Loss EFL Cup 3rd Round: Arsenal 1 - 3 Brighton And Hove Albion | Wednesday 9th November | KO: 19:45 GMT | No Streams, Stop Asking For One

Play the kids.

That's what Wenger would do.

 

[Wrighty4eva]

This squad is mid-table without Partey, Jesus and Saliba simple as, the sooner we get rid of dross like Balding, Nketiah, Cedric, Lakonga, Elneny and actually get some proper players results like this will continue to happen, Edu has his work cut out for himself in January if we want to truly compete for top honors come January, No ****ing BBQing sign some players.

 

[DJ_Markstar]

This squad is mid-table without Partey, Jesus and Saliba simple as, the sooner we get rid of dross like Balding, Nketiah, Cedric, Lakonga, Elneny and actually get some proper players results like this will continue to happen, Edu has his work cut out for himself in January if we want to truly compete for top honors come January, No ****ing BBQing sign some players.

No offence mate but you're chatting ****. Saka, Martinelli, Ødegaard, White, Gabriel, Zinchenko and Ramsdale are all top players.

 

[Wrighty4eva]

No offence mate but you're chatting ****. Saka, Martinelli, Ødegaard, White, Gabriel, Zinchenko and Ramsdale are all top players.

None taken mate, all those players minus Zinchenko were here last season, and when Partey dropped out of the team, so did our form, the addition of Saliba Plus Jesus and a Fit Partey is the only reason we are where we are now, sorry to break it to you.

 

[Haphazard]

Don't care about this result tbh, just hope we recruit in Jan because the drop off in quality between our first team and second team is stark

Having said that I think Sp**s lost and Pool were held to a draw, I think many sides have the world cup on their mind right now.

 

[Riou]

 

[Wryer]

Tad worried about Vieira. He was brought in to properly compete with the first team. Obviously I didn’t watch the full game, but the reviews aren’t exactly glowing. Recall there was also a few recent games where he came on and was disappointing to say the least.

Hope he catches the early form again and get some consistency going.

 

[yorch44]

This squad is mid-table without Partey, Jesus and Saliba simple as, the sooner we get rid of dross like Balding, Nketiah, Cedric, Lakonga, Elneny and actually get some proper players results like this will continue to happen, Edu has his work cut out for himself in January if we want to truly compete for top honors come January, No ****ing BBQing sign some players.

La Congaaaa!

 

[bergholt]

This squad is mid-table without Partey, Jesus and Saliba simple as, the sooner we get rid of dross like Balding, Nketiah, Cedric, Lakonga, Elneny and actually get some proper players results like this will continue to happen, Edu has his work cut out for himself in January if we want to truly compete for top honors come January, No ****ing BBQing sign some players.

Luckily Jan isn't BBQ season so he'll have nothing better to do than his job

 

[yorch44]

Luckily Jan isn't BBQ season so he'll have nothing better to do than his job

You are wrong, Brazil has no winter. Whole year is BBQ time there.

 

[bergholt]

You are wrong, Brazil has no winter. Whole year is BBQ time there.

Oh damn is that why he's only signing Brazilians - because he lives there full time? Bastard.

 

[Sapient Hawk]

It's good that we're out. Hopefully, there were no injuries.

 

[Legend14]

Who cares? ****ty cup, no one wanted to win it. Glad to get the game congestion down tbh.

Pretty obvious not many care about the cup. The question was about the players performance. Need to know who is will not be here in Jan.

 

[14Henry]

This squad is mid-table without Partey, Jesus and Saliba simple as, the sooner we get rid of dross like Balding, Nketiah, Cedric, Lakonga, Elneny and actually get some proper players results like this will continue to happen, Edu has his work cut out for himself in January if we want to truly compete for top honors come January, No ****ing BBQing sign some players.

Squad isn't mid table without them. Partey hardly played half the matches last season and the other two weren't here and we finished 5th. Hardly mid table.

That said you take 3 of the best players out of any team and there's a drop. Imagine City without Dias/KDB/Haaland. Or Liverpool without Allison/VVD/Salah.

We do have a problem with the depth of our squad but that is hard to address when you aren't playing CL football.

