₦airaland Forum

mirinder:
you said he can't score

I said he wasn't a consistent goalscorer. That's two different things na

Spy360:
I am not static in my thinking and always bow to superior arguments.

I sat my head down and thought of the positives and negatives of a high line.

Y
From my post you can see where I listed the qualities required to play the pattern and discovered that we have them. I also pointed out that the most important thing here is for the players to study the game and know when to push up or fall back.

The reasons you gave was the same reason I gave previously when I talked about the highline but you said Spuds were very dangerous on counter and that we shouldn't try it.

Well, thank goodness you've finally seen it

edoyad:
Gunz still blazing.

Longest time boss. Longest longest time

Spy360:
Check my explanation

I saw it. I'm just surprised two days ago you were against us playing highline against Spurs only to have a contrary opinion ystdy. What changed?

mirinder:
inaki Williams scored two goals

Is Inaki Williams an arsenal player on loan?

mostob:
Gabriel is huge mehn....

Ten Hag following Arteta's way

BTW no Partey l Tierney and Zinchenko in all the training pictures

Arsenal don sign you??
Congrats bro


But on a more serious note, I think it's just mind games. If they're in the picture, it'll give tottenham clue that those 3 are fit and they might plan accordingly. Now they'll just be doing guess work. Same way we'll be doing guess work if Kulu will play or not.

Remember, it's arsenal that controls the pictures that comes out on their social media page and na who dem want make you see naim you go see. So there's high tendency those 3 trained but their pictures aren't allowed to be sent to the public

daveP:
Those two no go sweet outside XI. Chai.

I'm suspecting we can grab one DM from this WC. If South America, all the sweeter.

I tell you, those two no get correct backup. I'm suspecting we'll go for Danilo in January.

andrewbaba44:
For their club ,then they will come and tell you he is a fraud ,maybe na juju Aubameyang use for arsenal when e win epl golden boot

The perfect excuse don dey for dem sha.

#the number 9 curse#

andrewbaba44:
Be also reminding them Aubameyang who did well at the epl

... And hopefully he won't do well again

daveP:
Just look at us?
We are finally at this point of selection headache? It wasn't so season's ago. Once a players injures, hopeless. Now ESR is injured(not happy. Wishing his speedy recovery), but we are not handicapped in that position unlike seasons ago.


There was a season where We would all be on hbp if kolasinac and bellerin got injured. There was a season where if Ramsey injured, Goals will just reduce till he returns to increase it all of a sudden.


Ozil?
Laca?


Now we have just one major injury scare compared to 5key injures years back-PARTEY!


We've come a long long way. Evident in this selection headache for the fullbacks. We're getting there.



Soon, a Gunner will be back on this list like it used to be.

Henry has the best bant for Spurs ever

I've always been saying it since season start, we have one of the best Squad depth. Hopefully, Reiss Nelson steps up to be an able Martinelli deputy. The only person I'm afraid of is just Partey and Ramsdale.

I believe we'll get Partey's deputy by January while we'll just hope for Turner to improve with the Europa games

mostob:
Yes o
On serious note, it's about aiming for the sky and faraway above the roof.
There is no way we won't make the top 4 if we aim for the trophy this season.
Aim for the top 4 and we fit no make top 5 sef...
It's psychological.

Exactly, so this is about us winningall) our matches. So incase we wan land due to any blip, na top 4. But the difference between Man u and Man city is that, Man city already have top 4 on lockdown while man u haven't. So the safer/easier bet here is for man u to keep losing any chance they have and not giving them any advantage than Man city .

Spy360:
I want to talk about playing a defensive high line.

There are advantages.

First is that you pin your opponent far from your goal, so that they will have to use pace and cover a lot of grounds to get a chance to score.

Secondly is that you overload their half of the pitch which gives you a closer route to their goal.

This is excellent based on two points
1. Is that you need to have fast defenders or defenders who are very good at reading the game so as to intercept a pass and/or disrupt the movement of the attacking player.

2. Is that you need to have players who can keep the ball in tight situations because if they lose the ball often, then you put constant pressure of the defenders.

If you don't have these then it's better to sit in the defense because if not you make the game easy for the opponent.

We have both of these, especially now that Partey is available.


So it's better to play a high line against Spurs.

The major issue here is being able to control the game. That means keeping possession of the ball, maintaining wing positions and structure, and being creative enough to keep the opponent afraid to venture.

This means our players should not lose their heads and become desperate to score like against Man United but keep their heads. The defenders also should not make rash tackles and give referees opportunity to shine or become famous.

is this coming from you Spy or is my eye paining me

mostob:
I get you jare...

