PL: Manchester City Vs Arsenal | Wednesday June 17th | KO: 20:15 GMT | Sky Sports

[Riou]

What a solid defensive display looks like at the Etihad, it's been quite a while...


...peak Kos was so good.

 

[MutableEarth]

Oh so it's the fans fault why they are **** defensively?

No, but I think we can sometimes make things worse.

 

[RacingPhoton]

What? Why? How much cost are they cutting by doing this?

 

[Oxeki]

What? Why? How much cost are they cutting by doing this?

Safety measure, I imagine

 

[Fewtch]

Arteta's done a decent job of giving us structure where defence is concerned definitely. I don't think he's quite gotten the attacking balance right just yet, and I think that's in large part due to the massive disparity between the midfield and the attack. I think the attackers are fine overall - Nketiah's looking like a solid PL option in the small minutes he's had, while Laca still looks somewhat capable as a CF in this system. Auba is Auba, Pepe is growing into his role and putting up relatively decent underlying numbers, Martinelli and Saka have proven to be very capable at providing final product and Nelson still has a bit to do but is growing in confidence. I have no issues with the attack as it is currently. Could maybe lose Laca and I'd still be OK with it.

The midfield on the other hand is a problem. The only one who contributes numbers in attack and has a progressive profile is Joe Willock - the 2nd most underrated player in the squad (Nketiah being gangster number 1) - but Willock has yet to really knit his game together meaningfully yet. Xhaka and Ceballos aren't meaningful contributors to our attack in the sense that they only really have one main mode of progressing the ball forward - which is passing (yes, Ceballos can dribble but he's not penetrative as a dribbler). They're also not very athletic either. Guendouzi could be a solution, as could AMN but both guys need to put it together aswell. Torreira is also still a strong option but I see him leaving in the Summer if I'm honest.

With the way we’re trying to play I’d argue that the composition of the attack is a bigger issue than the midfield at the moment. Arteta is trying to play a possession based game with two strikers in attack who are very poor at hold/link up play and a counter attacking wide forward who is struggling to adapt in a touchline winger role. What are we supposed to do with Auba when we’ve pinned back a team in the final third with no space to run in behind with his inability to receive the ball between the lines and combine with other players? The ball gets to him or Laca and it’s almost lost immediately and we have to start over again with the build up. Get the ball to Pepe and he’ll come inside and attempt to dribble three players instead of keeping it simple by holding the width and going on the outside for a cross or sliding through the AM down the channel. I think that’s probably why Arteta has preferred Nelson to Pepe.

The midfield and defense have been doing a decent job at progressing the ball and making us reach the final third so far imo. The pattern in which we move up the pitch has been the biggest improvement from the Emery era which was a huge problem under him if you recall. Xhaka is doing alright in that limited LCM/LCB role, Ceballos is doing half of the job to the required level but he’s poor at screening the defense which is why we’re probably looking to sign Partey who is progressive like Dani but is also a capable defender. Their roles are not to progress the ball through ball carrying like you want Guendouzi and Willock to do but mainly through passing like you said. Compare their roles to what Zinchenko/Delph and Fernandinho/Rodri do at City and it makes little sense as to why you’d want guys to run up and down the pitch like traditional B2B midfielders. With the way Arteta is trying to play the positions are pretty fixed depending on which phase of play we are in. I’d be inclined to agree with you if we were looking to play a more quick transition counter attacking game but it looks like we’re not at the moment.

 

[GDeep™]

Wonder who will start CB, Mustafi/Luiz or Mustafi/Mari.

Don’t see the point of Mari if he’s not getting games atm.

 

[RacingPhoton]

Safety measure, I imagine

Ah. Makes sense.

 

[El Duderino]

Liquidate the club.

 

[hydrofluoric acid]

Liquidate the club.

Why? Think Gunnersauros is one of the worst things this club has come up with.

Million-dollar idea for Arsenal would be to create a box pillow looking like Gunnersauros.

 

[El Duderino]

Why? Think Gunnersauros is one of the worst things this club has come up with.

Million-dollar idea for Arsenal would be to create a box pillow looking like Gunnersauros.

Who do you want?

 

[Oxeki]

Why? Think Gunnersauros is one of the worst things this club has come up with.

Million-dollar idea for Arsenal would be to create a box pillow looking like Gunnersauros.

I'd say Gunnersaurus is better than Fred the Red

 

[OnlyOne]

Have City played a warm up game yet?

 

[A_G]

Have City played a warm up game yet?

They've been playing intra-squad matches because of how good their depth is:

 

[Oxeki]

They've been playing intra-squad matches because of how good their depth is:

 

[OnlyOne]

They've been playing intra-squad matches because of how good their depth is:

Losers.

 

[Oxeki]

Losers.

tbf they can't get a better opponents than that

 

[El Duderino]

They've been playing intra-squad matches because of how good their depth is:

What in the actual ****....

 

[El Duderino]

I'm literally speachless here, their second XI is player for player better than our XI, Auba aside.

Insane that a team can actually do that.

 

[Elite Smarts]

...a ref with hair wasn't the cover star of the greatest football game

Ref on a cover of a sports game, incredible! You really do learn something new every day.

Too young to remember 90s and early 00s football. Why was he so respected as Ref?

 

[Makingtrax]

Interesting to see what midfield we go with in order to try and protect our dreadful defence. Arteta usually prioritises what we do but surely against a team like City it'll be one of the instances where we select a lineup purely based on counter-attacking City's strengths. I think we'll look to get some mobility in there. Even if Xhaka starts I can see him being put in there alongside Willock and AMN for example, or maybe Ceballos-AMN or some sort of combination like that. I think athleticism will be hugely important and I think we'll go with a 3 man midfield. In the reverse fixture we got absolutely overrun in midfield. Torreira-Xhaka had a nightmare. It doesn't help that neither of them are incredibly athletic but they were also left incredibly isolated and we were essentially playing 4-2-4 that day, with Martinelli being our only attacker to even try and help out defensively. We set ourselves up for failure.

I think first of all Arteta won't want us getting overrun which is why I think he'll play a midfield three, a particularly a three which has some athleticism in it. Then I think he'll want someone like Willock or Ceballos who can carry the ball and are somewhat press resistant in order to set ourselves up for some counter-attacking situations. Will be interesting to see how it goes.

Either way we'll probably lose. I just hope we can make it very competitive and can take something from the game.

Must be difficult for Arteta. He has a **** midfield. Cellabos could be leaving soon unless an extension is agreed. Willock, AMN and Guendouzi are still inexperienced and clearly not consistent. Xhaki's not mobile enough and Torreira average at best.

Loan players from Spain are a poor solution, it takes a while to get used to the Prem and then they leave. Not replacing Ramsey was a big mistake.