Originally Posted by
IBK
I agree with most of this.
There are 4 problems that I am seeing with this team.
1. We seem to be playing a possession game for the sake of it. Control is only effective when you do something with it. IMO the West Ham game was more revealing than Fulham - which was simply a poor as fuck performance. There's no point in having a squillion touches in the opposition box if it does not lead to goals. We are ponderous and predictable in our build up and I fear teams have worked us out. Yes, a predator striker might finish chances that we throw away with poor execution/decision making but Eddie was formerly known as the poacher, and we have seen how his form has dropped off a cliff. There is often never any space for our forwards to even have a sight of goal let alone score and as NQ says we have no tempo or verticality, and teams have all the time in the world to organise their defence.
2. We play high up the pitch with our sterile possession, and this invites the opposition to play on the counter - which we are suddenly vulnerable to. What happened to our impregnable defence? Because of the tight spaces our ponderous build up play results in it is almost inevitable that a pass will go astray, and having committed players forwards our shape in defence is the opposite of what we fail to cope with at the other end of the pitch. The opposition inevitably scores against us with mininal chances, while we can't score from countless ones.
3. Arteta seems to have stifled unpredicatbility and individual billiance by tying in our players to a system where they look robotic. Players come in and out of form, but where everyone is below par, like against Fulham you have to look at the system. Why is Saka seemingly unwilling to unable to beat a man (or two in his case - albeit that he has the talent to do so) to create space? Martinelli? Why does doubling or tripling on Saka not create space for others? We cannot seem to cope with game state - so when we go a goal down we keep doing the same thing. We don't mix it up. We have seen this before, 2 seasons ago, and the manager seems to think that because on paper we have upgraded certain players it will work.
4. Fatigue. You cannot expect players to play an exceptionally demanding system that requires 100% effectiveness week in week out without seeing a drop off. This is mental as well as physical. It beggars belief that we should have handed new contracts to the likes of Riess Nelson, and kept ESR but never play them - apart from bit part minutes that are pointless as regards getting them match ready. You can't even play Rice every single match in a very physically demanding role and expect him to maintain his exceptional ceiling. We look flat and jaded - and Fulham was the exemplar of this. It's a real worry that this is happening half way through the season, and you have to wonder how this team will fare come March/April.
If we are honest - we have looked unconvincing in 40% of our games this season - even where we have taken 3 points. This team will not win the league.
Reply With Quote