Sol Campbell spot on about Bellerin for the first goal. Bellerin had time to take his time. He panicked and gave Foden the world. So annoying.
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I agree and thatâs how you build belief and confidence. If we go for it, we might lose but if we can get a goal or two in the process then at least our forwards will build up the confidence to put lesser sides to the sword.
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True. But two good chances we had came when Auba was central.
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Someone needs to go pick Auba out of Walkerâs pocket so he wouldnât miss the bus back to London.
It was a really uninspiring performance, particularly that last 20 mins where we took zero initiative and looked like cowards.
However, we should have had a pen and we had a couple of great chances first half to level the match.
Creativity and control still a big issue. Partey resolves the latter and remains to be seen how he impacts the former by allowing us to play 3 in midfield.
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Typical Bellerin. The guy just isnât good enough as a defender. Look at Tierney, Saka and even AMN on the other flank they can initiate attacks, cross and defend. Bellerin really canât do any of those well anymore. Which in turn has gimped our right flank.
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Reading the replies, iâm gonna give the highlights a pass, club football came back with a stinker.
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tbh I was mainly looking forward to seeing Partey in an Arsenal shirt and I barely got that.
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I can under Partey not starting if heâs barely trained with the team but at some point, maybe around 60 minutes when itâs obvious things arenât working, you just make it super simple go four at the back, three in midfield and three up front with Aubameyang in the center.
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Not gonna lie, if we sell Bellerin I wouldnât be disappointed.
Can we get a player rating poll going?
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Not talking about in possession im talking about our midfielders positioning defensively without the ball and the anticipation and reading of the game by Partey. Dood was around the ball every time it got played forward.
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It was completely unorganised in every sense. Partey is part of the answer but he isnât if we bypass him.
Pretty meek 0.84 xGâŚ
tbf we held City to 1.43.
Scatch that⌠they havenât really been hitting big numbers so far this year anyway.
1.45 v LC
1.42 v Leeds
2.08 v Wolves
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All the Arsenal interviews indicating itâs an improvement from the past and they think weâre going in the right direction.
There is a limitation in the mentality here unfortunately.
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It is basically only through playing Mourinho-ball though⌠and against a full-strength City side 19/20 times we come away with same zero points.
I wonât read much into this game either way⌠Arteta took a âpragmaticâ approach, had us sit back massively and hope to keep it close and take our few chances.
We werenât terrible from a defensive organization and had a few moments of decent control, but letâs face it, that set up was going to concede long stretches where City controlled the game.
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Maybe I need to rewatch, but I didnât actually think he had that bad a gameâŚ
Not the worst player but Iâve seen better from him. I think this is his peak and itâs not that good.
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Biggest regret for me is that City actually were pretty terrible yet we never bothered them one fucking time except for Saka dribbling past like 3 or 4 guys to create a chance. Literally was probably their easiest match of the season so far. Sad, pathetic football on display. Been this way all season. Both the eye test and the xG is telling us we are really gonna struggle for top 4 unless Arteta can get his thumb out of his ass and manage some coherent attacking football. Does he have it in him tho??
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Thatâs the thing.
I am happy and hopeful that this is hopefully finally the end of this awful setup as Partey gets integrated and we transition to Auba central.
And the awful play and Auba out wide Vs city was further evidence that hopefully Arteta will heed.
But itâs so annoying that city were really bad and we couldnât get anything from the game.
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I dunno brother the issue for me is that Arteta doesnât teach us attacking football. God forbid Partey gets injured are we gonna go back to this formation where we canât create a chance to save our life (if we even change it in the first place)? Depending on one individual to change around the fortunes of the club is a big ask. Needs to start with our style of play so we can just slot guys in and we wonât see a major drop off.
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