Sporting vs Arsenal on Tue at 8 PM: Page 17 - The Arsenal discussion forum and community: One More in the Tolly

Sporting vs Arsenal on Tue at 8 PM

daredevil

I don't know about that. We've seen Partey, Jorginho and even Eze both play with far more verticality than what we're seeing from our current midfield trio.

I think it's the nature of the players to be more conservative. Arteta has called out Odegaard in the past to be more direct and drive forward.

Sicario2

Big Willie now compare the KM ran by Kepa v MLS/Nogaard?

Anyway we win the league then it doesn’t matter but I get why ppl are pissed we are essentially threw away the CC final. Southampton I’m less bothered with as he did play majority fringe players.

Big Willie

Sicario2 Anyway we win the league then it doesn’t matter but I get why ppl are pissed we are essentially threw away the CC final.

I get why people are pissed. I didn't want him to play either. But I get it from Arteta's perspective.

Sicario2 now compare the KM ran by Kepa v MLS/Nogaard?

Dunno but that's kind of making my point for me. I'm sure MLS/Norgaard, even ignoring all those extra starts, ran many more KMs than any keeper, Jepa or otherwise.

Klaus

Think Simon Jordan's take on the Sporting game is very good:

Fundamentally agree with his point about going to Lisbon and beating a team no one has been able to beat this season, and all people write about afterwards is how we could have conceded a goal instead, why our forwards aren't scoring more, etc.

Liverpool are looking like clowns tonight by contrast and Ekitike has yet again failed to score against a semi-competent opposition. City got dunked on so badly by Real Madrid that their QF was over after the first leg. It's hardly Arsenal that is embarrassing Premier League in Europe this season.

JazzG

Klaus The golden rule in the CL knockout was always win your home games and make sure you don't lose the away fixture. Seems to be different rules for us.

Klaus

Henry's face here is priceless by the way:

He derives so much joy from Richards putting Carragher in his place.

IBL

Klaus if my grandma had wheels stuff from Carragher, so grating.

Asterix

Klaus "if Havertz hits the post"!! Fuck off.

"If the ref had seen Henchoz's hand" would have been the best comeback.

Claudius

JazzG the only rule is to say we look terrible.

Look, we used to be useless and they could laugh at us, saying things like we don’t like it up us, we are too tippy tappy happy. Then we become successful with a more muscular, less balletic approach. And they criticize that too. We could win this double and they’ll pummel us for not winning the quadruple. It’s dishonest

Klaus

Claudius We're not even less balletic. City and Liverpool haven't had a single performance this season where they played football on the same level as we did against Bayern and Leverkusen. Those games were as good as I've seen Arsenal play in a decade or more.

We're THE team to beat this year, and I think our fans should act accordingly instead of being afraid of a home game against Bournemouth. Everyone dreams about being in the position we're in right now.

JazzG

Sicario2 Good point, probably should have done so. Personally I would have dropped Kepa in the semis.

awooga83

Klaus Bayern was impressive but I don't agree with Leverkusen it's good we won well at home but they aren't a particularly good side and they never looked it in the tie for me either so I don't think that's some standard that means anything. City schooled us pretty well in the final as well so there's lots of variation.

daredevil

Clarence Seedorf, who is arguably the greatest Champions League player of all time has made a point of it during his punditry on Amazon Prime over the last couple of seasons. the importance of believing that you can win the Champions League, and he’s questioned many Arsenal players post-match on whether they believed they could do it.

He asked Rice the question last season who gave him a wishy-washy answer and so did other players who gave him the ‘Let’s see how it goes’ sort of response. Seedorf reflected by saying that the responses were unconvincing. He put the question to David Raya last night after the game who was unequivocal in his answer ‘we believe one hundred percent we can win it’. Seedorf’s reaction said it all. I hope his mentality rubs off on the other players.

QuincyAbeyie

daredevil I don't think a difference in answers to reporter questions necessarily represents a difference in belief.

Tactics

The cheek from Carragher to talk about good football. This is someone who played for Rafa Benitez. Their matches against Chelsea were the most diabolical football matches I have ever seen. Please check out Valdano’s “shit on stick” article.

Even that night in Istanbul they keep going on about, barring a 6-7 minutes blitz, they spent most of that match chasing shadows, fouling and wasting time. The man has no shame, he’s a big disgrace!

Qwiss

Meatwad we are also seeing more attacking returns from Zubi than he's shown before. I think its a bit about the make up of the midfield and the defence. We have 2 sitting mids and our fullbacks are defence first players. That would make most teams a bit conservative. Add to that we don't have an Auba or Sanchez type who will just go at the defence and try to score at all times and we always have the potential to be a bit stodgy.

That said I think at this stage of the CL that's not the worst thing. Look at City crashing out to Real or Liverpool giving so many chances to PSG. I think solidity and patience is a virtue when playing the top teams in Europe.

Tam

Qwiss That said I think at this stage of the CL that's not the worst thing. Look at City crashing out to Real or Liverpool giving so many chances to PSG. I think solidity and patience is a virtue when playing the top teams in Europe.

Against the Sporting Lisbons, PSGs or Bayern Munichs absolutely. The Wolves, Nottingham Forests and Evertons? Not so much.

Qwiss

Tam agree with that too.

Coombs

Tam spot on

daredevil

Tam

I wish we were able to switch gears between expansive and restrictive depending on the opposition. That's also easier to do when the managers change the midfield configuration depending on the opposition - as the midfield setup is the single biggest defining factor to how expansive or restrictive we are.

Personally, I would prefer Rice and Zubi to start every tough game, while Ode and Eze started every home game. While that would be ideal, it's likely not realistic in reality to ensure effective midfield partnerships if it's being changed constantly. Also, Ode being unfit for most of the season ensured that we didn't get to see him and Eze together who would be key to any configuration that creates more chances.

Qwiss

daredevil I think Ode should play deeper in some games and give Zubi and Rice a chance to rest. I think that would allow us to remain cohesive and change gears a bit.

« Previous Page Next Page »