₦airaland Forum

airmark:
Roland17, now I know why you have multiple fanships.

Arsenal, the pretenders.

Jodera:
I don talk this one taya since last season.

The way he misses goals is damn not sustainable for a title competing club. It's too much.

I love what he brings but it's annoying seeing him missing chances that we all know he needs/ought to score. His preseason last season and his start to the season, I really thought we've gotten that all-round striker we really crave

It's very very tiring and I'm disappointed in him Tbh

fredoooooo:
League don start proper now... Alsedanu fc don start work ...

BlueRayDick:
We had the ball for the first 10’minutes of the match and we didn’t do anyting with it . That was our undoing .

Every other thing was secondary .

We go again next time next season !

MorataFC:
Fixed

daveP:
What's the meaning of this now?

Jodera:
E just weak me I swear

mostob:
If we want Saka to be isolated with just one defender,

1. The left side must find a way to click.

2. Odegaard must learn not to drift to the wing.

3. Saka himself needs to come inside sometimes.

Ray07:
come join my club Girona
We dey ball die

Jodera:
Na the number one sef be the Koko.

Last season we were more fluent cos if the RHS is choked up, the LHS would cause devastating effects on opponents. I remember beginning of season when the LHS was our strongest weapon, then Saka and Odegaard were still gaining momentum. Before December, both sides were very explosive.

Now, the LHS is so so dead and this is me being conservative on this fact (right from Midfield up to the attacker — Havertz/Martinelli combo) and it's putting undue pressure on the RHS.
With how tight the RHS is, Saka still tries to create chances and still have a go at opposition GK. Almost everytime!!.

How many clear cut chances comes from the LHS?

The thing is that opposition coaches knows our LHS is the weakest in every department. Havertz and Martinelli, not creative enough, Zinny not good defensively. Reason why our RHS is given more attention when we're attacking and our LHS is given more attention when we're defending.


Until we fix that LHS up, we go still dey talk about how Saka and Odegaard are always ineffective

My observation and opinion tho

Silentgroper:

mostob:
You have said it all. Let me also add that Martinelli shares the biggest blame here. Both White and Zinny doesn't overlap yet Saka is more productive. Carlos Cuesta needs to sit Martinelli down and do his magic on him. I really can't pinpoint exactly what went wrong with Martinelli.

And, to get the best out of our wingers, we need to stop being rigid. Nothing stops Jesus and Martinelli switching.

Jodera:
Na just Martinelli previous seasons dey make me calm for am cos I no just understand this Martinelli.

He can't even beat his man one on one again. He's not that dangerous again in the box, and his goalscoring which is his greatest asset that endeared us to him, he's losing touch of that quickly. I mean, the two big things that endeared us to him(goalscoring and beating opponents), he's fast losing it. I don't just understand.

We need that fluidity in front line. Last season, GJ was predominant moving to the LHS, this season he's now moving to the RHS more. Omorr.

But all in all, Martinelli needs to step up. I just wish Esr can come back to his main form and push Martinelli big competition in that spot. I'm not too feeling Trossard there. Havertz also should be helping in creativity. I watch Odegaard and even though his creativity have dropped but that's partly due to Saka been crowded out so there's no much space for him to thrive.

Jodera:
Giroud won PL with who??

But then, I don't want to go to his personal achievements cos it's enviable, no doubt.

My point is... HE WAS A VERY VERY AVERAGE PLAYER FOR US.

I don't know what's hard there. Prove that he's not an average player for us and you'll be rational. You'll have a very strong point.

Stop calling me seria A, la Liga bundesliga or what not. It does not concern me cos those ones does not give me footballing joy.

How is that hard to understand?

mostob:
If we want Saka to be isolated with just one defender,

1. The left side must find a way to click.

2. Odegaard must learn not to drift to the wing.

3. Saka himself needs to come inside sometimes.

Spy360:
As per the bolded.

Average means not good. Very average means basically very poor. This is based on comparison.

