₦airaland Forum

Good start to the game. We should kill this off in the first half

Fkhalifa:
I would also love to see Martinelli on the wings to pepper Pepe so he can feel the heat, but it is looking like he can be a world class CF, with the traits we've seen from him..His goals are not even the simple striker goals, they are Lewandowski,Suarez esque....

His work rate and intensity looks like he is from Klopp, he was running and looked sharp with no sign of any fatigue till 90+mint.

Kudos to this regime for bringing/moulding in lots of quality young players from within and outside the club..

Tierney,Saka,Guendozi,Willock,Nelson, Holding and Martinelli are the future.

I concur!!

For me Martinelli has to start on either RW or LW for us. His work rate is un-beiliveable. His attitude is proper and if we can press with good intensity and organization having Martinelli and Saka on either flanks, we should be winning balls more often and control games . We need to bring the fear factor back. I was really and truly impressed with Martinelli once again. Attitude is what may ruin Nelson if he is not careful.

Again consistency is key and there will be times when he may have a poor game but if his good games are 70 to 80 percent more than his off days then that's fine in my opinion.

Martinelli my boy. The Attitude is 100 percent. Every player puts in this type of attitude consistently with the quality we have and we will see good results against any opposition. Meanwhile, Auba and Laca should be doing double figures each season with KT in the team. His delivery is something we have missed for years.

Great thing someone pointed out the Athletico game here and how they were super organized off the ball. Athletico is no small team but they do both sides of the game especially the defensive side with such aplomb even Jao felix with the 113 million price tag was defending like mad off the ball, and that's why they will hardly get beaten by any ridiculous scoreline. Again someone rightly pointed out saying,"what do our players do in training? what is the coach impacting on them? Is it poor tactics from the coach or the players just unable to interprete what the coach wants?

I must say again that the game against united is the best i have seen of this team off the ball even though its not there yet but lots of improvement. They need to build up on that especially against stronger opponents. If i see this organization consistently then for me its one step in the right direction. We have quality going forward but the organization from the back to the midfield will ensure that forward thinking players worry less about having to chase back all the time and can focus more on decisive movement in an around the opponents box with assurance that they will not only get good service but the oppositions chances of any counter will be quickly scoffed.

I am a fan of pushing up to defend high as long as the awareness and compact solidity between midfield and defense is their. Pep does this all the time with all his teams. Players can be taught and must be able to execute but alas i wonder what is happening at Arsenal.

Thats why Saka for me was excellent at united. He played like a well drilled and coached player to simple instructions. Saka would be a delight for a Simeone due to his defensive cover on the wings. At this juncture i would not mind Martinelli at RW since he has similar off the ball qualities to Saka.

Discipline is key in staying compact and those two young players in my opinion looks like the have the right attitude and willing to be disciplined in this regard. Surely their covering of defensive zones off the ball will help us greatly and i wonder why the senior ones can't do something this simple?

Honestly compared to what we played against liverpool watford , frankfurt and to some extent Villa, This is the best off the ball organization i have seen so far from us. Its not a great united team but they were playing at home and credit goes to the lads for keeping it compact and denying them too much space which was characteristic of our earlier games.

There are two sides to a game , when you have the ball and when you don't have it. A great team must know how to play both. I dont give a shit about whether you pack galacticos or not. If you cannot defend without the ball. You will lose games to superior attacks. Even man city got destroyed by Monaco and Liverpool for slack defensive organisation which many teams have not been brave enough to take advantage of.

The Invincibles were not only superior attack wise but they also had a backbone of Viera and Gilberto silva whom were masters at protecting the defense and nullifying attacks even before the attack got going. Fabihno and Henderson seem to be doing same for Liverpool at the moment which gives the likes of Sadio Mo and Firmino more freedom. Take off the ball organization away from any team and they will concede goals easily even if they had the best attackers in the world

Saka was my man of the match. He was the reason Kola was able to play better today. That boy played simple football. When we are not with the ball he tracks back to cover his zone in front of the fullback and when we are in possession, he went wide to allow space in the midfield. Simple understanding and well played. I sincerely hope he can do this consistently. Overall i was much pleased with our organization off the ball and how our midfielders rather than stay in our half to defend were able to push up to deny space and time for the united players.

