Im not defending him not seeing Saka, just it seems the only way he takes that touch. No professional is going to take that sort of touch if he knows Saka is there, I guess he could have actually underhit what he was trying to do and was trying to play it past Saka so he was wrongfooted and he could sweep round him as well. Whatever the reason it was an error that shouldn’t have happened, maybe down to not wanting to just hoof clear and play out (if he saw Saka) or he just didn’t see him, who knows
Does anyone else think we look a bit unfit as a team? Not like massively unfit but just a few percentage points off where we should be? Obviously I know today we tired due to being dominated virtually the entire game but there's a been a few times this has crossed my mind this season.
Training sessions are probably pretty chilled with us just passing the ball nonchalantly across the back line and into midfield with zero intensity
Yeah I've always imagined that our training may be low key as in particular at the beginning of this season we showed considerable skill but little determination and were easily muscled off the ball. I think that RM and the coaches may be nice guys and we look good in friendly training sessions but lack the hunger and determination to compete with more determined players in actual matches.
Today was Dibling's first 90 minutes wasn't it? Good signs if so, because I suspect we're going to need him on the pitch as much as possible this season.
Was that why St John’s were in Block 23 during the second half, or was that something else? If so, we must’ve been nearby
Yeah that was it mate, they ended up strapping him to a chair to take him out. Having slept on it I'm genuinely quite angry about the lack of response from the stewarding team. A few of us flagged it up, and for two stewards (one was one of ours) to come and take a look and see the state he's in but do absolutely nothing just because his pal said "he's fine, he's with me" is appalling. I was speaking to head steward about it when he finally did get seen to and he was shocked the stewards left him originally and that he hadn't been informed. He also told me that the stewarding team for the whole away end only had ONE radio which is staggering for a club that turns over hundreds of millions a year. Tempted to take it up with the club for them to raise with Arsenal to be honest as it's unacceptable as far as I'm concerned.
Back to the game and Archer's goal gave me real Ings vibes in that it wasn't really a goal scoring chance when he first got the ball but he managed to work the shooting opportunity himself. Feels like we've lacked a striker with the capability to do that ever since Ings left and it's such a great attribute for a striker to have. Hopefully he plays every game now. He's our best chance forward wise of actually getting a considerable amount of goals imo.
I said before that him and Fernandes will be our main source of goals, Fernandes playing the balls through to Archer. Issue is that Archer is not a target forward that I think we really need to help us get up the pitch. Could Archer play up front with someone like Onuachu and have Fernandes then in behind them, possibly. Only way I could see that working is if we lined up: Ramsdale Suga THB Bednarek Stephens KWP Downes Lallana Fernandes Archer Onuachu I just can’t see how you get those three attackers into a side with 4 at the back realistically. Think this would actually be an OK setup and would make us more solid as well as better going forward, but obviously removes Dibling from the starting line up. Having thought about it essentially having an attack and a defence I think could work well. If we somehow can get Dibling, Onuachu, Archer and Fernandes into a team and everyone else is just there to defend. When we get the ball play it up to Onuachu and let him give it to him Fernandes or Dibling and hopefully they can create something. Would never happen under Martin but is something I could see a Moyes type manager trying
Having seen this again I think you have a point. How is attempting to play the ball not deemed as interfering with play? Surely Ramsdale has to react to him trying to head it and if he hadn't he could have got across quicker.
Yep, that I think is why Ramsdale doesn’t quite manage to cover the post as he needed to be slightly over for the first attempted header. I was fuming when I saw it at the time, I thought that was why the VAR check took so long. It still doesn’t detract from the fact this type of football is suicidal in this league. We barely got away with it last season. The first 10 mins I’ve never seen any side in top flight football misplace so many passes to the opposition. I mentioned on here a few weeks back that this is vanity football for Martin, similar to Kompany, simply if he doesn’t change it he should be chopped. The last 3 games of last season he did change it, and we were much better for it. Play like this against Leicester and think we get smashed,
The Var team have two sets of rules - Top six teams, and the others. First requirement for a VAR check - will it mean that a top six team loses out? If so, clearly not a foul/offside/attempted homicide.
You could think that the time taken for VAR to award our goal was because they were desperate to find an excuse to disallow it, whereas their 2nd they seemed to be looking for an angle to allow it! Cynical? Me? perhaps...
