Because he can do this: 1221895186386690050 is not a valid tweet id And that causes defenders to shit bricks, freezes a press, opens ups space for the overlap or underlap from the fullback or CM. I think Pepe will come good, but we have to be patient. We are struggling in attack.
IIRC, the cameras they use for VAR do not have a high enough frame rate to actually determine where people are when the ball is struck. Even quarter-second increments are not enough to really be able to determine where people are exactly are when the ball is struck. It's a joke.
Today, wasn't that probably due to game state? I've seen Scott Willis and a couple of other stat guys note that we basically went into control mode once we went up two, which could be why the xG was what it was.
I need to rewatch, but I disagree a bit. Yes, a lot of pointless possession is a form of defense, but that’s a bit flattering if you ask me. Zero shots from minute 36 to minute 90 is pretty terrible attack no matter how you slice it. This is the same stuff we were critical of emery for last season.
They are supposed to use the first frame when the ball is still on the foot, you can see that in this game, so if the player is off in that frame he is almost certainly off in the “true” moment when the ball is played. As long as they are consistent I don’t have a problem with it, but seeing them jostle the market around does give me nerves when I’m thinking that is a Spurs fan placing those markers.
Yeah, that's not a great stat, I'll agree. In fairness, Willis was saying game state was maybe one of the reasons why we tailed off significantly as the match went on, not the only reason --- for whatever that's worth.
You keep making this argument, but you’re consistently comparing incompatible situations. The biggest reason Emery got stick for this kind of thing was because his teams were doing it when they were behind.
A lot of this nonsense could be fixed with software, but they have this bizarre fetish that decisions have to be made by a referee. So we end up taking 10 times longer than necessary and potentially losing any advantage to the use of technology anyway.
Okay, but not always. Brighton last season comes to mind. We scored early then did nothing. But that’s not exactly my point. A big criticism of emery was that he was unable to generate shots and consistently higher XG with very good attacking players. Emery was criticized for focusing on defusing the opponents and not “leaning into the attack” or whatever to outscore opponents. So far, arteta doesn’t seem to have created much more in attack than emery. While we look better defensively, I worry that much of that is due to 1) the intensity/concentration boost from players simply working harder for a new manager and 2) some tactical “wrinkles” that opponents haven’t figure out yet. I just worry that opponents armed with more data on our defensive organization under Arteta and a possible fall-off in intensity by the players on the defensive side will see us right back where we were 4 months ago. Hopefully, Arteta will get the attack sorted out before that happens but when I see us go shotless for an hour against one of the worst defenses in the league in the league, I start to worry it won’t happen any time soon.
This is why I’m much more in favor of a challenge system. No coach would have challenged such a close call unless that was his only option late in a game. So to waste the three minutes to check for mm of a player who was only marginally “involved” in the play is ridiculous. Give each coach a challenge, make the match ref go to the sidelines and move on.
I'm steadily coming around on Pepe. I really like what I'm seeing of late. He's a beast to defend since he's so strong on the dribble, and frequently gets double and triple teamed. He is routinely able to receive the ball in midfield and get into the box on the dribble. Ultimately Pepe on the right and Saka (+Martinelli) on the left are arguably the main reasons why we have more good scoring chances of late. We're stretching their defense across the field, and are more able to get into the box from the wing on either side of the pitch.
That’s just not true in the league at least. Pepe is on 0.18 A/90 vs Saka at 0.10. 80% more than saka. I think in a squad which has more than say 7-8 good attacks per game he will create quite a bit of XG. Did you not see that one cross he put in? That shape on his left foot is [drool] . And he dragged 5 Bournemouth players into the middle of the box at one point leaving Bellarin with an acre to run into.
I've been wondering if AI might not do a better job of this. And if the powers that be don't think that these VAR decisions (especially offsides) are taking way, way too long, then we are in deep trouble. Not to mention their stupid directive to have the HR avoid the pitchside screen, which they've only just started to soften on. I still believe in video but the EPL has to do MUCH better than they've done in the first 6 mos.
The way Mustafi's injury happened I feared an Achilles tear. But the (unofficial?) word today is that it's just an average sprain? I'll believe that when I see him back in a week or two. We certainly won't miss his bonehead plays, but coming so closely after Chamber's ACL his loss may actually be our loss. Unless Edu & Raul pull some sort of instantly-ready-to-go CB rabbit out of their hat.
Another thing they could do to help with offside specifically is apply the same standard to it as to other VAR reviews: the idea of ‘clear and obvious’ errors. If it’s so close that it takes more than 15 seconds to decide, then let it go.
I don't see a huge problem with the way VAR is dealing with offside. It's a black and white issue. Bigger problem is the way they're dealing with issues involving the referee's discretion: it's been incredibly inconsistent.
I would agree with you if they would actually use technology to speed it up, but the experience right now is a joke.