Sorry, I don't buy this. If they're good enough to start and play in the PL/CL, they're good enough to play the final 10-15 mins of this game.
I think Raya is a good keeper and one game doesn’t change much but he’s really not a top 5 keeper and I wish we had one
I didn't like the sub, taking off a 10 for a CB was too negative. Could have been a like for like (Hincapie for Calafiori) or less negative (Norgaard for Eze). Throw on a kid in attack and drop Merino deeper. Conceded too much possession to an opponent that hadn't created much prior.
I don't think subbing Norgaard for Eze would've resulted in us playing higher up---not based on what we've seen from Norgaard thus far. And our only sprinter into space to possibly stretch them late on the bench was not quite 16 years old. Tough decisions for Arteta to make. Without more attacking firepower, we just ended up on the wrong side of the variance.
Yeah. I pretty much never like those kind of subs. Maybe I'd take my chances with that approach if we'd had a 2-goal lead, but not for a slim 1-goal lead and a full 10 mins to play. But hindsight is 20/20 and sometimes revisionist. Like how when that sub was made I noted its defensiveness but I didn't actually complain about it at the time. So I guess in my gut I was somewhat OK with Mikel's choice, given how good we've been defensively for months. p.s. I think the substitution was probably less of a factor than the decision to just sit back and let them have the ball in our half. That's really the thing that I really don't like, regardless of how many "defenders" vs "forwards" you have on the pitch.
This is a wild take. Even if there are five better keepers in Europe the gain with one of them is miniscule.
Also He prolly made one mistake today that you can also blame Gabi for. A lot of our fans really underestimate that we are in an injury crisis. I think Arteta made a mistake with not bringing in a sub, but my idea woulda been an outlet to play balls to from deep. The only option today was a 17 year old who woulda been making his PL debut. We are about to take off after the international break since nearly everyone who is out will be back.
I didn’t love the lack of subs, either, to be fair. But the options are extremely limited and that is a factor. I think my bigger issue is the shape we went to with that sub. Rather than 3-4-3 (or 5-2-2-1) I’d have preferred to see Merino drop into a midfield 3 with Saka and Trossard playing as strikers within the width of the penalty box in a 3-5-2. They had a lot of time on the ball in the center of the pitch on the edge of our third the way we played it.
I'm annoyed because we got beat by second balls and set pieces today. Very ********ing annoying. Onward and Upward
So we have a 2-week Interlull break. Depending on whether anyone picks up a knock away on Int'l duty, that's either a significant plus (giving people like Ode, Kai, Victor, Noni & Jesus more valuable time to get fit) or a dual-edge sword. Cross fingers for the former. p.s. One player who has become an absolutely vital part of our starting XI is Trossard. You might even say that today's "point earned" is due to him. LW is clearly his position to lose now. So he represents one of the fingers I'll keep crossed.
Yeah, just to add to my earlier comment. I'm not disagreeing with the sentiment of wanting a couple of subs made even before we did. I'm just not going to kill Arteta for it because with what he had at his disposal, anything was going to be a bit of a gamble. The only ball possessor/progressor on the bench was Ethan.
Agreed. And it's worth remembering Rice and Saliba weren't great for the first goal. So I think it's unnecessary and unwarranted to blame Raya and Gabby for dropping points. Shit/football happens.
Norgaard for Eze wouldn't even change the formation, still a 3 man midfield. I generally agree with @Tonerl the change in formation was the problem. 3 CBs just invites the opponent to throw another attacker into the box, Sunderland had nothing to lose.
Too many people to respond to but y’all are the crazy ones for thinking Raya has been even a top 3 GK for us in the past 3 seasons. Based on what? Clean sheets that are mostly a function of a good defense? I said he’s a good keeper. And he’s great with his feet. But as a shot stopper he’s not elite
Are there better goalkeepers on planet Earth? Sure. But allow me to introduce you to the last 20+ years of Arsenal goalkeepers: Lehmann 2003-2008, 2011 Almunia 2004-2012 Mannone 2006-2013 Fabianski 2007-2014 Szczesny 2009-2017 Martinez 2012-2020 Ospina 2014-2019 Cech 2015-2019 Leno 2018-2022 Ramsdale 2021-2024 Raya 2023- That's 11 goalkeepers in 22+ seasons Lehmann certainly had his time, a long time ago. Beyond him, who in the last 20 years made you feel more confident about Arsenal's goalkeeping situation week in week out than Raya? I'll wait . . .
Shot stopping basically doesn’t matter. Check the variability over seasons for who is ‘good’. More broadly, we don’t have a lot of quality data on what even makes a good goalkeeper. Center halves are also incredibly difficult to quantify, but we can see the impact of Saliba and Gabriel and Raya in how difficult it is to create great chances against us. I’d rather that than shot stopping.
All I know is defense that had bozo moments ended when Raya entered the fray. The defense is very calm now. I just think today was tiredness.