Thierry is saying things that are obviously correct. But to me, the issues he identifies are related to quality. And I’m not sure how we improve that without some players form improving or just … you know… buying attackers
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We are playing with the Handbrake on at the moment and we need to loosen it. Question is take Saka out, do we have other players that can play that way.
I'm adding this because I still have ~trauma~ from using twitter, but thats not me saying that I don't think Arteta is the right guy for the job, I just think he needs to loosen the reigns, let them cook, and bring back (controlled) chaos.
Yeah, he was really specific about a lack of movement from the striker and directness with the ball out wide. It doesn't take too much talent to run in behind, it's a choice anyone could make.
That’s the issue. it’s not personnel, it’s tactical
FB standing central receiving 5 yards passes from the CBs, FBs refusing to get wide & overlap, nobody from MF willing to sprint ahead of the ball, Martinelli chained to the TL with no clue how to use the space ahead of him
Interesting. I see him critiquing runs not being made and passes being overlooked and to me that’s the players. I think once a team gets into the final third, a lot of what happens from there is down to execution / talent
Sorry Elliot, must feel like I’m nagging you down in two platforms on this 😂, but on the rewatch, my interpretation was not that talent was impeding us, as much as it was a combination of decisions from individuals & the approach they have had coached into them.
Too much of what we do in attack recently seems to be done with half a thought on not conceding the ball in transition… bravery & endeavour have been diluted to avoid being sucker-punched
The players feel the burden of ball retention
I may be wrong, but patterns speak to a principle deeply rooted
I think it's a combination of things. 2022-23 Martinelli was given a lot more through balls to run on to and freedom to run to the box. 2023-24 GM is glued to the touch line.
Arteta's current system involves retaining possession and slowly moving the whole squad towards the attacking half...
This gives GM fewer opportunities to use his dynamism. He's forced to receive the pass on the touch line and pass backwards to wait for the rest of the squad to position.
He's shown a lot of inconsistency (especially in finishing), but the current system won't let him use his biggest assets.
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@poorlydrawnarsenal.com
said, a lot of it comes down to risk-adverse tactics. I think a lot of LWs would struggle to produce much in this system. Saka is given a lot more freedom (and he's Saka so that's warranted).
Also think inconsistency at LB and LCM has hurt Martinelli a lot.
We have stopped the risky ball, or stretching the play, except playing out from the back. Opponents put 10 behind the ball, and we don't risk losing it.
Gabi/Tross arent Saka level, but 3 on him means we try on the opposite wing.
We are good enough to spread their risk around, and capitalise.
I just want to see more urgency, directness, risk taking in the final third. More give and goes, attempts to beat a man. If you beat one man on a dribble and you’ve created havoc and a defensive gap. We just are trying to be too perfect in every attack. Once there’s any overload, GO. ATTACK IT.
Exactly. Two things caught my eye:
1. We're not throwing enough players into the box for the number of crosses we deliver.
2. Our left side is positioned very deep in transition and without the ball.
Both support possession and the appearance of control but make penetrating a low block difficult.
Would definitely think it’s the right time to focus up front now that we feel like our defensive scheme and the engine-room/creative-misfield feel solid.
The left side needs attention for sure.
Priority list?
1. “Just give me the damn ball” #9
2. LW
3. Depth behind Ødegaard
I kind of agree with the thoughts we are too risk averse regardless of who we play. I liked Wengers’s approach of taking off a defenders and bombarding teams with attacking players.
Wenger’s problem was refusing to change style against better opposition. Where he had success was when we were struggling to break down defensive opposition. That’s when a more aggressive approach paid dividends.
Clearing out the decks last summer (ESR, Vieira, Nketiah and only bringing in Merino and Calafiori made sense if you think they were planning to bring in another (expensive) player but that purchase just didn't happen.
Having more Leandro Trossard's on the roster doesn't mean any one of them is more likely to provide that little bit more that gets Arsenal over the line against Fulham or Everton.
People are saying "just buy attackers" and I'm pointing to Trossard as a basis for comparison. Arsenal don't need more of him, so they need someone better.
And I don't think people realize that you don't just snap your fingers and make players like that appear.
