Arsenal cruise to 3rd, one point behind Man City so why are we all so miserable? (Plus Pepe stuff)

28 comments

1. The way Emery sets up squad makes it dysfunctional. The very opposite is Europa league were team is much more balanced and havs way better control of the game, attack, etc. Dunno, but Emery is difficult to like, he always highlights how much he’s into details, but either he’s blind or stubborn, because you can clearly see where it doesn’t work. Either way, even if he finishes top 4 or wins EL, I would still bring someone else. Ljungberg and Arteta 😂. I still want to believe that Laca, Bellerin, Tierney and Holding will somehow bring more cohesiveness into the squad

2. Yeah, this feels disturbingly like the start of last season, where we went on that long unbeaten streak, without ever looking very good. We’re in 3rd, one point behind City, which is great, but we’ve looked poor doing it, and that place is really only because everyone other than Liverpool has been iffy.
   For sure Emery needs to try starting one of Luiz, Chambers or Torriera as CDM. Xhaka just isn’t working there.
   Not exactly what to do about Pepe. He needs more match time to synch up with the team, but we can’t afford to continue with such low offensive production.

   1. Now that everyone realises we are 3rd in the league, including Emery, we’ll crumble even in the home games and go lower down the table.

      Emery’s mentality is just about playing passive football, he doesn’t have the mentality to press home an advantage.

      That’s the reason why the Captain and the Head Coach, have both out and said after matches that we are scared and lacking in confidence. Let alone Klopp, Simone, you wouldn’t say that about an Allardyce or Dyche team!

3. Going off the Thursday performance vs the weekend performance it makes me wonder if the players are training more with Freddie for the Europa League games (which would kinda makes sense…a lot more younger players he’s more familiar with) and Emery working with the prem players.

   Which outside of that watching Arsenal is an absolute chore. Seemingly very little ambition in attacking and not that I’m asking to be wowed, but there are sides with less talent who are much easier on the eye and create significantly more and better attacking moves. This feels like watching a Mourinho side in its 3rd season.

4. Oct1st~
   “This is the pedigree of the manager. Shaping the club to the level of his abilities.
   Arsenal are now Sevilla. A 5th to 7th place club. Tailored for secondary competitions.”

   Bit of comfort to see numbers confirming my intuitives.
   The real suck^ss bit– sitting in 3rd?
   Is Emery won’t be replaced when I’d initially thought it might (ought) happen.

   The Unaibomber. Convinced of his own brief brilliance. Since he’d strung together 2 or three clever gameplans in-a-row– three Europa League tourneys in-a-row– against mid-table clubs?
   That this is surely how it’s done. Failing upward since La Liga.

   Such sh^t.

5. Yeah the football is drab but I think having the constant shift in personnel on the wings isn’t helping Emery either. The Pepe problem is a good example. He has started six games but his help has primarily been either AMN or Chambers. If he had a fully fit Bellerin this whole time, I suspect we would have seen a him pick up his game quicker. The left sided forwards, have comparatively, enjoyed more consistency from the presence of Kolasinac who seems to be more integrated with the team this year and has a fairly consistent way of attacking (play one, two’s and get to the byline). Just my long way of saying Pepe needs more time to develop an understanding with his mates and his full back situation isn’t helping. Fans are incredibly impatient these days but I think giving him one full season to adjust to the league is reasonable.

   Are we intentionally being passive to accomodate Xhaka? That’s a question I found myself asking watching this game. The constant reversion to this passive approach was weird because I thought the FWDS were doing a fairly decent job of pressing and were also sometimes joined by Guendouzi and Ceballos. At one point in the first half, it was pretty comical to see them try and play out of their half because it was reminiscent of us trying to play out of the back vs. Liverpool. We were quick to read their passing lanes (or rather, their passing was very slow) so that tells me we are probably working on the press but not very good at it yet and don’t have the speed of thought to read positions, passing lanes etc like the likes of Liverpool or City players do (of course there is also the overhanging question of how good Emery really is in teaching proper pressing techniques). There was a point in the match when Xhaka stepped up to close down one of their players but his movement seemed so rehearsed that their player was able to turn easily and take Xhaka out of the play. That makes me wonder if Emery sees the same thing in practice and has decided to keep his other midfielders close to Xhaka rather than press them in their own half because the latter would require us to play a higher line and having a slow defensive midfielder is not gonna help in that setup. It would, at least in my mind, explain one of the reasons why the forwards seem so isolated sometimes.

   1. The forwards were isolated last season with a 4231 shape too, keeping back 2 mids and Ozil ostensibly as 10, because Emery wants his attacks down the wings. I think it’s a defensive strategy with him. I don’t think it’s to do with Xhaka.

