Bournemouth - Arsenal. Tomorrow, Sat: 17:30 UK Time. : Page 19 - The Arsenal discussion community: One More in the Tolly

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

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.

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

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.

Claudius

I find this discussion hard to swallow when we recently hit 4.3 xG versus Leicester. The 36 shots and 16 on target were our joint most in a premier league game since data has been collected - including under Wenger and Emery. A defense first coach doesn’t accomplish that. A likelier explanation is that he’s struggling to get an injury-hit team to tick consistently.

awooga83

Claudius I hear that but Leicester are a poor side defensively and even that game was in the balance going into the latter moments for all our dominance in the stats the game didn't play out like that. It became a very marginal game even against a relatively poor side.

Claudius

awooga83 they’re a poor side. But that level of xG is exceptional. That number of shots is exceptional. You typically see 10-15 shots in a game. Not that kind of battering.

And actually, before yesterday, we had the highest xG/90 when playing with eleven men. These ten men situations are really destroying us, and we’ve spent a good proportion of this season in that state.

JazzG

I think we have grounds to appeal this, it would have made more sense if the on field ref had given it as a red card. For VAR to overrule was surprising, it’s a 50/50 call not a clear and obvious error which is what VAR is supposed to step in on.

Saliba should know better but like the clip above says he’s on the half way line and still has plenty to do to even create a chance let alone being denied one.

Claudius

JazzG we will lose this appeal. I’d rather save appeals for obvious errors. Like the Bruno red card just before international break. Otherwise they’ll brand us cheats and cry babies.
It sucks we lose this guy because he is our primary quarterback.

IBL

As far as the PGMOL are concerned we are now Letter of the Law FC, common sense or the 'good of the game' won't enter into any decisions they make.....winning anything domestic will be a miracle.

JazzG

I don’t know if accurate but distance between goal and incident should have been taken into account according to some people on Twitter.

If anything it makes them put their findings in black and white and no doubt this will happen again and put them on the spot. Also would love for Arsenal to ask for clarification if Howard Webb was at all involved in the decision from the stands but sometimes you wonder what’s the point because the refs are almost in a position where they can’t be touched.

awooga83

JazzG I read similar but it's a factor for consideration in determining the outcome. So it's not a rule that your near the half way line so it can't be a red. It will be looked at in the context but if there are no opposition player's in front of you it's will be considered you have a goal scoring opportunity so mute I think in this case. I think this is one we should just move on from because I think the outcome is not unreasonable based on the rules.

Coombs

awooga83 the guy didn't even have possession of the ball.

Burnwinter

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

I was fairly happy with the Sterling deal on deadline day and you can hardly complain about its basic parameters, but I'm not appreciating what he's done on the pitch. Contrary to what others have said Sterling looked mostly ineffective and purposeless to me against Bournemouth, and he doesn't yet put in a shift like our regulars. He's no worse than Nelson though.

My wish for the summer in terms of forwards was a wide left player who was genuinely scary one on one and could strike the ball with power and accuracy. Looks to me that'll still be the same next summer, because that player if he existed would transform our threat across the board.

awooga83

Coombs yeah but if the ball is going through and your in front of the defenders and the keeper is nowhere near that's going to be judged as the attacker will run onto the ball for me.

Bring Back Kerrea Gilbert

Burnwinter we've needed that player for years. Since Alexis left.

We're the only big club allergic to signing dangerous, maverick (whether by skill/technique or raw power) players for the forward line. For years now.

Coombs

awooga83 it's not subjective. He had no obvious goal scoring opportunity, whether or not he may have gotten one eventually.

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