Gyökeres is a disastrous footballer so it does make everyone else worse by association as it’s so much harder to play with him. Other big issue is Norgaard, Arteta thinking he’s not good enough means we’ve run Rice/Zubi into the ground. I think he’s better than his mins but a horrible fit regardless
100%
After Bournemouth I was complaining to friends that we’ve had maybe 5(?) convincing league performances all season, and somehow now we’re up to 6 after losing the biggest one. Bournemouth, Forest, Liverpool x2, Wolves, Brentford, United - if we don’t win it that’s where we look, not yesterday.
Any frustration I have about yesterday is completely dwarfed by the fact that if we’d played like that all season we’d be about 15 clear.
Do they take Arsenal-related cases?
It’s relative. Sometimes you’re better than your results, sometimes it’s the other way. For his may flaws, Arteta is exceptional at the first 2/3 of a season and we were built on a really good base of stability. That base now is too knackered to bail us out of the deficient forward play
What we’ve been hasn’t worked most of the season, which should’ve been obvious to everyone, particularly the management. With the relative cushion, maybe we’ve caught the stumble in enough time and he can adapt just enough. But it’s hope more than expectation.
Feel q numb to the season seemingly circling the drain cos it’s been so clear all yr we’re not that good. We’ve had maybe 5(?) really convincing PL games? Mentality is important but quality is the biggest issue rn. Players are knackered but it’ll need some tactical trump card to turn it back around.
Don’t much disagree there, but it’s made a lot worse by having a terrible footballer leading the line. It’s also fair to say having Martinelli LW with him helps neither of them and Eze 10 helps neither either but I’d also say a decent CF doesn’t have anywhere near as many problems in that setup
On the positive end, and possibly the only positive, Madueke was very good. Idk if we can ever get that out of him consistently but the directness he brings really adds something different. Would be v tempted to start him RW and shift Saka back to 10 on the weekend.
Didn’t say it was. In the first bit that you replied to up there I said it’s not the only problem by any stretch. But I don’t see the point of going to bat for an atrocious footballer
I’m the most broken of records but that was one of his better games cos he managed to do some basics (simple passing, not losing the ball with every touch) but at the cost of contributing literally anything else
He was worryingly awful tbf
He’s absolute shit and he makes us a lot worse. Saka was disastrous today and so was Martinelli. All things are true. One is an incredibly consistent pattern.
You all already know what I think, and it’s not the only problem by any stretch, but we really have to stop playing the first 60’ of every game with 10.
100% the best it’s been for us yday. But then he misplaced literally >50% of his passes. Still nothing in the air. And as you say, couldn’t make separation from defenders. And we still really struggle getting the ball trough middle when we’re dominating territorially. Just too many issues at once
Don’t disagree but problem I kept coming back to with him yday was along the lines of ‘he was pretty good but he is pretty bad’. Not front and centre for my blame but it was eye opening to speak to the non AFC lot in that moment haha
Have had a thing with a couple of non-Arsenal mates with saying I thought it was Gyok’s best all round game for us (maybe Newcastle), and they’ve independently just gone ‘really?!’ Another 0 shot and over half passes misplaced - have our expectations just been massively lowered?!
I’m not anti big Mik but think optics wise it’s very difficult for either of the current two to come back from having him preferred to them as a legitimate CF option (though if there were ever a week to do it…). I’d choose to believe that, I just miss him so much
Have the same worries re GJ but United were absolutely rapid and effective on the break last week so they’re def gonna look even more to sit in and strike, so think we really need Tross/Eze and GJ cos we just can’t afford to lose the ball and be vulnerable on break. Buildup needs to be crisper too
Appreciate that 😂 Unfortunately I take every piece of actual writing I do far too seriously to be my true, hateful self in them
Said to a mate a while ago that I see a series of increasingly subsidised loans until he's a year out from his deal ending and we reach an agreement lol
Thought he might be one where I could really embrace the scrappy goaler but there are no bloody goals to do it with. He moves like a haddock
Thank you, my friend
Does kinda kill me that we didn't even need a world class 9 to push on, just a decent one, and we got an absolutely terrible one instead
Honestly, I'm not convinced there is. Fitness asterisk with Wilson but he's still outscored him despite being old, on a pay-as-you-play and at West Ham. Really like Strand Larsen as well, and that's just the teams at the bottom ffs
I also just got back to my personal laptop and shut loads of FotMob tabs. Now that fucking article is written I never have to look at them again. Also finished a big work thing and got to close loads of tabs on that laptop. I feel a million dollars.
I thought we were a bit going nowhere at this point in 23/24. The Palace 5-0 was 2 years ago today and it was an oddly unimpressive 5-0. Obviously we went on the run of a lifetime. Only thing that changed going on was Havertz CF. The thought it really my hopium of choice at the moment.
I started digging into the numbers in early December when it was clear how much more fluid we were with Merino. Even as a major Gyökeres sceptic, I couldn’t really believe the full extent of things. And it’s got worse since.
