And who is to blame for that?
Yeah I was there, I got the Theo chant going too ššš
Yeah from a tactical perspective, itās not like there were many other options in the midfield given that Xhaka and Torreira were unavailable, so we were forced to play a decidedly one dimensional double pivot in there. I think some other decisions can be questioned; I wouldāve started Iwobi over Ozil, but on the other hand Emery wouldāve got plenty of abuse if he did so because people just canāt seem to accept that there are matches which other players are better suited for. This formation can also be frustrating, but I donāt think itās the primary issue here because weāve had good performances with it in recent times.
We genuinely just have a serious mental deficiency away from home, itās almost not worth dwelling on the lineup, formation, tactics etcā¦ This is a major problem going back a couple of seasons now with this group of players, and Unai definitely needs to get it sorted and do a better job of motivating them, but I think itās pretty clear that there is an issue with the overall attitude and drive of this team on the road and some of it is beyond his control at the moment.
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Xhaka and Torry both being unavailable is pretty harshā¦ especially Torry.
Huge blow psychologically.
Amazing that we still havenāt adapted to the away match conditions in two seasons.
Our combinations in these games are just not quick enough and the only improvement has been how we play out from the back.
The midfield and wide runners are completely unable to combine as soon as the oppo cut off the diagonal ball. We canāt deal with the press and we get stretched dead easily once we lose the ball upfield.
Horrible lack of intensity in the play. It ruins any chance we have of rounding off even the good passing moves we put together.
Not having a target for a plan B dink to the back stick is also a real kicker too. Giroud did often provide that option in the past.
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Xhaka is one of those players where despite being very frustrating at times with the mistakes he makes, you really notice the difference when he isnāt in the side.
We clearly couldnāt progress the ball out of midfield quickly and directly enough and thatās exactly what he brings to the side. He has his flaws but I think a lot of the fans who get on his back should consider that with our current squad, we actually look a much better side when heās in the XI rather than out.
Not that much tbh. Its classic Arsenal of us to big up our injured into something their not when missing.
Today was carbon copy hammers away game. Xhaka was in that game and gave the goal away. Where just an average squad right now with little or no depth.Basically our boardroom wrote this season of league wise with lack of quality investment. Gambling on a decent Europa hope thats now in a 50 50 chance tie in the QFs.
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I have to disagree; I do think weāre a better side with Xhaka in there because he has a distinct purpose in the middle and no one else can distribute the way he can.
Donāt get me wrong, we have massive problems still and heās a flawed player, but I think the worst version of our side is one without him like we saw today. We literally couldnāt get out at all
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Concede he can give us a bit more balance but when were missing a flawed player its a sign of how low on quality we are.
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I definitely agree there.
Itās a similar issue at the back; Koscielny has been a very good CB for us for many years and has done well returning this season, but the fact that missing a 33 year old CB on his last legs does such damage to our already shaky backline speaks volumes about our squad depth.
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Everton pressed high knowing we have adopted the tactic of our goalie passing the ball to a back player instead of kicking it up field. You could see our backs looking to see who they could pass to before coming under pressure from Everton forwards.
Most of our attacking options were stifled before we had a chance to implement them. Everton played an old fashion game of the goalie kicking the ball into our half and going straight over our midfield. Passing from the back only works when you have fast wingers or midfield players constantly making space off the ball to receive the pass.
Thereās nothing wrong with the players we have we are better than Everton we just donāt adapt fast enough to the conditions of the game being played by the opposing teamā¦we need a real Captain !
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The tabloid press really just write nonsense. Love when mediawatch roast them 
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