₦airaland Forum

Fkforyou:
We need to win Brentford to unsettle this lousy man city team.

I pray a day never comes where we would miss Merinos' clutch moment and Thank God Trosaard is healthy and not injured as I had feared earlier.

Merino and Kai are among the top players that understands what they need to do in each set up. With Gyokeres and Havertz fit, I don't think we would miss him much. Gyokeres positioning and all round of play has greatly improved and kai in midfield suddenly unlocked his Leverkusen days, so I can only wish for a run of games that none of injured players would be missed.
PS: Odegaard and Trossard are both included in today's squad list.

ariesbull:
Painting the biggest canvas .. abstract painting

The report isn't about his Guiness Record but Sanwo Olu hosting him

A simple Google search would have helped you ..but we know what intellectual laziness is ...

it's crazy that you think you're the right person here. Still shows your lack of skills and understanding of the work you're into.

mostob:
😎😎😎

Wetin Martinello dey do?

Martinelli don dey do this thing for like 3 or 4 times now. Don't be surprised to see him make it his celebration. His bromance with Gyokeres allowed him to be selfless and pass the ball instead of trying to shot. I think against leeds or was it after Chelsea first leg, there was a video of him leaning and resting of Gyokeres after the match while the later patted his back.

This is the type of performance Gyokeres was brought in for.
2 touches in opposition box
2 shots
2 on target
2 goals.
Clinicality!!. Havertz and Gyokeres partnership is what we expected Odegaard and Gyokeres to be.
What a game today.
Against Leeds, at some point Rice dropped to no.6 while Zubi went up, I thought it was just a one time thing, but today it repeated again. That's a masterclass from both Arteta and Rice.
Rice is a real captain material, the shot Eze had, he was the one that pointed to the space for Eze to attack before he passed the ball to the space, seeing him shout at other players to keep up is something a captian does. No armband but it is clear who is the boss.
Martinelli giving me joy again. Next stop Brentford, regardless of tomorrow's outcome in Anfield we should only focus on Thursday. I know City would struggle in their next two matches, the result remains to be seen of what it would be.

With Odegaard and Merino out, I think Havertz should make the starting lineup ahead of Eze tomorrow.

mostob:
Make Xhaka relax abeg... If he mess up, make dem deal with am. Na where him craze stop, na there some people's start.

Xhaka no fit do shit, we are winning on Saturday.

BlueRayDick:
I have noticed that we do well if we play on Saturday and our closest rival (Man city this year and Loserpool last year) plays on Sunday. We do better when we don't play under pressure of "must win" because our closest rival dropped point yesterday.

If u notice well, u will see most of the matches we've dropped point to increase the gap at the top this season, they have mostly been matches City has played earlier and have gotten either a draw or loss.

I think because of the desire to prove doubters wrong and all, we become nervous in matches that we should easily win and the pressure gets to not just the players but the coaching crew making us to carve under weight of the pressure.

However, I have a strong believe that this year will be different. Something tells me that once we win something tangible this year, we would actually dominate the league for a long time. We just need to keep pushing and win something this season. Seeing players like Rice , Saliba,etc being vocal about their desire for the team to win something this season gives a very high level of confidence.

Hopefully we win Sunderland on Saturday and pass the pressure back to City to battle it out with Loserpool on Sunday and let's see where that leaves us.

I noticed it too. I feel like we will definitely win the league no matter how it goes, but I want it to be a kind of statement winning season. It will certainly scatter any failure mentality remaining in the team as a whole.
City's next two games are matches where I expect them to struggle, what the outcome of both would be, I don't know. But I know they will struggle against Liverpool and Fullham.

We need to win our game this weekend with enough goals if possible, and see what happens at Anfield with Liverpool finding their cojones back and man city having a defensive crisis.
If we can get 13 wins from a possible 15, we would be on course to win the league with our highest point margin ever.

BlueRayDick:
There's a video of that Havertz goal I watched this morning with the camera angle showing Gabriel and Kepa at the back before Havertz scored. The moment Havertz received the ball, Gabriel sank to his knees at the back in celebration already. When the ball hit the net, he collapsed on the pitch and Kepa went to jubilate with him.

