Baffling!!

comment by Striketeam7 - staying humble (U18109)
posted 31 minutes ago
Shows how good Odegaard is to be fair. The amount of goals he creates in a posh version of Burnley is incredible.

He is the one player you can’t live without, there is little creativity without him and Saka has even less space to operate
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Very underrated tbh. Hasn't reached KdB levels but hes not miles off, hes just a different type of player - doesn't score as many worldies or goals out of nothing, but orchestrates us so well and brings it all together. We look clueless without him.

comment by Chris H (U15205)
posted 13 minutes ago
comment by Striketeam7 - staying humble (U18109)
posted 31 minutes ago
Shows how good Odegaard is to be fair. The amount of goals he creates in a posh version of Burnley is incredible.

He is the one player you can’t live without, there is little creativity without him and Saka has even less space to operate
----------------------------------------------------------------------


Very underrated tbh. Hasn't reached KdB levels but hes not miles off, hes just a different type of player - doesn't score as many worldies or goals out of nothing, but orchestrates us so well and brings it all together. We look clueless without him.
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Yeah, you will have the age old problem with him - how do you cover him when he is injured. No one decent will come in only to sit on the bench waiting for game time and whoever you do bring in won’t be anywhere near as good anyway.

Thats where Arteta needs to have a plan B, a different way of going about things if his main man is out - instead you are trying the same thing but with inferior players and it doesn’t work.

comment by Sheriff JW Pepper (U1007)
posted 2 hours, 33 minutes ago
comment by Gunnerthru (U6675)
posted 56 minutes ago
comment by Castor Troy (U8700)
posted 9 hours, 1 minute ago
26 signings under Arteta. 20 are defensive
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And I am all for it because we were shiiiiiit defensively.

When you are going to stop your narrative for once?
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what...of wanting a decent CF you mean....


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Of the need to stabilize our defense shape first and get rid of the toxic players we had in the team.

comment by Castor Troy (U8700)
posted 1 hour, 43 minutes ago
comment by Gunnerthru (U6675)
posted 1 hour, 48 minutes ago
comment by Castor Troy (U8700)
posted 9 hours, 1 minute ago
26 signings under Arteta. 20 are defensive
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And I am all for it because we were shiiiiiit defensively.

When you are going to stop your narrative for once?
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Lol we have signed what 5 or 6 keepers during that period and you are all for it?


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Lol lol you too. We signed keepers because some left the club and also a rebuilt was necessary.

Arteta has signed 2 first choice keepers, the second of which is still our number 1.

Of the others signed, Turner and Runsarsson were only ever number 2's, so why would anyone be surprised about them moving on and needing to be replaced.

Neto and Ryan are/were both loan deals (again, therefore needing to be replaced).

The amount of keepers Arteta has signed is really not that hard to understand.

Unless you simply don't want to understand...

Formation and depth chart:

--------------Havertz (Jesus)-----------
-Marti(Trossard)--------------Saka(Sterling)
-------Rice(Merino)---Odegard(Ethan)----
----------------Partey(Jorginho)-----------
-Cala(Timb)-Gab(Kiwi)-Salib(Whit)-Whit(Tomi)

Problem is that Arteta has changed formation in order to fit players he likes and it has backfired on him.

How many on this thread were brave enough to say we should BIN Martinelli in the summer?

I think this is more the way the squad has been constructed though, J99:

--------------Havertz (Jesus)-----------
-Martinelli (Trossard)--------Saka (Sterling)
-------Merino---Odegaard (Ethan)----
----------------Rice (Partey/Jorginho)-----------
-Calafiori (Timber)-Gabriel (Kiwior)-Saliba (White)-White (Tomiyasu)

I would say Merino (Zinchenko) however, Arteta seems loathed to play Zinny in the position he does well in for his country. Personally, I think this has been a mistake, especially whilst we were without Odegaard.

The other issue we have, and a misstep from the summer, is Sterling not being trusted enough to fulfill the role I'm sure he was brought in for - taking minutes off of Saka or Martnelli.

At the moment he isn't even a direct replacement for Nelson, as at least Reiss was occasionally trusted with PL minutes.

Hopefully, Sterling is able to contribute more than he has so far over the course of the season. But it's up to him to prove he's up to/for it.

comment by Jenius99 (U4918)
posted 34 minutes ago
Formation and depth chart:

--------------Havertz (Jesus)-----------
-Marti(Trossard)--------------Saka(Sterling)
-------Rice(Merino)---Odegard(Ethan)----
----------------Partey(Jorginho)-----------
-Cala(Timb)-Gab(Kiwi)-Salib(Whit)-Whit(Tomi)

Problem is that Arteta has changed formation in order to fit players he likes and it has backfired on him.

How many on this thread were brave enough to say we should BIN Martinelli in the summer?
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the front line is the obvious weakness. With martinelli off the boil the only player i'd take is saka, maybe trossard. Im sure city/liverpool and others would agree also.

The lack of signing a decent CF last year was what stopped you winning the league.

Lex the issue for me is the team below has been favoured while Odegaard has been out:

-----------Trossard------Havertz---------
-Marti----------------------------------Saka-
----------Rice(Merino)---Partey(Rice)------
-Timber----Gab-----Saliba---White(partey)--

This is the formation where Aubameyang used to play winger, mostly ending up at left back with Tierney at left wing!

It is a very defensive formation that relies on counter-attack.

That team invites pressure. Now its one thing for Gabriel/Saliba to handle the pressure but recently its been Kiwior in the backline and Partey at right back!

We were so poor in the first half. Contrast that to when we changed formation after Jesus was introduced and went back to 4-1-4-1! We had 14 shots, 40 crosses in the second half alone!

This is how Inter defended Saka:

--------------------------FB--^-----
-------------------------------I-----
-----------------------Wing--I-----
-------------------------------v-----
-----------------DM<====>------

So Inter said, okay Saka go up and down the wing we'll defend you with 2 and if you cut in we'll have DM blocking you.

We will leave Trossard to create (we believe he has no spatial awareness and can't pass for chit), overload the right and leave Martinelli one on one with our full back.

And it worked the first half until Havertz dropped deeper and Jesus went into the striking position in the second.

In fact most non-attacking teams have defended us just like that. Arteta lives in his fears with players he knows and formation he played under Moyes!