Our slow and lethargic football

[squallman]

Whose fault is it?

The worst part about us, is that we're so slow and ponderous. Under Wenger at times, we would let in goals like a sieve but still score them at the other end. Then we created a boat load of chances but couldn't finish them off.

Now we're hardly creating chances and we still let in goals left, right and center.

I blame the midfield and its utter lack of creativity. It has been over a decade since we had a top striker and a top AM at the same time. However I also partly blame the managers and tactics. I think Emery and Arteta tried to make us more secure at the back. However that isn't Arsenal and Emery at least isn't a defensive minded manager.

If we're going to be ****, lets go for broke at least. I hate the way we play right now.

 

[Arseshavin]

Xhaka is our best creative outlet from central midfield. We lack a better playmaker in midfield and we lack someone to bring drive through midfield, someone of the kind like Jack, Vieira, Cazorla or Rosicky. We also are terrible on the right because of Bellerin.

 

[Tir Na Nog]

It all stems from altering the way we play under Emery. When you bring in players like Ceballos, Torreira, Guendouzi and they're playing regularly in midfield you can forget about moving the ball quickly. You can forget about 3rd man runs from midfield to help open up defences. Having those midfielders, I'm sorry to say but at this rate you can throw in Willock too especially as a 10, you're just not gonna pass and move the ball quickly, you're devoid of creativity. Then you have Lacazette as a false 9 with his elephant touches and attacks start to break down. There's no real fluidity as a result of all these factors.

 

[Monstar-Gunn4r]

Lack of ability throughout, even when a player has enough skill to pass quickly ie. say ceballos passes to pepe, pepe will put his head down and charge down the wing and lose the ball. Now in the pepe thread this is becaue pepe can only be given the ball when he is 3foot 4 inches outside the box and at a 20 degree angle with no other player within 5 feet of him but given to him in that situation hes world class. So what we need to happen is ceballos or whoever is in midfield needs to dribble through 4-5 players at the same pace an olympic sprinter would runin a straight line, then he will be able to pass the ball to pepe who can then take a shot.

On the other hand/wing youve saka and auba on the other wing playing nice 1-2 s and splitting the defence, creating decent chances and they are anything but lethargic. But then they'll give the ball to lacazette or pepe or whoever and it becomes slow again or the ball is given away.

 

[MutableEarth]

I would like to see the average amount of touches that we take before passing the ball. Under Wenger, there was much more of an emphasis on moving the ball quickly. He was all about the team asserting itself and getting to the final 3rd quickly.

Right now, we take too many touches and move the ball too slowly - either in terms of passing or dribbling. It's not even just pace at this point, it's simply just slow play. I'm sure they move the ball quicker in training but when confronted by players with more physical ability or better pressing, the midfield in particular find it harder to progress. We picked out some decent passes even yesterday but it wasn't frequent enough and we weren't able to capitalize quickly enough because we move the ball too slowly as a team.

 

[field442]

The midfield generally dictates the tempo of play and how effectively we attack. Our midfield has been **** for about 3 or 4 years now. It’s probably the worst it’s ever been. Combined all our midfielders have 7 assists between them in the league. Alex Song got 11 assists in one season. They’re all bang average.

 

[Monstar-Gunn4r]

They’re all bang average.

If our midfield was average Auba would be able to carry them with his finishing, its far worse than that.

 

[GDeep™]

The midfield generally dictates the tempo of play and how effectively we attack. Our midfield has been **** for about 3 or 4 years now. It’s probably the worst it’s ever been. Combined all our midfielders have 7 assists between them in the league. Alex Song got 11 assists in one season. They’re all bang average.

Under Wenger it was bad, since then we’ve had two summer windows and 300M spent and it’s got worse.

 

[MutableEarth]

The midfield generally dictates the tempo of play and how effectively we attack. Our midfield has been **** for about 3 or 4 years now. It’s probably the worst it’s ever been. Combined all our midfielders have 7 assists between them in the league. Alex Song got 11 assists in one season. They’re all bang average.

It's worse than them being average. They'd be far more serviceable if they had any chemistry or complementary attributes. By and large, the main 4 midfielders we've used this season (Xhaka, Guendouzi, Torreira and Ceballos) are all very similar and don't offer much specialty in any particular area (Torreira arguably is the most different of the 4 as he primarily wins possession better than the others). At the moment, they're all pretty milquetoast as far as athleticism, creativity and dynamism. Individually you could make arguments for all of them, and some of them even have pretty good metrics, but collectively they have no particular identity as a midfield. What would you profile that collective as?

 

[MD3 Gunner]

Under Wenger it was bad, since then we’ve had two summer windows and 300M spent and it’s got worse.

Spot on. Wenger may have neglected the defense but at least in attack we were very good under him. The defense under Emery/Arteta is just as bad (if not worse) than it was under Wenger but the attack under Emery/Arteta has been far worse and less effective. What Emery'Artetas Arsenal did/are doing is a lot worse than what Wengers Arsenal did

 

[Trilly]

@hydrofluoric acid and I used to wonder in the latter Wenger years why we had so many players who would occasionally pass the ball behind the receiver instead of into space.

It wasn’t a big deal as we kept the ball but it would ruin so many attacks before they even began.

