Everton vs Arsenal

Ljungberg's final game as caretaker, and he's picked one hell of a line-up:

Leno; Maitland-Niles, Chambers, Luiz, Saka; Torreira, Xhaka; Nelson, Smith Rowe, Martinelli; Aubameyang

Subs: Martinez, Mavropanos, Mustafi, Guendouzi, Willock, Pepe, Lacazette

Bellerin, Holding, Ceballos, Kolasinac and Tierney are all injured to varying degrees.

Ozil is injured as well apparently but meh.

Wishing these kids the best because it's going to be tough against an Everton team that'll undoubtedly be physical.

ESR>Ozil anyways

It's so annoying to watch how frustrating our midfielders positioning is. No inclination to move forward, they just pass it back to the defenders

Instead of taking positions and moving around, they just stand there and stroll around, passing it back to the defence to punt it forward.

Ffs Mina dribbled around 3 of our players

Wtf is ESR and Nelson doing as the ball is being played in midfield, they just fucking stand there strolling around.

RealGunner wrote:ESR>Ozil anyways

nvm

he needs a loan spell

RealGunner wrote:

RealGunner wrote:ESR>Ozil anyways

nvm

he needs a loan spell

This is because of the stupid tactics. He is just standing there and strolling around instead of coming for the ball and keeping it moving.

Auba must feel pretty confused looking around at his teammates

like some christmas comedy where he wakes up and is a teenager again

Would be nice if he was actually interested at all

Confidence does a lot for a team.

You can tell a player to move, to drop short, go into the half-spaces, etc. but if he's not feeling good about himself he's not going to do it.

Likewise with the midfielders. They're hesitant to play the riskier pass through the lines because if they lose it it's going to be yet another transition they have to defend.

Arsenal are playing it very safe, which has everything to do with their form and situation. They're retreating back into shape when Everton have the ball and hoofing it at the first sign of pressure on the backline. Then they're relying on three teenagers in attacking midfield to make the difference but it's a lot to ask of them.

That's before you get into whether these guys are good enough or not. Smith Rowe's first touch has been consistently heavy in every first team game I've seen him play and Nelson plays like he doesn't make decisions before receiving the ball and ends up taking too many touches.

Aubameyang isn't trying but when he looks behind him and sees that midfield, you kinda see his point.

Not sure why you would field a team of kids in a relegation 6 pointer

Hapless_Hans wrote:Not sure why you would field a team of kids in a relegation 6 pointer

Seniors are awful

what the hell is wrong with Duncan Ferguson

Big Dunc is pro hard brexit

Am I the only one noticing how we forget to pass/move through the center?

Like, Willock got the ball after Laca fought for it, then instead of running into ample space down the centre, Willock takes it to the fucking line and tries out running Sidibe who is easily more powerful than him?

Also, Xhaka is worthless. He doesnt pass forward, he doesnt move, he doesnt run, he doesnt defend, he just passes it around or back to Luiz.


Also, Ljunberg is still has a lot to learn, he should go nowhere near head manager roles.. He can be a great first team coach/assistant manager at best.

First clean sheet in 15 games.

I guess Arsenal got the point they wanted, but it was a very poor game from both teams with an alarming lack of quality on the ball.

I'm not going to criticise Ljungberg too much because this situation was way too big for him to handle and he wasn't adequately supported. He has to win games but the senior players who can do that aren't on his side or aren't interested anymore. As a coach, you'd go with the guys you know are going to run that little bit harder for you, even if they aren't the best players available to you.

He was just the wrong guy at the wrong time, ultimately. He wasn't a new voice for the players because he's been there since the start of the season, and he couldn't shake things up because in the end he knew he was only a placeholder. The club not giving him any more than a couple of temp. coaches told him that much.

Now we'll see how Arteta copes with this squad and if he can get those guys caring again, at least until the end of the season.

Jay29 wrote:Likewise with the midfielders. They're hesitant to play the riskier pass through the lines because if they lose it it's going to be yet another transition they have to defend.

That is Arteta's career as a midfielder. Doubt he has changed as a manager.

Arteta's positional sense was immense so he rarely had to chase back transitions. our defensive record when he was our holding mid was fantastic.

Yes, because he barely played a pass forward if it wasn't safe to do so. How many assists did he get in his whole career?

AnJl wrote:Am I the only one noticing how we forget to pass/move through the center?

Like, Willock got the ball after Laca fought for it, then instead of running into ample space down the centre, Willock takes it to the fucking line and tries out running Sidibe who is easily more powerful than him?

didn't watch the game, but this sounds familiar. The whole fucking season mate, and it highlights one of our biggest deficits at the moment - which is our poor, unbalanced, malfunctioning midfield. We always used to be a shit defensive team since 2009, and until 2016 we had some form of quality and balance in our attack and midfield so that we can still score goals and play some eye catching football here and there. But now we've reached our lowest point this century.

danyjr wrote:Yes, because he barely played a pass forward if it wasn't safe to do so. How many assists did he get in his whole career?

first of all he never was a 10, he was an 8 if anything else. He had good positional awareness and an eye for the game like RG pointed out.

Just because he lacked specific qualities of as a playing midfielder, doesn't mean he will let his entire midfield play like he did as a midfielder