The 20/21 Season

Saka what a Gem,may as well be bigger talent than Sancho
Great 1st half,more of the same please

Sina wrote:Saka what a Gem may as well bw bigger talent than Sancho
Great 1st half,more of the same please

I think they both need to show some sustainability before we can discuss whether or not they're in some kind of elite bracket of players. Sancho's been world class on occasion, but he's also been sub-par for longer stretches of time. I'm not familiar with Saka, but I assume he's had even less time in the limelight.

hopefully this means Auba is back! that run he took in the second half to beat the defender with the ball at his feet seems to suggest so!

Arsenal XI: Leno, Cedric, Gabriel, Luiz, Bellerin, Xhaka, Ceballos, Saka, Odegaard, Smith Rowe, Aubameyang

El Gunner wrote:hopefully this means Auba is back! that run he took in the second half to beat the defender with the ball at his feet seems to suggest so!

Emery P78 W43 D16 L19 Fired
Artetta P66 W34 D13 L19

Unai Emery awaits us in the last 16.

^^wait.. did we actually draw them... or?

no we drew Olympiacos

our favourite team

Good turnaround. Looks like Pepe is playing well

This is our level now. Not like we played Burnley out of the park and we were unlucky. Burnley had just as many good chances as we did.

What I don't understand is how pedestrian our attack looks that even relegation battling teams can look better. When Burnley got the ball and attacked, they flooded the box with players. When we get the ball, we pass it to Xhaka who passes it to the CBs and ends up with a hopeful Luiz or Xhaka long ball. We never get more than 3 players (Auba, Saka and occasionally Odegaard) in the box. We've lost any resemblance of a one-two or pass-and-move. Only ESR does that constantly. Its more pass, stand there, wait for the return ball, pass, no options, back to Xhaka. Doesn't help that our CMs refuse to make any sort of forward run. If that's their game, Arteta should realize that and realize we need more attacking emphasis and sub them. Not to mention our passes are so incredibly slow that the cover defense always has time to come across.

Our attack has been so poor all year and its incredible nothing has been done about it yet.

yea the only bright spark in our attacking movement has been ESR, and then Saka's talent

The progress under Arteta is that we drew the game whereas towards the end of wenger's era or the unai season we surely would have lost this type of game where we missed glaring chances early on and referring decisions went against us etc.

This is our level now. Not like we played Burnley out of the park and we were unlucky. Burnley had just as many good chances as we did.

xG says otherwise. Burnley 1.10 vs Arsenal 2.54.

Burnley's one good chances was Wood vs Leno in the second half. Wood's goal barely counts as a chance given the freakish nature of it.

Arsenal's chances were Auba's goal, Auba's miss in first half, Partey's shot in the first half, Saka's miss in first half, Pepe miss in second half, Pepe hitting the bar, and Ceballos hitting the post.

Basically, Arsenal weren't efficient enough with their finishing and paid the price for giving up a very easy goal to the opposition. Same thing happened against Wolves, Villa and Benfica in the EL. Arsenal are a very inconsistent attacking team at the moment.

As a demonstration, in their last 16 games in all comps, they've:

Scored 3 or more goals 7 times
Scored 2 goals 1 time
Scored 1 goal 4 times
Scored 0 goals 4 times

It's feast or famine. Couple that with an annoying tendency to give the opposition easy goals and you get a recipe for a mid-table finish.

And I know everyone's bored of xG but the signs are generally okay for Arteta:



He had a period of very poor play, but has managed to turn it around and get things trending in a more positive direction which bodes well.

^^the only reason he's "turned things around" is because he was basically forced into switching to a 4-2-3-1 and play ESR.. i wouldn't say it was his initial smarts and vision that got him to that formation

Who can say for sure?

I don't really believe Smith Rowe forced him to change formation, because he could have played in the front three of the 3-4-3. Rather, I think he recognised the need for a third midfield player even if it meant relying on a kid. It so happened to work out.

It seems unfair to bash him for his earlier mistakes and then not give him credit for making the changes when he did.

Not sure what it is that he has turned around.

Emery P78 W43 D16 L19 Fired
Artetta P69 W36 D14 L19
2020-2021 EPL season P27 W11 D5 L11

Leno, Bellerin, Luiz, Gabriel, Tierney, Partey, Xhaka, Saka, Odegaard, Willian, Aubameyang

RealGunner wrote:Leno, Bellerin, Luiz, Gabriel, Tierney, Partey, Xhaka, Saka, Odegaard, Willian, Aubameyang

That should suffice.

i swear this c-u-n-t has Mourinho levels of stubbornness with his selections, without having any merit behind his managing career

Ø like Ö scoring his first Arsenal goal in European comp
Nice one
Have to get another away goal, been the better side

Should have won this 5-0 lol

Or lost this 0-3.

Our attack was a lot better with more movement, cutting, and pulling their defenders out of position. But a better team would have punished us with the 3 big giveaways (Odegaard, Luiz, Ceballos).

Also a bit frustrated with the lack of early subs. Aubameyang and Saka are clearly our best players but Aubameyang just wasn't getting into the game, and Saka was gassed in the second half. There was one moment in the second half when Odegaard was driving forward with the ball on a mini break and Saka was just standing there / jogging. ESR or Martinalli would have provided much more tempo.

Overall much more positives than the Burnley game.

Is there a reason why Martinelli isn't playing at all?

most likely fitness but no one knows

Im loving the ESR (left) - Odegaard (middle) set up!
Now just imagine if we had Martinelli playing up top!
4 hungry young players up top killing things!

Saka still looks a bit fatigued though atm, needs more rest.