I think given the injury problems he did ok away to Everton which is usually a tricky fixture for us.
The pressing and energy levels when we were out of possession looked good compared with recent Arsenal form so it wasn’t surprising they kept a clean sheet admittedly against a not to good Everton.
We looked better going forward second half but still lacked quality in attack so again no surprise we didn’t score. I agree with Freddie that we don’t always look properly balanced trying to squeeze Laca and Auba into the starting lineup together and I rate Auba well ahead of Laca. I like Auba playing with Pepe and Martinelli although Pepe will need to improve his defensive pressing if this is to work well. Even in the 70’s the top teams had all 11 players pressing and defending when out of possession and it’s no different for most top prem teams now. so whoever gets played in future they must do their defensive work too just the way they do with Liverpool, City and Leicester.
Imo this isn’t a reflection of what Freddie can do if given the proper tools to succeed. He was put in charge of a team we already know has a shit mentality and is full of bad apples. Hard to get them to buy in and perform when they know ur only gonna be managing them for a few weeks and then the long term replacement will be taking over.
Freddie clearly saw what issues the team has, and voiced them so we know he can at least see the obvious issues. If he’s able to implement the changes needed to fix those problems, that’s yet to be seen, but with a skeleton coaching staff at his disposal it wouldn’t have been a task he could accomplish in a couple short weeks.
I quite agree. I’d rather have Arteta than Freddie just because Arteta has served a lengthy apprenticeship as Guardiolas under study. But I thought Freddie gave it a good go in a horrible situation.