      1. Yeah agree he wants to attack down the wings but he is doing the same thing in our cup games and the team looks more compact. It’s harder to decouple Xhaka from our dysfunctional midfield.

6. First he just needed wingers, then just the right kind of creative midfielder, now he just needs the fullbacks, then it’ll just be a proper CB, DM etc etc. Give him time FC.

   Pepe could do with a Ramsey and/or an Ozil type player, no? But we’re too good for that of course. Meh, I’m kinda done with this whole thing. We play horrible football. Not horrible as in Mourinho dull to watch ball. Horrible as in horrible. Disjointed, nonsensical, and dull to watch. The unholy trinity.

   I really don’t look forward to games now. I’m genuinely considering doing something else with my time and just watching highlights or something later. For now I’m sticking with it, but I don’t know if I can take a full 7 months more of this.

   1. Used to keep Arsenal’s matches recorded to refer to during the season– sometimes into Summer. Erased Bournemouth– a win, no less– straightaway.

      After watching Real Madrid vs Brugge last week, I’ve set the DVR to record Real’s matches. Going to need some form of methadone-footie to withdraw from addiction.

7. My stream went a little iffy 10 minutes into the second half so I switched it off. Didn’t matter a pinch after about 2 minutes; that’s how boring it was.

8. Tim, I completely agree with you on Pepe’s isolation in games and average positions for our players, from game to game, shows exactly that. It could be a consequence of a coach’s instructions to have a talented individual do it all by himself, or it could be the lack of creative players who can interpret space better. I know, I know, I am about to speak about Ozil right? I swear I will only use him as an example.

   When building an attack, a coach is trying to get the most out of his most dangerous players, while being able to counter any weaknesses that the playing that way may bring. When you have players that are great in terms of individual skill and bring the potential of a lot of output, it is wise to take as much focus from the opposition off of those players. It is imperative to create so many different avenues of danger for the opposition, in order to create enough space for you best attacking players.

   The best sides of all time always had a more fluid or rapid way of moving the ball around the opposition to get goals. In a counter system, you try to take advantage of a lack of organisation by the opposition to find a way through. In a more possession build up side, fluid movement and overloads are used to do find a way around the opposition.

   I have always blamed Arsene for not following up on the Alexsis signing by bringing in some more dangerous players, or someone to take the spotlight away from Sanchez. I had hoped that we would get a player thats more like him for the opposition to deal with on the right side. I had such faith in it working because of the type of #10 we had in Mesut Ozil.

   In Ceballos we have the ultimate on the ball playmaker. A player who is very skilful and difficult to handle when on the ball. An Ozil type isn’t just a danger when he is in possession, but his spacial awareness is incredible. We have seen Ceballos drift a lot towards the left where he can use his right boot to cut in and shoot, cross, play some combinations or a throughball. Ceballos is more of a left-half space midfielder, just like Iniesta and David Silva. These players focus more on that side of the pitch than any, and if you have watched any games or highlights of theirs, you will recall them being stationed on that side almost exclusively.

   A playmaker like Ozil, Zidane, Bergkamp or Requelme, do not really stick to one side of the pitch as much. They are constantly on the move, jogging into areas to create overloads or making runs to drag opposition markers out of position. If you remember clearly at most of Ozil and Bergkamp’s goals, they come from the left side, while a lot of their assists come from the right. These are players that are very balanced in how they stretch play across the entire frontline. By moving across, provoking the defensive structures of teams and maintaining possession, they spread the opposition defence wider, while ensuring that the wings always have overloads and options. Everyone remembers how Sanchez only wanted to pass to and play combinations with Ozil, and he was always available. Ozil’s crosses for Giroud, and the passes for Monreal and Kolasinac came predominantly from the right.

   An Ozil type of attacking midfielder creates options on both flanks and is able to get the most out of very talented players, which Pepe is certainly one off. A Ceballos type, needs far more from everywhere else to truly shine. Iniesta had Xavi drifting to the right to combine with Dani Alves and the right winger, mostly Messi. Pepe now has Guendouzi, who is talented but doesn’t offer what players like Pepe need to thrive.

   Emery’s side and the screenshots above show, for me, how players are being left to create something for themselves or win the game by a piece of individual brilliance. Especially someone like Pepe and Mesut, they are players that I think are expected to single handedly dominate games and win them by themselves (Pepe isn’t there yet, but it’s slowly brewing about people inner expectations of him).

   So Pepe’s isolation will not be completely solved by Bellerin, at least not at the beginning and for complete immersion into the team, I doubt a rightback will do as much as someone helping overload areas with him. It might not even be this season where Bellerin’s influence might provide much help. While Bellerin might be a better right back than all our other options there, he hasn’t played in almost a year and has never really played with Pepe enough to create an understanding.

