.....really does have to stop. Of all the problems of Emery's set-up, this seems the most urgent that needs to be addressed:
https://twitter.com/ghostgoal/status/1165315172648521728?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1165587318222270464&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.football.london%2Farsenal-fc%2Fnews%2Farsenal-latest-news-carragher-emery-16814359
1) It is not improving our attacking play. On the contrary, while we were once famed for getting the ball forward quickly and getting our creative players (Cesc, Rosicky, Cazorla etc) to probe the opposition defense in their half, we seem to spend an awful lot of time faffing around in our defensive 3rd with the ball so much so that even a defensive side like Burnley can now come to the Emirates to squeeze us high up the pitch in our own area and creating turnovers galore.
2) It's making us shakier in defense, creating more uncertainty and panic. We were among the top teams last season for defensive errors leading to goals. Actually, we were THE top team ahead of Fulham:
https://www.premierleague.com/stats/top/clubs/error_lead_to_goal?se=210
3) We don't have the players to execute this. We used to have players that were either very efficient on the ball like Arteta or technically skilled to receive it under pressure and turn with it like Cazorla or Rosicky. Now we have absolute garbage like Xhaka who always get caught on the ball in dangerous areas, putting the defense in trouble.
How the actual fack can you go to Anfield and expect to pass the ball out of defense (something even a Barca or City would struggle to do at Anfield) if you can't execute it against Burnley at the Emirates? What is so difficult about taking normal goal-kicks and looking to win 2nd balls higher up the pitch and build your attack? It even enhances your ability to pass out from the back cos then your tactics become unpredictable. If the opposition are anticipating goal kicks, then like once every 3 times, you can play it short and pass out from a less congested area. Why does Emery make all these stuff look like astrophysics?
This passing-out-from-the-back lunacy...
posted on 26/8/19
I don't have a problem with playing from the back. What I have a problem with is when it's the only way we play and against a pressing team we don't have plan B. Sometimes we should just surprise pressing teams with long passes from the back, esp now that we have Pepe upfront, and that's what other teams do against us. But we are so one-dimensional and very predictable, which makes us easy prey for an astute and shrewd opposition manager.
posted on 26/8/19
comment by Mason The King Greenwood (U10026)
posted 3 minutes ago
It’s not just about hoofing long into their cb’s anyway. With the way Liverpool push up their full backs you need to play long diagonals into the space behind them. Arsenal didn’t do enough of that.
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Their Community Shield game against City illustrates my point. I didn't watch the 2nd half of that match which I heard Liverpool dominated, but I watched the first and City were very effective in the long ball from their keeper Bravo which caught on Alexander-Arnold at least 4 times that I saw in that half - thrice to Sane and once to Jesus (after Sane was taken off injured). But there were other times it was rolled out to the fullbacks or to Rodri from the goal kick. It was hard to predict whether City would go long or pass it short.
Our Burnley game for example was a ridiculous contrast to that. Burnley caught on to our predictable patterns after the first few minutes, then spent the entirety of the remaining match squeezing us into our area on every single goal kick. Every. Single. One. It was an absolute mess.
posted on 26/8/19
*caught out
posted on 26/8/19
comment by Sheriff John Brown - Wenger Till I Die (U7482)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by Gillespie Road. (U18361)
posted 2 minutes ago
What's the alternative then?
We can't boot it out to our forwards and hope to build on the second ball. Laca is 5 foot 9, and Aubameyang is functionally useless in the air.
We also suffer from a lack of aerial presence among our CMs. So that practically rules out retaining any possession once the keeper releases any sort of aerial ball.
We can't spray early balls out wide, as most of our wide play comes from our wing backs. Pepe might offer us an early option if we use him correctly though.
What's the keeper left to do other than roll it out to the nearest player?
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The overwhelming majority of football history is a history of punting goal-kicks to the middle of the pitch. That there is a new fad among hipster managers to walk it out from the back doesn't mean that is the only way to play. And I'll clarify again that my point about this is not in asking that we play hoofball, but be flexible with our build-up patterns. Henry, Bergkamp, RVP etc were not exactly beasts in the air, but we found away to mix it up in our build-up play and we spent more time actually attacking the opposition and probing their defense that faffing around at the back. This is also the reason we ranked 11th in shots last season and 7th in shots on target. We are not spending enough time actually attacking the opposition. We're spending far too much time preoccupied with very impotent phases of passing. I'm not basing these off stats. These are observable phenomena in our play and my curiosity in going through a lot of stats to buttress the impression only confirms the mess.
There is nothing fundamentally wrong with the strategy. There is something wrong in our predictability and execution of it. It's an ugly mess.
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That's what you get when you spend years packing the side with slow, weak and one dimensional midfielders who all believe they are above making an overlapping/decoy run.
Look at our movement without the ball. Most of them don't even know how to find space for themselves without the help of at least 3 others to help out with a triangular pass. We're basically carrying over a training session into every game.
Furthermore, how many of our players can actually take on their first man and beat him? Laca and Pepe are the only 2 that come to mind.
Our slow style of play will still be here for some time to come. You can only play to the strengths of the squad you have.
posted on 26/8/19
comment by Grand Cannon (U18697)
posted 6 minutes ago
I don't have a problem with playing from the back. What I have a problem with is when it's the only way we play and against a pressing team we don't have plan B. Sometimes we should just surprise pressing teams with long passes from the back, esp now that we have Pepe upfront, and that's what other teams do against us. But we are so one-dimensional and very predictable, which makes us easy prey for an astute and shrewd opposition manager.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
posted on 26/8/19
comment by Gillespie Road. (U18361)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by Sheriff John Brown - Wenger Till I Die (U7482)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by Gillespie Road. (U18361)
posted 2 minutes ago
What's the alternative then?
