As the title says , a very professional and satisfactory performance today.
Our defence was very solid and Ramsdale was outstanding.Gabriel was just a beast today. Laca and Auba had an excellent work rate and Auba was unlucky not to score. Midfield was very solid too . Partey looking to be getting back to form and fitness and Lokonga still looks a bit green but is improving with every game . Saka is looking tired after last season and the Euros and is not quite firing on all cylinders. Smith Rowe is incredible in every game but the last two games has started to run out of steam on the hour mark. Not surprising considering how much running he does.
The first 11 looks like they can give any team a decent game . It's the subs that really need to up their game and come to the party. I still fail to understand why we spent £30m on Odegaard. The guy offers nothing and the game just passes him by. Doesn't create anything , can't tackle and is easily brushed off the ball. I'm really hoping that he will come good .
Pepe needs to spend every day practising with his right foot . He is so easy to defend against. He should also be told to take players on and stretch the defence .He can play with his right foot and he can take players on . I'm wondering what he's being instructed to do . He has been awful in the last few games he's played . He just slows our play down and takes the easy pass option .I was really hoping that he would kick on after his purple patch last season.
Martinelli is trying too hard and is matching that sharpness that he had . Hopefully it's not a personality clash with Arteta.
Anyway roll on Watford.
Great win today
posted on 30/10/21
Odegaard looks like a similar player to Ozil but nowhere near as talented. Ive no doubt he would be a good player in a not so physical league , but he's not equipped for the PL , cannot understand how we never realised this while he was on loan
posted on 30/10/21
Yes very good win today. We’re starting to take advantage of our good starts with goals now. The defence was great, and my lord Ramsdale was outstanding, one of the best keeper performances I’ve seen for Arsenal in a long while. The whole team put in a good shift defensively to get this result over the line.
Some concerns I have still remain, I still feel we can’t create enough from open play, and we need to dominate possession and dictate the play for the majority of the game. I get we’re probably not ready to be capable of dictating games yet, but this sitting back after 40mins or so will backfire against certain teams. However it does take a good team to be able to dictate a game, so we’re probably not there yet. But I would like to see us be better going forward, and I think the team do have it in them to improve there.
Overall very good, if we can carry this sort of display on we’ll be within a shout of challenging for 4th.
posted on 31/10/21
Ironically criticising Odegaard in same article praising previously criticised players. When will you learn
posted on 31/10/21
I think the sitting back after 40 or so is the downside of Laca and Auba starting. We can't maintain the high press with 2 30+ers up top. Sure when you got 5 U20s in attack you can high press all game long but not with Auba and Laca. But that's not necessarily a bad thing right now. Ideally even with a pure youngsters team, you don't want to press for a whole game, unsustainable long term. So it becomes about knowing when and when not, to go. The "Have to watch my fatigue levels" ages of Auba and Laca are teaching that when/when not to press lesson to the younger players behind them by default.
The key for us is dropping back to set without the press but with the players still retaining the overall attack mentality. At the moment, dropping back automatically sends our players into a full defensive mindset when what we're actually after is just retention of the attack mindset just with little less foot on the gas. SHOULD come with time as the MF/DEF gels better. Between injuries, new faces and Arteta selection, they've not actually played together that much, where our forwards have for 2-3 years upward now. Hence the distinct fluidity contrast between attack/defence.