To be honest we have 18 goals and 11 big chances, it means that we have scored goals off penalties and deflections and have been significantly luckier. This is not sustainable…. If I was Arteta I would be worried that we are lacking firepower in the striker department and our reliable creative players aren’t delivering as they used to. Odegaard and Saka haven’t been the force they were last season. In fact our players aren’t in top 10 in goals scored and assists.
Defensively we are solid now… but come January transfer season, he needs to add some power to the frontline.
This may sound unpopular and I am no way shitting on the manager or the team, just a stat that I am trying to wrap my head around…. Happy to be change my mind.
Honestly I feel we need a proper number 9 who can score 20 - 25 goals a season. While I love Jesus, I feel he’s more of a squad player ( low conversion rate + highly injury prone + lacks consistency) and I’m sorry but Nketiah just isn’t good enough for Arsenal. He just doesn’t fit. Ideally I would like to see someone like Ivan Toney come in and be clinical in the box.
We missed two sitters against United
Have we got going like we’d hoped we would? No. But we’re undefeated, on the same amount of points after 9 games as last season and about to have a run of fairly favourable on paper fixtures.
At the end of the day this squad showed what they’re capable of when they get going last season and still to early to not have faith they can get back to that level.
We get to the doldrums of January and February and we never stopped grinding out results with not great performances then I will start really worrying.
Slow cooking, so we peak when it matters
It doesn’t help that Havertz has been thrown into the starting XI in midfield to help with the creation of chances and has not delivered at all. Not trying to put the blame on him, because Odegaard hasn’t been very creative either, Saka is lacking sometimes, Zinchenko is not at his best. There is also that Partey at RB bullshit that Arteta tried to push early on (to fit Havertz in the lineup), the fact that our players don’t want to shoot outside the box (miss Xhaka on that part).
I think some of it is due to individual performances that need to be improved, but another part is due to coaching or playing style. Sometimes they focus too much on possession and when they get to the final third, or close to the box, they play a safe pass instead of trying a through ball or a shot.
The goal against City came from a run by Tomi and a long through ball from Partey.
My point is that we need to take more risks near the box because we won’t score all goals by passing 50 times and shoot from the goal line. Otherwise, the opposition will just sit deep, wait and hit us on the counter (that’s what United did and it almost worked out for them).
I’ve said it before, we look absolutely terrible this season. It’s been so stressful watching games It doesn’t feel at all like last season. And yet… We have yet to lose.
I’m really excited about this fact. I really hope that we gel start playing properly soon. If we start to play properly, we’re going to be really difficult to beat.
It’s true and it’s getting harder for fans here to remain in denial. Even last season we didn’t create chances at near the rate City. But it was much better than this season. We simply have been poor at converting possession to chances. The primary issue is that our midfield lacks balance imo. There’s no one that contributing in creating chances from midfield. Partey has hardly played, That isn’t really Rice’s game, Havertz and Odegaard do nothing on ball except shoot and play first time passes backwards or sideways. We have no progressive passer in midfield.
Thats wht i have been saying. We are not the same as we were at last season which we are deadly in attack, precise and consistent. This season quite stoop us and it worries me
This is why it’s annoying when people keep saying “it’s still early, no need to panic”
You wrap your head around stats while I’ll wrap my head around standings
We’re 9 games in, level on points with Man City. And we haven’t played any of the promoted sides. While it would be nice to be top, I’d rather be there when it really matters. Yes, we haven’t played well, but I believe we will figure things out. Plus I feel the international breaks have taken a bit off our momentum.
My hot take is that this is intentional based on how things went last season. The offense got going early last season and then got figured out halfway through.
This season we are playing our unique offensive capabilities close to the chest, trying to beat teams while playing extremely low-risk football. When it seems like this style gets “figured out” both in-game and across the season, you see Arteta dial up the risky offense accordingly.
Interesting we weren’t even in the top 5 last year and Liverpool and City had 30 more chances created than us. Agree that this year so far things just aren’t clicking, but we are still tied for second and unbeaten in the stats that matter
Negative nellies.
Meh, I’d be worried if it’s our defence that was weaker.
