Man City vs Arsenal | Sat Oct 17 - 17:30 | Etihad Stadium: Page 20 - The Arsenal discussion forum and community: One More in the Tolly

Man City vs Arsenal | Sat Oct 17 - 17:30 | Etihad Stadium

Kel Varnsen

On the plus side, Tierney and Saka make up a terrific left wing. Both are just well rounded quality players who can run up and down the pitch all day.

flobaba

Klaus wrote:
flobaba wrote:
Partey will not help us much in the chance creation department. We need someone who can work magic in the opponents final third, not so much in central midfield.

Okay but we played Willian up top today. Maybe the problem is connected to the tactics and the selection.

You can see the logic in it too from Arteta's point of view. Usually we waste a striker anyway by having him press players in midfield, so using Willian makes sense as an extension of the idea that our forwards aren't primarily on the field to score goals. And if they're not going to be bothered with scoring, then why not use a midfielder instead of a striker against a much better side like City where spaces are tight and opportunities scarce? And if you're looking at midfielders, why not use someone disciplined who is used to hard work, instead of someone creative with a bit of edge who might be tempted to come out and play?

This chain of logic is basically what makes Mourinho land on Pepé (the shit-kicking centreback, not the flaky winger) as his choice of forward in an El Clasico. I don't care if you get results with it, I hate it.

I agree, it’s painful to watch.

tazmania

Kel Varnsen wrote:
On the plus side, Tierney and Saka make up a terrific left wing. Both are just well rounded quality players who can run up and down the pitch all day.

Definitely. That left hand side is set.

lorddulaarsenal

Hoping Martinelli can come in and make a difference. Atleast he’s good in the air and fast

Klaus

Kel Varnsen wrote:
I think Arteta is just afraid of giving up balance and structure. He doesn't want us to commit too many players going forward, so there aren't that many passing options further up the pitch.

True, and that's an issue with the longballs we kept playing for Aubameyang to run on too. Even if he beats Kyle Walker to one of those his only option is a cross into an empty box, where he himself should have been.

Claudius

I almost want to see Partey and Egyptian Xavi start this Thursday to see if they give us a combination of strength and power in the midfield that can just make us a bit dynamic. I’m a bit at a loss right now.

lorddulaarsenal

Partey looked good when he came on.

We don’t have a lot of options to improve the attack.

I’d honestly give Ozil a go. Maybe have him play off Auba

—————Leno
AMN—-Luiz——Gabriel—-Tierney
Willian—Partey—Ceballos—Saka
————-Ozil
——————Auba

Kel Varnsen

Claudius wrote:
I almost want to see Partey and Egyptian Xavi start this Thursday to see if they give us a combination of strength and power in the midfield that can just make us a bit dynamic. I’m a bit at a loss right now.

Don't think player changes will make much difference. We need to commit more players going forward. Let Bellerin and Tierney play further up the pitch.

Rohit

We definitely need to show more intent. It has been missing. Arteta has done admirable job with our defending as a team, our organisation and structure. But it feels like we have gone in a shell too. Even when we are chasing the game we don't really throw caution to the wind.

flobaba

We don’t know how to.

We are like a poor man’s Atletico Madrid

Claudius

flobaba wrote:
We don’t know how to.

We are like a poor man’s Atletico Madrid

I suspect Arteta’s numbers are more Simeone than Guardiola. I just hope that’s not reflective of his outlook

Ray

I think we need someone in the middle of the park who is confident and isn't scared of holding on to the ball. Most of these guys panic like they're holding a hot potato when it's passed to them. Someone like Cazorla would have been ideal. Bernardo was running the show for them.

Gunner89

Egyptian xavi?

More like the egyptian denilson.

Can't pass forward, score, asssist, tackle (headless chicken).

banduan

I dunno. I thought we got the tactics spot on when we started and Willian up top was just to make up for the fact that Laca is shit nowadays, plus it didn't really matter as our forwards rotate positions. We played out of their press easily and in return pressed them well enough. We had the chances both before and after their goal.

The problem was in the second half Citeh changed their tact and started hoofing it. This revealed a massive problem with our inability to quickly build chances. They should've been open as we often won 50-50s from these hoofs but instead we mucked about not spotting runs. The second half highlighted our lack of creators massively.

and the biggest concern with that is that Partey is not the solution to it...

Meatwad

Claudius wrote:
flobaba wrote:
We don’t know how to.

We are like a poor man’s Atletico Madrid

I suspect Arteta’s numbers are more Simeone than Guardiola. I just hope that’s not reflective of his outlook

wouldn't be the worse outlook in the world.

Gazza M

Klaus wrote:
Kel Varnsen wrote:
I think Arteta is just afraid of giving up balance and structure. He doesn't want us to commit too many players going forward, so there aren't that many passing options further up the pitch.

True, and that's an issue with the longballs we kept playing for Aubameyang to run on too. Even if he beats Kyle Walker to one of those his only option is a cross into an empty box, where he himself should have been.

Arteta has gone to great lengths to set up specific spacing and positioning in the side, and tbf i think he had to set some kind of foundation as we were all over the place when he came in. Soon he'll need to loosen the reins to allow players a bit more freedom, but it looks he's not confident enough to loosen those reins yet. Looks like he has still has the players on a short leash in terms of how far theyre allowed to break format

Claudius

We got 2 really good saves out of Ederson. If we committed to attacking more, we’d have gotten something yesterday. Risk-reward.

One other thing. Pépé moving to the center is a reminder that we can’t get the right side to work. And that’s about both him and Bellerin. Very limited chemistry there.

Coombs

Willian as CF 😆

Horrifying. He was absolutely terrible in the role, much like he is just about everywhere he's played for us. Not a good signing, can't stand him.

Xhaka is sad to watch. How can a footballer move so slowly?

Auba was schooled by Walker. Pathetic. Not good enough.

BWoolley

Bellerin killed a lot of our moves on the right. Him trying to move infield all day and Pepe cutting in onto his left foot is a trainwreck on that side. Really need AMN to take over at RWB if we continue this formation so that he can at least make the run on the outside. Must say that Pep's 3-3-1-3 was spot on since we don't really threaten through the middle anyway. He clogged the wings with Walker-Cancelo down our left and we had nowhere to go. Pepe is the biggest failure in this game for me. Should have taken more responsibility and run at Ake, forcing another player to go with him and create the holes in the City structure. Instead, he backed down and barely attempted to take Ake on all game.

BWoolley

Coombs wrote:
Willian as CF 😆

Horrifying. He was absolutely terrible in the role, much like he is just about everywhere he's played for us. Not a good signing, can't stand him.

Willian should ideally be playing a bit-part role in the EL, not starting every game for us. Alas.

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