Mikel Arteta: Aston La Vista To The Title?

[Riou]

The players put us in a mess, Arteta cleaned it up

 

[hydrofluoric acid]

Tricky Micky is in a tricky spot right now.

Does he play Aubameyang and hope he finds form before the QF in EL?

Or is it time to admit to Tim Lewis that he and Edu got it horribly wrong given him 350k per week last summer.

 

[Yousif Arsenal]

Mikel for love of Allah stop try make us look man city with the over thinking play to your team strength

 

[al-Ustaadh]

Without that bizarre starting line-up, he might’ve won today. Seriously, Auba on the RW?

Form what I could tell it seemed to be part of the game plan of sitting back and hitting them on the counter, then after they slowed down we'd play more our style and have them switch sides. Didn't go quite to plan. Defending wasn't as good as it should've been and we conceded to many.

 

[A_G]

Form what I could tell it seemed to be part of the game plan of sitting back and hitting them on the counter, then after they slowed down we'd play more our style and have them switch sides. Didn't go quite to plan. Defending wasn't as good as it should've been and we conceded to many.

Why did Auba and Saka start on opposite sides then switch after it went 2-0?

 

[Tree Points]

The players put us in a mess, Arteta cleaned it up

That match will live long in the memory, it’s up there with Liverpool v Milan in 2005.

 

[Kav]

Arteta put us in a mess, the players cleaned it up

Fixed it for you.

 

[AbouCuéllar]

Poor stuff from Mikel today, players were not prepared at all and were shocking in the first 15-20 min, and as noted that Auba RW Saka LW thing was clearly overthinking it / bad tactics.

Frustrating, we needed 3 pts from this game, time is running out to move up the table and put together a string of results, this was a brilliant chance against a team we should be beating and we made a mess of it.

 

[Iceman10]

I understood starting Auba in the EL tie to try to get him on the scoresheet to put the disciplinary stuff behind everyone, but starting Auba with Laca for this one was wrong and was too deferential to Auba. I don’t know if there was a slight fitness issue with ESR, but there were a number of options possible instead of starting Auba for LW.

 

[al-Ustaadh]

Why did Auba and Saka start on opposite sides then switch after it went 2-0?

Like I said, it seems to me to have been part of the game plan with West Ham tiring out. When they got their third they were clearly on the decline urgency-wise and we took over. It seemed to be a counter attack tactic. Lacazette drops, Auba and and Saka are in on their strong foot down the wings. Defense didn't do it's job today for once. A rarity during Arteta's tenure. Made the switch after he clearly wasn't expecting us to concede the ways we did.

 

[al-Ustaadh]

Today was part of Arteta's learning curves. Credit where it's due to comeback after 3-0 down. Should've won this match though.

 

[dka1]

Can't even give him any credit for salvaging a result because he helped contribute to the mess we were in.

Well this game was a bit of a microcosm of our season.

Terrible first half, and we looked good in the 2nd half but when you're 3 down you're always punching against a heavy stream.

Thrown in were some bizarre decisions and it's almost a beat by beat play of what's happened since September.

 

[Hunta]

Why on Earth would you play Mari over Gabriel when you know they’re up against Antonio?

 

[AberGooner]

Needs to stop constantly rotating the team. Still don't think he could name his best team if he was asked. Different mentality/tempos for each game is a problem as well.

 

[Preacher]

Today was part of Arteta's learning curves. Credit where it's due to comeback after 3-0 down. Should've won this match though.

Tricky Micky is a slow learner.

 

[El Duderino]

Why on Earth would you play Mari over Gabriel when you know they’re up against Antonio?

If there were no injuries, etc., the rationale might've been that he thought Moyes wouldn't bring the game to us.

 

[grange]

Like I said, it seems to me to have been part of the game plan with West Ham tiring out. When they got their third they were clearly on the decline urgency-wise and we took over. It seemed to be a counter attack tactic. Lacazette drops, Auba and and Saka are in on their strong foot down the wings. Defense didn't do it's job today for once. A rarity during Arteta's tenure. Made the switch after he clearly wasn't expecting us to concede the ways we did.

Interesting point there. It would've worked if our team didn't take a nap for that free kick (technically). Still, West Ham should've scored 2 more for themselves bringing their total to 7 goals. We arguably should've scored 2 or 3 more than we did (1). We still got outplayed, imo.

 

[dka1]

Why on Earth would you play Mari over Gabriel when you know they’re up against Antonio?

 

[Riou]

Maybe Gabriel is in the "red zone", maybe being careful after his Covid and he has played a lot recently.

 

[Hunta]

If there were no injuries, etc., the rationale might've been that he thought Moyes wouldn't bring the game to us.

Surely Gabriel is better in that scenario too? More pace if they break etc.