₦airaland Forum

iamoyindamola:
Lol
Did you watch the game at all, that's why having conversation with you is stressful.
When odegaard was moving the ball, there are 2 people he can pass to and saka is not an option, how saka came into this I don't know
Zubi was free while gyokeres was surrounded by 5 players
Shebi Kai can create space how many goals did he score, if he was ruthless why did we get a proper CF then
Kai that will have 20 chances and score 5

Talking of hypocrisy, kettle calling pot black

bro we watched the match, VG wasn't surrounded by any 5 players, and yes Saka wasn't the best option to get the ball to. Odegaard had the choice of taking a shot or passing to Victor who although two players were in the box with him had a room for r2 if he was given the ball, but then odegaard saw zubi making the run and passed the ball to the space. Don't change narrative bro. Havertz had been in that position many times too. Spy asked you "when we agreed that a striker should be creating spaces instead of scoring", the same quetion you have always asked regarding kai. If kai was that bad than what we are currently experiencing with victor because he hasn't adapted yet, why then does he get more chance and more touches in opposition box than what Victor is offering?. If Havertz can't create chances why then is the goal ratio of wingers when playing with him are higher than that of Victor?, how is it that Havertz gets into better positions and then misses some while Victor hardly gets into such spaces. It is not an argument of who is better cus we know Victor has proven himself in Europe before and can still do it again. It is about realising what is currently working adding the right criticism and not creating a different narrative with exaggeration for our favourites.

Emery ran away away the game, Arteta come dey find am to shake hands.

dominique:
So Declan Rice has been ruled out of tonight's match against Aston Villa. According to Arteta, he felt some discomfort during training. Any which way we go still run am. Our forwards goal drought ends tonight

Seriously, what kind of training is Arteta and his coaching crew putting these players through? E do reach to ask o

are you sure it was in training?, the report i have been seeing said it was during the Brighton game that he got a knock on the knee. And it is just a precaution not any kind of long term absence.

mostob:
You noticed it too? I thought I'm the only one. He has not lashed out yet because he may not want to disrupt the dressing room. This might be the time to bring back our false 9 football biko. Can't believe this is the same Arsenal that once scored freely.

you see that move Martinelli made when saka had the ball before crossing in, that's something we would like to see Gyokeres do, but he would rather run to the far corner than attack that space. But there's still room for improvement in his game shaa.
S/o to Rice, he made it look like RB is natural for him. Early in the game he was finding it difficult to position when trying to overlap, but he later got it right.
Raya is world class aje
Saka, I don't know man, he does his work well but seems like he overthinks simple stuff these days.
Jesus still got his too many touches shit going on.
The amount of chances odegaard created alone should have sealed the game in the first half, but....
Saliba na beast
I don't think Gyokeres can bench kai with the kind of display he puts on.
Waiting for pundits to start talking about own goal tables and shit.

Every match day these guys just de provoke Rice. Why would our attackers start focusing on wasting time instead of trying to kill the game?. Rice had to run a full length to create a chance while our attackers were busy trying to waste time. Glad to see Gabriel back, that defensive calmness gradually returned. At this point, I won't be surprised to see Havertz back against Villa.
Ps: odegaard was 👌 👏 👍

iamoyindamola:
Chelsea should start with them

Sunderland have been terrific at home this season. And they're up next for city.

Spy360:
That's the issue. They set him up and then blame us for correcting their wrong assertions tagging us haters. But in reality we love Gyokeres more than them because we don't have any of overblown expectations for him.

The person he is calling best striker in Europe...

Make I stop here

This is it. Personally, I don't have any high expectations cus I know he can't repeat what he did in Portugal in England especially in this first season. I'm sure dave is waiting patiently to scream "i told you", because of how he has always voiced out regarding the striker issue, but his motm is delaying his joy. Now we have a traditional striker who isn't scoring like he expected, what else would you have him do if not defend his choice of striker and hope he can finally get the chance to scream to our faces "i told you!!"

daveP:
One of the bottom ranked CFs in Arsenal History is better than the most lethal 9 of last season in Europe? And you're saying this while he's active with us??

😭 😭

you keep defending Gyokeres but each time that is being said, you tend to shift. Which stats, based on what and what did you come to convince yourself that Kai is one of the bottom ranked CF in our history. Whatever Gyokeres did last season was done last season with a different team not us. Na u dey set am up for drags shaa, but fortunately for some of us, we understand the phase he's currently at. He even made it clear in his last interview that he is yet to fully settle and understand the game and other players around him. As it stands now, Kai has 32 g/a in 61 epl games, so would you mind telling me how that represents being ranked bottom.

iamoyindamola:
Are you admitting kaikai is also otule

you sef ehh.

