Mikel Arteta Thread

[Power n Glory]

rvp might be the one scoring goals, but the team is setting them up. how good is theos crossing recently, songs run against dortmund, his pass to rvp v norwich. he is the one finishing them. the team is just setting them up. not a worry atm for me.

when we signed arteta, i wasnt expecting a cesc replacement, i thought he was more creative then he has been but we have jack and ramsey for that. he is grafting away, being discplined and protecting the defence. we need a player like that, we have one. so far so good

Speaking of which, Song has more assists than Arteta. 5 assists for Song and 1 for Arteta. Good for Song, but we need more from Arteta. If Song can manage it, so should he. It doesn't have to be either or.

We're not passing the ball around as well as we usually do. That's a worry for me. Against better teams it could be a problem. A few pundits have said the same thing and I agree with them for once. We'll see how it pans out but it's an area we must improve on.

[Ollie the Optimist]

Speaking of which, Song has more assists than Arteta. 5 assists for Song and 1 for Arteta. Good for Song, but we need more from Arteta. If Song can manage it, so should he. It doesn't have to be either or.

We're not passing the ball around as well as we usually do. That's a worry for me. Against better teams it could be a problem. A few pundits have said the same thing and I agree with them for once. We'll see how it pans out but it's an area we must improve on.

but you could argue the reason song has more assists is that he knows he can go forward and arteta will cover him and do a good job thus allowing him forward to create safe in the knowledge that arteta will be discplined and break up any counters.
quite glad we arent trying to play our tipp tappy beautiful passing game, last few years it hasnt worked, didnt work begining of season and we changed. we are now unbeaten in 7 games in a row, dropping just two points (if i am right, think its something like that) which shows its working. saturday didnt because palyers were rested and the team lost something. partly cos fat fuck does fuck all so we are down to ten men

[LDG]

but you could argue the reason song has more assists is that he knows he can go forward and arteta will cover him and do a good job thus allowing him forward to create safe in the knowledge that arteta will be discplined and break up any counters.
quite glad we arent trying to play our tipp tappy beautiful passing game, last few years it hasnt worked, didnt work begining of season and we changed. we are now unbeaten in 7 games in a row, dropping just two points (if i am right, think its something like that) which shows its working. saturday didnt because palyers were rested and the team lost something. partly cos fat fuck does fuck all so we are down to ten men

Fuck me. You're talking sense.

[IBK]

Fuck me. You're talking sense.

I agree

[Power n Glory]

but you could argue the reason song has more assists is that he knows he can go forward and arteta will cover him and do a good job thus allowing him forward to create safe in the knowledge that arteta will be discplined and break up any counters.
quite glad we arent trying to play our tipp tappy beautiful passing game, last few years it hasnt worked, didnt work begining of season and we changed. we are now unbeaten in 7 games in a row, dropping just two points (if i am right, think its something like that) which shows its working. saturday didnt because palyers were rested and the team lost something. partly cos fat fuck does fuck all so we are down to ten men

You could but around this time last season Song was going forwards as getting goals as well. That's when he was paired with Wilshere. Also, it's totally unfair to blame Arshavin for the draw. Against Dortmund we were struggling as well but it took Song's run and cross to flip the tie. I don't think we're purposely going out there to avoid playing tippy tappy football. We just can't do it. We were still trying to play it short against Fulham and it's not as if we saw many direct passes or people attempting to go long and spread it wide. It was the same coming short intricate passing style but it wasn't working. Our defenders were still playing it short and looking to work the ball through the middle.

