₦airaland Forum

Fkhalifa:
Then that takes us back to what I used to say Here, The entire front 4 needs to be moved on including Auba..I'm sorry its my opinion.

A Sanchez like is needed at LW, one who can track back, win balls back, start attack, run and delete players on the way with fast dribblings, cuts and shoot, arrive in the box, exchange fast passes with CF,LB and AM with a good shooting power and energy to burn...

A Douglas Costa,Robben,Di maria, or fast paced Oxlade,Adama Traore is needed at RW to break teams down, cut and shoot.

An AM like Carzola,Hleb,Iniesta,Debruyne..who will not only rely on killer pass to create, but run at defence, take players on, always ready to receive ball and progress it, shoots far and near goal post, arrive in box and exchange passes with wingers, CF and full backs.

Then an hardworking CF who won't rely on tap ins, one who will drop deep or to the flanks to create space or individual goals.

Failure to get this means Arsenal will continue to be a midtable team and play ugly football no matter who the club hires as coach.

Arsenal do not need to spend £70M to get these players, just get good scouts who've got eyes like those who saw Hleb,Rosciky,Sagna,Maddisom,Kante,Mahrez etc.

You're spot on in what you wrote

All what you wrote is what we're lacking, and if we can just get them, then we're really ready to contend for the title.

But as Blueray would say(and I agree with him), all those signings will take like 2 seasons or more to get it done.

Fkhalifa:
Would you rather Arterta attack and get cricket scores like 3-2 wins 2-2 draws, 1-4 loss, 3-3,/draw, 4-2 wins against midtable and low teams. OR play cautious football and keep result tight at 1-0, 2-1 and relying on sit back/counter against big teams?..

Arteta to me, wants points,wins and trophies than entertaining football as that will keep him in job.

One thing with entertaining football is that, once your team is settled with the system, you can easily resolve your defence(if your defence isn't strong enough). Liverpool did it, Chelsea done it now(tho still not certified, we'll wait till this season ends to know how far).

Even Wenger created the system too, but failed to strengthen his defence which was why he was underachieving in the league.

What I'm just saying is that Arteta should try and create attacking system for us to build on(that's what big team does), especially as we have good defence. These his type of "defence first approach" won't take us anywhere, as it'll take away the fear factor the we once had against even small teams. And to be sincere, that's not sustainable for a big club, esp a club like ours.

kodded:
is willian creative ?

i will rather see leno play that AM position than willian to be honest

Lol... I've seen willian played there this season against Sheffield and he wasn't bad, heck our game improved sef. It won't be bad to try him out there again... At least, let him don't be totally useless to us.

Spy360:
It's the same pattern he has been playing na, back 3, wing backs, double pivot midfield, 2 wingers and one CF. The issue is that pattern has been found out and so even though he has better personnel, it's not enough.

The fact that he lacks an AM makes his options very limited. Against Leeds he tried Willock, in the AM role similar to what he does in Europa, but Willock lacked confidence in that match. The best option for now is Saka but that will also mean losing a viable option for winger.

Willian will need to reinvent himself to play that role.

I have following Mkhitaryan this season at Roma, and boy has really improved.

No, at the beginning of his tenure(before the corona enforced break), he didn't start with 3 at the back oo.

His formation was mostly 4231... With ozil at no10 position.(Am)
It was after the Brighton game(we lost 2-1) that he started using 343.


I thought we've sold mkhi... Anyways serie A is a slow paced league. I won't look much into that.

Moreover, Willian played that Am role against Sheffield (2nd half) and that's the only time I can remember playing a game that we pegged back our opponents and created decent chances. The first half of that same match(against Sheffield) was as dire as our normal matches this season.
It's better willian play that Am and saka play the wings.

sod09:
Ozil was playing then

Then he should incorporate an Am na.
Shey Willian played Am against Sheffield and it tried a little..

Let him play there na, instead of the Willian to be wasting on the wings.

