Fulham v Arsenal Sunday 31 December 2pm: Page 17 - The Arsenal discussion community: One More in the Tolly

Fulham v Arsenal Sunday 31 December 2pm

Qwiss

RocktheCasbah Thought there was a moment towards the end of the game which summed us up - Saka beat his man (eventually) got tackled again, won the ball back lost it to a second Fulham player - or something like that and there was not one Arsenal player ready to help him out. We're not playing as a team now, it's a collection of individuals doing individual things in moments.

Exactly what I was saying at half time. Rice might have good games but does the midfield function well together? Maybe Saka tears it up and scores and assists but is the front 3 gelling? The only cohesive part of the team IMO is Saliba and Gabriel. They work together and for that reason have been our biggest strength this season. Rice and Odegaard are nailed on in midfield but we still lack that glue to tie it all together.

I think we've a similar problem up front but there are more issues there. We do need a CF who can make it work IMO but we need more options too. You look at City who can swap Doku, Grealish or Foden around. Liverpool have Nunes, Gakpo, Diaz, Jota all coming in and out of their attack. We need that. We need options. Even earlier in the season when Arteta played Eddie more and rotated Jesus and Martinelli around him a bit we were better.

JazzG

We look mentally and physically shot at the moment, we were always going to have a bad spell and need to keep this to a minimum.

I think some of our fans are getting carried away, we are within a few points of our main competition and very much still in this title race.

Qwiss Rice might have good games but does the midfield function well together?

He isn't the problem, the problem is we needed a proper No.8 with him and we don't have that.

Qwiss

RocktheCasbah oh the moment that summed up the match for me came in the first half. Shortly after they equalised we won a throw in our own half. They were slowly walking back into their defensive shape and we just strolled over to the throw and allowed them to reset with zero effort. We should be sprinting to that throw and going at them before they can reset, or at least making them work for it. It just summed up the lack of urgency about us the seems infect everything we do.

Qwiss

JazzG He isn't the problem, the problem is we needed a proper No.8 with him and we don't have that.

I think he needs a 6 with him.

daredevil

Qwiss

We need both a 6 and an 8. Some Spanish midfielders who can pass all day long and an attacking midfielder who can unlock a defence.

JazzG

Qwiss Can go that route but could also play a proper 8 with him. I think Rice's defensively one of the best No.6 in the world, has anticipation that few possess in that position. Going forward isn't his main strength and we need someone with him who has a great range and passing and can give us 45+ games a season.

goon

RocktheCasbah

Yup. This was the most disheartening game for that reason. We lost almost every single second ball. We didn’t press as a team.

I didn’t even like how we celebrated the goal. Like a bloody pre-season game.

daredevil

Let's not forget Rice and Gabriel were going at each other at one point. Team looks shot and frustrations are boiling over. No easy solution as everyone has dropped at the same time signalling that it's something systemic or behind the scenes.

Qwiss

daredevil signalling that it's something systemic or behind the scenes.

I think Arteta should shave. It's unsettling. Must be distracting the players

naz

The team was tired, we just played 3 days ago. This result was clear after the first half. Probably even clear after the first 25 minutes. At half time I knew we needed some strong subs to really hit second gear but they all did nothing.

This is what we get with poor game and squad management. Same with resources management, so poor. We got Kai for 65, wasted time on Raya who's barely an upgrade and didn't strengthen elsewhere. I can think of 10 other players that we could've brought in instead.

banduan

I mentally switched off at half time, knew we were going to lose.

daredevil

Quite funny that Zinchenko kicked the ball into Gabriel for West Ham's first on Thursday, and then Gabriel kicked the ball into Tomiyasu for Fulham's second today.

RocktheCasbah

At least Tet's not sugar coating it:

"Really tough day. A sad day. Three days ago we played a game we lost that we completely meant to win it, today was our worst game of the season. The pace, the purpose we have in attack, defensively we were second best, we could not dominate and had issues because of that.

"We didn't do enough with that [possession] - not enough purpose speed or threat. We were sloppy with the ball. It wasn't good enough. We didn't deserve to win. When you have opportunities to go top of league on 31 December and now end up with really bad feeling that is football. The lines are really thin.

"If we play like we played in the other 19 games we will be up there. If we play like today we will be nowhere near. Today was a really difficult day to swallow."

Big Willie

RocktheCasbah The lines are really thin.

Made even thinner by our constant focus on defence and keeping men behind the ball so we don't get hit on the break. We set up to stifle opposition without leaving ourselves exposed and it's backfiring because we don't create nearly enough on the days we do concede.

Panda

Glad I missed this 1 too, sounds like it was dreadful. Just seen that we conceded from a corner again 😆

Arteta seems to have reverted to his old "can't coach attack" ways. The longer time goes on the more it seems like that half season was a purple patch.

Since then we've managed a 34pt half season and a 40pt half season. Officially back to our level.

est

Panda Since then we've managed a 34pt half season and a 40pt half season. Officially back to our level.

Grim.

lorddulaarsenal

Today was such a vibe killer. Can’t be bothered with the season now. We’re just not adventurous enough

Clrnc

lorddulaarsenal Genuinely think we are set up well for the UCL.

Let's try to have a Liverpool 2005 season. Shit the bed everywhere but win the UCL

Temo

It’s one of those where you love the players but hate the team. It’s like we’ve got a team of robots, just going through the motions who expect our control to translate to anything. Maybe when we’re at home, maybe when the forwards are providing some magic, otherwise we’re seriously painful to watch. And it has Arteta’s name written all over it.

Coombs

Temo I wish we had a team of robots. They wouldn't make so many idiotic mistakes.

Qwiss

JazzG We need to allow Odegaard get back to what he was doing last season. The changes to his role have been a disaster. Get Rice in the second 8 plugging gaps, applying pressure, etc and have a 6 who's able to control the tempo and build out from the defence without it taking too long.

Everyone talks about how Arteta wanted those small margins in the build up so brought in Raya because he's better at it than Ramsdale but thats all for nothing when everything slows down again in the middle.

lorddulaarsenal

Need an enigma. Probably a relentless one. Wasn’t my fave but Alexis would be huge for this team

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