robsblubot

While I agree with that, we have no other choice. Go there with an immobile striker and we play with 10 men from the get-go. Had we done that, I'd be concerned with another city fiasco. The only choice he had was to drop Cho, and that would make it worse because Cho is obviously more dynamic than either one of the strikers. He does run a lot and can cover the flanks. He also wanted to have Willian doing the hard work on the left, like Superblue wrote above, another sensible tweak likely agreed among the coaches. Emerson, who shall not be criticized , even had the protection of Willian, a hard worker, in front of him to try to contain their right side. I know it's difficult because Salah is a great player and IMO edges over Eden in that final pass, touch, finish. Still that's where they won the game. However, Emerson getting outmuscled out of plays happens way too often for me. Honestly, I think folks are barking at the wrong tree today. Our team is simply not good enough to play toe-to-toe against Liverpool over there. It is the manager's responsibility to attempt to give us a chance, and that has to be speculative with counter attacking. The feeling I have around here is that some are fans of certain players, not the team. I don't care if Hazard looks good or bad, if Cho can do his step overs. Ultimately this is about winning games and silverware, and IMO the manager did his job today.

Are you suggesting we all should give up on football and start watching golf instead? come on if arsenal fans could do it, we can too! Embrace and cherish mediocrity! True fans support mediocre squads.

Agree regarding cho, but disagree on RLC, well while he had legs. Thought he protected the football really well, won 50/50s and made decent runs, but prob too much ground for a player of his size. Fitness a concern for him tho. The circumstances helped higuain, and he did help initially esp moving hazard back to his position... also attracting defenders, but it fizzled out very quickly. Both higuain (was never a fan tbh) and giroud are insufficient and way too immobile at this level. eould honestly even play Alonso instead of either. Probably wouldn’t work either though.

You are probably right esp with Zola in the mix. Still likely not the same when he needs to address a player directly, other than Jorginho and higuain. my personal take is that he’s definitely not a quack. Not a fan of his tactics, but that’s his prerogative. The squad is not good enough to play in this style, which prob makes him the wrong choice as manager - hardly his fault.

You mistake me for a sarri fan. On the other hand he gets criticized regardless of what he does. Lacking the footballers lingo in English must affect his ability to connect with players me thinks. not surprising since hazard moved to his best position, snd higuain attracted defenders.

Or doesn’t say. Always wondered how much a barrier language can be for him. we contained them in the first half with a very defensive approach. Imo it was prob the right one. I don’t like hazard as false 9 bc finishing isn’t his best attribute, so we diminish him. He still hit the post, unlucky. The second one was poor finishing tho. what to do? Start higuain or giroud in tough away matches? They won’t get a touch. Not mobile enough.

Yup. Do we really want to play CL with this squad anyway?

T When you say x would have been better or worse than y, that’s just guesswork, not understanding. There is also no way to prove or disprove the claim. Basically total BS. Between the 2 insufficient LBs, only one is capable of contributing in attack or even score. regarding gk height, it is a personal preference that has little to do with kepa in particular. Height improves reach and helps dominate the area.

RLC looks tired and needs a sub. Fuck I hate higuain...

Well unlike you I don’t have a crystal ball on hand, so all I know is what I see. There are many gk taller than kepa.

We can’t play them as equals esp there. They are the far better side... poor defending by Emerson, he looks a bit lightweight. not kepas fault bc it was a great strike, but a taller goalie would be more likely to reach that.

Good defensive game so far. Big fan of RLC and he’s delivering a very good performance. reckon sarri won’t add a striker bc we wouldn’t have enough players defending as we do now, unless we are chasing a goal. Willian is good defensively... too bad his finishing is gone - for good apparently.

Play him striker for the rest of the season. Always more likely to score than any of our strikers anyway.

Heh and bale is always a popcorn toss away from another long layover. Crazy money.

This is the kinda thing that many folks here keep repeating, and it always sounds crazy to me. In a low scoring sport like football (lowest of them all), a player who scores the winner, in an away game where we did not play well (making it harder to impact the game), cannot possibly be in a list of worst players. I did not watch the game and frankly won't even if it replays, but I don't care if Alonso was nutmegged 5 times in a row, because he won the game.

Disagree. I mean he’d need protection in any other system than the one we try to implement. passing is as much about movement of your teammates as it is about the passing ability of a given player, and make no mistake Jorginho is a great passer. he’s far more easily pressed at Chelsea than he’d be at city. At city he’d have a lot more options for passing and they don’t chase players as much as we do. while we try to rely on possession for defending, city actually does that. When they don’t have the football every player (even aguero) swarms the opposition to regain it. They still struggle without it and are vulnerable to a direct style... classic paper scissors.

Yeah definitely normal at his age, but that’s the reason any manager might think twice about starting him in a tough away game for ex. on the other hand, comparisons with mbappe are a bit to much for me. As promising as odoi looks, he does not seem to be mbappe level imo.

Can’t get past the idea of more expensive bacon... definitely good for the pig though. OK. Odoi is starting games and will play a lot. Time to sign on the dotted line, or was it all BS?

of course we did make the game easier, but two participate in a joust... We have vastly superior players, played at home, and the game mattered more to us than them. We did certain things in the game that a better team would have punished us for. Like I said, job well done. Not getting carried away though that's for sure.

Kante was dominant in the center of the pitch, but still cannot finish. RLC did very well minus a coulple of missed silly passes. Odoi with moments of brilliance and others of naïveté. it was an easy match tho. Our players are better in every position, so no surprise there. Whu were not very physical, and were very slow to close down our players who ran a lot with the ball. Perhaps because they don’t care too much. Yet, it was the hazard show. The game opened up after that amazing goal. job done... now on to the decisive matches

Anderson seems to be a good player, but arnaut is not. WHU fans were commenting that hazard would have lots of spaces because arnaut does not track back at all. I'm not a fan. It’s still entirely besides the point whether they have one or two good players tho. these smaller sides pose a much bigger threat when playing in their home ground, where they can press and impose their game. Of course sometimes a visiting small side can cause problems, but it’s different, being mostly about counter attacking. To be clear I want to see more of Emerson when he's being pressed. I thought he did very poorly when pressed before.

I’ve written like 10 posts saying that I haven’t seen enough of Emerson in tough away games because he rarely plays them. So, I just don’t know how good Emerson is at defending because the one away game I watched him play, he was awful. If you want to read too much from a home game against shitty opposition, please go right ahead.

Nope math Too few players (who are good at) defending... CHO, and RLC in the center. Emerson = Alonso at defending (bad) hence the need for cover (kovacic). come on folks this was an easy home game... don’t compare the incomparables.

The movement was better because we played a weaker opposition at home who does not pressure our passing. That’s my take anyway, people will always see causality to fit one’s agenda. will be convinced once this line up does well in tough away games, but personally I think it’d be suicidal.

Game recording... will catch on hazard show tonight. so rhe takeaway is that we discuss players and lineups during the week, just for hazard to win the game by himself on Sunday/Monday... A bit troubling that we need to rely on him to beat whu at home tho.