Atlas
Lost a sausage bet on Xhaka 😭
We must have been watching a different game I thought he played very well. Anyone who thinks hes not good enough for us needs their head checked he's one of the best fullbacks in the league.
This is a problem that’s been around for ages. As simple as it sounds, we just don’t compete at all. The amount of first and second balls we lose is frightening.Not being funny but he is a capable enough player to look up sometimes. Or just keep ball.
Sometimes there’s no one around him and he just clears it. Our team is not the tallest or the most combative so I don’t get it.
I love sticking the boot in Mikel when I can, but I am dubious about pinning it entirely on his tactics, I suspect it’s a crutch for our players.
Don’t think anyone’s saying he’s not good enough for us. He’s one of our better players for sure. I just thought he had a poor game yesterday up until the last 10 minutes where he was good. Yet his rep seems to mean you’re not allowed to criticise him and every game he’s a 10 out of 10.We must have been watching a different game I thought he played very well. Anyone who thinks hes not good enough for us needs their head checked he's one of the best fullbacks in the league.
He is used as a creator by Arteta. It’s not that he decides to play same way every match. He is our go to attacking play where we give him the ball and he puts on crossesAnyone remember what it was like to watch him defend? I remember him being rather good at it.
From an attacking point of view, he picks up the ball too early, full backs are most effective when they make a late overlap and pick up a lay off from the winger. Then they can decide whether to cross or take the ball on the dribble into the box. At the moment he picks up the ball to early, when he gets it, a lot of the time he has to beat the full back before crossing.
Rusty to last night. But no concerns over his class. Would like to see more variation on his crossing. Or more so, him getting to the byline and cutting it back
He shouldn’t be such a prominent attacking outlet for us. Cross every now and then sure, but he’s arguably our main avenue for attacks which is bonkers.
Good post mpower, our compete level was just not there at all yesterday. We don't win our duels and immediately put ourselves under pressure and the opposition gains confidence by the minute. And even if individually we may have a moment of excellence, it's typically negated by the following interaction.This is a problem that’s been around for ages. As simple as it sounds, we just don’t compete at all. The amount of first and second balls we lose is frightening.
Brentford didn’t do anything special, they just out hustled us. They actually started quite poorly but they won a few contests and their confidence just rose. Our only out is to knock it up for Pepe to win the header cos no one else can.
It’s the thing that hurts me most about this team tbh. There’s no intention to win the duel or the ball, we look scared. Brentford put a little press on and we folded, they got out of our press easily. The second goal I mean Jesus you’d be upset if your under 11’s conceded that.
It’s so evident how teams no longer fear us whatsoever. I’ve said before, they play the name and the badge for about 10 minutes before realising “hang on this lot are ****”. I don’t care what style we want to play, if you don’t earn the right to play it, particularly away from home, then your doomed.
It hasn’t been there in years. Just been watching Liverpool, 5 years ago they were nowhere, they then sack a good coach for an elite one and through sensible decision making and clarity of vision they’ve built such an impressive side. Matip and VVD are mountains at the back with two dynamic full backs either side, pace, power and quality in forward areas and a midfield that lets be honest isn’t even that technical but it’s strong and it competes for every ball.Good post mpower, our compete level was just not there at all yesterday. We don't win our duels and immediately put ourselves under pressure and the opposition gains confidence by the minute. And even if individually we may have a moment of excellence, it's typically negated by the following interaction.
His crosses are always good but pointless as we don't have players to work with that. The chances he created for Pepe and Balogun is a much better approach, lifting the ball in the air doesn't work for usI remember when all his crosses looked threatening, Arteta has also ruined this guy
You get a CF who attacks those crosses, let's say someone like Abraham, Tierney ends up with more assists than Alexander-Arnold. The other way around it would be if we would have more bodies in the box but with the lack of mobility from Xhaka, there's no way we can have that. That makes Willock sale a bit questionable as he was the only player who actually fits into what Tierney/Arteta is doingAs much as his crossing pisses me off, the team is failing him I have to be honest.
He's the only guy with any sort of aggression whatsoever. If only we had a right sided version but I dunno where you find those.