IBL his pressing has been pretty handy though. Mixed bag for him from my perspective but will be interesting to see his contribution in 3 months time.
Don Pacifico
I would like to see him alleviate the creative burden from Ode.
Don Pacifico Haverz's best quality so far has been his movement as it helps changes the shape of the whole team. On the ball he hasn't been up to much.
daredevil fair, not sure Forest with 5 at the back will be the one though.
Great half. Our stars are shining. New boys a bit quiet.
Interesting to see how Arteta changes things in the second half. Loads of options on the bench and a few looked tired early last week so will probably need fresh legs.
Qwiss not sure how much longer Partey will survive. Would sub on Kiwior and re-jig the backline.
Qwiss
Saka and Martinelli have really brought it today. They're beyond the point of busting a gut in pre-season. It's all about today, and here they are.
Martinelli, in particular, has been a force of nature!
We're switching build-up patterns and starting positions mid-half dependent on the how much control we're exerting. This is unreal.
Ricky1985 best thing about Trossard is how he keeps pushing Martinelli. And Martinelli, to his credit, has embraced the challenge.
Ricky1985 Martenilli since Xmas just keeps getting better and better. Hes got the skill but his workrate is incredible. This is what separates the good from the great. He's 22 and playing like a 28 year old who's seen it all.
Mirth yeah, that's a good point. He's our wildcard up front in more ways than one.
Mirth
Havertz's movement will count for a lot more when we aren't playing a 5-man defence that's sat so deep. There's no room in the box and there's no room in behind. And we're also not needing tonuse his height for direct, longer passes because we're playing through them in midfield with ease.
We're missing a trick by not using him as an 8. He would feast in the middle.
Martinelli, Odegaard, Jesus and Saka are going to cook this season
Claudius Jesus needs to be fit first. Worried he'll have another recovery spell like he did when he came back last season.
Ricky1985 we're gonna play those defences most weeks. I think he'll improve, it's hard to come from the Chelsea shit show and get up to speed instantly. He needs to find his confidence and learn his role here, won't happen overnight.
Ricky1985 yeah, tbf in his Leverkusen days he had the technical guile to break through a low block too but I guess Chelsea took that out of him.
Qwiss injury sounds minor. And Arteta said this is the best he’s ever seen him. So I’m confident. Season has barely begun. We will need to rotate these guys because of champions league. But we finally have the depth to do this
"Did Martinelli mean his back heel?"
This is why I mute during HT analysis.
Mr Current Affairs, Rio Ferdinand on Bukayo Saka, "this kid is the real deal".
He does appear very low on confidence.
Can't get enough of that Saka goal...don't know what it is but he just looks so 'adult' now. Both physically and in his body language, he's starting to play with an unshakeable self-confidence. Was so single-minded in getting that space for a shot in.
Mirth He just needs some time. He has so much quality, he'll work out how to thrive in this team. In the meanwhile, we'll do fine.