For he sake of that Liverpool game, don't you think Man city losing will give us a breather.
Man Utd will still collapse trust me

Haaland vs Martinez is what I'm looking forward to

Lol, That's because you're looking at Man city (wey no be our mate for now). As long as they're not top 4 rivals nothing suppose concern us with Man city for now. Anything to drop point off Man u, Tottenham and Chelsea is very most welcome. If till around March, we're still in contention for the title, then I'll start to think about Man city dropping point.

If Man u get the 3 points now, it might come handy when things get serious during the business end of the season just like how Tottenham beating Man city last season second leg became handy when they wanted to secure top4 against us

Spy360:
Especially Kokane. He will resurrect his dead moniker

A very very interesting piece worth reading

https://theanalyst.com/eu/2022/09/how-arteta-has-turned-arsenal-into-the-real-deal/

Spy360:
That's what I meant by him being creative from that position. Creativity from there is very powerful (that's what's making Iwobi oga for Everton since he was converted).

To be creative from there, Partey will need someone that's very technical in their positioning, in releasing the ball to him on time, and able to form a decoy. Someone to beat the press and allow him the time and space to throw a defense splitting pass. That person can be Zinchenko.

Okay... I understand better

mostob:
You're talking as if you started supporting Arsenal last year.
You should know benching the captain is not a strange thing here. Arteta sef can relate.

Anyway, whoever plays tomorrow is Ok. I just want them to get the job done. Hopefully Ten Hag will do his magic against City but I doubt. The matchup of Haaland against Martinez I cracking my rib right now...

Lol, while the it's not a strange thing for us to bench our captain but you're not looking at the cause. Aside that, arsenal haven't bench their captain in the player's first full season as a captain. Infact lemme highlight the causes

1. Long term injury and/or loss of form (Vermalaen, Arteta, Lacazette)

2.. Altercation with fans (Xhaka)
3... Loss of form and/or disciplinary issues(Auba)

These are the players affected and the only two players who weren't benched didn't fall under any of these categories during these era are Mertesacker and Koscienly.
Odegaard haven't fallen under any of these categories or thereabout

As for the 2nd bolded... Abeg, don't say that oo. Our biggest rival now is Man u, time to dey look man city no be now. If they can draw fine but I'll have to choose, it'll be for Man city to win

Spy360:
We should be grateful that Son did his comeback in the last match. If it's this one... God help us

Lol, If Son do that thing against us, I go just leave here for iamoyin.damola and Kokane

Spy360:
I must say that game control has been our major problem in big matches. The match against Man United is a good example. Against Tottenham it will even be more serious because it's a derby and Conte is very good at controlling matches or frustrating opposing teams. We saw that against Chelsea and how he provoked Tuchel.

Arteta MUST REMAIN CALM IN HIS HEAD even after conceding because any rash decision, Son and Kane will use us form different stats.

It'll be interesting to see how we'll control games in big matche when we're a goal down cos that's where it's really affecting us.

Though I must admit, we've improved our game control compared to previous seasons. All in all, I just hope we score first tomorrow, then see it out from there

Spy360:
There's a reason why Arteta signed Zinchenko and it's for games like this. Zinny is more technical and tactically flexible than Tierney which means more and better options during different phases of transitions.

Especially with Partey available, we can easily dominate the midfield with both of them while Xhaka pushes up. This will allow the other defenders forming a back three to focus on defending.

Zinny's presence in the trio during attacking phase will also allow Partey to be more creative...

........... Odegaard...........
Xhaka Zinchenko Partey

Martinelli also prefers Zinchenko as we have seen this season. Marti needs space to isolate his man one on one. Tierney wants to run accross the opponent's backline for a cut back whereas Martinelli should be doing that with Xhaka anchoring for him.

The defensive attribute you spoke of for Tierney is just a minute difference. In a back three it's Gabriel who will be doing the defensive work not Zinchenko. Also during defending phase, Xhaka or Martinelli falls back to assist him. So it's very negligible difference in terms of what it adds to the team.

Zinchenko all the way.

Very Valid and nice points you gave here.

Tho, I don't see Partey being away from his base. On the contrary, he'll be at that anchor to mitigate any counter that Spurs might want to do. We've a lot of creative players and even Zinchenko can be creative going forward (as he usually does). Also, Partey is always creative from deep, so it's better he just stay his anchor position. Afterall, that's what most of us criticized Sambi for which Man u capitalised on

iamoyindamola:
Arteta should show the boys our last match against spuds as that was the reason we didn't go for UCL IMO
He should use that as motivation for them cos tomorrow look somehow to me

I believe he'll use that has motivation. Coupled with the fact that it's our home.

