⚽ Arsenal vs Fulham, League, Saturday 26 Aug, 3pm: Page 2 - The Arsenal discussion community: One More in the Tolly

⚽ Arsenal vs Fulham, League, Saturday 26 Aug, 3pm

KingslandBarge

Havertz showed his big engine against Palace, perhaps giving him a rest? This would be a good game to bring back Zinchenko.

Gazza M

kiwior getting a start ahead of gabriel is pretty wild to me. theres something more to this than people want to admit

Clrnc

Gazza M Basically Arteta wants to play 3 CBs, the 2 flanking Gabriel will be comfortable in switching play while Partey bombs up. 343.

Panda

Gazza M Was obvious he doesn't see him in that LB/CB role. If Arteta wants to get rid of our leader at the back and best CB who is entering his prime then he can eff off. If Zinchenko starts as inverted LB then surely Gabi will be CB.

Burnwinter

Gazza M theres something more to this than people want to admit

I did tell y'all that Tet is fixated on his back four laboratory, it's clearly what's keeping him awake at night (as opposed to a Saka victory kiss). He played Timber opposite Partey versus Forest, and now Timber's been felled he's gonna try Kiwior.

Sicario2 - Tier 1 Eddie punished for missing that sitter, fair enough. Eddie needs to take his chances every game.

He doesn't really have to look at it as punishment, Trossard's been so good he has absolutely earnt a start, I bet he brings Martinelli back into things as well.

Ricky1985 Kiwior is quicker and more nimble

Can you imagine being Gabriel and reading this though … Gabriel's got very decent foot speed and defensive ability, has been covering huge amounts of ground so Zinchenko can roam, passes the ball forward, and has been one of the better centre halves in the league for a while.

About all that's wrong with him is that his close control and ball protection are not superb, but I don't feel sure Kiwior's are any better.

KingslandBarge

choose to subscribe to the theory that Arteta is testing out the peripherals of his core unit early in the season so he's informed on rotation across comps later.
Or simply who's training best week to week.

HomeSteak

I'm tired Robbie lol
The bench is super strong, I like that

Ricky1985

Panda

Wait, you're saying Gabriel is better than Saliba?

Ricky1985

To me it means Arteta doesn't fancy Gabriel as a pseudo-FB. Kiwior is quicker and more nimble, and I guess that's why he's gotten the nod today, and why Gabriel hasn't been starting previously.

Trossard should be ready to rumble. A big chance for him to impress before Jesus gets back in there.

Sicario2 - Tier 1

Eddie punished for missing that sitter, fair enough. Eddie needs to take his chances every game.

Panda

Ricky1985 Yes he is more consistent and dominant in the air and also capable of leading a defence.

Saliba has different strengths. Together they're better.

Gabriel is also my favourite player so...😆

TambourineMan

It looks like there isn't a spot for Gabriel in the team when we invert from the right but there might be when we invert from the left is what I'm thinking.

Ricky1985

Panda
Fair enough! 🤣 We all have our favourites!

He does complement Salaiba well, I definitely agree with that.

HomeSteak

I'm thinking 50$ on Trossard getting a goal.

Clrnc

HomeSteak Annoying I transferred Nketiah in my fantasy thinking he will score against Fulham then he gets dropped. lol

HomeSteak

Clrnc i had big Gabi the first 2 games...

Ricky1985

Burnwinter

I think Arteta is right to focus on the defence and try to find a better balance. It really let us down last season, especially at home. And it's no coincidence that's where we dominate possession and territory much more - we were just too vulnerable on the counter. I think we lose more than we gain from fielding an extra CB - it weakens us in the build-up, but doesn't sufficently strengthen us when teams break on us. And the better we get, the more we dominate, and the bigger the problem becomes.

The idea, I think, is to try to improve the security and effectiveness of the build-up, counter-press with better athletes and ball winners in the midfield, and keep 3 CBs as the last line of defence.

Claudius

Burnwinter he wants to play Partey and Rice together. They occupy opposite half spaces typically. Everything fits around the

Burnwinter

Ricky1985 The thing I reckon we need is better "coverage" for what happened last season when injuries to Tomiyasu, then Saliba meant we were very vulnerable to pace with Holding, and had debilitated resistance to pressing. We saw this apparent form dip like dominoes for Partey, Zinchenko, White and Xhaka … but really we lost the foundations of both our build-up play and our central defence.

It's very, very good if Arteta proactively experiments with our defenders this way. If Kiwior really could do at least a decent job across left back and centre back, we'd be more resilient to the injury and fatigue issues that are bound to strike playing across more top competitions.

It seems a bit harsh on Gabriel, but it all makes sense if he's either unwilling or deemed unable to take on a full back role, minding tricky wide players and roaming upfield to link with Havertz.

Qwiss

Looking like Gabriel is completely out of favour, maybe he is off to Saudi. If he's not none of this makes any sense.

Ricky1985

Qwiss
I think he'll be back when we want to play Zinchenko as the "inverter."

Pepe LeFrits

Qwiss Looking like Gabriel is completely out of favour, maybe he is off to Saudi. If he's not none of this makes any sense.

I'm not so sure. I can't recall ever seeing him in that left back role (though I'll admit it's not that disssimilar to his CB role when it's the RB inverting), so it may just be more of a indication of how highly Arteta regards White and Saliba at the moment.

Burnwinter

Qwiss Looking like Gabriel is completely out of favour, maybe he is off to Saudi. If he's not none of this makes any sense.

I think it does make some sense even if Gabriel is very much wanted, based on the "lab" theory. Arteta may feel he needs to baseline player capability across the squad in safer ties like this one. This tinkering's a reaction to Timber's ACL injury. Given deadline day's still a few days away it may even be Arteta trying to prove to Edu and KSE he needs to go back to market for another player.

QuincyAbeyie

He better.

« Previous Page Next Page »