Have to agree, I think Manq has come on leaps and bounds in his last half dozen games. Shelvey needs to stop trying to pick out ****ing worldie passes every time he gets the ball. There were a couple of occasions today where he lobbed passes at players straight out of play over their heads when he could have quite easily played the pass on the deck. Longstaff looked much better when he went off but it took us too long after that initial first sub to sort our shape out and who was meant to be where. It’s a long season so plenty time to adjust and for players to settle down and into the team.
Agree mate A bad day ... tbh i wasnt expecting a win, but I feel we missed a chance today.. joelintin looked good ... we got a bit desperate at times .. we really must learn to keep the ball better.. weather didnt help and arsenal dealt with that in a more controlled fashion.
My thoughts on today. I didn't go, watched on Sky instead. 1st half ok 2nd half absolute rubbish. No formation after taking Shelvey and Longstaff off, players running like headless chickens. Our passing was woeful at times and I don't think I've ever seen Schar misplace so many passes and where was he and Lascelles when Aubamiyang scored, Ball watching. Dubravka Kicking was shocking Manquillo So, So Dummett Decent game Schar Passing was shocking, caught out of position a few times after a foray. Lascelles Slow , ball watching, again. Shelvey Nearly got us off to a flyer, strange substitution so early in 2nd half Longstaff Quiet game, but his substitution left us devoid of any attacking Mid field Hayden Decent game Richie Headless chicken, reckless at tackling Almiron Tried but no end product, will inmprove Joelinton Big strong, will be a decent player. Saint-Maximin Lightning quick but needs to keep upright. Conditions will suit better in games to come Willems Don't think he knew where he was playing. BRUCE Tactically, clueless Only my opinion but vast improvement needed at Norwich.
I feel sorry for willems that was a nightmare start for him . I think he might never get over that.. i hope he comes back well ... imagine that ... ****ing hell lolol he must be in bits.
I thought, the Tempo was way to slow Today and Some players looked ,confused or just not on there toes , as they should of been I know it is just the first game , but the difference under Rafa. If it keeps happening would be Do your job or you are gone, not sure if this will happen under Bruce Footballers have a lot of attitude nowadays. Untouchable at times
We were decent for about 20 mins then crap. Nobody knew their jobs or where they were playing. Arsenal were nothing special at all but capitalised on a mistake Dummett passed to Willems who, instead of going to the ball, waited for the ball, Arsenal player took it, played it through to Aubamayeng who was played onside by the sloth Lascelles and that was that
Nobody shone today. Arsenal, OK they were not at full strength, but are a top 6 side. Will there be enough goals in our team? Joelinton looks a forward but not exactly a finished striker. He's young I guess, but will adapt to this league.
Pah, what part of the 'Rafa effect' affected Joelinton being a bag of ****e, Bruce refusing to take him off, Bruce putting on Willems, Bruce thinking Shelves can play football, Bruce putting our two most DM players in AM, Bruce just chucking 'forwards' on in a pathetic 'plan B' and Bruce leaving Ritchie to run around like a confused child after the saint-maxim sub? Gutted about today. The ****test Arsenal team seen at St. James in my time.
What you said last year - So bad. Think Murphy and Diame probably dont deserve the ****. They tried and were positive. Far too many players lost it in the second half and just looked pathetic. Hayden looks like a fucing wrestling figure the way he moves his legs. Dubravka was clearly all confidence from a year ago. Respect to clark and fernandez, Yedlin/Dummet/Murph and Ritchie need to learn how to aim a cross. Joselu pretty starved so I'm not guna give him pointless ****, Perez his same old indecisive self. Same old crap let's hope upon hope for better next week. Its the team at the moment, not the tactics. Bascially we're ****ed that Kenedy was actually overachieving last year. As is common under Ashley, we've pinned our hopes on one player...... I hope you do something in your life that gives you pleasure.
T. Didn’t we fail to win for 10-11 games at the beginning of last season? We’re we chanting Rafa out? Apart from Pouchy we weren’t.
