@lorddulaarsenal wrote:

I don’t understand why Firmino looks like he does - what’s he trying to achieve?

'40s abstract purdy

Claudius wrote:

You gain little from excessive negativity. The first time that I have been very unhappy with Arteta.

It was so obvious befire the match too. We weren't even set up to counter. Then we played out from the back under extreme pressure. Just boot it up to Auba FSS. Very little of Artetas plan made sense to me tonight.

Clrnc wrote:

Kel Varnsen wrote:

I have no idea how anyone could think Elneny should start over Ceballos.

Ceballos head and shoulders our best midfielder. By a distance its not even close, both defensively and attacking wise.

In fairness he was crap against West Ham. Ceballos is a very good player but lets not pretend he's peak Zidane either.

I only caught the 2nd half but we looked competitive. Arteta picked a crap starting line-up, and ive noticed he's prone to dropping a selection clanger every couple of games

Kel Varnsen wrote:

I have no idea how anyone could think Elneny should start over Ceballos.

This has been Arteta's most concerning decision to date. Definitely got it wrong today.

To be fair, Klopp is a well-seasoned cast-iron veteran. He shut down the Auba threat and let us have our right flank, which Willian was really poor in exploiting. Laca too slow to really scare Van Dijk but he did get his chances, two of which he blew.

Mane plays 3 positions at once, he's a cheat-code player. I really which we had someone that good.

Kel Varnsen wrote:

I have no idea how anyone could think Elneny should start over Ceballos.

he was decent enough 2nd half. Better than Xhaka been all match.

Again, let's face it, our options for CM were Dani, Elneny and Xhaka and nawt else except Willock who is defo not ready. We know this is where we need new players.

In the meantime, Willian is as underwhelming a signing as I've thought he was so far.

Mirth wrote:

Also Saka should be ahead of Pepe on the roster now.

Should be ahead of Willian too. Play him on the right and you would have had two different performances in the last two league games.

Anyway, Captain is right, mixed performance in a game we were unlikely to win either way against Europe's finest. Arteta needs to take this lesson on board much more than the players I reckon.

Mirth wrote:

Also Saka should be ahead of Pepe on the roster now.

It should be Saka starts and Pepe and Willian fight it out for the uther side.

Not to pick on him but AMN was really poor on the ball today. If we’re going to play a back 5 it needs to be Saka our there in the LW.

awooga83 wrote:

We surely need to have Aubameyang in the forward position. You can't have your best striker on the wing.

In this system our forward is just a blunt tool to press.

Coombs wrote:

Claudius wrote:

Again go back to right flank. TAA completely uncontested on the cross that led to goal. Arteta blew it on this guy. He is a shit defender who we should’ve pressured by trying to do our traditional buildups on the left.

Auba was pocketed by Gomez because we offer no passing threat from midfield. Ceballos should've played but Xhaka was unable to find his range.

Doesn't help that all of our attackers were very, very poor today. That includes Auba.

Yeah, when you see Laca miss chances like that, you do wonder how long it's gonna be until we get someone better in (or sub in Pepe and put Auba centrally).

Question is, can Auba hold up the ball in the as would be required if he played centrally?

Much better second half after ceballos came in. Disappointing but we deserved that loss.

Oh well, everyone else is going to drop points at Anfield as well so whatever. Just smash United and get some points off City and we'll call it a successful month.

Mirth wrote:

Clrnc wrote:

Ceballos head and shoulders our best midfielder. By a distance its not even close, both defensively and attacking wise.

In fairness he was crap against West Ham. Ceballos is a very good player but lets not pretend he's peak Zidane either.

Oh yeah but so was Xhaka. When your competition is Xhaka, Elneny, Torreira, Guendouzi is not hard to be peak Zidane in comparison.

Mirth wrote:

Clrnc wrote:

Ceballos head and shoulders our best midfielder. By a distance its not even close, both defensively and attacking wise.

In fairness he was crap against West Ham. Ceballos is a very good player but lets not pretend he's peak Zidane either.

It was his first game back tbf

This one's on Arteta.

Has to start Ceballos, and one of Pepe/Saka over Willian/AMN. Laca just further tarnishing is time here, won't mind seeing him move on.

Panda wrote:

No idea why Ceballos didn't start. He was involved in all our chances in the 2nd half and he puts a shift in defensively. 

That's the most crazy part of it. Even if you're trying to play it safe and go for a defensive team, why would you chose Xhaka or Elneny ahead of Ceballos? Ceballos is far better defensively than both of them. Reads the game far better than both of them, and is even a better tackler. 

goon wrote:

Not to pick on him but AMN was really poor on the ball today. If we’re going to play a back 5 it needs to be Saka our there in the LW.

He is god awful on the ball. Even the cross that eventually lead to the goal was shit. Completely misplaced.