West Ham vs Arsenal | Sunday, 2pm: Page 21 - The Arsenal discussion community: One More in the Tolly

West Ham vs Arsenal | Sunday, 2pm

Mirth

Burnwinter Smith Rowe isn't the answer because he's not been used and therefore match fit but he's the only player on our bench that's score 10+ goals a season in a Premier league season. He's been back playing football since 1 March and should have been got up to speed in the run for moments like this.

Burnwinter

Mirth Smith Rowe has looked like literal rubbish every time he's played, starting with his fitness—a point we need to consider is that he may still be strengthening his body after his surgery, and that's that. We have no reason to think Arteta actually dislikes him beyond his injury issue.

naz

Burnwinter Xhaka wasn't a deep issue today but he also was pretty useless. He needs to be switched or smacked against the head

HomeSteak

naz xhaka is easy to replace, he is simply not a very good player.

Burnwinter

Qwiss Got to remember he's very raw and these are the first couple of times he's seen these circumstances. We've improved superbly this season, and we're "ahead of schedule" as they say. I admire him for pushing through this far, and there's no question he must be backed further this summer. But right now, upheavals aside, we're watching a truly brilliant season begin to slip from our grasp, and he's not stopping it from happening, he seems to be hurrying it along if anything.

Qwiss

Claudius that's just excuses. We've seen loads of opportunities to make changes that would have been fine.

Claudius

Qwiss I trust the clutch of players who got us to the top of the league. Guys whose numbers are consistently really high - much more than the other guys. We’ve built a great core. Getting a Caicedo / Rice type in January would’ve really given us the depth and athleticism we have lacked.

Claudius

Burnwinter I thought Ode was decent. He was constantly getting on the ball and probing.

The Tierney and Holding situation is part of what hurt us at 2-0. We needed to be able to just kill the game with hypnotic possession. West Ham aren’t Pool. We could’ve just passed around and killed the game. But we lacked that quality

Burnwinter

Claudius thought Ode was decent. He was constantly getting on the ball and probing.

Feel like it was very intermittent at best, what match were you watching? He wasn't constantly doing anything in my field of view.

Qwiss

Claudius Odes was getting on the ball but his passing was casual and he couldn't control the game.

Looks to be the player most affected by the pressure to me.

Mirth

Claudius Odegaard started well but was caught between trying to contribute in attack vs dropping deep to control tempo. As a result he did neither and we lost the midfield.

Once Jorginho came on, Odegaard focused more on the final third and we controlled the game more

Claudius

Burnwinter this is the simplest issue.

I see Odegaard voted man of the match. Probably the most deserving. That said in both of these games, we found a way to disconnect Martinelli in the second half. Just criminal

Mirth

Burnwinter

Smith Rowe minutes since his return from injury - 101 minutes

Not a single start

How is it fair to say that he looks like 'literal rubbish' with minimal and interrupted time? Fabio Vieira has looked far worse.

Hell, even in that minimal time - the most time ESR was on the pitch was against Bournemouth and he grabbed an assist then

Burnwinter

Claudius If you swapped Rice for Xhaka today we win the match, by a margin.

Lukazan

goon Yeah, you felt when we scored the second we were gona go on and get a few more. Bloody hell, I'm literally repeating my exact words from last weekend..

Having said that, going 2nil up at Anfield against Liverpool and not ending up with all 3 points is quite abit different to doing the exact same against a relegation-threatened shower of shite like West Ham. And that's before you even throw in the missed penalty.

Honestly, these players and the manager are in danger of ending the season as villains. That would be some fucking achievement.

mohan

I am disappointed. I am not able to get my mind off the fact that we let them into this game by not passing the ball. Midfield was non-existent. How can this accept the pressure shit still be a tactic when we are 2 goals up. Cant wrap my head around that at all. Pissed man. Shitty end to a shitty weekend.

Meatwad

Qwiss
that's because saliba is basically our rodri. usually the ball recovery leaderboard is pretty much defensive mids, but before his injury saliba was 4th behind rice, rodri and tyler adams.

Claudius

Meatwad
Yup. The guys who dominate possession on our teams are basically the trio of Saliba, Zinchenko, Odegaard and then Partey and Gabriel. You take away 2 of those top 3 players, you will definitely lose control

Qwiss

naz even unfit ESR is 10 times the player Vieira is.

Gunner89

Qwiss vista is a waste of money

zinchenko only
had everton interest before we came in google
it

he owes us as much as we owe him

naz

Qwiss fact. What the fuck does Arteta see in him

Bring Back Kerrea Gilbert

Qwiss shocker of a player. Give him a preseason with us then review. But there's nothing about his general game that looks beyond mediocre at this level.

Gunner89

Mirth i can blast arteta for many things right now but beyond europa he can't compromise the league for a player nursing back from injury

Mirth

Gunner89 I think you misunderstand - he can't begin to start nursing ESR back now - it's too late - should have got him back and given him 30 mins when we were comfortable against Leeds, Palace, Everton etc. And the Europa league games too. It's pretty standard stuff.

Claudius

Burnwinter likely. It’s sad we couldn’t get another midfield workshorse. I think Xhaka was definitely one of our better players pre World Cup - consistently influential. But he’s been quiet in 2023

Clrnc

Gunner89 Nope. West Ham and Southampton was interested in Zinny too

Burnwinter

Mirth How is it fair to say that he looks like 'literal rubbish' with minimal and interrupted time?

Put simply it's neither fair nor unfair, it's a situation highly likely to be conditioned by information we don't have. Is it reasonable to think Arteta, who is throwing on random subs right and left, is leaving Smith Rowe—who he selected through that prolific purple patch of last season—unused solely out of prejudice or stubbornness? I feel like the manager's earnt more respect than that, he's not infallible but he's not a moron.

« Previous Page Next Page »