I like Bellerin even more now

I read something crazy this morning. I read Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho say that the thing United are missing is a ball playing center back. My immediate reaction was “who is he supposed to play the ball to?”

That whole situation at Manchester United is crazy. It’s clear that the thing they are missing is a ball-playing midfielder. That midfield of Fellaini, Pogba, and Matic is about as badly constructed as possible. There’s no one there to dictate play. So, it’s not a surprise that Pogba’s struggling and that Alexis is struggling. Both of those players flourished in systems where there were better creative partners next to them.

The real problem isn’t that Mourinho doesn’t have the players who could make Man U click better, the real problem is Mourinho. And I truly hope that United have that problem for a LONG time.

As for team news ahead of the Qarabag Cup… uhhh… I got nothing.

Except that Bellerin is taking full responsibility for all of the problems in the world. I knew it was all his fault. Him and his poncy vegan diet and his haircut.

In seriousness, I appreciate this intelligent, caring, young athlete using his platform for good rather than evil or just for pure self-interest. He could be out there making sex tapes, shooting off bottle rockets in his bathroom, buying a bunch of fast cars, buying houses, and new gold watches – you know just being a spoiled rich boor – but he’s not.

I do understand that the message can sound a bit preachy but I think his heart is in the right place. I had this whole weird thing I wanted to say about Hector’s positions (all “sciency” and stuff) but you know what? I’m going to step aside and let him say whatever he wants. I don’t think he’s hurting anyone and like I said, he’s clearly got a good heart. So, good for him not being a typical yobbo gobshite footballer. I mean, the kid could be gambling in Leicester and call an asian man a Jap or talk about “getting banged” and all that stuff that half the footballers talk about. Or worse, he could be a sort of neutered non-entity that the other half of footballers act like with their “we gave 100%, we are just trying to find ways to win games, we work hard, put in the practice, and try to entertain the fans” scripted nonsense.

Good for him. I like him even more now. Still not growing my hair into a pony tail.

Anyway, hopefully we get some actual team news tonight for tomorrow’s blog.

Qq

34 comments

  1. Didn’t Mourinho sign two CB’s in Bailly and Lindelof?

    This guy will blame everyone but himself.

    They stil have Mata don’t they.
    I would think you give a trio of Mata , Pogba and Matic to a Pep, Klopp
    or any forward thinking coach and he might be able to get something going with this sort of talent.

    1. Yeah, and Fred is also no slouch in that regard. I think he is still talking about the CBSs being the problem because

      1) to cover for the fact that they bought Fred
      2) to hammer home this stupid point that they didn’t buy that british large headed overrated center back

      1. That British large headed overrated center back has two more goals to his credit than the Chilean piano playing forward/winger 🙂

        1. Tim is right, they have good players. This is 100% Mourinho effect and it feels so good after all the years of talking about Wenger’s record and his snide comments amounting to the belief that he could’ve done better with the same squad. Little man, little wit, big squad, big whiff.

      2. I’m starting to think that Mourinho has been replaced by a hologram voiced by a comedy twitter bot.

    2. He wanted Godin, who’d have been a hell of a capture, even if he’s not had the best of times with Atletico since the season started. Mourinho has a bloated squad, with FAR too many bodies. And he spends like a drunken sailor. Woodward is trying to bring some fiscal discipline to the whole thing.

  2. A thoughtful, multi-lingual young athlete with a social conscience. What’s not to like in Hector? How he deals with crosses from our right, perhaps 🙂 But even there, he’s shown a willingness to improve.

  3. Messi hitting the same post three times in one game.

    88th minute, one goal up and Messi still busting a gut down the line wrestling for the ball with a defender twice his size.

    Someone should show this clip to Ozil.

    1. Sigh. That’s why Mesut is in London and not Madrid. Every Barcelona player works like a labourer off the ball. Including the prettiest passer (and scorer) of them all.

      Love the look of the No.8, Arthur, Iniesta’s successor. Good, hardworking ballplayer in the middle of the park. Would have loved to see Dembele…

    1. Which leaves Tim to the overwhelming question, where do we have the better chance of popping them: Europe or League?

  4. On Pogba…

    I do not watch Man Utd. I didn’t watch too much of France. I hate Mourinho. I have nothing against Pogba – he seems perfectly nice and insipid.

