Arsenal 3-1 Wham: I’ll take it

63 comments

1. Don’t think thats quite right about what Emery said on Thursday about 2 up top. We never played a 442 in this game like we did against Lazio. I don’t think he’s ever been opposed to playing 2 strikers in a 433.

   More generally, we were as bad as we have looked in the first half but improved a fair bit in the second half. Thought Guendouzi was very poor in this game. I’d consider sticking with Torreria/Xhaka/Ramsey as the MF 3 going forward. We desperately need a MF to provide strong defensive cover if the fullbacks are going to be tasked with playing as wingbacks.

   1. Don’t think Guendouzi was “very poor” at all; just not as impressive as in other games. He made a few poor passes/touches and people tend to always remember those, especially if a player gets hauled off right after making one of those mistakes. To my eye, he got on the ball less in this game (maybe due to playing on the side of a midfield 3, with Xhaka getting to sit deep and pick up the ball from the defense) and didn’t really play those line-breaking progressive passes.

      1. Maybe very poor is too harsh. He gave the ball away dangerously several times and he had less positive impact than he did in the first two games. I don’t think he should be played at the expense of Torreira. We need a defensively inclined MF to play badly considering the way the fullbacks are being asked to play.

         1. agree. the question for me is whether Guen or Xhaka should start. on today’s evidence, probably Xhaka, but on the first two game’s evidence, Guen. I also wonder whether, if Xhaka weren’t playing, Guen would be more likely to get on the ball and dictate from deep more. I suspect this is the case. but hey, the kid’s only 19. there’s no rush. just glad we have him and look forward to his continued development.

2. Just back from the game. Extremely mediocre performance. We looked a distinctly mid-table outfit. I was thoroughly pissed off until I read your excellent analysis. Thank you. I’ll take it too.

   1. Baff!

3. (Dead thread transfer 🙂)

   Cant comment on the game, having watched only the last 10 minutes (enough time to see Ramsey in the 86th try a careless flick to Monreal, turn the ball over, Arsenal not see it back for 3 minutes, and watch WHU create a good chance). Emery is caught between his system and players who are not his. There is obviously a disconnect. But in the new tactical shakeup, players have an opportunity to stake claims. Iwobi, for example, looks like someone who has put his hand up. We’ll see.

   Funny enough, the thing that’s working best is our attacking down our right, and Bellerin is at the heart of that. As I said before, when Bellerin leans to defend like he attacks, he’ll be some player. Emery said in that long, illuminating interview that he’s forgiving of defensive shortcomings, if a play offers a lot on offense. We read that at the time to mean Xhaka, but on the evidence of these 3 games, it’s clearly Bellerin who’s showing that more clearly.

   Our attack is a gathering concern. Both of our top 2 strikers are goalless 3 games in. Richarlison (who was sent off today) has 3 more goals than them combined. his teammate Theo has 2. Welbeck has more goals than them put together (yeah, Im being naughty). Yes, all strikers miss big chances, but Laca and primarily Aubameyang have to do better offensively than they have so far. Not good enough. It’s probably time for Auba to drop to the bench (but having said that, he’ll make me look a fool by going out next week and hitting a hattrick).

   1. Agree about Aubameyang needing to score from these chances but dropping him right now would only worsen the situation and ruin his already low confidence.

      As long as he keeps making good runs he needs to be playing.

      Also, as calmly as Welbeck took his chance there’s a world of difference taking them with the 2:1 shoreline to your advantage.

      1. Not this again. It’s absolutely impossible to prove if Danny would’ve reacted differently had the score been 1-1. It’s definitely true that the Hammers would’ve reacted differently (more desperate defending) and maybe that forces Danny to rush his shot. Not the same thing as saying finishing percentage fluctuates with the score.

      2. Yep.

         1. That’s a “yep” to Tom, not Doc. It’s less about the pressure being greater when the score is 1-1 (though this is true, and to the degree that Doc is questioning the reasoning here, it’s very odd, since it’s just common sense that greater psychological pressure makes scoring goals harder–we can’t prove all sorts of things that are nevertheless obviously true), and more about the fact that that very simple chance likely doesn’t come about if the Hammers are defending a valuable point in the last minute, rather than throwing bodies forward.

            1. Can psychological pressure enter your mind in a moment like that? I say absolutely not. The cortex has nothing to do with that, it doesn’t have time to intervene. It’s all instinct and muscle memory. That’s why a striker’s finishing percentage doesn’t improve beyond a certain point, no matter how much he practices; it’s one of those skills that’s innate.

