The 20/21 Season

Leno- Bellerin-Gabriel-Luiz-Tierney-Saka-Elneny-Ceballos-Auba-Willian-Nketiah

no xhaka is interesting

Lol Elneny going to get plenty of game time since we have only 3 Cms and gotta rotate them when possible

Edge of the seat stuff here

Feels like we keep signing backup players only to start them.

What the fuck was this that we had to watch
And if it wasnt bad enough then Auba injury scare as well

Missing Ozil a lot these days. Even a finished one.

get innnnnnnnnnnn

Ah that was 18/19 Pépé for a moment
Another umconvincing performance
But havent dropped points in games we shouldnt yet
But how long this can go on

Sheffield United offered nothing except one great goal out of nowhere, so no worries at the back.

Our chance creation is just so below average, though. We're getting through games by creating at least one good chance from a small number of shots and it's not enough. We need more volume because eventually we'll stop converting that one good chance.

I really hope we start with Auba upfront next match

---------------Auba-------------------
Saka---------Willian-----------Pepe
----------Xhaka----Ceballos----------
Tierney----Gabriel--Luiz--------Bellerin

moving Willian to the makeshift 10 spot was the foresight RG and I had since we got him from Chelsea.

No use in playing him outwide when he doesn't have runners around him. His biggest qualities are his smarts for the game, his movement and passing, he doesn't have pace anymore so he cant take on fullbacks with success to initiate attacks.

has to be the attack against any sides home or away not called City or Liverpool from now on going forward plsssss Arteta don't be stubborn and see the reality for what it is!!!!

Ceballos definitely is our first choice midfielder at the moment. Let's see if we can get another midfielder in tomorrow, out of nowhere.

RealGunner wrote:I really hope we start with Auba upfront next match

---------------Auba-------------------
Saka---------Willian-----------Pepe
----------Xhaka----Ceballos----------
Tierney----Gabriel--Luiz--------Bellerin

highly unlikely since City away is our next match

What changed the game for me was bringing on Pepe and moving Willian to the left. Suddenly we had players coming inside into the half spaces and passing options behind Sheffied United's midfield.

There was some neat rotations going on as well, where Bellerin would come inside when Pepe was out wide, Saka would come in from the left when Willian went wide, Elneny dropped to become a 3rd CB to protect the space so Bellerin could get forward, etc. We were doing that against Fulham and looked a lot more dangerous.

Felt like today Willian and Auba were staying too wide and there wasn't enough central movement to disrupt Sheffield United's shape.

Tbh the more I see us play this formation the more I think we should play the 3-4-1-2 instead.


Auba can peel left so we can still get those left-side rotations with Tierney and Saka while Willian plays more as a 10.

I would like to see Pépé and Willian on the same side dovetailing if Bellerin isnf going to make constant overlapping runs
Pépé closer to touchline....then willian looking to recieve reverse pass around the box and Pépé cutting inside and Willian going down the line

Ceballos is so good. We are lucky he likes us

Our right side of attack is always such a black hole. Maybe it's because Auba is our best player so we try to shift the ball there as much as possible. Or maybe ALL our best players prefer the left side (xhaka, saka, tierney, AMN, Auba).

But nothing rarely happens on the right unless Pepe turns up. Like today.

could say it's because Bellerin isn't the most natural attacking fullback, but he has had a good start to the season

Think Bellerin is showing some good developments to his game. Doesn't have the same recovery pace so he's had to learn to be more crafty progressing the ball.

Picks his moments to dribble a little better and as has been mentioned, we overloaded the right side when he tucked in with Willian and Pepe combining wider.

