
Anderson is the elite 6 in the country. If we spent another 100m and built the all england midfield with Rice we'd be sorted for 3 years or so Rice is peak now - he may have 3 peak years left and hopefully even longer at a high level
That's part of it, but the other part is the buildup: TransferFlow's podcast has made the point a few times that Arsenal's buildup gets the ball to the wingers while they're standing still, and usually when they're hugging the touchline. It's rare for Saka, Martinelli, or Madueke to get the ball in space while they're running onto the ball (Trossard is an exception because that's how he wants it).
We'll have players make runs every now and then looking for through balls but our passers usually shrug them off for a pass to someone's feet. It's really frustrating. Almost as if the players are being told to do just that.....
That’s Artetaball I keep saying it, we killed Martinelli’s career with that and Saka is broken now because of that. You all saw the stat that Rice and Zubi played one line breaking pass in the second half on Sunday while Rodri and Silva played eight?
Yep, Arteta Ball is based on mitigating risk by passing thru the most risk averse zones. What are those? the sidelines. It is what it is.
I read an article a bit ago that said Arteta was the consummate stats guy. His tactics are all based on probability which makes a ton of sense when you watch how they play.
I get what you are saying about Arteta but we have been playing that for years… That’s a bit melodramatic re saka and Martinelli those two have been unable to beat defenders one v one for a while Our midfield has been a Kia engine
Transfer flow was more positive about our chances We can still determine our own destiny. Neither side has shown they can win out.
Huge assumption that City will drop points, so we need to be setup to win games 4-0 from now until the end of the season.
Agreed! If we can muster the energy and urgency, we should play like we did in 2nd half vs Citeh. But which of our player(s) are going to suddenly convert that many goals??!
Back at it: https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/the-arsenal-v-newcastle-saturday-april-25-2026-1730-gmt.2138519/