[Ollie the Optimist]

You could but around this time last season Song was going forwards as getting goals as well. That's when he was paired with Wilshere. Also, it's totally unfair to blame Arshavin for the draw. Against Dortmund we were struggling as well but it took Song's run and cross to flip the tie. I don't think we're purposely going out there to avoid playing tippy tappy football. We just can't do it. We were still trying to play it short against Fulham and it's not as if we saw many direct passes or people attempting to go long and spread it wide. It was the same coming short intricate passing style but it wasn't working. Our defenders were still playing it short and looking to work the ball through the middle.

on the fat fuck point - its not unfair to blame him though i am not blaming him 100% for the draw. the guy does nothing, doesnt track back, doesnt fight to win the ball back. doesnt beat his man. look at the differecne between him and gervinho, as soon as gerv came on he was getting behind the defence, getting balls into the box, also stregthens the left side as he defends as well

wilshere though also last season covered a lot at the back, if song went forward he dropped back a bit like arteta does and if jack went forward song held off.
with the dortmund game, yes we were struggling at the start but i could be wrong here, they didnt have many clear cut chances, just lots of shots out of the box. when the going gets tough, the team now just goes into defend mode and weathers the storm. they stop the tippy tappy and just try to get it out, calm down and get settled. they did that, and yes it took a moment of song magic to open hte scoring but who gives a shit. united do it, play shit and then something magic happens and they score.
yes the defenders are playing it short when no one is on them but whats the point of booting it upfield if its jsut going to head it back, sometimes the short game is better. it didnt work on saturday for the first time but it has so far in our recent run. the balance is right imo, just keep it going

[Power n Glory]

Arshavin was tracking and covering for that game. That wasn't his worst performance. He's not suited on the left wing IMO.
He hasn't got the lungs to be playing down the flanks and we should stop forcing it. Gervinho is a typical winger. He's the type of greedy bastard you used to play football with as a kid that would never pass. He'a a dribbler and they don't call him Gervinho for nothing. The best thing about him is his ability to dribble. That's not the case for Arshavin. He has a lot more to his game and shouldn't be out on the wings. His passing and shooting ability outweigh is dribbling skills. He should be playing behind a striker.

I don't think we're there yet. Ramsey and Arteta aren't fully comfortable yet but hopefully they get better. At least they've established their roles in the team. But our passsing game hasn't been abandoned. It's the result of the Ramsey and Arteta combo. Neither are that good at retaining possession. Bring in Wilshere and you'll see a difference. Play Wilshere alongside Diaby or Rosicky and you'll see a difference. The way we play is determined by certain combinations and I don't think Wenger has abounded his possession play philosophy. It's similar to when Wenger used to play Denilson and Diaby in the middle. It effected our style of play and we struggled to create chances but looke more solid defensively. I think we're seeing a similar thing here but we have wingers that attack the flanks and RVP fully fit and scoring.

[Fist of Lehmann]

Against Dortmund we were struggling as well but it took Song's run and cross to flip the tie.

And who won the ball back in midfield in the lead up to the first tie-flipping goal?

The same guy who won the corner, then took the corner, in the lead up to our tie-sealing 2nd goal?

Bingo.

[Japan Shaking All Over]

Andy offers us very little stuck out on the wing, that we have been saying for some while, the same was being said about Theo but he had started to look a little more effective of late.

Gervinho has come in and besides the need to work on hos finishing has brought a different, more direct approach to our attack. Left wing is his place and its where he should be.

Which leaves what to dp about Andy. . .unless we change the formation or sacrifice a CM we are not going to see him in his natural environment, which is a shame as he has the talent to win games bit not on the wing, not with an iota of consistency anyhow!
which only means he will continue to put in poor grade performances, enticing the wrath of the fans and suffering as a result. . .deserved? Hard to say!

[Syn]

I don't know JSAO, sometimes I think it's easy to overcomplicate it - when it comes down to it, whenever he's on the ball he keeps wasting it and without the ball we're playing with 10 men. He might prefer to play in the middle where he is able to see more of the ball more easily, but I think we get the ball out to gervinho plenty - because gervinho works hard to get involved in the game. This is what I had against nasri, and even fabregas at times. There are some players that recognise as the more experienced members of the team, they have to step up and want the ball. They'll be running into space and make themselves open. Arshavin simply doesn't do that which I think is unforgivable for a player of his ability.