the most distressing thing about arteta, is that there is no identity.
the weird thing was, when emery took over, i remember those first 10-15 games in the league, we were bombing down the wings and we were playing tons of cutbacks into the box for shots, and it felt like "fuck, is this something? are we going to be devastating from wide and create these chances?" and i remember one of those games was against chelsea, and we could have scored 7 or 8 if we were more clinical. but then it sort of just fell apart.
with arteta, in the beginning it felt like our goal was to be compact defensively and counter teams, but that isnt the case anymore. we have the 7th or 8th best defense in the league, which is pretty awful considering how inept our attack has been too. there is no identity in how we play from week to week. there was one stretch where it literally appeared our strategy was to hoof aimless crosses into the box, without having a target man striker. and arteta seemed to be encouraging that.
if we are going to be a defensive team that just plays on the counter, we can't have the 7th best defense in the league, especially when we dont play with pace on the counter. if we are going to be an attacking team, we need to settle on a formation and settle on roles for our players and then address our RB and CDM position. arteta does not seem to have an identity in mind, beyond just tinkering and trying weird lineups. i can understand why the players play listlessly and with no urgency when there doesnt seem to be a coherent plan