I think it’s an attitude thing that has just gotten worse. We don’t demand the most from each other as a team: it’s okay if you didnt put Auba through on goal because we kept the ball. It’s okay that you cleared it instead of looking down the line to set off a counter attack.

We settle for, and accept less all over the pitch. These lot on the pitch are just as depressed as we are and that’s terrible. Need a whole new batch of players, or a sports psychologist. Arteta clearly hadn’t gotten through to them.

 

[OnlyOne]

People are doing this on purpose now aren't they?

 

[field442]

It's worse than them being average. They'd be far more serviceable if they had any chemistry or complementary attributes. By and large, the main 4 midfielders we've used this season (Xhaka, Guendouzi, Torreira and Ceballos) are all very similar and don't offer much specialty in any particular area (Torreira arguably is the most different of the 4 as he primarily wins possession better than the others). At the moment, they're all pretty milquetoast as far as athleticism, creativity and dynamism. Individually you could make arguments for all of them, and some of them even have pretty good metrics, but collectively they have no particular identity as a midfield. What would you profile that collective as?

This is why I’m scratching my head at some of the selections. AMN and Willock would add something different to that midfield. Willock has a similar ability to Ramsey where he can make late runs into the box. Playing him higher up the pitch doesn’t allow him to show that.

 

[MD3 Gunner]

This is why I’m scratching my head at some of the selections. AMN and Willock would add something different to that midfield. Willock has a similar ability to Ramsey where he can make late runs into the box. Playing him higher up the pitch doesn’t allow him to show that.

Don't compare a bum to a legend

 

[hydrofluoric acid]

@hydrofluoric acid and I used to wonder in the latter Wenger years why we had so many players who would occasionally pass the ball behind the receiver instead of into space.

Just simplest passes. We are talking about 2-5 meters of training balls. No pressure either. It's so hard to understand for a team that basically trained pass into feet all the time could be so careless in professional games.

When was it we start talking about this? 3 years ago? 4? I'm almost numb for it today. Its discussion that should come more often up here but somehow we are usually the only ones that bother talking about this.

 

[Monstar-Gunn4r]

This is why I’m scratching my head at some of the selections. AMN and Willock would add something different to that midfield. Willock has a similar ability to Ramsey where he can make late runs into the box. Playing him higher up the pitch doesn’t allow him to show that.

Making late runs in to the box isnt having the same ability s Ramsey, Wenger spent years searching for someone who could do it when Viera left. Ramsey broke through by getting few goals but covering every blade of grass and putting in tackles everywhere.

 

[RunTheTrap]

Short answer: lack of ability and poor buying.
Long answer: we are a club that has no idea what to do with itself. When we were at Highbury, we were a big, physical team that won our second balls for fun and could counter teams all day because we had pace in nearly every position. When you look at the Emirates era of 2007-2016, there was a shift to accommodate smaller, more nimble and more technical players for possession based football. It required our footballers to have high technical quality.

Now, if you look at us today, we are a club that neither has the technical quality as a whole to hold possession long enough nor do we have the intensity, athleticism or physical size to dominate teams. How can you expect us to play possession based football with poor technicians like Xhaka, Bellerin, Soktratis, Kolasinac, Auba, Holding, Torreira, and Willock. How do you expect us to set up well in a counter attacking style with poor athletes like Cellabos, Torreira, Xhaka, David Luiz, Bellerin, Lacazette, Guendouzi, Chambers and Özil. Some names even pop up for both and they're first team starters like Xhaka and Bellerin.

It's no surprise that most managers will struggle to build a suitable team. A pragmatic approach will leave you constantly chopping and changing line ups because there's no solid base to be adapted from, a football idealist could not work with this team because the squad is almost split into two with how it wants to function but with not enough tools for either side.

The best solution I could think of is to use the academy boys until the season ends. Yes, I'm a shill for Hale End but at least you're getting footballers that have a bit of BOTH athleticism and geniune technical ability, plus they're young enough to be moulded into what Arteta wants them to be. When we actually do have a transfer window. Spend wisely. Buy players that fit into the medium to long term approach this club would like to follow. Let's not be attached by players because "they know the club". Nonsense, they know the Arsenal at its worse and not the Arsenal we need to be. Cut their losses immediately.

 

[MD3 Gunner]

Just simplest passes. We are talking about 2-5 meters of training balls. No pressure either. It's so hard to understand for a team that basically trained pass into feet all the time could be so careless in professional games.

When was it we start talking about this? 3 years ago? 4? I'm almost numb for it today. Its discussion that should come more often up here but somehow we are usually the only ones that bother talking about this.

Agreed can't blame Kroenke for our players failing to complete 5 yard passes

 

[field442]

Don't compare a bum to a legend

I’m not comparing am I? I said he has a similar play style.

Making late runs in to the box isnt having the same ability s Ramsey, Wenger spent years searching for someone who could do it when Viera left. Ramsey broke through by getting few goals but covering every blade of grass and putting in tackles everywhere.

When I say ability I’m talking about one facet of his game. I didn’t say he’s a copy of Ramsey. Calm down.

 

[MD3 Gunner]

I’m not comparing am I? I said he has a similar play style.



When I say ability I’m talking about one facet of his game. I didn’t say he’s a copy of Ramsey. Calm down.

Willock is useless. Like a passenger at many times reminds me of Özil off the ball