It should have been pointed out earlier that Ben White's weak backpass put Ramsdale in the situation to have to come out on that PK decision. On replay, Ramsdale played it perfectly, but any blame would have to go to White
Arsene Wenger's style was so freewheeling and loose. It had it's drawbacks, but it was fun. Arteta's team feels SO micromanaged. There's little room to wiggle.
Defensively, we've been pretty good and with more game time, that back 4 should get even better. Attacking wise, we look as poor as ever. We don't look good when we have to buildup from the back. We don't look good when they're all back defending in an organized manner. And we don't look good when they chase the game, opening themselves up for counter-attacks. This is concerning.
In a lot of ways, this feels like what happened when Arteta took over as manager: we had a leaky defense, and inconsistent/erratic offense. Since we gave up 9 goals in our first 3 league matches, and scored none, it would make sense to shore up the defense first. With two consecutive clean sheets, and a defensive nous that seems to have long-term consistency, my hope is that Arteta can now start to address problems in the attack now.
So this defensive lineup has 2 games under their belt with Ramsdale in goal. Should Arteta play them together vs. Wimbledon mid week, or give the game to Leno and rest some players before the NLD?
Definitely rest them mid-week. We want our best starting XI as fresh as possible, and our fringe players do need game time to remain sharp and be given a fair change to compete for spots.
Oh I feel the opposite, like every missed pass means a player is useless and the club is going to be relegated. Whole lot of Chicken Littles populating that sub.
He was actually good defensively for the most part. But his passing, normally his strong point, was pretty poor all day.
He was ok, I'll give him a pass (groan). He'll have better days. Gabriel though to me has always looked like a premier cb. This performance was right in line with that. As for the rest, blahhhh. When I see Saka and ESR both having such poor games, can't help to think the system or instructions they were given were just holding them back. It's not normal for them both to look so static. I liked the lineup picked but damm, as a unit we have yet to look like we have a plan.
when he was being discussed, the big differences from leno that kept being brought up were his comfort with the ball/distribution (basing it on bournemouth and not sheffield united) and ramsdale being more aggressive coming out on crosses.
Can’t help but see mustafi in Ben White. Mobile and good aerially. Mustafi, on his day, is a solid defender…just too much mental lapse that cost us too many matches. Hopefully ben white is a less error prone player.
Saka needs an extended break (which I know he won't get unless he's injured). He has around 7,000 minutes played since he turned 18. That's an insane workload for someone his age. Between the extended Covid season and the Euros, he hasn't had any serious time off in 15 months.
It looks like Ramsdale also has a big personality. It’s nice to have that in a goalkeeper. You may have to go back to Mad Jens to find a bigger goalkeeping personality at Arsenal. The other new player that has impressed me is Tomiyasu. When he was 1 v 1 with an attacker I’m not sure they got a cross off today.
Takehiro Tomiyasu for Arsenal against Burnley:◉ 100% aerial duels won◉ 100% duels won◉ 79 touches (most)◉ 5 total duels◉ 5 recoveries◉ 5 clearances◉ 4 aerial duels◉ 1 interception◉ 1 tackleMikel Arteta and Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang were impressed. pic.twitter.com/bPq0lYEfIG— Squawka (@Squawka) September 18, 2021
Szczesny was definitely a big personality, though he may have been slightly greener than Ramsdale when he became our #1. He also wasn't English, which I think is a big part of why Ramsdale is being anointed so quickly. As far as Tomiyasu goes, I'm a fan. Not sure yet about the offensive side, but that dude looks like he'd rather die than be beaten on the defensive end.