He looked worse than Cedric against Watford. I’m sure he wasn’t that bad before but maybe my senility makes me forget.
I think the change of system from 4-2-3-1 to 4-3-3 is also part of it.
The 4-2-3-1 really played to his strengths as the LW typically became the left-sided attacking midfielder and he pushed up to be the effective LW and widest man in possession. It was a simple role and played to his strengths of vertical running and putting in crosses and cutbacks.
With the 4-3-3, Xhaka is the left sided attacking midfielder, Martinelli starts wide and then comes selectively into the middle, and Tierney plays further back and has a more complicated role. He needs to be more of a passer and he needs to move in a unit more with Xhaka and Martinelli. I think its an open question whether his skill set really plays in that role. But playing in a unit with Xhaka and Martinelli also can’t be easy because Xhaka isn’t really natural in that position and Martinelli is super raw and just running around at 100 mph half the time. And both those players are also kind of naive defensively, which leaves Tierney in more 1 v 1 situations than he should be in.
I think Tierney has earned a little patience to see how he adjusts and also how he plays alongside a new CM in the Xhaka role but its also possible that the team is evolving in a direction that doesn’t really fit his skill set.
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Few players are good all the time. He’s not having the best time of it right now but it happens.
Really good shout.
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That looks like it could be a good explanation. It definitely felt like the whole left side with Xhaka, Tierney and Martinelli didn’t work so well at the weekend. Xhaka definitely looked the weaker and Partey again was playing well supporting the other side. Having said all that Xhaka has looked mostly good lately but looked a little cumbersome on Sunday against Wankerford.
I think because Odegaard drifts into the insight right to bolster the other side it may also be a further factor in this imbalance although the Odegaard- Saka combos had me in heaven watching the interplay. I would also say that Saka has better wing back type skills to support the right defensively than Martinelli does on the left. It leaves an argument for ESR to start on the left instead of Martinelli as he looks a little more rounded defensively and can still score goals and create much as I do still rate Martinelli.
Altogether it leaves Tierney having to cover more spaces than he would need to otherwise. At one point I felt him the best left back we had since Cashley but now I am undecided.
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Maybe he’s not that good in the first place because we actually thought he was a better option than what we had before him.
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He’s gone soft. Preferred overly aggressive long neck Tierney. :tierney2:
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Had a really strong game. Great to see.
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Yeah as I said in the game thread, thought it was his best match for some time.
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Made a great challenge on one of Leicester’s few chances but still looks like he relies almost exclusively on athleticism on the offensive end.
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Spotlight will surely be on Martinelli but I think Tierney was our best player today.
Think this was his best game in a while, reminded me of the Tierney that used to carry Arsenal.
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Not sure what everyone was moaning about a few weeks ago tbf lol
He hasn’t looked his best this season Calum. Especially when Tomiyasu was still playing, he somehow went from our best defender to possibly our weak link(defensively).
Even in recent games with Cedric in the side, you could argue Cedric looked the better fullback.
Certainly wasn’t the case today. Tierney was solid defensively, barely had any trouble and started most of our attacks.
Because he was playing very average that’s why.
Credit to him for this week vs Leicester though and the 1st half tonight from what I saw.
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He was below his usual standards yes but its only because he was so high to begin with we noticed
emoji worthy?
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Added to the list of potential candidates
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