While saka and Nelson Mann the wings

Akinbahm:
Them no really sweet like that bro it's just an upgrade on Emere ball playing pattern.

Huh? That pattern Arteta played when he started was 10x better than what we're playing now.
It's better to go back to that pattern then work our improvement from there, than to do this present pattern that's torturing us now.

Spy360:
If I may be his advocate, I'd say he knows he lacks quality and creativity in the front men and so decided to go defensively knowing that if he does not concede he won't lose and still get a chance to win.

The problem with this approach is that once an opponent scores first, it's going to be a disaster as we saw against Aston Villa.

Yea... But I believe he should work on his attack more than just giving up about it.

I mean, these were the same team minus ozil(and more ) we used wen he took over arsenal and we were playing very good football. Why can't we go back... Esp now that we have Gabriel and Tierney at our back line.

At the start We played good football against

Chelsea... Lost 2-1
Man u.. Won 2-0
Newcastle .. Won 4-0
West ham... Won 1-0
Burnley, Sheffield and Norwich.. We drew.

Yet we played good football with the Luiz and mustafi. With mostly saka(kolasinac) and Amn and bellerin manning the FB.

Why then did we have better defenders now and he's afraid and overly cautious?

It's not fair na

Spy360:
The entire situation is not clear. I too don't know, I am just speculating. Nevertheless, if believe it takes a player sometimes to change everything.

Don't you agree?

this I totally agree.

Spy360:
An AM is what we actually need. It's like the final piece of a jigsaw.

Did you notice the impact just one man brought to United that changed their season? Bruno Fernandes.

A proper AM will make everything gel in that our team. That's why I was so furious when we missed getting one last summer and had to hope the Ozil issue get sorted out. I was even hoping we could get just any bloke from anywhere to manage till Jan as long as he can create.

I tell you, Nketiah is not less that Bamford, neither has Aubameyang forgotten how to score. Just give them one creative player to mess with and see their output.

At the start of the season, I might agree with you, but for now, I don't just know.

Maybe, just maybe if our front three improve individually will I be convinced that we need just an Am. But for now, I don't think even an Am will do much.

Spy360:
First of all the fact is that Arteta adopted a cautious approach from the start of the match. He always had.

Secondly if you follow my comment well, I wasn't in support of his approach, I mean we were playing Leeds.

Thirdly, again within my post I opined that the same cautious approach at the end was beneficial due to our poor attacking display and the red card. If he had not been cautious, we definitely would have lost and that would be more devastating.

Mehn, I don tire for Arteta cautious approach sha. I dunno weda it's personnel problems or it's really his system that's making our players look so bad.

No movement amongst our forwards, no quick triangles interplay and/or quick & incisive passes. Our play is always looking labored and slow.

One thing I know is this... If Arteta is always focusing on ways to prevent goals instead of actually focusing on ways to score goals, we will be producing poor performances.

BlueRayDick:
To be honest, I never saw us making top 4; at least not the way the transfer window ended. I've always looked on with amusement when people keep insisting we sort midfield before defence. ( Even though I beleive defence should be first sorted out and midfield later)

The truth is Arsenal's problem will not be solved by just getting AM everybody has been clamoring for. It will require gradual clearing out of old players and bringing in new players which may span over 2 seasons( Because we obviously don’t have money to buy all the players we need at once)

As for those already calling for Arteta sack, just forgerrit. That guy is going to stay for a long time cos it seems the management believes he’s going to spearhead a long term rebuilding of the team Klopp did at loserpool ( whether u believe this or not is immaterial, only time will tell if that believe is valid or not )

Hmmm... I always thought this our squad will carry us at least closer to top4 then wen we strengthen during the winter window, then we can successfully lay a claim towards the top 4. I guess I was wrong and overestimated the team. In fact, I know our midfield was bad, but then before this season started, I overly overestimated our attack (partly due to the belief that pepe will improve massively).

