Not sure. Best team we played this year at home was Newcastle. Unfortunately. They’re very good, controlled the tempo, and antique def had upper hand over Arteta today. but we used none of our physicality and shied away from too many duels. Esp in the first half hour.
If you ever manage to watch the documentary about Enrique, you will understand how much of a man he is. I have all the respect in the work for him. He is an exceptional human being
and our captain. I don‘t know what has happened to him but it is quite worrying that those performance are quite regular right now. No threat at all, not really showing for the ball. Playing some passes at the back but nothing incisive. Also can‘t keep a ball when there is contact.
He lost the ball 14 times!!! Created one chance and lost most of his duels. He mange to fail on most of his dribble attempts as well. I really need him sort this shit out, as I think there is a player in there still, we’ve seen it before .
Yeah his form fell off a cliff. But even an in form Ode is really not a decisive player. A very good player, but no decisive. Odegaard ain’t scoring you no winning goal.
Yes he’s your structure guy (which is very important). I think his off the ball game remains elite. On the ball he’s definitely been off colour for a long time.
First two choices at centre forward injured, game changing option playing in midfield because of a dumb suspension. Everyone half-fit or knackered. Would be lovely to have one or two more depth pieces (or, you know, sterling not be unusably shit)
Nwaneri looked sharp when he came on, but he wanted the same space as Saka. Developing him into a central threat has to be a priority. But also, maybe Mikel could have trusted him earlier?
I think he didn't want to swap him for Odegaard too early in case we lose control in the middle which is fair if Odegaard wasn't completely shite today
Odegaard wasn’t bad today. He led the press, organised the team out of possession. On the ball he was fine. If you think he was only ok, sure. But if you think he was bad, then you weren’t watching, you’d already made your mind up
I think there's two odegaards. (to be clear I had to work through today's game so not specifically today) one off the ball and one on the ball. Off the ball he's elite. This season, on the ball, post injury, he's not.
It's pretty clear he's suffering with either injury or life stuff.
No,I can see off the ball he did do the work, we had some control at times, but his through balls and crosses were way off, and we needed that. Also he looks like he's lost weight since the injury/having baby, maybe it is taking its toll
Yeah, also attacking talent bar Saka, really just average. We knew this. Rice, MLS and Saliba showed they belong on this stage. The 3 players mentioned above took initiative and carried the ball to take some PSGs players out. The captain though, sorry we can’t have passengers at this level.
Injuries and lack of investment / availability of the right players were the key challenges tonight. I felt the same when looking at the bench, nothing really there to change anything.
Reminded me of how Lyon played in the first leg against Arsenal Women, absolute masters of doing just as much as they needed to. Referee was shameful though.
You can knock Odegaard but Saka also had to do more than just wait on touchline, game was crying out for him to be more positionally aware and come inside a little more
They were very impressive, but I think the early goal buoyed their confidence and dented ours. Our press seemed hesitant. Once we built back into the game, their level dropped. That said their mid block 2nd half was worringly good. We've got to attack faster 2nd leg.
Honestly, the women's first leg vs Lyon comes to mind in so many ways. But yes, the technical quality and the intensity and discipline of that press. Oof.
I saw them in some of the qualifiers and at times you wondered if they could do against the bigger teams, but they proved themselves vs Liverpool and this might their year at last
It’s not over and credit where due, it could have been in that first 20 minutes. We did enough then to restore some confidence/belief for the second leg. But it’s a big ask and they are the best team I’ve seen this year and have proved it in results
They played like a mid table prem team 2nd half sitting back knowing we cannot break down a closed defence.. we’re very lucky we’re not going there 3-0 down ..passive and poor. Partey missed. Martinelli doing Martinelli things.
It was really clear to me that the moment Dembelle’s work rate dropped, we started being able to keep the ball. That first 15/20 he was actually trying to press and get in positions, then after that started walking.
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But plenty of time to conjure up a performance in Paris.
I knew they were good but I underestimated Luis Enrique big time
Where is the documentary? Would be interested to watch that
It's pretty clear he's suffering with either injury or life stuff.
There were still large stretches of that match where Arsenal were having their way with them.
Lack of finishing is the glaring Arsenal issue, and we knew that coming in.
We can play a lot better, PSG may regret not going for the jugular…
That being said, if we are completely switched on we can score directly from breaking their press. It just takes all 11 players in sync.
#MikelKnows
Partey back in Paris.
Let's move #AFC