Honestly I don't see how a whole bunch of games don't get cancelled, maybe as soon as this weekend. This thing is so far beyond the capacity of healthcare systems to handle that you almost want a worldwide curfew so it burns itself out.
I rewatched the game and what I consistently saw was the two of them switching roles e.g Ozil going wide to receive the ball in the middle third, while Pepe occupies the half space in attacking third or interplay interplay between the two in the attacking third. The same thing happens on the left, though not as often. The fact that Pepe is almost always in the half space when Ozil receives the ball wide suggests Ozil is not off the reservation. If players don’t switch roles during the course of a game, the offense becomes very predictable. With respect to holding the ball to long and delaying passes I don’t see it. It sounds like confirmation bias.
I don’t really, either. What I’ve seen is him receiving the ball, looking for angles to play a pass, and nobody moving to create the lanes. So he ducks under, moves to create a lane himself, and switches to Xhaka or Saka (usually in space, so still a positive contribution). There just seems to be something sadly incompatible between these attacking players. It’s not really any of the players’ fault, or Arteta’s, it goes back to the lack of a coherent recruitment strategy.
Good catch Mebe to recall that this MD thread already existed. I had long forgotten it. Seems very strange to be resuming what we all used to do so regularly. My expectations are quite low frankly, on all fronts. So with any luck, most of them will be greatly exceeded. As for Ornstein's comments about our fitness, I happened to just be listening to him say that very thing on the Handbrake Off podcast (perhaps the source?) and my reaction was that he wasn't providing much specific knowledge or insight. But then again it's the Ornacle we're talking about here.
Sigh... So what’s the consensus? Should I start a new thread at some point in the next two weeks or should we roll with this one? @yossarian can update the title if we vote to canonize this thread (?)
I'd say keep this thread (it's a somewhat interesting record of what happened in March 2020 that shutdown the EPL and the world) but change the title to reflect the date change.
Of the many many interesting variables people are speculating on is whether Arteta sticks with 4-2-3-1 for the remainder of this season, given the personnel we have. I for one think that's likely.
Remainder of this season and likely a good bit of next. Assuming he wants to move to the Pep 4-3-3 or some variation, I think it will be next summer before we have any chance of fully rebuilding the MF in that mold.
Ugh. I am NOT looking forward to that. Maybe it won't be as bad a canned laughter in sitcoms, but it's of the same ilk.
Read on another board that we played a warm-up match against Charlton and had goals from Laca, PEA, Willock & Nketiah (hattrick).
Found highlights on arsenal.com Based on what I saw, I think the did full lineup changes (likely at half). Starting lineup was... ------------------- Laca ------------------- PEA ----------------------------- Nelson -------------------- Ozil --------------------- ------- Duezy ------------- AMN -------- Tierney - Luiz - Mustafi - Bellerin ------------------- Leno --------------------- 2nd lineup.... ------------------- Eddie ------------------- Gabby ----------------------------- Pepe ------------------ Willock ------------------ ------- Xhaka ------------- Dani --------- Kola -- Mari -- Holding -- Sokratis ------------------- ???? ---------------------
Thanks for that. I really enjoyed watching it. Probably the first time I've watched contemporaneous footy for nearly 3 months. I see why you put ???? for our second half goalie, because they apparently had no attacks in that half to show our keeper, or at least Arsenal.com didn't included any highlights of that. One notable missing player was Saka... what's up with him. I know they're trying to re-do his contract, but I'm wondering if there's any fitness issue. p.s. A week ago I basically wasn't posting anything on these boards, largely because of what was going on in our country. It felt it kinda stupid & trivial to write about footy. But I'm happy to report that I'm feeling a bit differently now. I've seen real positive signs of change. Including a few hours ago when I participated in a totally peaceful march which shutdown I-95 in both directions for 30 mins or so. At the end of it, the local police chief took a knee with all the protesters. We can only hope...
Saka could have played. I just didn't see him in the highlights. Yes ???? For 2nd goalie is because I never saw him in highlights. I presume it was Martinez.
Also, very encouraging to see AMN playing in MF. Hopefully that means that he and Arteta have made up. If we could find a good young #6 (academy or otherwise), I could see 2 of AMN, Duezy, ESR & Willock running together in an effective 4-3-3 press MF.
Going to need a lot of depth with the compressed schedule. AMN playing in MF isn't that interesting by itself with Torreira recovering, but it could be meaningful that he started. If Cedric is still hurt or if he is not better than Sokratis at RB, that is worrying.
Maybe Arsenal will catch Citeh napping after the lay-off, they are t really fighting for anything. Wishful thinking probably.