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Mikel Arteta: Top Of The Klopps

Blood on the Tracks

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Country: England

Player:Rice
....

You're fully aware Elneny had more forward passes (in general and percentage wise) than Partey last night, right? So this is just false.

I mean if you want to make a general case against Elneny fine, but last night he wasn't the problem and I don't get why so many want to portray it that way.

In the same way that Xhaka has good numbers for forward passes. Dawdle on the ball for 5 seconds then play the safest pass forward.

He slowed our attacking play down so much last night. I'm not knocking him, we all know he's a limited player who puts a shift in. I blame the manager for picking him in this match.
 

AberGooner

Established Member
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Country: Scotland

Player:Gabriel
Similar story to Ole, as soon as he came in people were like “no tactics just vibes”, and no tactics is what killed him. Soon as Tets came we’ve been saying he’s too conservative. No creativity is what will kill him.

Can't really think of any side who's had success at the top end of the table playing quite as conservatively as we do under Arteta. I know park the bus Mourinho became a thing but in his early years in England, Chelsea used to kill teams off in the first half.

The question is whether the board are happy with us trying to become "best of the rest" if you like or do they actually want us to push on and try and compete with the top sides eventually. As I said it will get you points against the so called lesser sides but it will be very difficult to get much off the top teams in the league.
 

El Duderino

That's, like, your opinion, man.
Moderator
In the same way that Xhaka has good numbers for forward passes. Dawdle on the ball for 5 seconds then play the safest pass forward.

He slowed our attacking play down so much last night. I'm not knocking him, we all know he's a limited player who puts a shift in. I blame the manager for picking him in this match.

Eleney has 34/39 forward passes completed. Which drives your point a bit further.
 

vantoure

Well-Known Member
....

You're fully aware Elneny had more forward passes (in general and percentage wise) than Partey last night, right? So this is just false.

I mean if you want to make a general case against Elneny fine, but last night he wasn't the problem and I don't get why so many want to portray it that way.
Absolutely. It's just strange (not really), how everyone is on Elneny's case when he was quite positive in his play last night.

Amazing
 

Lidl_Reed

Wants a new name
Funnily enough we're doing worse if you compare our results so far vs last season.

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For anyone too lazy, we had 24 points in the equivalent games last season (Replacing Norwich/Watford/Brentford with Fulham/West Brom/Sheffield)

So we are on course to be 1 point worse off with games not played staying equivalent. Tragic
 

El Duderino

That's, like, your opinion, man.
Moderator
The Elneny thing baffles me because he didn't drop Nuno, but dropped Sambi.

I get the experience angle, but he hasn't played much all season and brining him in for a game like this is just over thinking it a bit.

The tinkering will keep happening until he lands on another formation that gets a result. It's what he does.
 

Lidl_Reed

Wants a new name
The Elneny thing baffles me because he didn't drop Nuno, but dropped Sambi.

I get the experience angle, but he hasn't played much all season and brining him in for a game like this is just over thinking it a bit.

The tinkering will keep happening until he lands on another formation that gets a result. It's what he does.
The experience angle makes sense only for the most in-depth fans. The true fans who realise the value of experience in big games and in Arteta's European inspired gegenonpressing system. Elneny brings energy and experience along with mediocre positioning that truly inspires Arteta Arsenal fans who are very happy to see such a genius philosophy in action. Arteta's at the wheel, man, we need to give him 5 more years.
 

TornadoTed

Established Member
For anyone too lazy, we had 24 points in the equivalent games last season (Replacing Norwich/Watford/Brentford with Fulham/West Brom/Sheffield)

So we are on course to be 1 point worse off with games not played staying equivalent. Tragic
My eyes tell me we aren't really improving and it's reassuring to be backed up with some meaningful statistics.
 

Malky

Established Member
This guy's reasoning is so frustrating, Elneny starts because he done well playing there a year ago? Seriously? Hasn't trusted Elneny all season, picks Lokonga over him, but throws him in against United because of last years form and despite Lokonga not putting a foot wrong. If that's the case then why's Tavares starting over Tierney?
I can take the Liverpool and City hammering because they're on a whole different level to us, but this United side didn't even have a proper manager in charge last night, we should of got a result, we scored from a fluke goal and instead of going for the throat we chose to sat back and defend like cowards.
Ah **** it, this is all pointless because he's not getting sacked, despite the money he's spent and the fact he's got us worse than we were under Emery.
Man's living off a fluke FA Cup win.
 

Lidl_Reed

Wants a new name
My eyes tell me we aren't really improving and it's reassuring to be backed up with some meaningful statistics.
The eye test is very accurate. Pundits and managers want people to think that the light analysis they do (Just comparing points to same period last season) is greater than fans who watch week after week. It's not, and a deep dive into stats usually proves fans right.

Example: Elneny has more forward passes than other midfielders on a cursory look, if you then extend that to meaningful forward passes i.e into final third, more than 5 yard forward passes before the final third, then that stat changes drastically. Some of his sideway passes qualify as forwards on a cursory look i.e fullback slighly ahead of Elneny.
 

vantoure

Well-Known Member
Did he really feel like he was making that many forward passes? Him and Partey were dying to get rid of the ball.
I thought it was evident, especially in the 1st half that he was quite progressive with his passing. In the 2nd half, on a number of occassions he reverted to passing back.

I think a more adventurous manager would have subbed him off about this time though so we increase the pressure on United's defense.
 
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