    Okay, all of those are my disclaimers. Which leads me to the question – what is he actually good at?

    I read that he doesn’t really defend well, it’s not his game. He needs a DM to excel. Now, Tim, you’re saying that he’s not a creative player. It’s not his game. He needs a creative player to excel.

    So…he doesn’t defend, he doesn’t create. What, then, has earned him all the praise and the crazy price tag? I understand there are other types of defenders between these two extremes. Between Kante and Ozil you have the Xhakas (long passes from deep), the Ramseys (all-action-ish, effective in final third), the Elnenys (just kind of runs around and looks busy), the Dembeles (carries the ball forward)…anything else?

    But all of those tend to be the supplemental types. So what makes Pogba special? Is he some combination of all of those, just lacking creativity and defensive chops? I don’t understand.

    If we bought someone of Pogba’s reputation and plopped him our midfield, I’d want him to strengthen the team immediately. But if he can’t really create and can’t defend, then what does he do to strengthen us?

    Genuinely curious.

    1. He needs a creative player in front of him like in juve. And mata could be that player.

    2. Pogba is a balance player, if you play him in a midfield three he either does:
      Excellent defensive work for a CAM
      or
      Excellent ball progression for a DM.
      So if your midfield is Kanté, Griezmann and Pogba; you free up Griezmann to concentrate on attacking while retaining excellent ball progression from midfield.

      So if we had Pogba, he would liberate Özil by playing alongside Torreira instead of Xhaka.

    3. He’s a Ramsey type: undefined midfielder, physically unique.

      That’s probably confusing, above what I just wrote, but to clarify: he’s a physically unique player (and so is Ramsey, I think). They aren’t the same type of player other than the fact that when you see them play you think “good lord, you have to play this guy in every match” because they are so obviously miles ahead of everyone else, physically.

      Other that that they are also similar in another way: they are sort of all-rounders. Remember back a few years ago I compared Ramsey to a “five-tool in baseball. He can tackle, he has incredible stamina, he can score, he can pick out good passes. Pogba is similar, he is powerful, he can dribble, he’s got a great shot, he can also pick out great passes.

      But neither of them are going to do any of that at the level of a specialist. So, they frustrate.

      I think if you dropped Pogba into the Arsenal midfield along with Torreira and Guendouzi, you’d probably have a midfield threesome that would take you to a Champions League Final, similar to Juventus. It would take three years, but you’d have it.

      1. A fit Diaby. It is against the laws of nature that players that tall are so skilful.

  5. Good article in the Torygraph today from Daniel Zeqiri that neatly covers some of the balance issues we have upfront with Ramsey, Ozil and Auba.

  6. Forget Pogba for a moment (though as I said b/f, Id take him in a heartbeat in a Ramsey deal)…

    Deschamps still picked Giroud over Lacazette, who does not make his French squad at all. Systems > players for many a coach

    1. you play a system that suits your available players. france play with a center forward. giroud may not be a more talented player than lacazette but is and has always been a more effective center forward. just because wenger sold giroud doesn’t mean he got it right.

      deschamps just, very easily, won a world cup with giroud leading his line. why would he change the system? there are plenty of very talented players in that french side that can do what lacazette does to include mbappe, griezmann, lemar, ousmane dembele, and a few others. but there’s no one that can do what giroud does. with that, if giroud gets injured, deschamps would probably still call up gignac before lacazette, but that’s my two cents. i’m sure lacazette’s pretty close but there’s fierce competition to get into the french side.

    2. btw, how important is giroud? i believe the difference between germany and france in the world cup this summer was giroud. if germany had giroud, they could have repeated as champions. just think, the germans dominated all of their games but they had not cutting edge up front that could create chances. besides, good strikers love playing with a guy like giroud as he’s a team player and a great playmaker. maybe griezmann and mbappe prefer giroud to lacazette.

      1. Have you been watching Lacazette play lately?

        He’s outplaying Giroud in EVERY respect, including classic CF play.

