Arsenal 1-0 Shatkah Player ratings and match Reaction

[IBK]

I would say that most of our performances have been below our normal standard with the exception of City, Villa & PSG games.

Against Leicester we had a brain fart for some of the game and let them back in and against Southampton we were awful, made them look like a top 6 team at times!

Arteta said he wanted us to be better defensively but we seem to have sacrificed most of our attacking nous to focus solely on that.
The team need to realise they need to keep doing the other things well on top of defending better.

I agree with this. I would add also that we were fortunate against Villa that Watkins' radar was off and had Raya's heroics to pull off those 3 points. I understand that this is football, but I'm not sure that the 0-2 scoreline was so indicative of a dominant display.

While acknowledging that we are missing and have missed key players, I think my main gripe is that we have been timid against lower opposition, and are not playing like future champions ATM. If our defence is as good as people make out, then we should trust in our ability at the back to deal with threats and show more attacking intent. The problem with Arteta's current approach is that teams do not fear us, and for me this is part of what has made Citeh so effective in recent years. They dictate games and have half won many of them before they step on the pitch.

I don't think a safety first approach is the way to win the EPL, neither is lamenting loss of players. We have spent a lot of money supposedly raising the floor of our team. The manager needs to trust and nurture players like Nwaneri; Jesus and even Zinchenko in our current circumstances, not retreat into his shell - because their potential input is needed, IMO.

[Mac76]

I don't think a safety first approach is the way to win the EPL, neither is lamenting loss of players. We have spent a lot of money supposedly raising the floor of our team. The manager needs to trust and nurture players like Nwaneri; Jesus and even Zinchenko in our current circumstances, not retreat into his shell - because their potential input is needed, IMO.

Exactly my point, except for Zin, he's beyond redemption and needs to go in January, until then it's maybe a start v Preston to rest others (though not at the expense of a young player), but no involvement in the PL please, we've enough problems there already

[IBK]

Exactly my point, except for Zin, he's beyond redemption and needs to go in January, until then it's maybe a start v Preston to rest others (though not at the expense of a young player), but no involvement in the PL please, we've enough problems there already

I take a different view to the majority on Zinchenko. He can be a defensive liability, but we are ridiculously short of playmakers ATM and he tends to fullfill a part MF role. Playing MLS at LB when we needed attacking intent (plus not introducing Nwaneri until it was far too late to salvage anything) on Saturday kind of sums up Arteta's midset ATM. We are hardly playing with our chests puffed out...

[Marc Overmars]

To be honest without Odegaard and Saka we lose pretty much the entire creative hub of our team. I don’t know the stats but I bet they are way out in front in terms of who creates the most chances in this squad.

That doesn’t excuse how dreadful the past 2 games have been but we are not going to be competing for anything if they miss too many more games. If Saka doesn’t make it for Liverpool I think we’re going to struggle to get anything from the game.

[Mac76]

It doesn't sound like Saka will play, so we'll be without our best defender and our best attacker

God only knows what we'll do - if he plays White inside and Timber's still not fit then it's Partey at RB again?

And without Tomi at LB to look after Salah it will be very difficult.

From the available players for LB it's Kiwior I suppose but while I think he's ok, he can't cope with the better attackers e.g. when he was up against Sane

[Niall_Quinn]

I take a different view to the majority on Zinchenko. He can be a defensive liability, but we are ridiculously short of playmakers ATM and he tends to fullfill a part MF role. Playing MLS at LB when we needed attacking intent (plus not introducing Nwaneri until it was far too late to salvage anything) on Saturday kind of sums up Arteta's midset ATM. We are hardly playing with our chests puffed out...

He's a good player that makes the same number of mistakes as all our other good players. But for some reason he gets called out for it when they don't.

[Mac76]

He's a good player that makes the same number of mistakes as all our other good players. But for some reason he gets called out for it when they don't.

No he's an average-to-below-average player who in every game makes hugely dangerous errors by giving the ball away in risky positions, abandoning his position and failing to tackle adequately

He has zero defensive capabilities

It's partly Arteta's fault for playing him at LB where he is a total disaster, at best he's a midfielder to play against lower-league opposition in cup games