Think he might be wasted at Arsenal. They're so used to playing without a CF, they barely used him. Saka and Martinelli are just wide strikers so wont do much crossing for him. The fullbacks are really CBs, again not much going forward and crossing. He's relying on Rice and Oodergaard playing through balls
Games so far making me quite happy, we can work on midfield balance in short order. Arsenal have some problems today. An away win v top 6 rival is always good but Gyokeres looks like a big.cb negates him
Utd/Arsenal was a poor game. Think Utd are better than last year based on the one game, but still be lucky to finish in the the top 9. Arsenal are just Arsenal
Yeah I feel a lot more comfortable about our issues now. Most of the main contenders have issues that need tweaking.
Arsenal offered next to nothing, like much of last season - they really struggle to create anything in play
Arteta started like a city man who learned from pep and was going to storm it He's turned into an Everton man who only knows long ball and set piece Odengaard form is a major issue They have literally every position covered now. They bought the lot so its deliver and no excuses this year.
I don't know, they're not a very creative team. There's only really Odegaard (who I don't think is as good as everyone makes out) and Saka who are creative players. Martinelli and Madueke are runners, Havertz & Gyorkeres are lumps with a bit of pace, none of whom really create for others. Their fullbacks are soild or converted CBs and the midfield is designed to keep the opposition out. I think when they play stubborn or pressing teams they could be in trouble.
Arsenal's entire set up still relies on them taking the lead early and holding on to it. Liverpool and City have more difference makers than them, and therefore more scope to change games that are going against them.
Utd were not awful.but they have to get the likes of casemiro out of the side. No legs in thr middle but they were better generally. The wide areas were ok. The second striker/forwards were ok. No sesko blunted the set up imo. Early days there. Their defence was ok with shaw and yoro and two big lumps like de ligt and Gyokeres cancelled each other out. Kind of interesting game where the quality wasnt great but it was end to end at times. No realy great striking happening but a decent showing for utd there. Thry need to turn round and back it up.against the mid table sides that consistently embarrassed them last year. If they are at least good enough to win those bottom half games and hold their own in the top half then they are back where they belong in 7th
Arsenal are well coached - much like city before where they were coached to an inch of their life. It makes them defensively very very good but lack that creative spark when going forward. City could do with with world class players and constant pressure but over time even guardiola has said he needs to develop his teams to be more direct - Arteta seems to have not got that memo yet. they’ll beat teams. They’ll beat and draw to the teams at the top rather than lose - but occasionally it leads them to drawing 0-0 or 1-1 as shown last season. They’ll hope Gyokeres finishes off the chances to make the difference, but based on last year and today, they still have trouble creating clear cut chances on a regular basis - that may change as it goes on with madueke offering a bit more flair and individuality
Seemed to be a clear penalty for the Saliba challenge on Cunha this afternoon. No where near the ball, clearly gets Cunha's foot. How the ref doesn't overturn it I don't know.
Hard to tell really - if we can see our issues and hope we can iron them out, others can sort themselves out too. I'll wait until we're 3 or 4 games in before guessing where everyone is going.
Said the same with mates. Initially said brilliant tackle then saw the replay and we all went - oh, maybe not, clear penalty and expected a var review only to then look back and see game already restarted lol.