Who do you want us to compare Giroud with to prove that he isn't very very average as you put it but in fact he was quite good? Choose two players (apart from Giroud off course). A very good striker for Arsenal and a very poor striker.

mostob:
Anytime the chance present itself for ESR to nail a spot, he usually gets injured. I don give up on that guy.
Same thing with Nelson.

Hausa:
I came here and said before that I've been following Arsenal bumper-to-bumper for over 20 years, and people said I'm being cocky.

The fact that Saka, Martinelli, and Odegaard are exciting is not in doubt. They are.
The question is, CAN THEY TAKE US TO WHERE WE DESIRE TO BE?
The Answer is NO. They can't.

Like I said somewhere (not on Nairaland), if Arteta thinks this squad can take us to where we desire to be, then he's a BIG joke.

There's a chance that the defenders can take us far. But that attack? Forget it.
It is not about getting 3 points against City, United, etc.
As the Heat begins to grow, they'll likely fall apart.

Saka, Martinelli, and Odegaard don't have the experience, the balls, the cojones, the know-how.
Because they've never been there and they've never done that.
If you're really into football, you'll realise their talents were never fully developed before they were plunged into First team football. Apart from that, an important factor is they had no MODELS.
Saka is still trying based on Sanchez, Ozil, Aubameyang, Lacazette, etc., that helped Model him. But at that point, they were toxic for the team. And it was not enough for him to develop into becoming a TOTAL FORCE. Today he's unplayable, tomorrow he'll leave you wondering.
And then we start saying he's playing too much or not being helped by Ben White.

But that is not a characteristic of players that are considered TOP QUALITY.

It is also my opinion that eventually, the fans will turn on Arteta.
Because he also lacks the know-how to take us where we desire to be.

Jodera:
I see people talking how Odegaard should be more central instead of going to the wings and always hiding behind Saka.

The thing is, according to our formation, this has always been his game even right from last 2 seasons. No be today e start. We've always been playing 433 symmetrical. Tomi/white —Odegaard— Saka trident on one side while Tierney/Zinny — Xhaka — Martinelli trident on the other side(reason I always call it RHS and LHS respectively). DM and striker acts as the link to the build up to such trident or the link to the passage of one trident to another.

So with this, we can see that Odegaard acts as RAM/RCM, while Xhaka acted as an LAM/LCM. So with this, it's the duty of Odegaard to always feed Saka and have an understanding with him, same way it's for Xhaka (and presently Havertz) to always feed Martinelli and have an understanding with him (as well as the FBs too). On occasions tho, They'll tilt towards the middle to retrieve ballbut that's how far they can go. And the aim is to do that in order to win the ball or build up straight to their assigned attackers (except on few occasions the opposite attacker is free and a cross field pass is necessary). Rarely will you see Odegaard or Xhaka switch wing. This positioning Is called Juego de posicion and that's what Arteta system plays.

It's the reason why I want Havertz to be up and doing in his creativity task cos leaving everything creativity on Odegaard/Saka wing is too much. It'll be like a person walking on one leg. Obviously the person would walk but it'll be with difficulty, pressure and imbalance. And that's what's happening to this team.

Until our LHS gets it right, our RHS will continue to suffer. Saka have been trying very well, but he's no Messi. If he doesn't gets help and distraction, we might keep on complaining and complaining!!!

mostob:
Well understood. That he should move central doesn't mean he should stay central throughout the whole match. You do know that by staying frequently on the wing, he is limiting Saka's space.

Jodera:
True... But he do move central sometimes.

I think Tomi would have helped out. Last season, White was good in overlapping runs. I dunno whether it's injury but White this season just seems off.

Something is just not right

mostob:
@Hausa
I hope you know the models you are clamouring for started somewhere. Your so called models didn't automatically became models. They grew and develop through different situations. Infact, Saka himself is a model judging by his personal laurels so far.
You said these set of attackers can't win us trophy, I partially agree because I myself believe we need a good striker as an icing on the cake. But I want you to remember that Saka, Martinelli and Ode were part of the team that almost won the league last season if not for poor squad depth and injury.