Omo! That goal was a perfect ending to the match honestly.

who scored the goal and the celebration he did afterwards was the icing

Immediately the ball got to King Kai, Calafiori started running to the pitch to celebrate even before he scored. Fuccking loved it!!!.

iamoyindamola:
I will rather play 442 with kai and gyokeres or sane formation and Jesus play wing

i feel like it is our defence that will win us this game. So our forwards just need to be productive on their end.

iamoyindamola:
I am not comfortable with starting the 2 hideous twins
At least start one and bring in the other, chekpe wan use cross and nod tonight

we can't afford to over stress Trossard and Saka is already injured. This xl is strong enough to get a win if they play with their heart. Chelsea won't necessarily sit back, the will try to attack us, so it will leave space for both of them since they have pace.

iamoyindamola:
Once your manager doesn't trust, it takes the grace of God and his fans will say MLS is not ready just like Ethan
I will rather he get his choice

in his media talk today, he acknowledged the chances of Skelly playing in midfield, so anything is possible.

iamoyindamola:
Will/Newcastle release tonali to us

instead of going for Tonali as a quick fix, why not try skelly in that midfield since he's fallen behind to Calafiori and Hincapie in the lb position.

iamoyindamola:
Abi gyokeres
That's what they said

Watching the first half, Gyokeres also missed some chances too.

ChristineC:
and what have Arsenal won with back to back W's for more than 3 seasons?

useless wins against big teams only to fail to small teams when it matters. That's why this new narrative of Arsenal not having title mentality because they can't beat big teams just dey funny me..

BlueRayDick:
Eze was not all that in the match yesterday. I was expecting him to really seize the opportunity to perform very well but he didn't.

These short clips didn't tell the full story of his game play yesterday. He was rated 6/10 by most rating sites.

I just wish he could be more influential in the final third so Odegaard can stay on the bench for a while.

Second half i watched Eze and I wasn't really impressed too. But odegaard true true isn't as fast in thinking as he used to be.

Fkforyou:
Our First half was fast and Direct. The moment Odegaard came in, penetrative passes through the middle reduced and we kept hanging on the ball and slowed down very well.

It’s very obvious who the cause of it was, the coach must surely see this.

Anyway, as predicted, Kai won MOTM.

I would like to see more of Norgaard, especially in the premier league. He can come good unexpectedly you know.

Madueke is one hell of a funny guy, quick footed but slow in thinking and execution. Such a wierd combo. Him, Martinelli and Jesus were the major culprit of chances wasted yesterday.

i noticed this too. Madueke and Jesus was just busy doing nothing, especially Madueke. He seems to know how to move the ball forward untill it is time to execute. Great dribbling skill but zero sense of when to do simple stuff.
Yeah, kai was great, it is left to see how he can play in midfield against epl teams. But what a great night he had. Was involved in all the goals and most progressive plays.
I don't know how starting kai in that AM role will play out against Leeds, but I will love to see it this weekend, either as a starter or as a sub.

Fkforyou:
Fair enough.

What are your thoughts on today’s game? Especially between the first half and second half.

I think, there are some games that would suit Ezes style of play, the manager just needs to figure out how and when to use him.

He fancies that simple one two in between spaces. I think he would have thrived under Wenger than Arteta.

But let’s see how it goes going forward.

Kai was my man of the match sha. So good to have him back.

Eze to me plays more like a street footballer, he enjoys spaces and try to penetrate, but when it is man to man marking, he loses it a lot.
I didn't get the opportunity to watch the first half, but the second half wasn't it for me. Lots of wasted chances, this is a game where we should be putting up the goals to create more fears and respect, but......
Odegaard is still all about passing around to gain possession, though he made some real passes forward that created chances, but he should be doing more. Eze playing the lw and Calafiori on the lb should open up more chances, Arteta should look into that.
Norgaard was solid.
Kai, I won't say anything about him yet untill I rewatch the first half. But I think the first half was more about attacking than the second half.

Spy360:
You're right. Plus many teams are now relying on low block defending to nullify Arsenal.

This makes the burden or load required to overcome to score a goal to increase. Then after exerting many energy doing that, defending it becomes another challenge

teams have seen that low blocks frustrates Arsenal, so they're keeping to that. It is left for the coach to find a suitable way of breaking them and creating chances, we can't be blamed for how other teams approach us, but we can be blamed for how we respond to it.

Fkforyou:
Nope. It is not entirely because of our finishing. It only seemed like that because of the wastefulness of kai and the unseriousness of GJ.

Infact. there was a period where, Saka, Martinelli, Trosaard and even Odegard had over 10G/A.

Our decline started when teams figured out how to counter our set up especially with the inverted full back thingy where we get to overload the final third.

We were so obsessed with inverted full backs that we stuck to it even when teams where playing low block against us.

We were supposed to react quickly and adjust our game plan, these adjustments would have helped the players to adapt and improve their game.

