Waffiman wrote:oloye wrote:This is not about spending,this is about a team that over the years had lost its way and become too comfortable using the words of Sagna. Watch them play ,you see a bunch of Muppets who have lost fire and desire,Muppets who feel the honor of playing for Arsenal is simply to get selected and dance around at the Emirates!
Two players symbolise this most, Ramsey and Xhaka. The rest queue up to outdo those two.
I of course disagree with simplistic analysis. These so called players you care rubbishing won 3 FA Cups in 5 seasons. They are winners, not Muppets, and if they have lost desire, there is a new man in charge to sort out the wheat from the chaff. The way some of you bang on, you think these players never achieved a thing at the club, the joke is Spuds supporters, their team and club with failure written in their DNA shamelessly try to talk in our business.
Emery needs more time than just one PL game to get 6th placed Arsenal to compete with record breaking champions Manchester City. This is not rocket science, it is common sense. So why do we suddenly have fans trying to second guess the Manager? Drop Mkhi, Cech, Ramsey etc.
I was impressed with so many things about Arsenal yesterday, I left the stadium disappointed because we lost but hopeful and optimistic for the future. For example, it was quite brave of Emery to try and implement his style and structure, especially playing out from the back, against City, considering it was his first game in charge and they are the best team by some distance. Most Managers in that position may have just parked the bus and hoped for the best.
Another brave decision was to play a 19 year old, giving him his debut in such a game. This is indicative of things to come, team strategy going forward will decide which players are needed. Emery has no allegiance to any player, it all comes to how the player fits in his plans and their individual performances.
For me, the let down yesterday were our forwards, they did not offer much in attack and defence. For example, when City pressed, squeezing and blocking passing lanes, you want your forwards to step up and offer options. You have a 19 year old on the ball flapping his hands around asking for movement and options. The forwards must improve or else.
Another thing, offensively they were also poor, there was no coordinated and fluidity in their play. I think Emery made a mistake playing Ramsey in the role he did. It may work against Teams like Bournemouth but not against Fernandinho and City. Another mistake was to play Mikh on the left side, he is no good in that position. It is like playing Iwobi on the right side. Mikh is at his best on the right side. There considerable improvement when he swapped Mikh.
But the main problem was Ramsey in that set up yesterday, what I loved was how Emery was quick to make the change, acknowledging his mistake and the introduction of Lacazette brought about a huge improvement attacking wise.
A key observation I noted, and those who have read my analysis of Emery will know this, is who will be the deeper of the DCMs? Emery usually has at least one DCM drop deep between the CDs when playing out. Emery chose to use the kid for this role, I expected it to be Xhaka. To be fair Xhaka did drop between Mustafi and Bellerin to instigate play at times, but it was the kid who was the main man in this role. For a kid new to the team, this was high risk by Emery and City snuffed out our build up play with their pressing for most of the game but I was highly encouraged and what is to come given time.
Another key observation was when Torreira came on, I observed he replaced the kid in the deep role, whilst the kid pushed higher up. Could this be an indication of future selections? It is obviously too risky to play a recently arrived Torreira and the kid, but I guess they might be Emery first team choice by December.
I noticed Emery's disgust at the final whistle, I bet he is angry at how we lost our shape and structure for the 2nd goal. Prior to this the tactical changes had worked we had City under pressure as we searched for the equalizer but some serious gamesmanship, orchestrated from the bench, made them lose concentration. It proved costly and this part of our game will be sorted. Emery is not a Manager to gamble with open spaces, leaving his team venerable to the counterattack.
We go again next week, our pressing game would unsettle and dismantle most other teams eventually, we saw signs of it. To be fair, we had a press game last season but I noticed significant differences in approach to last season last season. Lacazette was our best presser high up, with Auba looking to feed off scraps, i.e. the 2nd press or ball. With Laca injured, Mikh became the 1st in the press. Yesterday, Ramsey had this job with Ozil detailed to feed off scraps. When Laca came on, he was once again far more effective in the 1st press role and we really should have scored when he allowed Ozil run on to a ball he should have taken control of. It gave the goalie the opportunity to redeem his mistake.
We have a new regime, and we need to be patient, it is why I was so disappointed to hear certain sections of the crowd get so impatient so early with the playing out from the back. I really thought there would be a bit more patience. But I was expecting too much. A managerial change would make ceryain type of people decent people.