What you typed at the bolded, looking at the team and how limited most of then are, I buy into your opinion. We might need to gradually clear out all those old players and bring in the modern players that's required. I just hope that Arteta and his recruitment team gets it right. If not, it'll be a long long road for us.

BlueRayDick:
Spy360 is right actually. We have partly Arteta's "defensive" approach and the lack of clinical finishing on the part of Leeds to thank for that draw yesterday.

None of the past Arsenal coaches be it Wenger, Good Ebening or Ljunberg would've drawn that match considering the time Pepe got the red card and the level of our game at that point in time. I don't anybody should be beating Arteta over that draw. What we should be doing is talking about is the lethargic performance of our attackers, Xhaka refusing to be adventurous in pushing attacks, Our wingers always strolling about exposing our LB and RB when the opponents is on the offensive etc.

Arteta may not be leaving up to expectations, but I wonder what exactly our expectations are truly.

our expectation at start of season na top4 o, but e be like say now, that top 4 ambition would have changed now.

Arteta needs to ask fast if we really need to get our season right on track

BlueRayDick:
Spy360 is right actually. We have partly Arteta's "defensive" approach and the lack of clinical finishing on the part of Leeds to thank for that draw yesterday.

None of the past Arsenal coaches be it Wenger, Good Ebening or Ljunberg would've drawn that match considering the time Pepe got the red card and the level of our game at that point in time. I don't anybody should be beating Arteta over that draw. What we should be doing is talking about is the lethargic performance of our attackers, Xhaka refusing to be adventurous in pushing attacks, Our wingers always strolling about exposing our LB and RB when the opponents is on the offensive etc.

Arteta may not be leaving up to expectations, but I wonder what exactly our expectations are truly.

to be sincere eh, like I said before, I'm happy with the draw as we deserved to lose cos arsenal of before would have lost that game. But why I am happy with the draw is because of the Red card that happened almost at the beginning of 2nd half.

What I just want to clarify from Spy is if the cautious approach was what we started the game with (cos we lost against Villa), and not because of the circumstance due to the red card.

Hope you get my point?

Fkhalifa:
It's the personnel, There's a reason Arsenal's best midfield play was at utd.
Elneny and Partey have energy to burn, they keep running, wanting the ball, joining attack and helping defence..
Xhaka will not give you that, he's too static and predictable with his passes, Ceballos romance the ball like he is Spain.

The attack has been average since the days of Emery of using Auba and Laca together, but because they score and do that yeye handshake, fans thought Arsenal have the best forward in Europe.

Iwobi was still putting pressure, winning corners, but his end product prompted his sale and buy of Pepe.

I'm afraid AM alone won't solve this, the entire front 4 needs upgrade.

True... What you said is fact.

And I entirely agree with the bolded

Spy360:
I'll like to state here that the reason we didn't lose yesterday was the cautious approach of the manager. Knowing fully well we lost our previous game, losing again will certainly kill confidence.

That does not mean I exonerate him, in fact he has disappointed me so far being a strong advocate of his, especially with his failure to get an AM for the team. That itself I will not entirely blame him, since I believed he had to choose between Aouar and Partey, in which choosing the later was the better choice as well, till Jan.

wait... I just want to be clear.
What do you mean by cautious approach please?

Do you mean before the red card, Arteta set that team up for cautious approach against Leeds cos we lost the previous match?

kodded:
with partey and eleny out and our attackers firing blank, not forgetting the fact that we were forced to play with 10 men because of pepe recklessness, I think a goaless draw is actually a fair result

A very fair result(for us).
All through ystdy match, I was just expecting our net to shake. How it didn't shake is really really surprising

Fkhalifa:
I'll say so, Don't let get deceived by names, that Ceballos is from Madrid doesn't mean jack..except Partey who is still new, can't judge for now.
Let's ask ourselves, Which Arsenal midfielders have impressed like Alex Song, Carzola, Coq and even Ramsey over the past 2/3 years.

We can't continue to blame/sack managers for them.

