₦airaland Forum

Spy360:
1. In all you have asked, the central point is that Tierney is not available. With Zinny out due to lack of fitness, the best player then was Timber. He got injured, second option is Tomi. He got a red card, third option is Kiwior.

2. If he used Tomi as RB that would distort the formation as Tomi cannot invert. I may be wrong because he has not been tried. Do you want Arteta to do another experiment with Tomi as inverted midfielder? I guess not.

3. Tierney is not 5th or any choice. Fact is that he is not available to play. I don't know for whatever reason, I don't know probably he has a beef with Arteta and he wants him out. There's something that we aren't privy to about Tierney and Arteta. Ordinarily, if Arteta is playing Partey as inverted RB/midfielder I expect he uses a LB that is good overlapping and the best we have is Tierney. So I don't know.

1. You said Zinny was unavailable reason why he's using the right hand side for inverted role hence Partey. So I ask, why can't Timber play the Inverted role in the right hand side since he's ordinarily a RB by default?

2. He needs to try it first. It would have been better than this nonsense of removing one of our best Midfielder and shunting him in a completely new position. A Tomi/White playing Inverted role wouldn't have affected the cohesion of the team the way it's doing now

3. Everyone knows Tierney was behind the pecking order of Timber, Zinny, Tomi and Kiwi. Even last season when Tomi and Zinny were unavailable, he still used Kiwi as Lb.
After the community shield and first two EPL matches, everyone knew he'll be gone this season maybe except you. He was too good to be 3rd choice Lb not to talk of 5th

My main annoyance is
1. Benching Gabriel
2. Playing Partey as FB
3. Playing Havertz in midfield

If you know how this three things have destroyed our fluidity, compactness and solidity of the team's structure (even though it's still the same 433), you won't be giving all these excuses

kingofcasting:
Omo, postdiggers day sha

Trevor no know say the street never forgets

IKON360:
What was Zinchenko doing in midfield last season?
What has Partey been doing from RB this season?
What was Stones doing in midfield last season?

Which club do you even support!

Most of the time, Alves in Barca shirt have been camped in the opposition wing, does that make him a winger??

We don't play a Midfield of 4, and if opposition wants to attack us through our Lb, you'll still see Zinchenko there to defend, same way your Alves will defend when the situation arises.

Our standard formation last season is 433. Three Midfielders and never 4 MFs

Even Ian Wright that hardly criticize nor question Arsenal/Arteta is asking questions.

For Ian Wright to ask questions, just know say water don pass garri

Shegzdave:
Arteta case is his ego and nothing more, even after the fans outrage about Harvertz after the last match, don’t be suprised if you see that same formation against utd.

My own is if I see Harvertz anywhere in that midfield or Partey at the backline, I’ll postpone watching our matches till further notice cause we’ve not been playing to our players ability since the start of this season.

My Friend(utd fan) was telling Me that Arteta has no excuse anymore considering the quality of players at his disposal and he made that statement cause of the way I defended Teta last season

Me I won't be surprised to be honest na why I just deh vex. As I deh like this now, I've opened my mind to see Partey on the bench since Zinny is back. And yes, Arteta is very crazy like that.

Arteta have no excuse this season at all. It's still early days but I'm just hoping that Arteta reverts back to norm before it's too late

Shegzdave:
Just leave spy
Match that I watch or another one? He can’t just accept Harvertz was ineffective in that role

How can Anybody watch that match and say Havertz played 9 while Trossard played 8.
Spy go just deh twist things

Spy360:
Both Trossard and Havertz interchanged in the position. I saw it several times.

The bolded for me should have been the best way to introduce a new player not just Havertz. Arteta is putting too much trust in him and he is not measuring up especially after we saw how Xhaka played there.

In fact with Partey inverting, the best player to overload the left should be a right footed player like Trossard or ESR same foot with Martinelli. It makes transition easier and faster.

