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Mikel Arteta: Top Of The Klopps

lomekian

Essays are my thing
Mari can't run out wide anyway. Slow as ****. Doesn't look good enough.

Deffo slow, but at least he's a decent distributor. I think the plan next year will be to back 4 it with Luiz and Mari rotating on one side and Saliba and someone else on the other
 

lomekian

Essays are my thing
I don't get why we need to keep calamities like Mustafi and Luiz (Before renewal) around. ****ing play our U23 CB's, believe me, they won't do worse. City are starting ****ing Garcia in games, LFC have promoted Gomez, these defenders are not doing worse than Mustafi and Luiz are, and are definitely on lower wages.

Sadly our youth defenders are either returning from long term injury or are very unlikely to ever play at the top level or are just miles off that point.
 

squallman

Still Pining for Wenger
Loved Kolo was genuinely 1 of the best in the world at that point. Was gutted he didn't get captaincy when Gallas did.

I read this as Kola and was wondering what you were on about until I saw Gallas' name.

Wenger backed the wrong horse in that race. Chelsea really did a number on us with that deal.
 

lomekian

Essays are my thing
After the Liverpool and City games I’d like to see him revert to 4 at the back. I’m worried he’ll continue this formation next season instead of keeping to his original ideas (which I doubt were 343).

If he sticks with 343 I would be very disappointed, but I don't think it will happen. He leaned into this formation because of the fixtures we had, and until today it matched really well against our opponents. Jose was clever with a few tweaks today and our backline soiled the bed. He might use it sometimes next year, but I'd be shocked if it was his go to.
 

AberGooner

Established Member
Trusted ⭐

Country: Scotland

Player:Gabriel
I read this as Kola and was wondering what you were on about until I saw Gallas' name.

Wenger backed the wrong horse in that race. Chelsea really did a number on us with that deal.
At the time I thought as devastating as it was to lose Cole we'd done well to get Gallas out of the deal. He was absolute quality under Mourinho at Chelsea, how wrong I was!
 

lomekian

Essays are my thing
Toure was a rock in The invincibles period and later on people started calling him Clown Kolo.

Going from playing alongside Sol Campbell to playing alongside most other defenders is a come down.

Also was always a bit of headless chicken, but a superb athlete, massively determined and a good guy. But he NEEDED the more solid partner.
 

Lakersgooner24

Established Member
At the time I thought as devastating as it was to lose Cole we'd done well to get Gallas out of the deal. He was absolute quality under Mourinho at Chelsea, how wrong I was!
Tbh, I didn't think Gallas played badly for us. Thought he was decent defensively all things considered, the first couple seasons in particular. It's just that shambles of a captaincy decision from Wenger culminating in that infamous Birmingham match.
 

lomekian

Essays are my thing
You need one leader who can control the defence and is excellent at positioning and one who is more athletic. VVD and Gomez is a good combo for that reason, VVD-Lovren look good too, but Lovren-Gomez are a clownshow waiting to happen.

Mertesacker-Holding looked good in that one game for the same reason. Also why Per-Kos were good for so long. Mertesacker though, had zero pace, and that was often exploited. And that's why we were better with them but still not good enough.

We have not had a good defensive pair that complements each other for a long, long time and that's why we're **** defensively.

Example: Both Luiz and Mustafi want to recklessly tackle the ball and go for it. You need someone who can sit back and cover the other's mistakes if you play one of them. Saliba won't be that either.

Its why I think Mari might actually work. Has a more composed style.
 

lomekian

Essays are my thing
Tied? Hardly. Even if its only for a week or two, they should have been dropped for anyone.

Just pull them aside and say "David, I'm taking you out of the XI but if you work hard during training bla bla bla."

Then put in a kid from the academy or convert someone from the first team to play back there.

Make sure the players know that repeated mistakes and piss poor performances will not be tolerated. Even if that means dropping in academy kids.

None of our academy kids in defence could even cope in the Championship at the moment. Its fine idea in principle, but in the reality of the situation it would be incredibly damaging for the kid in question, and would probably effectively be throwing a game.
 

KrissKringle

Reinventing VAR 😡
Going from playing alongside Sol Campbell to playing alongside most other defenders is a come down.

Also was always a bit of headless chicken, but a superb athlete, massively determined and a good guy. But he NEEDED the more solid partner.
That's the point. Unless we get rid of all the bums here, any new CB will eventually drink the Kool-Aid and become a headless chicken too.

