Klaus wrote:

GooneriC wrote:

Even after we conceded you would expect to go for it in search of an equalizer but nothing clicked.

The minutes around the goal summed up Arteta as a manager so far. We were about to bring on Maitland-Niles, and then they scored and we threw on Nketiah instead with 9 minutes left on the watch. We went from trying to secure a point to trying to claw back a point at home against a Leicester missing all of their best players. That was the sum of our ambition for most of the second half. It's like we created too many half-chances in the first 45 and had to calm things down a bit so the lads wouldn't get any mad ideas about breaking the lines.

It's not about whether we play 4-3-3 or 3-4-3 or even 4-4-2; it's about how they all collapse into the same predictable shapes and negative patterns after a while. We're always hamstrung up front, always blunt. Auba has spent as much time essentially playing fullback this season as he has playing like a forward. Why do we have to be the only team that mismanages attacking players in this manner and why do we have to keep at it long after our luck has run out? We're now seeing the same xG effect as we did under Emery, where over time bad football starts to accumulate bad results.

And you don't score if you don't attempt enough. Have a look at this. It's horrendous

Our average position explains a lot itself as to why our players are struggling to attack and conjure up good chances for each other

Auba is deeper than Bellerin, Xhaka is pretty much playing LB and Lacazette is simply useless.

Auba is being criticised in this thread, but he seemed to be visibly unwell? Should he have even been playing?

I miss Giroud.

https://www.whoscored.com/Matches/1485234/Live/England-Premier-League-2020-2021-Arsenal-Leicester
If we are still playing with only 2 CMs we need to stop as it's becoming too easy to stop us.

I thought we looked to be trying to be more positive going forward in the first half, but ultimately the disallowed goal hurt us as we had nothing to show for our efforts. By the end of the 1st half we were looking toothless as the ball would be played across the backline and up the flanks as far as the WMs before it would be turned inside/backwards for the process to start over. We lacked the inside movement from the WMs to provide extra bodies and passing options in midfield during the transition, and with 6 players occupying the flanks (3 on each side) it leaves a 4 man narrow diamond in the middle with a CB, 2 x CMDs and a false9 CF as our only options through the middle. Not only does this mean our passing options along the flanks are very limited with effectively only having 180 degrees to play with, but our passing and movement tends to become very linear & vertical.

BR set out LCFC in the same way CFC started in The FA Cup Final, with the wide forwards playing narrow behind the CF. It disrupts our back3 in terms of positioning and it also sees our CMs drop deeper, be outnumbered in midfield, and our forwards become isolated yet again.

IMO it's time to change things up again before the current stagnation undoes all the good work and good will both manager and team have worked so hard to establish.

That's not how we played.

Shady wrote:

Auba is being criticised in this thread, but he seemed to be visibly unwell? Should he have even been playing?

yup, he was on painkillers. Possibly migraine as the commentators have pointed out, and every time the ball hit his head he looked woozy.

Anzac wrote:

https://www.whoscored.com/Matches/1485234/Live/England-Premier-League-2020-2021-Arsenal-Leicester
If we are still playing with only 2 CMs we need to stop as it's becoming too easy to stop us.

I thought we looked to be trying to be more positive going forward in the first half, but ultimately the disallowed goal hurt us as we had nothing to show for our efforts.  

dude how can you make a statement sounding like you didn't watch then follow it up with one that sounds like you did?

We didn't play with 2 CMs we played with 3. 

Unfortunately Partey was mostly a passenger as we didn't utilise his offensive side enough. Part of the reason was that in the first half we were utterly dominant and they could barely get the ball out their half - he was only there to screen. In the second half though we could've used him more as our flank tired and dropped out the game.

The failure to react to what was happening on the pitch in the 2nd half is my main criticism of Arty this match, in fact it's my only real criticism, albeit a major one.

Yesterday’s game in isolation wasn’t really a huge issue. The performance wasn’t a mess, it just lacked inspiration. The bigger issue is that our xG across the season is fit for a side deep in the bottom half of the table and until that is rectified every game is going to scrutinised and criticised.

Both managers got it 'wrong', Rogers in the first half because he had clearly prepared for the 343 we have been playing and then Arteta in the second half because he let the game get away from him.

This was a terrible game of football all round.

banduan wrote:

Anzac wrote:

https://www.whoscored.com/Matches/1485234/Live/England-Premier-League-2020-2021-Arsenal-Leicester
If we are still playing with only 2 CMs we need to stop as it's becoming too easy to stop us.

I thought we looked to be trying to be more positive going forward in the first half, but ultimately the disallowed goal hurt us as we had nothing to show for our efforts.  

dude how can you make a statement sounding like you didn't watch then follow it up with one that sounds like you did?

We didn't play with 2 CMs we played with 3. 

Unfortunately Partey was mostly a passenger as we didn't utilise his offensive side enough. Part of the reason was that in the first half we were utterly dominant and they could barely get the ball out their half - he was only there to screen. In the second half though we could've used him more as our flank tired and dropped out the game.

The failure to react to what was happening on the pitch in the 2nd half is my main criticism of Arty this match, in fact it's my only real criticism, albeit a major one.

Nothing about watching Xhaka during the game or looking at his positioning in the post above suggests to me he was playing as a midfielder, rather than as part of a back3.  The same goes for the positioning of Bellerin and Tierney as they are too high for FBs and more in line with what I'd expect as WMs.  We may have intended to play 433 but that's not how it looked in open play or in terms of average positioning.

