Mikel Arteta: Aston La Vista To The Title?

[Tourbillion]

Do people really expect us to go to City and completely dominate the game? If one of Saka/Auba take their chances we'd have walked away with a (deserved) draw, fine margins.

We have to be braver. We didn't even try to equalise. ****ing pathetic second half.

 

[HairSprayGooners]

We have to be braver. We didn't even try to equalise. ****ing pathetic second half.

Eh? We had multiple good opportunities to score. Namely Saka and Auba being clean through and failing.

Any chance to moan though ay fella.

 

[Tourbillion]

Eh? We had multiple good opportunities to score. Namely Saka and Auba being clean through and failing.

Any chance to moan though ay fella.

I moan because I have standards for this club. We had nothing to lose by committing players forward in the latter stages.

 

[Big Poppa]

I think he's still figuring this out, without compromising defence. And it's a difficult balance. I just don't know why Auba has to be wide left for example. I was happy with yesterday's line up when I first saw it.

I thought Auba upfront, Willian and Pepe wide. But this false nine stuff... Never been a fan. Especially when you have one of the best finishers in the game. Arteta seems to know what he's doing with everything else. So I'm hoping he can figure this out too.

I agree that he’s still figuring it out.

I guess he wants his number 9 to play deeper and block passing channels from defence into midfield while his wide attackers play like split forwards. I get it, but I feel it’s only necessary because we defend so deep due to lack of pace in midfield.

With Thomas we can play 10 yards more in the opposition half, our midfielders can press higher and our striker can sit on their last defender rather than first midfielder.

 

[Tourbillion]

People going on about those two opportunities we squandered. You have to be allowed to miss a couple of good chances - but for us they're life or death.

It is not sustainable.

 

[Big Poppa]

Feels like the forward 4/5 have been totally sacrificed for security. It's uninspiring and u just hope we can transition with Partey. Will we have to wait for a better CB next to Gabriel before we attack well?

It’s worrying considering how many CBs we’ve signed since Kos left.

Partey will allow us to play more comfortably with a back 4. I think a midfield 3 of him, Ceballos and Xhaka has enough about it to win possession in the middle third and allow us to play more football near the opposition box.

The one that bugs me most is Aubameyang on left wing. It’s not that he plays there, it’s that he does all his best work around the edge of the box when fed the ball and we are adequately stocked on the left already.

Pep did it with Henry when he went to Barca and I remember him explaining it on MNF, but that team had Zlatan/Villa down the middle and a midfield 3 that dominated possession.

Anyhow, work in progress!

 

[MikelHadADream]

I agree that he’s still figuring it out.

I guess he wants his number 9 to play deeper and block passing channels from defence into midfield while his wide attackers play like split forwards. I get it, but I feel it’s only necessary because we defend so deep due to lack of pace in midfield.

With Thomas we can play 10 yards more in the opposition half, our midfielders can press higher and our striker can sit on their last defender rather than first midfielder.

We have a massive issue at 9. Its even more of a problem in the 343 as we there is more importance on the forwards to create and score.

I get why he plays Auba on the left but I think we need to play him up top for a while.

 

[MikelHadADream]

We have to be braver. We didn't even try to equalise. ****ing pathetic second half.

Again, fine margins. You commit everyone forward to early and City pick you off and the game is finished. City also played well in the last 10 mins, they have world class players. Going away to these teams you have to take your chances when they're presented to you, we didn't.

 

[Big Poppa]

We have a massive issue at 9. Its even more of a problem in the 343 as we there is more importance on the forwards to create and score.

I get why he plays Auba on the left but I think we need to play him up top for a while.

It was the only non-problem area we had when Arteta arrived. He’s just over complicated it. Your last sentence is pretty much it.

 

[DanDare]

It’s worrying considering how many CBs we’ve signed since Kos left.

Partey will allow us to play more comfortably with a back 4. I think a midfield 3 of him, Ceballos and Xhaka has enough about it to win possession in the middle third and allow us to play more football near the opposition box.

The one that bugs me most is Aubameyang on left wing. It’s not that he plays there, it’s that he does all his best work around the edge of the box when fed the ball and we are adequately stocked on the left already.

Pep did it with Henry when he went to Barca and I remember him explaining it on MNF, but that team had Zlatan/Villa down the middle and a midfield 3 that dominated possession.

Anyhow, work in progress!

I hope Partey speeds up our transition. Pepe and Auba live or die by how fast we can transition and get them on the front foot and defenders on the back

 

[Manberg]

We switched to Willian as a false 9 with Auba and Pepe to the left and right of him against Sheffield in the second half. It won us the game and you were calling Arteta a genius. He does it against City and now he’s a fraud

 

[Big Poppa]

We switched to Willian as a false 9 with Auba and Pepe to the left and right of him against Sheffield in the second half. It won us the game and you were calling Arteta a genius. He does it against City and now he’s a fraud

Not quite.