               Imagine a similar situation: you’re driving on the freeway and suddenly a deer jumps in front of your car. Do you react differently because your wife and kids are in the car with you? No! You don’t have time to think about that. You react instantaneously. All the rest, the cost of the damage, the injuries, the insurance, all that comes after you’ve made the initial maneuvers and are just about out of danger.

            2. most chances aren’t as instantaneous as your deer example. it’s not like taking a free throw or penalty kick, of course, but often you absolutely do have time to “think about it”–not literally forming a complete conscious thought in inner speech, perhaps, but enough for psychological pressure to intervene (didn’t Danny receive and spin on the ball before hitting his shot today?).

               I would have thought this is just obvious for anyone who’s played football or other sports before, based on your own experience. to take an example from another sport: in tennis you often have about as much time to hit your next shot as a player has to finish a chance from a pass/cross in football (I haven’t timed this, but it seems about right). players are OBVIOUSLY affected by pressure in tennis, e.g. they might make more unforced errors on their forehand side when trying to close out a set in a big match. or consider having to catch and shoot a 3 in a pressure situation in basketball. roughly the same thing in football.

            3. by the way, I don’t think your comment about practicing not improving a striker beyond a certain point can be quite right: being innate vs learned and being automatic (or “instinctive”) vs deliberate are orthogonal distinctions. better “muscle memory” is precisely what’s gained through repeated practice, and it’s this muscle memory that comes to your aid when you have to react instantaneously without having time to think.

               of course you’re right that your reactions in those circumstances can only be improved by practice up to a point, but that’s neither here nor there. no athletic skill can be improved limitlessly through practice. and to the degree that whatever can’t be improved should be thought of as an innate finishing ability (the “striker’s gene” 🙂 ), there’s no reason to think that doesn’t involve an innate ability to stay calm under pressure.

            4. He took a touch, turned and shot. Soooo much time. I promise you that Vincent Kompany and Diego Godin are shutting the door on him as soon as he takes that touch. Good composure, yes. Leisurely defending allowing him time to examine his fingernail and take a shot, yes too. Both those things can be true.

         2. Hey doc, respectfully, I don’t know much about cortex or deer in the road but I’ve played enough soccer to say without any doubt that circumstances surrounding your chances have the utmost bearing on how you play and finish those chances.

            Let me just ask you this hypothetical question though, do you think a striker might be pressing a bit harder and perhaps rushing his shot, if his team’s record was poor and the managers job was on the line( assuming he didn’t hate the manager of course) , as opposed to having a healthy lead in a meaningless game?

            1. Interesting, I didn’t think mine would end up being the fringe position. I propose we agree to disagree in this instance.

            2. Agreed, in those situations, you even have time of weighting the risk of shot vs dribble. You start processing before the ball is in your feet and still while you make your touch. Deer on the road probably gives you only 2 or 3 tenths of second to react.

            3. Yes, pressure is definately a thing, it informs the decision making, how and when to make the shot, playing it safe or just letting loose with an audacious piece of skill, the willingness to do certain things or not. The point of contention though might be what factors actually are influential. It might not always be the obvious points we tend to read, in that case our information is way too limited to asses the situation as observers.

   2. He’s a 10 for Wales out of necessity because they have such a scarcity of players with attacking potential. I like him better as an 8 as well. He scores his goals when he’s like the Spanish Inquisition (nobody expects him). When he plays too far forward it’s not hard to mark him out of the game because he’s not especially quick or dribbly, but there are few central midfielders better at making late runs into the box and getting on the end of things.

4. Ramsey is not a 10, however well he plays there for Wales.

   To me, advanced play brings out the worst of his traits, which is a propensity for flicks, tricks and Hollywood balls, sometimes in dangerous areas (again, I missed most of the game, so Im simply going on Tim’s assessment). When Cesc left, he tried playmaker and wasn’t good at it. I remember the crowd getting on his back a lot for that.