The Avilla and Leeds midfielders were mobile, defending, attacking, winning duels for 90+mins. They don't need to have big names or media hype, it is what we see.
Xhaka( Average below average).
Ceballos( good but inconsistent and not W.class).
Elneny( hardworking not W.class)
Willock( Either not good or not ready)
..

See Kovacic and Kante, they cover grounds, support attack, help defense and good with the ball.
Leeds and Villa were slicing through that midfield and defending/winning ball backs also.

And you think it's not the way the midfield is setup that's why you feel we're that bad?
But then, that doesn't negate the fact sha that we have average midfielders.
Looking at our midfield is an eyesore.
Looking at the attack is even worse

How did we get here?

Fkhalifa:
You would still blame Arterta if he attacks and lose 4-3, he prefers to keep things tight because he doesn't trust the defenders on highline.

Wenger and Emery attacked teams and they created chances, score but concede lots as well.
Arsenal do nor have fast midfielders who can run all 90 mins defending and attacking..
The midfielders can't recover should they attack in numbers like Leeds.

Artrta prefers to defend than attack and expose his defense. Atleast he won trophy and some big teams with this approach.

Btw, Emery is sitting 2nd in laliga and he isn't playing haram football, neither did he at PSG and Sevilla.

Arsenal need to invest in modern day energetic talented players, else this present crop will make klopp look like Tony Pulis.

Are you saying arsenal midfield is worse than Leeds and aston villa man to man?

Fkhalifa:
Not every time will the opposition miss chances and hit woodwork.
The scoreline will paper the cracks as usual.

true... Leeds were too profligate. Even Aston Villa no get those many chances sef, yet dey wipe us 3-0

iamoyindamola:
Until after this season I can rate lampard

Lol... We'll await and see how he pans out this season

Eawwal:
Omoooo
This season is gonna be long mehn.

We're playing Wolves next at home and I don't see us getting anything from the match. Willian and Saka are injured, Pepe red carded and those are the only wingers we have.

lol... I just hope saka injury isn't worse oo. Willian can be injured for all I know, I don't care.

Let's nurture saka-nelson winger partnership. Pepe and Willian can settle for Europa joor.

The greatest mistake Arteta will do is going back to 343. But you see this season.. E don long already

Iamoyindamola, do you remember our talk about Chelsea. How you felt lampard na one kind useless coach with better players but I told you Chelsea is a team I fear, cos if all their whole signings blend, they'll really go far. Now that their signings and the team have blended, they're greatly moving to the right track. It might be too early tho, but at least you can see the imprints on lampard work on them.


2ndly, I don't know if this is too early to say this sha. But we can see how Chelsea are really looking balanced in defence and attack compared to last season. Last season their attack was splendid and their defence was trash. All they just needed to do was just a little tweaking in defence (come in Mendy and T.Silva) and we can see how Chelsea's are looking like a formidable team. Exact same process Liverpool did also... Good attacking play then but worse defence. Then a little tweaking (come in van dijk and Allison), and they looked really formidable.

If we don't have a very good attacking play but have a good defence and keeper, we'll still suffer.

iamoyindamola:
He played in u21 last week and scored
When he's not mad why will he sideline him,I'm expecting him on Thursday

But why hasn't he been playing in Europa this season?.

If na only u21 him dey play, then he still have long way to enter this team oo

Eawwal:
The only thing that has improved in the team is the defense, we haven't scored an open play goal in more than 7 hours of football. We just dey play like Tony Pulius Stoke City team. Lol

That's exactly same thing we're saying. I think he's to fixated on the defensive side of our game than attack. Add that to the very rubbish attack we have and you'll see the reason we haven't scored an open play goals in over 7hrs.

So so unlike arsenal

iamoyindamola:
Now you want ebening seriously?
This man have been managing scrap players since his appointment and you expect him to over do pass himself.
The only issue I have with him is his foolishness in ozil case and not bringing in esr since we don't have any AM available

But what happen to ESR sef. Is he injured or out on loan, cos even Europa I no dey see am.
Abi Arteta do sideline dat one too?

