I just want 2nd secured because if we do go on in Europe then it’s likely that the league will continue to drift and then we’re just hoping the chasing pack don’t string 2-3 wins together. Incredibly frustrating how many times we’ve taken the lead in games this season and failed to convert that into 3 points.
Lack of goals. Story of our season. I disagree with the media reports and commentators I think we carved out quite a few chances yesterday, enough to win the game. It’s a mixture of lacking goalscorers and the players lacking confidence. Saka before his injury I think would have scored when closing down Flekken yesterdayOriginally Posted by Marc Overmars
But from 16 games this season, we’ve scored only 1 goal or no goal. Compared to 12 in the whole of last season
We’ve only scored more than once two times in the last 8 games (8 goals in 8 games)
I agree about 2nd
We can keep top 5 with mostly draws if needs be, the priority has to be the CL, this is a huge oppprtunity and he needs to pick every PL lineup with that in mind
The Liverpool game is the only one where we really need to try to win, to set us up for competing with them again next srason
There's some value in 2nd but it's way way way below winning the CL
Of course, that’s obvious, I don’t care where we finish if there’s an opportunity to win the CL. But I do believe in momentum and the league grinding to a premature halt is no good for anything. What if we get through next week but lose in the semis while the league continues to stall? It’s all going to look rather shit.
Only if you think that way, but it's the risk we need to take, I won't blame Arteta if he rests players to try to win the CL, tbh I think even if we make the semis of the CL that's progress.
With the cards, injuries etc it's a miracle we're still second tbh, we left ourselves short in attach this season, as you're saying, so rectify that in the summer and we can build on it further.
Btw there's talk of Havertz being back before the end of the season which would be a welcome boost in both league and CL
Yeh, I'm sorry but for me it seems like we are happy to plod along in the league now to focus solely on the CL. That's inexcusable IMO based on where we should be at at this stage of the process.
It's also not something I personally find acceptable, we should be able to manage some kind of show of strength in more than one competition.
I thought this was a shit game, we played averagely and got an average result.
Back to looking like we had no clue what to do next after getting in to the final third. 'Oh just pass the ball sideways and backwards another 100 times, that should eat up another 10 mins and make it look like we are in doing something constructive'
Trossard made me want to put my fist through the TV - he HAS to be sold in the summer, since his strop he has been total dogshit.
Also Saka !!?? - open goal after successfully tackling the keeper and he's trying to tap it forward another few yards and get a couple more touches on the ball - What the actual fuck!!?? just fucking shoot and it's a goal, 2-1, 3 points, thank you very much.
Coming back from injury is no justification for that shocker.
I thought we created far more than we usually do in these kind of games, and once again the main issue was a lack of a natural finisher
I think Trossard you have a point, a lot of lazy passes and unnecessary flicks and tricks that didn’t come off
But I think we shot from outside the box (not as much as people in the crowd seemed to want) and actually broke on them more than once (including for the goal).
I think largely the front three disappointed - Martinelli everything he tried just didn’t come off second half, Trossard already spoken about and Nwaneri did ok on the wing but seems to prefer to be playing centrally.
Especially given we rested a few players I don’t think there was much wrong with the build up play.
Yes Saka could have shot first time, but I was right behind the goal in that incident, and the angle wasn’t an easy one…he tried to tap it in it would have been cleared away (he had a defender on him) and if he’d used too much power probably would have been off target…I think he took too long to set himself but that’s confidence that you lose when you’ve been away for months.
I get the frustration, but I’ve seen some real dog shit performances in the league this season and I don’t think this was necessarily one of them
https://www.le-grove.co.uk/p/same-pr...utm_medium=web
I think the only thing I disagree with in this match summary is that I think a Red card for Norgaard would have been harsh, it’s a yellow for me….its a cynical foul but there’s no intent to cause harm…I think a yellow was fair
You're all being ridiculous IMO, we have quite a few players either injured or just coming back from injury, we've a chance to win the biggest trophy in international club football which we've never won before and you're arguing over the lineup for a home game v a mid-table side which we just have to draw to stay in a decent top five position.
I should be the one who's annoyed as i pay to go to the games, but I'm completely phlisophical about it and with one or two exceptions, mostly the inexplicable decision to start Martinelli when we could have played Sterling, I'm just relieved Arteta has learnt enough not to thrash all our key players into the ground, especially after his 'over my dead body' nonsense
I think he realises patience wil run thin soon and so he really needs to get the CL over the line if he can
If we can stay in the CL to the point where we can't fall out of the top five I hope and expect we're literally fielding the under-18s in every league game if that's what it takes - apart from anything else I would like to see academy players given more minutes here and there in case we've more MLSs or Sakas to unearth
I disagree with aspects of both points of view, I think Arteta is actually for once rotating probably the right amount. I think it’s clear Rice would have been rested if not for the injury sustained by White in training.
I think sacking off the league and playing under 18s would be just as much of a poor idea as playing a completely full strength team. I think Martinelli probably needs game time, and given he didn’t start against Everton I really don’t think it was that harmful to start him for both Real Madrid and Brentford. I’m simply not convinced the champions league can be treated as a seperate entity to the league. Plus I think Saka showed that there’s a balance that needs to be had, between making sure he’s not run into the ground again and giving him enough game time to build up his confidence and match fitness.
I think for what it’s worth, as I said on the match thread that having gone to the game myself that many fans were as you say philosophical….disappointed with the result but enjoyed the performance. I’m not sure that they’d have felt that way if we had played the kids and lost by several goals….plus that’s the kind of thing that can get you heavily fined by the FA or the premier league.
I’m certainly not saying this as an Arteta stan but in terms of who he’s putting out there, I think he’s probably got the balance right
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