Bournemouth Vs Arsenal

First match for Arteta. wonder which team he will go with?

Don't think there will be a lot of drastic changes. left back area is an issue but Saka did great against Everton there. I'd keep Luiz-Chambers as CB partnership.


--------------------------Leno----------------------------------
AMN-------------Luiz-------------Chambers------------Saka
-------------Xhaka---------Torreira---------------------------
Pepe------------------Ozil----------------------------Nelson
----------------------Auba----------------------------------

Rather not start Ozil but not sure about other options? I'd like to see Nelson behind the striker tbh.

Chambers having a day off today.
Leno
Bellerin--Sokrais-Holding--Saka
------------Torriera------------
-----Willock--------Ozil--------
Pepe---------Laca-----------Auba

Outscore the opponent until we get defensive stability..

Leno; Maitland-Niles, Luiz, Sokratis, Saka; Torreira, Xhaka; Nelson, Ozil, Aubameyang; Lacazette

Subs: Martinez, Mustafi, Mavropanos, Guendouzi, Willock, Smith Rowe, Pepe

Good game. Let down by some poor final balls. But this was a very positive Arsenal performance.

On to the next one.

Promising signs. At times it looked like the old Wenger Arsenal where we created chances but couldn't score only to lose or draw.

But that's a good thing.

Players tried till the last minute. A lot of improvement needed though.

Lacazette needs to be sold. Guy is unbelievably slow and clunky. Not sure what happened to him.

Our crossing is worst than Sunday league

Frustrating performance from the attackers. They were by far the worst part of the team today which is saying something given the state of the backline.

Lacazette in particular was poor. He was a second late on all his decisions and didn't pass with any sort of accuracy. After him, Nelson and, although he wasn't an attacker today, Saka showed they have a long way to go. Nelson is inflicted by typical younger winger syndrome; looks good to a point but ask him to make the right decision and produce and he struggles. Saka failed to complete a single cross all afternoon despite consistently getting into a position to deliver. Tierney and even Kolasinac are going to be sorely missed if this keeps up.

It's not all bad, though. Arsenal's ball usage was far better than it has been all season, and it showed in Torreira's, Xhaka's and Ozil's performances. Midfield has been such a poor area this season but today it was a strength. Even the build-up from the back looked better, albeit there were still errors. Xhaka dropped deep to the left of Luiz to make a back three while Maitland-Niles stepped inside to form a two with Torreira whenever Arsenal began their build-up, and it seemed to work well enough in helping them get out.

Considering he's not even been here a week, Arteta's influence can already been seen and I think we can be reasonably encouraged improvement will come eventually.

Bournemouth had 12 shots to Arsenal's 17.

Pretty sure that's the first time Arsenal have out-shot an opponent away from home in several months.

Just two on target, though.

xG 1.55 vs 1.42.

This is the 3rd manager who has now benched Pepe rather than starting him. I wonder if it was due to his ongoing injury or tactical decision. But Pepe came on and showed why he should have been on 20 minutes earlier.

I think he will start against Chelsea.

Think we will go with Chambers-Luiz against Chelsea too. Same fullbacks.

Xhaka took some interesting positions at the left. Although he should have done better for the 1st goal. Torreira was good as the tackler but he lacks the technique going forward. We need Ceballos back to carry the ball. Ozil had a lot of space today but didn't utilise it well.

Willock was a poor sub.

It's probably work rate with Pepe.

At Lille he was the outlet so he wasn't required as often to come back or even close down.

At Arsenal though he has to do that because there's Ozil, Lacazette and Aubameyang who would all rather not defend and pick and choose when they want to.

So it's a case of needing to pick only two or three of these guys and atm Pepe is the easy one to bench.

I think it's a style issue with Pepe too... he's not a possession player. At Lille, it was counter attacks and just get the ball and go. He was also the primary scorer... so he had freedom to roam and play inside.

At Arsenal, they want him to play wide and also defend with work rate. I also see hesitation with him that didn't exist at Lille.... as if he's trying to figure whether he should attack or if he's supposed to play for possession.

It's a transition for him. But regardless, you've got to unleash him. He's useless otherwise.

I have seen the light
Same setup,switch sides in terms of profile of players
Then in the same way we used saka n Auba we can use pepe and Adama
New LCM, idealy right footed who can receive/play between the lines and get the team up the pitch(Grealish would be a good choice)
Then left back taking more laid back approach and tuck in with LW high and wide that the way to go

Here’s a breakdown of some of the passages of play from the first half.https://t.co/zHZA91ueDx

— PM (@ThatGooner) December 27, 2019