Arsenal Vs. Man City (League Cup Final) 430pm BST 22 March: Page 33 - The Arsenal discussion forum and community: One More in the Tolly

Arsenal Vs. Man City (League Cup Final) 430pm BST 22 March

Qwiss

daredevil We still haven't signed a great attacker in this project and that will continue to bite us in the tightest games.

They're few and far between these days. Berta will have to pull a bit of a rabbit out of a hat this summer either at CF or LW. Otherwise the Dowman is our best hope for that sort of player.

Claudius

Qwiss that i can only really think of Alvarez as a striker I want who could be available is part of the issue. Most of us are critical of Gyokeres, but he is one of the few good to very good forwards easily available. the excellent forwards are by their nature not readily available and highly valued by their clubs. who do we get in England - Igor Thiago, DCL, Junior Kroupi? It's not like there is an abundance of these guys

Tam

Gunner89 Yeah fair play, that's an issue. So the logical outcome is we get a bit further up the park with Raya in goals. I still don't see that we would have troubled them much.

Tam

Qwiss Maybe yeah. I'm going off instincts in watching the game in a pub, so maybe didn't take it in as well as I would have at home. No way I plan on re-watching to get a better understanding of it though. No doubt more likely to have won based on the fact it would have been less likely we'd have lost with Raya. Not sure it follows that we would have been a better attacking force with Raya in the team.

I still stand by my view that I don't think creatively we would have had enough to really trouble them yesterday. I can see how Raya improves various aspects, I just don't think it would have made a difference at the other end of the park.

Qwiss

Tam we did trouble them early on though. We were all over them. The big difference is in our spell of good attacking play Trafford pulled off a great save on Havertz and in their spell Kepa flapped the ball Almunia style straight to them.

I think that and Havertz being way off match sharpness are the 2 defining aspects of this game. If Havertz was 100% fit I don't think their tactic of not pressing works because he'd have won way more of those long balls and he'd probably have done better with that shot.

Sicario2

Qwiss when are we going to realise Havertz is finished? Not being 100 per cent fit is bollcoks given he’s been back in training since Dec and been playing since Jan. When will he be ‘100 percent’ ready? August? Answer is never.

Don Pacifico

Claudius Joao Pedro feels like he might have been a miss.

The players you mentioned could also be viable stop-gaps until that player (Alvarez or someone else) becomes available.

Sicario2 according on some on here we needed to wait for 3+ months for Gyokeres to get fit and he wasn't even coming back from a major injury. The only player I think I've ever seen who went from not fully fit to overplayed in the space of about a week. 😉

You may be right about Kai but I still think it's too early to tell

Qwiss

Sicario2 yeah I mentioned this in another thread today. I think that question has to be asked about him, White, Odegaard and maybe Calafiori. Yesterday was as much about the unreliability and lack of sharpness of some of our squad as it was a quality or tactical issue.

Don Pacifico Joao Pedro feels like he might have been a miss.

I don't think so. He's decent but I wouldn't call him a miss. He's not a real striker and has looked awkward plenty at Chelsea this year. He's in a bit of form now but I don't think he'd really give us anything we lack.

Sicario2

mohan luckily every setback for far this season he’s has managed a way. Think the break has come at a good time.

I think all of our injured players (bar MM) will be back for our first league game.

Till then. Use this break to chill from Arsenal as from April it will be intense.

daredevil

I expected Kepa to start but on reflection - it was a terrible decision. You can't ask your outfielders to put their effort and bodies on the line and then undermine their efforts but going with a much weaker keeper. I would be so pissed at Arteta if I was one of our defenders. I get that Kepa has played right through the tournament, but it's not like he's a top prospect or a GK we are severely invested in. We could easily trade him in the summer and no one would bat an eye lid.

I also get that a decent keeper would want some assurances around playing time and it's also necessary in case the primary picks up an injury. However, finals should definitely be off limits. He was also super dodgy against Chelsea so it's not like the warning signs weren't there.

Sicario2

daredevil if we played Kepa we should have also played Nogaard and MLS.

Next season we should really not bother with any first teamers

Burnwinter

daredevil I expected Kepa to start but on reflection - it was a terrible decision. You can't ask your outfielders to put their effort and bodies on the line and then undermine their efforts but going with a much weaker keeper. I would be so pissed at Arteta if I was one of our defenders.

Spot on, this was how I felt, I'd been ambivalent but as soon as he looked wobbly I had a physical sense of dread. I think Tet could've reacted to the situation. Admittedly he didn't have that much time, because within ten minutes we'd conceded. And yeah, if I'd been Gabriel or Saliba I'd have been spiralling afterwards, it was a stupid state for things to be in.

Qwiss

Sicario2 yep, Arsene had it right. Play fringe players and youngsters all the way. Even the final. This half serious bullshit of picking first choice players out of goal and then Kepa in goal is just the worst of both worlds.

JazzG Ref again took the piss, easy yellow for us and they got to take the piss. Hincapie looked like he was very nervous aster his yellow.

I do think this gets overlooked too. If he books Silva and O'Rielly in the first half for their persistent fouling instead of Hincapie for fuck all it becomes a very different game.

JazzG

Really disappointing 2nd half, first half was mostly ok and we probably should have scored but 2nd half City tactically changed and we had no answer for that. Even though the first goal came from a mistake it felt like a goal was coming. I think Arteta took too long to change things, you could feel the momentum and swung.

Ref again took the piss, easy yellow for us and they got to take the piss. Hincapie looked like he was very nervous aster his yellow.

Our attack was not on it, second half in particular. Gyokeres was shit as usual but the rest not much better. Saliba was our best player imo. Understand why Kepa started, you can't play a keeper the whole tournament then drop him for the final. If we wanted to move it should have happened in the semi. City did exactly the same, difference being their reserve keeper kept them in the match and ours cost us it.....sigh.

Anyways we move on, we play them soon and I hope these players remember this match.

MistaT

The Quad was never going to happen, and of all the trophies to lose this will be the easiest to stomach.

What matters now is that this doesn't disrupt our upcoming games. Thankfully we have a break, but I do worry that Southampton will be a bigger challenge than we realize as they're in good form and we'll be mentally recovering.

Sicario2

MistaT fa cup won’t define our season either. But important not to go to the Bournemouth game on a losing run.

Bournemouth game has become bigger because of yesterday.

Sicario2

Qwiss the only explanation is Arteta ‘has’ to win a trophy this year. Hopefully if we win the league he won’t give a shit about the CC next season. If he’s still here of course 😉

lorddulaarsenal

Have to say, Cherki was execellent yesterday. I do think our squad would benefit from having a player with his playing profile

Tam

lorddulaarsenal showboating annoying wank.

Cherki too. Just kidding.

But yeah.

MistaT

lorddulaarsenal -- lets get Ismael Saibari from PSV.

Scores loads of goals, big bodied, and electric on the ball.

Not sure how he and Eze fit in the same starting XI.....

Qwiss

Tam I hate him. Ben White didn't go in with enough force.

Claudius

Qwiss he’s okay. The guy who deserves to be kicked into the air is Bernardo. How that guy doesn’t average 5 red cards a season is beyond me

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