Arteta the problem?

Arsenal 2019/2020 champions

Nice try, but best stick to wumming the scousers and Utd fans.

comment by meltonblue (U10617)
posted 2 hours, 21 minutes ago
Just on the unable to adapt point, I do think people really need to separate out what are player errors and what are tactical ones when assessing that. That’s where the expected goals stat becomes a useful one.
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It’s actually the tactical tweaks which made me wonder
I think you get much more information at the ground rather than on tv as you can see the whole pitch & tactical changes are much more obvious

Against Utd at the Etihad and for an awful lot of the season we’ve played without any real width
Sterling and Silva were the widest but were constantly tucking in making it narrow giving Utd the freedom to target those areas constantly with balls in between the Utd wide players & our fullbacks isolating them

At Old Trafford Mahrez & Sterling played much higher up than normal and kept out wide on each flank which kept Wan Bissaka & Williams camped in the final third which enabled us to double up on James/Rashford making them little threat
It was an error from De Bruyne which Rashford pounced on to score,he had no influence in the game other than that whereas he ran us ragged at the Etihad

Yesterday,against an admittedly poor Villa side,the obvious tweak was a constant double up on Grealish,which made him totally ineffective and the aggressive pressing gave him no options to pass to hence he was constantly visibly frustrated on the pitch


Up to the last couple of weeks we played more or less the same tactically against most sides and never made any obvious changes to stop the opposition and why it was too easy for Utd wolves & Liverpool to simply outwork us and constantly get in behind us so often

Yep, agree with all of that Paul.

You also need players to be on form to implement specific tactics. For example Mahrez form literally means any left back he comes across is taken out of the game and the trend started with Chilwell hence teams that are reliant on their fullbacks bombing forward like Leicester come unstuck and either have no out ball or zero creativity, in some cases cant even keep the ball.

Villa also plays the same way. No doubt this season you have suffered mainly because of Sterling and Bernardo's inability to maintain the width and pressure fullbacks. Interesting that Mahrez did not start against Liverpool. Not that the result would have been that different but no doubt Robertson wouldnt have found it easy to bomb forward and ping crosses.

Thats literally why City tend to thrash teams when Sane is on form because his direct running and quick feet are a nightmare for fullbacks.mahrez is also the same. Doesnt matter how good you are as a fullback such wingers are not easy to stop.

Same thing with Mane and Salah. Its hard to stop fast wingers with good close ball control.

Mahrez will be crucial for City especially in their Champions league pursuit.

comment by meltonblue (U10617)
posted 5 hours, 45 minutes ago
No me neither.

Will be interesting to see how he does at Arsenal, that’s a big job for his first role in the top position.
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From watching his first games with Arsenal I can see his influence creeping in tactically but I don’t think they are as a group anywhere near fit enough to keep up a full team press which is what’s required for it to work
I do think he’ll need a full preseason before we know whether the players at his disposal are capable of implementing Arteta’s ideas
Pity for him the euros ending mid July will make that preseason a bit truncated

He’ll need a couple of signings at least too. Did he end up taking anyone else with him?

comment by Paulpowersleftfoot (U1037)
posted 15 hours, 1 minute ago
comment by meltonblue (U10617)
posted 2 hours, 21 minutes ago
Just on the unable to adapt point, I do think people really need to separate out what are player errors and what are tactical ones when assessing that. That’s where the expected goals stat becomes a useful one.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
It’s actually the tactical tweaks which made me wonder
I think you get much more information at the ground rather than on tv as you can see the whole pitch & tactical changes are much more obvious

Against Utd at the Etihad and for an awful lot of the season we’ve played without any real width
Sterling and Silva were the widest but were constantly tucking in making it narrow giving Utd the freedom to target those areas constantly with balls in between the Utd wide players & our fullbacks isolating them

At Old Trafford Mahrez & Sterling played much higher up than normal and kept out wide on each flank which kept Wan Bissaka & Williams camped in the final third which enabled us to double up on James/Rashford making them little threat
It was an error from De Bruyne which Rashford pounced on to score,he had no influence in the game other than that whereas he ran us ragged at the Etihad

Yesterday,against an admittedly poor Villa side,the obvious tweak was a constant double up on Grealish,which made him totally ineffective and the aggressive pressing gave him no options to pass to hence he was constantly visibly frustrated on the pitch


Up to the last couple of weeks we played more or less the same tactically against most sides and never made any obvious changes to stop the opposition and why it was too easy for Utd wolves & Liverpool to simply outwork us and constantly get in behind us so often
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Agreed, its caused by multiple factors including injuries and tactics.

Also, its not just about City. Some of City's opponent's have played tactical masterclasses and worked their socks off to get something from Man City games. Teams know what to expect against City now and they deserve some credit too.

Apparently Arteta wants Stones at Arsenal to add a little steel and vision to their defence.

comment by LEE1PEN (U6707)
posted 3 hours, 19 minutes ago
Apparently Arteta wants Stones at Arsenal to add a little steel and vision to their defence.
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Stones & Luiz
What could go wrong ?