Diappointing and horrible result. I dont think both Xhaka and Partey sitting is ever going to work. The forwards were just bad. We were unlucky the goal was disallowed might have been a different game. Or finished 1-1 instead haha.

Bring Back Kerrea Gilbert wrote:

Clrnc wrote:

Our passing is far too slow, always taking a touch and positioning ourselves first. No first time flicks, no dangerous pass and always back to the player with tons of space.

Xhaka with his rigidity and lack of right foot is a massive, massive factor. Can't wait till he leaves.

This is the annoying part of the criticism. Xhaka was easily one of the better performers tonight and he played a bunch of good crossfield passes with his weaker foot

Hector and KT were solid 6's out of 10 after that second half. Closer to 7's in the first.
Gab was good again, probably 7/10. Luiz was good before he went off. Mustafi was garbage.
Partey was another solid 6 or 7. Dani was a 2/10 easily, terrible performance. Xhaka wasn't as bad as people are making out, a 5 or 6 at most.

Auba & Laca... the less i talk about them the better. Pepe and Eddie did nothing.

Jed wrote:

Someone needs to put a banner up in the training ground that reads “AUBAMEYANG IS NOT A LEFT WINGER”.

Hopefully Mikel will take the hint.

Auba was all over the place, played RW LW and centrally looked equally shit everywhere. His position isn't the issue

Gunner89 wrote:

Coombs wrote:

Where we bury our heads is entirely irrelevant to how Arsenal perform. Leicester had two shots on target. They won. If we do that, half this forum goes ballistic and seem mostly annoyed we won.

This seems way more exaggerated than the 'petulant' reactions you claim to see here.

For one it's comparing the expectations of Arsenal fans vs Leicester fans.

Secondly, that's exactly the Leciester game plan anyway unless you are completely blind. Soak up the pressure and hit them on the break.

And I don't believe for a minute that will resemble the mood if we get a victory like that at the King Power.

also they were without a big chunk of their best players. they played cautious because that was their only chance. if cautious at home with a full strength team is our only chance then we're in serious trouble.

jones wrote:

Jed wrote:

Someone needs to put a banner up in the training ground that reads “AUBAMEYANG IS NOT A LEFT WINGER”.

Hopefully Mikel will take the hint.

Auba was all over the place, played RW LW and centrally looked equally shit everywhere. His position isn't the issue

yup.

Tambourine Man wrote:

Coombs wrote:

These petulant reactions to losing a game of football, or worse, not totally dominating a game of football, are shameful and stupid. I'm all for discussion and analysis, but these are just the ravings of entitled children. Some of y'all need to check yourselves.

Just look at Vardy run. He's unbelievable! Wish Auba wasn't in such poor form.

What are the reactions that you don't think are appropriate? The ones I can see are:

• Arteta is too defensive
• We lack creativity
• We don't play with intensity or courage and are too safe with the ball
• We have isolated players seemingly no good reason

What of the above is petulant?

Won’t speak for Coombs, but for me, this bullshit is the sort of thing you hope to see on opposition forums so you can quote it on here and laugh about it together.

It’s probably already floating around on Glory Glory.

Meatwad wrote:

Clrnc wrote:

Mustafi is going to always be Mustafi.

that's why arteta loves him. he loves those players that sabotage any chances of a win.

The number of times we passed to Xhaka at left back and because he can't open himself up, or comfortably use his right to pass infield instead of backwards, was a major part of why we couldn't progress play.

He's always decent when he has space and time, but it's rare that he does.

Jed wrote:

Someone needs to put a banner up in the training ground that reads “AUBAMEYANG IS NOT A LEFT WINGER”.

Hopefully Mikel will take the hint.

He's been playing there since he joined. I'd prefer him to be through the middle too but whether he played CF or LF wouldn't changed the result today

That is the most concerning thing. Pepe was supposed to change the game when coming on but he did not do much all.

We've been playing this way for a sustained period so it's not a one off reaction to a result. It's legitimate concerns that the tactics we are employing aren't working and their seems to be no flexibility from Arteta. We struggle pretty much every game with creating chances whoever the opposition so the set up isn't doing the job.

Despite setting up so defensively we don't really shut teams out and concede which means we are pretty much always going to need to score but we look unable to do that.

I think that's a totally fair thing to raise concerns about.

Why the hell are we still being forced to watch Mustafi btw? Nobody can tell me Saliba isn’t a better option than that bloke. Fofana kept Aubameyang in his back pocket today and he was considered a lesser talent than Saliba at Saint Ettiene. What’s going on?

Until we have a top striker playing through the middle we won't be winning matches consistently.

And certainly not by playing Lacazette

It’s one thing to play Auba out wide because of a lack of options, but can’t see the reasoning now.

jones wrote:

Xhaka was easily one of the better performers tonight and he played a bunch of good crossfield passes with his weaker foot

I thought he was alright too. I saw plenty of people who wanted him dropped before the game and I think it's the wrong way to go about it. Everyone knows what this team looks like without him at this stage, and I don't teckon that's going to change just because we have Partey. Thomas should enable us to stretch out a bit more and find better triangles in midfield, not replace the base of it.

That's what we were missing today by the way, better angles. It seemed obvious early on that Ceballos wasn't hundred percent which makes it mindboggling that we left him out there for the full ninety. Neither he nor the team was better off for it. We had numerous options on the bench. Instead things kept getting worse and you had these ridiculous solutions to find another corner to complete the triangle: striker dropping down deep, Auba playing rightback, Auba getting into midfield to support the defence... Arteta solves one issue and creates two new ones. Unimpressive.

Jed wrote:

Why the hell are we still being forced to watch Mustafi btw? Nobody can tell me Saliba isn’t a better option than that bloke. Fofana kept Aubameyang in his back pocket today and he was considered a lesser talent than Saliba at Saint Ettiene. What’s going on?

He isn't as good in training?

jones wrote:

Jed wrote:

Someone needs to put a banner up in the training ground that reads “AUBAMEYANG IS NOT A LEFT WINGER”.

Hopefully Mikel will take the hint.

Auba was all over the place, played RW LW and centrally looked equally shit everywhere. His position isn't the issue

Teams have figured out the Auba on the left wing tactic. Shut down the left channel and he’s pretty much useless. Both Pep and Rodgers played 3 ATB and countered that threat; Arteta has no answer. Time to play him where he’s actually at his most effective - getting on the end of chances using his positional sense and scoring instincts. Watching him cross for Bellerin was so painful. It should be the other way around.

Clrnc wrote:

Until we have a top striker playing through the middle we won't be winning matches consistently.

And certainly not by playing Lacazette

XhakaLaca. Ceiling. Self-imposed.

I’m really encouraged by that first half. The whole back line did well in both directions. That part of the team is fine. When you’re building, you want to stop to check what’s working and what isn’t. Back 4 working. Middle 3 - shit. Front 3 shit. (Not the individuals, the sum). And unfortunately the left flank has stopped working and the right flank never worked. So we have a lot of things still to work on. But it’s not a lost cause

Too many quarter-backs on the pitch, could have swapped out Xhaka or Ceballos for a more attacking player without losing much.

Expecting Lacazette or Auba to create anything through packed defenses is a waste of time.

Attack fell apart after Saka came off for Pepe. Cost of Arteta starting him on Thursday and I think underestimating his importance.