I agree. I don't want to see any player get a nasty injury but I really don't rate Gabriel at all. In the absence of a new signing we may as well play Chambers and Holding who know each other through the U21s. Liverpool will be licking their lips!Originally Posted by Master Splinter
Yeah, they always beat us.
Positive second half. The injury puts a downer on things even if it is Gabby. I don't rate him but he looked in bad shape.
First half team didn't work at all. Missed silky chances but also lacked cohesion in the middle. I really rate Elneny. I think that one change transformed us. We were knocking the ball about with style and confidence and the chances came. Thought Sanchez was positive. I'd give him another go up front. Theo was pretty good out wide also. A goal and assist. Wenger has some decisions to make. Only a pre season but positive.
Didn't see any positive signs in that match, well maybe Xhaka and El'Neny's pressing. I did see a whole bunch of usual stuff. We know we can score if teams come out to play against us. That's no surprise and even Theo will get a goal every now and then. He looks half the player Iwobi is though and if Wenger expects to get anything out of Theo this season then you can't blame Theo for that, you have to blame the old fool who never learns. Defence was a shambles as is mostly the case. Monreal and Bellerin are good players, but they give their opponents far too much space on the flanks. I know they have been told to do that, and I know the old goat then puts the onus on attacking fucking midfielders to race back as cover, but surely Bould could sneak in some coaching whilst the prehistoric fart was asleep? Ramsey looked way off the pace. Alexis too, he did very little up top but disguised this with a couple of good moments. Not his fault and he was coming back from a nasty ankle injury (amazing he's back at all tbf), it wasn't until El'Neny came on that he had anything to feed from. Which will most likely cost Elmo his place. Wenger doesn't like that, forward passing - very vulgar.
And Santi is a better player than Silva. A considerably better player. If they swapped clubs then the media would be all, Ooooooh Santi! Santi this, Santi that.
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So you did see some positives.
Give Theo some credit after you said we were down to 10 men.. Also, it's good to see that we tried Sanchez up front. Wasn't convinced by Ramsey but it was his first game back.. Elneny is one heck of a player and I hope Wenger starts him. It's down to team selection now. If Wenger starts Xhaka he has to start Elneny. I think Elneny is essential to the way we want to play. More so than Cazorla because he doesn't make as many mistakes. Santi should play higher up field behind the striker.
But again, it's down to Wenger to try something different and I hope he gets the team selection right.
You see the best of Cazorla when he's given licence to play more advanced and that I imagine is the benefit of having three defensive minded types like Coquelin, Elneny and Xhaka to choose from (although I think Elneny is more of a box to box supporting midfielder than a defensive one)
That plus you can only play who you are up against, yes the way we play suits us when we play teams like Man City but at the same time you can't expect us to showcase a different style of play which would be effective against teams that sit deep but totally pointless against City.
The takeaway from today is that we need a centre back and striker, simple as.
We can't discredit the opponents now that we have won. That's what I don't like because when we were losing it was typical old Arsenal.
So the takeaway is what we knew last April?
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Xhaka is supposed to be that too. He's not a DM. But yes, I think Cazorla is better as the number 10. Two footed, can wriggle out of danger, can play the killer pass as well as crack a shot. I like when he plays deep but he will have moments when he's too casual. He'd be better playing further up field.
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