We are too inconsistent and perplexed under Arteta, there's no distinct style of play.Today, obviously. But, I mean, not all games are the same?
We did the double on Brighton last year and absolutely battered them in the last game of last season (with Brighton having a better/healthier roster than now, and us having a worse squad than now). Last weekend we blew away Tottenham while Brighton were awful against Palace. It's pro sports. Some times some teams get the better of others, and then the next time it goes the other way. Over-reaction takes to 1 game are usually going to be kind of garbage.
We are too inconsistent and perplexed under Arteta, there's no distinct style of play.
+1 to this. People are reading too much into win vs. Spuds + Xhaka playing vs. loss vs. Brighton + Xhaka not playing. There are too many differences between Spuds and Brighton to read too much into it. Brighton pressed high, are much better organized than Spuds and gave our midfielders no time on the ball. Even if Xhaka were available, I can't see him improving our side today at all.Funny how people are saying Xhaka would've made a difference when the guy has got destroyed by pressing teams too many times. I mean Brentford's press killed him but apparently he would've been just fine against a better pressing team
The less he plays, the better he gets as usual
So you think Xhaka, who sh!ts the bed against pressing teams, would have made a difference?He's better at holding possession and spreading the ball around as a midfield passing turret getting it to guys in space than the players in the squad today. We didn't handle their press well and their domination in minutes 10-35 or so (most of the game outside of that stretch was pretty even) was based off a lot of poor passes and sloppy turnovers through our midfield. We kept turning the ball over and it just kept building momentum for them.
Partey/Lokonga cannot take the ball forward even a few paces. This is creating a big gap.
With AMN, we probably win the game. He can actually run with the ball for more than a few steps.
I thought the defence did really well, Brighton had a lot of shots but most were pretty speculative efforts and didn't have any clear cut chances really.Didnt watch the game. Clean sheet - Was it a case of the defense being coordinated and strong, or Brighton's lack of finishing?
We are not playing possession game under Arteta lmao, we can barely hold the ball.Sure there is. We're trying to build from the back and play a possession game similar to what City do (with better players) and Brighton do (with worse players). We have a very young team - youngest starting 11 in the PL by a wide margin - and sometimes it clicks and sometimes it doesn't, but it's very clear what we're trying to do.
Partey was fine mate, did you not see the amount of critical blocks and tackles he put in. Even the simpleton commentary team I watched the game with on a dodgy feed acknowledged it. He’s had worse games for us. Agree a lot of poor performances though. Laca sharpened things up at the end, wish he was on earlier. Gabriel was a monster out there.Well, that wasn't very good.
Ramsdale, White, Gabriel all did very well. ESR and Saka tried but the end product wasn't really there. Lacazette helped when he came on. Tomiyasu really struggled early against the impressive Cucurella but sorted himself as the game went along.
It's all well and good to blame the manager - and Arteta was outdone by Potter today - but the players have to hold some responsibility as well. You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink, and some players just didn't show up today and had shocking performances. Tierney and Partey had maybe their worst games in an Arsenal shirt, Auba was dire, Sambi was totally aimless, Ødegaard completely uninvolved and invisible. The game turned in minutes 10-20 because individual players who should be better made a series of loose/sloppy plays to cheaply turn over possession and hand momentum to Brighton.
CM remains the team's biggest problem. I'm no huge Xhaka fan but the dropoff from him to Lokonga/AMN/Elneny is massive, and with Partey having a poor game their midfield just killed ours.
Better hold up play and we don't lose the ball numbers of times. Not the big difference but the way we play it make difference it doesn't matter yesterday because 7 of our players had off day only Ramsdale white Gabriel and ESR had decent gameI didn't even watch the game but i will ask. What would Xhaka have done today that would have influenced the game in a different way?
Good post. I think what we also were missing was the right mindset and commitment. Rainy day against a well drilled Brighton. They seemed like not ready a 100% for that. Loosing too many balls and challenges. A point is ok but how we played was not encouraging.Performance was fine, clean sheet again and clearly the defence is finding their feet.
Equally clearly the attack is just nowhere near. Interesting that these defenders have played about 4 games together while these attackers have played about 20-30. You'd think they should be understanding each other about now but it's just not happening.
Three choices imo:
- Arteta just can't create goals
- We don't have quality enough attackers
- Our formation is too defensive
I suspect it's a combination of all of the above. Single pivot with Partey seems like it's worth a try. I think ESR and Ode don't generally play well together, but also neither do Pepe and Saka. Even if everyone's fit and in form I'm not sure we have a solid front combination to work with.
'3rd fewest goals conceded' when we finish 8th again can't wait.
Arteta needs to stop sacrificing our midfielders freedom so that Tierney can play high and spam crosses into strikers who are useless in the air.Performance was fine, clean sheet again and clearly the defence is finding their feet.
Equally clearly the attack is just nowhere near. Interesting that these defenders have played about 4 games together while these attackers have played about 20-30. You'd think they should be understanding each other about now but it's just not happening.
Three choices imo:
- Arteta just can't create goals
- We don't have quality enough attackers
- Our formation is too defensive
I suspect it's a combination of all of the above. Single pivot with Partey seems like it's worth a try. I think ESR and Ode don't generally play well together, but also neither do Pepe and Saka. Even if everyone's fit and in form I'm not sure we have a solid front combination to work with.