I really think Arteta needs to turn the wheel slightly towards the attacking side. During attacks our DM (Xhaka/Elneny) go and fill out the full back slot just to make sure we are ready for the transition. Ceballos comes as our deepest midfielder. So its basically a flat 3-3-4 when attacking hence we do not have anyone in between the lines to connect and disrupt the discipline of the opposing team. Against SHU in the last match as soon as pepe was on we saw Willian giving the left flank to Saka and he drifted in the middle of the park and suddenly we had passes that were threaded through the back line for our runners to latch on to. Once willian got back out wide with Saka coming inside we lost that swift passing ability and kept passing sideways again.

it's so obvious tbh, just play Willian in that floating 10 role. It's so obvious
he can interchange positions with Saka if things become too stale throughout a match to keep defenders guessing, but the obvious is so obvious, let's make dua that Arteta sees it too and does the right thing!

with getting Partey i can forsee multiple midfield combos that can work for us. Three of which i will post here,


https://i.servimg.com/u/f69/18/75/76/10/img_ka10.jpg

https://i.servimg.com/u/f69/18/75/76/10/img_5h10.jpg

https://i.servimg.com/u/f69/18/75/76/10/img_4z10.jpg

the first seems most obvious. Control, character and leadership. It would particularly work very well if Partey shields Xhaka's weaknesses and brings the best out of his game. Could also become our go to vs big games.
The second one, dynamic and fast, all technical players, could be the one we use for when teams are defending in a low, deep block.
The third could be the surprise. The Egyptian Pirlo has definitely impressed more than Xhaka so far, and if Xhaka can't cut it, this one could be the one.

I like Xhaka's leadership, he brings calmness to our midfield when we're on top of things. But when we're being pushed back hard and the pressure is on us, he is usually one of the first one's to crumble because he is sooo slow, and his first instinct which is to pass the ball sideways is usually cut off. Elneny is more nimble with the ball at his feet, and if we continue with wanting to play the ball out from the back, and do it faster, Xhaka's place might be under serious threat.
Obviously there are various variations of these lineups. Saka could slot into the second one too at the top, with Willian out wide. It doesn't necessarily have to be in that shape the whole game, it can be a flat midfield 3 at some points of the game too. Just really depends on the opposition and how the game is going.

But with Partey we definitely have more flexibility now. Let's hope Arteta sees the vision and gets it absolutely right, it's time our midfield starts shining again, pls!

This is all good but we play two in the middle these days. Until we revert to back 4 (which I think would not be a good idea at this point) these worldly combos sadly arent for us.

Sadly the amount of goals we conceded in the Unai era led to this back 3 decision which would give an extra man to defend but a man less in the middle. The most common casualty is the tip of the diamond. For me this 3-4-3 is the whole reason we cannot accomodate Ozil in this team. I with all the love for Ozil cannot accommodate him in this formation without the risk of conceding goals.

it's time to move away from that back 3 when we play lesser teams to have that extra body in the midfield. With Partey we now have an extra midfielder who can naturally sit back and help out the defense when needed.

like i said in the other thread the only problem at the moment is Gabriel doesn't have a solid partner. Luiz can't play in a 4-man defense apparently.

I think Partey would allow us to transition more to a back 4 too, which is what Arteta would prefer to play more attacking football. We didn't have a proper #6 - Xhaka and Torreira weren't the best options for that, even if we tried to put them there, and the likes of Guendouzi/Elneny/Ceballos/.. are more CM/B2B than DM. Partey should bring enough defensive shielding for us to allow us to play 2 more forward-oriented midfielders next to/ahead of him without exposing the backline.

Partey isn't a proper #6 either. He's more Vieira than Petit, if you will.

He is good at defending, though. His stats for aerial duels, interceptions and recoveries are all good (in the context of Atletico's system, at least). The real boon from this signing is the dribbles and take-ons. He trumps all our other mids in that.

So he's a player who can come deep to collect and then carry the ball through the lines which gives us an excellent alternative for when we can't pass out. He can break into the opposition half, has a good range of passing (he plays as a 10 for Ghana) and enough tactical understanding and discipline to position himself well in transitions. Simeone called him one of the best in the world at doing that.

He's a flexible players and that's probably why Arteta wanted him. He can play different roles depending on the situation e.g. if Ceballos goes forward he can drop in, or if Ceballos/Xhaka go deep he can step up. We've been crying out for a mid who can carry since Wilshere/Ox left too.

I'm not sure if his signing means an instant transition from back three to back four. The back three is part defensive insurance, part extra man during the build-up phase at the expense of an extra player during midfield consolidation/chance creation. It's a cover for the limitations of players like Holding, Luiz and Xhaka.