Which means in the precarious position we are in, we cannot afford to play him right? We have to be pragmatic and secure our Premier league status before giving starts to players like Pepe...He is a luxury player and not what we need at this point.
I think it all goes back to my point. It all depends on the tactics. I know you were being ironic, but with one manager's tactics, they may be happy with the wingers being pushed up and not tracking back, whereas another manager might play a real #10 and want the attacking midfielder to stay up and not track back. Another manager might want everyone tracking back. It all depends. Wenger in his early days and teams like Leicester, leave players up, so they can break quickly and catch the other team out. It all depends. Without knowing what the manager has told players it is impossible to work out whether a player is being lazy or just following orders.
Agreed with all your observations. What I also don't get is when managers come out and say, "blah blah, he did not train well", honestly I don't get it dropping one of your most expensive players because he did not put in a shift in training! Probably why I am not a football manager! I would have picked based on talent, not because they did not run around in training!
If you accept this behaviour in training then it is contagious, other players will stop putting effort in training, thus reducing the quality of the whole team.. also get rift in club with players get preferred treatment..
I get that, not a sports man (surprise surprise!), however can a manager not make allowance for talent, you have a bloke trains hard, works really hard in training, but only still a 6/10 talent wise, then you have a super talent trains 4/10 however talent is 9/10 and could dig you out of hole.. who should start? I would pick the talent.. Just comparing this to something I know, e.g. academics, you have a guy constantly in the library studying, swotting manages a 2:2 and a guy with brains the size of the planet...
I don't think managers ever say that exactly. They always say something like, "I select the team based on whoever looks best in training." The press then seem to want to make this a negative, because that sells better, and they immediately turn that from a player, or players, looking exceptionally good in training, to some player not putting in effort in training and looking bad. Most of the time it is more about which players play best together and who is carrying slight knocks or is low on confidence, rather than someone not putting in a shift. These guys are professionals, saying that they don't work in training is a really serious condemnation. If they don't work in training, it merits something far more serious than just being dropped from the team.
I just want to see us give Chelsea a good game tomorrow. As long as the spirit is right Arsenal fans will be happy. I'm more concerned with seeing how Arteta's plans are shaping up through the squad. He was pleased with the response against Bournemouth so it sounds as though the players are onside. We were wasteful in attack in that game, but we were also loads more solid right through the team. If we can get a win against Chelsea it will really light it up
Started brilliantly. This is how I want to see us play. Closing the ball, tight lines, fast attacking. Ozil has been amazing. If we can develop a way to play a solid game with him on the pitch we will do well.
I’ve paid for a sky sport day pass to watch this and so far it’s well worth it. I hope this is a sign of things to come. We are all over Chelsea.
Great half of football. Feels like there is some excitement back at the Emirates! Hard working, good on the ball, tactically disciplined. More of the same in the second half and we should win this. It’ll be interesting to see if we can keep up this intensity for the second half though as our players are putting in a serious shift.
If Arteta can consistently get us to play like this then maybe he is the exact person we need for the job. We look like a different team to the one we’ve seen so far this season. I know it’s only half a game of football but there’s some really positive signs.
And Ozil seems at his best today. His footwork is out of this world, fast feet, accurate passing, great little skills, and he is drawing fouls all over the park. When he plays like this there is no-one better. He’s actually working hard today as well.
Tomori was getting terrorised, clever by Lampard to take him off. The team seem proper up for this. The closing from the front has been good whilst at the same time dropping back into a defensive shape when it doesn’t work.