My take on things if being serious: Dubravka - did ok but a little sloppy with his distribution Schar - not one of his better games - passing was sloppy and just generally not at the races Lascelles - did ok but I'm still not convinced by him in a 3 Dummett - Very good again, hard to pick fault but it was a poor ball he gave Willems Manquillo - I thought he did really well. Quiet but he was solid in defence. Didn't offer much going forward but I thought a pretty solid job all round. Picked up where he left off last season. Ahead of Yedlin for me now. Ritchie - Poor game from him. Gave it away cheaply and looked incredibly slow. One to keep an eye on because if his legs have gone, he will struggle. Longstaff - Not at his best. Like Shelvey started really well but then gave it away too easily. I don't mind taking him off but you had to have a bona fide central midfielder who could pass to come on. We brought on Willems who hadn't even bothered to listen to Bruce and tried to go into centre midfield. Bruce looked exasperated and had to tell Lascelles to sort him out. Hayden - did ok and certainly once Bruce made some crazy substitutions to ruin the game for us. Again though he spends way too much time taking no part in the game. For the first 35mins you'd do well to know he's on the pitch, games just pass him by. Shelvey - started well but seemed to get fettled by that heavy challenge. He was sloppy after that and I think it was fair enough to take him off. Almiron - Bright early doors but trying too hard again. Looking for intricate passes when a simple one will do. There is something to exploit there. Joelinton - Bright early doors and lacked supply. I can see plenty in him but we will have to play more like the first 25mins if we want to get best use of him. Saint Maximin - We will see but my initial impression wasn't good. Clearly tricky and quick but didn't look a natural footballer. Looked very top heavy? Didn't look fit though so jury out. Willems - Absolute shocker. Felt sorry for him. Clearly his English needs to improve pronto. Told to go on at left back and tell Ritchie to move inside. Went into centre midfield looked completely lost. I watched on TV last night and Bruce seemed to say "what the **** is going on!!". Lascelles sorted it out but it was embarrassing at this level to watch. The question Bruce should have been asking himself is "why have I thrown that lad to the wolves?". No where near ready for a debut in terms of fitness, communication or sharpness. End result was a shocking debut which cost us dearly. I wouldn't write him off though or even blame him. Farcical. Bruce - 3/10 - Might seem harsh given we competed well for long periods against Arsenal. However I actually thought Arsenal were way below their best and it was a great time to play them. I liked our workrate off the ball first half. The aggression in our desire to win the ball back was much better than under Rafa, and immediately put Almiron etc into better areas. We played quite well first half and if Joelinton had put that good chance away it would have lit the fire. However the goal was appalling and 2nd half worrying for what lays ahead. The subs were a joke. Bruce has had an absolute shocker 2nd half. He's made Willems into a joke figure after one game by chucking him in under prepared. The chasm left in centre midfield by removing ours was just downright stupid. You had to leave either Shelvey or Longstaff to actually make us tick. Hayden took no part in the game until being totally overrun by Bruce's tactics. It cost us any hope of getting back in the game and those doubting him are well within their rights to point to it being where we benefited from Rafa. Like him or not, there was always a professional air about how we went about it. Yes I know Rafa was crap at subs and too regimented, but this kind of lunacy is actually counter productive. Bruce will need to up his game significantly. What I will say is in Bruce's defence, the lateness of his appointment and the purchases made this somewhat predictable. If there was an award for putting your manager behind the 8 ball then Mike would win it every season. Bruce would have been wiser to leave Saint-Maximin and Willems on the bench with Krahft. He had Muto and that game was crying out for his energy. Why did we not have a central midfielder on the bench? Where were Ki and even Colback (can't believe I typed that)? My worry after this game is all the stuff about Bruce not really having any tactical knowledge looks to have been exposed in one perfect storm. Perhaps he was in panic with first day nerves, lets hope so. I think we have enough in this squad to comfortably steer away from relegation. The first experience of those guiding them started well, but ended up shocking.