iamoyindamola:
Watching Raya yesterday, arteta is 200% dropping ramsdale
He was the best passer

took you so long to say this, knowing how much you criticised Raya's signing. 🫡

Games like yesterday are games were we would normally loose, I'm happy to see us win. Sunderland, Newcastle, Villa and Wolves are matches that would have all taken 3 points from us cus of how we retreats and try playing with caution. Thank God so far we've lost only to villa. We might have the confidence of going forward but that fear of loosing sometimes shakes us more than both Arteta and his players choose to admit. Everton is going to be another tough game, but thankfully by then the players should be getting enough rest before the match, and also Everton will be losing two of their integral players to afcon, so we should be winning that one too.
Got Saliba back and lost White, every match day feels like we are about to lose another player.

iamoyindamola:
Odegaard and Eze seems not to be working, arteta should try nwaneri, we need change fast

when trying to break low blocks, I think odegaard is more able to do that. Eze thrive more with spaces but odegaard can play a bit more comfortably in tight spaces than Eze. Nwaneri is best when he is free too, our match against club brugge is an example. He can control the tempo more if he isn't bullied and have space. Nwaneri needs more minutes in such tough matches to grow in confidence and learn, but at the same time, Arteta is more scared of loosing than even us the fans which reflects in his selection and subs.

BlueRayDick:
How’s it that Merino get serviced when he starts as false 9 ?

How’s it that Jesus who just returned from injury got serviced in the two games he’s had cameo appearances this season ?

How’s it that Havertz before his injury was over serviced starting in that 9 position ?

Are we implying that the rest of the team don’t fancy Gyokeres well enough to service him ?

Jesus and Havertz are the main men for our attack and have a chemistry with our wingers than any other player up front. Our attack became potent when we signed jesus and Havertz because of how they confuse defenders with their movement. Gyokeres is more traditional box striker and defenders knows what to expect from him when he's making a run or have the ball on his feet. It is more easy to mark him than the others, he's strength lies in his ability to overpower the defenders and sometimes when he gets into those positions, they players don't trust him making a difference hence they focus of dragging the ball to see if more space can be opened for other players to utilise when he drags the defenders.

BlueRayDick:
For all the criticism of Odegaard holding on to the ball too much , we much be truthful to ourselves that when Odegaard plays 10 there’s always a ray of hope that we may still find a way to break low block playing teams .

On the other hand , Eze playing 10 against a low block team just doesn’t inspire any confidence we may break them down . I think Eze is best suited for playing those long passes from our half to pick out a runner when teams lose possession when pressing us high . That was what played out in the City game and Bayern game.

Saka and Odegaard exchanging passes along the right wing seem to be the only thing has worked in breaking the resolve of low block teams thus far. Definitely Arteta and the coaching crew need to find more ways around breaking low block teams thus far, but for now that seem like the only thing working .

Eze is a very good player but he seems to struggle in that 10 role for now

don't know if you noticed, at some point odegaard shifted to the left side but the attack and connection wasn't as good as when he links up with Saka. Wolves sat back and allowed us play our game but had total control of their own organisation. It was a frustrating game for us because we were actively pressing and attacking but the end product was limited. They got a good 5 minutes and made it count, our overall defensive unit isn't as it used to be. I think Gyokeres gets into good positions but he is either too fast to go in or the players with the ball don't trust themselves enough to release the ball. Both the players and Gyokeres should work on changing their games to bring out the beast in him.
Just like Henry said "the fear of winning is sometimes more than the fear of losing, especially when you haven't won anything yet". In as much as we can say this team is mentally up for the challenge, we can't write off that fear of bottling again. They panic and try to hold on to their results during the end of games, they try to be careful and defend, but Arteta should know that the approach isn't necessary if we can still kill the game by controlling the midfield and up pitch play than sitting deep to defend. Saka played like a world class player he is and made the difference. Big shout out to little chilli 🌶

iamoyindamola:
Roland17
Jesus had more touches in the little minutes played than gyokeres, I think he needs to start making himself available the competition are coming back with kai close

Watching Saka, Nelli and Jesus was like a throw back to me, Free flowing soccer. Jesus created multiple chances, and was in the right position to receive passes that could have changed the scoreline more. His two finishes were weak and one was superb. Gyokeres is a good player but can't bring that kind of movement and fast attacking football. Ethan sef was so good with his passes that I think he made us more free than odegaard did yesterday. Norgaard too was solid at the back, Noni was great from first half and his corner kicks improved from last match, Nelli came alive in the second half and his goal was wow!!, same with Noni's first goal. Make dem carry dis mindset dey play epl games too.

We know we will lose matches, but the way we lost is what matters. We should lose while trying to win, not lose while trying to draw. Yesterday we kept balling balls from first half to finish, knowing that Villa were pressing so hard and yet we couldn't calm the pressure down. Zubimendi was so off, I don't know if odegaard dropping deep to pick up the ball instead of him obstructed his game play. Our match intensity and calmness has gone down with Salliba and Gabriel so much that it feels like we run more without the ball more than we should. Running more without the ball makes us jittery during the closing minutes. Thank God by weekend Trossard and Saliba will be fit to start.
Match week 15, if we can get 16 wins out of 20 by match day 35, we can still be on course.