Atalanta vs Arsenal, 19.09.2024 - 20:00

[21_GOONER_SALUTE]

We don’t have enough up front to beat City unless we park the bus and score from a rare chance we might get. They know it, we know it.

I think they will be looking to destroy us after we frustrated them last season.

I can't see how Arteta would expect to beat or even get a point against Citeh if Pep knew 100% the tactics and team he would employ. I'd imagine he must be thinking of some sort of variation that would surprise Pep and leave him unprepared.

In my mind, there is no doubt that if we have no potent outlet on Sunday, we will lose. In fact I am almost sure we will concede a penalty on Sunday if we choose to sitback for 90 mins.

Anyway there are still some slight modifications Arteta can make that could unsettle Peps preparation.... a crazy one involves actually playing all 3 DMs at the same time (though I think he's likely to play 5 defenders instead).

Also ensuring Trossard plays most of the game is a bit of a no brainer (though his form has also been terrible in the last 2 games).

[21_GOONER_SALUTE]

You won’t be surprised to learn that I disagree, I can’t speak of last night but against Spurs he was consistently our best attacking player.

The problem is too many players behind him are forever playing backwards passes

I think the solution is for Saka to move into the Odegaard role and play more centrally, stats wise his involvement in goal creation is only just behind that of Odegaard and having tried both Trossard and Havertz in that position it’s clear it doesn’t work.

Yup, not surprised and totally disagree.

Saka either plays on the left or on the right... I can't see why anyone would ever want to move him into the CM role, especially when he's never shown the tools to be able to flourish there.

Let's just pray Arteta conjures a solution or gives him his elixir, because we'll need the real Saka like crazy on Sunday.

[HCZ_Reborn]

He clearly has the tools to play in the centre, he has the passing range and the technical ability

That you can’t see it, is more a sign of your own limited vision and not a sign of Saka’s shortcomings

[Mac76]

I'm somewhere inbetween you and 21GS on that, I think Saka could play inside but not convinced that a) he has Odegaard's vision there and b) it's as useful as having him on the wing - you also have to consider the job he does backing up White on that side also in defence

[KSE Comedy Club]

We don’t have enough up front to beat City unless we park the bus and score from a rare chance we might get. They know it, we know it.

I think they will be looking to destroy us after we frustrated them last season.

I actually expect to see a carbon copy of the last game against them.

We'll defend the whole game an it'll be another 0-0 bore 'the fuck out of everyone' fest.

[KSE Comedy Club]

Jesus is dead and buried, not sure what he offers us anymore.
Partey is about 10 mins off the pace of the game
Martinelli, well fuck knows what is wrong with him, he's lost his pace, can't shoot on target and is generally half the player he once was.
Trossard is only really good off the bench, although he didn't do much last night either.
Sterling - WTF did we even sign him for?? been completely non-existent.

Should've bought a striker and at least 2 more players in the transfer window as this team is woefully short creatively.

[HCZ_Reborn]

I'm somewhere inbetween you and 21GS on that, I think Saka could play inside but not convinced that a) he has Odegaard's vision there and b) it's as useful as having him on the wing - you also have to consider the job he does backing up White on that side also in defence

I don’t think he’d be as good as Odegaard either but I think given it’s likely we won’t see Odegaard again until not going outside without a coat on becomes a constant thing….hes clearly the best option for the role.
The main fault was playing Jesus up front last night…why? Hes not a striker…he won’t hold up the ball. He’s still got enough pace and trickery to operate on the right.


The other stupid thing is playing Partey as a number 6…again why…he can’t play there. Just like Rice isn’t good enough in transition play to be a number 8. He’s clearly better at interceptions than he is getting forward.

For the moment the only option as I see it, is to have Rice at 6 and Partey at 8. Rather than the mess we have now which is Rice trying to perform at six and eight helped out by a pointless inverted left back system and Partey wanders around aimlessly like someone’s grandad with Alzheimer’s trying to find his wife but unable to comprehend that she’s been dead ten years.

[Mac76]

Jesus is dead and buried, not sure what he offers us anymore.
Partey is about 10 mins off the pace of the game
Martinelli, well fuck knows what is wrong with him, he's lost his pace, can't shoot on target and is generally half the player he once was.
Trossard is only really good off the bench, although he didn't do much last night either.
Sterling - WTF did we even sign him for?? been completely non-existent.

Should've bought a striker and at least 2 more players in the transfer window as this team is woefully short creatively.

Jesus - definitely not what he was, but a lively player who can be a useful sub or cup game starter
Partey - is again not what he was but I'm surprised at the extent he's gone from hero to zero with everyone - as always it's not quite that extreme although he was very clumsy for the pel yesterday
Martinell - disagree re his pace, he still has it in spades but his decision-making near goal is rock-bottom
Trossard - again I think it's more nuanced than that, I thikn he adds a lot of workmanlike stuff people don't always see
Sterling - give the guy a chance he's only had a few sub appearances and won't really know his teammates' play yet

But yes we should bought a goalscorer, in slight mitigation I think KSE had said we needed to break even though and i guess it means we couldn't go large enough on a chosen target

[KSE Comedy Club]

Jesus - definitely not what he was, but a lively player who can be a useful sub or cup game starter
Partey - is again not what he was but I'm surprised at the extent he's gone from hero to zero with everyone - as always it's not quite that extreme although he was very clumsy for the pel yesterday
Martinell - disagree re his pace, he still has it in spades but his decision-making near goal is rock-bottom
Trossard - again I think it's more nuanced than that, I thikn he adds a lot of workmanlike stuff people don't always see
Sterling - give the guy a chance he's only had a few sub appearances and won't really know his teammates' play yet

But yes we should bought a goalscorer, in slight mitigation I think KSE had said we needed to break even though and i guess it means we couldn't go large enough on a chosen target

I don't know how much you've watched this season Mac, but I have seen every game so far and what I have noticed from these players since last season:

Jesus - Doesn't score goals, always offside & pulls out of most 1v1's.
Partey - he's been off the pace since the season started, very sluggish looking in most games and the pen didn't surprise me as once again he was behind the play.
Martinelli - yes he has pace, but he is getting beating to nearly every ball in a 1v1 sprint, where he never was before.

The problem is we have workhorse players in abundance, but no one to actually be clinical and take the game by the scruff. The lack of goals from our attack is testament to this, Goals have mainly been from defenders and set pieces. I love our tough defence so that is a massive bonus - but even against Spurs, we looked creatively dead.
The attack just seems to dither, misplace passes, pass too much or shoot off target or straight at the keeper.

Not sure I trust what KSE say massively as some reports suggest we had over £100m to spend before PSR came into effect.

[HCZ_Reborn]

Goals have mainly been from defenders ?? We’ve had one goal scored by a defender this season, and going back to the start of the 2022-2023 season we’ve had 19 goals scored by defenders out of a possible 185.

We all agree that we lack and out and out goalscorer but it’s clearly silly to say that our attacking players don’t get goals. Saka, Havertz and Trossard all got into double figures last season. Jesus, Martinelli, Odegaard, Saka got into double figures the season before that.

I’m not sure our goal output will be as high as it was last season or the season before that but that was 179 goals over two seasons. Which is higher than some of our best seasons under Wenger.

I think the over emphasis on defence blunts our attack, and without Odegaard we haven’t really bothered to identify an alternative attacking focal point. But equally we can look at it, in that we’ve had bloody hard fixtures to play in a short space of time and if we get a draw against city we have done well.