   Credit to Arsene for helping him find his game. Which is a goalscoring midfielder who makes runs from deep, and plays better defense than is appreciated. Never a 10. Being a 10 requires more “head”… you see less of the field, and have to make ctitical desisions more quickly than in any other position. Criticise Mesut all we want, but he is the supreme master of that position at our club. Tim Stillman made a case for Iwobi in time, but that’s a long term project, if it ever comes off

   1. Dear Tim and Claude and Everyone Else,

      You’ll never believe this Claude, but I’m actually going to defend Ramsey from Tim’s claim that that was one of his worst performances in an Arsenal shirt (having not watched the game you can’t do so yourself). I’ve seen Ramsey play WAY WORSE for us dozens of times!! Ok, that’s faint praise, but honestly, despite some (fairly typically) sloppy passing, thought Ramsey did ok; one of our better players. He wasn’t amazing, but as a longtime critic of him, I though he did more good than bad, particularly in the first half. But of course I totally agree that nothing in these first 3 games suggests he can replace Ozil’s contribution as our creative hub.

      I thought Rambo looked better on the right of a midfield three (fyi we started with a 4-3-3 not a 4-2-3-1) than he has playing as a 10 (to my eye we switched to 4-2-3-1 in the second half, or at least Ramsey was given more license to roam as Xhaka and Guen/Lucas sat in a double pivot).

      I saw Tim tweeted some stats about how poor the trio of Ramsey, Mikhi, and Hector were in the first half, but while they were all sloppy a bit in possession–and Hector again was an absolute disaster defensively!–all our best moves in that first half came down that right and the combination play between the three of them. Nacho and especially Iwobi were comparatively anonymous on the other side.

      It wasn’t a great performance, to say the least. But keep the 4-3-3 with Ramsey the most adventurous of a pretty compact trio, get Auba up and firing (I think once the first goal goes in, the confidence will return), replace Iwobi with Ozil, and bring in Torreira from the start for one of Guen or Xhaka (my heart says replace Xhaka, but my head says it’ll be Guen he gets benched), and a lot of our problems in midfield and going forward will be sorted sooner rather than later. The defense is still a liability, but Hector can’t defend this badly for much longer (and if he does Lich can come in), and I don’t think the other 3 have been as hopeless as some have suggested.

      In other words, it could be worse. As Tim says: I’ll take it.

      1. Another thing: it’s a bit simplistic to say (as some fans have) that Hector is poor at the back but brilliant going forward–he’s still somewhat sloppy in possession and pretty poor at whipping in a cross in the air–yet he *has* been a very consistent supply line for dangerous low cut backs from the right in the last 2 games.

         That looks to my eye like something that Emery has been working on with him. Under Wenger his delivery was poor for what seemed like ages. But not against Chelsea or West Ham. He seems to be taking his time a bit and getting his head up to actually pick out a run in the box. And he seems to be forming an understanding with Micki on how to create overloads down that side, and both of them have been very dangerous with their low crossing. Credit where credit is due. Pep and City love those overloads and cut backs–score a ton of goals that way–and I think Emery is following suit. I expect us to score a lot of goals in that way this season, and expect both Monreal and Bellerin will get lots of assists.

         1. spot on.

         2. For all the grief he gets defensively you have to say Bellerin’s overlaps and crosses have been our most consistent source of goalmouth danger this season. I don’t care if they’re semi-accidental nutmegs or deflections, the cut-back situations are so dangerous for teams to deal with and there aren’t too many better attacking backs in the league right now than Hector in terms of carving out those opportunities or putting in outstanding service once he gets there.

         3. Bellerin is being asked to play that way. Look on YouTube for videos about Emery and tactics. He likes to play fullbacks as auxiliary wingers and drop a midfielder to cover. In attack, Emery’s system is a 343.

            1. he’s not being asked to let himself get beasted by Michail Antonio though.

            2. That’s a tad harsh. Still, even if he’s a below average 1 v1 defender, do you play Lichtsteiner instead because he would’ve bludgeoned Antonio in that situation? For me, no. For me you accept Hector’s defensive weakness, try to spruce it up in training, and ask the players on his side to give him more help. There’ll still be times when he’s isolated but on balance I think he still helps the team so much more than he harms.

            3. maybe you’re right. I don’t have a settled opinion on who should start for us at RB right now.

            4. That would explain why Guendouzi was hauled off. Though, I would have taken Xhaka off.

            5. Re: getting beasted by Antonio – dude is a beast. No shock for him to apply it to a relatively little guy in like Hector.

      2. I can’t decide if Unai told Mkhi, Ramsey and Bellerin to go up top and ignore the defending and then told Iwobi and Nacho not to go forward or if they just did an old, weird, Arsene Wenger thing. I have to think it was Emery. Either way, Ramsey isn’t a 10. He’s horrible at creating chances epitomized by the possession where he had the ball wide, his defender stood off him two yards and since he didn’t have any momentum he took a touch and kicked the ball into his defender.