PEAs positioning is basically as a CM, and should be of concern as he gives little to no forward passing options on that flank.  Part of this may be from him needing to drop deep in cover defence of in looking for the ball, however our attack is already stunted with Laca playing as a false9, and with PEA playing deeper we had our 2 recognised goal scorers too far away from the opposition goal.  

goon wrote:

Yesterday’s game in isolation wasn’t really a huge issue. The performance wasn’t a mess, it just lacked inspiration. The bigger issue is that our xG across the season is fit for a side deep in the bottom half of the table and until that is rectified every game is going to scrutinised and criticised.

Our first half numbers in attack were much better in terms of shots at goal, just that Saka had as many as PEA and Laca combined.

The first thing I want to see improve is our shots at goal - much as we saw in the 1st half.
Last season all the top4 averaged 15+ shots at goal per game, and LCFC in 5th were just under that.
Whilst we have restricted the opposition they are still having shots at goal in double figures on average, whilst our shots taken has also dropped into single figures.  

Despite being more difficult to beat our numbers are not top4 in terms of defence, let alone attack, and it is the former that may still be an issue in preventing Arteta to look to be more attacking.  By comparison both LFC and MC allow 1 shot as goal less than us on average, but their shots taken is more than double those allowed.

Clrnc wrote:

Our average position explains a lot itself as to why our players are struggling to attack and conjure up good chances for each other

Auba is deeper than Bellerin, Xhaka is pretty much playing LB and Lacazette is simply useless.

To be honest, move Auba further up to where Saka is positioned and it's not so bad. He needs to be playing on the shoulder, which would makes sense with Laca dropping deeper. I'm curious what his instructions are.

Xhaka's position is illogical if you think about it. He's very one footed left footer hugging the left touchline, which means his only possible passing option was Tierney who was cut off most of the time. It was a really awkward role for him to execute. Again, I'm curious as to which his role is because there was no clear patter evident.

banduan wrote:

Anzac wrote:

https://www.whoscored.com/Matches/1485234/Live/England-Premier-League-2020-2021-Arsenal-Leicester
If we are still playing with only 2 CMs we need to stop as it's becoming too easy to stop us.

I thought we looked to be trying to be more positive going forward in the first half, but ultimately the disallowed goal hurt us as we had nothing to show for our efforts.  

dude how can you make a statement sounding like you didn't watch then follow it up with one that sounds like you did?

We didn't play with 2 CMs we played with 3. 

Unfortunately Partey was mostly a passenger as we didn't utilise his offensive side enough. Part of the reason was that in the first half we were utterly dominant and they could barely get the ball out their half - he was only there to screen. In the second half though we could've used him more as our flank tired and dropped out the game.

The failure to react to what was happening on the pitch in the 2nd half is my main criticism of Arty this match, in fact it's my only real criticism, albeit a major one.

I'd add that the utilisation of our players was poor. Auba was wank everywhere but the days when he was an effective RW have been years ago. Pepe was never any good on the left, Xhaka hugging the touchline robs him of his biggest asset spreading the ball. Even when we did better in the first half it looked all mechanical, I swear we played the same long ball from Luiz to Tierney like five times. Poor from both managers but because our goal was ruled out and their wasn't Arteta should rightly be slammed and Brenton will wrongly get credit.

Why is Arteta so against building play and attacks through the middle of the pitch? I was excited at the starting line-up because I thought we were finally going to see three midfielders close to each other, always having passing options.

Arteta himself played in such a style for us - let alone his experience alongside Guardiola.

Xhaka and ceballos were still playing in that odd deep-corner-midfield position that arteta has tasked them with, presumably to cover the fullbacks who stayed high most of the time

jones wrote:

Even when we did better in the first half it looked all mechanical, I swear we played the same long ball from Luiz to Tierney like five times.

Noticed this too. Its like we have 3 or 4 ways of building up and we just repeat them over and over. It must be incredibly easy for opposition managers to set up their teams to defend against. The attack needs to be much more fluid and unpredictable.

It also seems like the chances we created yesterday needed a different type of striker, specifically a target man. Either Arteta figures out how to get the players he has scoring or he needs to trade out Laca for a target men in January.

jones wrote:

banduan wrote:

dude how can you make a statement sounding like you didn't watch then follow it up with one that sounds like you did?

We didn't play with 2 CMs we played with 3. 

Unfortunately Partey was mostly a passenger as we didn't utilise his offensive side enough. Part of the reason was that in the first half we were utterly dominant and they could barely get the ball out their half - he was only there to screen. In the second half though we could've used him more as our flank tired and dropped out the game.

The failure to react to what was happening on the pitch in the 2nd half is my main criticism of Arty this match, in fact it's my only real criticism, albeit a major one.

I'd add that the utilisation of our players was poor. Auba was wank everywhere but the days when he was an effective RW have been years ago. Pepe was never any good on the left, Xhaka hugging the touchline robs him of his biggest asset spreading the ball. Even when we did better in the first half it looked all mechanical, I swear we played the same long ball from Luiz to Tierney like five times. Poor from both managers but because our goal was ruled out and their wasn't Arteta should rightly be slammed and Brenton will wrongly get credit.

Yep spot on. Our players are like robots repeating the same ineffective move over and over again. Utter lack of creativity and variation. It really don't help to have your best striker chasing the opposing fullback up and down the flanks though. Insane that Auba is still playing on the wings for us.

I don't think we need a target man qs, no modern successful team is playing with a target man or even have them as back up these days. We just need a proper striker. At current form Lacazette will struggle to score even in the championship. Other than Sheff and WBA everyone has a more useful striker than the current Lacazette.

Auba can play on the wings, the issue is how he plays when he's there. Needs to be on the shoulder of the defence, receiving the ball high up the pitch. His heatmap has him looking like a right wingback, in which case you're better off playing Nelson or Pepe there.