Everyone knows Trossard acts as false 9 and that's how he does so that either attacking midfielders (which Havertz is one of them) or wingers can exploit on that space. He has been doing it since last season (which Xhaka exploited too and scored goals). It's called false 9 for a reason.

Stop making it seem as if it's something unusual that Trossard played that way on Saturday

Also Havertz played attacking midfielder. His heatmap In that game says so

Spy360:
Some of us here have asked that Arteta reverts to the formation he used last season. What they are not asking is if all the players are fit to play.

Last season, Zinny was the inverted FB with Partey and Xhaka in the middle. With the ball, Zinny moves infield while Xhaka advances to AM counter balancing with Odegaard. Then while Partey shields the CBs, White is allowed to overlap so as to create an overload on the right wing. The trio of Odegaard, Saka and White combined effectively to create tons of chances and goals together.

This season, Zinny was injured or not fit, Timber too got injured, so Arteta has to make a decision. Should he play the ineffective 4-3-3 or does he inverts from the right? He chooses the later knowing that Partey was once a RB. The challenge he now has is if he has the players that can create a similar overload on the left whenever Partey inverts. He has Martinelli, Kiwior and Havertz and so missing out on his best players, Odegaard and Saka.

What am I saying? the problem is not that the tactics is not good but that it is not maximising the full strength of the squad. For example, Tierney is leaving if not he would have used Tierney as LB to create the overload on the left wing with Martinelli and Havertz. Also most of us didn't know that Nketiah has an injury scare after the last game. Starting him would complicate things and may even rule him out for long period of time.

The only area I will fault Arteta is that he would have moved Odegaard to the left AM if he wants to overload that area.

It would be also be nice for Arteta to allow Havertz impact the game from the bench while Trossard starts.

Let us don't make false assumptions as if we have players not available this season.

Timber was a right back and can play inverted, Yet Arteta still used Partey as a RB and Timber as a Lb. If he was so insistent on using the RB as inverted, what stops him from benching White and use Timber as the inverted RB while using Tierney or Tomi as normal Lb. Why must he use Partey?

Tomi have been playing Lb even above pecking order of Tierney, why didn't he use Tomi as Inverted Rb role?

And you're saying if Tierney was here. I want to ask, who forced Tierney out?. Imagine a whole Tierney being a 5th choice Lb.


Someone is complicating simple issues and you're using players unavailability as excuse

Spy360:
I have read a lot of comments here about Vieira and Havertz.

It's easier for a player to make impact when coming off the bench. We saw that with Trossard. I was expecting people here that were calling for him to start to tell us how he performed.

Funny enough Trossard started as no8 while Havertz moves to no9. But Trossard was equally as ineffective as Havertz in that position.

This is false and everyone knows this. I can't send pics here again else I would have showed you their heatmaps.

If you think it's easier for a player to make impact off the bench, then make Havertz go the bench first. Simple!!

Lush100:
The thing is he probably said right.
We are suppose to be at the last stage of the rebuild.
The experiment stage should be minimal now or at least almost 90% perfected in preseason.
Only time is on Harvetz side. Time is not on Arteta side abi teta no tell harvetz say na this season we have to win any cup that is not FA cup or Carabao cup.

Na why I say e fit dey scripted like WWE.
You used 2yrs to work on an idea, used last year to perfect it and put it in use only to ditch all those hardwork to start another new experiment this season??

Haba na

Lush100:
E be like say e go soon reach....@shegz, @idamola and @jodera go book direct flight to uk go beat teta...and threaten that chelsea guy to start playing well.


That Chelsea buy i no understand....

Manu don improve oh....if u no play well no expect anything oh.

See as Newcastle loose bcoz they didn't tale their chances

One pundit says Havertz is just like Ozil— without talent.


I think this is just the apt description

Shegzdave:
Teta just made defending him difficult with those irrational actions..

It just made my decision to defend him last season seems very very foolish because it was this season I really had big hope on seeing the big strides we made last season.

He just scattered everything.

Sometimes, it looks as if all these things are scripted like WWE cos most of these things some coaches deh do no just be common sense or logical

iamoyindamola:
E dan be for us be that

This man just taya me this season.