   2. Iwobi is a weird player. Rightly hauled off at half time.

      1. yep and yep.

         my own suspicions about Iwobi are that he’s got all the ability in the world in his body and feet, but not so much in his mind. not saying he’s dumb, but doesn’t seem to have the quickest “football brain/instincts”. today he kept looking to beat his man on the dribble, rather than try quick combination play with his teammates–thus slowing down our attack–without then going through with the attempt. hopefully he can learn to be quicker and smarter in his decision making under Emery. he’s still young. not sure that’s easily coached, though…

         1. First it was Theo who didn’t have the quickest “football brain/instincts.” Now it’s Iwobi being tarred with the same brush. I don’t think you get to play at this level without having quite high “football brain/instincts.”

            I’m beginning to wonder about the genesis of this type of criticism (especially since I have heard the same critiques of Raheem Sterling and Daniel Sturridge)…

      2. Too true. This the game after he was so good against Chelsea and against worst opposition.

5. I thought Xhaka was fine today, that nasty challenge aside. I was also surprised to read over on Arseblog News that Mustafi actually had a decent game overall. I basically judged his entire performance on getting nutmegged for the goal, but he had an ok game after that. Ramsey and Mkhitaryan really weren’t ok, and perhaps because of that we really labored in attack.

   As I mentioned in the last thread, it seems even more clear these days how badly this team needs a player who can dribble past his man, just for something different when the passing game isn’t working for whatever reason (today that reason being the forward players who just forgot how to pass the ball…Ramsey’s hospital passes to Monreal were especially infuriating because with those you potentially get the double whammy of dispossession plus injury).

   Anyway, it was a bit of a mess of a performance, but, under the circumstances, it’s hardly a surprise.

6. My guess is that the entire first half of this season, and maybe the whole season, is going to have to be labelled “Work in Progress”. Arsenal looked fairly mediocre today, and likely would have lost against a better team. There are some good players on this team, but a few of them are going to have to start stepping up, or this will be a long season.
   As for Bellerin, someone on another board suggested he’d be better off switching to winger. That might be true, or maybe we could try 3 at the back and put Bellerin in right mid?

7. Unfortunately there were certainly more negatives than positives from this 3-1 win which was one of those score doesn’t tell the story/this was really damn hard kind of games. They’re all hard at this level but Arsenal were their own worst enemies for the most part. This Hammers team was rescued from being utterly awful only by the excellent forward play of Felipe Anderson and Arnautovic. Once the striker left the game, they really carried very little threat but up to that point they probably deserved a lead.

   Arsenal, for their part, look absolutely bereft of cohesion in both attack and defense, and then throwing in a good dollop of poor confidence and lack of speed to make up for errors on top of that compounds the whole thing. Plenty has been said about the negatives so I will focus on some good things I saw. One of the positives for me was the second half improvement after Lacazette was introduced. He was able to link play in possession better than Aubameyang before him and this certainly helped the team play. At this point you feel that Arsenal are still so used to playing Wenger’s “Cluster together to play 1-2’s” off each other and Lacazette is the striker better suited to that style. Emery does want his team playing with more width and verve and Aubameyang is ultimately the striker that will fit better with that plan, but for now Lacazette represents a return to Wengerian innocence where the team feels far more comfortable. The other positive was the improved play of Granit Xhaka once he was paired with Torreira. This is not a knock on Guendouzi’s all-action style but his forays forward clearly put Xhaka in the uncomfortable position of tracking runs by quicker players, a task he is not suited to doing. Once Torreira assumed that role, Xhaka too could slip back into his more familiar routine of conducting the buildup from a little further forward. The final positive for me was the confirmation that we’ve lost very little in letting Jack Wilshere go. It may be early times with his new club but it was clear to see he has sadly not blossomed into the top drawer midfielder we all hoped he would and West Ham is a level where he is more suited. I wish him well.

   1. Spot on about us getting very lucky that Arnautovic had to go off. To me that was the biggest turning point in the game (to the degree that the game “turned” at all), not any of our subs. Lucas and Laca both were solid when they came on, but those fans suggesting that they made us much better are overstating their impact.
      For the first half and the start of the second, West Ham caused us all kinds of problems with their front 4 of Anderson, Arnautovic, Snodgrass, and Antonio, and probably should have been in front. We tightened up a bit and got more control of the game as it slowed down, but were lucky to go ahead and lucky that they took off 3 of those 4, with their subs posing less of a threat.