I know the attack has always been cautious, but I also wonder how much of these struggles have been down to instability from stream of injuries/absences. There are questions, but missing MO for months, Merino joining late and injured, fullback revolving door, Rice playing hurt-theres no consistency
Disagree. Getting a better CF / LW /L8 doesn’t fix these attacking issues. Even with better attackers, out attacking style is stale, there’s not enough variance in our play. We require game breakers like Saka “because” that’s the only thing opposition hasn’t neutered. Open play creativity shows this
Seriously. Plus breaking our own GS record two years in a row. The system is not the problem. Just a bit too much emphasis on “don’t concede anything”.
I think you misunderstood my point. I’m not saying we have a bad attacking system in general or that we won’t score a lot. I’m saying our attacking plan doesn’t have a lot of variance in it. So when it works, it works great (as goals scored shows). But when it doesn’t, we don’t have fallback options
We’ve been held scoreless more times this year than most of last year already. We’ve failed to score in 10 games this year. Or xG (including set pieces) is our lowest in 3 years.
This doesn’t mean we don’t know how to attack. But when it doesn’t work, we don’t have any alternate ideas to fall back
For context, we haven’t scored in over 21% of games this year - and that’s including our attacking blitz periods! Can’t just pick and choose a small subset of games to brush away these issues. It’s natural that teams are studying our system more and have come up with better ways of stopping us.
These are fair points (however, it should be noted that the bulk of our early season offensive challenges is coterminous with Odegaard injury and PGMOL-influenced player unavailability)
I really think this is a rheostat issue. Turn-up the attacking impetus and lose defensive control.
One thing that @onepointsevensixacr.es pointed out about Saturday was that Martinelli actually got into a lot of good positions, he just made the wrong decision *every* time.
Some of it is also down to being a bit too risk averse/structural but mostly I agree.
We’ve been unlucky with Martinelli’s regression + Jesus never fully recovering from that injury but club knew we needed an attacker in the summer and failed unfortunately
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Just thinking about the drop off of Kais off ball runs. I thought he was amazing at the last year
The game model is the primary issue. You can’t have 2 FBs who refuse to get wide & no 3rd party runners trying to get ahead of the ball.
FB standing central receiving 5 yards passes from the CBs, FBs refusing to get wide & overlap, nobody from MF willing to sprint ahead of the ball, Martinelli chained to the TL with no clue how to use the space ahead of him
It’s basic football 101
Plus worse actually, was the moment when odegaard and Kai decide not to make runs in / ahead to provide options for Saka after his dribble
All 3 guys have the talent to do what was necessary in these moments, but chose not to
The players feel the burden of ball retention
I may be wrong, but patterns speak to a principle deeply rooted
Arteta's current system involves retaining possession and slowly moving the whole squad towards the attacking half...
He's shown a lot of inconsistency (especially in finishing), but the current system won't let him use his biggest assets.
@poorlydrawnarsenal.com
said, a lot of it comes down to risk-adverse tactics. I think a lot of LWs would struggle to produce much in this system. Saka is given a lot more freedom (and he's Saka so that's warranted).
Also think inconsistency at LB and LCM has hurt Martinelli a lot.
Gabi/Tross arent Saka level, but 3 on him means we try on the opposite wing.
We are good enough to spread their risk around, and capitalise.
If they’re repeatedly taking the safe option rather than risky one, that’s a tactical decision by the coach, not the player.
We are a serious, serious team.
Now, we need to find our jazz again.
1. We're not throwing enough players into the box for the number of crosses we deliver.
2. Our left side is positioned very deep in transition and without the ball.
Both support possession and the appearance of control but make penetrating a low block difficult.
The left side needs attention for sure.
Priority list?
1. “Just give me the damn ball” #9
2. LW
3. Depth behind Ødegaard
There was a reason for that.
Unfortunately the improve option won't help us this season.
It just means you have more of them.
People are saying "just buy attackers" and I'm pointing to Trossard as a basis for comparison. Arsenal don't need more of him, so they need someone better.
And I don't think people realize that you don't just snap your fingers and make players like that appear.
This is hard to do; and key has been the energy of the full backs
With White, Ricky, Tomi & Zinny out Timber is overplayed & MLS has to start
CBs have to be more conservative to help out
I hate to mention toothpaste . . .
Please have a slice of cake.
This doesn’t mean we don’t know how to attack. But when it doesn’t work, we don’t have any alternate ideas to fall back
I really think this is a rheostat issue. Turn-up the attacking impetus and lose defensive control.
But, I agree
We’ve been unlucky with Martinelli’s regression + Jesus never fully recovering from that injury but club knew we needed an attacker in the summer and failed unfortunately