        If Germany had Giroud, they’d have converted their chances? The Giroud that finished with zero goals? You couldnt be serious, Joshua.

        1. Only reason Giroud plays ahead of Lacazette because he keeps the CBs occupied and creates space for Greizmann . Plus it helps that he can link up play with his nifty lay-offs (though we are seeing now that Lacazette can do this as well and possibly with more success). At the end of the day it’s a question of which center forward better suits the system not a question of who is the better CF.

          I can not see Giroud starting for Germany. France has speedy, goal scorers all around him to make up for his lack of goals. Germany needs a goal scoring CF (someone like a Lewandowski).

        2. ha. i have watched laca play and he’s been playing very well. however, deschamps just won a world cup with giroud leading his line. two years ago, he got to a euro final with giroud leading his line. why would he deviate from something that clearly works well?

          as for lacazette, i don’t know why he wasn’t included. perhaps he had a really poor camp last time. maybe he pissed some people off. regardless, if he stays fit and in form, i believe his time will come. for now, lacazette has to accept that giroud has twice as many goals as laca has caps.

          as for giroud leading the german line at the world cup, i said that he helps create more chances for his team, not convert chances for himself. this selfless attitude is why players like griezmann and hazard enjoy playing with him. if your man-crush, aaron ramsey, played with the same conviction (lets the needs of the game supersede your need for personal glory), perhaps he’d not be on his way out the arsenal door.

  7. arsenal playing a different formation today (3-4-3). that’s got to be significant going forward considering ramsey, etc. we’ll see.

  8. Bleacher Report live was terrible. Stream was constantly going black, locking up, audio was out of sync by 30 seconds for the entire 2nd half. I had to re-log in at least 6 times after It booted me. It was the worst paid for stream I’ve ever had… any free stream that bad I’d have turned off and looked for a new one.

  9. A stroll in sunny Baku. A lot of Qarabag players ‘water skiing’ on the backs of
    Arsenal players today.
    Leno with a nice save from a shot at the top of the box.
    Loved Sead in beast mode rounding the RB.
    As soon as Sead became healthy Emery goes 3-4-3. Interesting.
    Iwobi, Iwobi, Iwobi. Wow. Another assist sets up Smith-Rowe for his first goal. When Iwobi gets on the ball now you expect something good to happen and so far this season he is not disappointing.
    Guendouzi with his first goal, a precise strike from outside the box.
    Looked like Qarabag were unsuccessfully trying to bully Arsenal.

  10. Saw the Qarabag game while feeding the kids and putting them to bed, which is another way of saying I didn’t see the Qarabag game.

    It looked error-strewn but at least a bit more promising than recent performances. Any more takes from the commentariat?

  11. I was lucky enough to watch this game sitting in The Shakespeare in Stoke Newington, drinking London Pride and eating hot pizza. Given the result, it’s hard to find anything to complain about. So here goes.

    We are obviously in a period where our players are being asked to do something they’re not very comfortable with (or good at). Stubbornly trying to play out from the back when teams clearly know they can disrupt us with a simple high press makes for extremely stressful watching. Brentford did exactly the same thing and for long periods in the game both they and Borat Utd looked by far the better teams. It’s one thing to be patient implementing a new system but when the minnows come in and do it better than us, it’s embarrassing. I have to believe anyone with forwards who can hit the target (Liverpool, Citi, the totts) will thrash us handily.

    Then again, you get good at what you practice. There were a couple of interchanges last night, three or four slick, first-time passes that sliced through Qarabag like their feet were nailed to the ground. A small taste of Emery’s vision? If we can get some consistency playing at that level, I would back our forwards to score enough goals to keep us in any game. And we’ll be a lot more easy to watch.

    Your three years time frame seems reasonable to me. Too bad we have so much of it left to endure. Deep breath meditation, anyone?

    p.s. Leno has surely done enough to unseat Cech. I’d give him the no.1 shirt immediately.

  12. I admire that Bellerin is fine with expressing his interests whether that’s sewing or whatever.

    It’s a pity that there’s arsenal fans who abuse him and make fun of him homophobically but it’s guys mike him that will make things easier for other men, and women, who just want to express themselves and like the things they like.

    Fair play to him.

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