Agree with all of that- and the root cause of all these issues, besides the unfortunate injuries, is Emery's decision making, which IMO has been sub par for quite a few games now.
Firstly why can't he make up his mind on the 3 deep lying midfielders. Torreria is an obvious choice and we were lucky he didn't get a card (this would have ruled him out of the Pool game and ensured our fate). Xhaka and Guendozi playing today (and almost all other days) was an overkill. We weren't in a midfield battle as Brighton didn't bother playing through it and their presence didn't really add anything to the attack as most of the good things we did came through the wing or long balls anyway.
Yet we ended the game with all 3 of them lasting 90 mins and no shots on target in the 2nd half for a game we are supposedly "desperately" trying to win, laughable.
But definitely not more laughable than his decision to take Lacazette off which is the major bone I have to pick with him.
There is no doubting that Emery deserves a lot of credit for getting Lacazette back on his horse this season but in the last few games he's done almost everything to undermine him and in fact this team by the way he's handled him.
Look at the goal today, can anyone help me out with any other Arsenal player that could withstand 5 players on him in the box to still pick out Auba with that pass. Let's even forget the pass, what of the fact that he took out 5 players for Auba to score an easy goal. Or the other chances Auba got in the first half because Brighton knew they had the more physical threat of Lacazette to worry about
Was anyone surprised when Auba's goal drought ended when he finally started a game with Lacazette again (Burnley)?
This is rudimentary people- forget through passes, intricate wing play and all that crap; a confident marauding Lacazette has been Emery's ace this whole season against most of the pub teams that AW struggled with. The firepower trick at the front (Laca + Auba) is what teams are struggling against not any beautiful scintillating play we are offering. Another good example of this is the difference between Liverpool and City .This I thought the manager understood but now it seems he's been making it up as he goes along.
I am pissed off right now as that was an easy 3 points we threw away. That team couldn't handle our firepower in the first half but lo and behold our manager decided to shake things up in a silly way.
On to the next game and hopefully when our manager solves a problem he doesn't go back to conjure it up so he can look busy. We have more than enough on our plate with the useless defensive personnel we have at this club.