The interview with Luiz pretty much answered why we dropped off in the second half, Globaled.

Arteta's method requires a lot of intensity the whole game. Some of our players are not used to it, others playing through injuries and it is also Christmas schedule that requires games every two days. That is very difficult to accomplish for a manager just installed ten days ago. A few months of new training methods however will make it easier for the players to adjust.

None of the players for example are used to training on the morning of match day on late kick-offs. That happened yesterday.

comment by Jenius99 (U4918)
posted 15 minutes ago
The interview with Luiz pretty much answered why we dropped off in the second half, Globaled.

Arteta's method requires a lot of intensity the whole game. Some of our players are not used to it, others playing through injuries and it is also Christmas schedule that requires games every two days. That is very difficult to accomplish for a manager just installed ten days ago. A few months of new training methods however will make it easier for the players to adjust.

None of the players for example are used to training on the morning of match day on late kick-offs. That happened yesterday.
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Jenius99,
Is this your roundabout way of saying that after almost half a season the players are still not "in shape"?

Your final overly sensitive sentence almost brought tears to my eyes! If what you state is true, then somebody in the organization needs to explain why a team is training & playing on the same day? Personally I don't believe it. One thing was apparent however to many, including the commentators, is that this Gunner team looked very tired. Very tired players tend to play poorly and panic and become prone to injury.
Let's not make excuses, the good news is that United were not going to score if the game had lasted an extra, they were pathetic!

Your final overly sensitive sentence almost brought tears to my eyes! If what you state is true, then somebody in the organization needs to explain why a team is training & playing on the same day?
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And indeed the culprit responsible for that and his coaching team were fired.

Now its common for different managers to concentrate on different aspects of the game to suit their theories of getting the ultimate performance from their players over a season. A lot depends on their strategy, tactics and ethos. Some concentrate on strength and physical training because their game is based on long ball that requires a lot of contact, others focus on movement, skill and quick movement. For example it took a couple of seasons for Klopp to get his players used to pressing for 90mins every game. Players who couldn't do it were replaced. Its common and nothing unusual as you are making out.

I was nervously excited about Arteta. Nervous that he wasn’t ready or experienced enough but excited to see our former player and former guardiola assistant manage us.

I think so far with his performances, interviews and other stuff shown to us he has been very impressive. If we continue like this then I am sure we have a brilliant manager on our hands. I hope he wins the EL with us.

However I still say be cautious and patient. We are in a honeymoon period here and a new manager bounce. Artetas true test will be when he’s been here a number of months and he isn’t the new manager anymore. When the pitch is going through some negative moment Arteta will need to know when to make the change they could turn a negative into a positive.

Finally we need to remember OGS had a brilliant start for United last year and then his honeymoon period finished. Look what happened.

I'm just excited. Can't really explain it any better than.

The performance vs United brought back a buzz that I haven't felt for a long time. Long may it continue.