Arsenal v Manchester United Sunday 25th Jan 430 PM KO: Page 31 - The Arsenal discussion forum and community: One More in the Tolly

Arsenal v Manchester United Sunday 25th Jan 430 PM KO

JazzG

Zinchenko gets hate from our fans but just look at that passing, some of those passes are absolutely outrageous and only a top class passer even tries those. But every time you make those aggressive passes forward, there is a risk they could be intercepted but it also puts the other team on the back foot and completely disrupts their shape.

We have gone too far the other way imo, not go full gung ho but step it up a bit.

Qwiss

JazzG looks like a few decent passes but no real change from what we do now. Look at the defence in most of those, the opposition are set. Zinchenko was too slow with his passing. Most of those good passes aren't splitting a defence either, its just another ball into an area where we need 2-3 more actions before we shoot. We haven't lost that, we still do exactly that.

JazzG

QuincyAbeyie Yeah we had no squad depth and when key players went down it was downhill. Maybe we went too hard too fast. Second half of the season you could see there was too much chaos in our play.

We also couldn't control the game against top sides, those games against City showed the midfield of Xhaka/Partey just wasn't good enough.

Gazza M

Qwiss i don't think we do. that zinchenko to xhaka line breaker was the source of so much disruption to our opponents. rice just does not get found with that kind of regularity or accuracy. or imagine if we regularly found eze with those kind of passes. agree with jazz's take - no-one is even trying these passes other than maybe MLS, but he doesn't play enough or hit them with enough consistency.

daredevil

Gazza M

Those passing were like daggers through the opposition line. Only MLS really places those type of passes when in regularity and occasionally Rice.

Qwiss

Gazza M we do play passes like that though. None of those are half as good as Martinellis last week for instance. Zubi cuts though the midfield line with passes like that all the time. We don't struggle to get the ball into the final 3rd. It's what happens in the final 3rd that's the issue. I'd love to see what happens next in those clips because I reckon it's be extremely familiar

RocktheCasbah

If anyone can face it, my experience of the game from Block 24... (no offence taken if not 😬)

https://dailycannon.com/2026/01/manchester-united-kill-shot/

Tam

RocktheCasbah

And not for the first time this season, you felt the cognitive dissonance of watching players much happier to take risks on the edge of our own penalty area than the opposition’s.

That made me smile. Ridiculous isn't it!

Burnwinter

Tam Oh, that's harsh but fair. Ouch.

Gazza M

Qwiss given that most of our forwards had career high stats that season, I don't think those clips all lead to nothingburgers

QuincyAbeyie

Don't think that Martinelli pass is comparable to those at all. The point wasn't that our passing is worse now, but that it's more safe.

Don Pacifico

QuincyAbeyie I think it's also a point about how quickly we progress the ball. There's no way we progress as quickly with the same regularity as we did three seasons ago.

The quicker we progress the ball, the easier it is to create openings for our front three.

Qwiss

Don Pacifico the ball isn't progressed quickly in those clips. Its just edited quickly. In most instances the defence is back and in shape with plenty of men behind the ball.

Don Pacifico

Qwiss I hear you, I think it's the greater emphasis on verticality we had that season.

We can still play like that, we just commit to it often enough in my mind.

Qwiss

Don Pacifico I agree a little but I also think we can scoring being down overall this season compared to that one. I think the tactical shift that's happened is largely a reaction to how we were playing then (along with City and somewhat Liverpool). I'm starting to think we've been figured out a little. I've never thought a team can play the same way for too long and I think now Arteta is trying to change things but its not really working (see Saliba joining the attack so much now, Timber and Calafiori previously).

Don Pacifico

Qwiss you might be right. He's talked about wanting to have different modes of play so that we're unpredictable but the changes he makes often feel like relatively superficial tweaks as opposed genuine changes in strategy. Obviously, the latter isn't always viable, especially for a team that is built on structure and patterns over freedom to improvise but there's been too much grinding this season for me. I'm not sure it should be this hard this often to win games

Which is not to slander Arteta's coaching ability as I think he's shown an ability to evolve and get more out of his players in his time managing us. But the last couple of months have provided some cause for concern (albeit I think there's also a mentality issue with the players too).

Qwiss

Gazza M how many from Zinny assists?

banduan

Gurgen he has. Not that it matters, given the two up top.

daredevil

Qwiss

Those are all middle third passes which get the ball into the final third. He's not going to assist from there.

Gazza M

Qwiss not many, but i never claimed he was an assist king? the passes in that clip are disruptive, and led to more final third motion than what we're seeing today.

Qwiss

daredevil as I said we get the ball to the final 3rd without issue. You'll even see our whole team pretty much in the opposition 3rd at times. Its not at all what’s missing.

If people think we are missing Zinchenkos great quick transition play because of that slapped together X clip then they have very short memories because he slowed us down by waiting an age to play those passes. There is reason he was pushed out of the team by MLS who isn't even 2nd choice now.

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