I said in a text thread this morning that we always seem to come up short when our title rivals drop points first. It really seems like there’s a mental block with this team, that spans the entire Arteta era, when they have a chance to drop the hammer.
I don’t know we have won games with gyokeres in spite of his inability to be any type of a link in offense I don’t understand arteta stubbornness to play him over and over again Eze should have come in earlier We would have Bettter off with merino up top As for timber playing midfield - I just don’t get it
Don't think it was a personnel issue. Setting up our LB to play like OZ with no other tactical adjustments left our LW isolated all game and forced us to attack down the right almost exclusively. That level of predictability combined with our normal slow buildup made the game too easy on Forrest's defense.
Fatigue? Arrogance? Looking ahead? Arteta wanted the win far more than the players. The lack of a sense of urgency was frustrating.
With one notable exception, Eze has been marginally more useful this season than Sterling was last. I don’t see how he changes the outcome or even the tenor of this match at all.
And yet Martinelli generated 0.52 xG in the first half. Taking him off at halftime for Trossard was an odd call.
Nah, that's not fair. Great assist to Martinelli against City. Great goal for the winner against his old club. Two assists so far in the CL. Then the "notable exception" I guess, to which you're referring. Obviously, he's been nowhere near what we expected. But the Sterling comparison is harsh.
Mikel’s tunnel comments sounded like he blamed lack of clinicality. He called out four players with big chances who failed to convert. He also said it’s extremely baffling why we didn’t get a handball penalty awarded to us. And I have to say I agree with him on both points.
We did miss some gilded edged chances but the energy overall was poor. The side thought it could turn up at anytime but too little too late. Arteta taking Martinelli off at tge hakf which I interpret as pubishment tells me all I needed to know. We should have pretty much sealed the title. 9 points clear was too much of a gift to pass up. We might still get it if Spurs take points from them but from what I saw of us and Man Utd's energy I am not so sure of a win.
There is very very little evidence of Mikel taking someone off as punishment. His guiding principal in subs (as it is or should be for everyone) is improving performance and secondarily managing player minutes. He felt Leo would improve us, plus Martinelli was starting 2 games in 3 days.
I'm an idiot and scheduled my car to be serviced at the same time as the match, so just now finished it. Eze has been more serviceable than Sterling, but that says more about how truly awful Sterling was last season. I wouldn't even slander Gyokeres as the new Sterling. That said, both Eze and Gyokeres have been ass this season and when you factor in the fees vs loan, they are both far worse transfer mistakes.
Eze's been mostly fine on the ball: his performance isn't significantly worse than how he played at Palace. Looking at data for today's game, we actually created a decent number of chances, especially in the second half (most of which I missed). Just didn't finish. The result's not great, but the performance shouldn't be cause for concern.
No need for Rice and Zubi today, would have been better with Eze\Ode with Rice in behind. Martinelli at LW in the EPL is a big problem. Wild his inaccuracy in the league vs cups. Timber at LB is not working. Either back in MLS or buy a LB this window. Rice was right to be frustrated at the end there our competition keep throwing us a bone and we keep finding a way to shit the bed. Arteta needs to retool the attack. Been an issue since last season and now this season with how slow the build up is, very nice xG stats but realistically we end up taking so long to build up. Also that handball was a clear penalty and it's laughable how bad VAR is. Unnatural position to prevent a corner. Clear cut every day. If Saliba did that we would be saying how stupid it was. Pros are we didn't lose, but at some point teams like City are going to stop gifting us these chances to make a buffer. Also Jesus at CF ain't it, and hasn't been for a long time. Needs to be Gyokeres for Havertz especially if we are resorting to long balls and high crosses.
I'd agree that Marti was better than Leo, but that's a low bar. Leo seemed basically inconsequential. The only winger who really was effective in any way was Saka. Noni's contribution was just barely better than Leo's, and perhaps just because he had more minutes.
In 23 non-Tottenham games he has 2 goals and 3 assists. In 28 games, Sterling had 1 goal and 5 assists. He doesn’t contribute in the build-up, he doesn’t get on the scoresheet. He didn’t even look good against Portsmouth. What’s he adding? There’s a reason Arteta has given him basically no time since he loafed around for a half against Villa. I mean to be harsh, that’s why I’m comparing him to Sterling’s useless ass. At least one of those two didn’t cost £60 million.
I am still angry about the game and will always be. We have had some pivotal games during the season so far where we stepped up. Those earlier games was about maintaining contact with then leaders Liverpool after losing. Then it was wins that kept us from not being caught after getting the lead in the table. This was about pretty much sewing up the league. Yes, its only January but a 9 point lead over City would have been essentially their death knell. No disrespect to Villa who would still be only 6 points behind had we both won. Villa aren't going to match us or City result for result the rest of the campaign in all probability. I expect Villa to win but not hearing many pundits making much of out of them being 4 points behind if they win. We have another opportunity with City's game at Spurs, usually a tough game for them and us home vs Man Utd usually a win for us the last couple years. We better not blow that. Making it 9 points will also help us rotate for the other competitions.
Agreed. it’s worth remembering we are on target for 86 points. So not quite a ruthless points machine like other contenders in recent years but will pretty good. it might be that the quality of the league is overall high so you aren’t going to see 90+ without an ATG goal scorer.