That off the ball organization is what some of us have been crying out for. They need to do shooting practise for all our strikers, just too many wasted chances in front of goal due to poor strikes. Taking pepe off was also a plus for me as he was not in sync with his teammates and he may need more time to Gel

I really cant wait to see Saka and KT on that left side. That would be mouth watering. And shout out to willock for blocking that final cross from Ashley young. Those little things go un-noticed but they are the difference between a loss and 3 points.

Overall it was a much better Arsenal performance especially form the defensive organization stand point

10 stars for Saka for his off the ball discipline and how he has helped kola on the left side of defense

Pepe needs to track back. James will put chambers under pressure

Spy360:
Big teams keep the ball instead. So when they don't have it, they become disoriented. Small teams know they have to survive without the ball.

Agreed! But when two big teams meet especially with one being away. They must learn to stay compact defensively or will be ripped apart. Playing a small team would be the other way round.

Spy360:
If we played like Sheffield, you will not be an Arsenal fan.

Lol!

I'm just referring to the defensive organization off the ball. Every great team needs to have a side of steel too.

Watching Liverpool and Sheffield United and I was overly impressed with the organization from front to back of the Sheffield team. Liverpool missed a few but the closing down and compact nature of the midfield and defense was simply elegant. It shows a well coached team and players disciplined enough to do their jobs. How i pray Arsenal can play both sides of the game especially the defensive side off the ball with such organization.

In fact can we get a coach to just teach this our team our to play solidly off the ball? This is one area that is killing us and if this can be done to a reasonable extent, the team will improve a whole lot.

Xhaka as captain is an absolute joke in my opinion. Emery simply going the way of Wenger. A player that makes one too many defensive errors again and again is definitely not a Captain, definitely not on the pitch.

A player that comes out to say "We were SCARED!" is Arsenal FC Club captain?!!

This is absolutely pathetic.

kokaneprodigy:
I see it as an opportunity to redeem ourselves.

correct!

One should never fear an opponent, only respect them. I also beilive the youth policy should be maintained. If those young lads really want it, then they will go all out fighting for it.

iamoyindamola:
The shameless man was already talking about recycling possession after 3 goals ahead instead of going for more goals.

Lol! you dey beef the man big time oh!

I for one do not support going against the instructions of your coach at any level. But When the chips are down and the tactics and strategy are being checkmated by the opponent, then someone has to take responsibility. Only then is it justified to go against the instructions in lieu of finding the right plan to counter the opponent.

Believe me, even coaches are humans and sometimes they will tell you that at a point in some games, they really could not find an answer to the opponent. This is where the players have to step up and go beyond what was done on the training ground to grind out a result.

But this is where i have an issue with Emery. We are playing Forest at Home, why should we be cautious for crying out loud. In all Honesty only 4 or 5 teams should make us adopt a cautious approach either home or away. The rest of the teams should have a fear factor against us . Well who knows whether emery is gradually losing the dressing room and whether or not the players potentials are being hindered by his tactics. He his a brilliant manager no doubt but it just looks as if some things are not right internally at the moment.

The only ones who seem to adhere to him are most likely the younger ones from what i see and these are not good signs for a manager

Men i'm so happy for Martinelli. The boys attitude at 18 is second to none. I see Ceballos and Torreira telling Nelson to stop all this flicks and tricks. Nelson and Emile are getting ahead of themselves if they think all these uneessary flamboyance will take them to the next level. I also trust Freddie to give them a strong warning concerning that. I like professionalism and seeing a youth product exhibit that nonsense should not be tolerated.

I also do not like the Ozil substitution. I mean, he really did not do anything wrong to warrant that. Hopefully this can be sorted out asap as the chemistry is really bad now.

All in all i guess any senior player that sees the bench should not complain as some of these lads are pushing for that first eleven.

It will be interesting to see the line up we parade against United. COYG!