Omorr, I just weak. Imagine begging person to go back to his basics

iamoyindamola:
He doesn't have excuse
Zinny and jesus are back
I wan see how he will squeeze that fraud from Chelsea inside

E go shock you say na Partey go chop bench.

Just wait

iamoyindamola:
This should be the line up against scummies
Enough of experimenting
City is already running away with 2 points, LFC are not playing around
Spurs is gaining ground
Otoge biko

Title Challenging/winning squad but Arteta said No!!

Trevor012:
Come and take Fraudnandes 😁

Expert no go gree me na

Katcall:
sell him to joder.a's club

At least, he'll be better than that Havertz wey we deh parade as player

ObaIgwe1:
When Timber was fit, Arteta still played Partey at RB during our 1st match.

If he had played this his new formation against city for the community shield, we would have conceded more goals.

Let him play the team he played against city for next match:

Ramsdale, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Timber, Partey, Rice, Odegaard, Saka, Havertz, Martinelli.

Ziny will replace Timber and Jesus replacing Havertz... He can choose to start Trossad ahead of Martinelli if he wants.

Let's have a midfield of Partey Odegard and Rice.

If I see a lineup of Partey at RB with Gabu missing and Havertz in the midfield, I will not bother to watch the match, and I will stay offline for the duration of the match or just off my phone cos I have many ManU friends ready to mock me if we lose.

I don't know why Mo.stob keep forgetting this point.

I don't care if Havertz starts as long as it's Cf, just get me my Midfield three of Rice Partey and Odegaard, and our standard back 4 of last season.

At least, if I wan complain, make e be only Havertz. It's tiring complaining at 10 different things at once

mostob:
1. Zinny moving to Midfield is straining Gabriel


2. Gabu is doing two jobs at a time because Zinny is playing out of position



3. Zinchenko is not overlapping and this has affect Martinelli


These were some of the complains made last season.

Personally, I complained about Zinny playing against Speedy wingers because I feared that would expose us.
Fast forward, we perfected the tactic and we all calm down.

If Zinny and Timber were never injured, I don't think we would see Partey at RB.

Na why I say bring receipts.

And if I remember correctly, most of the criticism was when we started dropping points(after Liverpool game and the matches onwards) and most just saw him as easy target because he isn't very good defensively reason why I was even defending him then

Zinny when he started and we were winning teams, I hardly saw any complains here. Moreover, most of us didn't see it as a big deal cos we knew that's what he was playing at Man city so it wasn't as if he was doing something new

iamoyindamola:
😂😂
If you watch villa today fear go catch you
Ebening was unfortunate to meet lazy players in arsenal because arteta bin all of them

Emery don improve that team very well

ObaIgwe1:
found this online and I tend to agree with most of the points raised.

POST-MATCH ANALYSIS: How Arteta's tactics cost Arsenal 2 point loss.

A good and excellent performance was expected yesterday but Arteta's tactics cost us points We should have taken it by introducing unprofessional tactics.

- The transfer error.
Arteta is now making a way for Kai Havertz and trying to make him become the good player he thinks he can be, he's trying to dodge blame from the board when he is benched or make him useless in the team. Kai's usage will keep giving a gap in Arsenal midfielders most especially in this inverting method he's trying to implement. Kai is now fooling Mikel Arteta with his work rate.

Kai can't even hold the ball for 3 seconds to build an attack or create a threat to the opposition defender, he releases the ball within a seconds trying to shift the blame out from himself once we lose possession. Arteta is now creating another Pepe situation which will cost the team and the expectation of the fans.

#gunnersdon

I don talk this thing about Kai taya and na wetin dey pain me. He's playing "make ball no spoil for my leg" football. Thank goodness cos I thought I was the only one seeing it.