8. Have to agree with Dr. Gooner. This was a lot more painful than it needed to be given the gulf in quality. West Ham are s$&t. They know it, their fans know it, everyone knows they’re s_$t and we are somewhere in some experimental in between. We won’t be there forever and I have faith that Emery will sort is out but ouch! Patience is a huge requirement this season.

   1. Stats piece tomorrow will show that this was essentially a see-saw match. Very odd stats and continued even after Torreira was put on.

      1. I saw the 2nd goal as the turning point in our performance, not the subs. We got a boost immediately after. It leads me to believe that the players are unsure, and are still trying to figure it all out. The goals were validation that the system could work, and so a mental boost.

      2. Hey Tim.

         ‘After Ozil is dropped (rumor) or perhaps benched and refused to play (rumor)’

         People know more than me obviously but has Ozil shown himself to be the type of player who’ll strike over being asked to be a sub? That doesn’t seem like his style at all.

         I can understand him being dropped, but suggestions (not yours I know) that he went on strike and refused to play are pretty serious. Has he ever shown himself to be that kind of player?

9. Curious to know if this was a match with the most ex-Arsenal players (3) playing against us. Where was Wilshere? Picking flowers pitchside?

10. Also Clichy, Nasri and Sagna at MC but hard pressed to remember if they all started a match against us.

    1. Don’t forget Adebayor!

11. If you remember my comments after the first two matches (and really, why would you), my opinion was always that those game didn’t matter – I was glad to get them out of the way so we could write them off early, rather than be dealt heavy blows later. I’m surprised that most didn’t see it that way, but nonetheless. It meant this was the first game that mattered.

    We saw green shoots in the first two games, and we saw green shoots here too. BUT. I expected us to look better. I expected gradual improvement, but I guess I didn’t expect us to look worse before we looked better. In hindsight, it makes sense: sometimes the medicine makes you sicker first. Sometimes you have to break those bad habits, those negative associations, and rebuild from a place of weakness.

    I don’t have “faith” in Emery – that’s nonsense. Faith is a stupid thing by definition. But based on his CV and his words so far, I’m open-minded and hopeful. However, I think this will be a longer process than I first anticipated, and so I’ve gone from being 50-50 about a top 4 finish to being pessimistic. I just think that by the time we figure it out, we’ll be too far behind.

12. I wouldn’t go as far as saying the first two games didn’t matter but having lost them , this was almost a must win game if you wanted to avoid a major crisis of confidence going into the next two away games.
    As for finishing in the top four, I always thought people were / are way to optimistic in their hopes for this club as it stands.
    To make up 12 points over last season’s effort just by appointing a new manager, because none of the signings were to me game changing, is too big an ask.
    Sixth is where we will finish and if we breach the 70 points, we might be talking progress.

    1. It’s not just a new manager. You have to expect some regression to the mean after we were one of the unluckiest clubs in terms of actual versus expected goals, and new players always help too. Most projections I’ve seen have us right in the mix with Chelsea, United and Tottenham for those 3-5 places and I don’t think we have anything to be ashamed of compared to what they have. The season is still very young and a big part of the process as Zedd says above is to unlearn the bad habits of previous years while picking up new strategies. I thought the team started strongly before giving up the counterattack goal and finished the game well too. Goals are having an outsized influence on the players’ ability to execute right now but more stability will come as the year progresses. For now, I’m quite happy that we’ve found three points from a losing position. That’s not easy to do.

13. Dr Gooner

    This whole bad habits thing is just nonsense.

    The squad is relatively new and the younglings are all crying about “new approaches” blah blah blah.

    Guys like Xhaka and Mustafi have played pro football for so long, 1 or 2 seasons under Wenger will not be able to create ingrained Wenger-only bad habits.

    1. I’m sorry you feel that way. Have you ever tried to change something about the way you do your job? It takes a while to get used to it, doesn’t it?

       Anyways, I’m known for fringe opinions around here so what’s another one 🙂

       1. Yeah, the point is that most of them haven’t been at the job long enough to get used to anything.

          The coaching staff is gone, the players are new……there isn’t much to sweep away right? The only ones you can excuse are Iwobi, Ramsey, Bellerin and Bould! Hardly the majority of the squad. And I don’t factor Monreal since he seems good regardless of manager.

