- cross-posted to:
- gunners@lemmit.online
- cross-posted to:
- gunners@lemmit.online
You must log in or register to comment.
I don’t think so, we are playing a bit different but we are better than last year. The biggest metric is that we beat Man City.
Tl;dw This season’s xGD is similar to last season’s, but with lower offensive numbers and higher defensive numbers. This can be a detriment in the league, but an advantage in competitions where a draw is important result, such as cups or knockout matches.
So we’re winning the champions league
Got it.
Justice for odegaard
Are Arsenal worse this season?
Well yes, but actually no. Some key points:
- Rice isn’t as good as partey when playing as pivot in possession, with partey he can receive the ball and make a progressive pass with his back facing against the opponents. Which in turns lower odegaard contribution because he relied on partey distributions. Which in turns lower our attack outputs from the middle. That’s why we usually attacks from the wings with saka/martinelli this season.
- Our defence is very solid this season because we have rice, who’s arguably one of the best player out of possession in the world (don’t quote me on that, that’s what they said on the video). And with addition of havertz we can have more fluid formations.
- There’s no more element of surprise like last season, where we tend score in the first 15 minutes.
The first point is the reason we’ve dropped points this season, especially in the Chelsea game. If our wingers get nullified we’ve got literally no more attacking threat apart from hoping that Ødegaard scores another like 0.06 xG long range effort
The Ode stats are interesting mainly because, as we’ve found out, he’s been playing through injury. If the injury has caused the performance dip then we’re in for a massive boost once cleared up and he can get back to his normal output.
I also think the reason we’re so dependent on wingers right now is because Saka, Trossard and Martinelli are the players that can create something out of nothing, so our players prefer passing them to unlock the opposition. They’re always on the flanks, so that’s where the ball goes. And with Jesus often injured, our central option (Nketiah) isn’t as unpredictable and explosive as our wingers.
First point is why I think his fee was excessive.
The Rice observation is interesting, and a good argument as to why I’d rather see him play as a Busquets-type sweeper DM that falls back into the defensive line to form a three-man backline so the full backs can push up.
Have Rice be the final boss for opposition forwards before they have to deal with the Saliba-Gabriel axis, and leave him back when we transition so he can be more like a quarterback. That way we exploit all his strengths.
Thought Partey changed the game against City. Arsenal immediately had control of the midfield when he came on.
Yes, but it’s not like Partey isn’t playing because Arteta is picking Rice over him. Partey isn’t playing because he can’t stay healthy.
This is precisely why I wanted rice and partey in midfield but Arteta kept insisting on Kai.
There’s no reason why partey can’t play the left sided role. He’s fast, strong in the tackle and air, tracks back very well and passes well. Shooting is a bit off though
And always injuried
I see they replaced the Zidane jersey on the wall smh
One thing that we’re 100% worse at is creating chances, no idea what happened there
I feel like our high are not as good as last season, but we’ve got a better squad depth and consistency overall
From an entertainment POV, probably yes.
From a results POV, not really, we are 2nd, and doing well in the CL while still in the ELC which is a surprise.
This is a question that should probably be asked around xmas.
I think we have more control in games.
I feel like last year we were a bit like a wild bull tearing down everything in our path. But with that, you run the risk of seeing red and hurting yourself in moments of beserk.
This year I feel we are more like a snake that slowly constricts its enemy into breathlessness.
It’s so hard to tell at this stage of the season if we are ‘better’. Every season is different. Mind you, 10 games can often be a decent indication. But seaons are indeed marathons, not sprints.
Agree, we’re very much going down the Pep style of just dominating possession, recycling the ball and biding our time.
In all honesty I’m not sure what I expect for this season, it feels like we haven’t got going properly yet which is exciting and will be interesting to see if we pick up, the fact we’re still grinding out results is particularly impressive, especially in that Chelsea match, they had their best game of the season so far and we managed to bring it level.
I almost feel like Mikel is either more focus on CL and getting far in that or this year we’re having some sort of reset, ambition is high but I feel and wonder if anyone else does, if they get the sense we’re prepping for the future currently more than we are for this season. It’s all about ‘good/best we can’ results and settling the depth to be able to go toe to toe with city more consistently in future years, esp since everyone figured our play style out last year in terms of double marking Gabi/Saka and low blocks. We feel much more methodical and less shaky than we did in other games we had last year so far.
Only time will tell! Still crazy how good we are for a rookie manager and what we’ve managed to rebuild in the club in such a short time, surely we will be a blueprint for many teams to come. Awesome that Mikel gets recognised at the same level as Xavi,Pep,Klopp; we’re a fortunate team.
Partey is wildly underrated and there are questionmarks on if Rice has the ability to play at the 6. This was predictable and makes me wonder if Timber was intended to help support Rice or if the plan was always Partey #6 and Rice #8.
I think Rice is showing enough attacking IQ to get similar value as Xhaka let season. Build up is a little iffy on that left side but the Xhaka, Zini, Jesus, relationship was brilliant and Jesus has been in and out.
I think Arteta has learnt the hard way that only the final 30% of the season really matters. We need to get used to being really hard to beat so when we want to kill a game like we did go Man City, we can. Hopefully it will put us in good stead for the CL.
I think the second best #6 in the world is more than good enough to play as our #6
Short answer. No. Struggling with having a first 11 like we did last year. We were incredibly lucky with injuries at the start of last season.
Better defensively, worse offensively at least from the eye test.
I would put it down to injuries and new players adjusting to the system we play, last year up until the World Cup we seemed to be able to play the same 10/11 players every week.
The data very much backs up your eye test!
People forget that the end of last season was pretty disastrous and we have failed to continue the form of the first half of last ssn already. Imo after the world cup we feel pretty shakey defensively and have occasional game where the attack feels dull. That time I felt like we have to change smth up and played different from last ssn
The more conservative nature of our team structure this year is pretty clearly an adjustment to the fact we were getting run through far too easily at times last season
I’d also be curious to see the strength of schedules this season to last. United, city, The Sh*t, Chelsea, Everton away in 10 games. With UCL opponents in between
The only pay off for starting slow and sluggish while grinding results in the start is to finish strong in the latter. Lets see how this chess game turns out.
Expect our domestic undefeated record to be tested from now till Christmas.