₦airaland Forum

Spy360:
Your thoughts are great.

The 3-4-1-2 formation you talked about will mean dropping one of Martinelli or Saka. I'll rather we go 3-3-2-2 dropping Xhaka for Jesus.

When looking for goals, I don't think it's necessary to drop either Saka or Martinelli. We just need to remove either Xhaka or Zinchenko Ystdy. But if Partey is present, remove Xhaka and play Zinny as one of the AMs

Ramsdale
White Saliba Gabriel

Partey (yesterday— Xhaka or Zinchenko)

Saka Odegaard Viera(or Zinny) Trossard (or Martinelli)

Nketiah Martinelli (or Trossard).

If we'd done this, we'll have more attackers (and bodies) in their box. Partey(or Zinchenko Ystdy) have the skillset to screen the defence and stop any potential counter attack while the back 3 aren't slouches in terms of brains and brawns too.

Like for like subs and formation will limit us

My Thoughts on the Game

1... We played a nice game in the first half but really had a breakdown in attack considering our final balls . It just reminded me of our first leg against Man u earlier this season where our attackers and midfielders weren't just in sync with one another when it comes to final passes or just that killer pass to open things up.
2nd half everything changed and the moment got to our players.

2... For all the criticism Ben White might have for not being convincing in attack, yesterday was one of the reasons why Arteta probably prefers him to Tomi. It's a basic knowledge for technical defenders to always scan their surrounding before passing back in case if any opposition is lurking around. White, Zinny and Saliba are mostly the people I'm sure in our backline who does this consistently. Unfortunately, under pressure, Tomi buckled!!

3... Nketiah really really tried filling in for Gabriel Jesus in his absence and I really appreciate that. But then, ystdy and recent weeks just shows few of many things Jesus brings that makes this team better. Aside his pressing from the front and in Midfield, the ability to dribble and drive the ball forward is something we miss In that front line to open up spaces and create tons of chances. His holdup up play, inter play, fluid movement and aerial ball winning is something that we're lacking in that front line as presently Saka seems to be the only one amongst our front 3 who seems to win aerial balls. Jesus not scoring (abi having a goal drought) seems to make most not realize how much he brings to this team even when he's not scoring.

4... We were working on 3412/3142 formation during preseason and we were using it this season whenever we were searching for goals and it worked mostly for us (the game against Fulham a good example). I wonder why Arteta is abandoning it now when we really needed it most. This like-for-like substitution anytime where looking for goal is not just working out. Abi is that 3142 formation specifically for Jesus and Nketiah upfront?

5... Yesterday our some of the players were nervy and it affected their play and those around them. Xhaka in particular was guilty. Jorginho tried especially in regulating and few forward passes but it just shows that Partey is boss. We really miss him ystdy and I just hope he isn't out for long. Hopefully he'll make the squad against Leicester (same with Jesus).

Not a good result or performance but we move. Aston Villa next. Hopefully, we'll get the 3 points to restore optimism and positivity


COYG!!

Na today of all days Partey come know say him go get injury?

Just when you thought arsenal news isn't getting any worse

mostob:
We will know how mentally prepared they are, after tonight's match.

BTW, we will still have a game in hand after today's match. that should be against Everton right?

Lol .. no worries. You go see am.

Yeah, we have another outstanding against Everton. 1st of March to be precise

FBS:
Like this wasn't to be expected.

First it was - oh we didn't have the right players
Then it became the issue of players getting injured
And now that we have signed new tier one players plus a new agidi (mental) and diet coach, they all need time to gel.

I wonder if we didn't sign new players, how long would the process have taken? 50 years?

Remember I told you something like this on our thread.

Just want to ask a question:

Have there been any improvements in you guys play against West Ham?

mostob:

Your never-say-die attitude is worth researching on.

Lol... I just get belief for this team since last season (around Dec/Jan).

Arsenal player of the Month for January!!

OLEKS "the Man" ZINCHENKO

Today is finally here.

Either we win Or Man city Lose!!

I trust the boys, their mentality and the team!!

COYG!!!!