We can't boot it out to our forwards and hope to build on the second ball. Laca is 5 foot 9, and Aubameyang is functionally useless in the air.
We also suffer from a lack of aerial presence among our CMs. So that practically rules out retaining any possession once the keeper releases any sort of aerial ball.
We can't spray early balls out wide, as most of our wide play comes from our wing backs. Pepe might offer us an early option if we use him correctly though.
What's the keeper left to do other than roll it out to the nearest player?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The overwhelming majority of football history is a history of punting goal-kicks to the middle of the pitch. That there is a new fad among hipster managers to walk it out from the back doesn't mean that is the only way to play. And I'll clarify again that my point about this is not in asking that we play hoofball, but be flexible with our build-up patterns. Henry, Bergkamp, RVP etc were not exactly beasts in the air, but we found away to mix it up in our build-up play and we spent more time actually attacking the opposition and probing their defense that faffing around at the back. This is also the reason we ranked 11th in shots last season and 7th in shots on target. We are not spending enough time actually attacking the opposition. We're spending far too much time preoccupied with very impotent phases of passing. I'm not basing these off stats. These are observable phenomena in our play and my curiosity in going through a lot of stats to buttress the impression only confirms the mess.
There is nothing fundamentally wrong with the strategy. There is something wrong in our predictability and execution of it. It's an ugly mess.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
That's what you get when you spend years packing the side with slow, weak and one dimensional midfielders who all believe they are above making an overlapping/decoy run.
Look at our movement without the ball. Most of them don't even know how to find space for themselves without the help of at least 3 others to help out with a triangular pass. We're basically carrying over a training session into every game.
Furthermore, how many of our players can actually take on their first man and beat him? Laca and Pepe are the only 2 that come to mind.
Our slow style of play will still be here for some time to come. You can only play to the strengths of the squad you have.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
For me, Emery has options in midfield that he can deploy in more dynamic ways: especially as we have Torreira and Ceballos and now Willock. He's got to get more out of the assets he has. And I believe with some players in our squad, he's failing in this task. Look at how Ozil, who always struggled for consistency, but was always one of our best players, suddenly turn to near-deadwood over the past year. In my opinion, our lack of dynamism has as much to do with Emery's own failings as the options he has.
posted on 26/8/19
Member, I don’t think they should give up on it but ultimately you need to make allowances for the quality of your opposition. And when it’s one that is vastly superior like Liverpool it’s even more necessary. I agree they didn’t look to your right hand side enough. Ultimately there are fundamental personnel issues in the Arsenal squad that makes it difficult to play any style of play to a high standard.
Sheriff, yeah City are excellent at that. The quality and coaching of their players allows them to. But even then they struggle at times play out and through Liverpool. Liverpool are arguably the best coached team in the world when it comes to stifling the opponents in their own and middle third - along with City.
I don’t think there’s that much Arsenal could do to get a top performance or result at Anfield given the disparity between the two teams, but it didn’t help they played into Liverpool’s hands and didn’t try alternative solutions to losing the ball in their own third.
posted on 26/8/19
Another problem we have is the evident fear we have when we go to places like Anfield, OT, and City. Some kind of inferiority complex. And that's why we struggle to get anything out of these places, because mentally we are a wreck and we make too many unforced errors. These venues used to be Vieira's playgrounds.
posted on 26/8/19
comment by Sheriff John Brown - Wenger Till I Die (U7482)
posted 57 minutes ago
comment by Mason The King Greenwood (U10026)
posted 3 minutes ago
It’s not just about hoofing long into their cb’s anyway. With the way Liverpool push up their full backs you need to play long diagonals into the space behind them. Arsenal didn’t do enough of that.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Their Community Shield game against City illustrates my point. I didn't watch the 2nd half of that match which I heard Liverpool dominated, but I watched the first and City were very effective in the long ball from their keeper Bravo which caught on Alexander-Arnold at least 4 times that I saw in that half - thrice to Sane and once to Jesus (after Sane was taken off injured). But there were other times it was rolled out to the fullbacks or to Rodri from the goal kick. It was hard to predict whether City would go long or pass it short.
Our Burnley game for example was a ridiculous contrast to that. Burnley caught on to our predictable patterns after the first few minutes, then spent the entirety of the remaining match squeezing us into our area on every single goal kick. Every. Single. One. It was an absolute mess.
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Gomez lost a lot of headers and City won the second balls in first half.
We have changed that in the second half by putting Matip at cb and Gomez as the right fullback.
Matip dribbled into midfield or passed it on the grond to counter their press.
Maguire would be a weapon for Man United when teams press them like liverpool and City do.
posted on 26/8/19
comment by Grand Cannon (U18697)
posted 1 hour, 16 minutes ago
Another problem we have is the evident fear we have when we go to places like Anfield, OT, and City. Some kind of inferiority complex. And that's why we struggle to get anything out of these places, because mentally we are a wreck and we make too many unforced errors. These venues used to be Vieira's playgrounds.
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We can't really call it an "inferiority complex" when our squad is clearly inferior.
Look at the full internationals we have on our books. A veritable who's-who from the great footballing nations of Greece, Bosnia, Egypt,Gabon,Armenia,Ivory Coast, Uruguay and Switzerland.