   Tactically, Pepe is being left out on his own right now. If we are to play a 4231, we need an Ozil type of player as part of the 3 behind the striker. That player will also have to be given the freedom to move around and create overloads, drag defenders away from Pepe, offer him an out ball when he is overcrowded and switch play or cross to the opposite if defenders decide to crowd out one side of the pitch.

   A Ceballos type needs a better rounded team, but won’t be a big numbers person in output. That’s why David Silva hasn’t provided as many assists and has done well alongside Mata, Nasri, Debruyne and Xavi. We have none of those, so Ceballos can only stand out because of his skills. Santi was similar, a supremely talented player whose best only came out when Ozil came into the side (as well as Coquelin). They are not the primary creator types, but supplement the creativity of others in the side.

   I do think it’s wierd that we have ta squad that is well balanced in forward areas, and imbalanced at the back. Instead of maximising the forward areas, we have imbalanced it, and now have a completely imbalanced side playing football that doesn’t suit the players playing.

   1. This comment is epic. Thank you for making it.

9. “That said, I do hope Arsenal get significantly better when Tierney and Bellerin and Holding start playing.”

   I am not convinced that Holding will start playing. I think that the line-up of Sokratis+Luiz is fixed, abring an injury. And even if something happens, I am not sure if Rob is not behind Mustafi in Emery’s head.

10. Devlin

    Devlin

    Perhaps a bit of overthinking but an interesting analysis. You and I have watched the same games for the last couple years and unfortunately we no longer have a player who can do the things Ozil and Cazorla used to do so if that’s what we need then we are probably going to continue with a similar style. I am not a big fan of Emery mainly because our poor team defense. On the attacking end he can only do what the talent on your squad allows him to do.

    1. I said Ozil-type and Carzola type, not exactly those two. There are players who can at least offer the minimum of what these two can.

       Ozil-type:
       Kia Harvets
       Jonathan Ikone
       Martin Odegaard

       Carzola-type:
       Giovanni Lo-Celso
       Nicolo Barella
       Manu Trigueros

       If we wanted to continue with Wengerball after losing our best players, there is a variety of young up and comers, that we could have bought. What we wanted however, was to become more solid defensively, whilst keeping our attacking side and entertainment value high. Many teams have succeeded without an Ozil or Carzola. There are far more ways to set your side up and Emery has overseen our most talented attack that I have ever seen. Talent wise, his side from last season was scary and this season is the same.

11. We talk in glowing terms about how good Cazorla ozil Sanchez and Giroud were together and we talk a lot about how bad we were last season. I understand that we might like one attacking style of play more then another but the reality is we didn’t score more goals or collect a lot more points when we were. playing such attractive football

    1. Er, most seasons we did, actually. Wenger’s worst years might have seen us score fewer goals than we did last year under emery, but having a strike duo of Aubameyang and Lacazette will get you plenty of goals from nothing—Aubameyang is the best striker we’ve had since RvP’s last season, while Wenger’s last few years saw such elite talents as Yaya Sanogo and Walcott try and hack it up front. I like Giroud, he’s a unique player, but he’s not in the same class as Aubameyang.

12. The reason you attack is to score goals and last season we scored 73. The most we have scored in any season in this decade was 77.

    I think we tend to over rate things from the past. The attractive possession based football we played with arsene was never really more effective then Emery ball

    1. The never really effective football delivered titles, cups and a world wide fan base. to compare suggest Emeryball is at per with Wengerball is the joke of the century

    2. Ah yes, because Emeryball is no less effective than the football the Invincibles played. Of course, how obvious.

13. Never really more effective? Never? Even not touching that, that “ineffective football” was still watchable.

    1. Our football has been unwatchable since the first half of the 2015-2016 season.

14. Unless the rules have changed the objective of attacking football is to score goals

15. Bill, you are once again missing the point of football analysis.

    It’s not the I am looking for Wengerball to return, because it was flawed as well and left us exposed defensively. Was it better on the eye? Yes it was. Most of the criticism of Emery’s attack isn’t on the actual output, but the sustainability of of it. Yes we have scored more goals playing under Emery than Wenger’s worst season, and I predicted that we would finish third this season and its looking that way too, but in football it isn’t just about the now, but also how it translates to future success.

    As atop club, or aspiring to become one, you can only have two phases of existence. You are either competing or developing a side to compete.

