Arsenal (H) - verdict

[Tredman]

I don’t think we can blame any single player today, they all just looked a little poorer than Arsenal.

Nuno’s tactics might have not been correct, but that is not the cause of the misplaced passes and lack of urgency.

 

[Tredman]

Tim II on Podence:

Nuno on Podence: "Daniel had to travel to Portugal to take care of something really important, a personal issue he had to solve. When he returns he'll follow the guidelines of the Government (14 days)."

Shame as he might have helped today.

 

[jd1981]

To get CL football you have to put winning runs together on a regular basis. The last 8 we've done that but other parts of the season have been a bit patchy with to many draws. Its not a criticism just an indicator of where we're at.

 

[Deleted Cyber]

Saiss has been one of our best performers all season, in a side with one of the best defences in the league. If we upgrade him, we'd be getting a very special player - he's class.

I would take Ake over him any day of the week. But there. Saiss is a very committed player but he gets SO many yellows for the same foul its frustrating. I have said it before he gets them on the far side with a tackle from behind thats often unnecessary or where the threat doesnt warrant it. He has only been OK since the restart. But we wont pay 30 mil plus for Ake even if they go down.

 

[Alan]

I would take Ake over him any day of the week. But there. Saiss is a very committed player but he gets SO many yellows for the same foul its frustrating. I have said it before he gets them on the far side with a tackle from behind thats often unnecessary or where the threat doesnt warrant it. He has only been OK since the restart. But we wont pay 30 mil plus for Ake even if they go down.

 

[Langers]

I would take Ake over him any day of the week. But there. Saiss is a very committed player but he gets SO many yellows for the same foul its frustrating. I have said it before he gets them on the far side with a tackle from behind thats often unnecessary or where the threat doesnt warrant it. He has only been OK since the restart. But we wont pay 30 mil plus for Ake even if they go down.

He's been excellent since the restart, aside from today when no-one particularly stood out.

 

[AndyWolves]

I would take Ake over him any day of the week. But there. Saiss is a very committed player but he gets SO many yellows for the same foul its frustrating. I have said it before he gets them on the far side with a tackle from behind thats often unnecessary or where the threat doesnt warrant it. He has only been OK since the restart. But we wont pay 30 mil plus for Ake even if they go down.

I can't remember the last time he was sent off or suspended though

 

[Tony Towner]

Every outfield player was poor including Neto and Jota who both gave the ball away in stupid areas deep in our own half. Happy with MGW track back and tackle, I hope that's a sign of things to come.

The formation was wrong as was the Doherty throw in strategy, putting too much stall in the fact they are weak at set pieces

Bad result in terms of finishing 6th or above, but as disappointing as it was we have to remember to have perspective.

Worth noting though that our record against the none bottom 5 is W4D13L6.

I'd be interested to know what our record is this season when having a week or thereabouts rest, anecdotally it seems poor

 

[AndyWolves]

I think we under estimated them and tried to exploit where we thought they were weak rather than doing what we do well.

It felt like we tried get Adama up against Luiz but he's much better getting wide and get balls into the box. Donck is great but not in these games where we need a midfielder to get beyond the forwards.

I hope this is just one of those things and we really need to see a reaction against sheff United

If we can qualify for Europe again in any form this season that will be a significant achievement

 

[Aikiwolf]

I think we under estimated them and tried to exploit where we thought they were weak rather than doing what we do well.

It felt like we tried get Adama up against Luiz but he's much better getting wide and get balls into the box. Donck is great but not in these games where we need a midfielder to get beyond the forwards.

I hope this is just one of those things and we really need to see a reaction against sheff United

If we can qualify for Europe again in any form this season that will be a significant achievement

Just after half time we started to get Donck to push forward and almost play as an attacker. This allowed Adama to pull wide and we started to get some joy. We then brought Jota on (which I'd have done at HT if I'm honest) but we seemed to lose something then.

 

[Parkins left foot]

In reality a very tepid performance from everyone - we played in 2nd gear for the first 3 games & won (which we could due to the opposition)

Carried on in the same gear tonight against a better team so it didn't work.

Defence fallible in this game - even Boly so he is human

One game doesn't derail everything, but we need to improve before Wednesday

 

[Tony Towner]

Saiss has been one of our best performers all season, in a side with one of the best defences in the league. If we upgrade him, we'd be getting a very special player - he's class.

I think this overrates Saiss quite significantly. He's a decent LCH and a decent CM and a very good squad player. Saying it would take a special player to upgrade is a stretch though

 

[Tony Towner]

I can't remember the last time he was sent off or suspended though

Palace this season

 

[Wilf Wolf]

Disappointing performance. You can point at the deflection for their first and Traore's miss as being critical but we only played well for ten minutes up to the miss, rest of the game we looked sluggish. Traore as a second forward might work against a tired defence but doesn't work when we start with it. Leaving Jota out also meant we were very reliant on Jiminez for goals and he looks a little off the pace. He wasn't the only one - we had more misplaced passes today than in the previous three games, how much that was due to Arsenal and how much due to us being off he pace I'm not sure.

Today provided further evidence that we need an centre forward and centre midfield option off the bench. It would be great to think MGW has kicked on like Netto and Greenwood at MU in the last few months, as a fresh pair of legs on 70 minutes in midfield could make a big difference.

 

[Tony Towner]

Tim II on Podence:



Shame as he might have helped today.

That's him out until Chelsea then. I knew there would be something

 

[Aikiwolf]

I think this overrates Saiss quite significantly. He's a decent LCH and a decent CM and a very good squad player. Saying it would take a special player to upgrade is a stretch though

Who would you replace him with?

 

[Tredman]

I thought Boly was a better LCB, and better at LCB than on the right too.

 

[Tony Towner]

Who would you replace him with?

I'm not a scout, I don't watch much none English football, I don't know the answer to that. I'd take Ake in a heartbeat, but I don't think it's realistic without CL.

I do know that Saiss is a player that needs to be upgraded as a starter if we are going to continue to progress. I'd be happy to see him on the bench every week and that's not meant as an insult. I think he's a valuable squad player

 

[Del Woppio]

Arsenal were very good, they controlled the game well (albeit not creating loads themselves) and even in the second half had us largely at arm's length, barring the jota chance and adama miss, both of which we should have scored. Noticed that all of jota, Neto and adama just want to dribble and do it all themselves, there wasn't much by way of combination and off the ball movement of the kind that those arsenal defenders really struggle with.

I'm not sure approaching the game with the exact same plan as we did against the previous three was necessarily the right way to do it tbh. Adama and Raul don't work in a two.

It was disappointing, but I guess if we're disappointed at losing to arsenal and damaging our champions league hopes, it's better than being disappointed at losing to Stoke in championship. They're a good side and played better than us, simple as that I guess.

 

[Tony Towner]

Also just read the Matchday thread about being passive and not up for it. The first half was no different to Villa and Bournemouth except for conceding a well taken yet defendable goal. Every chance without that the second half would have panned out a similar way. It's a risky strategy as demonstrated today, but you can't commend it when it works and criticise it when it doesn't