I think we'll give him one more season to prove his fitness and if he can't, we'll look to sell him next Summer. Similarly to Tomiyasu, Calafiori is such a good player and it'd be a shame if injuries ruin his career. It's not looking good, though.
Currently 0-1 down to Spurs in pre-season. Pape Sarr scored from 40 yards as Raya was miles out of his goal and MLS lost possession (fouled by Richarlison) near half way line. I don't think that would have counted in an actual game, but whatevs. From what I've read, our dynamics are still clunky, we're playing exactly how we did last season and we are still very slow/laborious in build-up. This is not encouraging and doesn't give me confidence that much will change heading into next season. Our tactics don't maximise the player's capabilities and, until we find a way that platforms them in the best way, we will continue to suffer against the same sides/teams who employ similar tactics. Also, that LW position....bloody hell man. We desperately need that position to be upgraded.
I remember when a Pre-Season friendly was exactly that and fans didn't start loosing their minds over a result. Gyokeres played 30 mins has only had ONE proper training Session and he's already getting written off.. Football fans are truly the worst.
I am seeing fans saying our season is over. We do actually have the worst fans in the world, but it’s a minority who ruin it.
I thought that was a fairly poor game from us, we looked at bit slow and couldn't really find the right passes. Also the amount of changes made us a bit disjointed. Would have liked to have seen Gyokeres get 45 mins, but at least he's had a few minutes. Spurs looked more organised that they did under Ange, so that's an improvement from them. They pretty much shut up shop against us and it's something we're going to have to break down against teams that set up to defend. The goal was an abomination, MLS was blatantly fouled. But what was Raya doing playing it to him there, when he had two other options either side of him. Anyway, hopefully games like this blow out the cobwebs and iron out the mistakes before the proper games start.
My main worry is players just don't have any rest. These games are just setup to make money and expand a market. But the players have barely had any real down time to recover. Perhaps this is the reason were getting more and more injuries at the top level.
Never thought that rest had anything to do with much, either injury or performance. My observation today is that we conceded another stupid goal. It happens a lot. We can’t continue to gift goals and it’s something where Raya and Saliba are the biggest culprits. Both need to make better decisions if we are to play out from the back.
Saka injury is a worry He’s starting to get some sort of niggle almost every game now. Needs to toughen up IMO.
Does he? Or is it simply the result of playing so many minutes at the age of 23? The amount of football he's played from 18 years old to now can't be normal. I really don't think Arteta has managed him well at all. He's even played him in dead rubber games when he didn't need to or kept him on for too long in games where the result was sealed a while before the full-time whistle.
As for the game itself, look, the result itself does not bother me. It's pre-season, and frankly, who gives a toss? There was nothing on the line. My issue is the way we are playing. There is no discernible difference between what we were doing in 24/25 to what we're seeing ahead of 25/26. It's the same combinations, same patterns of play, same sterile football, same lack of central progression, same overreliance on width. It is far too easy to nullify us. And whilst signing better quality helps to an extent, there is a HUGE tactical and coaching element to it as well. If it were the case that we were carving Spurs open, creating an abdunance of chances, Vicario was making lots of saves etc, I can forgive losing because I'd be able to see tangible changes in how we attack and our forward momentum. But that's not what I'm seeing. I see us falling into the same traps of last season. I'm not a huge fan of AFTV by any stretch, but I think James has it spot on here:
i don’t buy the argument about the amount of football. Just my opinion. Think it’s over used as an excuse. Saka seems to be injured it acts hurt every time he’s tackled these days.
I think most people have read my posts long enough to know that I'm an 'Arteta-skeptic' and am not fully sold on him being the right manager for us. But I really do fear things could take a huge turn for the worst IF we see more performances and results like last season. I appreciate we've only played 3 pre-season games thus far, so I'm not going to overanalyse too much. That being said, the one-dimensional style of play and horseshoe shaped football we are still seeing is a big concern for me. He won't get the same grace from the fans if we see a repeat of 24/25 (nor should he). Whilst internally at the club, he may not be facing much pressure, externally, there are a lot of eyes focusing on him. IMO, if he doesn't deliver silverware, I think the narrative around him (and the club itself) will start to become like Wenger's latter years.
That LB position has been an absolutely nightmare under Arteta ! Kola sold and went on to be decent at Marseille. Tierney injury-prone but was still our best LB - but got shipped out. Tavares comes in and couldn't defend for toffee. Zinchenko comes in and can't defend for toffee. Tomiyasu comes in and plays well then predictably gets injured. Timber comes in at LB and gets injured in first game of the season or whatever it was and out for the season. Calafiori comes in and is made of glass and, as much as I like him, was awful defensively. We have now punted an 18 year old CM into the LB position where he is doing good job but, lets face it, he isn't a full back and you can see it at times.
Nah, I can think of worse fans ! The idiotic knee-jerk posts I suspect are from teenagers who are still learning to pee straight and that know **** all about football.
Unfortunately thats the nature of the game, if you don't exaggerate the contact or the impact of the contact you don't get the free kick, I don't have a problem with it, especially when they show the slow motion replay and you can see him getting studs in the back of his leg or his heel, that **** hurts. Max Dowman at 15 has mastered the art of exaggerating contact, not saying he dives at all, but the way they go down has about 25% exaggeration tax added to it. Its because refs don't give the free kicks they should, blatantly obvious ones because the players chose to stay on his feet.
