He's 23, played 40 games in Serie A, and started all of Poland's games at the World Cup. He needs to be better, a loan's not gonna do much. Martinelli showing why he's not a CF. ********.
As a frequent Gabriel critic, our play out of the back is unrecognizable with him out. Making a note to myself to appreciate that this weekend. Edit: or right now.
5-3-2 now? Edit: forget that google didn’t seem to know ESR came in for Reiss. Norma service resumed.
Same formation, but Vieira seems to have moved up to CF, Martinelli moved out wide, Tomyasu at LB, ESR advanced CM.
Tbh I don’t think much of ESR’s passing. Maybe he can make up for it with his off-ball movement but idk
I'm not watching, appreciate the updates. 2-2 results isn't terrible, home leg should be winnable next week, maybe get a few players back. Is LCB the most demanding position in the Arsenal XI? Particularly next to Zinchenko, which leaves that area very exposed? Maybe we don't appreciate Gabriel enough. Not sure how to ease Kiwior into the side, there isn't an easy opponent the rest of the way and Arteta isn't going to a back 3.
Gabriel will start every league game he's healthy for, but we do still have Palace, Leeds, Southampton, and Wolves at home. Plus (probably) at least 3 more Europa League games. I think there are openings for him to at least come off the bench.
For some context most places are giving Sporting and Arsenal each an xG of 2.0, so in that sense, a draw was a fair result. I've only seen xGOT from one place and it had Lisbon's shots at 3.2xG so in theory Turner saved 1.2 xG
In the second half Sporting were laser focused on Zinchenko side of the defense, thus the Tomiyasu substitution, which almost immediately shut down their attacks on the left side of the defense, before the subsequent substitutions of Gabriel and Partey slammed the door. I’m not sure Arsenal can allow Zinchenko the freedom he enjoys without Gabriel and Partey in the team.
That Sporting total counts both the initial shot and rebound on Sporting's 2nd, which were 1.66 xGOT combined. Obviously you can't score 2 goals on the same attack, so for practical purposes, that should be capped at 1. Still roughly 2.6 xGOT for them accounting for that. I'm surprised our xG was that high, considering Martinelli's breakaway counted as 0.
But Kiwior hasn’t played a first team game in the two and a half months since the World Cup, he was always going to be a little rusty. By way of comparison, Tomiyasu had been been out for a while before starting vs Bournemouth, where he looked off the pace, but when he came on for Zinchenko today, he hardly put a foot wrong. I’m not going to draw any conclusions about Kiwior based on just this game.