i've been meaning to ask about this. i've noticed cedric being one of the primary free kick takers for the last while . . . why? i have never heard of him being a set piece specialist and i have literally seen nothing to suggests he is actually particularly good at it.
y'know, i thought he was garbage when he came on to help hold down a lead (i think against wolves?) after being above average the game before. at the time, i thought it might have been from just having a newborn but andrew mangan brought up an interesting point about him: he might just be someone who is good when we are chasing a goal but terrible when we need to kill the game.
FT ARS 2-1 LEE Not much to say. We did what we needed to but it was a bare minimum, seat of the pants performance. We can only pray we bring more to the Lane than we did today. Credit to Marsch & his boys. They coulda easily folded and instead were really close to getting a result. Onward!
His 2 assists in 49 league games for us don't do it for you? Dude can't strike a ball for shit. For all of the crossing he does, he doesn't even have an assist this season. I think he may have scored from a free kick once.
Strange as it seems but I remember we won quite a few games with 10 men at times under Wenger. Wonder if mentally it does something, against 11 we worked hard and constantly looked for a goal. Once they went to 10 we seemed content to move the ball around and only Martinelli was really going for the kill. Had we gone 3-0 up before they went to 10 men it would have been fine but 2-0 is "the most dangerous scoreline" according to my coach and tonights match showed that. Foot off the gas and all that. Either way, end of the season no one will care about this match, we got the 3 points heading into a derby.
Its funny because at local leagues I play in everyone is goal hungry, when teams go down a man the team with the extra number usually piles on a good 5 goals or so. Played a game last month where we were down 3-0 in 15 minutes, they lost a player to a straight red and we ended up winning 8-3
We did, it has to do with knowing how to use space properly. The invincibles were spacing monsters well before the term hit mainstream.
i have seen the occasional decent crosses so . . . he's at least a better crosser than, say, sagna was. i can accept that we don't really have a target for them so the low production can be off that. but i honestly cannot recall a threatening free kick from him. like, not all of, say, odegaard's are great but there have been threatening ones or at least ones that are close. not so much from cedric.
He also has mistakes in his game, not as many as Tavares, but more than I’m comfortable with. He was dispossessed rather easily at least twice today creating dangerous counterattacks. I understand putting Tomiyasu on Rafinia, but I actually prefer Tavares to Cedric because at least Tavares has the excuse that he lacks experience.
The late one where he turned his back to his defender was so obviously going to be a turnover that I walked away from the TV to refill my coffee before he gave it away.
This match was unfortunately a good example of why Arteta probably finds Pepe frustrating. He clogged passing lanes with his movement rather than opening them. Another dumb offside (reminiscent of Brighton) to lose possession even though the entire line was in plain view for him. Took too many touches when he had a chance for a 60 yard lob --- yeah it would have been tough, but still. So talented when he's in or around the penalty area but frustrating in build up or holding the ball.
I'll take this win. Chelsea lost and Spurs drew. But very unconvincing. Eddie keeps scoring. Sad he's leaving.
We definitely missed an opportunity to pad the GD. But hey, here we are. With all the crazy ups and downs we're still in a really good position. It's all about the derby now.