Arsenal were superb today, just like a bunch of robots controlling the ball. I thought we were pressing pretty well the first few minutes but they just got out so easily. I don't think many of the players played awfully today, we just not good enough.
I hope we learn a lot from this season, we'll need to change personnel and tactics if we're going to compete in the PL in the future. A couple of areas that were clearly weaknesses last season have been exposed again and again this. We're far too open down our left, Davis isn't great defensively but hes also never had great cover down that side. And however much better a player Cajuste is than Luongo he doesn't cover that side as well defensively. Last season we took the risk because Davis was lethal in regards to his creativity, that's not the case this season so it's not worth the risk. In an attacking sense I don't necessarily feel that's all Davis's fault because clearly with all the new players they're not as fluid on the ball and patterns of play not set in. He was getting some joy earlier on in the season with some decent crosses into the box but the players just weren't getting into those positions. No idea who we're going play at left back over the next few games, I thought defensively Greaves was better at LB than he was at CB, but he isn't going to offer anything going forwards. If Hutchinson was fit I'd be half tempted to play him there (maybe more as a wing back).
The 2nd area we need to address is getting overrun in midfield, we need to have more control of the ball. It was a weakness last season, especially against better teams, they controlled the ball far better than we did. I'm not saying we couldn't improve our personnel in that area but for me it's probably more of a tactical thing, we just don't have enough numbers operating in those midfield positions on the pitch. It's literally been Morsy and Cajuste, Cajuste is a great player but he also plays on the edge in terms of the risks he takes, I think we probably need to start playing 3 in there or start thinking about other ways we can get more bodies in there.
I thought Enciso's performance summed up his own and a lot of our attacking play this season, some moments of individual brilliance followed by poor decision making (either a poor pass or running into trouble).
Watching Arsenal today also highlighted another area we need to look at. Their play was one or 2 touch, I feel like most of the attacking players we've brought in are dribblers from deep so we don't do that. We used to the last couple of seasons.
I thought despite the result and absolute domination by Arsenal there were still some decent performances, Tuanzebe I thought was superb and probably the only player from an individual perspective who showed defensively and athletically he was up to PL standard. I thought CBs did okay, Morsy kept trying to do the right things all match and Hirst battled well with the CBs all match without much service or anything really around him.