3 Things for me so far.

1 KT has DELIVERY! Laca and Auba must be licking their lips right now

2 Martinelli has good movement and i like his attitude off and on the ball. Good movement but also a hardworker

3 Emile needs to be cautioned. He tried to nutmeg an opponent when there was no need for that. He must be cautioned sternly or he may sit out the rest of the season on the bench. He has not reached any heights yet to justify and form of flamboyance.

So far so good but we need to up it a bit more and close out the game comfortably

Fkhalifa:
I don't know if he is physical and hard enough for an EPL top team defender, though his attack is dope
He has been rated similar or better than Robertson and Chillwell by fan who knows him.

From his photos, he fully tucked in his kits like a serious man who meant business. No time for joking around, he was a captain at his former club
Hopefully Tierney and Guen in few years time will be the captain and leader of this great club.

If this is his attitude then i would be glad to have him back asap considering the mediocrity in our defense right now. Let us have at least one sane defender with business like attitude and consistent performance in our back four since all of them right now seem to be dancing another tune.

Spy360:
Honestly, Chambers needs to take over that RB position till Bellerin fully returns. I don't want to see that AMN near Emirates till further notice.

Watching Tierney during training was much encouraging. The guy na baller. Once he gets the LB, its over for Kola. I just hope he plays today and come out unscathed.

Watched KT during some games in the Scottish league. He looks to me like your typical old school lb. Not too much skill and flare but just gets his job done effectively which is defend his position. Well i won't mind a left back who does not bomb forward for now until we get this defense sorted out as long as he keeps his discipline and prevents any threat coming from his side of the pitch.

Fkhalifa:
Please and please, we don't want the media hype on this boy, thank God he isn't from England, We appreciate the legends, his national team manager and the respected football pundit's praise on him,but please let him grow and learn game by game..Please don't call him the new Fabreagas, he is not Cesc, he is Matteo.. Let him continue to be the underdog, £8 signing and the nobody in the team.
Let's focus more on the senior experienced internationals in the team.
Thank you sir.

Sincerely concur with this.

Fkhalifa:
The star is in the ATTITUDE ( some call it activity forming)...
Replica of the spurs game, I know the boy can be confident though fóolishly over confident atimes, but I never expected those driving runs into the box, it's not his forte, these are the features of attacking players not deep lying ones like Guen..
Risking his legs and body to get that penalty, He almost cried when we conceded immediately, his shots hitting the bar, standing against the opponents trying to bully his players, doesn't even looked tired at 90min and running into the crowds...
That's why he's so loved by the fans, If only he and Saka can have that Xhaka and Welbeck's physique.

Abi oh!

BlueRayDick:
Guendouzi appreciation post

A reminder that when tactics and strategy fails, players need to take responsibility and channel a winning , never say die attitude to try and change the tide. A young man with this type of attitude is destined for greater things. He will still make mistakes but he needs this mentality consistently to take him far.

Losing should never be an option when you give your best consistently. Much appreciation to this young man for not being SCARED...

Roland17:
Auba's input is more than goals at this point. For example, he did not only allow Pepe to take the PK but after Pepe scored he celebrated with Pepe with a lot of intensity, you would think he was the one that scored the goal. I imagine he did this to motivate Pepe to believe in himself. The man loves this team and it is evident in how much he sacrifices on the pitch.

As in, Auba just showed pure class on both ends of the pitch and sacrificing the pk for Pepe was another huge one. I just hope we don't lose this guy without him winning anything for the club.

Shout out to a 19 year old for taking RESPONSIBILITY... Big fat shame on our weak captain again. i dont give a crap about what people say about players going against what the coach wants to get results. All the useless tactics and strategy flew out of the window when ANM got sent off which i beilive he should not see first team action again for a long time. Emery was confused and sitted when we were a goal down and it was not until the game went in our favour that he stood up gesticulating again. Even emery cannot fault Guen for driving that team and leaving his role to push the ball further up.

The drive and impetus was all we needed. Shout out to Chambers as well for standing up and keeping it simple at the RB position.

