Tonight just underlines how important Martinelli is. We really missed him tonight, we needed more drive and cutting edge up front, Saka and Auba had a decent game but both couldn't quite provide that spark needed nor could Pepe when he came on.
Martinelli is the missing piece up front, he plays with such an infectious drive and energy that it rubs off on the players around him. I have no doubt we'd have had more opportunities to score with him out there.
I guess not losing plus a clean sheet is a positive. But this a game at home we really should be winning!
Did their keeper even make a save in the second half?
p.s. Shout out to Xhaka and Holding who both had very good games, sniffing out many of their attempted counter attacks. Xhaka is playing like a man possessed.
Martinelli
posted on 14/1/21
Martinelli is a big miss. However, I disagree on Xhaka having a good game. He is a conundrum..when he came on vs Newcastle, he looked superb. Today, I would not give him more than a 6 out of 10. He made some very good tackles but so often slowed the attacking play down. The team in general were slooooooooooow. I cannot recall us forcing a save from the goalie. This was not a good game based in that fact - we did not look like scoring at any point. I think Partey should have come on for Xhaka. Ceballos can move the ball a bit quicker which is what we needed
posted on 14/1/21
Personally I thought Xhaka was poor alot of the ball recoveries were from him giving the ball away in the first place although he did make one very good block in the first half. Martinelli does offer something different but all the problems stem from the middle of the park where the likes of Xhaka and Luiz were taking far too long to release the ball and when it was released most of it was sideways passing.
posted on 14/1/21
On form this was a nailed-on draw..
This season -
Arsenal at home 10 pts 9 for 11 against
Palace away 10 pts 11 for 14 against
for my predictions I add the home team 'goals for' to the away team's 'goals against' and vice-versa so in this case 23 - 22 = draw
posted on 15/1/21
comment by Admiral Ozil is my new favourite Star Wars character (U10178)
posted 32 minutes ago
Personally I thought Xhaka was poor alot of the ball recoveries were from him giving the ball away in the first place although he did make one very good block in the first half. Martinelli does offer something different but all the problems stem from the middle of the park where the likes of Xhaka and Luiz were taking far too long to release the ball and when it was released most of it was sideways passing.
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At one point in the 2nd half Luiz had time to adjust his hair while he was waiting to play a pass.
God I f*cking hate the fact he plays for us...
posted on 15/1/21
Not sure why Gabriel did not start. Arteta seems wedded to some players and until it really goes to siiiht, he does not drop them. We are in dire need of an AM, a GK and a LB. Nketiah...I'd sell for 20 mill to Newcastle. AMN...can be great...but I am not sold on him. We did not want to sell him for 20-25 in the summer...yet he has barely featured. I really struggle to understand our transfer policies and team selections at times.
posted on 15/1/21
First of all: the most exciting part of the Palace game was the incident between Luiz and Zaha, I wish the ref. had stopped the game and let them slug it out in the center circle.
More seriously, this Arsenal team is atricious and much of this responsibility belongs to Arteta. Their style of play is still as bad as when he took the job. The same old cross-field passing, too many back passes to the goalkeeper, too many ball watchers with nobody really moving off the ball, the concept of playing through the middle of the opposition defense is still anathema to the coaching staff, a goalkeeper who still does not know how to command his goal area, especially, on corner kicks, etc. etc. etc.
A suggestion for the manager and coaches: view a few Liverpool match videos and see the total team movement, the absence of strolling around waiting for the endless sideway passes, plus the overall energy and passion which their players exhibit. Until Arsenal adopt some of these changes things will continue to stagnate, or get worse!