When we were linked with him, I tried researching about his strength and what he can possibly offer this team as a Midfielder and all I was seeing is off the ball runs, dummy runs bla bla bla. I remember raising the point here that he's the only player whose strong quality is off the ball duties and that I don't see what he can possibly offer us in this our system. Spy then said na generational talent

There's a big reason Martinelli is always isolated and suffering in that place. No understanding compared with Zinny and Xhaka triumvirate he was enjoying last season

mostob:
All na inverted tactic na. There was outrage when he started using Zinny as an inverted FB too last season. Las Las everything later worked out.

if you can dig, abeg dig and show me at least two monikers that were outraged that Zinny played inverted last season

iamoyindamola:
🚨🎙️ Craig Burley on Mikel Arteta & Kai Havertz: “This talk from Arteta is nonsense, There’s another one in the second-half where the crowd got on his back, somebody played a beautiful little ball into him, sixty yards from goal, he had 10 yards to turn because no defender had got tight to him and he passed it back 15 yards and gave it away.”

“There is nothing in this Kai Havertz performance or performances that suggest that this player is any different, not one iota from the player who was performing for Chelsea. The only difference is he’s wearing a red shirt.”

“He’s still got no confidence, he’s still not influencing games, he’s still giving the ball away, he’s still not getting in the right positions at the right time. He made one or two good runs in the first-half.”

“But at the moment, there’s a £70 million burning problem in Arteta’s pocket, because, in my opinion, he’s going to have to drop him. Arsenal are a better side without him in the team.”(ESPN via tbr)



Jo.dera the bolded🤣🤣

That bolded is what I was always saying since first match. He's play is too safe and unambituous. Him own na just to deh pass pass side and back and nothing more. They claim his runs frees Martinelli but I'm yet to see any telepathy between both of them.

Imagine if na him hold that Viera ball to Nketiah ystdy, he would have passed back to white, white to Saliba and Saliba to Rice and that's how the attack would have gone. Then we'll start clapping that we're dominating Fulham

Chai

And let it be known that the last 3 matches, the opponents we played are real inferior opponents that we should be winning and comfortable before the 70th minute but we're struggling like this.

Let's just wait till we meet teams that will stand up to us man to man in midfield, possession and physicality, Na that time we go know wetin this formation and personnel dey all about.

I no go talk too much again

Matchday 4 last season, we were supposed to meet Man u and before the match I was so hopeful and optimistic that we'll get something out of that match. Even though we lost, I was so proud of the performance cos we deserved to win

A year later, Same Match day 4, Same Man u and an improved arsenal side with most of our core players available but I'm not hopeful looking forward to the match and person is telling me Arteta no get fault

mostob:
Come to think of it Jodera, ZINNY HAS BEEN INJURED AND DIDN'T PLAY PRESEASON. I really don't think Arteta deserves so much blame for trying to cope with his absence. Timber who should have stand in sef is injured.


see eh, we just need to calm down ni

He has Timber to play the Inverted and when he did, no one complained.

Last season, Zinny was injured against Brentford and Fulham and we played with Flat back 4 with Tierney and dominated them. The main reason why we are always dominant is because the core players are always in their positions.

It's just like how Viera replaced Odegaard against Brentford and we still wallop dem 3-0 or Nelson replaced Saka against Nottingham forest(where we won 5-0)

If Saka gets injury, how would you feel instead of just putting Nelson or Trossard, he instead, played Rice as Winger, White as Cm and Odegaard as Dm. How would you feel if that happens?

That's the exact shii that's paining me right now.

mostob:
It is too early to say something about Rice and Xhaka. Both have different skillset so I'm really expecting to play in a similar manner to Xhaka.


Partey first played as a RB under Simeone at Atletico Madrid. I think this is why Arteta is trying to play him as the inverted RB.



Of course, we will be better with Zinny inverting because this was the same tactic we have played multiple times. I still don't think this is a stupid formation. Many here want us to be less predictable. Were we not afraid of being found out while playing same tactic over and over again last season? Now that he is trying a reverse formation to that of last season, we dey vex. Our inability to score lies more in the players' bad decision making, sloppy passes and wasted chances.



