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.

The entire game...What an idiot of a ref...Fire the bum...

Second half was better.
The team was lethargic the first half.
Everybody can complain as much as they want about individual players, but Arteta needs to take a good portion of blame; low energy going in with a hint of fear, player selection, even formation.  What does a Xhaka-ElNeny midfield buy you.
And Liverpool is the gold standard in the EPL.  
A long way to go for this team.

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. 

Mirth wrote:

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.

Is it? Or does Laca just make it look like that?

Auba presses just as much on the left, he just does a whole lot more too.

We should have learnt a thing from Leeds.

Send a runner, then send another, then another. Liverpool are not good themselves defensively.

Unfortunately we had no midfield at all tonight.

I am confident our work rate has gone up, hopefully if we can get the midfield we want, we can see that same work rate in a more attacking formation.

Mirth wrote:

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.

Not convinced. We struggled against West Ham and were dominated today. Beating Fulham looking like less of an achievement the more they play too. I think we need big changes.

Mirth wrote:

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.

But our wingers have barely had a sniff in the last 2 league games.

goon wrote:

Mirth wrote:

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

Is it? Or does Laca just make it look like that?

Auba presses just as much on the left, he just does a whole lot more too.

Nah, it's the same for Liverpool - how much did Firmino do on the ball today

Qwiss! wrote:

Mirth wrote:

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.

Not convinced. We struggled against West Ham and were dominated today. Beating Fulham looking like less of an achievement the more they play too. I think we need big changes.

On the flip side West Ham just smashed Wolves 4-0. They may not be bad as you think.

Dropping points at Liverpool and being dominated by them (and somehow feeling like we might have been able to nick something if the bounces were right) is not the end of the world. I, along with most of you, expected nothing from this game, so losing 3-1 was hardly shocking. At least for me.