Because he would still want the actual left back to invert into midfield. Not sure our actual LB, Tomi, would be a good enough passer on a consistent basis. Its what Arteta wants to do, unlikely to change.I don’t understand why Mikel doesn’t just start Zinchenko in midfield and play an actual left back. Especially as he’d be a perfect fit for the left 8 position. We’d instantly improve both in attack and defence.
Hes in the air jumping, the ball deflects off Muddy how is intential? Ball to arm end of!
he is a very good passerBecause he would still want the actual left back to invert into midfield. Not sure our actual LB, Tomi, would be a good enough passer on a consistent basis. Its what Arteta wants to do, unlikely to change.
Far from our best but a spirited fightback.
Chelsea are improving tbf so a draw away to them is an ok result.
Their goals were a pen & likely a flukey cross so it's not like they easily had the better of us in reality.
It’s always the urgency this season. Toward the end of the first half it got better because Zinny starting pushing it out quickly to Martinelli or Rice. We completely lost it in the second until Jorginho went off and Rice dropped deeper.A point is very good given where we came from. Chelsea away is always difficult, they are better than the table suggests.
That being said, I haven't seen many teams having 70% possession and doing so little with it. Our front three were invisible and Ødegaard was ****ing poor. Has to be said, even though I love the guy.
Partey over Jorginho next time and a little more urgency. Still undefeated though! COYG
Tomi isn’t as good a passer as Zinchenko, but he’s still very good. More importantly though he knows how to defend 1 on 1 and won’t leave us woefully exposed to long diagonal balls. He’s being targeted on a consistent basis now. I’m pretty sure Mikel would’ve continued using Timber there if it wasn’t for his injury.Because he would still want the actual left back to invert into midfield. Not sure our actual LB, Tomi, would be a good enough passer on a consistent basis. Its what Arteta wants to do, unlikely to change.
You can't do that though as you will get players constantly aiming the ball at opponents arms in the penalty box.I think the rule should be if it hits your arm then hard luck, it's a penalty, FULL STOP.
Whether you're a Gooner or a Chav, I hope we can all agree that Spanish goalkeepers might be worse than Black goalies now (I'm black before anyone tries to cook me).
Pochettino is one of those people who has a fat face but isn't fat himself.
I've got a friend like that, not a bad thing btw; she's got the cutest round face but a non-chubby body.
Yeah like Florence Pugh is the same.
Pugh got some chunk though. When she's played roles where she's slimmed down proper she loses that face.
Fit either way though obviously
I think Partey must not be fully fit.
Teams are blocking the middle against us now so it’s hard for us to play free flowing football when we’re having to play it through the eye of a needle. Zinchenko is still probably the best player for this but he’s way off it and of course teams target him defensively. The conditions also made the pitch very slow. The encouraging part of yesterday was we were able to change, go a bit longer and we were causing them trouble, just wish we’d done it earlier.I had to jet off somewhere right after the game. What’s the TLDR around here?
My take was that we were crap. And it wasn’t “just” the players. This season we’re all about passing backwards apparently. I’m sure the idea is we keep the ball safely but in practice all we do is invite pressure onto ourselves and increase the chances of someone making a mistake.
And it’s dreadful to watch. Absolutely dreadful. Makes me sick. If we wanted this kind of football in the hunt for trophies we should have just got Mourinho in ffs.
We know Arteta and the team can play good attacking football. Just stick with that ffs.
I’m sure lots here will be hyped about how we showed “mentality” and managed to get sth out of the game at the end. Not me. That was diabolical football. Again.
Running out of excuses.
Jimmy "Fat-Arse" Hasselbaink was probably bouncing after the second went in...
...have that you absolute loser!
When Chelsea were winning...
When Arsenal show more fight in 15 minutes than his team have shown his whole life and come back...
Chelsea zipped the ball around a lot better than we did when they had it. We looked ponderous and kept misplacing the ball even with 67% possession in the first half.Teams are blocking the middle against us now so it’s hard for us to play free flowing football when we’re having to play it through the eye of a needle. Zinchenko is still probably the best player for this but he’s way off it and of course teams target him defensively. The conditions also made the pitch very slow. The encouraging part of yesterday was we were able to change, go a bit longer and we were causing them trouble, just wish we’d done it earlier.
Didn’t think much of Chelsea btw either, organised but considering how flat we were they didn’t really create a great deal without our help. Torn between whether this was a point gained or two dropped
I still think left 8 is a huge problem, way more than ST. I know Ødegaard is the golden boy to many but I feel we desperately need another ball carrier/dribbler there, we don’t really have anyone who can do this to break a teams shape.
Honestly this is what I dislike about the internet and social media era.