Against a decent Lesta side too. Again we managed the game well without ever looking brilliant, but the main thing here is that we're finding ways to win games even without Auba and Laca
Kind of a strange line up in many ways. Not sure why no Gabriel? Elneny starts again? At least we are only losing 2-1. Hope it doesn’t end in another 4-1 or 5-1.
2-1 to Liverpool. Half Time. Thought we played OK - we could have scored at least one more if AMN had a better first touch. Gonna be hard to get a point here - we can do it though but any mistakes will lead to more Liverpool goals. I would like to see Saka on for AMN.
FFS that was David Luiz's fault. What a stupid header out. Where was Gabriel BTW? Some positives this half for sure but i dont understand why Pepe still keeps taking corners swhen he doesnt even clear the first man. Our record signing has been trash again since he came on - its worrying. Ultimately though we need midfielders of better quality - I'm still hoping Aouar and/or Partey will arrive in the next week.
Same old Arsenal as per the past 10 or so years. Maitland-Niles was absolutely dreadful and Holding is just Phil Jones in disguise.
takeaways: positive: - as opposed to prior seasons we had an actual plan this time, so that is something. - We didnt lose by ridiculous scorelines like in prior seasons negative: - we have some players that we can improve upon in certain areas. Elneny and Holding to me should be on the bench at most. I would argue David Luiz is also not good enough in general, but I dont think he had a poor game today. - Arteta wants to do something with this team, but I just think at the end of the day we dont have the proper (good enough) players to execute his game plan. - Pepe is starting to get extremely frustrating, and that 72m price tag is looking more and more overpriced by the week. I think we need to sign some players in the next 2 weeks if we really want to show that we want to go somewhere...
I wouldnt say that - we were wll organised and Lacazette should have scored that equaliser. I agree though about AMN - have no idea why Saka didnt play either.
Yeah its a little frustrating we have Gabriel and Saliba in the squad yet he didnt use either. I know he wants to 'educate' Saliba before bringing him in but I cant help but think he's already a better option at CB than Holding/Tierney. Also I understand why Arteta wanted Luiz in the middle - there was a clear plan to ping balls outwide to Willian/Pepe but I see no reason why Gabriel couldnt have played on the left of the three with Tierney at WB. So overall I found the team selection frustrating - Ceballos offered ALOT more than Xhaka when he came on and Saka didnt even geta run out after a recent MOTM performance. Also hate to say it again but Martinez's ability to play out fits this side much better than Leno.
Our midfield was poor last night. Elneny and Xhaka are a poor pairing against a team that you need to open up. Elneny just passes sideways and Xhaka just sits back. We needed a proper creative midfielder/box to box player to drive forward and put Liverpool on the back foot. It was the reason the front 3 had very little impact on the game as Liverpool's defence were able to just sit in when we got the ball. We were better when Ceballos came on, but he's a deep lying creative player, what we really need is somebody who can drive forward with the ball and turn defenders around to face their own goal. Hopefully we can get the deals done for Aouer and Partey this week. That will transform this midfield.
Really good. We love him, proper down to earth lad and has been really solid at LB. Got exposed against salah v Liverpool, but tbh that’s the first time I’ve seen him getting done, which speaks volumes about how well he’s done since he came in.
Sort of wasted at the moment. He needs to be left back in a back four. Which would free up our central midfield to be three rather than two. Unfortunately our defence has been so traditionally ****e that Arteta is currently still feeling like we have to play three centre backs. Hopefully Saliba and Magalhaes as a pair will mean we can revert to less centre backs, more midfielders and make it easier to dominate the middle of the pitch and press up higher more effectively.
Can understand starting Elneny over Xhaka just for energy and running but surely Guendouzi is worth brining back into the side? He's better than Elneney in every way - albeit attitude.
If the board are telling arteta not to play ozil. What does that make arteta? Do you think Klopp, Wenger, SAF, Jose or pep could be told not to pick a player?