Arteta is getting all these clapbacks because he is playing Havertz who he thinks suit his tactic. This is illogical to me. I will like him to revert back to the previous formation.

Rice is not an unknown player and it's not as If Rice cant play Cam. Over the past two matches, Rice have been good and knowing the kind of experience he had over the years, there's a high degree that he'll maintain the consistency if not perform better because that's his style of play and skillset.

Right, Partey played Rb under Simeone, same way Xhaka played Lb under Arteta (Few emergency matches). I guess we should have used that to term Xhaka a Lb. Plus, we no wan factor age too shey?

As for the bolded, You think it's strictly because of playing Havertz he's getting all these sticks? If yes, you still haven't gotten the memo.

1... Partey is a boss at DM. Once Partey is at DM, arsenal is at a whole new level. But he shifted Partey away totally from the midfield (and please don't remind me of that inverted nonsense). Because of that, our Midfield lacks that solidity

2... Gabriel, one of Arsenal best defenders last season is firmly on the bench. One-half of our defensive wall last season is on the bench and we're leaving Saliba to suffer everything.

3. Partey at full back. This one naim dey pain me pass. Arteta just killed 2 birds with one stone(weakening Midfield and weakening defence)

4. Havertz in midfield. The less said about this the better.

In effect, he just changed the structure of everything good about Arsenal even if you claimed it's same formation.
Also, I've been crying about this formation since last season except of course you've been missing my post.

Tbh, I for no too vex if he played our formation last season if Rice replaces Xhaka and Havertz starts in cf. You could see my post match talk against Man City when that happened and most of our reactions

All these vex I dey vex(and most people here) is strictly because of these 4 reasons above

Leyqute:
Eyah.

Chelsea don do this guy strong thing.

Nothing bite me reach that signing.

Havertz wey I watch for the past 3 years at Chelsea. Dem think say na because of last season I dey criticize am.

Chelsea fans in their thread knew that's the worst rated player in my opinion.

I no blame Chelsit, na Arteta I fully blame for this nonsense

mostob:
Our normal formation will still have an issue because Rice has not shown he can play the Xhaka role effectively. He did against Forest though but it didn't work.


This is why I said the players shared the bigger part of the blame. When Jorginho came in, even me wey no dey field can understand he want them to keep the ball and take control since Fulham are down to 10 men but Zinny just had to spoil everything.


And then, Partey throughout the first half was just playing what he felt like. Against Forest and Palace, he was everywhere in the Midfield and that gave us control. Yesterday, man just didn't invert and our Midfield collapsed. In the second half, he corrected himself and we regained control in Midfield.


Like I said, Gabriel will play when Zinny starts. As for Kiwior, Timber's injury did us bad there as he would have done a perfect job than Kiwior and Tomi sef.



That said, I don't think it has to do with the structure. Our players didn't just turn up yesterday. Too many sloppy passes and wasted chances.

Rice have effectively shown he can replace Xhaka with the past two matches I watched. He drives with the ball, he gives good forward passes, he's a very good tackler and good aerially, he's a very good space interpretor. I never missed Xhaka this past two games while watching Rice.

On the other hand, we can't blame Partey. He's not even known to play RB before but he's been forced there (worse still at his old age), how can he learn inverted at that age?

You see how we scored 2 quick fire goals just because we played our almost last season formation? Contrast it to the huffing and puffing we were doing during the past 2 games and first half.

It seems you just don't understand how our fluidity, compactness and solidity is missing with this stupid formation and shuffling of players wrongly.

Even with a red card, I was hoping and praying they don't equalise seeing the personnel on the pitch. God knows I would have gone to sleep with absolute peace of mind if we did that comeback last season even without a red card.

FBS:
Some refs and var are just terrible..

How was that 2nd arsenal goal allowed to stand? Wasn't that a clear and obvious foul by Saka?

Had that happened in the opposition's box, wouldn't that have been a penalty?

Anyway, good cool Fulham got a goal back

It was different sequence of play.

I'm even surprised you're saying this chief