It's early days yet but I am very worried about Arteta. Hear me out..
Last season, our conversion rate was insanely high compared to chances created. That was never going to last. This team creates very little. First half we had chances but did not score. Lacazette was the biggest culprit. Having said that, I have 2 issues with Arteta.
1) for all his tactical fluidity, he is actually not very flexible. He cannot help but try be too clever. I swear we lined up as a 433 but still played a 343. The amount of time Xhaka spent as the left sided centreback was pathetic. So again..no real attacking midfielder and we lacked creativity. The only player creating chances was Luiz...he got one to Bellerin, a couple to Tierney, got some to Saka as well. When we lost that long ball we looked clueless again. When Arteta first started, the 343 was revolutionary but it was also aided by circumstance. It works against big team who hog possession. And in Auba, he was scoring for fun. His form now is more human and when we have possession, that formation does NOT work!!
2) why does Arteta faaaack around with the front 3? Surely there has to be a balance between a player not playing due to being out of form and a player given the chance to play back into form. I have no idea what is happening with Lacazette. When he was scoring, he got dropped for Nketiah and even Willian. He was then shhyyte midweek and starts today. Auba..HAS to play centrally or on the left. Why the faaaavk was he on the right today? He has never looked good there the few times I have seen him play there. So Arteta..being too clever.
We will lose to Man Utd if we play like this. They will get their customary penalty and their front line moves much better and faster than ours.
Arteta
posted on 25/10/20
Wenger and Emery at times only went with either Auba or Laca. Both together isn't working. In fact Arteta has no clue
posted on 25/10/20
United front 3 are far better than ours and have a better mf
3rd loss on the trott incoming
posted on 25/10/20
in making you a little more solid Arsenal have lost their attacking identity. Basically forgot attacking patterns n how to attack. Lump it quickly to Aubameyang or set pieces dont work and Arsenal look very very poor.
posted on 25/10/20
comment by Inbefore (U20589)
posted 2 minutes ago
in making you a little more solid Arsenal have lost their attacking identity. Basically forgot attacking patterns n how to attack. Lump it quickly to Aubameyang or set pieces dont work and Arsenal look very very poor.
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We have looked poor for years sad to say. We don't even lose in style anymore due to dominating and having chances galore, effing up and getting hit on the counter. Now we lose so pathetically.
posted on 25/10/20
I agree Arteta is trying to be too clever. Moving Auba to the right today was just a bad decision.
He has a find a team, stick to it and keep it simple
posted on 25/10/20
Arsenal fans are so fickle. You couldnt say anything bad about hm without getting abuse, now some fans are starting to say he should be sacked.
He's a new inexperienced manager who has made us more solid but has not worked out how to get the best out of the attack yet. this game doesnt change that, we've known it for a while.
posted on 25/10/20
Anyone would think Arteta played this way as a player. He was a good CAM and stayed attack minded even though Wenger stuck him at DM for us. The team he picked I was thinking "Great 4-2-3-1, 'ere we go. But no, instead we got 4-umm whatever- 3 maybe 4. It was a sh !t show. Same way Xhaka kept playing LCB, Ceballos was playing RCB.
The worst thing about today was that HE DIDN'T CHANGE IT! Just swapped players around within the same crappy system. I'm trying to get behind the manager but I expect WAY better than this from him. He never played crappy defensive football as a player so I don't expect him to be coming in here and imposing that rubbish on us as a playing style.
posted on 25/10/20
Maybe you can play a 4222 and rely on the fullbacks for the width. With this system you can have Auba and Laca centrally and have Ozil in the hole behind the two strikers for the creativity.