          If one wants to be cynical, Xhaka can’t even play Wengerball. What is there to forget in the first place.

          1. I think it isn’t so much a tactical/managerial issue, but an issue of organisational culture.

             For a large part of its history, Arsenal had an old-school ‘caretaker’ board, and/or a manager who embodied those ‘values’ or culture at the helm.

             Now, all of a sudden, we have a new coach, new staff, new scouts and contract negotiators, and soon enough, an all-out owner (maybe even a new CEO?) I don’t think it’s a case of you switching jobs and settling in. More like the company you’ve been working for undergoing major structural changes. You can adapt to the new manager, and the new way of working, but some part of you is still thinking about what all of this means.

             I don’t agree about ‘bad habits’. Every manager’s (or coach’s) job is to build on what they have. Before Emery was even mentioned, and just after he was (when I was fully on the Arteta train) I wondered why we would switch Wenger for someone like Emery who is similar in many ways. But the hope with Emery was that he could make us more solid at the back and deal with pressure in midfield while keeping us flowing in attack. Or at least building on the ‘automatisms’ built under Wenger. So far, this hasn’t happened. If anything we look more hesitant in attack, while still being bad at defense.

             I think keeping the culture of the club largely intact will help the players just get on with their jobs on the tactical side of things. As results go our way, and nothing earth shattering happens from on top which affects them, the players will begin to feel more comfortable again.

14. I havent ever commented here but this article just captures my exact feelings after the game. You know what, I’LL TAKE IT.

15. If Arsenal had lost that game – and it looked for a long while like that might happen – we would all be worried that there has been literally zero improvement over the course of the first three games. As a matter of fact, losing to West Ham at home would be regression. Houston, we have a problem. Emery – these are not the droids you are looking for. This roster is mid-table.

16. “I’ll take it.”

    That entirely sums up my feelings about this season no matter what happens. A new era of Arsenal football have been long overdue. The relative mess that this club was left in will take time to dig out of.

    I can definitely deal with ugly wins because at least they aren’t the same, old we’re-ultimately-going-nowhere-with-this ugly wins. These are new ugly wins and I’m more excited about the club than I have been in years.

17. Haha! Mourinho. Hahaha!

    1. Hey! Have some respect, man. 🙂

       If someone told me United would be sitting four places below Arsenal after three games, I’d be like: “ we beat City and Chelsea to start off the season?”

       I wonder who gets the sack first, Mourinho or Pellegrini.

       Ha, ha is right.

       1. I will give him 3 fingers of respect

18. I wanna say Mourinho went full Aretha but that would be such a disservice to Aretha Franklin.

19. Bad habits can be fixed, I worry more about personality and disposition. I can see a few personnel changes on the horizon.

    Wenger was known for his experimentation and unorthodox selections, when he was at his best he managed to tease out the best in the team over iterations, until he hit on the formula that gave him the results he was looking for. Kind of like an agile or kaizen approach. Players were bought for certain attributes including the confidence and ability to express themselves, and Wenger backed himself to find the system and balance that would allow them to do that to the best advantage. The players come first and the system is adapted.

    My worry about Emery from the start was that he has a very fixed, almost dogmatic approach based on basic drilling and clear, detailed instructions. The system comes first, the players have to adapt. This is all very well but a) inflexibility can be a problem rather than an asset, and b) I don’t think it’s going to sit well with players who were bought to fit in with a culture of expressing themselves, improvising and solving problems on the pitch.

    The Banega move made a whole lot of sense to me for that reason – you need someone experienced at the heart of the system who likes the system and knows how to play it. Emery got Guendouzi instead, who he had also previously coached / overseen, but that’s a lot of responsibility to place on a 19 year-old.

    It’s no surprise that Ozil seems to be the one to have the biggest problems adapting to the change – both because of who he is and what he likes to do, and because of the way Emery is setting up the team – where the number 10 is a defender first and attacker second. It’s just not a good fit for him. I can see him moving on – but then his salary is a huge potential stumbling block.

20. “My worry about Emery from the start was that he has a very fixed, almost dogmatic approach based on basic drilling and clear, detailed instructions. The system comes first, the players have to adapt. “

    That’s why I was skeptical about Ozil’s ability/ willingness to fit into it.
    That and the defensive duties Ozil has been pretty much absolved of since joining Madrid 8 years ago.

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