Bournemouth - Arsenal. Tomorrow, Sat: 17:30 UK Time. : Page 18 - The Arsenal discussion community: One More in the Tolly

Bournemouth - Arsenal. Tomorrow, Sat: 17:30 UK Time.

lorddulaarsenal

I think Chelsea will beat Liverpool tomorrow

Claudius

mdgoonah41 how does a guy with a completely off mindset get to October before losing his first away game of the calendar year?

JazzG

First away PL defeat of 2024 and we are in October, some perspective is needed. Then consider two of our most important attacking players in Saka and Odegaard were missing.

We move on.

JazzG

Nothing dodgy going on here...

yuppa

That midfield was labored from the get go. A bit disappointed in Merino overall. If Rice-Merino-Oed is the future, go with Rice-Merino-Nwaneri. A bad day for a few of the team to drop clangers 😩

Qwiss

yuppa of the midfield 3 today I think Partey looked best. Don't think Rice and Merino together is all that promising even with Ode. Maybe Merino has more to show but he seems like a Rice and Partey back up to me. Which is fine, we need that. The 3 together is horrible though.

Qwiss

SimplyThePest I don't think Artetas conservatism is necessarily a big tactical failing. It's that he prioritises the defensive positions in recruitment. You can see it with Timber and Calafiori signings. Both class players but if you tactically focus on defence then you need exceptional players like Saka and Ode to make up for it. As good as Trossard is and as dangerous as Sterling can be neither can carry that load. Nor can Kai, he's great in the system but he's a player who boosts Saka and Ode as well as benefitting from them. We have 2 world class players in this squad. Salibas on his way, maybe Cala too. But without our 2 talisman the rest are shown up a bit.

invisibleman18

This result plus playing Liverpool next week without Saliba, and we've seen it's impossible for us to win without him, already feels a bit fatal in terms of a title challenge.

awooga83

Yeah, lots of chat before this game of how Liverpool has a lot to prove but I would say we have just as much in terms of title credentials going into that fixture.

kamikaze

It's odd to say given how many goals we scored last season, but I don't think we have the firepower to win the league this year. A lot of our goals are the result of our suffocating defence or set pieces. Our counterattack is fairly impotent and we don't have much individual flair up front.

I'm sick of the refs. The decision was a bit harsh, I thought, he still had quite a bit to do. In isolation, I can't complain except it's the kind of call we never get. I still remember Ljungberg through on goal against United. If you imagine Ruben Diaz doing the same to Havertz, there's no way they give a red.

Claudius

don't need to over-analyse this game. if you have a team that has most of its creativity coming from two men - Odegaard and Saka - and both are out; plus Martinelli rested after coming back injured; and then you go down to ten men for 60 minutes, chances of winning something are quite low. some of the replacements are still clearly ramping up - Sterling and Merino in particular are still some way from full fitness.
a large part of our control is our press. was noticeably absent yesterday. maybe even a Jesus would've made a difference on this front
we have a good team, but at some point, you have enough disruption that you're screwed. hopefully, we have Martinelli and Saka back for Liverpool.

invisibleman18

Claudius Sterling and Merino in particular are still some way from full fitness.

Fair enough Merino came off a summer tournament then got injured immediately. But how far into the season is it reasonable to expect a player signed only for this season to be at "full fitness?" I get Sterling is a backup and all that but he's started 2 consecutive league games. We need him fit and useful right now, else what was the point?

Sicario2 - Tier 1

Red card or not, this loss was coming. Last two games we got away with it but this is finally the wake up call we needed.

Haven’t read the thread so apologies if this has already been mentioned but Arteta way too conservative in his approach. Needs to trust Nwaneri more.

Title race is hanging on a thread - Liverpool is now a must win.

JazzG

Don’t want to be too harsh on Martinelli but that’s the game right there, he simply cannot miss chances like they considering the game state.

Claudius

JazzG bigger issue is we created less than 1xG. That’s why this chance stands out. It’s the only thing you can remember attacking wise. Other than maybe the Merino shot which itself was well wide

Qwiss

JazzG we shouldn't be relying on one chance for the game. That's the real issue.

Clrnc

Claudius Which is why the team selection with 3 DMs is absolutely horrible. Too much respect for Bournemouth.

Even before the red card we played like shit

awooga83

Clrnc I don't even know it's done out of respect but rather Arteta's preference for defensive set up and it's where he retreats when he wants to be comfortable. We have become so reliant on that everybody defend mantra and maybe a set piece will edge the game. We don't seem to spend anytime seriously looking at how to improve our attacking game. The direction seems to go no further then Saka or Ode hopefully you just do something. It's a massive limitation of Arteta's management style in my view and he hasn't really seemed to improve that over the last few seasons.

This kind of style is okay if you can grind out the trophies people don't really mind ala Mourinho but if you can't get that done it really isn't very interesting way of playing football.

Sicario2 - Tier 1

invisibleman18

Exactly, if we have to wait 4 months for Sterling to get ‘up to speed’ then we shouldn’t have signed him and signed someone ready made.

If your backup is not ready then he’s not a backup.

Claudius

invisibleman18 he was frozen out at Chelsea, so he wasn’t attending full practice. He’s new to the team. I really don’t expect him to be firing on all cylinders. Even Havertz who is a super athlete wasn’t hitting his peak at this time last year.

Bring Back Kerrea Gilbert

invisibleman18 he's been absolutely useless so far. Can't wait till he fucks off back to the chavs.

It's embarrassing that he's all the club could muster by way of an attacking signing.

invisibleman18

Claudius right, so how long should it be reasonable to expect it to take given he's only here for this season and we currently need him to start? Havertz wasn't only signed with one season in mind.

Claudius

invisibleman18 I can’t say. But a man starting his 3rd game, having joined us 7 weeks ago, is probably still a bit rough.
Bigger concerns right now would be Jesus recovery path given that he’s not starting, Trossard’s indifferent form, and how both Rice and Merino looked yesterday. Again, Merino is raw, but it felt like Partey carried them creatively.

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