Also, Spuds will want to be deadly seeing that we would come for revenge. Only God knows what's going on in Conte's mind.

Tomorrow will be a very very good matchup!!

mostob:
I agree.
But by being poor all Tierney does is backpass or Sprint to the byeline and deliver his trademark cross
At least, look front, look side too....

Lol, the good news is that we have two good LBs. I'll be glad with anyone of the two that steps feet on Saturday

mostob:
One, Ode doesn't really perform in big stages.
Two, Vieira is kinder sharper and more instinctive. His shots might come handy too.

Just saying

I understand but we need to look at the human aspects too and that's what I feel you're neglecting.

Let's assume you're Arteta,

1..What justification do you have to drop your captain?
2.. If you can't trust your captain to start one of the club's biggest match, why make him captain of your team?

mostob:
I know it might look strange but I will start Vieira ahead of Ode on Saturday if I were Arteta.

Lol, it's really strange like you said

BlueRayDick:
He wanted to, but always ends up passing back to midfield when he noticed they've blocked his passing route. We need him to be unpredictable; they should know he's capable of dribbling past them or delivering a good cross, they shouldn't already figure him out before he even gets the ball at his feet.

Okay... I understand

BlueRayDick:
I would rather Zinchenko starts. They are both good defenders in their own right, but I prefer Zinchenko cos of the attack threat he poses to the opposition defence when we go forward.....

The man utd game that some fans might want to hold against Zinchenko, it was our entire defence line that was caught sleeping and not just Zinchenko alone..... Even our new found love ; Saliba was caught sleeping on the bicycle.

The last match Tierney played, he was so predictable going forward; he just wants to spam cross into the box and quickly track back if the opposition gains the ball.

I hope we will have Martinelli tracking back when we are not with the ball; that way we can see the best in Zinchenko and not blame him for what is not his fault ( Martinelli not tracking Anthony was the reason we conceded the first goal vs Man utd). I will gladly choose Zinchenko's ball playing ability to Tierney's spamming crosses jare

Very well said.
Hopefully, we'll be more compact on Saturday and also I'm sure the defence will be more secure with Partey screening them

But the bolded, did he really spam any cross into the box against Brentford? I don't remember him doing any cross tho and he was more technical than normal

mostob:
I also prefer Tomi. Apart from both being Asian, White might be too aggressive for Son which may earn him unnecessary yellow card(s) and fks. Tomi understand Saka better and helps more in build up.

Nah, White isn't aggressive like that. I think defensively, White is good but his going forward isn't that elite like Tomi. I will prefer Tomi to him 24/7 but it's more for his attacking input than defensive cos White is very good defensively too like Tomi

mostob:
I'd go with Zinchenko even though Tierney seems better defensively. Spurs is a counter attack team and I think they look susceptible when chasing the ball so we need to hold the ball. Zinchenko will also be a plus during our build up.

Hmmm... Very well then

mostob:
Same here too. I'm more comfortable with Tierney than Zinchenko. Tierney is faster and better defensively but his ball holding is poor.

To be honest, I don't think he's poor the way we're making it sound. Granted, Zinchenko is more technical than him but Tierney isn't poor in ball holding. I'll just say he's a different variety to Zinchenko

Roland17:
For me, it would depend on the mentality employed by Arteta going into the game. Conte is very very discipline, rigid and very rarely changes his tactics. He favors the back 3 and relies heavily on physical football and the counter. This is why he is fielding physical specimens like Kulu, Perisic, Richalison, Hoijberg and Kane all at the same time.

If Arteta is looking for us to attack and stay on top of Spuds then Zinny because he technically superior with the ball, has better passing including range and is able to invert into the middle to add more numbers.

However, if Arteta is going into the game with a cautious mentality; allowing Spuds to dictate play, then Tierney. Tierney has better positioning, discipline and recovery.

I don't think Arteta will go with a cautious mentality sha or even allow spuds to dictate play. Well, it's good we've good headache like this

johnjunior39:
My guy did not tag me chai but I will drop my 2 cent.

I will go with Tierney. Zin is a lot more adventurous and not too disciplined . watch the Man U match again.

Tierney is better for a big game and is well disciplined

Chai... No vex boss, I been forget your moniker. No vex abegg


As for the bolded, it's exactly my thoughts. Tierney for big games and sharp attackers while Zinchenko for midtable to small teams where we can easily subdue them

daveP:
That was actually a blocked shot. He saw the path to him already blocked so he had only a shot to take and he still delayed at that. Whatever he wants to do, he should just do it quicker. That's my issue. I believe we'll enjoy the game sha

Lol, well I believe he'll learn from that.

Amongst all our forwards, he's the one I believe have the best decision making