The 20/21 Season

@Jay29 wrote: There's too much "oh no, there's no space in behind, better pass backwards or else we'll lose possession" going on.

THIS! This has to be THE MOST frustrating thing about watching Arsenal the last few weeks.

@AnJl wrote:Its like they sacrifice being footballers to make sure the defense doesn't mess up.

I too think there is a deeply ingrained fear of conceding, because our defense has been shite for years. That's why a 1-0 loss feels like a decent compromise, rather than having to watch another 8-2 or 6-1

Trying to not loose is not the same as trying to win.

Other than the plan not to concede, it seems as though we only have two plans. We are going to hit them on a break and try and pass the ball over the top and hope someone can run under and have an open lane. Or we will try and take the ball down wing (primarily on the left). Since everyone seems to know this now they have moved people from the center to cover our overloaded wing. Then we get pressured into either a pass back, or an errant pass that then is used by opponents to take the ball through the center towards our goal.

I do not want to see us loose as much as anyone! I also remember almost a decade ago when this forum opened that most on here would talk down at the lower level opponents when they would park the bus defensively while trying to hit us with a long ball over the top and get past our high line.

I just wish there was more of a medium. It is so hard for us to break teams down these days that even getting a good shot is hard. So never feeling comfortable until after the players walk off the pitch with a 1-0 or 2-1 win makes me really nervous. We are better but we still do concede too easy adn do not seem to have the ability to get those 5-1 6-2 wins anymore.

Team for tonight's game vs Leicester:

Leno; Bellerin, Luiz, Gabriel, Tierney; Ceballos, Partey, Xhaka; Saka, Lacazette, Aubameyang

Going by the selection of three CMs I'm assuming this is a 4-3-3...

or maybe it's a 3-5-2. We'll see. Probably our best starting XI atm though.

Bench: Runarsson, Mustafi, Maitland-Niles, Elneny, Willock, Pepe, Nketiah

Willian was touch and go for the game. Mustafi makes his return to the squad following injury.

Yea that is a good team. Hopefully a proper 4-3-3

nvm

It's a 5-4-1 out of possession, as usual. Xhaka is dropping into LCB. Likely because of Luiz and his traditional struggles in anything other than a back three.

On the ball it's a more straight forward 4-3-3.

An okay half, I guess? Good things:

- Playing entirely in Leicester's half, with Luiz and Gabriel pushing past the halfway line
- 11 shots, which is a lot more than recent games
- Managing Leciester's minimal threat well by covering long passes or stopping them at source

Bad things:

- Only 2 shots on target
- No clear chance yet
- Ceballos has been sloppy af
- Lacazette keeps fouling

Could do with a bit more invention, be it on the ball or off it. The positioning is too rigid for my liking. Our best progress has been made when the centre backs or Xhaka have played into the channels with longer passes to find Saka or Bellerin. Really would like more play through the middle but atm only Ceballos is breaking forward and we're not finding him enough.

Its a very very good lineup. Traditional 4-3-3 with one of the midfielders sloting in between the center backs on occasions to help the defence. The general play has been very good. Apart from finishing this is so much better play. Tierney and Bellerin providing good width. Moving ceballos behind Lacazette would help abit more to get balls through to front three. Although this whole scenario is helped by LC trying conserve energy for 2nd half when Vardy comes on.

Also the goal should have been given. How can You obstruct the keeper when you are behind him. He was not between the ball and the keeper, so how was he obstructing the view??

Fucking Vardy again.

Another piss poor second half.

Leicester targeting Xhaka's slowness as CB with these long balls, successfully

Arteta is so so naive it's unbelievable

I'm afraid the four letters f l o p becoming pretty much set in stone regarding Pepe the longer this goes on

the guy is all over the place with his head and his limbs

Christian Fuchs winning at the Emirates in 2020
you could not make it up

@Hapless_Hans wrote:I'm afraid the four letters f l o p becoming pretty much set in stone regarding Pepe the longer this goes on

the guy is all over the place with his head and his limbs

It‘s not even a debate anymore, the guy is a massive flop. 72m...

Raul Sanllehi really took us for a drive.

This is pretty much all on Arteta. One of the worst tactical display I've seen

@urbaNRoots wrote:

@Hapless_Hans wrote:I'm afraid the four letters f l o p becoming pretty much set in stone regarding Pepe the longer this goes on

the guy is all over the place with his head and his limbs

It‘s not even a debate anymore, the guy is a massive flop. 72m...

Raul Sanllehi really took us for a drive.

Should have spent 72 on Zaha instead

Seriously, I'm getting tired of these shit attacking displays.

As soon as teams play a deep block against us we have no idea. The team is so rigid there's no movement in the final third. Players act like they're scared to move forward in case they get caught in transition. The ball hits the final third and none of the midfield gets up to support and none of the forwards offer for link-ups. The full-backs or forwards have to do it by themselves but they're often outnumbered.

A bad defence might give up the one chance we need to win, but a good defence like Leicester won't be bothered at all. Neither were City or Liverpool.