Auba moved inside and played through the middle once Eddie went off, Saka on the left, Pepe right and Willian a little deeper in the hole. Elneny moved more to the right and Bellerin played higher up.

There’s a video on it here:

 

[OnlyOne]

We switched to Willian as a false 9 with Auba and Pepe to the left and right of him against Sheffield in the second half. It won us the game and you were calling Arteta a genius. He does it against City and now he’s a fraud

Wasn't like that at all if I recall correctly, Saka was very much LW, Auba ST and Pepe RW with Willian just behind. Yesterday Auba was mostly left and Willian furthest up, it was weird and didn't work.

 

[Trilly]

Think we’ve gone as far as we can with 343.

If we want it to work we basically need a Firmino type at CF and a CM that can cover a huge amount of ground at pace. Xhaka and Ceballos just don’t get forward enough and we have nobody at CF who can make the ball stick and interplay with Auba and Pepe.

The only reason we even look half decent is because we bring Tierney into the left, create overloads and have Xhaka who is good enough to find his and Saka’s runs. We don’t have a right sided version of that so it makes us very predictable, it also wastes Pepe’s best attributes.

 

[MikelHadADream]

It was the only non-problem area we had when Arteta arrived. He’s just over complicated it. Your last sentence is pretty much it.

The problem last season was we had no one reliable to play on the left wing, he played Auba there to get more goals in the team.

We now have Willian and an established Saka.

Long term I'd like to see a proper 9 come in.

 

[HairSprayGooners]

I moan because I have standards for this club. We had nothing to lose by committing players forward in the latter stages.

The thing is you have to look at things in comparison to where we are and what players we have.

You may have standards for the club, but we won't be at those standards for at least a year or two yet. So for me personally the moaning is pointless.

Do agree that we should've pushed people forward towards the end of the game.

 

[sdotzdot]

Think we’ve gone as far as we can with 343.

If we want it to work we basically need a Firmino type at CF and a CM that can cover a huge amount of ground at pace. Xhaka and Ceballos just don’t get forward enough and we have nobody at CF who can make the ball stick and interplay with Auba and Pepe.

The only reason we even look half decent is because we bring Tierney into the left, create overloads and have Xhaka who is good enough to find his and Saka’s runs. We don’t have a right sided version of that so it makes us very predictable, it also wastes Pepe’s best attributes.

Tbf Partey has just been brought in and he’s a great dynamic all round midfielder for that set up.

And as much as people dislike lacazette, he’s had a good start to the season and he’s done his roll of holding up and dropping deeper quite well. The big problem with lacazette is his fitness, I don’t know why as he looks in great shape all year round but he can barely ever last a full 90, very frustrating.

 

[MikeVinna]

Arteta plays a 3-4-3 with no creativity from midfield or in the forward line. He’s playing our world class pacey/poacher striker on the LW to accommodate Nketiah and Willian. That alone should raise some serious question marks.

When we attack we can’t put chances on a plate for Auba. So the ball comes to him in area’s where he’s got no options and has to come up with something himself. It’s kind of a miracle that he scored as much as he has in such a system. Willian can’t create for him. Pepe can’t either. I believe Saka and Tierney are out best creators in the final third.

Every game against decent opposition(nearly all PL teams) will be tight unless something changes.

 

[Trilly]

Tbf Partey has just been brought in and he’s a great dynamic all round midfielder for that set up.

And as much as people dislike lacazette, he’s had a good start to the season and he’s done his roll of holding up and dropping deeper quite well. The big problem with lacazette is his fitness, I don’t know why as he looks in great shape all year round but he can barely ever last a full 90, very frustrating.

Yeah fingers crossed.

Seems like we can only create chances by luring teams into our defensive third and then exploiting the space in behind. We don’t seem to have anybody capable of playing our runners in behind against a set defence. It’s really worrying and the only internal solution I see is switching to a back four and having that extra midfielder.

 

[The_Playmaker]

Wasn't like that at all if I recall correctly, Saka was very much LW, Auba ST and Pepe RW with Willian just behind. Yesterday Auba was mostly left and Willian furthest up, it was weird and didn't work.

It's time to evolve. There is no need to overthink. It's clear what has to happen. Tough decisions need to be made and the right combos need to be found.

Leno
Tierney
Saka
Partey
Luiz
Gabriel
Pepe and Auba are the only certain starters.

The back four needs to be able to move into a 4231, 442 and 433. We are so rigid with our attack at the moment.

--------------Auba--------Pepe

Saka----Xhaka----Partey-----Willian

Tierney-Gabriel--Luiz----Bellerin

-------------------Leno

Players need to be in areas they are comfortable. Willian is more comfortable on the right. Pepe needs to be closer to goal. Auba needs to be more central and Saka gives balance on the left.

It's just an option, but we need to get the attack flowing.