We sorely lack a defensive foundation. That's why I'd like Simeone here for 2 seasons to teach them how to defend and then you can bring whoever you want to play champagne football again.

Remember when Di Matteo won the CL with Chelski? The team still had that mentality that was hammered all those years by Mourinho, so it was just a matter of right place at the right time.
He didn't do anything special for them to win. They already knew everything they needed to win.
 

Lidl_Reed

Wants a new name
That's the point. Unless we get rid of all the bums here, any new CB will eventually drink the Kool-Aid and become a headless chicken too.
I disagree. Had we got VVD, he would have fixed the defence because he's a leader. We have not signed a single top leader to lead the defence since.... forever.
 

KrissKringle

Reinventing VAR 😡
I disagree. Had we got VVD, he would have fixed the defence because he's a leader. We have not signed a single top leader to lead the defence since.... forever.
You're too optimistic. Van Dijk would have been as much of a headless chicken as any of our CBs.
You need experienced players who can teach the kids how to behave on the pitch and coaches who give them the tactical know how.
We have none of those, so Van Dijk's leadership skills wouldn't have done much.
 

squallman

Still Pining for Wenger
None of our academy kids in defence could even cope in the Championship at the moment. Its fine idea in principle, but in the reality of the situation it would be incredibly damaging for the kid in question, and would probably effectively be throwing a game.

If we had players worth a damn, they would look out for the kid and make sure he doesn't get overwhelmed. The only player who I think would have tried to do that was Mertesacker, but he's gone now.

Any team worth its salt could slide in a Henri Lansbury any where in the XI and have him not look totally out of his depth with the right tactics and players taking an extra bit of responsibility. It would also require a lot of extra coaching on the pitch to make up for the kids lack of experience.

If you ask me, we're throwing games right now with those two in defence, as it is. I just want Arteta to be ruthless and show them that the kind of **** they have been serving up isn't good enough.
 

Riou

In The Winchester, Waiting For This To Blow Over

Country: Northern Ireland

Player:Gabriel
I disagree. Had we got VVD, he would have fixed the defence because he's a leader. We have not signed a single top leader to lead the defence since.... forever.

It was probably Per in 2011, and even you said he came with physical limitations...have to go back to ****ing 2001 really in Sol Campbell, for us to have signed a absolute top drawer defender.

People shouldn't underestimate what a impact that level of player can do, Virgil at Liverpool, but Sol for us made a massive difference.

The season before Sol signed, our legendary backline of the 90s was starting to show it's age...we lost 6-1 to United away and 4-0 to Liverpool away, signed Sol that summer and won both those games the next season, The Double too...don't think we go unbeaten without Sol either.

People forget how amazing that Campbell transfer was, we basically replaced our best ever defender in Tony Adams for free, and we had the same level of performance as a team, amazing...a contender for Arsène's best ever signing was Campbell imo.

Could also argue that even though he was past his best in 2005/2006, Sol's nurturing of Kolo and sheer presence, played a part in us reaching our only Champions League final too...he was one of our best performers on that day too, even though his legs had gone.

Haven't been able to identify that player since, and it has shown.
 
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Fewtch

Özil at 10 And Emery Out
If he sticks with 343 I would be very disappointed, but I don't think it will happen. He leaned into this formation because of the fixtures we had, and until today it matched really well against our opponents. Jose was clever with a few tweaks today and our backline soiled the bed. He might use it sometimes next year, but I'd be shocked if it was his go to.
He said that he made a switch to 343 because of injuries before the game. It’s definitely just a temporary solution.
 

lomekian

Essays are my thing
That's the point. Unless we get rid of all the bums here, any new CB will eventually drink the Kool-Aid and become a headless chicken too.

We sorely lack a defensive foundation. That's why I'd like Simeone here for 2 seasons to teach them how to defend and then you can bring whoever you want to play champagne football again.

Remember when Di Matteo won the CL with Chelski? The team still had that mentality that was hammered all those years by Mourinho, so it was just a matter of right place at the right time.
He didn't do anything special for them to win. They already knew everything they needed to win.

More personnel than coach for me. The crocked Mari and Chambers are the only CB;s at the club that play with composure, and the jury is out on either being good enough. Sadly, its just going to take a while to transition the squad and we need warm bodies in the meantime.
 

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