Okealaaye:
If your friend were appointed Special Adviser to a Governor in May where will your present conduct lead you? I've seen it happen before. Learn to endure. You're complaining because you believe that your friend is lowly. Remember that Nairalanders will not be around when God turns your friend's night to day. Forbear, Ma'am, forbear!

Forbear nonsense!!

If the so called friend can't even contribute and help in the house in the little way she can NOW, what assurance do you have she'll help her out when she becomes governor or SA?

Some people suffer themselves wickedly just because of ''unknown" What ifs.

This is a very very bad advice and I hope Sync lady doesn't listen to it.

Spy360:
His presence would help to break low block defending. This is because he will not hang out with those CBs and so they will be struggling to know who to mark.

Nketiah makes it easy for them as he stays with them effectually denying us of an extra man.

They key to breaking low block defending is to either add an extra man to the CF role (this is preferable) or the CF moves to the sides leaving the opposing CBs idle (in essence a false 9)

That's one of the things I love about my strikers — attributes of roaming about. They may not get that much goals but they'll eventually help in creating chances and spaces for team mates to capitalise on and score the goals.

Aside from roaming about hence disrupting the opposition structure/backline, he's also good at dribbling in tight spaces and moving the ball forward (something Nketiah also isn't strong at). He's also underrated in us winning aerial balls too.

But all in all, Arteta needs to be flexible in helping Nketiah. If I remember correctly, we were working on 3412/3142 in preseason and early this season and it was effective when used.

Why is he not implementing it?

Skimpledawg:
Rolan.d17, iamoyin.damola and Jod.era, don't you think it's time to come pay your first fruits and tithes to my coffers so I can call on the heavens to help Arsenal win the league?


As e be now eeh, if you lose on Wednesday, the bi-polar bald-headed man no go look back o

The first fruits and tithes wey your comrades pay to your coffers, I can how e don help Chelsea this season

Jencejyde:
Truly a big miss

I tell ya!!

Hopefully, we'll get to see this boy before the end of the month.

I really miss his presence in that frontline

A disappointing result today and it's really painful though.

I know the pressure is much but I'm proud of the boy's performances and I just hope Arteta does a tweak or two next match.

Just Sad we're meeting Man city after two matches of dropped points. Optimism won't be high but hopefully we'll prevail


COYG!!

Jencejyde:
I remember vividly in the early years of pep managing city where fans were moaning about him not adapting to teams packing the bus.

He made it very clear that he would not change his style under any circumstance as this is what has brought him success over the years and the fans should be patient enough to see the performance translate into results else he will walk if they are not content.

Well fast forward many years and the only thing missing his a champions league for city.

I am in no way saying Arteta has someone who learnt under pep should or must do the same thing but hopefully he can find his own to get beyond defensive minded teams using his own style as long as the performance is there.

It's been way too long seeing An Adrenal side dominating games and that feeling is really beyond measure considering all we have gone through post Wenger.

Just hoping and believing that this team will not lose their heads at this time when results are hard to come by and find a way to get beyond it.

Well this one is done and it's unto the next. A critical review of the last three games has to be done to know how to prepare against teams that will setup the way Brentford did today

Well Said!!!

popizaino:
This is the misconception that has stayed for so long and needs to be debunked.


Who made Tottenham the best team?

Which bookmakers gave Tottenham favourites to win anything in those years?

So if Arsenal doesn't win the league you will tell Arteta is a bottler because you and i tipped them to be favourites in june?


Mauricio Pochettino simply overachived with the Tottenham side and that's why you even considered them worthy of winning in the first place.

It was on the same nairaland that some of you told us your favourites in Mourinho and Conte were going to perform signs and wonder if they ever managed Tottenham but as usual,i allowed time to vindicate me and i was met with excuses as to why they couldn't perform this so called miracles when they got this Tottenham job.


Like Pochettino who didn't win anything with Tottenham, Ancelotti also didn't win anything with Parma and Juventus before been entrusted with Ac milan job in 2001 that saw him winning 2UCL and two league titles in 8years.


So wanting Pochettino here is never a step back or what have you. If you take cognizant of tactics during Pochettino's game,you will realise he is a very good tactician and will surely do well here. Might be unlucky not to have win with other team but Chelsea will always any good managers chances of winning trophies.

