I struggle with this because you’re right, Arteta doesn’t deserve as much blame in our losses as he gets. However, it doesn’t feel like his decisions in this match were vastly different from previous matches, tactically or philosophically. Conversely, when we play like shit and lose it mainly isn’t because he sets us up differently. To me, it feels more related to how our players are attempting to interpret his instructions given the context of the matches they’re in. So far this interpretation has been wildly inconsistent. But, incidentally, if players aren’t able to transmit the instructions of their manager into the playstyle of the team, the manager is still significantly responsible for that!
Really strong performance all around. Saka was the best player on the pitch; I actually felt bad for Masuaku getting beaten like a drum. Martinelli, also. His pace is legit. There are so many times where he doesn’t look favorite but just surges past his opponents; the throughball for his goal was a great example. The number of balls he wins in midfield coming behind a player or getting to a second ball is fantastic. I’ve been a little circumspect about him because I still think he isn’t technically as good as he’s made out to be, and he needs to learn a lot about discipline, but if he plays like this who cares? He must be terrifying to play against.
Watched on DVR - too busy at work right now which is really annoying. Fun match - Martinelli was fantastic, Saka was brilliant and so close to producing end product, ESR bouncing back and scoring off the bench was great. I realized at the end of the match I barely noticed White, which is probably a good sign for a CB. Only negative is Xhaka still being rusty. Does Arteta keep playing him to let him play thru the rust? Because I'd rather see what Sambi can do with another chance. Let's do this again.
i mean, for the first yellow, his arm did make contact with tierney's face. i get how the possible lack of force could be debated. i don't see how the second is debatable, though the commentator on NBCsports agreed with you. dude came in with his stud shin-high on lacazette.
(at least on the NBCsports highlights) dude kept going on and on about how it was harsh and there wasn't much in it. how much "in it" do you want with studs being shin high?
Yes Saka’s was a much clearer non-pen. Laca’s more debatable IMO, i.e. Coufal got some ball but also shin to shin contact on follow-through. When I wrote my first post about laca’s it was in realtime without a replay or maybe just one, so I didn’t see all the nuance.
Think it was Dawson on Laca that you were talking about in the post @yossarian references. Both Coufal and Dawson are pens, for me.
There is zero intention to play the man. He actually gets a bit of the ball, but he absolutely clatters Laca. It is kind of harsh, but it's also pretty sloppy on his part to tackle so inacurately. You have to give it. If it was against us I would be frustrated mostly with our defender for essentially missing the ball.
I slight Arteta when he gets it wrong, so I will cup the balls today since he got it right. I thought, with the exception of Xhaka, that Arteta got just about everything spot on today regarding both line up, and clearly he instructed Saka to go hard at Masuaku when he had the ball. He doesn't go that hard and I feel like he was told today every time he got the ball exploit him. That screams opposition scouting. Also feel his message is getting through about not sitting off when we get a goal. We did against United and Everton, and paid badly. I didn't see the Soton match, but when we went a goal up I expected us to back off instead the message got through and we were absolutely on top and should have won by 4 goals. The only knocks on Arteta, which are a common theme, was he took too long to sub Laca, who was gassed by 75th but stayed on til the 88th, he left Martinelli on after that stupid yellow and he made a few risky challenges before coming off injured. I don't know why Nketiah gets game time. He doesn't add much, and are they expecting him to change his mind about signing on? He won't ever fit this system, or be good enough if we want to be a regular top 4 team. However that ESR sub was a winner. What we lost having Odegaard off, we gained having ESR and Saka and Martinelli terrorising the back 4 of WHU. That was a great substitution. Overall I'd give Arteta an 8/10 for today. Non Arteta related our worst midfielder by far is still Xhaka, constantly caught on the ball. How can you be in the league for 6 years and STILL not be accustomed to the pace of games? Their best chance came after he got the ball, saw Martinelli run into space while he was on his preferred left side, waiting the amount of time it took the titanic to sink before getting stripped of the ball, leaving us short at the back and WHU got a corner out of a bad effort. Once we upgrade Xhaka, and maybe another mid so we don't have to struggle through Parteys form slump, this team will cement top 4 and challenge top 3. You can see the outline of an elite team. Ramsdale, Saka, ESR, Martinelli, Tierney, Tomi, Odegaard, all guys that in 2 years time will be dominant. But we need to improve in CM and ST to compliment them.
Yeah, @Tonerl is correct, I was talking about the Dawson incident in the first half. I thought that was more of an ironclad (pun intended) penalty than even the Coufal tackle.
Arteta does seem to have a good habit to get the entire squad to play the way he wants them to play at a time when he really needs them to do so. This match is a perfect example of that, and it seems to show that he still has most of the control of the dressing room. Now, if he can just get them to consistently play at this type of high level (starting with better results away from Emirates), then this squad will really start to convince the doubters and skeptics.
Actually it was Coufal's not Dawson's I was talking about, and interestingly Wrighty's take (it's a soft penalty) is closest to mine (it's debatable) , compared to Shearer's (it's never ever a pen)
I seem to remember a certain coming together of studs and shin pads that was awarded a red card and a penalty...
Not to belabor the point, but to belabor the point..... No. It wasn't. The post I quote in my response to you was from 3:29pm --- well before the second half even starts. So you had to be talking about the Dawson incident in the first half. And players are the pretty much the worst to opine on ref decisions. Half of them don't even seem to know the LOTG.
To be fair, the professional referee on the panel agrees. I did not think that it was a pen either, but who cares? It was called, and life is not fair.
He's actually just not good enough. The best midfield players are positioned half open for the ball, and are scanning before the ball arrives, so they know what pass they will play already, or what move they will make - instead of taking like 3 touches just to get set up to pass. I was talking about with this with a friend in respect of rugby where players are making miracle passes to space without even looking - they just assume a support player will be in that zone Xhaka is 29. He's already slowing down, let alone being able to adjust to the insane verticality.