Arsenal needs to be more direct and quick in transition just like how we used to be.

Tell me, is this how we use to play compared to previous seasons.

Was Odegaard dropping so deep to collect the ball from Saliba or Zubi?

Watch our previous 2022/2023 games against Brighton, Man U, Tottenham or With Fulham and tell the difference between how we played then and now.

we always forget that epl has changed so much. No team allows you that space to play that kind of 2023 ball. Especially against us. You will watch other matches and see how teams are willing to risk and play ball, but once they meet us, they are comfortable sitting back and frustrating our free flow. But like you said, it is left for the manager to change that. But one thing is certain, we can never be as free as 3 seasons ago when the league wasn't more physical

mostob:
Yea.. They should rest.
Mosquera, White, MLS and Hincapie should start. Norgaard, Odegaard and Zubi (Rice and Merino are out). Eze, Gyokeres and Madueke

if Arteta get sense, he shouldn't start Zubi. That guy don try. He is always getting tired compared to early season..

mostob:
Now that we have Hincapie and Calafiori back, guess who and who got injured. Saliba and Timber.

Although it's a niggle and hoping they're fit for weekend.

it's the same issue that made Saka miss the xl against Forest. Thank God our next match isn't a must win match.

iamoyindamola:
You have entered that lab again abi

shebi u missed that version of him.

BlueRayDick:
Once a team is not doing well, different agenda will start showing face from left to right so I understand.

I'm sure if we were sitting atop the league table with 18 points gap despite getting our goals through a combination of open play goals and set piece goals , nobody will be fixating on all these narratives we've been reading since Sunday. You would be seeing the same media praising the team for the same thing they are flaying us for now.

It is what it is.

I was just surprised seeing Zinchencko that has cost us points in the past suddenly being pushed as the one who would've made the difference for us this seaon. I shock!

The same way they started the partey and Zubimendi comparison some weeks ago. One of my guy that has been talking about how Zubi is a downgrade to partey for like two weeks now checked the statistics of Partey last season which was his best season and that of Zubi this season even though the season is not yet over and he hasn't said a word ever since. If to say I no watch partey make mistakes too that cost us or was somehow managed, I would join and crucify Zubimendi too. But some people just like to ride the wave and don't care of what force is behind the wave.

Fkforyou:
And who is/are responsible for creation through the middle? and why are they not working on it? We are facing similar issues just like city.

The common denominator here is lack of a proper attacking mildfielder.

Only Man U and Chelsea(prior to palmers absense) currently enjoys the presence of attacking midfielder.

Mind you, this issue has been persistent for 3 seasons now but our coach just believes so much in his captain and is afraid to make bold decisions despite his claims of beign an evolved manager, earlier in the season.

Arsenal and City have more goals scored than the two clubs you mentioned. While city have more open play goals, Arsenal is just 3 goals and 4 goals apart from both teams in terms of open play. Chances creation have never been an issue more than the subject of clinicality is or ever was, even in the last 3 years, which was why the shout for a striker became so loud till we hot one. Now the striker here, but both him and other attackers still lack that great finishing touches.

In as much as we can say Odegaard is performing below expectation, but there are moments when he created excellent chances and we watched it being wasted by our attackers. We signed a creative midfielder who we expected to compete with Odegaard, but he has shown countless times that his play is different to what Odegaard can offer and what we expect from him as the creative mind of a possession dominating team.

BlueRayDick:
Baba, you literally clamoured for us to sell Zinchencko.

There are tons of posts from you on different match days complaining about him while he was here . You always call him the weak link in the team (which is actually true); but now u are making it seem like we did the wrong thing selling him when that has always been what u wanted.

i shock as I see am. I come check the moniker again to be sure. When the media wants to sell an agenda they go deep to find proves that will unsettle the fans. Same media that even though chenko was bad defensively made him look more bad than it was. Now just to create a solid narrative, they are bringing up stats that support their claim.

iamoyindamola:
Add OG % too
To make it 100

we have scored twice the number of set piece goals through open play. But somehow they media wants to create the narrative that we depend on set piece. The fact that we mastered the act of scoring through set piece doesn't mean we utterly depend on it. The problem is our attackers not burying our open play chances, and that has made the agenda sell well. The team sees set piece as a weapon and knows that when it happens there's a chance.

That being said, we really need more creativity through the middle and not always the wings, that will make life more easier for everyone. If we can be shooting more often in such congested low blocks, there will always be a possibility of an own goal, reflection and rebounds.