No truer words!!!

Jokerman:
Pessi brother don drop bomb....

Him for just speak for himself than disgracing himself na

mostob:
Instructing Nketiah to move to the left has its own disadvantage. Nketiah is a poacher.

Not solely to the left but just to create movement across the front 3 (fluid movement). I'm not saying he should be a winger or sort oo

daveP:
I feel he needs to come on as substitute once again. I remember he was once coming off the bench for a stretch of games and he got his mojo back. Let Trossard start vs Brentford. Both are good, but Nelli needs to watch and relax till he's back to his best iMO. As for Saka, the Man U game has given teams some tactical info to adapt to whenever they face Arsenal. Everton used it and it worked well. I expect Brentford to apply it as well. This is where Saka turns provider than finisher. Eddie and Odegaard should take up finishing. It will frustrate any plans to focus on him even if he's such a daring player that loves take-ons. Doesn't mean he can't be stopped.


Verdict: White and Nelli need rest abeg.

I feel there'll be some slight adjustments concerning the Brentford game. Let's see how it'll pan out

Spy360:
There ought to be some form of balance especially if we are chasing the game. Either we play with a back two or Partey drops into defense when the RB overlaps.

The basic point is to not allow Saka to be double marked.

True...I agree with this 100%

mostob:
RFB??

Right full back

mostob:
If we want to see the best of Martinelli, Arteta will have to change his tactic.
That teams double up on Martinelli is why Zinchenko has a lot of freedom to roam between the LB and Midfield. Xhaka is suppose to be overlapping and help Martinelli to contain the outnumbering opponents.
I still think Martinelli will get back his mojo when Jesus comes back. Jesus unlike Nketiah usually drift to the left freeing up Martinelli. And if Martinelli decided to stay at the LW with Jesus, Xhaka will have a lot of space in the box (reason for his scoring run earlier this season).

True tho.

But Arteta doesn't needs to wait for Jesus to come before we could see the best out of Martinelli. He should instruct Nketiah to be fluid and move across the front 3(with the left side inclusive). This is what Jesus offers that mostly makes us creates tons of chances after chances. The one time Nketiah did that against Everton, we created a very good chance that Odegaard squandered— which I won't really fault him cos I saw his effort.
One thing I noticed is that all our attackers and midfielders understands observation and interpretation of space that's why once a person any of our attacker shifts away from a zone(thereby dragging away his marker), you'll see another midfielder/attacker come in and occupy that space that's now vacant.

We lacked that fluidity in the final 3rd against Everton compared to previous matches.

Spy360:
Yes and exactly.

Teams are beginning to see us as leading contenders especially following our win over both Spurs and United, and now that Man City has lost to both teams.

Most of the teams we will face would gladly play for a draw and so they will want to sit back and defend or to stifle our attack.

But let me just trust Arteta's tactical mind.

Like you said, Xhaka should be willing to do the overlap on the LW. That's how we got our equaliser against Man United. At this point, Tomi should be preferred at RFB. What do you think?

Yeah... I also believe the Zinchenko roaming to all area of Midfield is something they worked on expertly during the WC break cos it became very very frequent post world cup. Also White not making that overlapping runs ia also noticeable post world cup so I feel it's tactical plans to compensate for Zinchenko drifts into midfield as Gabriel will cover up for Zinny while Ben will become conservative so that we won't be too open to counter (something like 3 at the back).

I would also prefer Tomi to come in for White. White have been off form and even Arteta is noticing it with the last 2 matches he's been subbed. He'll also bring that attacking width naturally that White doesn't frequently do.

Let's just see what Arteta will come up with sha

daveP:
That's where I'll say Tierney has been super helpful to Nelli when they play together than when its anyone else behind Nelli. Arteta needs to hack that wing once again. Nelli used to be great on the counter, especially when he had ESR near him. Maybe if ESR returns, that wing will come alive once more. For now, the two key players that brings the best out of him are still recuperating from injuries.

The thing is that we're having a good varieties of players now that can accommodate different tactical strategies.