 

[Big Poppa]

See this is my problem with squad players and the discussions about them. In essence, squaddies are fine when paired with a host of first teamers. They are serviceable, non-offensive. I truly believe Nketiah for example could score a similar amount of goals Jesus has if given the same amount of minutes. However, when squaddies are paired with other squaddies, no one stands out. Games become a turgid affair and everyone misunderstand the levels that these players are. That is why I am not gonna lose my head in games like this because I know what these guys.

First team players stand out, while squad players fit in. To really raise our level, we need first team players on the bench. Easier said than done, but it has to be done. You either have to give them a healthy wage packet or you find a way to give them minutes to alleviate the lack of game time. I think that is why City take every competition seriously. It's not just trophies, but giving their squaddies to feel included and to fight for something in their limited time. I can see why Arteta takes these cups seriously and I think we should continue to do so.

Yeah well said.

 

[drippin]

None taken mate, all those players minus Zinchenko were here last season, and when Partey dropped out of the team, so did our form, the addition of Saliba Plus Jesus and a Fit Partey is the only reason we are where we are now, sorry to break it to you.

We lost Partey, Tierney and Tomiyasu all at the same time when the form dropped. Not only Partey. During the spell when losing to Palace, Brighton and Southampton in a row.

The replacements were Tavares and Cedric. It's understandable how much that affects build up and defending. Now we have Zinchenko and Tomiyasu who cover fullback positions plus Cedric as extreme cover/rotation.

Losing only Partey would not have similar effect, or even one fullback.

 

[The_Playmaker]

I think this is an indication of why we won't win the league. Our lack of depth is telling. We would require a lot of luck to have all our players fit and in form for a long period of time.

We lack everything apart from full back depth which is telling, but we are not City. It won't be a case of having two players for every position ar the highest level. Even City don't have a 50 million CF back up.

What we need is more players who can play the system.

Cedric, Tierney, Holding, Lokonga,Marquinhos, Elneny, Nelson. They all are either not good enough or can't play the system, but I think we need to be smart about squad building and do it in pods.

The back 4 is covered, but we need a LCB who can play like Ben White as a full back.

RB: White, Tomi
Rcb: Saliba, Tomi, White
LCB: Gabriel, ?????, Tomi
Lb: Zinchenko,??????, Tomi

So that extra player needs to fill those two positions. Then you have 6 players for 4 positions essentially.

We are all shopping for left 8s, but are probably forgetting that we have a natural successor in Zinchenko who can play there. What we need is a tall fast Lb who can invert and literally nullify our only weakness.

Dm: Partey,????????, Elneny
CM: Xhaka, Zinchenko
AM: Ødegaard, Vieira

We need a more able DM. We lose too much when Partey isn't in the team.

RW: Saka,??????
Cf: Jesus, Nketiah
LW: Martinelli, ESR

We need a winger who can play both flanks, OR a CF who can play as a winger, remembering that Jesus can do what Saka does from the right.

We need 3 high quality signings to allow for optimal rotation.

 

[freeglennhelder2]

The thread title is very telling - a competition so unloved that we don't even know its proper name.

Any streams?

 

[MartiSaka]

I'm worried about viera, doesn't look up to it physically for a arteta style system. I was hoping he could compete with Oordegaard and provide a comparable standard

 

[drippin]

The back 4 is covered, but we need a LCB who can play like Ben White as a full back.

RB: White, Tomi
Rcb: Saliba, Tomi, White
LCB: Gabriel, ?????, Tomi
Lb: Zinchenko,??????, Tomi

So that extra player needs to fill those two positions. Then you have 6 players for 4 positions essentially.

We are all shopping for left 8s, but are probably forgetting that we have a natural successor in Zinchenko who can play there. What we need is a tall fast Lb who can invert and literally nullify our only weakness.

Forgot Tierney? Zinchenko, Tierney + Tomiyasu is surely enough quality for LB position.

LB is not a position I see us upgrading for a while, there are other needs. Tierney has been playing well.

 

[14Henry]

We lost Partey, Tierney and Tomiyasu all at the same time when the form dropped. Not only Partey. During the spell when losing to Palace, Brighton and Southampton in a row.

The replacements were Tavares and Cedric. It's understandable how much that affects build up and defending. Now we have Zinchenko and Tomiyasu who cover fullback positions plus Cedric as extreme cover/rotation.

Losing only Partey would not have similar effect, or even one fullback.

What happened in the 3 matches after Palace, Brighton and Soton with the same players out injured?