Arsenal Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours 2024/25

psg played a good game against us, early goal and the crowd went silent which i found very strange because i thought the atmosphere would be amazing

odegard was very flat last night and partey was a huge loss obviously, nwaneri added some spice to the team but i think he should have been brought on within 5 minutes of the second half

This - Odegaard has basically been a passenger all season. In an attack already decimated and lacking any real creativity, he adds nothing. He'll 100% start next week but Nwaneri will need to be given more than the 5 minutes he got last night.

There would want to be a massive change in how we play next week. A repeat of that and we're out. Players now have to stand up and be counted as far too many were off their game last night or are otherwise not good enough. The only change we'll see next week imo is that Partey will start and i'm not so sure that his having a great game will change much of what we saw last night. Hopefully it will and we'll go through BUT others will also have to up their game.

There's a massive difference in quality between last night's game and tonight's one

No stopping on the halfway line and passing back to the keeper tonight. It's very entertaining tonight.

That was a brilliant game to watch. Both teams going for it from the start. Fantastic football and marvelous entertainment.

When did you join as a red out of interest? I joined in 09 and I'm still red! Hopefully silver will be along soon

at this point in the league conceded 29 goals same as all last season but scored thirty goals less. This is only a guess but an assumption is Arteta looked at the minutes played in the squad last season and said how can we get more efficient - focus on corner free kicks etc - that has worked to an extent but the number of times drawn from winning positions is stark. And as pointed out that shift has not benefited Odegard

I thought that was obvious enough though. It's also why we've not seen the best of Martinelli the last couple of seasons. The way we played in 22/23 brought the best out in Odegaard and Martinelli. The style suited them down to the ground. Same with ESR. But the way we play now doesn't use their strengths so tbh if Arteta isn't going up play to their strengths and in turn get the best he can out of them, it's time to sell and find replacements.

What exactly has changed about our playing style? Do you think it's a deliberate thing?

In my eyes, we're just simply not playing as well in an attacking sense. We haven't had a stable core of players who have built up an understanding between each other in an attacking sense, and we don't have any players who will score an individual goal from nothing the way that someone like Sanchez used to.

I don't think Arteta has deliberately changed our playing style to make us crap at attacking.

Arteta has 100% changed approach this season. 

Up to this season, Arsenal's attack was about quick transitions, getting the ball from back to front as quickly as possible, and getting their wide men and attacking central players on the ball as often as possible, against a defense on the back foot. It was very similar to what Klopp did at Liverpool.

This has its downfalls, because if you give the ball away when trying to get forward at breakneck speed, it leaves you double exposed at the back! Teams like Arsenal, with Saliba and the back, and Liverpool with VVD at the back, are sometimes more than willing to take that risk.  

But, I think Arteta felt this gung-ho approach costs them in long run against City in those title races. It's why this season we see very few diagonal direct balls over the midfield from deep. It's much more, multiple shorter passes, working through the lines, trying to drag the opposition around. It's also why he was happy to have Havartz as his "No9", not because he'll get 30 goals a season if fit, but because he can play much deeper and drop into midfield out of possession. Arteta absolutely hates getting turned over and outnumbered centrally, so Havartz is perfect for that role. 

It's pretty identical to the set-up City played under Pep, prior to the arrival of Haaland. But to make it effective on the offensive, you need players like KDB, Foden, Berardo Silva etc, Really technical players, who can move the ball and operate in tight spaces on the edge of the opposition box, these lads can zip passes about in what seems like no space, and most importantly, they do it at intense speed! This can create huge spaces out of nowhere, in what seems like a packed defense.  
This is simple not MO or Martenelli's games! They operate best when taking the ball and running at the opposition, they work best in chaos in the opposition half!

It's why MO, in particular is struggling, and it's why we see so many of these nothing first time flicks, and passes to nowhere. He just does not have the footwork to take the ball in those tight areas and try to create some space.

Nice goal from Rice. Good assist from Odegaard. Haven't seen any of the first half, just the goal.

Kluviert acting the **** there. Could have injured Trossard with that tackle from behind.

FFS nobody jumped except the scorer. 1 all.

Would take a draw now