Eawwal:
Arteta's style of football is too negative. I notice our midfielders hardly join the attack, they stay back to defend when we're attacking including all our defenders. When attacking we hardly have more than 2 players in the opponents box 18,how do we expect to score when we attack with few players, in contrast to Leeds, they attack with all their forwards and midfield, at some point when Leeds are attacking I counted like 5 of their players players in our box expecting the ball to score even before Pepe was red carded.

Our style of play is an eyesore and I don't want to believe all the faults lies on the players. Most of the blame is on Arteta, I read his post match conference, it does not inspire confidence at all, he said he was happy with the performance and results. I'd take Emery's football over the nonsense we've been playing under Arteta.

Easy, easy @the bolded. Inasmuch as he said that but that's not the full story. He said with the red card that we had early in the 2nd half, that he'll take a draw. And if we're been realistic, a draw is a good result for us knowing fully well that arsenal of before would have capitulated in that match.

But aside that, your observations are very spot on. I noticed that Arteta have this kind of "defence first" approach. While it's not bad cos obviously the players are expected to help the defence, but I feel he's not able to strike a balance between good defence and good attack. Arsenal midfielders hardly enter the opponents box, but at first sign of opposition counter or attack from our opponents, even our attackers and midfielders run to our 18yard box to defend. All these tend to limit our attack as our midfielders (esp) have the sense of reasoning that "we need to prevent goals first, instead of scoring".

P.S.... I'm not against us preventing goals or against for our midfielders to be defensively aware, but good team(s) tend to look out for how to score first than defend. I just feel we're doing it vice versa. Arteta should try and strike a balance the attacking phase and defensive phase, else our attack will always suffer as it's doing presently.

Lastly... Say no to EMERY football

Fkhalifa:
You see that Rodrigo's impact in that few minute? Leeds looked like scoring hitting bars over and over..Arsenals front4 will just be playing like a championship side and no matter how hard the defense and Goalkeeper tries, they'll surely crack after much pressure.

Leeds pierced the defense, Arsenal could have conceded 3 like the villa game, and fans will begin to blame Bellerin and Holding and even entire back line.
But thanks to woodwork and bad finishing from Leeds.

As in I tire.

The greatest surprise is how our defence didn't concede goal since 56th minute

benji93:
But wetin you dey talk na statistics too now. Passes completed ectera. . I just dey talk say if you combine all the passes completed you still no go get enough to buy 3 point. And you know wetin dey happen. Water always finds its level. Leeds will eventually abi they already found their level. I remember that time , first few weeks gragra. . We no go hear word for here. Some people even dey talk say make we buy Leeds full team. Bielsa na Guardiola in godfather, blablabla, Where all dem goals go? Prisoners of the moment.

lol... Anyhow sha

benji93:
Person dey 15th, you dey talk say no be the full story. Which story people wan hear again?

People wey talk say football is more than statistics know wetin dem dey talk about.

Put in good finishers into that team and they'll be higher than even 10th.
Their conversion rate is damn too poor

[quote author=Fkhalifa post=96328918][/quote]I've been saying our front 4 is bang average. That's the worst of our department.
Of all, I'll just give Auba a slack cos, he's not playing in his natural position and when he does play, the chances doesn't come enough.

But you see those our wingers??... Na pure pipe dem be

iamoyindamola:
You didn't see it abi you ran away
Tell us how Spiderman and magwaya are not afowofa
Also tell us how arsenal parked bus at OT

leave doc,
That day him blank out.
Him think say we no remember say him run, only to come back come give ole him new baptismal name (Amaka)

Lana1:
All i ever hear about this Leeds is "they are this, they are that. they play like a big team."

Yet they are in 15th place. 1 win in 6 games.


Abeg make we hear word.

They lack finishing.
Their build up, interplay and system is top notch. What they just lack is end product.(which of course is the key).

What we're just trying to say is "the 15th position don't tell their full story"