So I missed the second half because I got roped into interviewing law students and got a message from Llama suggesting we lost. I accidentally went into a mirror universe, didn't I?
Here's Mikel's post-match presser. Direct and honest as usual, which is greatly appreciated. But he might've taken a little more personal responsibility me thinks. He pinpointed the boys failure on defending set pieces, and not being clinical enough with the chances we created.
Well, we know we are not good, and we played a lot of games in short space of time We so need a quality 8
Counterpoint: two-legged xG map for Arsenal - Olympiakosfootball is a good sport that people like for good reasons pic.twitter.com/3IFUHKqvUC— Caley Graphics (@Caley_graphics) February 28, 2020 This was not the game to get mad about.
Yeah - i am not mad But we didn't play good football last night, at home, against weak opposition Top 10 is really our level
Caley's theory is that managers only matter at the margins - the players themselves are much more important. And our midfield sucks.
Yes, in that a manager delivering the par performance from an elite group of players - will deliver to a very high level. Increasingly my view is that the manager is only one part of an elite performance culture. The culture, the squad etc etc all have to fit together, So Arteta is helping us to modernise. This IP was missing and you see it on the field now. But the squad still has enormous issues. Like we don't have any elite, peak age CMs
That's a shit theory. You need good players to win for sure, but a shit manager will fVk up the best team, given enough time. Would Emery run away with the league with this Liverpool team? As far as the game I do agree the midfield needs better quality, but last night better use of what we have would have made a difference. Ceballos was deployed too timidly - playing not to lose, in the Torreira role, if you will. Why not just play Torreira if you want that? We needed better link up with front line from that position. We also nee better quality in Xhaka's position. And Laca was abysmal. Also we're not getting shit from our right back. When the greeks shut down the left side, that was really it.
Yeah, it seems like Arteta's exposure to what appears to be a well-oiled machine at Manchester City seems like a pretty valuable opportunity. Hopefully we aren't run by idiots. Also: Liverpool are linked with Timo Werner. If that happens, I give up.
I don't think Caley would disagree But he is saying there is limits to what the managerial effect can do by itself We might have to face up to the alternative theory of liverpool They were developing an elite culture, and Klopp was merely one of their great hires He isn't making mediocre players great - they are elite players within the overall strategy
He has got the right players in the right spot in the right system. Milner, Henderson? Who would have thunk these were elite players just a few years ago?
I guess this supports Arteta's pointing to lack of clinical finishing as one of 2 big problems we showed. I guess this also supports the idea that the conclusions one can draw from any given game's xG map are pretty limited. Or at least that they're not particularly tied to the result of any given game.
Best thing I heard today about last night was... Amy Lawrence saying that there was one silver lining... no Sweet Caroline. YES!!!
Xhaka played a full 90/120 in 4 matches over 12 days. Is it because he is incredibly fit or because he doesn't run very much? Or because Arteta doesn't trust the alternatives? The perception of Xhaka seems to be as long as he doesn't f-up, he did okay. And under Arteta he's generally been steady. But when was the last time he really bossed the midfield? Is that something he is even capable of doing?
I think there's too many players that start frequently that have the perception of "As long he doesn't ******** up, he does okay" Kola, Luiz, Mustafi, Sokratis, Xhaka, Ozil, Pepe, Laca,
to be fair . . . . . . . if you told me (and, i reckon, many other people) that you could get a "he didn't **** up" game from luiz and mustafi, you'd have a good number of pleased reactions.
Still shocked and sickened by that loss. Just when they get my Hope's up they crush it. That's such an Arsenal thing to do. The defending was scandalous to say the least. Blame is on Luiz but also on Sokartis for the goals. Don't blame Auba for missing the sitter shouldn't have even be in that position. We were clearly not going to win Europa but its disspointing that by late Feburary we have nothing to play for. We will most likely go 9th-10th in the league. This summer without CL or EL is going to suck lol