Five games in and still not seen us put in a good performance. But we've somehow ended up with one more point from those same five fixtures than last season. Will take that. Spurs next weekend will probably be the first team we'll play this season who don't just sit with a deep block with 10 men behind the ball looking for nothing other than counter attacks. Should be fun to watch for once.
I think this is a bit harsh. We've not looked as fluid or as well-oiled as last season, and we're clearly trying to adapt to a slightly new way of doing things, with a few new players needing to bed in. But I'd still say we've been better than the opposition in almost every win we've had. I thought we were good today against a very well-organised defensive team, who were employing a low block with no space in between the lines. At times, they were defending with 7 players in their last line. We limited all their chances, didn't wilt physically, recovered the ball fast after losing it and were frequently constructing attacks. We were fully in control of the game. The only negative was we didn't score more, but Goodison has been a horrible ground for us in recent years, so any win away there is a great win.
I agree with most of what you say, but we certainly were not the fluid quick passing team that we were last season, again, today it showed. The oppositions so far have all been teams we should be winning against, it just concerns me against a confident Spurs next week, we need to start jelling and moving those one touch passes quicke, more precisely, I think the intent needs to go from 2nd gear and up to 4th gear quick smart and we need to harrass/close down the opposition a lot quicker for next weekend. It's what gave us so much success last season.
Yeah, I agree that we've not been as fluid or as quick in our approach play as last season. But it seems to me Arteta is prioritising control and stability over aesthetics/pretty wins at the moment. I think we've still got a few more gears to go up, and I hope the performances begin to improve. But I just think it's unfair to say we haven't put in a single good performance yet in this campaign. We've not reached the level of last season, but we've deserved most of the wins we've had so far. 13 out of 15 points is also a very respectable return given we've not been playing at our peak. The Spurs game will be a big test for sure, but we have reasons to be optimistic ahead of that match. The fact that they won't be looking to defend deep and will be coming with a more aggressive, attacking approach makes it an interesting contest. As home team, I do expect us to win.
Yeah we are not playing that well yet... but still look really hard to beat. I hope we play Gabriel Jesus next week. Nketiah strikes me more like an impact sub - he's a great finisher but he kinda drifts in and out of games. Jesus's all round play is considerably better. In fact I would be tempted to go... ------------------------------Raya/Ramsdale--------------------------------- ------White-----------Saliba----------Gabriel-------------Tomiyasu------ ----------Odegaard------------Rice-------------Zinchenko---------------- --Saka--------------------------Jesus------------------------Martin/Tross
The other interesting thing is Arteta said in his press conference that he does actually want two keepers rotating. He mentioned regretting not subbing off Ramsdale a couple of times last Season. Basically he wants keepers that have different strengths. Unusual approach for sure but I feel like stressful knockout games and penalty shootouts we kinda need a calm head like Raya. I do think Ramsdale has the better distribution though.
Worried about the Martinelli injury. Honestly Trossard was bloody awful on the left in the first half. He moved inside more and rotated with Vieira in the second and was much better. But we have no replacement to Martinelli’s wing play.