Martinelli also needs to be daring too. Recently, he hardly does a lot of one-twos to open up defences, something he was doing regularly earlier this season. He's becoming far too predictable.

White hardly overlaps recently too(compared to first half of the season) and it's making it harder for Saka on the wing whenever he's been double marked but you could still see Saka doing one-twos with midfielders to try and open up defences.

Arsenal Vs Everton postponed game due to Queen's death have been Scheduled on the 1st of March by 8:45pm Nigerian time

Spy360:
One of the lessons to learn is that teams will be aiming to stop us especially from the wings as they know it's where our strength lies.

Arteta and the lads should come up with a plan be in case that happens. I have noticed recently how two players are asked to mark Saka whenever he gets the boy because they know he will always succeed one on one.

Zinchenko drifting infield and Xhaka not making that overlapping runs to help Martinelli might be making Martinelli's case harder.

He's still not daring enough in his dribbles unlike Pre-Wc but he's mostly lacking support too. Even White recently hardly makes overlapping runs unlike Pre-Wc

I just hope Arteta comes up with something to help out on our wings

MorataFC:
Guys, what do u think?

Arsenal is predicted to finish with 88/89 points and still win the league?

Mehn, it means they predicted Man city to be so bad be that

Jencejyde:
Well said at Jod.era!

Sometimes I just feel for fans but sometimes I personally look inwards from the player perspective to see how it feels.

Unfortunately I did not watch the match due to naija problems if you know. But I noticed that the uproar on the loss was not about our performance as if to say Everton played us off the park but it was more of us not being clinical enough to get into the game and break them down to get the results.

This is what gives me joy as a player to know that the Performance was there but the result was not in our favour.

The consistency of performance is what some of us have always loved about this team and get irked about when we lose games in an abysmal manner as if there was nothing to play for.

I for one am not bothered about a loss or two here and there as long as that mentality to always perform from any member of the team is consistent. What will other me is the manner of our loss and if players are dropping their standards, that would be a real concern but lately bar 1 or 2 players the team has been doing well enough even though results have not been in our favour.

Let's not get deluded that we will win every single match from now till the end of the season but let's back this team to ensure that the consistency of performance which has given us a chance at the title remains till the end of the campaign.

Sometimes we just have to put ourselves in the shoes of these players and wonder if truly they too want to win it or not.

I have played games where my coach is just lost as in he simply has no answer to the opposing team and it's just down to pure mentality and tenacity of the team to grind out a result. I'm sure we would be wondering what's happening to liverpool right now and that's just football in it's many cycles

The only thing that has to remain consistent should be the performance and in not time the results will follow.

If there are some players that need a rest or are not performing optimally then its best to leave them out for now so as to get them back in shape

Nice one cos you put what I also have in mind in terms of performance consistency over result. I'm a firm believer of good performances and process than results cos I believe Results are just the by products of performance if done right(esp in the long run). It's the main reason why I wasn't really feeling this team during the first half of last season when we were winning but our performances wasn't great.

Our performance wasn't that bad even though Everton tried to subdue our Midfield and hit us on long balls which most time dey were successful with. Also their defence was resolute. The game was just screaming "first to score wins the game" and it really happened. On Saturday was just an off day generally for us and we just hope that it's an anomaly.

I believe these boys. They've displayed over the long run this season that their performances is one of the best (if not the best) this season and their mentality have been top notch.

I truly believe we'll bounce back after the defeat

mostob:
alright...he should be fit for Brentford o

Lol .. he would.

No fears!!

Spy360:
It may also be that Arteta wanted to create a competition between the two, to get the best out of Partey. Same as Martinelli. Same as White. It can only get better.

Well, I believe it'll get better with the competition.
I'm just glad that we've players that can get us over the lines now compared to last season.

With the little rest, I believe Partey will come back with a bang against Brentford

Ballzproblem2:
it will be your own people 🥴

Cancelo?

mostob:
No update on Partey yet.

I think Partey was removed for precaution so as not to exacerbate it since he was really struggling and since Arteta likes Jorginho (coupled with experience), he decided to give Partey a breather.

I think he'll be very very fit and available against Brentford