Both what i liked most was Auba committing fouls late into the game and even taking that yellow card. I kept on saying that out players need to stop any momentum villa may try to build by making sure they foul them before they make any runs into our attacking third. I do not know where Auba got the energy from but he helped out in those last 10 mins by closing down from the front which Pepe needs to quickly understand and adjust to. Thats pure leadership from Auba. Not just the Goal but what he did OFF the BALL in those last minutes were crucial.

How on earth Xhaka is Arsenal captain still baffles me

I repeat that we do not need 2 holding mids at home, we should be the dominating team but our coach just looks clueless at the minute. Aston vila had nothing to offer but our setup made them look like Barca team B at some point in time. Why cant Ozil and Ceballos play and lets just have one of Xhaka or Guen at the base?

Happy for the points but not proud of the performance and the slow momentum in our first 15 to 20 mins of the game.

kokaneprodigy:
Typical example of two heads are not always better than one.

Lol!

The most interesting thing about the city win was when pep was interviewed post match. He mentioned something very key which was them conceding the fewest shots against them. Arsenal had almost about 40 shots at them between the Watford and Franfurt game. That's totally absurd and poor strategically and tactically. This is what makes me mad at this Arsenal team. As good as Man city are going forward, they also ensure there defense is not being subdued to constant attacks. That's proper balance between midfield and defense.

Big shame once again for that utterance by Xhaka considering what man city produced today. I also mentioned that when at home, you must be the dominating team no matter what. Man city barely had to defend nothing today and only had Rodri as the holding midfielder. I do not understand why we need two defensive mids when playing at home... reality is that we are really not up to scratch.

Spy360:
Your point is clear and appreciated.

No worries all good!

Spy360:
If you like score hatrick, coaches like Guardiola will bench you if you play against his instructions. Ask Henry. There is this story of Ferguson refusing to play Dwight Yorke cos he disobeyed him despite finishing top scorer the previous season. Yorke's career ended that year.

Very true! But then again you have the Ronaldinho's Messi's and Ronaldo's of this world that have also gone against instructions to take responsibility without any repercussion. The situation at hand is what defines it and not blatantly

Spy360:
Your tactics is good, but it is so basic that any opposition will easily spot it. When you jam a fast moving tipper with red sand (Liverpool) that swings the ball left, right and centre like no other creature exists, this tactics will be like wash away paint.

This tactical approach was what Emery used at Anfield, with Willock and Guendouzi on either side of Xhaka covering the fullbacks. What Liverpool simply did was to move their fullbacks forward and their rampaging front three straight into our box, and it became a one man show. It almost worked though since we had Aubameyang and Pepe waiting for loosed balls, which they actually got but failed to utilize.

Finally, after so much pressure, London fell. The rest are highlights.

As basic as it is, it keeps your midfield to defense balance very compact and organized. Unless the personell you have are not capable, there is no opposition that would find it easy to break . Not saying any defense can't be breached but the purpose is to make it as difficult as possible by staying organized. Your stamina levels , technique and most important communication and awareness are of the essence. These are professionals so they don't have any excuse unless they are just not good enough. I cant really explain much typing cos there are some elements of movement and basic positional understanding involved but it was very difficult to get beat playing compact and disciplined within zones.

Spy360:
Bros what you are saying is that he should be benched next game. Not taking the coaches instruction is asking for elongated bench experience (EBE)

Nah not at all, it depends on the situation and not outrightly

solomonbrown64:
..... Exactly, we do not for certain what transpired after the Watford game but I do know no player goes against what the coach wants that openly except he is indeed dull. Emery must have allowed it.

.... I honestly didn't know what Xhaka was thinking uttering such nonsense but I guess he meant that players were scared of receiving the ball from the keeper. Even Guendouzi, our number 1 outlet mellow down. Watford game was indeed an anomaly that shouldn't happen again and I for one is glad that the pass from the back is being toned down. Leno should be smart with it. Sometimes, he can distribute it straight to the full backs or to the wings except he is not confident of his distribution skills. He plays the same way all the time so I agree with you that the player need to improvise but within the boundaries of the coach instructions. Going beyond that doesn't bode well on the image of the club and consistently done is certainly career suicide.

Of course doing it repeatedly without any need for it would be suicide indeed so it only has to be done on rare occasions when it is very glaring that the opponent has found us out