lorddulaarsenal you’ve framed it nicely. A lot of what you are saying isn’t an xG performance issue. A really good example is Mbappe, a player you know I love to bits. Watch his four goals versus Emirates Marketing Project

  • the first leg goal: great timing of the run to escape into space for the lob from Ceballos. Needs to avoid being offside and to make contact
  • the first one from second leg: he times run perfectly, stays onside, but then reads a ball coming over his shoulder to get a lobbed shot off. This is black belt stuff
  • the second one: Makes space to left of Rodrygo, and then instead of just shooting wildly, drags the ball back in, sending Guardiol off to the bodega, before switching feet and slotting it in in a crowd
  • the third one: bursts past his player and makes space foe the shot. Ethan/ Saka can do this last shot. Nobody else really.

We do not have a single player who could’ve put himself in all 4 of these positions. Henry and van Persie would’ve scored these goals. And that’s the point. That it’s not the finishing that’s the problem. It’s the creative ability particularly on a 1-on-1 basis that’s the issue. That’s why we lean on Saka so much. Because he can beat his man and destabilize defenses

    Rohit

    I actually think it is more of a fundamental overhaul of his tactical set up. If it were the case of a few tweaks, we would have seen evidence of this evolution already with our existing players, but if anything it has got worse. I also envisage the squad taking a long while to gel into something cohesive as there is a significant overhaul taking place (Jorginho, Zinchenko and maybe Jesus and Partey leaving, Odegaard and Martinelli off form and Havertz not truly settling in midfield despite his relative successes upfront).

    I would like a couple of dynamic, athletic (and fast) and somewhat unpredictable, attackers brought into the squad, alongside an attacking RB. I feel so much of our consistency fell off when Ben White got injured and our threat down our RHS evaporated. Timber has not been a good replacement in that sense for me despite his technical ability.

        DKGooner all good points. I suspect the biggest unlock is a L8 with skill on the ball. Because so much of our attack goes through Ode/Saka. What this causes when you look at opposition heat maps is clustering of defenders around these guys, making us easy to hold at bay. Ramsey or Cazorla at L8 would make a big difference. Maybe Vieira was supposed to help with this but he’s failed

            Claudius

            Not sure it will be one player in that L8 position to revitalise Arteta's attacking systems. It will help, but I think the obsession with inverted fullbacks has to change and a fear in losing the ball by playing quickly needs to be addressed. I wonder how much mental/physical fatigue these players are carrying over a very few hard seasons that they will be up for another tactical overhaul.

            We also have to be forward looking at how our competitors tactics/personnel, both domestically and in Europe, will develop over the next 2-3 seasons. We have seen how Guardiola's City have reached that inflection point where tweaks to their old style are not as effective any more at the highest level.

            I also wonder whether

            While we have been very lucky to get two unreal talents break through from our academy into the first team squad this year, we look to be pretty sparse on talent between 18-21 in most positions. I think our transfer budget this summer has to be spent on bringing in prospective talent (like but not to same extent as Chelsea) knowing that hit rate will be patchy. Costs for this will be cheap either, but feel it is something we can't neglect.

            I fear next season will be as difficult, if not more so, than this season. Dare I say it, it might be easier to part ways with Arteta in the summer as that might be the best (easier and cheaper) way to reinvigorate the existing squad than relying on several key new signings alongside current players regaining form under same manager.

              Nico Williams just scored this. This is what I want. A second protagonist in attack to balance Saka

                Claudius one more goal and he will equal Gabriel Magalhaes tally this season. Not to shabby for the 100 mil, 375K per week winger.
                Took him till the last week of February to get 2 goals

                    HomeSteak
                    1) his production isn’t great this season. Good time to buy. The player is ridiculously talented
                    2) Martinelli gets unfair grief.

                        Claudius 1. His production isn't great. Period. In the league he scores 3 goals per season on average, a goal every 11 games. He is talented, but forget about it. The money they want for him is insane, the money he wants is beyond stupid. But I agree he is talented.

                        1. Yes.

                          Coombs it isn’t. If you’re not clear what part of the problem you’re trying to solve, you’ll do the wrong thing. If we solve for xG outperformance, the highest in the league is Chris Wood. So say we go get him. But we still have a problem getting the ball into the space I front of penalty box and into penalty box. So this shaep knife will be left unused.

                              • Coombs

                              • Post #147
                              • Edited

                              Claudius my point is that we don't actually have that problem. xG is useless here because it doesn't consider shots not taken.

                                  Olabe. The new Edu

                                  Liam Delap does feel like a very Arteta signing

                                    Do we have a throw in coach? I imagine so.