    When competing, that’s when the side is built and is out to win trophies. The playing style is set and predictable, not in a bad way. Just that it is a style that the team knows so well that teams know what’s coming, but still can’t stop it. This is when you are dictating to the majority of the opposition that you face, in terms of the speed, flow and areas of the pitch where the game is played. This is where results matter more than anything because the performance will take care of itself. This is what the side does when everything is in order.

    All the top sides are predictable, but have developed into that through tactics, repetition, confidence and total buy-in in the system by suitable players and money to buy those suitable players.

    When developing, there tends to be more wriggle room for the manager when results don’t go the side’s way, as long as there is a clear process of developing what the team will become good at, preferably great at. This is the foundation that sustained success is built on. The team will win unconvincingly, the team will lose undeservedly, the team will chop and change players, the team will introduce youngsters without too much pressure and the team will most likely fail to compete with already developed sides. But, all of that will not matter to the fanbase if they can see a method behind the madness. A clear road map to future success that they can put emotional investment into.

    These sides are unpredictable, not for the sake of being unpredictable, but they will do that with the aim of finding long term solutions to the main blueprint that the side will be looking to perfect.

    So where does this side fall under Bill? Are our goals repeatable? Are we looking like we are good at the goals that we are scoring? Man City scores the same goals over and over again, they score a lot of tap-ins repeatedly because they have a system that has developed their ability to do that. No matter who plays. You take Aubameyang out of this side, do we still score the goals we score? Lacazette is out, are we scoring the type of goals we were scoring when he was playing anymore? No!

    Now under Emery, the attack is getting output without building that very output in a consistent manner. With Wenger’s sides, as much as they had their bad attributes, the good that they did was built in such a way that it could be repeated over and over again. Even a side that plays route one football basically has a way to goal that they can use over and over again. Do you know what type of plays it is that we are good at in attack?

    It’s about sustainability. It’s the same reason that former strikers and coaches will not complement a player who doesn’t have proper finishing technique, but ends up with 20 goals from reflections and penalties. The output is there, the way of attaining it is unfortunately not repeatable.

    I also think this thing of assuming people who complain about Emery’s football as being dour are somehow craving Wenger’s football again. We let Wenger go to get better, better in all facets of the game and how the club is run. We now have a flow to the first team for development products that people are on board with, we now have a director of football and our way of running the club has changed and people are praising it. Why? Because it’s better. Why are people complaining about the football? Because it isn’t better.

16. I don’t think Emery is a smart guy honestly I don’t. If he wasn’t going to play Ozil why didn’t he look for a direct replacement? If he tried to get one but failed why doesn’t he do the smart thing and use him. He team is clearly dysfunctional and clearly lacks coherent moves in moving the ball up field and in final third passing. Zidane faced a similar situation when he didn’t want Bale or James and failed to get replacements, he did the right thing by swallowing his pride and started using both players as they had qualities that none of his current squad had. Emery has to realize Ozil offers what other players don’t and for sake of the team’s progress he has to play him.

17. For context, we are 9 points off the top and 9 points off the relegation zone. The teams in dire form, like Spurs, likely wont continue to be in dire form. Look at the freefall suffered by Emery’s team last year. Spurs were rank bad awful, and we somehow conspired to be worse. Plus, we have arguably the hottest striker in the world right now. Looked it through that lens especially, you can argue that we should be second, and at least 3 points better off.

    But hey, in fairness, the coach takes the blame for when we do badly, so he ought to take the credit where we are now.

    teams likely won

18. Tim, good analysis on Pepe. That dressing room picture was illuminating. Must be tough on him.

    Pepe will adapt Im sure, and I still rate him highly. What he brings, that we’ve lacked, is unpredictability and magic/tricks in forward areas, particularly were it’s tight and crowded. Iwobi brought that and certainly was a good big chance creator, but like Kolasinac, couldn’t ally that with goals and surprise on the dribble. Pepe has that, a lot of that.

    And yet I think — using only the evidence of what I see on the field of play — that…

    One, he is a bit lazy defensively. That is mainly down to him, the willingness to press, to help out his RB and to close down passing panes on our opponents’ left. Bellerin isn’t great defensively. I know a lot of gooners want to see him return, but we may be misremembering how iffy his defensive play was. Where Hector was peerless is joining the attack from the back, and he had an especially good understanding with Mesut Ozil. I fear that a Pepe/Bellerin right side will be light defensively. It’s why AMN is not getting back in, because Chambers, with loads of CB experience, is much better defensively than all of them, Bellerin included.

    Two, Martinelli, younger and from a league and culture much further removed, has adapted. Both to the team’s play, and its defensive requirements. This, for me, is the hardest knock against Pepe. Yes, it’s a tough adjustment, but my sense is that some of his difficulties are down to him.

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