Gentlemen, I'm gonna have to make this short and sweet. Travelling for work this week. Everyone saw what happened at Watford. Thursday is a new competition and a new opportunity.
I may be playing golf during this one. Usually that would cause me a little angst. But after yesterday's performance, I'm not too bothered. However I will definitely DVR it. And for the record, my guide says: Thurs 19 Sept 12:55pm ET on Unimas TV (also streaming there plus B/R Live I expect)
Annoyed that Auba is starting, but excited to see the attacking midfield 3, and morbidly curious about that CB pairing.
My takeaways: Willock and Saka were very good. Arsenal avoided mistakes playing out of the back, because Martinez, who was also pretty good, was having none of it. In spite of the fact Arsenal eliminated those mistakes they still gave up 24 shots to a gang that couldn't shoot straight. They cannot continue on this path and hope to accomplish any of their goals this year.
OMG: xG map for Frankfurt - Arsenalthis was an exceptionally fun match and Arsenal played really well with no game control pic.twitter.com/aNEdzsQVoU— Caley Graphics (@Caley_graphics) September 19, 2019
we could have had a couple more goals had PEA finished his sitter and Saka/Willock made a couple better decisions/passes on the break. That said, Frankfurt could have easily had 3-4 goals had they been able to keep their shots low.
Well, if the first 20 mins are anything to go by (thats how far I am into the DVR), then its obvious. Xhaka is our deepest mid, Torreira is all over the place, making runs into the box. Willock and Torreira are on the same line, so Xhaka is playing holding mid by himself. Either Emery told them its Europa, do whatever you want or he’s seriously flawed. I’m going with the second choice. Its 25 mins now and Frankfurt have had at least 3 solid chances on goal. Minute 27, Willock bad pass in center circle, turnover, Kola was on same line as Willock waiting for pass....so there’s no one behind except Xhaka, defending 2vs1, we give up another shot, another corner. This isn’t even fair on Xhaka. I’m getting so mad watching this game and I already know we won 3-0.
I just got to watching the match. You took the words right out of my mouth! But here's some added... We looked generally nervous under pressure, especially in 1T, and opponents know/exploit that. Martinez was very solid... luckily they never forced him to make any truly tough saves. Willock is great at running in a near-straight line through defenses. Seeing a pattern here. Timmie Chandler sighting! Auba had a bit of an off game I thought, so although I understand why he was very selfish on getting his goal, I REALLY wish he'd dished it to Pepe, so as to give him an almost certain goal and the confidence that goes along with that. Great to get an away win, but man we really need to dominate more and close out games earlier. Saka did that at 85'... after Emi started it out with some Route One stuff. Roll on @ArsenalJake ... hopefully next time you'll get more than 14 replies