I'm super disappointed by Arteta's in-game management, too. Leicester changed the game when Vardy came on. They pressed more aggressively, looked to hit the two runners in Vardy and Under more, and smothered the midfield. You could tell around the 70th minute mark Leicester were going to get a goal but Arteta did nothing. Then afterwards he sticks Nketiah on in that classic "put all the forwards on and hope" way.

If this is how it's going to be against any top-half team, this season is going to be a dumpster fire.

Boy oh boy!!

Arsenal practising Social distancing with Vardy for the goal. When he heads it he is totally free, probably mustafi didnt had the legs to catch him or he doesnt have the mindset to atleast try to catch him. Poor finishing in the first half cost us the game. Vardy scoring against us is a must.

With us lacking Creativity, Ozil's issue is going to come up again. He without a doubt is more creative than the rest of 25 in our PL squad. Even Cesc was mentioned by the commentator just to give an idea of how bad we were against an organise defence.

The end summed it up. Pepe on the left (lol), Auba on the right (lol) and Lacazette in no 10 position behind Nketiah.

Wtf is that?

It's the "oh shit, lost control of the game so better stick on all more forwards and hope somebody pulls something out their arse" approach.

This is countinuation of last season
Dont see how its going to change
Looks unlikely we would do anything in January either

Arteta plays a system (a good system btw) but to make sure his system is in place he plays players out of position. Auba, Laca, Pepe, Saka, Xhaka, Ceballos all of them at some point today were playing positions they are not comfortable playing or atleast they are not good at.
Auba at RW, Laca at AM, Pepe at LW, Saka at RW, Xhaka at CB, Ceballos as DM.

Time to sleep its almost 3 in the morning here.

If you've gotta play so many players out of position, it can't be a good system.

What Arteta's done is make the team more rigid. Players stick to their position and they contribute to defensive phases more, but that rigidity works against him in offensive phases.

The middle of the pitch suffers so much from this. The full backs press on so the midfield has to sit and guard the vacated space - I get that bit. But there's nobody in the space between midfield and attack. Lacazette is playing as a false 9 despite having no passing or dribbling ability. Neither of the wingers are allowed to float and move into that space. The only way to progress the ball is down the sides and it's super predictable.

Auba's had about 7 shots in his last five games. Hasn't scored a league goal since opening day. He's not playing well but we give him nothing to work with at all.

We're too passive in attack. Bear in mind I only watched the second half. Once one of the CBs did a beautiful diagonal ball to Tierney with Leicester out of position and runners coming through. But he passed it back who passed it back who passed it back to the CBs going back to square one.

We've got no one in the middle playing between the lines. Everyone is on the wing. I have no idea why Xhaka was hugging the touching with Tierney and Saka are both there, left footed and staying wide. Even during the late Wenger years it was so easy to transition the ball from midfield with Cazorla to Ozil high up the field. We need some creativity high up the field. Can Ceballos play that role or is he always someone who drops deep to pick up the ball?

Then Pepe came on and did jack all.

Just saw the game. What the actual fuck was Mustafi doing for Vardy's goal? Mofo is jogging as the ball is played over.

And they want him to sign a contract extention? This club ‍�

Also, the way Arsenal are playing now is baffling me so much. When Arteta came in, they were playing some beautiful football, suddenly there is no movement, there is now link up, just run along the wings, stop, pass back. Its so incredibly frustrating to watch that shit again and again. Legit, how is it that we can see this, but managers with their whole damn staff can see this shit?

@silver wrote:We're too passive in attack. Bear in mind I only watched the second half. Once one of the CBs did a beautiful diagonal ball to Tierney with Leicester out of position and runners coming through. But he passed it back who passed it back who passed it back to the CBs going back to square one.

We've got no one in the middle playing between the lines. Everyone is on the wing. I have no idea why Xhaka was hugging the touching with Tierney and Saka are both there, left footed and staying wide. Even during the late Wenger years it was so easy to transition the ball from midfield with Cazorla to Ozil high up the field. We need some creativity high up the field. Can Ceballos play that role or is he always someone who drops deep to pick up the ball?

Then Pepe came on and did jack all.

Pepe has been shit ever since the first month at Arsenal. He was stellar at the beginning, now he looks like he has forgotten how to dribble. Arteta has not used him properly, especially with that stupid thing of Bellerin coming more in and Pepe out wide by the touch line.

Hate to say it but we will not get the best out of Pepe, Laca or Auba with the current tactics. You could put a Ronaldo or Ibrahimović from their prime in this team and we would make them look like failures. We would have them sitting up high waiting for someone to get them the ball and no ability to make any use of them or the center of the pitch.
Push up the wing then pass back to CB push up the wing pass back to the GK then repeat.

"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." Albert Einstein.

I am just not sure that we have anyone in the current team to play in the middle with Ozil cast aside and have seen nothing that makes me feel as though Artetta tactically has anything to provide. I was happy to see Partey come in but always thought that he was more of a luxury, when we needed the center of the pitch AM as a mandatory.